Bakers, start your baking!

[indigo_league]

Who: Everybody!
Where: Riegfried and Soy's mansion
When: January 15th; day time for the cooking part, evening for the mingle part.
Summary: Come one, come all to the newest contest hosted by Riegfried and Soy. Today's theme: cooking!








[Daytime - The kitchens]

Throughout the day, the kitchens will be open to all contestants, though any casual onlookers --human, pokemon, or otherwise-- will be shooed out to prevent any cheating.

Each contestant will be directed to a gleaming counter, where they will be able to find everything from your basic whisk and spatula to gleaming kitchen machinery fancy enough to make any cook feel faint with envy. Each counter comes complete with a small fridge (should you need to chill any of your ingredients), an oven, a stove, a microwave -- really, anything you can imagine and it is there. Riegfried and Soy clearly didn't want anyone to run into the issue of not having the right equipment for the job.

At the back of the room are the fridges: tall, imposing fridges made of gleaming metal stocked full of every sort of ingredient you could possibly think of. And next to the fridges, contestants can find rows and rows of shelves, each nearly bowing under the weight of the products placed on them -- from fresh fruit, to spices, to rice and noodles. If you need it, you can find it.

Riegfried and Soy will be flitting around the room like a pair of extravagant Butterfrees, happy to engage contestants in small interviews. Everything for the camera, baby! Because those are also there; they are clearly trying to stay out of everybody's way, but small, Rotom-powered cameras flit around the room for close-ups, while cameramen and women with heavy-duty equipment get the distance shots. Hopefully, you haven't got an issue with stage fright.



[Evening - The show]

And when all is said and done, and the last dishes have been cooked, it's time for the actual show. There is some time between the actual cooking and this part of the evening, during which contestants have a chance to change their clothing and freshen up, but before too long, the mansion's doors open to the guests, who are herded by the cheerful hosts to an enormous hall.

The hall itself is set up with all manner of comforts. There are some small tables and chairs for anyone who wants to sit down for a while. Long tables line the sides of the room, absolutely laden with all manner of refreshments. There is even a special table set aside where the dishes the contestants made (at least the ones that made it to this part of the evening) are displayed and ready for tasting.

The schedule for the night is rather straightforward.

After some meet-and-greet and time for every last guest to arrive, the day's events (cut and edited by a very exhausted camera crew) will be projected onto a huge screen for all to enjoy. The votes will be tallied afterward and awards and prizes will be handed out. The rest of the evening will give the winners a chance to celebrate, the losers a chance to commiserate, and everybody else to clear the buffet of everything edible.

Comments

(frozen comment) Contest Entries!

[indigo_league]

Submit your entries here. What we are looking for is information on what your character is making, how their partner pokemon is getting involved, and anything else that might be relevant to your character's dish. To help you along, we create a small form to fill out. Should you run into any questions, please use the previous OOC info post to ask them!


<B>Character name:</b> <B>Pokemon partner:</b> <B>Pokemon move used:</b> <B>Description:</b>

(frozen comment) Snowcones, slushies, popsicles and cocktails, oh my!

[rollstoseduce]

Character name: Jaskier | rollstoseduce
Pokemon partner: Regina the Ducklett
Pokemon move used: Hail, Ice Beam, Aerial Ace
Description: Jaskier is making a S H O W out of this. He dresses up to the nines, and puts on a little choker on Regina as well. At first nothing big happens, he just prepares the tools and some very basic mixing/peelin/chopping. But then he frees Regina from her Pokéball and the show begins!

Regina uses (scaled down) Hail and fills a bunch of plastic cups that had been spread on the floor. Then she destroys the ice with Aerial Ace. After that, Jaskier puts on jingle bell bracelets and both of them dance around the cups while Jaskier sings a Pokéversion of Winter Wonderland and pours syrup on the cups to make snowcones.

They return to the counter then. Standing on a stool, Jaskier pours juice and syrup that Regina freezes with Ice Beam to make slushies. The process is repeated with juice with fruit chunks in it and fruit pulp that are poured and frozen in molds to make popsicles.

The last "act" comes with alcohol. Jaskier prepares cocktails, some of them have basic decorations like slices of fruit or even whipped cream. Regina uses Ice Beam to freeze the drinks themselves or add frost to the top of the glass. When Jaskier doesn't need her, she goes around putting straws in the glasses with her beak.

At the end, they both bow for the camera with a flourish. Full detailed performance here.

(frozen comment) Homemade biscuits and butter!

[braveloyalhugs]

Character name: Scorpia
Pokemon partner: Spring the Gogoat
Pokemon move used: modified Milk Drink, Vine Whip, and Bulldoze
Description:
Scorpia and Spring start with milking (the modified Milk Drink, probably at least twice to get enough) to get the fresh milk! The cream is skimmed off, put in jars and shook by Scorpia and Spring (with Vine Whip) until it starts solidifying into butter. The buttermilk is poured off and collected, Scorpia adds a little salt to the fresh butter, and they start on the biscuits. Scorpia does the mixing, using the buttermilk collected from the butter making (but premade butter, because there won't be enough of Spring's butter to spread on the warm biscuits if used to make the biscuits too!), and Spring helps fold and flatten the dough out (with Bulldoze) for cutting into biscuits! Afterward, they're baked and ta-dah! Fresh butter and warm biscuits to put it on! And some fresh chilled skimmed milk to drink too! Yum!

For fun, I rolled to see how things came out and got 19 on both butter making and biscuit making.

(frozen comment)

[breakyourlife]

Character name: Steve Palchuk [breaksyourlife]
Pokemon partner: Bessie the Miltank
Pokemon move used: Milk Drink, Seismic Toss, Fling
Description:

This is it. All this time that Steve's been forced to fend for himself? It's finally paying off. He's by no means a master chef, but if something can be made easily over a camp fire? He can probably make it passably. On today's menu we have pancakes, and his partner chef is (of course) Bessie the Miltank

To start with they will be putting flour, baking powder, sugar, and just a pinch of salt into a bowl. Bessie adds the pre-measured (though not pre-sieved, does sieving even matter?) ingredients into a bowl while Steve stirs them together. With the dry ingredients sorted, it's time to move onto the next step.

Steve adds the eggs, fresh butter from MooMoo Farms, and... at first it looks as though they're missing a vital ingredient. Thankfully that's not the case! It just happens to be time for their first Pokémon move. Bessie will be using Milk Drink to provide them with the milk they need for the recipe. Straight into the bowl! It's probably not the exact amount they needed, but all things considered it's impressively close. Bessie is good. Once again, Steve is on mixing duty. It's a good job they were using such an oversized bowl since things still manage to get pretty messy. Luckily, Bessie is on standby with a silicone spatula to scrape most of it off any surfaces it's landed on to lick it up. Don't worry, this is her personal spatula and is definitely not being used in any of the cooking. She just hates to see perfectly good batter go to waste.

After an extremely thorough beating from Steve, the mix is free of lumps and ready for cooking! Steve lights up the stove, while Bessie adds a couple of lumps of butter to a large frying pan she then places onto the heat. Once the butter is hot enough Steve carefully pours the mixture into three little pools in the pan. Bessie appears to be on stovetop duty, her usually distant gaze now attentive as she watches the pancakes. He tongue emerges to lick her lips a few times, enjoying the scent wafting up from their pan. Once the bottoms seem to be ready Steve loosens them with the flipper, standing back as he waits for Bessie to perform her magic. She's been ready for this moment since the first sizzle of batter hitting the pan. She nods, rubbing her front hooves together as she prepares herself...

...for a very (very) reigned in version of Seismic Toss. Will this work? Is this anywhere near a good idea? It seems they'll have to wait to find out since those pancakes wind up seismic tossed right into Bessie's waiting mouth.

"Wha--!" Steve is horrified. This is not how this was supposed to go. "They aren't even ready!"

The plan has gone off script at this point, but that's okay. Bessie knows she can get away with just about anything thanks to her charm. And no, that isn't another move. Steve just can't stay mad at that face. It doesn't take him long to calm down. He ruffles the fur between her horns with a resigned sigh.

"I guess I couldn't ask you to work on an empty stomach, huh?"

Take two goes a little more smoothly. Unsurprisingly, even a small Seismic Toss is not the neatest way to flip a pancake. Still. It works. Sort of. And so does the next batch. And the next. Soon they have a towering stack of pancakes. It's kind of wonky and there are definitely some burnt patches, but it looks edible if not entirely appetizing. At last it's time for the final touches! Steve squirts a frankly horrifying amount of Mrs Butterfree's syrup over the pancakes, and then it's back to Bessie to Fling on some delicious berries. Perfect!

(frozen comment) Tasty ...fruit and nut mix?

[copykiri]

Character name: Kiri
Pokemon partner: Farfetch'd
Pokemon move used: Cut
Description:
Kiri comes in with her feathered headband and fake wings on, and mostly imitates her Farfetch'd vocally during the contest. They spend most of the time climbing on the shelves and poking into the giant fridges with each other, honestly, but eventually do come back to a cooking station. Kiri pulls out a bowl and starts adding seeds, raisons, berries and small nuts. Farfetch'd uses Cut to chop up fruits like apple and pear and banana, and to reduce some larger nuts into smaller pieces. Kiri then mixes those in the bowl! And then adds a little bit of honey and she and Farfetch'd take turns mixing some more. Then they scoop it out and roll it into little cakes and put it on a plate. The result is just a little bit sticky, but crunchy, nutty, and sweet!

Rolled a natural 20, so Kiri's creation tastes exceptional, even if it might not rightly count as 'cooked.'

(frozen comment)

[zukeini]

Character name: Zuke
Pokemon partner: Kirlia
Pokemon move used: Calm Mind
Description:

Zuke was always the responsible one. When he lived with his big brother, he did the cleaning and made the meals. When he was in college, he did the cleaning and made the meals. When he met Mayday and they became a band...yeah.

There was a calm in the bustle and the hustle.

Zuke was working with many bowls and many spices being grounded and applied to various blends with mortars. Vegetables and meats were being chopped left and right with a gentle ease of knives. The air was filled with the aroma of the spices. Garam masala. Cinnamon. Clove. Turmeric. Cardamom. Ginger.

A tune was in the air with Zuke humming a little song, with his Kirlia matching the tune. They were in sync. They matched the same joy in their singing along the way. The chaos around them didn’t matter. They were just here in this moment and trying to make their own spin on these dishes.

A Malaysian red curry with coconut. Cilantro lime rice. Or if you hate cilantro: turmeric rice pilaf with raisins. Fried plantains. Mango pudding.

A colorful platter was laying out in front of them, and honestly...this team was just having fun. The Kirlia’s Calm Mind was meant to bring everyone together to hopefully enjoy this food they were working on.

(frozen comment) Dimitri and Fried Bread and Fried Bread and Fried Bread and Rat

[nastyboy]

Character name: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd
Pokemon partner: Hob the Raticate
Pokemon move used: Quick Attack, Tail Whip, and every variation of using Them Teeth she possibly can (Bite, Hyper Fang, Crunch)
Description: Dimitri approaches his cooking without any particular rush. This is because Dimitri isn't making anything, like.... particularly difficult. He's just...

He's just making variations of fried bread.

Lots, and lots of variations of fried bread.

Regularly fried bread, best eaten immediately warm for max comforting effect. Fried bread with chopped up veggies and different dressings or sour cream. Fried bread dusted with sugar and fruits. Fried bread stuffed with apples or nuts or whatever else he decided to experiment with. Fried bananas get tossed onto a couple of plates for various sweet options.

Again: you have him here for six hours. He's going to be idly experimenting a lot.

Hob the Raticate is helping as well! Her use of Quick Attack is mainly used for her to zip around the kitchen at lightning speed, fetching ingredients or tools as the need requires. Sometimes she shows off a little bit as well, twisting around people's feet, rolling when she doesn't need to and is sure she can get away with it.

When she's not running around, however, she's at Dimitri's side helping with the actual cooking process. And yes, she does in fact make sure to wash her little rat hands and feet as Dimitri lifts her up to the sink before ever touching ingredients for cooking time.

During those occasions, she helps with the preparation of the various ingredients. Certain dry ingredients get mixed up in plastic bags and are treated to Hob's Tail Whip to get them all mixed together. And for other ingredients...

So. The use of Hob's Hyper Fang for things like, say, watermelon and pumpkin are totally fine. Gotta crack those hard shells open somehow, right? But at some point, there's a moment where Dimitri can be seen idly trying to hook something up in Hob's wide open mouth and...

...So. Dimitri wants to use Hob's mouth for cutting and peeling. So what he's done. is that. he's hooked up a plastic bag to rest in her mouth. So that when she Bites or Crunches something, or they peel something along her teeth, it doesn't fall into her gullet, but is instead collected.

Are people down for eating that? Don't worry about it! Don't. Worry. About. It.. If anyone asks Dimitri about this particular cooking choice, he just stares for a moment as Things Happen inside his skull, before casually asking, "Is water from an aquatic Palien saliva or water, and would you drink it?"

And then he goes back to cooking while leaving that particularly question hanging in the air.

When he's not cooking, however, he does seem to keep going to fellow cooks he might recognize and the... camera crew? He keeps handing over early attempts at his fried bread, quietly explaining that they looked hungry and six hours is a long time.

Any interviewing attempts are rather plain and straightforward otherwise - this is what he's making, this is Hob - but he wakes up a little when explaining things such as how his maroon sweater and shield-shaped brooch are from people very close to him, and he wishes he could be feeding them as he cooks.

Also, he will at some point admit that Hob is trying to show off for another Raticate named Cofgodas, and impress her.

But otherwise? Get ready for so much fried bread, made by one man and his rat.

(frozen comment) Human and Pokemon edible fruit filled Poffins (with whipped cream!)

[insidegalra]

Character name: Thace
Pokemon partner: Vruli the tiny Exploud
Pokemon move used: Pound, Fire Fang, Whirlpool
Description:
Thace is unusually tall, and Vruli is unusually small so they make an odd pair! They do everything together, even if there are no actual Pokemon moves apparent at the start. It's also clearly just a slightly modified Poffin recipe.

Things start deviating from standard Poffins towards the end. Vruli gets out several bowls, and with carefully controlled Pound and Fire Fang crushes up berries and other juicy fruits (one batch appears to be made from dried fruits and nuts, and does the one batch have hot peppers in it?!?) while gently simmering the extra liquid out of the juice until they're basically compotes!

The batter is poured into Poffin molds until they're about half full and just a little bit of the compote added to each with more batter poured on top. While the Poffins are baking, Vruli takes out chilled cream and uses Whirlpool instead of an electric mixer to whip it and some sugar into a fluffy whipped cream!

Thace arranges the poffins by their flavors (dry, sweet, spicy, sour, bitter) on plates with a dollop of whipped cream on each and a couple of berries/fruits that make up the filling on the plate too, as a garnish. Half of the sweet plate mysteriously disappears (spoilers: Vruli ate them while his back was turned) but the rest is presented beautifully to the judges!

Rolled a 22 for Thace's cooking attempt!

(frozen comment) Cue the quiche!

[paladinlost]

Character name: Cecil Harvey
Pokemon partner: Lightbringer the Aegislash
Pokemon move used: Cut, Rock Smash, Fury Cutter, Slash, Sacred Sword
Description: Wearing matching moon-patterned aprons and smiling at the cameras, Cecil and Lightbringer get started on their meal: a lovely quiche with a homemade crust!

While Cecil sets the oven and mixes eggs and ice water in a bowl, Lightbringer gets started on the butter. As the recipe recommends cutting it in small cubes, he gets good use out of that Cut HM of his. Once that's done, he turns towards two mortars, one filled with chunks of sea salt and the other with black peppercorns. Rock Smash once, Rock Smash twice, and both find themselves ground to dust. (The mortars themselves are intact. The first one on which he tried this move years ago was not so lucky.) The mortar containing the salt is pushed towards Cecil, while the second is set aside.

Cecil adds the majority of the sea salt to the flour he put in a food processor and mixes them quickly. The cubes of butter join them soon enough, followed by the egg and water mixture. As he mixes all that, Lightbringer chops a few slices of pre-cooked ham with Fury Cutter, setting it next to the pepper.

The crust dough is ready, so it is now time to spread and prep it! Lightbringer dumps a tasselful of flour on a board so Cecil can get started on the rolling. The trainer carefully sets and pushes it in his pan, before stepping aside so his Pokémon can Slash the extra dough off the rim. Pan and crust are then put in the fridge, chilling until they're needed. Out of the scraps of dough, Lightbringer "draws" a smiley face; Cecil does not hide his smile.

Once again, Cecil mixes. Even more eggs, some milk, what remains of the sea salt and all the ground pepper: all the bases of a good quiche. Lightbringer takes this opportunity to grab green onions, mushrooms, red pepper and spinach. Those vegetables stand no chance against an impressively controlled Sacred Sword, leaving behind surprisingly even pieces.

As the crust is not quite chilled enough yet, this is the perfect time for a cleaning interlude... and for a discreet high-five.

The moment it becomes cold enough, the crust is taken out of the fridge and filled with the chopped ham, the sliced vegetables and a cup of shredded cheese. Cecil then pours his eggs mixture over the result, and Lightbringer adds half a cup of cheese on top.

Forty minutes of baking follow. Cecil takes this oportunity to clean, and to answer any questions. The smiley dough face remains untouched.

(frozen comment) Sweet and Meat Buns for everyone!

[freckledarcher]

Character name: Ashe Ubert
Pokemon partner: Ky the Piplup
Pokemon move used: Pound
Description: Ashe has been cooking since he was old enough to help his parents in their restaurant. He helped with meal duty back home too that being in the kitchen feels like second nature to him. Ashe makes the dough first adding water, flour, a pinch of salt, and yeast into a bowl. Once the bread is ready to be kneaded he handed it to Piplup who uses pound on the dough. When Piplup is finish, Ashe takes the dough and separates it for different buns. Every time Piplup uses pound on the dough, Ashe takes it and separates it until he has twenty buns ready to be filled, ten for sweet things, and ten for meat buns. While Ashe gets the eggs ready for the custard filling Piplup helps by checking on the buns and handing Ashe the ingredients he needs when he asks for them.

Ashe places eggs, milk, sugar, butter, flour, and cornstarch into a bowl. While he gets the custard filling ready, Piplup goes get the ingredients for the meat buns. After he finished stirring the custard filling, he starts putting together the custard buns. He places the custard filling in the middle of the bun then hands to Piplup to press close. When they're finished Ashe places the buns in the oven and high fives Piplup. Ashe sets the timer for the buns then goes off to get the meat ready for the meat buns.

Piplup grabs the meat and carries it over to Ashe.

"Do you need some help?" Ashe asked.

Piplup chirped angrily, Ashe laughed and held up his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright I'll let you handle it."

Piplup chirped happily and continued carrying the ground beef over to the counter. Ashe is using three packages which Piplup carried over while Ashe checks on the sweet buns. Piplup chirps when he finished, Ashe gives him a thumbs up before he goes grab the skillet. Ashe places the ground beef and some spices to the bowl. Ashe places plastic coverings over Piplup's flippers and gives him the bowl of meat to use pound to mash it while Ashe gets the skillet ready. When Piplup finishes Ashe takes the plastic off his flippers and throws them away.

"Okay, I'll take the bowl, you tell me if the sweet buns are almost ready to come out." Ashe grabs the bowl while Piplup checks on the sweet buns. He walks back to Ashe as he chirps and shakes his head.

"Alright when we're finished the meat the sweet buns should be done." Ashe continues to cook the meat on the oven while Piplup checks the oven, making sure it doesn't overcook. When the timer goes off Piplup chirps and runs over to Ashe to tug on his pants leg. Ashe smiles as he cuts off the high heat. "Great! Let get those buns out and get these buns ready."

Piplup chirps happily, he goes along with Ashe to take the sweet buns out of the oven. He places the sweet bun pan to the side to cool then goes back to putting together the meat buns. They goes through the same system with Ashe placing meat in the middle of the dough then Piplup closing it with a lighter version of pound. When the buns are finish, Ashe places them in the oven. Piplup chirps happily and goes with Ashe to plate the sweet buns. He places the sweet buns in the middle. Piplup chirps at Ashe and points to the camera. Ashe gives a quick sheepish smile as he waves. He didn't realize the camera is there, he gets into the zone when he's cooking, however Piplup loves the camera. He chirps happily and points at the plate of sweet buns on the counter.

When the meat buns finish Ashe places them on a circle around the sweet buns. The meat buns are along the outside with the sweet ones in the middle. When Ashe finishes he takes off his apron, Piplup gets on the counter next to the plate, he chirps while Ashe goes, "Ta-da!"

He hoped that looked good for the camera.

(frozen comment) Pika Pika Pudding, Japanese-style

[forsaintcecilia]

Character name: Kazuki Hihara
Pokemon partner: Montblanc the Alcremie
Pokemon move used: Sweet Scent, Helping Hand, Decorate

Description: The moment the call went out, Montblanc came to Kazuki to begin planning their dish. Sticky was happy simply to help practice, since he'd already had his moment in the limelight. After some back and forth, they decided on something a little different to stand out, but was still familiar enough to Kazuki that he understood how it was supposed to turn out. The recipe was simple, and relied on the quality of the ingredients and the care with which they were prepared.

Before beginning, Montblanc perfumes the air with her special Sweet Scent. It's lovely an appetizing, like vanilla and warm sugar, and complements the recipe they've chosen. Then, she uses Helping Hand with Kazuki to help get them both in sync.

They start by making simple sugar cookies in the shape of Pikachu's ears and tail. Montblanc reserves the eggs from the batter to ensure that they come out with clean lines and don't spread too much, and adds some yellow food coloring. They made cookie cutters in advance to make sure the shape was perfect!

While the cookies were baking, and then after they cool, they began to prepare some sides to decorate the dish. To begin, homemade tsubuan, chunky red bean paste.

It's easy to make! First, you boil red beans once to remove the strong flavor. Then you strain, and boil again for about an hour, until the bean is soft. Then you stir in sugar, a little bit of salt, and mash the beans roughly. Montblanc keeps some of the beans perfect and unmashed to garnish the paste.

Then, homemade maraschino cherries. Choose firm, bright-red cherries, pit them, and jar them in a sugar solution flavored with almond and vanilla extracts. Freshly jarred cherries are still crunchy, it's a delightful texture!

Finally, caramel sauce. Heat sugar and water in equal parts in a pan, and stop cooking it just when the solution begins to turn an amber color, as it will continue to darken when it is taken off of the heat. The pudding dish Kazuki pours it into is reversed-- the wide part is on the bottom and the narrower part is on the top, so the top of the pudding will be nice and yellow instead of brown from the sauce.

Now for the pudding! Use full-fat Moo Moo Milk and the best eggs you can get your hands on for the richest flavor. In one bowl, mix eggs, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Then, bring the milk to a bare simmer on the stovetop, and very, very slowly, pour it into the egg mixture. Make sure to keep stirring! This will temper the eggs so they don't curdle. Pass the mixture through a sieve as you pour it into the pudding dish (caramel already on the bottom) to make sure it's silky smooth.

To cook the pudding, bring some water to a simmer in a frying pan, place a towel in the bottom, and place the pudding dish on top of that. The towel will keep the dish steady. Place a lid on the pan and simmer for about five minutes (since this is a large dish of pudding) then turn the heat off and let everything sit for another fifteen minutes. Then refrigerate.

Right before serving, make some whipped cream. Montblanc uses gelatin to make sure the cream stays stiff and keeps its shape! Pipe the whipped cream into a shallow serving dish, then turn the pudding out on top of the whipped cream!

Now it's time of Montblanc to shine! Use Decorate!

With the cookies, tsubuan, and Maraschino cherries, along with other canned fruits (and a beautiful slice of honeydew melon!) Montblanc decorates with around the pudding with precise care. The cookies are nestled just so, and using a stencil, she sifts some cocoa powder on top of the pudding to make a Pikachu's friendly face.

完成! Montblanc checks the presentation from several angles, and is finally satisfied. The judges should enjoy it right away to properly experience all the different textures!

[ooc: Kazuki talks to the judges and other contestants here!]

(frozen comment) I have a slightly modified version of this that's actually drinkable

[uber_marionettist]

Character name: Dirk Strider
Pokemon partner: Carnivine
Pokemon move used: Swords Dance+Power Whip, Wring Out, Gastro Acid, Cut (which barely counts, lbr)
Description: For the sake of sanity, let's just lay out what Dirk is making before we get into how he and his Carnivine are preparing it.

The recipe, roughly, looks like this:

Palmful of oysters (raw and whole, but they blend)
2x Raw eggs (+ shell, Power Whip'd into powder)
1x Bananas (Cut, with peel.... which are EXTREMELY nutritious, and supposedly they're less bad if you boil them but Dirk refuses)
1 cup Strawberries (with tops, they're good for you)
1/4 cup fresh Lemon juice (Wring Out... or store bought is fine)
1 cup Blueberries (they're good for you!)
1/4 cup Pomegranate seeds
2 cups Spinach
1 cup Kale
Turmeric (preferably extract but he didn't see any in Riegfried and Soy's kitchen, so Fermat uses Gastro Acid on a LOT of the actual spice to reduce it.... you know, instead of just dumping so much powdered turmeric in that it becomes a solid. You're welcome, judges)
5 whole walnuts (NOT with shells, just the Nut)
Ginger
2 cloves garlic
Ice
4 cups Coconut water


This is Dirk's idea of a nutritious breakfast smoothie.... and in his defence, it is extremely nutritious. A lot of the steps are usually not done with Pokemon (for egg shell powder, sane people can bake them and then use a coffee grinder!) but it turns out that Carnivine is a real multipurpose kitchen buddy.

Dirk's Pokemon buddy is Fermat, his Carnivine. A particularly blank-faced, smiley specimen of the species, Fermat doesn't blink and has wide staring eyes, meaning he's basically a muppet in foliage form.

And his preferred position is hanging out on Dirk's vack, with his tendril-like roots wrapped around Dirk's arms, shoulders, and torso, kind of like a reverse marionette.

For this Contest, the two of them really play this up--if you didn't know better, you might believe Dirk really WAS being puppeted by the Pokemon. Actually, there are times when this is even true--Dirk lets Fermat have the 'reins' when using moves, for example. Also, Dirk can't really walk unaided because of his cast, but Fermat's Ability is Levitate, so...........

As far as sabotage goes, Dirk and Fermat are pretty low-key. Fermat can't be blamed for using the highly distracting Sweet Scent when he usually smells pretty bad, right? It's just basic courtesy. And if ingredients go missing (into Fermat's mouth) or a crunchy fragment or two of egg shell gets flung into someone else's mixing bowl during the admittedly EXTREMELY intense (if tightly focused) Swords Dance-boosted Power Whip of egg shell into powder, that's just cooking with Pokemon, amirite?

Anyway, this drink won't kill anyone unless they have an allergy, and Dirk performs a rap that I don't have time to compose but which (if you're able to suss it out in the wordy improv) reveals this whole thing is actually his preferred breakfast 7 days a week.... so that's something to chew on.

(frozen comment) ANCIENT CHEESECAKE...

[seacub]

Character name: Emporio Alniño
Pokemon partner: Yamask...Unnamed Baby!
Pokemon move used: Astonish (technically), Protect, Endure
Description:

[[OOC - Shout out to Bii for showing me there's a 2000 year old CHEESECAKE out there enjoy it]]

When Emporio enters the cooking hall, he seems cheery, if not nervous. Maybe it's a bit endearing, for all of the five seconds it takes for any interviewers to realize he's coming in with a yamask.

The yamask, notably, seems to very firmly be hiding under their mask- Emporio treats it with care.

They get to the table. Maybe have a little interview before they even start.

'So Emporio is it? And who's this little guy?'

"This is...well, so far none of the names I tried are sticking? they're pretty sure about it...We'll find something though! They only hatched yesterday so-"

'Yesterday!?'

That's right- Emporio's yamask is infantile. They have three moves to their name, and no added TM moves: Protect, Endure, and Astonish.

"Yep. They seemed really excited about this though and-"

Astonish.

"AH-"

The Yamask has launched itself at Emporio's face. The mask is firmly glued in place.

All is silent. And-

"This kitchen is strange and too metal, but it will do."

And apparently Emporio is possessed! Proving the theory that Yamask are carrying the masks of their past lives, this one's apparently got roots in cooking- and they're extremely eager to get right back to it! Immediately, tools are in hand, and Yama-Emporio is on it.

Those versed in dead languages may stand a chance of understanding what Yamask keeps muttering as they go.

"The milk is not fresh. Why is it cold? This needs to be warmed."

Protect, notably, is being used in tandem with Endure as Yamask pilots very unprotected hands against very hot metals. Somehow, he's not getting burned.

Also, some other competitor tried to discretely throw something at the pot of milk only for it to bounce off the Protect. Nice one, Yamask!

Milk, and acid (lemon juice), all of them stubbornly pre-warmed before Yama-Emporio mixes them together for curdled milk. Then, it's into a cheesecloth bowl- that's right, it's CHEESE time.

"There was something called 'Cream Cheese', in the fridge. Useless- only trust cheese you have made with your bare hands, or perhaps borrowed."

The cheese is made. The cheese is in the bowl. Emporio reaches for the sugar-

And proceeds to end up lightly smacking himself in the face. "NO! WE ARE NOT USING THIS....WHITE CHALK DUST! I do not trust its taste! Honey! Honey!!"

Honey is being used for the sweetening. Quite a lot too. Some eggs as well...and... "Hm. Eggs are...larger I think? I will use fewer of these..."

Soon enough, it's cheesecake time!

Only one thing is left to put across the top, namely seeds and nuts, but during the wait and clean-up, Yamask has some comments suffice to say.

"The changes in cooking tools is impressive, but frivolous. I tried to make use of the 'powered mixer', but hand mixing has the only proper result. I considered pastry, but your flour is dead and pale, like clouds, so I don't want it in my food."

....Or something.

Eventually, Protected Hands are setting up the cheese cake however- and boy does it smell good! It's a simple thing, but hey.

"I have done all I can. Your ingredients have changed, too much I think."

The mask falls off. "PhUUAAAAAH..." Emporio needs a bit of a moment. "Hahhh...I feel like I sleep-baked..."

"Y...yama..."

"Oh wow, it looks a lot better now that I can see it without the mask on..."

"Yamaaaaaaa..." Is Yamask blushing a bit with pride? Hard call.

(frozen comment) claudia has never made wagashi before but she's made homemade playdough

[ohmylord]

Character name: Claudia Kishi
Pokemon partner: Janine the Azumarill
Pokemon move used: Helping Hand, Water Gun
Description: Claudia's segment starts with her staring at the kitchen scale and then at a sheet of paper with a thoughtful frown. She sighs and turns to her bespectacled Azumarill, Janine, "Ugh. I hate having to figure out percents." Janine shakes her... well, she's shaped like an egg, so really she shakes her entire body before taking the pencil from Claudia and writing something down.

Claudia grins at her.

She takes the first bowl off the scale--which has some sort of white paste in it--and puts another bowl on, which she starts to fill with white powder as she talks.

"When I was a little girl, tea with my Grandmother, Mimi, was a really special thing we shared. Usually we'd just have normal snacks, but a handful of times we had these fancy, squishy things with bean paste in them. They're supposed to be traditional Japanese sweets? Anyway, I've always thought they were really pretty and I'm pretty good at sculpting things, so I thought I'd try them for this!"

Using Helping Hand to stay in sync with each other, Claudia and Janine prepare the sweets dough together, first mixing the rice flour and sugar with water courtesy of a very precisely measured Water Gun, then mixing it with the white paste from the first bowl. After dumping the mixture onto a damp tea towel (also courtesy of Water Gun), Claudia starts to knead it until it's smooth.

She sets those aside brings out another bowl with a reddish brown kind of paste, then pulls out a tin of cocoa. "These are supposed to have red bean paste in them, but I thought we could add some cocoa to the paste to make it taste more familiar for people." She measures out some cocoa, just eyeballing it without math, then has Janine start kneading the cocoa into the bean paste.

While Janine kneads, Claudia divides the dough into smaller balls, each of which she dyes with food coloring. The two biggest ones are blue and white.

By the time Janine has finished kneading cocoa into red bean paste, Claudia's ready to get to work on the sweet. She wraps a ball of the cocoa/bean paste in some of the dough, then starts sculpting the outside. The dough seems fairly easy to shape.

By the end, she has a line of little sculpted sweets that all look like Azumarills, just like Janine.

(Sadly, if you bite into them, you'll find that Claudia got the cocoa to red bean paste ratio wrong, so the centers taste... kinda funny, but at least they look cute!)

(frozen comment) Everything Curry, also known as Dubious Food

[vrdantwind]

Character name: Claude von Riegan
Pokemon partner: Blitz the Noibat
Pokemon move used: Whirlwind, Air Cutter, Double Team, Air Slash
Description: Claude has decided to make authentic Almyran curry!

Well. Almyran curry.

...I mean, it's technically Almyran. The end result may only be loosely defined as 'curry'.

Having had curry with Felix from a nice restaurant in Azalea Town, and finding it delicious and indeed familiar to Almyran dishes Claude's had at home, it was only natural he'd want to make it here! Spicy food is the best food. And Claude is not inherently a bad cook. He's cooked up poisons before which should NOT COUNT AS COOKING EXPERIENCE OH GOD CLAUDE PLEASE and he's definitely helped in the kitchen at the monastery! And he'd watched his food be prepared quite often back home in Almyra, or in Derdriu - you know, to make sure no one poisoned it.

The problem is that Claude is a very experimental cook, and without Byleth (or anyone else) around to rein him in at all, it's very easy for his urge to try new things to get out of hand. Which, when presented with fridges and a pantry full of a greater variety of food than he's ever had at his disposal before, including some foods he's never even heard of, means that Claude is about to make an Everything But The Kitchen Sink curry.

Blitz the Noibat is Claude's willing accomplice to these culinary crimes. He chops things at Claude's direction with Air Slash, makes an impromptu airborne blender more than once with a combination of Whirlwind and Air Cutter (listen, Claude doesn't know how to use the fancy appliances - Blitz is more reliable, and also provides a flashy show!) while his trainer catches most of the falling chunks in bowls, and seems almost to be able to do two things at once with Double Team! And, really, he needs to be able to, because Claude can't seem to stop coming up with things to try and new ingredients he wants to add. Really, his trainer is a whirlwind all his own, but Blitz seems to be having just as much fun as Claude is.

The saffron rice served with Claude's curry is actually quite good. Claude knew enough to keep that basic, in order to be a counterpoint to the curry, and he's not actually ignorant of the right way to cook things. But the curry itself...well, for starters, it's blue, because Claude discovered food coloring and no one stopped him. It's a questionable texture(more pasty than creamy), and full of chunks of unidentifiable foods, which only really ever harmonize with the flavor of curry by accident if any of them do. Because there's so many additives, the texture of any given chunk is a total surprise as well. One may be taro root, another may be starfruit. It's a gamble with every bite! The curry flavor itself is...savory, at least, which is a blessing, although the random chunks you get with any bite means who knows what general flavor profile you're getting.

Oh, and has it been mentioned that the curry is scorchingly spicy? No pepper was safe.

If nothing else, no one can say that Claude's kitchen - and his results - haven't been entertaining.

[Kiri gave me the idea to roll a d20 to see if Claude's experiments were accidentally successful, and he rolled a 4, so you can extrapolate from there.]

(frozen comment) January is great for Ice Cream Cakes sHUT-

[insidescoop]

Character name: Carly Nagisa
Pokemon partner: Solitaire the Vulpix
Pokemon move used: Powder Snow, Icy Wind, Aurora Beam, Dazzling Gleam, Tail Whip, Tackle
Description:
Carly's work is familiar. Cute. ...Kinda basic? This pattern might work against her, but hey, if it aint broke don't fix it right?

Being so familiar with assisting Carly in the kitchen, Solitaire knows precisely what to be doing as her trainer works. The first thing she does is whip up a localized powder snow, filling a basin with the soft snowy white. Carly herself then begins to add various fruity ingredients- all while Solitaire uses Icy Wind to keep the basin from thawing out.

The basin is then sealed, and more importantly, set between a little something Carly's cobbled together using two pots full of cold water, and some rolling pins. Balancing the canister on them, with the pots holding it in place, she cheerfully tells Solitaire that it's ready for a jog!

And jog she does! Solitaire uses the basin of ice and fruit rather like a treadmill while Carly works up on something else- specifically, a cookie crust! Most of the work here is from Carly- crushing the cookies, melting some marshmallows and butter to get it all held together...once it's all spread out on a sheet though, she lays it not far from Solitaire.

"Okie-dokie! It's ready for you now!"

"Vul!!" Hopping from her treadmill, she quickly sends forward a small aurora beam- followed by a dazzling gleam to give it a bit of sparkle! A bit of tail whip to help really flatten it down, and Carly has all she needs.

"Alright~! Let's get this cake put together!"

The ice cream- now a lovely fruity flavor- is scooped out and carefully tackled into shape alongside Carly's own careful spoon-beating, with the cookie crust in the middle, and on the bottom as well. A bit more ice cream is wrapped around the side, like a frosting layer. Lastly though...

Another Dazzling Gleam, to get some sparkle to it!

"Perfect! Oh, hey there!"

And then. Well. Middle of an interview, showing off the now 'finished' cake...

Carly turns only to choke. "S-SOLITAIRE..!!"

"Vul?"

The cake is...not so seamless anymore, not with a few paw prints littering it. The vulpix is hurriedly scooped off. "Oh...oh shoot...maybe it'll add character?? ...Hauuuuhhhh..."

W e l p.

(frozen comment) whomp whomp jojo rolled four when i did this

[standless]

Character name: Jonathan Joestar
Pokemon partner: Blake the Arcanine
Pokemon move used: Ember, Helping Hand, Crunch, Burn Up
Description:
Oh no.

Oh goddog.

Jonathan and Erina have taken turns cooking for a while- almost always over a campfire. But ultimately, their dishes on their own are great.

But here's the thing.

This? This is BLAKE'S time to shine. Blake, much like many of the pokemon, have always wanted to help....sort of. With their own way. Blake being a massive arcanine capable of carrying his 6'5'' mountain of a trainer, that's generally been determined to be a Bad Idea.

But not today.

Oh, not today.

They shall be making a pudding- in the British Sense of course. Specifically, Jonathan has decided that he and Blake are going to work together to make something called 'Apple Cheese'!

There is no Cheese in the Apple Cheese.

Also, due to the fact that fruits are a little trickier to get just right here, and also because Jonathan openly declares that their meal will be for pokemon to consume, there are no Apples in the Apple Cheese.

Fret not about it.

Ordinarily a delightful dessert, things start off relatively alright. Various ingredients are getting boiled, Blake eagerly using his lightest of Embers to heat it up. Jonathan lets him try his hand at stirring, the stick awkwardly held within the beast's teeth- it's perhaps a good thing that Blake knows Helping Hand, even if the only hands being helped are probably Jonathan's.

Of course, then it's an exercise of patience. "It needs to cool, so don't touch it Blake..."

"RrrRrrnrrrr..."

"Careful now, come on..."

"RRrrr...RRRUrRrururrrr...."

Eventually it pays off. Carefully it's scooped into a mold, and set into the fridge. And once removed from the fridge sometime later, it's time for decoration!

"Alright Blake! Crunch!"

And Crunch, Blake does! Shattering numerous nuts all over the 'Apple Cheese'!

"Burn Up!" A fruit is seared as it's tossed, before landing upon the top of the Apple Cheese!

Great! Delightful!

...

"So this is 'Apple Cheese?'"

"Yes! It's for the pokemon, not for any trainers however, I should warn!"

"I see, I see...then all this orange must be the cheese?"

Jonathan blinks at the interviewer's questions. "Oh! Actually, there's no cheese at all in 'Apple Cheese'! I could also not locate any proper apples..."

....hm.

There's a curious amount of orange and yellowed strands all through the 'Apple Cheese'...

...

Blake shakes himself, and scratches at his neck, a few similarly coloured bits of fur shedding off.

...

It's probably fine.

(frozen comment) A simple Mushroom Fettuccine... but watch out!

[epitaffio]

Character name: Vinegar Doppio
Pokemon partner: Rosso the Parasect
Pokemon move used: Fury Cutter, Spore, Aromatherapy
Description: Doppio is no professional chef (and I can't cook), but he knows how to feed himself probably better than certain people he shares bodily real estate with. And his presence here will probably strengthen his alibi for... later, so here he is, with his trusty Parasect (who he's put a little hat on, because the blank eyes still wig him out a bit and he figures it might look better on camera that way)!

His recipe is simple, but it's easy to see what the twist is even as he's just beginning: along with the olive oil, garlic and herbs, he adds two Tiny Mushrooms delicately and humanely harvested from Rosso on the spot. Rosso helps by finely slicing them with Fury Cutter!... Although his touch gets a little sloppy on the last few slices. Then, before the mushrooms are set to cook, Rosso also adds a dash of Spore. You know, the stuff that puts Pokémon to sleep? That Spore.

In the meantime, Doppio boils the fettuccine, and... Rosso adds another dash of Spore to the pasta. This isn't Rosso going hogwild or anything; no, this is apparently the plan. Doppio is fine with this. He's nodding and giving him a thumbs-up.

The recipe proceeds in a standard manner, until it's time to add the pasta to the mushrooms. There is just one finishing touch left: Rosso uses... Aromatherapy.

Huh. Is it to counteract any possible negative effects from the Spore, or is it simply to infuse the dish with a soothing aroma? A bit of column A, a bit of column B, perhaps. Doppio wouldn't want people to straight up fall asleep eating his fettuccine, but if they just happened to be a little compliant...

That's the dish, though, ready to serve - even if just two mushrooms don't make for a very large serving! Also I went to random dot org and rolled a 4 out of 20 so God have mercy.

(frozen comment) Mapo Tofu and Cinnamon-Cayenne Ice Cream

[apshot]

Character name: Bakugou Katsuki
Pokemon partner: Typh | Typhlosion
Pokemon move used: Swift, Ember, Defense Curl, Quick Attack
Description:

Bakugou is actually very skilled in the kitchen! Sure, he doesn't look like much coming out with his giant Typhlosion trailing happily behind him but that's not really the point, right? He looks like a cranky teenager and, unfortunately, he isn't going to be the one putting on a show.

He is going to leave that to his partner. First Bakugou will start on the ice cream. Ember is going to be used to heat everything and it's like the pair are very practiced at it with Typh lying there and Bakugou working around her. Of course any time he has to use a pan or a pot or anything that needs to be placed over fire, this is what he uses. There's no need for anything else.

Typh will also be utilizing Defense Curl in breaking and grinding down the peppercorns used in the tofu. Bakugou bags them up prior to save on making a mess.

Swift is probably going to be the flashiest. Bakuou and Typh use this to, surprise, slice and dice! Again this seems to be a practiced sort of thing where Bakugou carelessly will toss tofu and Typh uses Swift to slash it up while using Quick Attack to gather up all the pieces in a bowl.

Over all it should be noted that Bakugou works with an odd single-minded focus. He's not his usual shouty self. He is neat and tidy... Bakugou and his Typhlosion don't even need to verbally communicate to work with one another around the kitchen since they do this all the time.

All in all judges will be presented with a very spice Mapo Tofu and then a sweet/spicy offset with the ice cream. Enjoy!

(frozen comment) if every porkchop were perfect we wouldn't have hot dogs

[cometkin]

Character name: Greg Universe
Pokemon partner: Counting Stars the Clefairy
Pokemon move used: Fire Blast, Safeguard, Pound, Water Pulse
Description: It's really true that every kind of cooking equipment is here. Including a round barbecue grill, which is absolutely what Greg needs for this competition.

"Some... say I have no direction..."

He's singing under his breath as he gathers and assembles his ingredients: buns of two shapes, mustard, ketchup, relish, chopped onions, sliced cheese... he even gets out some pickle slices and snacks on those as he works, occasionally offering some to the little Clefairy that's his partner for this, who he addresses as 'Counting Stars.'

Oh and he gets thick sausages and ground beef too.

Once he gets back and deposits everything on his working surface, that's when he goes back to get the barbecue grill that's been hiding in a corner of the kitchen area. "From the moment the meat hits the flame, my stomach's growling without any shame..." he sings under his breath he pulls it along. That's when he notices the Rotom camera and winks at it.

"Hey there. I'm here to make some good old-fashioned beach barbecue: hot dogs and hamburgers. I thought about doing fries too, but just between you and me, I didn't want to bring down the wrath of Mr Fryman if he showed up and found out I'd been making fries. So I'll just find some potato chips instead once we're done."

Greg layers the charcoal at the bottom of the grill, then places the grille of the grill back on top. Counting Stars slaps a Safeguard on him, only to shortly ignite the charcoal with a Fire Blast that might have otherwise singed off his eyebrows.

Greg starts moving the sausages over to the grille, back to humming the melody of Just a Comet. Meanwhile, Counting Stars is off to the side, using Pound to shape the ground beef into respectable patties.

Greg watches over his sausages, turning them over midway through, before taking them off with a pair of tongs and placing them on a metal sheet. He then starts laying the pounded hamburger patties onto the grill with a spatula. By now he's singing again, "You know I'm not that tall. You know I'm not that smart. But let me drive my van into your heart..."

Greg cooks up the burger patties, flipping them midway, then transfers them onto another metal sheet. While he assembles the burger patties and sausages into hamburgers and hot dogs with a practiced hand, Counting Stars meanwhile uses a brief burst of Water Pulse to extinguish the flames in the barbecue.

Greg finishes it by going to find the potato chips he'd talked about, then placing the hamburgers and hot dogs onto paper plates, one each, filling in the rest of the space on the plate with the potato chips. He looks up at the camera and grins.

"There you go! Good old-fashioned beach barbecue. All we need is a cooler full of ice and some canned soda... huh. Wonder if they have that here too."

As Greg goes in search of said cooler, his segment fades to black.

(When it comes time to taste the hamburgers and hotdogs, Rigfield and Soy will find that they're fairly decent as far as hamburgers and hotdogs go, but nothing out of the ordinary.)

(frozen comment) getchu curry and cake

[philoxenia]

Character name: Mira | philoxenia
Pokemon partner: Selene the Growlithe
Pokemon move used: Bite, Ember, Helping Hand
Description: Mira is pretty confident in the kitchen, but having someone to help her isn't something she's about to pass up! One of her tiny Growlithe seems to be the way to go here. She doesn't do anything flashy, but she does show off a hell of a lot of confidence.

She's making pumpkin curry, as well as a s'mores cake! Selene cuts up the vegetables with Bite... or, rather, she makes them smaller and more workable? She also blasts the pumpkin and vegetables with Ember to add another Layer of flavor to the dish. Selene also gives a Helping Hand, which helps keep Mira focused and also helps her work a little faster.

The curry simmers, helped along by another Ember.... and as for the cake, once that's finished, Selene gives the marshmallows and chocolate on top another dash of Ember to melt both. It looks really pretty--the marshmallows are perfectly toasted, and the chocolate is melted so it runs down the sides--and bonus, it tastes great!

(frozen comment) akane unfortunately is one of the infamous bad cooks of anime/manga

[uncutetomboy]

Character name: Akane Tendo
Pokemon partner: T-chan the Tepig
Pokemon move used: Tail Whip, Rollout
Description: Akane... doesn't actually end up talking to the camera, so intent is she on her cooking. Which seems to be cookies? Probably? Her Tepig, T-chan, is helping her by using Tail Whip to mix the ingredients. At some point she takes out and grates a lemon so she can add its zest to... oh. Oh no. That is not a lemon. Akane, where did you find that?

We have absolutely no idea why a random bit of egg shell landed in the mix at some point, but unfortunately neither Akane nor T-chan noticed until it was too late.

Anyway, after the dough for the cookies is made, T-chan uses Rollout so that he can roll it out thin for her in lieu of a rolling pin, so that Akane can cut out pokemon shapes by hand. Once they're cut out then it's into the oven they go!

The oven is... smoking a little when they finally come out. Which is perhaps not surprising, as these cookies are distinctly singed. There's also tiny little hoofprints on most of them where T-chan accidentally walked over them. Her attempts at pokemon shapes are... well. They all look deformed.

(Poor Rigfield and Soy will discover that not only do the cookies taste horrible--thanks to Akane mixing up salt and sugar yet again--but they're also hard as a rock. Try not to break your teeth, judges! And, uh, sorry about the Sitrus zest.)

Results!

[indigo_league]

It takes a little while to tally all the votes, during which the contestants and guests are kept entertained by their affable hosts, with food and drink a-plenty for those that want to calm their nervous (or just hungry) stomaches.

Eventually, though, it's time! The votes have come in, have been tallied, checked, and re-checked. The envelopes containing the winners' names are handed to Riegfried and Soy by their Incineroar, who is also carrying a box of ribbons -- one bronze, one silver and one gold.

---



Coming in third, showing us that newer isn't always better: EMPORIO ELNINO!

For his lovely cheesecake, we want to reward Emporio not only with the bronze ribbon but also with an all-expenses dinner at THE GOLDEN ONIX in Pewter City. Crown jewel in Pewter City's fine dining scene, we hope you and up to five of your friends will be wow by the house chef. Don't worry, we already took care of the waiting list.

★★★



Coming in second, with cooking more passionate than the fires of Cinnebar Island: KATSUKI BAKUGOU!

For his stunning Mapo Tofu, we want to reward Bakugou not only with the silver ribbon but also with a trip to the Sevii Islands for him and one friend. For five days, the resort on Island One will be your little home away from home. Why not escape all this snow for a bit and go to a place where the sun is always shining?

★★★



And finally, we'd like you to put your hands together for our winner of the evening: JASKIER!

For his dazzling performance and equally dazzling cocktails and snow cones, we'd like to reward him with this contest' golden ribbon, in addition to a week-long, all-expenses-paid trip to Resort Gorgeous on the Sevii islands for him and one companion. Escape this cold and instead enjoy the full range of treatments offered by the resort's spa, dine on fine Kalosian cooking, and let the ever gentle sea-breeze take all your troubles away!

---

But there is one last prize we'd like to give out.

As entertainers, we always like to challenge ourselves to find new and unique ways to dazzle. But we too realize that not every talent can be mastered, just like how not every mountain can be conquered. We've already honoured our winners, but we'd also like to take a moment to honour those that tried their very best and yet were found wanting. There is no shame in failure, for it is only those that dare to try, try and try again, who look failure in the eye and dust themselves off and try again, who will find all that they can truly shine at!

And so, we'd like to reward DIRK STRIDER and CLAUDE VON RIEGAN with our little 'First Cooking Aid' box!

The box contains a small, portable fire extinguisher, a small first aid kit, and a booklet of free meal vouchers from a variety of delivery services. And hopefully next time, it is you two who will shine!

Daytime - The kitchens

[indigo_league]

Jaskier and Regina the Ducklett (so sorry for the tldr)

[rollstoseduce]

[As soon as Jaskier hears about contests, he does his research. The internet is a wonderful thing he's becoming extremely fond of! And what he learns is simple: contests are all about the performance. A show using his Pokémon! It's exactly what's been craving for!

Then why on Melitele's name has to be about cooking?

It's not like he doesn't know how to cook, but it's mostly the basics. Simple stews made from whatever Geralt could hunt, fish or forage, a general knowledge of spices so said stew tastes less bland. It's not something he can exactly make a show out of - because yes, he's still determined to make a show out of this. Just because they've decided the theme must be cooking it doesn't mean it stops being a Pokémon Contest. He shall be the most extra coordinator Johto has ever had the pleasure to behold.

It only takes him some more fooling around the internet to get an idea. It'll keep him busy - or well, busier he already is, with all the projects he already had in mind. Some shopping for clothes and TMs is in order, and certain Pokémon of his is going to need extra training... but it'll be worth it. This is going to be great.

Jaskier shows up at his assigned kitchen aisle wearing a very particular blue suit decorated with snowflakes and frost on the coat's long tail, and anyone watching the whole show will notice the first couple of buttons of his shirt end up undone around the first hour mark. There's no Pokémon in sight, at least not yet, only a Pokéball in his hand - because this is Jaskier, and he must make a scene out of everything, including releasing his companion. There's also a weird sound coming out of his pockets when he moves, almost like... jingling? But that's a surprise for later.

The rules are explained to him, including the whole "this will get edited later" deal, so Jaskier approaches the camera with his best charming smile and says his show has two phases, preparation and actual show, and he'd be very thankful if they could edit it properly so only the show is left. Will they listen? He isn't sure, but it doesn't hurt to try.

The first two hours are, just like Jaskier said, preparation. Taking out the tools, putting them in the right place, choosing ingredients, some peeling and chopping, a bit of mixing. All pretty simple and normal... in fact, some viewers may think it looks too simple. There are no real dishes to be seen, just lots of cups, bottles, chopped fruits, the most complex thing being some stuff being thrown in the blender. Where is the actual food?

Don't worry, dear viewer, Jaskier is finally ready to answer that question.

After retrieving the noisy objects from his pockets (which happen to be two jingle bell bracelets) and putting them on his wrists, he takes his Pokéball and walks to the front of the kitchen, dodging all the clear plastic cups that now cover the floor. He winks at the camera with a charming smile, then throws the Pokéball up in the air as he calls out.]

Let's get this show started, Regina!

[From the Pokéball comes out a lovely Ducklett wearing a cute little choker of her own. She flies two perfect circles above Jaskier before landing on the floor among the plastic cups. She holds her beak up, confident as fuck, waiting for orders.

Jaskier smiles proudly at her and waves his hand with a flourish as he speaks again.] Regina, use Hail!

[The Ducklet looks up and opens her wings, and only a second passes before it starts hailing inside. To be fair, though, it's not normal hail - Jaskier has been reading about contests and how Pokémon are trained to scale down their attacks, so he and Regina have been training to achieve exactly that. So the hail is contained in the area where the plastic cups lay, and the chunks of ice aren't as big - they could almost be considered hardened snowflakes.

Once all the cups are decently full, Jaskier makes a gesture with his hand again.] Regina, Aerial Ace!

[Regina flies as high as the ceiling allows her then comes down at full speed, the slashes of her attack crushing the ice until becomes something close to shaved. While she finishes her job, Jaskier moves to the counter to grab a basket filled with syrup bottles and joins his Pokémon on the middle of the kitchen floor when she's done.]

Ready, my dear?

[With the shaking of the jingle bell bracelets providing some kind of background music, Jaskier starts moving around the cups; feet dancing and hopping as he squeezes the different bottles of syrup that create snowcones as soon as the liquid touches the pseudo-shaved ice.

And during this whole deal he is, of course, singing. Anyone that hears him for two seconds can tell he's a professional - his voice trained and his body used to being on stage.]

♪ In the meadow we can build a snowman / Then pretend that he is Abomasnow / He'll say are you married? We'll say, no man / But you can do the job when you're in town ♪

[A Pokémon version of Winter Wonderland will be sung during the whole show, because obviously Jaskier is sticking to a theme here. And Regina follows him around, also dancing around the cups - while some of her moves are typical of a bird's mating dance, others were obviously taught to her by her trainer.

Now you may be thinking, dear viewer, that's it? Snowcones? Worry not! This just got started.

They move back to the counter next - Regina on top of it, Jaskier behind. He climbs on a stool and grabs the bottles of syrup again, but also some pitchers with juice.]

Regina, Ice Beam!

[Still singing, Jaskier pours the juice and the syrup high from above into tall clear plastic cups, and Regina freezes the liquids with her (also scaled down) Ice Beam, so they've become slushies by the time they hit the bottom of the cups. Once all the cups are full, they move onto the popsicle molds - the trick is the same here, Regina freezes what Jaskier pours, although this time he's using juice with fruit chunks in it or the fruit pulp he prepared in the blender.

For their final act, Jaskier brings out the big guns: alcohol.

Some of the cocktails are rather simple. Mix the drinks, pour into glasses, make Regina frost the top and decorate with fruit. Pretty! Others require a little more work. Jaskier asks Regina to freeze the rosé wine (effectively becoming frosé) while he puts whipped cream on the bottom of a different shaped glass. The frosé is added on top of it, then more whipped cream, some syrup, fruits and mini meringues on top - and it's done! This goes on for a while, with Jaskier singing while preparing a variety of cocktails and Regina dancing on top of the counter as she freezes whatever her trainer needs or putting straws in the cups and glasses with her beak.

When they're finished, Jaskier hurries to the front of the kitchen again, Regina following him closely, and they bow for the camera with a flourish. The grin on Jaskier's face says he's happy with their performances and quite confident in their chances to win, but his ego has always been overinflated. It's up to you to decide if he was good or simply too damn extra for a cooking show, dear viewer!

~The End~

(Now if you excuse him, he can finally go bother other participants~!)]

Evening - The Show

[indigo_league]

Jaskier and Regina the Ducklett | Open

[rollstoseduce]

[Jaskier does freshen up before going to the after-party, but he doesn't change. So he shows up still wearing the same blue suit decorated with snowflakes and frost on the coat's long tail, the first couple of buttons of her shirt undone and Regina the Ducklett perched on his shoulder, wearing her own cute little choker. They both look very pleased with themselves, Jaskier's grin in particular could almost split his face.

If you approach Jaskier during the meet-and-greet, he'll be standing next to the table where all the stuff he made is being served on a big pile of shaved ice: snowcones, slushies, popsicles and frozen cocktails, one more colorful than the other. Yes, the cocktails are alcoholic. No, Jaskier doesn't care about the "only 18 and up" rules of this world. As long as your character is at least fifteen, he'll share the cocktails with them as well.]

Please, help yourself! There is enough for everyone! [He opens his arms with a flourish to indicate the table.] Let Jaskier and Regina's Frosty Sweet Flavors bring bliss to your mouth! [Wink~

But if you're here for the post-viewing experience, well - that means Jaskier is approaching you! After the huge screen shows his performance (the editors didn't cut off all the prep as he wanted, but at least they kept it minimal, so it's something?), Jaskier will be going around (Regina still on his shoulder) asking people one simple question.]

Soooo~? What do you think? Three words or less!

[Look at this big blue begging eyes, random person. You don't want to disappoint them, do you?]