Post by hedgehogqueen on Feb 7, 2009 12:56:24 GMT -5
“Hey, Ad! Come over here! You gotta see this!”
AdaletduSchwuchtel sighed as he turned around slowly turned around to see his two older brothers and his younger sister clustered around a shop window. The oldest, Cal, a red Korbat, was fluttering around the window excitedly, making those high-pitched Korbat noises that Korbats make when they are especially excited. Cal didn’t get excited often, in fact, he was usually a slow, patient pet, and Ad had only heard him make these noises a couple of times in his life. Something huge must’ve happened for Cal to be acting like this.
Tel, the second oldest in the family, was just as excited, but it was hard to tell. Unlike his older brother, Tel was always excited. Everything he saw sent him into a fluttering fit of joy, his light brown Christmas Pteri wings curving swiftly through the air in excitement.
Ad sighed again and slowly trudged over to his siblings, pushing them away gently as he leaned forward to get a closer look at what they were so excited about. As always, they jumped, looking around wildly for their brother. Ad smiled. Being invisible could be a nuisance at times, but at others it was an amusing gift.
They were at the bakery. Steam wafted out of the door, along with the scents of just-baked sourdough bread and chocolate chip cookie dough. Ad automatically wiped a tongue over his colorless lips as the Breadmaster placed a steaming blueberry pie on one of the shelves. The customers seemed to drink in the smells as they quickly purchased the foods and hurried home to devour them.
“Ad! Over here!” Ad’s younger sister and the newest addition to their neofamily, Coeurina, jabbed a small plushie Kacheek finger at a poster taped to the bakery window. She impatiently watched as Ad began to read:
Attention all chefs and chef-wannabes!
That caught Ad’s attention. His mother liked to say that all four of her children had a special talent: Cal’s was writing, Tel’s was music, and Coeurina’s was, well, being a little sister. Ad liked to say that his talent was cooking, although that wasn’t actually true. Talents were things that you were good at, and Ad certainly wasn’t good at cooking. He was okay at it, but not exceptional. He certainly liked cooking, though, so he would probably only fall into the category of chef-wannabe.
Looking forward to Valentine’s Day but not quite sure how to best use your talents to the maximum?
Bored of cooking casseroles and watching your neighbors exchange valentines?
Ready to truly test your cooking/baking potential and prove your worth to Neopia?
Then you just might be the next winner on Neopian Cook, Valentines Edition! All you have to do is show up at the Soup Kitchen at Neopia Central on Valentine’s Day at two o’ clock sharp. All pots, pans, stoves, utensils, etc. will be provided, so all you need to bring is talent and style!
“Well?” Cal demanded as soon as Ad had finished reading. Tel and Coeurina turned to him expectantly.
“Well, um…” Ad bit his lip. It looked fun, but he wasn’t sure he was good enough. Chefs from all over Neopia would show up, and he was expected to beat them all? Ad shook his head. There was a difference between good enough and winner, and Ad knew that he did not fall into the latter category.
“And look!” Tel pointed to the bottom of the page. A small note was scrawled there in very small, reluctant handwriting: There will be a neopoint prize. I guess.
“Isn’t is great?” Cal gushed. He clapped his hands together excitedly. “A neopoint prize! We might be rich!”
Coeurina rolled her eyes. “You’re only saying that because Mom promised that she’ll buy you a paintbrush-when we’re rich.”
“Exactly!” Cal said, nodding. “Just think-I could be pirate! Or desert!”
“I haven’t even said that I’m going yet,” said Ad quietly. The others stopped talking abruptly and stared at him.
“Of course you’re going!” Coeurina exclaimed. “Why wouldn’t you be?”
“Come on,” Tel added, tugging on his arm, “you need to get ready. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow!”
“I’m not going, okay!” Ad shouted, pulling his arm away. Tel looked up at him, tears forming in his eyes. Ad looked away. He was a sucker for Tel’s Puppyblew-eyes.
“Of course you’re going,” said Cal, looking surprised. “You can’t back out now.”
“Why not?” Ad challenged. “Try me.” He snapped his Grarrl teeth together for emphasis.
“We already signed you up.”
The competition wasn’t requiring Ad to bring his own cooking utensils, at least according to the sign, but his siblings insisted. However, if there was one thing that Cal, Tel, and Coeurina weren’t, it was rich. They had planned on sending their brother off with a set of pure gold utensils and a white linen apron and chef hat, but he ended up walking toward the soup kitchen on Valentine’s Day wearing a sweat towel and a newspaper hat sporting a pitchfork. Sighing, Ad waved farewell to his over-enthusiastic siblings before ditching the accessories once they were out of sight.
The Soup Kitchen, surprisingly enough, wasn’t that hard to find, despite the fact that Ad had never been there. All he had to do was follow the crowd of people wearing chef’s hats.
The Soup Kitchen was incredibly crowded. A large cardboard sign was hanging in the window with block letters advertising it as CLOSED FOR THE DAY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. As Ad cautiously picked his way through the crowd, he was met with a small wooden desk shoved into the corner of the kitchen. Bright pink garlands were festooned everywhere, even on the Soup Faerie’s famous cooking pot, although the faerie herself seemed to be missing. A gangly-looking red Kyrri with a plain yellow tee and a pair of ripped denim jeans was sprawled on a desk chair behind the desk.
“Register here,” the Kyrri called out boredly. “Register for Neopian Cook, Valentines Edition, right here.”
“Umm…hello,” said Ad hesitantly, striding forward to tap the Kyrri gently on the arm. He jumped.
“Who’s there?” the Kyrri screeched out, floundering his long, furry arms and nearly missing Ad’s nose.
“I’m invisible,” Ad explained patiently. “I’m right here in front of you.”
“Oh,” said the Kyrri nervously, his eyes twitching. “Well uh, ah, what’s your name?”
“Ad,” he said. “AdaletduSchwuchtel.” The Kyrri scrawled his name out hastily and shoved it into a large cardboard box underneath the desk. “Right, just go to the kitchens, first door on your right. Good luck, I suppose.”
Ad nodded his thanks and trotted into the kitchen, which was jam-packed with pets of every sizes, shapes, and colors. Most of them were painted, but, as far as he could tell, none of them were invisible. They were all quiet as suddenly another door opened and a dark, cloaked figure walked in. Ad hurried over and stared at the figure, who had just been joined by two more in dark red cloaks. Suddenly the three threw their cloaks off and the crowd cheered. Before them stood Jhuidah, Chef Bonju, and the Soup Faerie, all three of them very prominent and famous Neopia chefs.
After the applause had died down, Jhuidah cleared her throat. Instead of her usual coconuts and grass skirt, Jhuidah was dressed in a sleeveless cotton pink shift with garnet earrings adorning her pointed ears. She smiled at the crowd and raised her arms to the ceiling and shouted, “Welcome all to Neopian Cook, Valentines Edition!” A tremendous roar went up through the crowd. Jhuidah stepped backward and allowed the Soup Faerie to shush the crowd.
“Some of you may know the rules, and some of you have just entered our competition for the first time,” said the faerie kindly, “so Chef Bonju here will go over them all. Before we begin, however, I would like to recognize last edition’s Neopian Chef, Mary!”
Smiling, a ghost Mynci floated up from the crowd and bowed. She gracefully swooped through the air and to the front of the room where the three cooks were standing. At a nod from Jhuidah, Mary began. Her voice was hard and harsh and had a definite edge to it as she spoke to her fellow cooks. “Cooking is not simply a skill or a hobby, but an art, and should be treated as so. There are some dangers,” Mary coughed, “to cooking, but I expect each and every one of you to tread forward firmly, without haste, and confidently. Cooking is not something to be practiced lightly.” She nodded curtly and floated back into the crowd amidst scattered cheers and applause.
“I must say, Mary,” said a blue Kougra sitting near Ad, “you do look so much better as a ghost. Disco wasn’t really your thing. And,” she continued with a twinkle in her eye, “we will be careful. About the dangers of cooking.” A few people near Ad laughed as Mary haughtily drifted back to her seat.
“Ahem,” said Bonju. Immediately all eyes snapped to him. He glared at the crowd. “Mary is right, you know. Cooking is an art and should be treated as one.” He cleared his throat again. “Now, I don’t expect any of you to do nearly as well as me, as, after all, I am a master culinary artist, but I expect you to impress me, and my fellow judges here, the Soup Faerie and Jhuidah.” He nodded at them, and they smiled, waving at the crowd. “Never before has our show had so many pets,” he continued, “so we have added a little extra part, a little test to eliminate some of you. Only five of you will go on to the finals, and you will all be eliminated one by one until only two of you battle it out for the title of Neopian Chef.”
“The test goes as follows: each of you will answer a few little trivia questions about cooking, and then you will hand your finished quiz to the Soup Faerie.” He dug a few index cards and pencils out of his pocket and flung them into the crowd. “You may begin!”
Ad hurriedly grabbed a pencil stub and an index card and retreated into the corner to begin his quiz:
1. What famous culinary artist has managed to create an avatar with an ego so large that it’s every respectable Neopian’s dream?
2. Where does said culinary master live?
3. What great injustice was done against said chef?
4. Who was the greatest chef to ever live in the history of Neopia, and what is his color/species combination?
5. Jhuidah said that I had to stop putting questions about myself, so I guess I’ll have to ask a question about her now, although of course she is not nearly as great a chef as me. Great Fyora, she doesn’t even cook! She only owns a pot! Anyways…whom are you cooking for when you use Jhuidah’s inferior cooking vessel?
Ad bit his pencil thoughtfully. Most of the people seemed to be struggling, however, the answers were obvious to him. At least it was obvious to see who had written the quiz. Ad quickly scrawled down Chef Bonju; Shenkuu; Hoban insulted his great meal; Chef Bonju, orange Blumaroo for the first five questions, but he really had to think on the last one. Oh, why had he ever signed up for this? Not that he had-but he had let his siblings know about his love of cooking-but they still signed him up-it was confusing, much too confusing for the small, food-oriented brain that Ad possessed.
His siblings….
Well, Cal loved to read, especially about things such as Mystery Island and the beach, which was where Jhuidah’s cooking pot was. Cal wanted to be a journalist when he grew up and was always spouting off random bits of information from his books.
“Jhuidah’s magical cooking pot is situated on Mystery Island…run by Jhuidah, the Island Faerie…the concoctions are meant to be an offering to the great Pango Pango who will give you a very rare spectacular item if you succeed…”
That was it! Pango Pango! Tel carefully scrawled down the answer and shoved his paper hastily at the Soup Faerie. Most of the pets in the room were already finished, although several of them had worried looks on their faces. After a few moments, Bonju examined the papers and announced the winners. “Will Mary, Mallory, Gurples, Coco, and Ah-dill-ah-tudoo-squathingamabob-cha please follow me,” he said, saying Ad’s name in a very slow way, as if he were explaining something very long and complicated.
“It’s Ad!” Ad shouted, right behind Bonju, which made the surly Blumaroo jump. Ad smiled. “Right here,” he said, waving. “I’m invisible.” The orange chef growled but didn’t say anything.
They walked through a large wooden door to another, larger kitchen. Blumaroo Ovens, Blumaroo Sinks, and Blumaroo Spatulas, Spoons, and Forks lined the large tile room. Everything, surprisingly enough, was orange.
“Now,” said Bonju sternly, tapping one of the tables, “this is my personal kitchen. However, it will be your personal paycheck if you break anything. Got it?” We all nodded earnestly.
“Now,” explained the Soup Faerie patiently, “all five of you will be given a category and will have to cook what is in that category. Jhuidah, Bonju, and I will judge your dishes and eliminate our least favorite. You will have exactly a half-hour for each dish.”
“The category is…fruit!” Jhuidah announced. “And remember, you only have a half-hour before you will be called out onto the stage.” We nodded, and she and her fellow judges filed out of the door and slammed it shut.
They all glanced warily around at each other, sizing each other up. Mary was the most intimidating of us all, Ad thought, what with her ghostly elegance and her huge red eyes. She glared at us for a moment before floating away, toward one of the stoves.
The other three contestants were much less sinister. A snooty-looking glowing Kiko had began levitating toward one of the mixing bowls, and a small green Skieth was already measuring out flour and rummaging around in the cupboards for fruit. The last two contestants were me, of course, and the blue Kougra that I had sat near earlier. She gave him a friendly wave and introduced herself as Mallory. Ad smiled back and plodded toward the kitchen cabinets.
Fruit? The only fruit that Ad could think of were Tchea Fruits and Roast Gargapples. There were plenty of those in the cupboards, but what could he make that into? With a sigh, Ad realized that the only fruit recipe he knew was fruit salad, good old fruit salad. How many times had he made that for breakfast? Too many times.
Reaching for a pretty orange china bowl, Ad carefully scooped some frozen chocato yogurt out of the cabinet and began mixing it around until it was perfectly smooth. He began chopping up Tchea Fruit rapidly, throwing it into the yogurt. At the last minute he decided against the Roast Gargapple and instead substituted sliced bananas. For a finishing touch, he threw in a strawberry leaf for decoration just as a buzzer rang, signaling the end of their half-hour. Silently the four contestants filed out onto the stage.
There were hundreds of people-no, thousands. They were all yelling and shouting in excitement as Ad and the three others filed out onto the stage. A small table clothed table sat off to the side where the three judges sat primly, awaiting the food. Ad quietly placed his dish in front of the Soup Faerie and retreated to one of the four stools set in the center of the stage.
Mallory slid into the stool next to Ad, her eyes flicking nervously from side to side. Ad had to admit that her frozen raspberry dish didn’t look that appetizing compared to the Kiko’s strawberry shortcake, the Skieth’s coconut cream pie, and Mary’s exquisite triple-decker chocolate Skeem sandwich. But then again, neither did his own fruit salad.
Jhuidah immediately gave a yelp when she tasted the pie. The Skeith cowered as Jhuidah leaped to her feet. The Soup Faerie glanced at her and hastily inspected the pie. She shook her head and turned to the Skeith. “Sorry, Gurples, but this pie has no fruit in it and therefore does not fall into the category of fruit which we gave you. You are disqualified.” The Skeith, bursting into tears, rushed out of the room, while the audience looked a little shocked, murmuring to each other at how quickly the round had gone by.
“Fear not, ladies and gentlemen, the round is not over yet,” Bonju announced. He turned to the remaining four dishes and began hastily conferring with his fellow judges. After a few moments he announced the loser. “And the loser is…Coco!” At that the glowing Kiko gave a great sigh, and, tears streaming down her face, quickly exited the stage.
“And that ends round one,” said Bonju, turning to Ad, Mary, and Mallory. “If the three remaining contestants would please return to the kitchen, you may start on your next dish…in the drink category!” The crowd gave a great cheer as the three pets hurried back into the kitchen. Mary immediately floated into a corner, measuring cups and bowls flying everywhere, while Mary gave Ad a kind smile and padded toward one of the cabinets, leaving Ad alone by the table.
Okay, so he had gotten pretty lucky with the salad. Now he needed to somehow beat Mary and Mallory (impossible) and concoct something that would really tickle the judges’ taste buds. But what was he to cook? The only drinks that Ad could think of were milk, water, and lemonade. But maybe…a smoothie might work. Sighing, Ad quickly got to work. By the time he had crushed up all the lemons, strawberries, and bananas, the clock was ticking at five minutes to go. Breathing heavily, Ad quickly stirred the ingredients together, along with some blueberry yogurt and a little milk. By the time the bell rang, Ad had just began pouring the smoothie into three plastic cups for the judges. He hustled onto the stage and placed the smoothies next to Mary’s double-fudge peppermint-and-cream hot chocolate and Mallory’s strawberry lemonade.
The judges seemed to take forever to judge the food. Finally, Jhuidah stood and lifted the lemonade. “I’m sorry, Mallory,” she said. “But you are to be leaving us today.” Mallory gave Ad a sad smile and whispered “Good luck” into his ear before turning and walking toward the exit. Ad felt a surge of panic as he glanced after her. Him against the cooking champion, Mary. Uh-oh.
“The category is…” Bonju paused dramatically. “Anything! And be creative, please. Something good.”
Ad swallowed as he and Mary trotted back into the kitchen. Glaring at him, Mary retreated back to her corner of the kitchen and began cooking. Ad smiled nervously at her. What on Neopia was he to cook? At the moment his mind was blank. He didn’t know how to cook, anyway. Mary should win, he decided, I just guessed my way through this whole competition. With a sigh, Ad resigned himself to cook the one thing he had been cooking for his siblings almost every day of his life: good old mac’ and cheese.
He decided at once that this wouldn’t be just plain old, everyday mac’ and cheese. Oh no. Not if he wanted to win. As he set the noodles to boil, Ad began feverishly chopping salami, broccoli, and tomatoes and tossing it into the mix. For a finishing touch he added Swiss cheese and garlic sauce. The whole thing looked quite delicious.
The bell rang about five minutes later. Feeling rather confident, Ad carefully carried his dish onto the judge’s table. Mary haughtily placed a beautiful chocolate cake on the table next to his dish. Ad gawked at it. The thing was enormous, with delicate icing and candy hearts and peppermint humbugs. Feeling nervous once again, Ad slid into his seat, watching as the judge’s ate. Bonju was obviously favoring Mary’s dish, and the Soup Faerie was favoring his. Jhuidah looked undecided. Ad watched as the audience grew restless and the cooties in his stomach multiplied by a hundred. Finally Jhuidah made her decision.
“I’m really, really sorry,” she said. “It was a tough decision. I know both of you tried very hard…” She went on like that for about seven minutes, talking about good sportsmanship and cooking and blah blah blah, stuff like that. Ad’s stomach twisted nervously, and even Mary looked nervous. Finally Jhuidah ran out of breath. “And the winner is…..Ad.”
A tremendous cheer went up in the audience. Bonju looked sulky, and Mary looked ready to punch someone. Quite bewildered, Ad stared at the audience as Bonju shoved some money into his hand and Mary angrily bumped his shoulder as she floated offstage. Three small figures leapt out of the audience and onto the stage, screaming happily.
“We knew you could do it!” yelled Tel.
“Good job, Ad!” shouted Cal.
“Where’s your chef’s hat?” Coeurina demanded.
Ad smiled and pocketed the money, but not before Cal saw it. He gave a happy yell and dove for it. “Now I can be desert!” he yelled gleefully.
At home, Ad was the king. His mom, Hedgie, congratulated him heartily, and as celebration they all had ice cream for lunch. Ad’s stomach was positively growling as Coeurina and Tel jabbered rapidly away at how great Ad’s dishes had been.
After ice cream, Hedgie took them out shopping. It was a very fun and busy way to end Valentine’s Day. It was sunset as they returned home. Cal sighed as he and Ad trudged up the stairs to their shared bedroom.
“What is it, Cal?” Ad asked worriedly.
“The cash prize was only one thousand neopoints,” said Cal dejectedly. “That’s not enough for a desert paint brush.”
Ad smiled and hugged his older brother. “But didn’t you have a good Valentine’s Day?”
“Well-yes. Actually, I did. It was fun dressing you up, cheering for you, and watching you win. And then I like shopping with you guys. I guess…maybe there’s a greater gift than paint brushes, or all the valentine chocolates in the world. But I can’t quite figure out what it is.”
“I bet I can,” whispered Ad. “At least, I’m grateful for this.”
“What is it, then?”
“You guys!” said Ad. “You entered me in the competition, and I had a lot of fun there. You cheered for me, and it was really fun shopping and having ice cream with you-my family.”
“Yeah,” said Cal, brightening. “I guess that is the greatest gift-family. Although,” he said, sighing, “you’re always welcome to buy me a paint brush. Just if you want to. You know, so I can love my family even more.”
Ad smiled, and together they trotted up the steps to their room. Cal was right. That was the greatest gift of all-family.
AdaletduSchwuchtel sighed as he turned around slowly turned around to see his two older brothers and his younger sister clustered around a shop window. The oldest, Cal, a red Korbat, was fluttering around the window excitedly, making those high-pitched Korbat noises that Korbats make when they are especially excited. Cal didn’t get excited often, in fact, he was usually a slow, patient pet, and Ad had only heard him make these noises a couple of times in his life. Something huge must’ve happened for Cal to be acting like this.
Tel, the second oldest in the family, was just as excited, but it was hard to tell. Unlike his older brother, Tel was always excited. Everything he saw sent him into a fluttering fit of joy, his light brown Christmas Pteri wings curving swiftly through the air in excitement.
Ad sighed again and slowly trudged over to his siblings, pushing them away gently as he leaned forward to get a closer look at what they were so excited about. As always, they jumped, looking around wildly for their brother. Ad smiled. Being invisible could be a nuisance at times, but at others it was an amusing gift.
They were at the bakery. Steam wafted out of the door, along with the scents of just-baked sourdough bread and chocolate chip cookie dough. Ad automatically wiped a tongue over his colorless lips as the Breadmaster placed a steaming blueberry pie on one of the shelves. The customers seemed to drink in the smells as they quickly purchased the foods and hurried home to devour them.
“Ad! Over here!” Ad’s younger sister and the newest addition to their neofamily, Coeurina, jabbed a small plushie Kacheek finger at a poster taped to the bakery window. She impatiently watched as Ad began to read:
Attention all chefs and chef-wannabes!
That caught Ad’s attention. His mother liked to say that all four of her children had a special talent: Cal’s was writing, Tel’s was music, and Coeurina’s was, well, being a little sister. Ad liked to say that his talent was cooking, although that wasn’t actually true. Talents were things that you were good at, and Ad certainly wasn’t good at cooking. He was okay at it, but not exceptional. He certainly liked cooking, though, so he would probably only fall into the category of chef-wannabe.
Looking forward to Valentine’s Day but not quite sure how to best use your talents to the maximum?
Bored of cooking casseroles and watching your neighbors exchange valentines?
Ready to truly test your cooking/baking potential and prove your worth to Neopia?
Then you just might be the next winner on Neopian Cook, Valentines Edition! All you have to do is show up at the Soup Kitchen at Neopia Central on Valentine’s Day at two o’ clock sharp. All pots, pans, stoves, utensils, etc. will be provided, so all you need to bring is talent and style!
“Well?” Cal demanded as soon as Ad had finished reading. Tel and Coeurina turned to him expectantly.
“Well, um…” Ad bit his lip. It looked fun, but he wasn’t sure he was good enough. Chefs from all over Neopia would show up, and he was expected to beat them all? Ad shook his head. There was a difference between good enough and winner, and Ad knew that he did not fall into the latter category.
“And look!” Tel pointed to the bottom of the page. A small note was scrawled there in very small, reluctant handwriting: There will be a neopoint prize. I guess.
“Isn’t is great?” Cal gushed. He clapped his hands together excitedly. “A neopoint prize! We might be rich!”
Coeurina rolled her eyes. “You’re only saying that because Mom promised that she’ll buy you a paintbrush-when we’re rich.”
“Exactly!” Cal said, nodding. “Just think-I could be pirate! Or desert!”
“I haven’t even said that I’m going yet,” said Ad quietly. The others stopped talking abruptly and stared at him.
“Of course you’re going!” Coeurina exclaimed. “Why wouldn’t you be?”
“Come on,” Tel added, tugging on his arm, “you need to get ready. Valentine’s Day is tomorrow!”
“I’m not going, okay!” Ad shouted, pulling his arm away. Tel looked up at him, tears forming in his eyes. Ad looked away. He was a sucker for Tel’s Puppyblew-eyes.
“Of course you’re going,” said Cal, looking surprised. “You can’t back out now.”
“Why not?” Ad challenged. “Try me.” He snapped his Grarrl teeth together for emphasis.
“We already signed you up.”
The competition wasn’t requiring Ad to bring his own cooking utensils, at least according to the sign, but his siblings insisted. However, if there was one thing that Cal, Tel, and Coeurina weren’t, it was rich. They had planned on sending their brother off with a set of pure gold utensils and a white linen apron and chef hat, but he ended up walking toward the soup kitchen on Valentine’s Day wearing a sweat towel and a newspaper hat sporting a pitchfork. Sighing, Ad waved farewell to his over-enthusiastic siblings before ditching the accessories once they were out of sight.
The Soup Kitchen, surprisingly enough, wasn’t that hard to find, despite the fact that Ad had never been there. All he had to do was follow the crowd of people wearing chef’s hats.
The Soup Kitchen was incredibly crowded. A large cardboard sign was hanging in the window with block letters advertising it as CLOSED FOR THE DAY TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. As Ad cautiously picked his way through the crowd, he was met with a small wooden desk shoved into the corner of the kitchen. Bright pink garlands were festooned everywhere, even on the Soup Faerie’s famous cooking pot, although the faerie herself seemed to be missing. A gangly-looking red Kyrri with a plain yellow tee and a pair of ripped denim jeans was sprawled on a desk chair behind the desk.
“Register here,” the Kyrri called out boredly. “Register for Neopian Cook, Valentines Edition, right here.”
“Umm…hello,” said Ad hesitantly, striding forward to tap the Kyrri gently on the arm. He jumped.
“Who’s there?” the Kyrri screeched out, floundering his long, furry arms and nearly missing Ad’s nose.
“I’m invisible,” Ad explained patiently. “I’m right here in front of you.”
“Oh,” said the Kyrri nervously, his eyes twitching. “Well uh, ah, what’s your name?”
“Ad,” he said. “AdaletduSchwuchtel.” The Kyrri scrawled his name out hastily and shoved it into a large cardboard box underneath the desk. “Right, just go to the kitchens, first door on your right. Good luck, I suppose.”
Ad nodded his thanks and trotted into the kitchen, which was jam-packed with pets of every sizes, shapes, and colors. Most of them were painted, but, as far as he could tell, none of them were invisible. They were all quiet as suddenly another door opened and a dark, cloaked figure walked in. Ad hurried over and stared at the figure, who had just been joined by two more in dark red cloaks. Suddenly the three threw their cloaks off and the crowd cheered. Before them stood Jhuidah, Chef Bonju, and the Soup Faerie, all three of them very prominent and famous Neopia chefs.
After the applause had died down, Jhuidah cleared her throat. Instead of her usual coconuts and grass skirt, Jhuidah was dressed in a sleeveless cotton pink shift with garnet earrings adorning her pointed ears. She smiled at the crowd and raised her arms to the ceiling and shouted, “Welcome all to Neopian Cook, Valentines Edition!” A tremendous roar went up through the crowd. Jhuidah stepped backward and allowed the Soup Faerie to shush the crowd.
“Some of you may know the rules, and some of you have just entered our competition for the first time,” said the faerie kindly, “so Chef Bonju here will go over them all. Before we begin, however, I would like to recognize last edition’s Neopian Chef, Mary!”
Smiling, a ghost Mynci floated up from the crowd and bowed. She gracefully swooped through the air and to the front of the room where the three cooks were standing. At a nod from Jhuidah, Mary began. Her voice was hard and harsh and had a definite edge to it as she spoke to her fellow cooks. “Cooking is not simply a skill or a hobby, but an art, and should be treated as so. There are some dangers,” Mary coughed, “to cooking, but I expect each and every one of you to tread forward firmly, without haste, and confidently. Cooking is not something to be practiced lightly.” She nodded curtly and floated back into the crowd amidst scattered cheers and applause.
“I must say, Mary,” said a blue Kougra sitting near Ad, “you do look so much better as a ghost. Disco wasn’t really your thing. And,” she continued with a twinkle in her eye, “we will be careful. About the dangers of cooking.” A few people near Ad laughed as Mary haughtily drifted back to her seat.
“Ahem,” said Bonju. Immediately all eyes snapped to him. He glared at the crowd. “Mary is right, you know. Cooking is an art and should be treated as one.” He cleared his throat again. “Now, I don’t expect any of you to do nearly as well as me, as, after all, I am a master culinary artist, but I expect you to impress me, and my fellow judges here, the Soup Faerie and Jhuidah.” He nodded at them, and they smiled, waving at the crowd. “Never before has our show had so many pets,” he continued, “so we have added a little extra part, a little test to eliminate some of you. Only five of you will go on to the finals, and you will all be eliminated one by one until only two of you battle it out for the title of Neopian Chef.”
“The test goes as follows: each of you will answer a few little trivia questions about cooking, and then you will hand your finished quiz to the Soup Faerie.” He dug a few index cards and pencils out of his pocket and flung them into the crowd. “You may begin!”
Ad hurriedly grabbed a pencil stub and an index card and retreated into the corner to begin his quiz:
1. What famous culinary artist has managed to create an avatar with an ego so large that it’s every respectable Neopian’s dream?
2. Where does said culinary master live?
3. What great injustice was done against said chef?
4. Who was the greatest chef to ever live in the history of Neopia, and what is his color/species combination?
5. Jhuidah said that I had to stop putting questions about myself, so I guess I’ll have to ask a question about her now, although of course she is not nearly as great a chef as me. Great Fyora, she doesn’t even cook! She only owns a pot! Anyways…whom are you cooking for when you use Jhuidah’s inferior cooking vessel?
Ad bit his pencil thoughtfully. Most of the people seemed to be struggling, however, the answers were obvious to him. At least it was obvious to see who had written the quiz. Ad quickly scrawled down Chef Bonju; Shenkuu; Hoban insulted his great meal; Chef Bonju, orange Blumaroo for the first five questions, but he really had to think on the last one. Oh, why had he ever signed up for this? Not that he had-but he had let his siblings know about his love of cooking-but they still signed him up-it was confusing, much too confusing for the small, food-oriented brain that Ad possessed.
His siblings….
Well, Cal loved to read, especially about things such as Mystery Island and the beach, which was where Jhuidah’s cooking pot was. Cal wanted to be a journalist when he grew up and was always spouting off random bits of information from his books.
“Jhuidah’s magical cooking pot is situated on Mystery Island…run by Jhuidah, the Island Faerie…the concoctions are meant to be an offering to the great Pango Pango who will give you a very rare spectacular item if you succeed…”
That was it! Pango Pango! Tel carefully scrawled down the answer and shoved his paper hastily at the Soup Faerie. Most of the pets in the room were already finished, although several of them had worried looks on their faces. After a few moments, Bonju examined the papers and announced the winners. “Will Mary, Mallory, Gurples, Coco, and Ah-dill-ah-tudoo-squathingamabob-cha please follow me,” he said, saying Ad’s name in a very slow way, as if he were explaining something very long and complicated.
“It’s Ad!” Ad shouted, right behind Bonju, which made the surly Blumaroo jump. Ad smiled. “Right here,” he said, waving. “I’m invisible.” The orange chef growled but didn’t say anything.
They walked through a large wooden door to another, larger kitchen. Blumaroo Ovens, Blumaroo Sinks, and Blumaroo Spatulas, Spoons, and Forks lined the large tile room. Everything, surprisingly enough, was orange.
“Now,” said Bonju sternly, tapping one of the tables, “this is my personal kitchen. However, it will be your personal paycheck if you break anything. Got it?” We all nodded earnestly.
“Now,” explained the Soup Faerie patiently, “all five of you will be given a category and will have to cook what is in that category. Jhuidah, Bonju, and I will judge your dishes and eliminate our least favorite. You will have exactly a half-hour for each dish.”
“The category is…fruit!” Jhuidah announced. “And remember, you only have a half-hour before you will be called out onto the stage.” We nodded, and she and her fellow judges filed out of the door and slammed it shut.
They all glanced warily around at each other, sizing each other up. Mary was the most intimidating of us all, Ad thought, what with her ghostly elegance and her huge red eyes. She glared at us for a moment before floating away, toward one of the stoves.
The other three contestants were much less sinister. A snooty-looking glowing Kiko had began levitating toward one of the mixing bowls, and a small green Skieth was already measuring out flour and rummaging around in the cupboards for fruit. The last two contestants were me, of course, and the blue Kougra that I had sat near earlier. She gave him a friendly wave and introduced herself as Mallory. Ad smiled back and plodded toward the kitchen cabinets.
Fruit? The only fruit that Ad could think of were Tchea Fruits and Roast Gargapples. There were plenty of those in the cupboards, but what could he make that into? With a sigh, Ad realized that the only fruit recipe he knew was fruit salad, good old fruit salad. How many times had he made that for breakfast? Too many times.
Reaching for a pretty orange china bowl, Ad carefully scooped some frozen chocato yogurt out of the cabinet and began mixing it around until it was perfectly smooth. He began chopping up Tchea Fruit rapidly, throwing it into the yogurt. At the last minute he decided against the Roast Gargapple and instead substituted sliced bananas. For a finishing touch, he threw in a strawberry leaf for decoration just as a buzzer rang, signaling the end of their half-hour. Silently the four contestants filed out onto the stage.
There were hundreds of people-no, thousands. They were all yelling and shouting in excitement as Ad and the three others filed out onto the stage. A small table clothed table sat off to the side where the three judges sat primly, awaiting the food. Ad quietly placed his dish in front of the Soup Faerie and retreated to one of the four stools set in the center of the stage.
Mallory slid into the stool next to Ad, her eyes flicking nervously from side to side. Ad had to admit that her frozen raspberry dish didn’t look that appetizing compared to the Kiko’s strawberry shortcake, the Skieth’s coconut cream pie, and Mary’s exquisite triple-decker chocolate Skeem sandwich. But then again, neither did his own fruit salad.
Jhuidah immediately gave a yelp when she tasted the pie. The Skeith cowered as Jhuidah leaped to her feet. The Soup Faerie glanced at her and hastily inspected the pie. She shook her head and turned to the Skeith. “Sorry, Gurples, but this pie has no fruit in it and therefore does not fall into the category of fruit which we gave you. You are disqualified.” The Skeith, bursting into tears, rushed out of the room, while the audience looked a little shocked, murmuring to each other at how quickly the round had gone by.
“Fear not, ladies and gentlemen, the round is not over yet,” Bonju announced. He turned to the remaining four dishes and began hastily conferring with his fellow judges. After a few moments he announced the loser. “And the loser is…Coco!” At that the glowing Kiko gave a great sigh, and, tears streaming down her face, quickly exited the stage.
“And that ends round one,” said Bonju, turning to Ad, Mary, and Mallory. “If the three remaining contestants would please return to the kitchen, you may start on your next dish…in the drink category!” The crowd gave a great cheer as the three pets hurried back into the kitchen. Mary immediately floated into a corner, measuring cups and bowls flying everywhere, while Mary gave Ad a kind smile and padded toward one of the cabinets, leaving Ad alone by the table.
Okay, so he had gotten pretty lucky with the salad. Now he needed to somehow beat Mary and Mallory (impossible) and concoct something that would really tickle the judges’ taste buds. But what was he to cook? The only drinks that Ad could think of were milk, water, and lemonade. But maybe…a smoothie might work. Sighing, Ad quickly got to work. By the time he had crushed up all the lemons, strawberries, and bananas, the clock was ticking at five minutes to go. Breathing heavily, Ad quickly stirred the ingredients together, along with some blueberry yogurt and a little milk. By the time the bell rang, Ad had just began pouring the smoothie into three plastic cups for the judges. He hustled onto the stage and placed the smoothies next to Mary’s double-fudge peppermint-and-cream hot chocolate and Mallory’s strawberry lemonade.
The judges seemed to take forever to judge the food. Finally, Jhuidah stood and lifted the lemonade. “I’m sorry, Mallory,” she said. “But you are to be leaving us today.” Mallory gave Ad a sad smile and whispered “Good luck” into his ear before turning and walking toward the exit. Ad felt a surge of panic as he glanced after her. Him against the cooking champion, Mary. Uh-oh.
“The category is…” Bonju paused dramatically. “Anything! And be creative, please. Something good.”
Ad swallowed as he and Mary trotted back into the kitchen. Glaring at him, Mary retreated back to her corner of the kitchen and began cooking. Ad smiled nervously at her. What on Neopia was he to cook? At the moment his mind was blank. He didn’t know how to cook, anyway. Mary should win, he decided, I just guessed my way through this whole competition. With a sigh, Ad resigned himself to cook the one thing he had been cooking for his siblings almost every day of his life: good old mac’ and cheese.
He decided at once that this wouldn’t be just plain old, everyday mac’ and cheese. Oh no. Not if he wanted to win. As he set the noodles to boil, Ad began feverishly chopping salami, broccoli, and tomatoes and tossing it into the mix. For a finishing touch he added Swiss cheese and garlic sauce. The whole thing looked quite delicious.
The bell rang about five minutes later. Feeling rather confident, Ad carefully carried his dish onto the judge’s table. Mary haughtily placed a beautiful chocolate cake on the table next to his dish. Ad gawked at it. The thing was enormous, with delicate icing and candy hearts and peppermint humbugs. Feeling nervous once again, Ad slid into his seat, watching as the judge’s ate. Bonju was obviously favoring Mary’s dish, and the Soup Faerie was favoring his. Jhuidah looked undecided. Ad watched as the audience grew restless and the cooties in his stomach multiplied by a hundred. Finally Jhuidah made her decision.
“I’m really, really sorry,” she said. “It was a tough decision. I know both of you tried very hard…” She went on like that for about seven minutes, talking about good sportsmanship and cooking and blah blah blah, stuff like that. Ad’s stomach twisted nervously, and even Mary looked nervous. Finally Jhuidah ran out of breath. “And the winner is…..Ad.”
A tremendous cheer went up in the audience. Bonju looked sulky, and Mary looked ready to punch someone. Quite bewildered, Ad stared at the audience as Bonju shoved some money into his hand and Mary angrily bumped his shoulder as she floated offstage. Three small figures leapt out of the audience and onto the stage, screaming happily.
“We knew you could do it!” yelled Tel.
“Good job, Ad!” shouted Cal.
“Where’s your chef’s hat?” Coeurina demanded.
Ad smiled and pocketed the money, but not before Cal saw it. He gave a happy yell and dove for it. “Now I can be desert!” he yelled gleefully.
At home, Ad was the king. His mom, Hedgie, congratulated him heartily, and as celebration they all had ice cream for lunch. Ad’s stomach was positively growling as Coeurina and Tel jabbered rapidly away at how great Ad’s dishes had been.
After ice cream, Hedgie took them out shopping. It was a very fun and busy way to end Valentine’s Day. It was sunset as they returned home. Cal sighed as he and Ad trudged up the stairs to their shared bedroom.
“What is it, Cal?” Ad asked worriedly.
“The cash prize was only one thousand neopoints,” said Cal dejectedly. “That’s not enough for a desert paint brush.”
Ad smiled and hugged his older brother. “But didn’t you have a good Valentine’s Day?”
“Well-yes. Actually, I did. It was fun dressing you up, cheering for you, and watching you win. And then I like shopping with you guys. I guess…maybe there’s a greater gift than paint brushes, or all the valentine chocolates in the world. But I can’t quite figure out what it is.”
“I bet I can,” whispered Ad. “At least, I’m grateful for this.”
“What is it, then?”
“You guys!” said Ad. “You entered me in the competition, and I had a lot of fun there. You cheered for me, and it was really fun shopping and having ice cream with you-my family.”
“Yeah,” said Cal, brightening. “I guess that is the greatest gift-family. Although,” he said, sighing, “you’re always welcome to buy me a paint brush. Just if you want to. You know, so I can love my family even more.”
Ad smiled, and together they trotted up the steps to their room. Cal was right. That was the greatest gift of all-family.