Taste-Testing

"Richard would have had us fight through that!" Joe claimed. "We would've rescued all of the Guardians and the other missing people," he added. "You failed as a leader! This is why I was against a rookie leading us from the start."

"That's enough, Joe," said Alice. "Hunter hasn't failed, he's only found a way to rescue everyone nonviolently."

"How certain are we that we'll win? Also, we don't even know if we can trust this Chef Baci, what if we go to the valley three days from now and she's gone?" Joe asked.

"Those are very valid concerns, Joe," said Petra. "But we still have the Sprite Fin -- I'm not saying that! We have the unicorn," she said waving the long, thin, cone-like object; the object the Sprite finder emerged from.

"Wait, you used the sprite finder?" Alexander asked. Chef Baci had released the yellow-eyed sprite after the confrontation with Hunter. "We are going to keep our end of the bargain, Hunter Heffernan," she said. "I hope you do the same."

"Yeah, It's how we found you," said Yui.

"Wow! That's so cool, I wish I was there!"

"Aren't you a bit concerned about what that woman could be doing to the Guardians? And my beautiful Lexa ... I hope she's okay," said Joe.

"Chef Baci? No, she's cool. She made us some delicious dishes and her brothers served them to us. They asked if we'd tasted anything like it. I said I had and they took me outside to where she was. Other than the fact that she, you know, kidnaps us, she's a pretty amazing lady," said Alex.

"So you guys were not tortured?" Joe asked.

"Not at all. Like I said, she's amazing. I don't think she intends to harm us," Alex stated.

"Are you sure?" Joe asked. "The thought of my gem, Lexa, going through any sort of harsh treatment makes me crazy."

"I'm telling you, Joe, they are fine."

"Okay, Alex, I'm trusting you on this," said Joe before he turned to Alice. "What do we do now?"

"Hunter is still in charge," said the Sprite Guardians' deputy. "Having worked at the Public Safety and Demon Control agency, he has more experience than all of us when it comes to pure demons."

"How do we even know Baci is a pure demon?" Joe queried. "And what makes this idiot more experienced than the rest of us?"

"Dude, what do you think they did at the Demon Control agency? Tame fishes?" said Petra.

"Um, guys? The fridge is empty," said Hunter. "I'm going to go get some groceries."

And with that, the teal green-eyed boy made his way out of the villa and towards the store, leaving the other sprites to continue with that discussion while he walked silently across town.

The peaceful silence is broken almost immediately after the dark-haired boy had thought about it, almost like someone took an exception to him having that thought. "Hunter."

The sprite does not turn to look at

who it was that called his name. He could already tell from the voice. "Yui," he replied.

She jogged a bit to catch up to the fast-walking sprite. "Hey, Joe didn't mean those things he said back there."

"I don't care about Joe's opinion," said Hunter. "He has made pretty clear that he doesn't like me," he added.

"No, I think he kind of -- Yeah, you're right, he hates you," said Yui which drew a laugh from Hunter.

"We really are out of foodstuff and I only left so I could restock. It doesn't matter whether Joe or anyone of you did not agree with me accepting the last dinner challenge. I'd have chosen that option anyway because Chef Baci is a pure demon and my time with the Demon Control agency has taught me that no amount of training can prepare you for a fight with any type of demon," Hunter stated.

"But aren't you worried she wouldn't honor her word?" Yui queried.

"Not at all. She agreed to bring all her captives on the day of the competition. If she wanted to kill us she would have done it back at the valley. You remember the rules of the competition, right?"

"I didn't hear clearly. She spoke very quietly when discussing the last dinner competition," said Yui.

"She called it a 3+1 series. The first round would have three matches, winning a match in this round would grant you a point and the second round would be just a single match with three points for the winner," Hunter explained.

"What if we lose?" Yui asked.

"There's no way that is possible. I'm going to participate in both rounds, winning a point in the first round and all three in the second," Hunter stated.

"You're pretty confident of your cooking skills, aren't you?"

"You've tasted a dish I made; what's not to be confident about?"

"True but we don't know how good of a cook Chef Baci is," Yui pointed out.

"Alex does so I guess there's that, it doesn't really matter because however good Chef Baci is, I am so much better," Hunter declared.

Yui nods. "Where did you learn how to cook, anyway?" The scarlet-haired girl asked.

"I started learning how to bake first in the orphanage I grew up in. I wanted to use my acquired skills to impress this girl that I liked," he stated.

"Did it work?"

"You could say that. She did end up liking me but she hated what I baked," said Hunter.

"Was it that bad?"

"No, she didn't hate it because of the quality, she just hated creamy cakes for some reason."

"Oh."

"Eventually, I got bored with living at the orphanage ... Actually, my friend, Jacob, got bored. He convinced me to see all the reasons why the orphanage sucks. And since both our crushes had been adopted by different families, we decided to run away from the orphanage."

"How old were you two at this time?"

"We were a few months away from turning fifteen."

"Wow."

"Yeah. Jacob wanted us to move to New Lanes. The place had just been carved out from the Midwestern Belt and he thought job opportunities would skyrocket but I wanted to stay in Skyline because the family that adopted the girl I had a crush on were there. Jacob agreed and we were now little kids, with no money, looking for a place to stay and so we did what you'd expect from anyone our age; we joined the mafia."

Yui starts to laugh but she cuts her laughter short when she sees the serious expression on Hunter's face. "You're -- You're not joking?"

"Not at all. We were looking for a place to sleep and we found a bunker of some sort. It was connected to a kitchen which meant free food whenever we got hungry. One day, we climbed up to the kitchen but found no food. Instead, we met some very angry men who didn't like the fact that we were taking their food and wanted to punish us. They talked about different punishments but eventually settled on handing us over to the family's godmother to determine our fate."

"What did she decide?"

"She said we would have to pay for all the food and accommodation we've used since we found the bunker - which was two months - by running errands for her. I ended up helping her in the kitchen, and let me tell you, she's the best chef in the world."

"Even better than you?"

"Definitely."

.

.

.

"I wonder how Lexa is doing right now ... She must be scared," said Joe pacing up and down the room.

"Lexa's not a little girl you know, she's one of the toughest people I know. I'm sure she's fine," said Alex.

Joe frowned. "What do you know?!"

"Other than the fact that she's my twin sister and we grew up together?"

"Whatever. I have a bad feeling about all this," Joe said still pacing the room.

"Can someone calm Joe down? Ollie, can you do something?!" said Petra.

"What can I do?!" Oliver stressed. "Sing him a lullaby until he starts to act his age?"

"If it'll work ... or Thomas could knock him out."

"No!" said Thomas and Alice in unison.

"Alright, listen up," Hunter said drawing everyone's attention while Yui arranged the foodstuff on the kitchen island.

"Gee! When did you come in?!" said Alice, placing her hand over her chest.

"Before you are different ingredients to make any dish you feel you are good at so I can see just how much training you guys need," said Hunter.

"You're kidding, right? You're not going along with what that woman said, are you?" Joe queried.

"Yes, I am. Now, can we get this started?!"

...

"After tasting some of your dishes, I have decided our training would begin from the very beginning; how to light a stove," said Hunter.

"You're kidding."

"I wish I was," Hunter sighed. "Someone served me raw meat with vegetable toppings."

"That's ... I thought there was a dish served like that," said Joe.

Yui frowned. "It's called sushi and it's served with raw fish."

"Also Thomas didn't serve anything," Hunter pointed out.

"Unless we're looking to poison someone, I think it's for the best," said Thomas.

"And there we have it."

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