Wishful Thinking: Voyage to the Sun

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[ATTN: OPEN]
{{EDIT: Now You MUST Go With K's Party. No If Ands Or Buts))

Kantor City; a large city in which collaboration between magic and science has contributed to a truly prosperous living experience. In fact, Kantor is often called the most well off city in all the region of Grandor. The people are friendly, the monsters stay out of town thanks to a magic barrier cast to prevent them. Then there is the observatory. There in the star gazing dome sits a woman in white lab coat with long, brown hair, writing her notes as she occasionally peaks back into the telescope. This young lady is known the world over as Professor Sabrina Bizra; prodigal child with extensive knowledge in Science, Magic, and Alchemy.

Sabrina: (Bites the eraser end of her pencil) Hm...Cyan, would you hand me that chart of the star alignment around this area this time of year.

Cyan: (Bows politely) Of course, ma'am. (Turns and picks up the pile of charts, cycling through them all until she finds the one with the proper markings across the blank space) Will that be all?

Sabrina: (Takes the charts and looks over them then peaks back through the telescope for a quick moment) That's what I thought. These aren't our stars. This alignment isn't even close.

Suddenly, the alarm at the control hub goes off, a small red light flashing repeatedly at a high pace as a blaring siren sounds in the observatory. Something was amiss in the world of Vangeleon and it may very well be something incredibly crucial. Thus Sabrina gets up and packs her things.

Sabrina: Cyan, we're going back to the lab to gather a few things. We have a bit of a trip to take. (Turns and leaves with her hands in her coat pockets)

Cyan: (Bows) Yes, ma'am. (Grabs the Professor's bag and leaves with her)


Hasteriver Village; Town of Merchants, Farmers, Traders-

K: (Suddenly leaps over a fruit cart in the street being pushed along by vendors as two large men chase after her, plowing through the cart like bulls) Hey, that's property damage, boys! You gotta PAY for that!

And thieves...

K turns on a dime into an alley and uses the wall of the building to turn herself completely around, running along it over head before flipping behind the two goons and running off into a crowd, leaving the two idiots to fumble over themselves until they spot her running off in the opposite direction and get after her. K looks over her shoulder with a devious little smirk, weaving through the crowd with the small case she'd been holding still hugged tightly beneath her arm. Inside? Geno, the Currency of this world. Small gold tokens.

So yeah, that's me and the name's K. As you can guess, I'm the adorable little thing running from the big oafs here. Don't concern yourself with 'em. They're total morons the mayor hires out behind everyone's backs. He doesn't like me much. Even though all I did was take a few little Genos from the round little man. The man whose vault is as big as a house. Yeah, the twenty I took, he'd never miss. That is if he wasn't a money grubbing little greed ball. Oh, emphasis on that ball part. Seriously, he's- oh, whoops, interrupting. I'll just unfreeze the show now.

K ducks and weaves through the crowd before it starts getting thicker and she resorts to using people's heads as stepping stones.

K: (turns around as she runs off) Sorry, ev'ryone! (Disappears around a corner)

The two thugs push their way through the crowd to find that K had already gone. She had a knack for disappearing. That was for certain. The two of them then turn and walk off to go see the mayor.

[ATTN: Cave group]

At some point, I gave up my search for Blacktops all together. These mushrooms were driving me pretty crazy for the most part, after all, I came here for rare ingredients. "K, calm down, she's sorta right. After all, you're not COMPLETELY clear of blame." In some thoughtful moments, I continued to pitch ideas for who might want K gone... "Mayor Greaseball might have wanted you, after all, Mel DID have an "arrangement" with him." Looking at Lassy, I began to explain the situation...

"And essentially, she told K and Ryder that if we got there before her, she wouldn't burn the next town down." Just then, I caught a glimpse of another field... of BLACKTOPS! Rejoicing in the discovery, I pulled out a jar and excavated the soil from the cave with a spade, putting the mushroom sample in. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up after I harvest all these."

[ATTN: Group]

Far happier than when we had set out on this crazy son-of-a-cuss quest, I walked alongside the group into the next town. It was a quaint place, but rather large for its "town" designation. "So, what do we do first? Wait for whatever messenger? Or maybe we should check..." Curses. Peeling off one of the posters posted on an intersection post, my eyes widened and my heart went into overdrive. "Yeah, K? Something tells me you're not going to be very welcome in town... we've gotta do something to mask your appearance." A poster offering five HUNDRED genos for the capture of a cat-woman...

Just then, K took a step and fell. I was about to go and help her up, but Ryder picked up the slack. I waited for them to either do something about hiding themselves in plain sight or just walk in as is before walking in with the group.

[ATTN: Group]

Well, it sounded like a plan. "Those goggles really suit you..." I couldn't help but have a huge giggle when it came to those goggles... they were just incredible. It was like K had turned into an insect with huge blue eyes. "Let's... just get to town... I need to restock on meat." My giggles had turned into full on laughter, as I bit down on another dose of Lava Wing and rocketed away. "Sorry, K, you just look so ludicrous!"

[ATTN: Group]

After leaving the Mayor's office, our merry quartet caroused the town with little aim. Yes, it's true, the Mayor had told us that the 'arrangement' our pyromaniac friend was talking about had to be the framing of our cat friend for the entire burning of the town. All we could do now was wait for Mel to arrive... might as well do some sightseeing. "Well, Lassy, I've never been out of my hometown, and the one that just burned down. You know where I could get decent ingredients?" They all gave me an odd look, and I looked back at them, head tilted.

"Or we could find somewhere to stay, but I figure it's about afternoon teatime."

[ATTN: Zuman]

Well, well, well. "That would be GREAT, thank you very much." This cat zuman was rather intriguing, though something in the back of his head told him that this girl was trouble. She had a certain mystique about her that made her irresistibly attractive, and to be frank, I'm all for mystery. "So, might we know your name?" She looked like a more mature version of K, to be frank and honest.

[ATTN: Competition]

They were being all quaint and quiet and walking through the town. It was a nice town, with the hustle and bustle of the town before them, but the key difference was that their town was up and ours was rubble. "Kara, is it? Enchanted to meet you." Partly because I sort of was, she is one cool... cat. 8) In the pit of my mind, a loud exclamation of approval was being made as we walked into the market, and already, I was excited. This market happened to be one of the better stocked markets in the land, he could already tell. By the smell of the fresh peppers, the look of the beautiful heads of lettuce, he could tell he was already at home here.

Hands grabbed out as both Lassy and I were pulled into a tent filled with people. "Um, yes, we're hungry, but..." The citizen that grabbed us laughed and looked at me with a homely yet crazy expression.

"Nonsense, you sit down right here and make the best darn dish ever." A switch was hit in my head and my knowledge of food suddenly started pouring into my hands. They were shaking, and just dying to do something with the blacktops harvested before. "Now, you need to know anything, JUST ASK ME." My eyes shot to him with the look of a madman about to kill someone.

"Am I allowed to use ANY ingredients?"

"I don't see why not..." And then I slammed all of my spices and herbs onto the work station. "Holy mother of Vangeleon..." The Culimancer put a dark smirk on his face, and pulled out his own set of cutting knives and other kitchen paraphernalia. At this point, everyone could see the dark aura set about my cooking station and gulped. They were in for a loooooong competition with me around, they thought.

The moment the competition started, my culinary magic activated, with spices whirling and spinning around my station onto some spare breasts of chicken. A vial saying "CAUTION, POTENT" was opened, with a small sprinkle of Nimeric Lava being applied to the chicken. Then came the blacktops. I grabbed five or six of the mushrooms and began dicing them up with a speed rivaling a bird in a desert being chased by a particularly wily coyote, throwing them in a saucepan along with some heavy cream and complimentary herbs.

[ATTN: Competition]

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" The competition was now in full gear, and the aromas were starting to build. With everything in a pan and cooking, now was time to prepare a dessert fit for the main course. It was time to pull out some of the Lyon magic that no one else could possibly replicate. There was no time to run to the ingredients, EVERY SECOND was crucial, so I used my affinity for food to attract some chocolate from the table while staying at my station. It was a rare sight to see, pieces of chocolate floating through the air to any person's pot, but soon, the chocolate was melted and little chocolate mice were being created. Some were filled with a new batch of the blue sauce from earlier, though it only gave the ice breath for maybe a fraction of a second, and others were filled with caramels and mousses.

The competition was getting rough. Some were making desserts, some were making salads, but there was this one guy who was actually going as fast as he was... that bum, he's ruining the ingredients!

[ATTN: Judge]

This could get me disqualified, but what the heck? Two dishes for one round. "If it pleases your taste buds, enjoy this entree of chicken breast, encrusted in a breadcrumb and fried onion mix, served with creamy mushroom sauce, and then cleanse your palate with chocolate mice for dessert." The chicken spoke to him, and the sauce assaulted his nose with a rich earthiness that only mushrooms could provide.

His first cut provided a good indicator of the crunch level: crispy on the crust, so tender and juicy on the inside. Swirling it in the sauce, his first bite happened to be completely magical. The judge, attempting to stay impartial, moved onto the chocolate mice, and sampled each flavour... the blue sauce mouse was interesting. The judge ate the mouse in one bite, and gave a haughty laugh as the minty kickback came about. A frosty mist emitted from his mouth, and I smirked. The intended effect had been enough to wow the crowd and the panel.

[Attn: Lyon]

Judge: Very good. All of you. But a bit of a surprise. The reason I left so much on your plates is because I am not the taste judge. There are three of those. elsewhere in this town. So now you have round two. You'll have to find them and present your dishes to them. Think of it as a scavenger hunt.

Lassy: You gotta be kiddin' me...

Judge: Each judge will give a card to the plate they favor most out of the contestants who visit them. You will bring those cards back here and I will open them for the score. Let the round begin!

Lassy and the other competitors are all given a town map, each with different clues on them. And with that, they head off.

[ATTN: Judges]

I was about ready to blow a gasket. REALLY? A freaking scavenger hunt? I might as well enjoy it, but this was not part of the idea of a cooking competition. Most of these men are portly and overweight, which gave Lassy and I a distinct advantage, but still, I wanted to win. Moreover, these judges were ridiculously hard to find with clues that didn't really make much sense. After all, who knew where the inn where the Devil Roars is the Lion's 666? Locals helped me decipher the clues and I had found at least ONE judge, who, by the way, had his eyes roll back in delight as he sampled my dishes. It's good to be the best cook ever.

[ATTN: Lassy]

Soon enough, I bumped into the cowgirl that was wandering around, confused. I waved at her, and sighed. "How lost are you, Lassy?" By now, my brain had a very loose wrap around things, and I was always in a mood to help a woman with her... looks out. Not only was it in my moral code, but it helped me in other ways too. "I've only found the one judge..." I took a writing utensil from my bag and circled it on her map. "Keep in contact, I'm trying to figure out where the blasted gorgon crosses horns with the great big chicken."

[ATTN: Foolish Chefs]

Just as I was about to turn the corner to my last chef, two buffoons show up beside me and decide to throw knives. I nimbly dodge and push the two away, enraged and with two thyme torpedos at the ready. GOSH, these guys took their competition way too seriously. I mean, it's okay to love your food, but with all of this combat, I guess you could call it a... food fight. All joking aside, this fighting was incredibly troublesome. "What's your PROBLEM, guys?!? We're chefs, not warriors!" More foodstuffs flew at me before I blew one of them away with a thyme torpedo. The other looked at me as if I were the devil and redoubled his efforts, calling in some of his chef buddies.

"You were unwise to try to defeat the brotherhood of the Iron Plate." Five burly looking chefs with large skillets and pot covers circled around me. Sweat dropped on my brow for all the wrong reasons, these guys were jokes! I laughed as sunflower seeds circled around at incredibly high speeds, creating a protective barrier around me. The brutes hacked and slashed at the shield of seeds, with some of them deflecting into their faces, but they could never get through. "BROTHERS, use your magical spice storms to blow away his defenses..." Fools. They didn't have spice storms like mine, and they were about to see.

Suddenly, the shield fell and the brutes were confused. "HEY, IDIOTS..." And they looked up to the roof to see me standing there with a mini Spice Storm in my palm. "You want a real spice storm? You can have it." I threw it into the streets where they were immediately sucked up and thrown away by the storm... oh, dear. The mini storm continued through the streets. I slowly backed away and ran to the last judge, where I finally completed the scavenger hunt.

[ATTN: Competition]

I was panting in exhaustion by the time I made it back to the competition kitchen, tired and hungry. Fortunately, it seems the field had thinned even further now; I had a far better shot at winning than before (even though I AM CLEARLY the best chef in the field). Only Lassy and two no-names were in my way and I was now ready for any competition they could throw at me. "Good luck, guys..." They were going to need it against my culinary brand of genius.

[ATTN: Lassy, Judges, K]

I was huffing and panting... but I knew that there was something dangerous out there that had to be stopped. The four people who had actually returned were getting their scores for the game, and that included me. My hands were shaking. My eyes tilted side to side. I was like a junkie with a need for marijuana. "Um, yeah, could we hurry this up? I have... errands to run." Finally, the judge finished his speech about how everyone was a winner and finally, he announced two winners. I bolted back outside and looked up... Oh, crap.

The spice storm had grown like I thought it would, and was beginning to get a little out of hand. It was whirling around the countryside, having escaped the city with minimal damage aside from spreading dust around. It would do that no longer, as trees started getting sucked into its wake and animals were being coated in spices as they flew in the air. "Dang."