The door opens as Sweet Tofu enters the living room with Samson, who is carrying the same chest that Akira had. He utters, "Hey, fellas, Master Attendant is back~" His expression changes when he and Samson notice how Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie, Brownie, Crepe, and I are somewhat huddled close together with serious looks. This feels a little awkward. Butterscotch asks, "Welcome back, Master Attendant. How did the day go?" Samson answers as he puts the chest onto the coffee table, "Well, we had a rather unusual encounter today. Some weird guy in a cloak demanded that I give Rice to him. Even referred to her as an 'empty shell', which was weird since the only time I heard someone call Rice an empty shell was when I summoned her." Brownie asks, "And who would that be?"
"A woman named Olivia with her Food Soul Tiramisu," he replies. "They were teaching me how to summon Food Souls and the basics of being a Master Attendant." Butterscotch questions, "What is an empty shell, Master Attendant?"
"It's a term for Food Souls and Master Attendants used for referring to a Food Soul who got summoned with no spirit power. I heard they're very weak and have their contracts canceled simply because of that. Of course, Rice is my first Food Soul, so of course I'm not going to discard her anytime soon. And I won't do it to any of you either."
"Empty shell," I think to myself, I almost forgot that exists here. Still, are Rice the only type of Food Soul who are that weak? Or are there others types who are the same? I suddenly realize what Samson meant by the strange man. Oh, no…. That man he mentioned? Was it really him? The man who had Boston Lobster with him and got strangled to death by him? If that were the case, then the game's main story is starting to progress again. Which means that the previous chapters we went through were indeed filler chapters. That explains so fucking much! And since the only past references of the main story were mainly on Chapters 1 and 2, it would makes that I wouldn't think about the plot itself and even nearly forget about it. That is, until, Samson went out with his Food Souls to restock on ingredients. Since he went out, it makes sense the story would continue again.
But, then, why the filler chapters? Why have the main story of this game be postponed for nearly two weeks? Maybe it's because, like in the real world perspective of the game, Master Attendants take time to complete missions and level up along with collecting Food Souls (hence the gacha mechanic as a result of the summoning machine). Also, it didn't cross my mind until now that Akira mentioned something about directly summoning an Ultra Rare (which is a new user benefit), and Samson was like, "Oh, really?" and then was totally confused when I explained to him what are the types of Rarities these Food Souls have. It's a bit odd, and it could be an error accidentally left by the author and was too lazy to fix it. Or, it could be that Akira mentioned the Ultra Rare to him, and Samson completely forgot that what the ranks are because he's still new with this Master Attendant business. Or, it could be that Samson didn't knew at all, and pretended he understood what Akira was talking about, totally forgot that happened, and was weirded out by my knowledge on Food Souls like we were perplexed by the otaku and the girl from Chapter 2. Chances are, it might be possibilities one and three. More likely the first one, since each chapter is posted at a time rather than having the author write the whole damn thing at once and post it after making some edits. Whatever the case, let's get back to the story.
Crepe remarks, "Hm, that description of the man you encountered. It sounded a lot like the weirdos who broke in that night. After chasing them out, Danny wrote in her notepad thinking they may be after her. What if that guy you mentioned could be one of the guys who broke in?" Samson answers, "Could be. It's best we keep our guard up. Not only has there been a rise in Fallen Angel attacks in the forest, I've heard a few rumors from town that there has been sightings of suspicious people like the stranger in the forest and the guys who broke in." Milk enters the room. She adds, "Master Attendant, one thing I should bring up about the encounter, now that we've returned home, is that as we were leaving the forest, I caught a glimpse of the eyes of a Food Soul hiding in the shadows. I could tell from the glimpse they seem to be a threat, and could be allies with the hooded stranger." Samson responds, "This gets even weirder. Whoever these people are, whatever they may be up to, if they want Rice so badly, they'll have to get through us first." Sweet asks, "Should I bring Rice in the room?" He nods. "Yes, please." Sweet steps out.
I clear my throat, and I jump up the couch so I can be at eye level with Milk. I write This Food Soul you caught a glimpse of, what did they look like? before handing the notepad to the Support Soul. Milk says, "Well, they seemed to be very tall and had red, glowering eyes. Other than that, I didn't get a good look at them." My blood suddenly feels cold, and I remain standing here, petrified at what she said. Imagine the worst thing that could ever happen to you, only it's a suitcase full of that. That's how bad this is. The stranger, the Food Soul, the fact they could be after Rice. I know exactly how this part of the story goes. The main characters encounter the bad guys, the bad guys win in a fight, they leave, the stranger kills a Food Soul, the other Food Soul betrays him, strangling him to death, Rice realizes something tragic that may be foreshadowed, and we discover a syringe from Nevras academy. If you know exactly what I'm talking about, the Food Soul in this spoiler and the Food Soul Milk caught a glimpse of, they're the same. He's none other than the Ultra Rare Food Soul, Boston Lobster. I never thought we would have a chance of encountering him this soon. Butterscotch asks, "Danny RPG, are you okay?" I think of a response, but my mind turns totally blank. Er, what do I do? What would anyone do in a situation like this? Tell the truth? Actually, that might actually be a smart thing to do. If I'm not mistaken, the stranger only mentioned Rice and this would've been the part when Boston Lobster appears and beats up the main characters, except, Rice wasn't there and Boston didn't reveal himself. So it's clearly an alternate version of the main story, one where everything is exactly the same, except Butterscotch, Akira, the Undertale cast, and I somehow exist. I have to think this very carefully, since this is either going to make things go smooth, or snowball into a domino effect of catastrophic consequences. I write, thinking as I go along, I know who this guy might be. The Food Soul, I mean. Listen, this guy is real grumpy, real overbearing, real hot (figuratively and literally), and a real piece of shit who can pack a punch. I have an idea on how this may go. What we need to do is form a team of five Food Souls led by Master Attendant. Rice, Ichi, and I will go with you. That way, the next time we head out into the forest, we'll be ready. Butterscotch asks, ready for what?" My notepad and charcoal pencil glitch out of existence. They're kept in my Inventory, as always. No turning back now.
Samson adds, "Danny RPG, who is this Food Soul? How do you know about him and Ichi? And, what makes you think that I'll let Rice out at a time like this? It's too dangerous considering what's been happening. And what is it that we'll be ready for if this idea of yours actually works?" Well, when you put it like that…. I take the notepad and pencil back out of the Inventory. Oh, boy … where the hell do I start? Oh, yeah, I think I might have an idea. First off, I start, I've just discovered I'm somehow from 1560 years into the future, so of course I'm familiar with this kind of stuff. Second, the Food Soul I'm writing about is called Boston Lobster, an Ultra Rare Strength Food Soul, UR Strength Soul for short, as I'd like to call him. This Boston Lobster in particular, he's a murderer. He was in cahoots with the mysterious stranger you're talking about before betraying him after the stranger turned out to be a coward. Considering what you're talking about, I don't think that's happened yet. As for Ichi, it's because of 1) I'm from the future and 2) I'm really good at eavesdropping. And reason No. 3 is because I'm a fucking nerd. Of course, I didn't write that. And there's no way I'm going to tell them about the isekai stuff. I'll tell them when Rick and Morty crash-land in that trashy spaceship of theirs into our restaurant…. Okay, that's not a good choice of words. I definitely don't want to jinx this considering we got Undertale somehow linked to this world. Ahem, back to the conversation.
I add on Second, what's going to happen is that a group of Food Souls and their Master Attendant will be raided by Fallen Angels, which is later revealed to be the work of the stranger and Boston Lobster. And, that's as much as I know so far for that part of the story. Of course, after that, we do some investigating, which takes us to Sakurajima to solve a mystery about the people who live there and two very hostile Food Souls. I don't remember much after that, but we then head to Palata, and that's all I know. I don't know what happens after that; I didn't stick around long enough to find out the rest of the story.
Samson processes what I wrote after I finishing this paragraph. Sweet enters the room with Rice. He chirps, "I brought her here, Master Attendant~ Sorry to keep you waiting; we had a rush with orders, and I didn't them to pile up. Otherwise, it would've been a disaster in the back of the house." Rice asks, her voice wavering as usual, but not as much as in the beginning, "Master Attendant…. What is going on…?" Samson answers, "There's something we need to talk about regarding today's mission. And Danny too." Rice's eyes widen, seemingly wondering what Samson is going to talk about. He thinks about how to start, and proceeds to explain about what what happened during the mission and the mysterious stranger who looked like the burglars from Chapter 6. He later proceeds to start talking about my insight in this situation, while still trying to process everything I said – er, wrote.
Master Attendant recounts, "While we were in the forest, we encountered this guy in a hooded cloak, and he demanded that I cancel your contract and hand you to him. Obviously, I refused, and Spicy Gluten suddenly made a smokescreen with her whip as a chance for us to escape. And then, Milk just told me she caught a glimpse of a Food Soul hiding in the forest, and Danny RPG somehow knew that it was an … 'Ultra Rare Strength Food Soul called Boston Lobster'. I asked her how she knew this, and her response was that she's from about a thousand years into the future and from a country that hasn't existed yet called 'America.' She doesn't know everything about what happens from now, though."
Yeah … when you try to explain what I wrote out loud you'd end up somewhat sounding like a fifth grader with absolutely no idea how storytelling and writing works in a manner that actually makes sense. Believe me, I know that very well from writing weird, cringy shit that looks like something out of a fandom dumpster fire on the Internet. (I was in fifth grade at the time, so can we ignore that?) Hell, I might as well say that when Samson summarizes what I have said, done, and wrote, he'll end up sounding like a five-year-old on marijuana and bath salts.
Brownie adds, "Master Attendant, I should point that Danny RPG's sapient behavior was because she was originally human in the future. However, she doesn't know how she ended up in the past, nor how she turned into a dragon when she got here." Sweet asks, "She was a human? Huh, that explains a lot." Samson nods; no one seems to be surprised by this. Makes sense; even as a cat-sized dragon, I'm as easy to read as a book. Plus, I'm often transparent about everything, except for the isekai thing. I'm keeping that a secret as long as possible. Maybe it's not that cringe after all…?
Since there are alternate dimensions, hence Undertale and most likely Deltarune, I wouldn't be shocked if we'll have a surprise encounter with Rick and Morty, or even that weird Doctor Who guy I've been hearing about. (Seriously, who is that Doctor, and what is up with that blue police box? Is it like that phone booth from Bill and Ted? The only thing I know about this is that Google Doodle game of Doctor Who I glimpsed at years ago, and that Pink Floyd – The Wall tribute from the British YouTuber FENNAH.)
Crepe asks, "You mentioned that once we form team of Food Souls to head out with Master Attendant, you, and Ichi, we'll be ready. What is it that we'll be ready for?" I write in response A battle. Unless we train ourselves ahead of time and know what we're up against, we won't stand a chance against Boston Lobster and the hooded stranger. Boston Lobster packs a punch, but we can use a team of Defense and Magic Food Souls to have some form of resistance against him. And if we're lucky, we might defeat him for now. The first time I played this game, I was obviously still new at Food Fantasy, and I was merely following instructions, so it never occurred to me that I can level up my Food Souls ahead of time to face big threats early in the game. So, naturally, I would get my ass kicked by Boston Lobster. After inadvertently starting a second account, I knew what to do, so I leveled up my Food Souls and successfully took down Boston. Regardless, the story remained the same, so albeit I defeated him, the story continued as though I was defeated. (This wasn't a bug, there was never an alternate route to begin with, so the game will simply continue as is since there's only one main story with no alternating routes. Though, considering I'm here and some of the stuff has already deviated from the main story, there's a very good and obvious chance that everything will be different once we meet Boston.)
Butterscotch replies, "This Boston Lobster person sounds scary. From what I experienced in that battle with Uke Mochi and those weird skeleton brothers, I don't think I'd be suited for battle. Sure, I can heal enemies from their near-death state, but I don't feel like I'm the type for fighting." So, he's a pacifist, like Frisk from Undertale. As far as I'm aware with Chapter 15, it looked like the skele-bros and Frisk were with Flowey, and everyone got along fine with Frisk. So, my speculation is that the Undertale timeline we're linked to seems to be the True Pacifist route. Not only that, I got a glimpse of Monster Kid and Doctor Alphys shortly before the other characters left. So, yeah, definitely the Pacifist route, but the only way to explain Flowey's appearance in this is if these characters appeared in the Food Fantasy world AFTER the True Pacifist route. Sure, he could've joined Frisk on their journey to the Barrier like in Flowerfell (an Undertale alternate universe from the fandom), but it wouldn't make sense considering the things he's done during the Neutral route before the True Pacifist route. (Plus, these are the original Undertale characters rather than their Underfell counterparts.) So, where does that leave Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie? What could he have been involved with since he's a literal personification of Toriel's famous pie? Hmm, looking back at his dialogue, it looks like he had never been summoned before, so what's up with him in all of this? Oh, man, if only I had paid more attention to the lore of these Food Fantasy characters and spent more time reading the storylines in the wiki…. If I still have access to the Internet, I would have done so already.
Focusing back onto the conversation, I decide to reassure him by letting him know that he doesn't have to join me in this idea. Adding on to that, I write My plan is that the team who will be fighting Boston will a group of five Food Souls: Milk, Black Tea, Tom Yum, Bamboo Rice, and Sweet Tofu. Bambri is super strong and fast, but he doesn't have a lot defense, so Tom will be our tank. Samson asks, "What do you mean by 'tank'?" I answer It's an American slang for a really powerful way of physically defending something. Black Tea is super strong, so she would pair nicely with Bambri and Tom, but her real skills come into play when Milk is around; Black Tea and Milk make a powerful dynamic duo, and Milk's healing power is even more effective when Black Tea is teamed with her. Even so, one healer is unlikely to be enough for the team to last, so a second one will be useful. Thus, Sweet Tofu would be helpful in this. Rice wouldn't make a good candidate because of her lack of Soul power. And Butterscotch wouldn't help either since he is a pacifist. I lift my pencil and shake my hand – er, talon – from writer's cramp. As I dig my claws into the side of my hand to soothe the cramp, Brownie comments, "This is a very interesting way of preparing for battle. Very insightful, too. I have heard that the average team consists of five Food Souls, and most public battles require each team to have the same number of Food Souls as well." Crepe remarks, "Hey, Master Attendant, maybe you should take notes on this dragon; she's pretty weird and her way of thinking is … unique, but even she knows how battles work." Samson responds, "Alright, I'll take this into consideration, and then head out. I hope this plan of yours works, Danny RPG. I don't want to deal with any more trouble considering your past stunts in here."
He's not wrong. I mean, I tried running a restaurant on my own with ZERO real experience, and I literally set a mercenary's head on fire without actually hurting him somehow like this were a cartoon. Plus, I baked a cake and burned it to the point it nearly set itself on fire, and I started a grease fire just by sneezing. If I can cause wacky disasters like that in Glorywest Grill, I can hardly image how chaotic it's going to be as soon as I step into the world outside of this restaurant. Still, it's not going to be as bad as I imagine it to be, right?