Hugo was still cooking intensely. The lovely smell of his barbecue filled the air. Ryan walked back up his hill to his limousine. "Men, you can pick up your discarded firearms and place them back into the limousine. If anyone tries to kidnap Hugo, I'll take care of them." Ryan stated.
"Are you sure boss? There are no sea creatures around to help you out of trouble if something bad happens." Stated one of the men, they clearly felt concerned. It was not Gilford who made the statement.
"I wish I brought my more personal teammates. They are well aware of my secret ability." Ryan boasted.
'A secret ability?' Hugo thought. 'Now that I think about it, I feel like I have seen the faces of both Ryan and Paula, another one of the seekers' elites somewhere before.'
"You're probably wondering if I've cooked anything so far? Only thirty minutes until your sister returns, right?"
"That's right," Hugo stated as he started preparing the next meal. "You haven't cooked much have you, not on the rough road back there."
"That's alright. My cook is the one and only Cook master!"
'No way! Cook master Charlotte Beaumont! She is the only person with the Triple chief attribute. She can cook food three times as fast as a normal person. I have never seen her face before, but her name is all over the place!' Hugo thought. He immediately focused on the feast he was preparing intensely.
The thirty minutes passed by fast. Hugo couldn't even figure out where the time went.
Margret passed through the bushes with a smile upon her face. She was wearing items that her friends gave her to help her remember the great time she had.
She was only in the area for moments before her face turned from a smile into a more serious look.
"What happened Hugo?" She inquired with a very serious tone. This tone could strike fear in many of her opponents. I have already mentioned she is a great martial artist and she was aware that someone was in the area earlier. She noticed that the bushes were different, they showed signs that someone had been there. Hugo could tell she was very serious. Normally she would call him oni-san or ani. But when she was serious she only spoke in complete English sentences.
"We have visitors," Hugo stated, pointing to the bushes behind him. The barbeque was now off, and all the meals he had prepared were placed nearby. Margret felt curious, so she walked up to the bushes and peered through.
She walked back, dusting herself off and placing her newfound souvenirs into her backpack, it seemed she already gathered together the pieces and figured out what was going on. "That limousine, it bears the seekers guild's emblem."
"Yes, they are here for a taste test," Hugo replied.
"Only you would call trail matches 'taste tests', Hugo," Margret stated, with a smile.
Hugo felt embarrassed and lowed his head and sulked. "Are you ready though?" He muttered.
"Hugo, when it comes to us, together, we're unstoppable. You may only know how to cook and your control is poor, but you can still manage to get out of a sticky situation by yourself. But there will be a day where even we have to part ways. I want you to be strong like me when that day comes! But for now, let's show the seekers guild what a real trail match looks like."
"Oh, I should warn you about a few things before we start. Our opponents are Ryan Seacrate and Charlotte Beaumont, also the food I prepared won't be top quality, so chose your power carefully."
"That's okay, once I know what my opponent can do, there is no way to stop me," Margret stated in a cocky tone.
"Don't get ahead of yourself, these two are no run of the mill street thugs that you can knock down to the floor in mere seconds. These two are elites of the most elite institution, they could have level five recipes to give them level five powers."
"I'm well aware of that." Margret smiled. "You have been training me so I can use the food abilities to my full advantage because you are too unskillful to use abilities yourself. Besides, they would want to have a fair fight with us, they must be aware that the food that you cook on one of these barbeques would be no higher than level three."
"Plus I've never once made anything below level three," Hugo noted. "Not even when I made my first meal when I was just 8 years old. It was a level three mac & cheese. I was naturally talented from the day I was born, which is why dad paid for me to go to a prestigious school for people like me. Everyone there was special there..."
"Quite, enough backstories, Ryan is coming!" Margret replied, cutting Hugo off, Hugo felt upset because he didn't get to finish his tale. But he didn't notice anything. But Margret knew that someone was approaching.
Soon the air was filled with a lavender scent. "Yep, that's him alright!" Hugo stated, holding his nose. "How are you not going to get distracted by that?"
"My sensei in my martial art lessons has taught me many things, including how not to allow your opponent to have the upper hand. To me, a strong scent of lavender is but another small breeze blowing through my hair. When I'm focused like this, the only things I can fell is the air and my heart."
Ryan was soon in view. He was holding a platter with a domed lid that looked as if someone had made it from diamonds. The lid wasn't transparent of course, so they couldn't know what was beneath it.
Margret reached into her backpack and removed a sealed jar, she opened it and removed a pickled ghost pepper from it, this surprised Ryan. Ryan almost dropped the platter.
"I heard you meant business, but seeing this..." Ryan stated as Margret scoffed down the ghost pepper. "It just proves how true that statement is!" Ryan kept his eyes on Margaret, but she didn't flinch, she didn't huff and puff. The chilli was not affecting her whatsoever. "Impossible, how is she not reacting to that? Nobody I know can withstand the heat of those."
Hugo smiled. "That's because she trained in everything related to food. She can beat anybody in a hot chilli eating contest! There's nothing my sister can't eat!"
"No way that's impossible. Besides, isn't she missing out, pickling juice would change the ability that the ingredient produces, right?" Ryan inquired.
"Wow, you don't know? Pickling is like flavour enhancements, the power that the ingredient grants isn't changed, it's intensified! But because ghost peppers already have a level five ability stored inside them, pickling them is a moot point, but it does make them last longer. Seeing as their price increased significantly due to the ability inside, having long-lasting ones is very beneficial. Man, I thought a member of the seeker's guild would know that. But I don't blame you, you can so easily afford fresh stuff so you never needed to concern yourself with pickling at all."
Ryan was sweating now. "So what if you know my true identity, my abilities and the power I will obtain from what I'm about to eat. Do you still think you will win?"
"Your true identity?" Hugo inquired.
"Yes, Hugo. This man isn't Ryan Seacrate, that's just a pseudonym he or somebody close to him created. His real name is Robert Castlowe."
"Robert Castlowe," Hugo replied with a great deal of shock in his tone. "As in that firefighter that mysteriously gained water powers one day!"
"Yes, that's right," Robert admitted, "Ryan is nothing but my stage name. A fallacy I go under for the audience alone. But seeing as you are likely going to join us, there is no need for me to use that name. I am Robert Castlowe, of the billions of people on this earth, I am one of the very few who mysteriously obtained an ability before the UWWFEC!"
'Amazing! Truly amazing. I knew I had seen his face on the news before. To this day nobody has figured out where his ability came from, and since he had it before the UWWFEC, his ability is not affected by the rules of the feast.' Hugo thought.
"I bet you are thinking that this fight is going to be more interesting Hugo," Margret stated.
"Just focus on him!" Hugo shouted back.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Hugo. But since this is a fair fight, I will not be using my water powers at all, besides, I'm pretty certain you already made a dish that would help your sister defeat me even if I used my original ability."
"Can you guys stop reading my mind and just battle already," Hugo stated, he was feeling annoyed now, and his tone reflected that.
"Alright, I was getting bored of standing, talking and filling the air with my lovely lavender scent. Let's get to it, shall we?" Robert stated as he picked up his dish.
He removed the platter's marvellous diamond encrusted lid, a blinding golden light appeared.
"Of course we should have expected this!" Hugo remarked as he covered his eyes.
"A level 5 dish? How could their mobile kitchen produce something like that?" Margret inquired. She also covered her eyes.
"Jealous?" Robert inquired.
"Not really." Hugo replied, he rubbed his eyes. "If I wasn't using a barbecue, I might have produced a level 5 dish myself."
"Ok. Before we begin, the rules are as follows," Robert stated. "1: you may use as many powers as you like with those dishes, however if my power runs out, you must disable your ability. 2: If you know me on my back or decrease my Hp to 0 and I have to be healed three times you win. If I knock Margret down 3 times or reduce her HP to 0 3 times, I win. 3: this is purely a battle of abilities, you will not be disqualified for using your hand to hand combat, however any knockdowns caused by a physical hit will not count and HP damage from a physical hit will automatically be healed. That's the three rules I want to apply. As your sister's representative you have to agree to these rules too."
"So this is what a trail battle is like huh? It seems you eliminated my sister's specialty. But that doesn't matter. I'll agree to your rules, however if there is a tie we need to do a coin toss, we can't do an audience vote as any witnesses will most likely be biased towards us." Hugo replied with a smile on his face.
"I agree to those terms as well. Then let's begin." Robert stated as he ate the hors d'oeuvres on his diamond coloured platter.
"Hors d'oeuvres?" Margret inquired. "But doesn't that break his second condition?"
"Yeah, you have a point, the hors d'oeuvres he ate were ones that grant the 'animal transformation and communication' ability. He can turn into any animal he wishes and have other animals assist him if he so chooses, but animals fight with physical moves. But it doesn't break the second condition." Hugo explained.
"How so?" Margret inquired.
"Physical attacks in his human form are off limits, however, when he's in an animal form his using his ability and therefore anything he does in his animal form doesn't go against rule 2." Hugo explained further.
"I see that is interesting." Margret stated. "I guess I didn't need to eat that ghost pepper after all."
"Man you take your time talking." Robert stated. "My powers only last an hour, or did you forget that?"
"Hugo, he can transform into mythical creatures because it was a level 5 dish right?" Margret inquired.
"Yes." Hugo replied.
"Well. That will make this much more interesting." She stated as she grabbed the gumbo on the barbecue bench.
'How did my brother make this with a barbecue.' She asked herself. 'He certainly is something special.'