Of course, there were impressive contestants, and there were lousy ones too.
At a workstation near the front row, Octillery made several mistakes in a row while rinsing the blood out of the meat, spraying water all over his partner Furret's head and face.
Furret was furious and started wrestling with Octillery. Fortunately, their Pokémon Trainer stepped in to stop them, or the cooking challenge might have turned straight into a Pokémon battle.
One row farther back, a mistake sent roaring flames shooting up from an iron wok.
Beside the workstation, Bellsprout and Oddish clung to each other, trembling.
Neither team could continue competing, so the organizers sent staff to clean up their workstations.
"See? Not every Pokémon knows how to cook."
I... actually wasn't much better.
"Don't be discouraged. It's our turn."
The first group of contestants' thirty-minute cooking time soon passed. Scores were calculated from the organizers' guest judges and randomly selected tasters from the audience, and two scores above eighty had already appeared.
Amid the audience's cheers, Chansey walked toward the competition area with somewhat stiff steps alongside the other Pokémon.
Florges reached out and patted Chansey on the back to soothe her nerves.
"What ingredients would you like to use?"
For home cooking... some simple sliced meat and vegetables, I suppose.
"That works."
With time tight, Chansey didn't dare pick unfamiliar ingredients, taking only water spinach, green peppers, and meat.
She wanted to make stir-fried water spinach and a dish of green peppers stir-fried with pork.
"Let me help you out."
R-really?! Is that really okay?
Chansey hesitated. The thought of the noble, elegant Florges washing vegetables and doing such chores always made her feel she was asking too much of her.
"What's wrong with that? When I mix juices and make little snacks, I work