Anomaly Between Worlds - Danny_RPG_NineTwoOak (2024)

Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Newcomer

Chapter Text

There is nothing but silence. Or so it seems.

“Guys! Over here!”

“What is that?”

“I don't know, but it's still alive.”

“Let's take it into the restaurant and see what we can do about it.”

How long have I been out? Hours? Maybe a day? I don't know. I open my eyes, and I suddenly get hit by an awful migraine. Oh, man.... It feels like I woke up from barely surviving an explosion followed by a concussion. I quietly let the pain fade for a minute as my sight is clearing up. I was sleeping on a twin-sized bed in what seemed to be a small bedroom, most likely for a long while before waking up now. Beside me seems to be a familiar anime milkmaid in a lovely black and white dress with black spots at the bottom. There is a yellow ribbon with a small, spotted milk bottle attached for decoration tied above her large chest. Under her dress, she is wearing seemingly delicate black shoes along with long white stockings that stretch above her knees. The woman has long, silky, white hair and there are two small horns on the sides of her head. Her facial features seem warm, gentle, and soft. Completely disregarding her large chest, she's a sight for sore eyes. I'm immediately surprised and bewildered at the sight of her. This must be one of those weird dreams, I think. Oddly enough, despite everything looking like anime, the bed I'm on feels real.… I recognize who this person is; she is a Food Soul from the RPG I play.

Since a lot of you don’t know (except in Amino and Archive Of Our Own), a Food Soul is a type of spirit in Food Fantasy that is a personification of food, with the character near me being the first Food Soul the player receives (along with a few others). Well, technically, Rice is, but that’s only in the game’s main story, and the player has to participate in a certain event in order to summon her. These Food Souls are summoned to fight enemies called Fallen Angels, and they’re the player’s allies. However, there are Food Souls that are enemies, but that only happens in the story rather than in-game. There are four different types of Food Souls: Strength, Defense, Magic, and Support. In the case of the Food Soul near me, she is a Support Food Soul. (Though I refer to her as a Support Soul for short.) In other words, she’s a healer. Her name is Milk; don't ask me why her name is that (it's none of my damn business to find out); I'm just saying what I know. The woman speaks in a soft but monotone voice, “You're awake. Do not be alarmed; I mean you no harm. I am Milk.” I nod and try to respond, but all I made are nothing more than chirps, trills, low growls, and probably a few other similar noises. I immediately stop myself when I realize this: There's a language barrier between me and Milk, albeit one-sided. In a strange way, the strange noises I made are loosely similar to the sounds a hoarse cat (and/or perhaps some other animal) would make, so it's probably likely I'd use terms like those when I'm saying something out loud.

As I sit up, I realize that she is quite larger than I initially anticipated – and I mean in height, reader – which I think is odd because the last time I checked, her bio read that she's about five feet and two inches tall. Considering my sight is really good, and I'm able to see every detail in the bedroom, I lightly press between my eyes with my forefinger because I can't see well without my glasses. Except … where the hell are my glasses?! It took me this long to realize that she is in her canon height, and I'm about the size of an adult house cat. This has got to be a dream, right? I slap myself to be sure, much to Milk's surprise. Nope, the pain is real. I also just realize that there is a scaly crimson and black snout in front of me, which turns out to be part of my face. Panicking, I frantically check other features that I now have. Before I finish processing what the hell is going on, footsteps start approaching the door from the other side.

A man and two more Food Souls enter the room. I recognize them right away as Rice, Tom Yum, and what's most likely to be their Master Attendant. Rice is a docile Support Soul who is four feet and six inches tall; she has really long white hair and vibrant golden eyes. She wears a white dress with a red pattern, and she has these ornaments on the sides of her head that appear to be large grains of rice, and she carries a giant wooden rice paddle. Tom Yum is a brown-eyed and passionate Defense Soul with blue hair; he wears red pants and matching boxing gloves. As for the man, he's the average height of a human, has white skin, green eyes, and short blonde hair, and is wearing a chef's outfit. Milk utters politely, “Ah, you're back. I have some good news, Master Attendant. The creature Tom Yum found has just awakened.” Upon realizing what's going on, I totally freak out and yowl, “Oh, sh*t! I've become a dragon in an anime world!” I immediately put my hands onto the sides of my face and let out a terrified scream – er, sorry, roar. Everyone else stands there, surprised and confused by my impression of The Scream.

Looking at myself, I'm now a digitigrade dragon covered in smooth black scales with a red underside. I've got a pair of horns protruding from the head like a domestic goat's horns. My flexible wings are black, and the membranes between each finger are red like my underside and have a leathery texture. I have three clawed fingers on each wing, plus my wing thumb which is just a short, thick claw that sticks out from each carpus. My body is fairly thin but healthy. Well, mostly, anyway. My paws are pretty similar to a primate, and I can move my limbs almost like a human. My hind legs are anatomically the same as that of a carnivorous dinosaur, except I have five toes on each foot; the femurs go forward, the calves go backward, and the metatarsals go forward. My front legs are made of the upper arm and the forearm – pretty much, they're much like human arms and even bend like them (excluding the wing joints that protrude from my shoulders). I have five fingers on each paw, which include opposable thumbs. My paws are as black as the rest of me, but my palms and the soles of my feet have a light grey appearance. My front paws have long and thin fingers, but my back paws have long and thick fingers. I noticed that my claws are sharp and white, so I'm guessing the same applies to my teeth and horns. There isn't much to say about my tail; it's black with a red underside, it's what you can expect from a dragon's tail, and there is a ball of red fur at the end of it like the flame of a Charmander's tail that matches the color of my red scales. Unfortunately, I can't describe my face because I don't know what it looks like, and I don't have a mirror right now. (Seriously? You don't know what a Charmander is? Have you been living under a rock or something?)

Still, this shouldn't be possible at all! I should be dead or something, right? Though, I can't be too sure of that. Actually, I can't remember anything that happened in the last few days at all. This is beyond any science I know – even with the latest technology, it's only possible in science fiction. I mean, it's one thing to write or draw something about turning real matter into fictional matter, but it's an entirely different thing to have this actually happen. It's even more impossible with the other way around, right? I mean, what the hell?!

With Rice's voice faltering like at the beginning of the main story, she asks, “Is it okay...?” Milk replies, “Physically, yes. Mentally, however, I'm uncertain. But I could be wrong.” Great, now I got characters who think I'm mentally ill, but I probably shouldn't be too judgy about what they said since they've only known me for like, a few hours or something. Tom Yum inquires, “Master Attendant Samson, what are we going to do with it?” Their Master Attendant, “Samson”, with a face full of uncertainty, answers, “I was thinking of letting it go tomorrow; we currently have enough supplies, and I don't think any of us know how to take care of it for now.”

As much as I want to interject a response to what Samson is saying, I can't do it right now because of this stupid language barrier. I'm not giving up easily, though. There's got to be a way to convince them to let me stay in this restaurant. I could try to write HELP or some kind of message into one of the character's arms by scratching onto it, but that's just going to piss everyone off. Plus, I'd hate to hurt any of these characters anyway, since I've known them for about two years. They've agreed on resting for tomorrow to gather more ingredients to continue operating the restaurant next door and releasing me to the wild while they're at it. When the characters' discussion ends, I look at the ground. It seems like an okay height for me to jump off. I estimate that I'm nearly three feet off the ground. Plus, I've got wings … too bad I don't know how to use them. Still, I take my chance and hop off the bed, unaware until the last second that Rice is going to pick me up, presumably deciding where I am going to be placed for the night.

Involuntarily, my wings unfold slightly and catch a bit of air. I was going to land on my hands and feet as a feline would, but the moment I caught air, I lost focus and fell right on the side of my face and right forearm. Samson and the Food Souls wince briefly at my landing. As I get up, I shake my wrist from the pain. Strangely, it hurt a lot less than I thought it would. The landing is painful, but I recover quickly with nothing but a mildly sore arm and face. Heck, I'm not even bruised from this, from the looks of it. (Or is that from the black scales?) I guess I'm physically tougher in Tierra? By the way, Tierra is the fish-shaped, Earth-like world that Food Fantasy takes place in.

Milk asks, “Master Attendant, do you still think it's a good idea to release it back into the forest?” Uncertain and worried about this situation, I slowly shake my head in response, though no one seems to have noticed. I mutter quietly, “I don't think it's a good idea either.”

The bedroom is a small cozy room that is a part of the Food Souls and Master Attendant's home, which is right next door to their restaurant. The bed is on the far left corner of the door, next to a bedside table against the far wall. On the other side of the wall are a small wooden desk and a closet. It's like being in one of those studio apartments but simpler. As I leave the room, I get into a hall like I'm in one of those apartments or hotels, but smaller. I walk there, about to go downstairs, when I realize how big they are for my size. Not to mention, I'm now quadrupedal, which made the walk here pretty awkward but not terribly clumsy as I imagined it would be. I think about how I'm going down the stairs and remember observing a friend's Maltese dog and a Siamese cat moving up and down the staircase back when they used to live in an apartment not too far from my house before they moved. I go down the stairs the same way those animals would, but cautiously since I'm still learning how to be a four-legged dragon. As I go down, I quickly get the hang of it and am guided by my momentum, so I speed up slightly. Of course, when I notice this, I try to slow down a bit, making sure I don't lose control while managing my momentum. On the fifth to last step, however, my palm slips on the wood, and I stumble down on my underside until my face hits the floor.

Getting up again, I continue exploring. The bottom of the stairs leads to a living room. There isn't much to see there, though. In the center of the room, there is a rug under a coffee table that is close to a couch and some chairs. By the walls are two small tables with drawers and cupboards on them. About one or two flower pots and a few small picture frames are sitting on top of them. Near one of the cupboards, there is a bookshelf containing nothing more than a few cookbooks. There is a door under the stairs, which could be either a storage closet or the ice arena for the Food Souls. But I'm not really interested in checking it out right now, and it could be locked, for all I know. The other door on the far end of the room leads to the restaurant, it seems.

There are three Food Souls who are hanging out on the couch and chairs, which are Crepe, Sandwich, and Hawthorne Ball. Whatever it is that they're talking about has been interrupted by my appearance. Hawthorne asks eagerly, “Hey, is that the creature that Tom Yum found?” I approach them out of curiosity. Rice goes down the stairs along with Samson. Crepe answers, “Yeah. And … it looks kinda cute when awake. Especially the fur and face.” I stop and frown momentarily at Crepe. Cute, really? Out of all things to say, that's what she comes up with? Welp, knowing her personality and Macaron's, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Though, it seems Macaron isn't summoned. And it looks like Samson has just started out on being a Master Attendant. Considering there are Food Souls, this is probably his second day, based on what I've seen in the game's main story.... Actually, since Rice is here, I think this is the main story. If it isn't, then Rice would only be summoned during a very specific event. I forgot what it's called, though, but it had to do with the characters Turkey and Eggnog, and some special wine that was won in a festival. Rice looks at them with wonder. “'Cute...?'” Samson replies, “Yeah, I guess it kind of is.” I shoot them an annoyed glare. I look at the three Food Souls again and get a bit closer look at the coffee table. There are cards all over it, so I'm guessing Sandwich was playing a card game with the two girls before I interrupted them.

I walk to the door on the far end of the wall. Closed. Of course.... If I'm physically tougher in Tierra, then I guess I might have some other abilities that I either never had before or are greater than in the real world. Maybe I still can open doors in this form, I think. Only one way to find out. I calculate the height between me and the doorknob and jump. Success! I grab hold of the knob, and my hind legs kick around, claws lightly scratching the door, its frame, and a bit of the wall. After gaining footing into the wooden door frame, I carefully twist the knob and gave the frame and wall a strong kick, awkwardly pushing the door open by a few inches. I let go and drop down to the floor, successfully landing on all fours. I quickly grab the door and pull it further open, so that it wouldn't close. The other side of the door has a sign nailed to it saying STAFF ONLY. On my right is a very short hall leading to the bathrooms. The room on the other side of the door is definitely the restaurant these guys own and work at. Sandwich asks, “Have you seen something like this before, Master Attendant?” Samson remarks, “Nope. This is definitely a first.” Rice comments, “It seems, curious....”

The restaurant has some space containing nothing more than a few tables and some generic decorations, so nearly the same appearance as what the restaurant looked like during the tutorials, combined with what you'd expect from a Texas Roadhouse. A small one, though. Of course, the theme doesn't completely have that western feel, but that's probably because it just opened its doors, from what I could tell. There is a pair of doors that are for the customers to enter the restaurant, which from the perspective of my phone before ending up here, was somewhere on the bottom of the screen. Now, in my current point of view, it's on my far left. On the other side of the restaurant is a door, which I figured led to the back of the house. The windows of the place show some trees and what I think is a town, with a lot of moonlight shining through, illuminating the restaurant. There is a clock hanging from one of the restaurant's walls saying it's 8:37. Recalling the conversation from earlier, and I know that I should get to sleep despite waking up just now. I walk back to the couch from the living room and curl up on the soft upholstery, ready to sleep. Thirty seconds after closing my eyes, Hawthorne whispers excitedly, “Wah, it's even cuter falling asleep!~” I glance at her and roll my eyes before closing them again. I'm gonna have to get used to this, aren't I?

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Recipe for Disaster

Chapter Text

Morning comes by as the sun rises. Its warm, white rays shine on my face as I wake up. It wasn't a completely peaceful night, but I slept like a log anyway. Despite this, I'm not usually enthusiastic about waking up. I groan quietly, “Oyyyy…. What a night. That was one hell of a dream. I was dreaming that I was literally in the world of Food Fantasy, and –” I stop when I realize that I'm still talking in the same dragon speak as before. I look around and see that I spent the night in the couch from the restaurant's living room. I groan again, this time in exasperation, “Fuuuck…! So, all of that actually happened? Mierda…. Come to think of it, the last thing I can only remember was when I was in that bedroom upstairs and then decided to explore a bit before sleeping here. But what happened before that?” I ponder about this for a few more seconds…. Damn, nothing happens.

I seem to vaguely remember the school ending and me being so eager to get out of that hell, only to dread the days of being in a senior high school near my house. But what happened after that was a complete blur, as though the memory lapse between then and now was nothing more than a dream. Except, it's the kind that it's instantly forgotten the moment I wake up. No matter how hard I pry into my own memories, the only thing I've managed to draw up there is a blank as great as a void. Albeit I don't remember anything after the vacation began, the rest of my memories are as fine as usual, thus confirming that this is nothing more than short-term memory loss. Of course, I can't help but notice the subtle feeling that there's something off about this amnesia, but I'm not able to put my finger on it.

As I'm thinking, I see a small figure with a whole lot of white hair quietly walk down the stairs. It is Rice, and while being half-caught up in my internal monologue, I distractedly think that she is going to open the restaurant when I realize that it's still too early for it to happen. She is carrying her giant rice paddle but also has an envelope in one of her hands. How on Earth – er, Tierra, does she walk on those weird-ass shoes she wears? I randomly think. Am I the only one in the fandom that has thought of this? I hop off the couch and sneak up on her to see what's going on. Despite my stealth, she stops and looks at me, knowing that I am following her. She asks, her voice faltering like yesterday, “You're … curious, aren't, you…?” I nod as a reply. She answers, “I'm going, out, to look for some ingredients.” I reply, “And I'd guard the place, but it seems very unlikely that any threat would show up soon.” Not knowing what I said, Rice walks out the front door of the restaurant and sticks the letter that she held at the crack of the door when she closes it.

Shortly after Rice leaves, I decide to explore the place. I left the door completely open last night, so it's a total breeze to get to the place. On my left is a door to the men's bathroom and on my right is the women's bathroom. I continue moving forward. The restaurant has about fifteen tables, so it may be a small restaurant even though it's large for my size. Supposedly at the start of the game, the restaurant allows one person per table. However, I'm seeing about two chairs per table, which seem to be the Green Peace tables in the game. Except, the chairs are stacked upside-down on top of them. I notice some photorealistic paintings hanging on the walls, each showing different parts of a countryside, probably from Gloriville. I'd say they look like JPEG images, but the way they're painted is as though it's “photorealistic” in the sense that it's realistic in terms of the “realism” of this world. I'm probably not making sense, but the paintings are done in a way that is detailed but doesn't seem unnatural, nor something out of my world either.

On the right from where I entered the restaurant, there is that table that is covered in a white tablecloth. I'm not sure what's on that table, but it seems to have some utensils, empty glasses, and probably some other stuff for the restaurant. There's a sign by the doors, which contains information about the menu written in chalk, and another one beside the table with the supplies. I take a peek under the table with the white cloth. There is nothing under there except for an iota of dust that had just started gathering on the wooden floor.

I turn around and head to the back of the house. Like the floors of the dining area and the place next door, the floor of the kitchen is also made of wood. In an event where you collect wormwood with a chance of getting enough shards to summon Qingtuan (her name was incorrectly changed to Matcha Rice upon release, but they changed it back to Qingtuan), there was a small part in a cutscene where Rice briefly mentioned that the restaurant is prone to mold – now I know why. The majority of the building is built on wood and some metal.

The door to the kitchen opens, and Samson enters the room. He gets a few ingredients out of the cupboards from the kitchen and starts cooking. I sit by the door, watching him. Minutes pass, and the small meal he is making is finished. He calls out, “Rice? Hey! Rice? Hmm, where could she possibly be?” I'm about to approach him, but the door opens. I immediately scuttle clumsily to the back of the counter before I could be seen. Olivia steps into the kitchen and asks Samson, “Samson, are you looking for something?” He replies, “Ah, Olivia, I wanted to make Rice something to eat, but I don't know where she ran off to.”

“Are you joking? Food Souls don't need to eat. But, of course, you couldn't have known that.” Though that's true, I've read about Food Souls like Cheese who, ironically, love to eat food.

“Hey, that isn't important! The point is, she's missing now?”

“Stop searching and look at this.”

Peeking from behind the counter, I could see that Olivia has the letter that Rice had stuck to the crack of the door earlier today and gives it to Samson. He opens it and reads it aloud: “Master Attendant, I'm following the route we took yesterday for more ingredients. Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Sincerely, Rice.” Oh, yeah, I remember that; that was when she left to prove Samson that she can fend for herself and wanted to dedicate her life to protecting Samson despite his protests earlier in the story…. Ooohhhhhhh … sshhhiiitt…! I hope my presence doesn't change anything; I'd probably be screwed if anything happens to Rice because of me.

Samson asks with an obvious hint of worry in his voice, “I'm not surprised. Since yesterday she wouldn't shake that bitter look off her face. But does she really have to risk her life?!” Olivia answers, “Rice would go to this extent for your sake − doesn't that make you happy?”

“I'll be happy if she's safe and sound! I have to look for her!”

“Don't worry. She's a Food Soul. If she runs into trouble, her body will automatically return to the contractor. That is, to your side.” That's not the part that worries me the most. She's not wrong, though.

“No,” Samson shakes his head. “I summoned her. I need to suspend operations for today and look for her!” He grabs an empty bag that was on the island and rushes to the dorm area. Olivia walks to the dining area and then to the house. I secretly follow along, keeping a distance between me and her so wouldn't detect my presence. I move as quietly as I can, being careful not to let my clumsy talons make any noise. So far, so good. Olivia and I stop when we get to the living room. I hear some loud footsteps rushing above and Samson knocking on the doors while saying something like, “Guys, wake up! We need to find Rice as soon as possible!”

As Olivia starts looking around, I walk back to the front of the house and decide to hide under one of the tables before I could get spotted. I hear the characters go downstairs, and Sandwich's voice inquires, “Master Attendant! What's going on?” Samson answers, “Rice is gone. I'm going out with the same team from yesterday to look for her. Please keep an eye on the place while we're gone.” “No problem, Master Attendant,” Sandwich states coolly.

Shortly after the group leaves, I hear Olivia tell Sandwich and Hawthorne Ball that she's going to check on the other Master Attendants in Hilena to make sure they're making good progress. I assume she's referring to the Master Attendants who are part of the Chef's Guild, but I'm just theorizing here. I get out of my hiding place and approach the two Food Souls. Hawthorne sits down to see me and asks, “Oh, hey there. Did you sleep well last night?” “It's not the worst night I had,” I answered with a hand gesture used as a “yes and no” response. Sandwich asked, “So, you can understand what we're saying?” I nod.

“That's really cool~” Hawthorne chirps.

“I don't think we've introduced ourselves, by the way,” Sandwich states. “My name is Sandwich, and this is Hawthorne Ball.”

“My name is Danny RPG,” I reply. “It's a thrill to meet you guys.” Hawthorne asks, “Since Master Attendant is gone, what are we going to do?” Despite the language barrier, I might have an idea on what we could do. I gesture for her to follow me. Sandwich stays in the living room to play with his cards. I lead her to the door to the kitchen. Hawthorne asks, “Oh? Are you hungry?” I shake my head and then point to the door to the entrance of the restaurant and then the kitchen door behind me. Since it's going to be difficult communicating with them, I also do a bit of charades and briefly pretend that I'm cooking something, and then I point to the tables behind Hawthorne. I hope she gets that message clear.

Hawthorne asks, “So, you're trying to say that you want to operate the restaurant?” I point at Hawthorne, then Sandwich, and then myself and give her a small nod.

“You're saying you want all three of us to do it?”

I nod again. “But, wouldn't it be a good idea to wait until Master Attendant is back?"

She has a point, but I'd like to see how this goes because I have nothing better to do except playing cards. I run to Sandwich and Hawthorne follows along. I perform the same charades in front of him, but with minor changes since I'm not in the front of the house anymore. Sandwich sits there, baffled by actions again. “Are you doing charades…?” Hawthorne replies, “It's saying it wants the three of us to run the restaurant until Master Attendant comes back.”

“But, does the dragon even know how to do that?” Touché. The two Food Souls look at me. I shrug as a response. “Seems worth a shot. Though, now that you brought it up….” Maybe we can improvise a bit?

Though the three of us aren't too convinced that this is a good idea, we decide to do it anyway because not even Sandwich can keep himself entertained with his cards for that long until Samson gets back. We get the chairs off the tables and into their upright positions. Sandwich grabs the menus from the large table with the tablecloths, and although I didn't get a good look at it, I think it said something like The Glorywest Grill or something, which I'm assuming is the name of the restaurant. Hawthorne opens the door to the kitchen and tells me, “Come on, Maolong. Let's start cooking~” Yeah, apparently, they don't know if I have name or not, and since they can't understand me, they've given me the name “Maolong,” which probably means “cat-dragon” if my basic Chinese serves right. She notices the plate that Samson made and puts it in a box. She comments as she puts the box away, “I bet it belongs to Master Attendant. I wouldn't want it to go to waste. Still, why wouldn't Master Attendant eat it? What do you think, Maolong?” The door to the main entrance is heard opening and Sandwich's voice said, “Hi, welcome to Glorywest Grill. How may I help you?” Oh, so is it just 'Glorywest Grill'? I ask myself. Okay.

The customer requests water, a plate of crisped pork, and a side of fries, which Sandwich gives the order to Hawthorne and I jump up to the sink and prepare myself to wash the dishes. After giving the food to the customer, more start showing up in the small restaurant. About four hours later, the job starts to get tiring and I notice that I haven't eaten anything all day except for the small meal and very small amounts of raw pork that Hawthorne gave me as she was making a Gloryville dish about half an hour ago. There is a sound of Sandwich exclaiming, “Whoa! S-sorry, sorry about that!” along with a sound of loud, awkward footsteps. “Are you alright, sir?” asks Sandwich. “Ah, that’s good to hear…. I’m fine, and plus, the food is saved. Enjoy your meal, sir~”

Sandwich enters the kitchen and asks Hawthorne, “Hey, can we switch places? I thought I might try cooking; serving dishes can get pretty tiring after a few hours.” Hawthorne replied, “Sure.” I continue washing the dishes and look at them with uncertainty. The next hour goes by better than I expected. Though, because Sandwich isn’t as skilled at cooking as Hawthorne is, he accidentally overcooks about two or three meals, and unintentionally burned the fries and chicken once or twice. I also hear from Hawthorne that two Fallen Angels in disguise wereplanning to pull a Dine-and-Dash, but decided to leave without ordering anything (and left a few pitiful Tips for Hawthorne to pick up as if they knew what was going on). A few customers left as well, giving worried glances about our stunt and seem suspicious that our Master Attendant doesn’t know about this.

An otaku and a girl who appear to be college students enter the kitchen. The otaku tells us, “Um, hey, your friend told me that we can volunteer to help you guys run the restaurant.” I stay quiet and continue washing the dishes awkwardly like the two people aren't here. The girl asked, “Is that a dragon?” No, huevón, it's a unicorn. Hawthorne answers, “We'll explain later. For now, we gotta cook this food and give it to the customers.”

The otaku helps me take care of the dishes. After a while, I go to help Sandwich cook the meals he's making. The girl helps Hawthorne serve the dishes to the patrons and provide the bills for the food. Thanks to their help, the day went by smoother than we had started. We reach closing hours which is at 7:30 in the evening, and all of us start cleaning. The girl and I finish washing the dishes and putting them away, the otaku and Hawthorne sweep the floor, and Sandwich singlehandedly takes out the trash. After we're done, we gather in the kitchen, and the Food Souls start explaining. Or were about to when the back door opens. Samson and his Food Souls enter the kitchen with a bunch of ingredients in large bags and baskets. Among the team is Rice, who is completely unharmed. I exclaim gleefully, “Rice! You're back! I was so worried about you.” Sandwich comments, “It looks like Maolong is happy to see you, Rice.” “'Maolong…?'” Rice queries. Samson explains, “It's a name Hawthorne came up for the dragon. Who are you two?” The girl responds, “Your Food Souls and especially the dragon wanted to impress you by operating the restaurant while you were away.” – I let out a massive sh*t-eating grin sheepishly – “Since they're inexperienced, it clearly wasn't a good idea, so my friend and I volunteered to help them until they reach closing hours.” The otaku adds, “Still, they handled the first half of the day better than I expected.” Hawthorne interjects, “We wanted to earn that extra money so they could give it to you, so you could pay for taxes and be able to afford those ingredients from the market.” A few seconds later, Samson says with a dumbfounded look, “I … don't know what to say about that…. But, you two can leave. I'll talk to these three.” “Okay,” The otaku nods. “Oh, and words of advice. Summon more Food Souls so this can be prevented. And please train them to become more experienced and mature. Otherwise, what you learn will be meaningless. Good day, sir.” That's ... oddly something Olivia would say, or anyone of authority from the Chef's Guild anyway. Something tells me there's more to these two than meets the eye.... As much as I could inquire about it, he and the girl leave pretty quickly. After a very stern conversation (though the money we earned softened the blow a bit), everyone heads to their rooms, and I get onto the couch from the living room. I contemplate what I've done, taking all of the responsibility so Sandwich and Hawthorne wouldn't feel as bad, and drift into sleep.

Chapter 3: Chapter 3: Idle Caretaking

Chapter Text

It would have been a peaceful morning where I wake up to be welcomed by the warm and cozy rays of one of the two suns that Tierra orbits around. Instead, while having the sun shining on the couch, I wake up with an awful stomachache. I wonder if it's from the pork that Hawthorne Ball fed me with yesterday. Don't get the wrong idea; the pork is in excellent if not superior condition. The thing is that she gave me pieces of raw pork because she thought that, like other predators out there, I'm a carnivore that eats raw meat. As much as I wanted to decline, I was starving even with Rice's abandoned meal, so I took it anyway. Plus, I was curious about its taste and how would my insides handle it since I'm not human anymore. As you can tell by my pain, it was a dumb mistake. Ugh, I feel terribly nauseous…. And the guilt of pulling that damn stunt yesterday makes it even worse.

I run to the restaurant, head to the door to the ladies' room, and shove it open. I enter the bathroom and into one of the stalls. As I'm vomiting, the bathroom door opens and someone enters the room. Is the restaurant open already? I think. I must've woken up later than I thought. “Maolong~ Where are you?” a voice ponders. It turns out, it's Hawthorne Ball who enters the bathroom. She talks in her usual cheery voice, “Oh, there you are, Maolong~ What are doing in − huh? Were you barfing? I didn't know you were sick! Why didn't you tell me?” I wipe the residual bile off my mouth, flush the toilet, and explain the reason for my nausea through my half-assed charades. Hawthorne tries to interpret what I’m saying. “So, I was … chopping food? No? I was making a meal and … I gave some to you? Oh, no, wait! You’re trying to say that you got sick because of the food I gave you? Why would you get sick from me doing that…? Because … the food was … not cooked?” I nod in response. She inquires, “So, you’re saying that you got sick because the pork I gave you was raw? Why didn’t you tell me that sooner? I could’ve cooked it for you.”

I point at myself, then use hand gestures to imitate talking, and I cross my arms to form an X.

“Because you can’t talk?”

Correct again, Hawthorne; I give her a thumbs-up to tell her that.

“If you can understand what I’m saying, why is it that you can’t talk?”

I shrug with a baffled look.

“C’mon,” she says as she pick me up, “it’s probably a good idea to tell the others.” She carries me out of the bathroom the same way someone picks up a cat correctly and explains Samson about it.

Once again, he and the other Food Souls try to process everything what she said about me. I’m starting to feel rather sheepish about this. “I’m beginning to think this isn’t an ordinary creature we found,” Black Tea utters. “It has hardly been two days, and already Maolong has shown very strange behaviors. Almost as if it’s sapient like a human.” (Well, duh.) She’s another Food Soul that Samson has, and one of the strongest a player could get, and the only time she’s summoned is when the player summons the first few Food Souls during the tutorial of the game. She has this graceful and majestic appearance, she wears this dress that has a faded dark pink color with blue and white features, which includes a skirt and a square neckline. Along with the dress, she has matching high-heel shoes and a hat with a light purple ribbon tied around it. The dress and shoes are seriously modified for combat and mobility, which makes her legs visible and makes her capable of moving in her shoes without getting hurt. She has two short belts strapped around her right thigh and one strapped around her waist, which holsters her two elegant pistols. Her face is smooth and somewhat austere yet soft at the same time, not unlike what you’d expect from the face of a marble statue (or possibly an angel), her eyes match the color of actual black tea, and her hair is of a black (or probably a very, very dark gray) color. There’s a steampunk style to her design.

“Yes,” Milk adds, “and unlike most carnivorous creatures, it got nauseous from eating that raw meat.” Samson replies, “And what’s even weirder is that it used the women’s bathroom to vomit rather than anywhere in the restaurant.” “Could the dragon be a girl…?” Rice asks with a look of wonder on her face. I nod with a small, awkward smile.

“Now that that’s out of the way,” Samson says, “we can try to figure out what to do with her, but first, we still need to train you guys to become more skilled and experienced with cooking and finding ingredients.” Tom Yum enters the kitchen. “Hey, Master Attendant. I just received this letter from Olivia.” He gives it to Samson. It has a red wax seal on it with what looks like the logo of the Chef’s Guild. Samson opens and reads it. Black Tea asks, “What is it, Master Attendant?” He responds, “It says that a benefit for new attendants is that they get an optional chance of directly summoning two Food Souls. It looks like we have twenty days to accomplish a series of tasks in order to get them. I have twenty-four hours to respond before the chance is missed.”

“Are you going to do it?” Tom asked.

“If it keeps us safe from Fallen Angels, why not? We should also open up the restaurant. You guys know what to do; I'll monitor you shortly. In the meantime, don't do anything crazy this time. Black Tea and Tom, you two help Hawthorne and Sandwich. Milk, you and Crepe keep an eye on Maolong, and sure she doesn't do anything stupid either.” You got it, chief. I'm looking forward to this.

We open the restaurant right away. I get taken to the living room to be supervised by Milk and Crepe. Samson goes upstairs with the letter, so I'm sure he's going to write a response to the Chef's Guild. I'm not sure what is going on the kitchen, but I'm sure that things are going alright based on how generic and chill the patrons sound. Milk explains to Crepe what she learned about me, which Crepe seems intrigued about. Crepe, much like everyone else, is surprised and confused about this. It takes her several minutes to fully process everything she heard. She asks, “Let me get this straight: Tom Yum found a creature that turns out to be a dragon who acts so strange it's as if she has the mind of a human?” Yep, she heard that right. Milk replied, “Yes, that is correct.” I nod along with what she said.

Crepe is a Rare-rank Strength Soul who thinks highly of herself. She wears a dress that has different shades of beige, with the front having a pale pink color with a frilly skirt; along with the dress, she wears stockings that have a yellow and white striped pattern that stretch up to her thighs, and she has brown shoes with red soles. Due to the aesthetically pleasing coloring and the design of her outfit, the entirety of the whole thing is indeed reminiscent of actual sweet crepes. Crepe has white skin, hair that has a faded orange color, and yellow eyes. She wields a fan, which she uses both as a weapon and to cover her smile, kinda like Kitana from Mortal Kombat in a rather loose way.

My stomach suddenly growls. It aches a bit from eating so little lately. Of course, Crepe and Milk notice my hunger despite my attempt to muffle it. Crepe asks, “Hey, Maolong, are you hungry?” “Yes,” I nod. Crepe tells me, “Hang on, I'll be right back.” She goes to the restaurant. Ten minutes later, she comes back with a plate of grilled pork belly, which she places it on the floor so I can have it. Despite the lack of utensils, I eat the pork belly quickly and happily. After I finish, my tail flicks as I give them a toothy smile and a thumbs-up. That's what I call an unforgettable dish, I thought, definitely scrumptious. The pork was fatty and lean. It was soft and easy to tear into pieces, making it easy to chew and swallow it. That hint of salt is noticed by my palate, which enhances the texture and flavor of the pork. The Food Souls look at me, unsure how to respond to my smile. Crepe asks, “Is she … smiling…?” My smile turns awkward. Milk answers, “She seems to like it.” Crepe takes the dish back to the kitchen with a shrug and comes back.

Nothing much happens for the rest of the day, but Samson does come back downstairs. Out of curiosity, I open the door and follow him. Milk and Crepe try to catch me, but with little success. While being careful not to disturb the customers' peace, I rush through the parts of the dining area where they'll least likely notice me. Still, by the time I got to the kitchen, there are already some murmurs from the patrons that sound like questions. A pirate asks Hawthorne (who is giving a plate of smoked salmon to them), “Hey, what is that creature at the kitchen door?” She answers bluntly, “She's a dragon. Though, we're trying to figure out what to do with her.” Ignoring what the customers are saying, I enter the kitchen. Master Attendant is at the back door with an unknown person who is entering the place. The person appears to be a somewhat tomboyish elf with a lightly tanned skin tone. She has purple eyes, orange hair with a yellow highlight at one of her bangs, a bandage over her nose, and is about the height of Samson. (Maybe two inches taller.) The elf is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, each of her wrist has a wristband that matches the color of her clothes, she's wearing blue pants with two navy lines stretching down her legs, and she has the kind of light brown boots with laces. The elf greets, “Hello, are you the Master Attendant of this place?” Samson answers, “Yes.” She continues, “I'm Akira, and I'm going to be monitoring your progress on your first month as an Attendant to give you a chance to earn two Food Souls. Let's start off with signing this contract in order to participate in this event.” She gives him a contract, which includes the logo of the Chef's Guild.

Although it's hard to see from where I'm standing, since I'm the size of an adult cat, it looks Samson is writing his name on the contract. Since it's those New Player Benefits, it would be nice to do it again after many months. Plus, it'll help Samson to have someone with experience. Milk picks me up and takes me back to the characters' residence. She says, “I know you're curious, but you shouldn't be here.” Damn, looks like I'm going to need to convince these guys that I can help…. Somehow. I hear a commotion going on in the restaurant. Milk checks the dining area Black Tea is confronting them along with Hawthorne. The customer, a robber, it seems, asks, “What kind of half-assed dish is this? I’m not paying for that sh*t!” Hawthorne is standing by Black Tea, seemingly nervous and afraid. Black Tea replies, “We work hard on making a living and trying to make our customers satisfied. This is the best we’ve got. If you’re not happy, then leave.” Samson asked, “Hey, is everything alright? What seems to be the problem?” Akira responds in an alarmed tone, “Oh, great, we got a Dine-and-Dash customer. I was hoping they wouldn’t show up until much later in the future.” Samson, who is stupidly new at this, exclaims, “What do I do, then?!”

“Kick them out! They could be a Fallen Angel!”

I’m not sure what the robber says to Black Tea next and what she said in return because I'm paying attention to what Samson and Akira are saying, but it looks like the conflict has escalated very quickly. The robber transforms into a Bulimia and the other customers run out of the restaurant screaming in terror (and some turn out to be quick enough to leave some of their money behind to pay for bills they haven’t even received yet). Milk puts me down and orders me in the same monotone voice as ever, “Stay hidden.” I nod and hide behind one of the tables as I watch Tom and Crepe get into the front of the house.

Not to be confused with the eating disorder that most of us Americans seem to have (besides anorexia and cafeteria), Bulimia is a type of Fallen Angel from the game. Bulimia is not as powerful as an Uke Mochi, but she is still a threat to the average person. There are different types of Fallen Angels, which are: Normal, Evolved, and Enhanced, but I’m not getting into that much detail yet. In the case of Bulimia, she’s an Evolved-type of Fallen Angel that has an obsession with eating, hence the name. Usually, Bulimia only care about recipes they can make from humans, but I guess this one is oddly picky...? The Bulimia has grey hair with a few bangs that cover part of her face. She has very dull and seemingly dead crimson eyes, pale skin, and a few stitches around her wrists, forearms, and one around her neck. She wears a grey and faded red dress that I don’t want to know what is made out of. I admit, though, her dark grey leather boots with laces that are the kind with a bit of heel and stretch up to the knees are pretty cool. I wonder if I can get a pair like that somewhere. Oh, wait, I’m a dragon now. Dammit…. Anyways, the last thing to say about her is that Bulimia has a frilly headband on her head, and she carries a platter full of raw organs and what I hope aren’t human entrails. (I think I saw an eye in there. I shudder quietly at this.)

Black Tea fires with her two pistols, emitting loud bangs. The bullets miss and ricochet off the floor and the wall. Tom delivers a blow to Bulimia's diaphragm, which she dodges, and throws whatever the hell was on her platter to Crepe. She doesn't dodge on time and takes some damage to her health. Still, with her fan, she conjures a magical tornado that somehow avoids the tables and chairs while being powerful enough to damage the Fallen Angel. Tom punches Bulimia in the face immediately after the tornado dissipates. Milk heals Crepe as the Fallen consumes a handful of human remains from her platter. ¡Hijueputa!, the smell from that thing! Whatever is in that platter is making me gag! I think I’m going to get sick again…! No, I’ll hold it back and swallow it this time. I’m not making a mess here! Black Tea performs a minimized version of her linked skill (named Super Flower Blossoms), in which she fires her two guns at Bulimia, and the bullets burst into a large flower, dealing critical damage to the Fallen Angel. Tom deals the final blow, his energy skill Swing Kick, which he jumps, bicycle kicks the Bulimia like Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat, and does a backflip that kicks the Fallen in her face mid-air, getting her knocked back to the floor. As she is knocked back, she stumbles onto a chair, upends a table, and falls to the floor. She doesn't seem to be breathing anymore. The Fallen Angel dissipates into nothingness. I've seen their sprites (those animated chibi versions of the characters) in action, and it's pretty badass. Seeing it in person turns out to be slightly anticlimactic, but that's probably a good thing because we wouldn't want the restaurant to be more trashed than it already is. Still, I'm very impressed Tom could break the laws of physics exactly like Liu Kang. A rather amusing coincidence, come to think of it. What I still don't get is ...how the actual f*ck did a literal tornado come out of a fan and miss a bunch of tables and chairs?!

I’m still surprised that I can pick up that sickening smell from earlier, but it’s likely others have noticed it too. As for the restaurant, there is a small bullet hole in the wall and one on the floor, but everything else is in a surprisingly great condition. The chairs and tables are intact, the windows are fine, and the wall can easily be repaired. The only casualties here are the plates that fell to the floor, which resulted in some scraps of food scattered here and there. Welp, let’s start cleaning. Akira, asks, “Don’t you have an arena where you fight customers like that Bulimia?” Samson answers, “Arena? No one told me that this was going to happen.” I don't know whether to be amused, disappointed, or annoyed.

Akira, having the same feeling as I am, replies, “As a Cooking Attendant, you should know that when you operate a restaurant, there is a chance of having a Fallen Angel in the place. But since you’re so new at this, it looks like you have a lot more to learn than I expected. Plus, you have a few Food Souls that tend to be a bit unpredictable for someone inexperienced.”

“Not to mention, I have a dining area to clean up and a lot of plates to pay for….”

Maybe we can raise some money to build one of those arenas that Akira mentioned. But, this is probably not the best time to bring it up, and the last time I had an idea like that resulted in a recipe for disaster. (And I'm not talking about the Barenaked Ladies song.)

We spend the next half hour cleaning up the place, picking up any scraps that might be there, and sweeping away any dishes that broke during the fight. As I’m picking up scraps that are much harder to notice, Akira asks, “Is that a dragon? What’s it doing here?” Hawthorne replies, “Yeah, and it’s a weird story. Isn’t she cute, though?~”

“‘She’?”

“Like I said, it’s a weird story.”

I nod and continue cleaning.

“Okay…?”

By the time those thirty minutes pass, Samson reopens Glorywest Grill. I volunteer to wash the dishes again as Samson teaches Sandwich and Crepe a few recipes he knows while helping the former with the parts of cooking that he struggles with the most (especially considering yesterday). Tom, Milk, and Hawthorne serve the customers as waiters, and Black Tea helps me take care of the dishes and other items that need washing. Meanwhile, Akira holds her clipboard and has been keeping track of our progress. Surprisingly, there haven't been any Dine-and-Dash customers since this morning. By the time we reach closing hours, we have earned about five hundred thousand Gold and two hundred Tips. While I'm no expert in converting currencies between Tierra and America, I look back at when I first started playing Food Fantasy. From what I could understand from my research on the internet at the time, a pound of potatoes costs five hundred Gold, and that pound of potatoes usually costs a dollar at a wholesale price. So, with that knowledge, five hundred thousand Gold is equivalent to a thousand dollars. As for the Tips, I had to ask Akira about them since she has a pen and a clipboard. She explains that a Tip, despite looking antiquated and having a lightweight feel, has more value than Gold, but can only be used in certain markets – same with Gold. Kinda like trading inHorizon: Zero Dawn, if you ask me. From what I could tell, a single Tip is worth five hundred Gold, which is equivalent to an American dollar. So, pretty much, a Tip is like a dollar here. There's also other currencies in the game for different purposes, like the highly valued Crystals that are absurdly expensive for us players, but I think that's enough talk about money conversions for now.

After getting everything done for the night, Akira leaves, and we all head to sleep. The next day is quite normal. This time, Sandwich is keeping an eye on me. Milk, Hawthorne, and Black Tea go out to restock on ingredients. Tom and Samson are doing the dishes, and the rest are either cooking the food or serving it to the customers. Since it’s going to be a long while, I decide to take advantage of it to learn how to play card games with him. Idle, I watch him play what I think is solitaire. I watch as he shuffles his deck of cards. I never really understood how that game works, even though I’ve seen my mom play that game on her old computer for years. I suppose I could try to “wing” it, eh?~

Ba-dum! Tsss!

Yeah, I guess that’s the only option that I can do right now. Maybe we could play Go Fish or Poker. It never hurts to ask.

I pick up a card, a jack of hearts. I think about where to place it, but I'm not sure. “It goes over here,” Sandwich says, pointing at two cards that go from a king of diamonds to a queen of spades. I put it over there. He asks, “Do you know how to play Klondike?” I shake my head. “Not exactly.” He puts his cards together into a deck and shuffles them. He began, “Klondike solitaire is a popular card game where only one player is required, and it's with a single deck of cards. What you do in this is your attempt to sort them by suit –”

“'Suit'? What do you mean by that?”

“Huh? What is a suit?”

I nod.

“Well, aside from the outfit that you probably know or don't know, a suit is one of the four classes into which a common deck of cards is divided. So like, spade, cloves, d'you get it now?”

I nod.

“Now, with this deck, you sort these cards by suit and in order into four piles of cards. Let's start out.”

He teaches me how to play the most traditional version of Klondike, which is where I draw three cards. I learn somewhat quickly after three rounds of the game. Before I know it, I get immersed in the game, with Sandwich helping me out and giving me pointers on coming up with strategies for different versions of Klondike. Yeah, we get stuck a few times, but I reckon that's normal. We also take a break every fifteen minutes, which keeps the mind from getting bored, I assume.

I notice while playing that there is a clock hanging from one of the walls. I think two hours have gone by. Tom opens the door and tells Sandwich, “Hey, Master Attendant asked me to switch places with you.” He replies, “I'm about to start a game, but sure.” He heads to the restaurant while Tom starts keeping an eye on me. I wonder what sort of progress the others have made.

Chapter 4: Chapter 4: Slice of New Life

Chapter Text

It's been my fourth day, and Samson has received a strange item from Akira. It's some sort of thin square card made out of an unfamiliar purple crystal. One of the sides has an image of someone, most likely the face of a Food Soul. I don't know how, but I could faintly smell freshly-baked brownies from that thing. My curiosity piques again. I follow Samson as he goes through the door under the stairs. It's another hall with a few doors. I open one of the doors; it's a storage closet containing cleaning supplies. Another one is a closet with shelves containing vials of a blue liquid and boxes full of glowing leaves. I recognize them as EXP bottles, mostly small ones, and a few medium ones. The leaves are referred to as Beginner Seasoning, but I call them EXP leaves or something like that. “These items are for increasing the skills of the Food Souls,” Samson tells me. “That's what Akira told me. I think I just give it to them, and they'll level up. We don't have a lot, as you can see, but we'll gain more if we use them wisely and go out fighting Fallens.” I nod as I close the door. We continue walking to the end of the corridor.

We enter a room, which has a large, very intricate machine connected to some kind of boiler, so I'm guessing it's steam-powered. Behind it is a window, and a chamber is connected to the left side of the machine. It looks like a portal with two rings in the center with a small staircase platform that supports the rings, and anyone can get through them because of the platform's design. The chamber has a small door next to a vertical slot the size of the purple card. The chamber is connected to a tube that leads to the machine. The rings have what appear to be flat pieces of metal shaped to look like utensils and food (plus a smoking pipe) from all over my old world. For example, one of the pieces on the inner ring looks like a cartoon taiyaki on a stick, while one from the outer ring looks like a pair of chopsticks. It also has a bunch of gears, cables, dials, and some other things that I don't know how to describe. Though, I can say that it has this steampunk vibe. Samson pulls a switch that is on the right side of the machine, which turns it on, and the rings start rotating at a casual speed. The outer ring rotates clockwise, while the inner ring rotates counterclockwise.

He explains, “This machine summons Food Souls, from what a woman named Olivia said. It takes up a lot of power, so I keep it turned off most of the time.” He inserts the card into the slot and pulls another switch on the right. The rings spin very rapidly. Two wisps of light materialize and meet at the center of the rings. There is a powerful gust of wind occurring, pushing me and Samson back, but we resist. Along with the wind, a silhouette appears on the platform. The light and the gust diminish, the machine whirs down, and the rings rotate back in their original speed. The Food Soul in front of us greets us formally, “Hello, you summoned me. I am Brownie. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to assist you. I will do my best.” Samson replies, “You're welcome. I'm Samson, the Master Attendant of this place. And this” – he picks me up – “is Maolong, our dragon friend.” “'Sup, dude?”I − meow, I guess? – as I use a small hand gesture as a greeting.

“That is very unusual. I do not think I've seen a pet like that before.”

“Well, I wouldn't call her a pet.”

“Eh,”I shrug, “I don't mind.”I figured someone would call me that at one point.

“Oh, it looks like she doesn't mind being called a pet. Even though you're not an actual one, Maolong, so don't get any ideas.”

“I won't. I can take care of myself pretty damn well.”

He puts me down, and we head to the living room. Sandwich is playing go fish with Crepe while Milk and Black Tea are having a conversation. Sandwich looks at us. “Hey, Master Attendant, is that the new Food Soul?” “Yes,” Brownie answers. “I am Brownie, the new butler for this place. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

Brownie is a Magic Super Rare-rank Food Soul with light blue eyes and brown skin. He is wearing a butler's uniform and a matching hat with a ribbon tied around it. The butler has a solemn and very formal personality, and I've read enough fanfiction to know that he rarely lets himself rest. In fact, if you leave him idle enough in the game, there's a voice line where he nearly passes out from not getting enough sleep. His hair length is between average and short and is black, with the tips fading to a light blue tint. On his back, he carries a massive gun, which is often referred to as either a cannon or a blaster in the fanfiction I read. Though he's not the strongest Food Soul, I'd still hate to mess with that butler. His skill is linked with another Food Soul named Napoleon Cake, and his presence activates the linked skill of a Food Soul named B-52 (as in the co*cktail, not the bomber). I'm not afraid of being near Brownie, but I would absolutely hate to be the victim of his weapon, let alone use it. I mean, that gun is HUGE – how does he not get knocked back by its f*cking recoil?!

Anyways, after that intro, Samson opens the restaurant, and Brownie and Black Tea are given the task of keeping an eye on me while the others manage the Glorywest Grill. Since there's nothing much to do, I ask, “So, uh, do you have something that I could write with?” Brownie asks, “Do you understand what she is saying?” Black Tea replies, “If only. She is a sapient being, but we can't understand what she says, so she tries to communicate with us through gestures and charades.” I add, “Yeah, it's not very effective, but I try my best.” I requested Tom that he would get some paper and a pencil, but he doesn't have any of those items, and Samson hasn't had a chance to buy some new writing supplies yet. Tom did ask Master Attendant, though. I think he'll buy a notepad and a few pencils at the end of the week. Black Tea questions, “Do you have something that Maolong could use to write with, Brownie?” He responds, “I do have a notepad and a pen. Here.” He pulls out a pen and a notepad from one of the pockets of his uniform and gives them to me. I writeMy name is Daniela Robles Prado. (Pronounced “ro-bless;” it's not a middle name.) Most people call me “Danny RPG” or “Danny,” but I don't really care – not much of a difference. It's nice to meet you guys. I give the notepad back to Brownie. They seem unsure of what to say, or they have a hard time reading my handwriting. But, Black Tea replies, “It is nice to meet you too, Daniela.” Brownie asks, “What does the 'RPG' stand for?” I write Role-Playing Games, or “Robles Prado Gamer.” I'm a huge fan of them.

There is a brief period of silence, as though they don't know what I'm talking about. Black Tea deadpans, “That's a weird nickname.” – I roll my eyes – “Where are you from?” I was going to write that I'm from Lopan, Texas, but things will end up getting suspicious for them, and if I tell them that I got mysteriously isekai'd into a game, they might end up either thinking I'm crazy or they might have a pretty nasty existential crisis. Then again, they already think I'm weird, but I intend to bullsh*t my way through this one just to be safe. Instead of telling the whole truth, I writeUnfortunately, I can'tremember. Brownie asks, “So, you have amnesia?”

I'm not sure. Though, I seem to remember my motor skills very well. It's not like I have any place to go anyway.

“Were you living in the forest before your amnesia?” Black Tea asks.

Nah. I'm not an outdoors person.

“So, what were you doing in the forest?”

Hell if I know. Since we're getting nowhere with this interrogation, can I live with you guys? Please? I don't know how to survive in the wild.

The two Food Souls remain silent. This is the most awkward conversation I've ever had. I don't think anything could top that. Well, except maybe for that one conversation I had, but I forgot what it was about. Black Tea answers, “I will have to talk to Master Attendant about that before answering.” There is a commotion happening in the dining room. It sounds like another Dine-and-Dash customer causing trouble. “Wait here,” she instructs. Brownie and I stay in the living room. As Black Tea rushes to the front of the house, I glimpse at two customers transforming into a Rabbert and a Rocketero (which are two common types of rodent-like Fallen Angels from Gloriville) before she closes the door. Fortunately, the two Fallen Angels decide to leave after Samson reasons with them.

Two days of typical restaurant management and unimportant slice-of-life stuff later, and Master Attendant scrapes enough gold and tips to begin construction on the Dine-and-Dash arena. During the two days, I noticed that the Food Souls' roles in managing the restaurant changed frequently. For instance, instead of Milk, Black Tea, Crepe, and Tom Yum going out for ingredients yesterday, Hawthorne, Brownie, and Sandwich did that while the others took care of the restaurant and kept an eye on me. Then, after a few hours, their roles change and stay that way for the rest of the day. And it goes like that the day before that too. I remember at one point when I was watching them work in the kitchen, I heard Akira say, “I've never seen a Master Attendant do that before.” He replies, “I didn't want things to become repetitive for the Food Souls, so I let them do different jobs. Otherwise, they might get tired of it.” I stifle a snorted laugh. “Seriously?” Akira remarks. “Do you honestly think that Food Souls are going to be like that? Wow. You really don't know much about them.” “Then again,” Samson adds, “I don't have an Ice Arena, like what you mentioned, so that might be a good reason why I change their jobs like that.” He does have a point; Food Souls have stamina which can only be used when working in the restaurant. Once the stamina runs out, they'll be fatigued, meaning they're unable to work anymore, but they can still fight Fallen Angels. In the game, their energy can be recharged by putting them in the Attendant's Ice Arena, but since we don't have one yet, I think changing their jobs simultaneously like that might be an interesting way to save energy for the Food Souls. Also, I wonder if the Food Souls' stamina regenerates on its own by resting or keeping an eye on me. Although it doesn't work like that in the game, it might be working here; plus, in the game, you can feed the Food Souls these potions and fruits to refill that stamina.

Rice steps into the kitchen with a smile. “Master Attendant,” she beams. “Business is, booming.… We'll be able to, build the arena, in no time...!” Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention: During those two days, Brownie and Black Tea explained to the others about my name, so they're not calling me “Maolong” anymore. Feels a little weird, but I like it.

The next day is slightly different from the usual. A team of construction workers from probably some local company shows up early in the morning to have some discussion with Samson about building the new place. I'm not really interested in what they're talking about, but after twenty minutes, they begin construction. Meanwhile, it's still business as usual for the restaurant. Since nothing much has happened in the last few days, I just spend most of the time either interacting with the Food Souls or sleeping on the couch. Of course, during the day, when those guys are working on the construction of the room, I decide to sit on one of the tables at the front of the house and watch them like a cat would. Looking through the window, I notice that some of the workers are Food Souls and elves, while the rest are humans. They don't seem aware that I'm watching them; they're really focused on their job.

Hawthorne's voice says, “Hey, Danny RPG.” I turn around; there are two customers behind her. She asked, “Is it alright if these two sit at that table?” “Sure,”I reply. I get off the table and head to the living room. Crepe is sitting on the couch, reading a book from the nearby shelf. I look at the stairs. After all these days, I haven't thought about exploring what's up there, weirdly enough. I climb up the stairs, being careful of my steps. It's easier doing it as a human.

Looking at the hallway in front of me, there are some doors on the left and on the right. I open the first door on my left. It's a bedroom not too different from the room that I woke up in when I was brought to Glorywest Grill. Only, there are two beds instead of one. They smell faintly of Black Tea and Milk's scents combined. Are they roommates in this place? Knowing the fandom, that's a valid reason to ship them. I can tell at least one person who's reading this might be getting giddy from that statement. Believe me, so am I. I'm just doing it secretly, so don't tell anyone living in the Glorywest Grill, okay? Of course, it's not like they're going to find out since none of them can break the fourth wall. I close the door and check the one behind me. It looks the same as the previous room, but with the scent of Samson and Rice. The rest of the bedrooms have one bed each, which either has the scent of a particular character (Crepe, Tom, and/or now Brownie) or no scent at all. However, one of the rooms, instead of a bedroom, is an office, which I assume is where Samson works at besides the kitchen. There is a staircase at the end of the hall near the office, which I'm guessing leads to the attic.

I walk up the stairs and open the door at the end of it. The room is directly below the triangular roofs of the restaurant. There are a few crates that are covered by white sheets. Since the place is relatively new, there isn't much dust gathering. There are three small windows in the room, overlooking different parts of Gloriville. It's nice and quiet, admittedly. Pretty cozy too. I think I found my own bedroom in this place. But, for now, it's probably best to head back downstairs before someone notices that I'm gone.

“Danny RPG?” Brownie's voice calls out.

Too late. Oh, well.

I head back downstairs and head to the stairs leading to the living room. Looking at the room below from the banister, I reply, “I'm up here.” “Ah, there you are,” Brownie says. “I was wondering where you went.” I shrug at his statement. He asks, “What were you doing up there?” “I got curious,” I answer in my now-typical dragonspeak.

Later that night, I eat a plate of crispy pork. After helping Brownie and Rice clean up the restaurant, I head upstairs to the attic. On my way through the hall, Tom asks, “Where are you going, Danny? Don't you usually sleep downstairs?” I point to the stairs leading to the attic. “Oh, I see,” Tom interprets. “You're going to sleep up there, right?” I nod. “Well,” he smiles, “Good night.” “Good night, Tom,”I say in response.

Chapter 5: Chapter 5: The Butler and the Dragon

Chapter Text

It’s been my first week, and I’ve adapted to living my life as a dragon pretty well. Wait, is it a week? Let me think…. Okay, so it’s been one day and one night for the first two chapters … I think I spent, like, one or two days for chapter three, and … uh, I think three days passed for the previous chapter…. Okay, so it’s close to being a week, but I’m handling it better than I thought I would. We’re all meeting in the kitchen, and Hawthorne Ball is holding me, so I wouldn’t be left out. Samson instructs, “The team and I are heading to Parisel to clear some Fallen Angels and to get some writing supplies for Danny RPG. Brownie and Sandwich, you two serve the customers. Hawthorne and Rice, you cook the food. In the meantime, Rice is in charge. And Danny, don’t pull any stunts while we’re gone.” I shake my head.

The main door to the restaurant opens. Akira enters the kitchen. “Oh, hey,” she says, “you guys ready to head out?” “Yep,” Samson replies, “I just told Danny RPG and the Food Souls what to do.” Black Tea adds, “Let’s go complete our duties without fail.” I stay in the kitchen, wanting to help the others out. To put it simply, for today, Brownie does the cooking, Hawthorne and Sandwich serve the customers, and I try to help him out with the cooking. So far, Brownie is doing a pretty good job cooking foods like french fries, crispy pork, steamed cod, braised lamb, and a few other recipes. Though, after three hours, I check on him and see he is starting to lose steam. The guy wipes his sweat off his brow, saying, “In this scene, I lose my job as the butler.” Hired then fired on the first day? Not gonna happen. I climb onto the counter next to the stove and near the butler. He asks, “Is there something you’d like to say, Danny RPG?” He hands me his notepad and pen. I write Maybe I can help. Just tell me what to do. He answers, “Thank you. I suppose some help would be appreciated. Can you slice those vegetables for me, please? Also, keep in mind that the potatoes are going to be put into the fryers.” Sure thing, Brownie. Though, can you carry me to that island? I can’t fly. Also, I think your beef is starting to overcook. I show my writing to Brownie. To his surprise, he checks on the beef that is cooking in the pan near me. He flips it over. “On the contrary,” he says, “that part of the beef is cooked fine. And it is strange that although you have wings, you can’t fly. But, here.” He picks me up and puts me on the island in front of the stove, where some tomatoes, mushrooms, and vegetables are neatly placed next to a cutting board with a knife. He adds, “I am also considering teaching you sign language since it does take time to do a lot of writing. I give the Food Soul a thumbs-up with a you-got-it-boss look, and I start cutting right away. As I’m cutting a tomato into decent slices, I think, Isn’t it weird that even though tomatoes are a type of fruit, people think they’re vegetables? Pretty ironic, ain’t it? – I start peeling a potato before slicing it – I wonder how many ways there are to cook and/or fry a potato. I get lost in my thoughts for a few minutes, and Brownie asks, “You are done already? You're really quick.”

I get out of my train of thought and realize that I have finished chopping the tomatoes and vegetables into slices. He adds a few plates of food onto the island, and Sandwich enters the kitchen with some dirty plates. He puts them on the sink, the same sink on another counter which I had used when I pulled that stunt. Maybe I could wash the dishes again. I call out Brownie's name. After getting his attention, I point at myself, then at the pile of dishes in the sink. Sandwich takes the plates from the island and heads to the dining area. Brownie interprets, “Do you want to help with the dishes?” I nod. “Okay,” he replies. “I will assist you from time to time.” “Right,” I … am not sure what noise did I make. Even after a week, I still struggle to come up with adverbs for my dragonspeak. Y'know what? I'll just say it was a chirp of some sort. That'll make it easier, right?

“Danny?” Rice asks. “Are you … okay…? You're, spacing out….” I am? My bad. I clear my throat awkwardly. I walk to the edge of the island and calculate the distance between me and the sink. I walk back to the center, then run to the edge. I make a leap of faith. For a second, everything fels like it's going in slow motion. I think I'm gonna make it…!

As I make the leap, my wings catch air, instinctively unfolding them. I glide gracefully across the gap, but I clumsily land into the sink, crashing into the plates that are placed there. Luckily, nothing breaks, and my wings are still fine. The Food Souls who witnessed my awesomeness wince at my landing. I turn on the faucet and start scrubbing the plates.

Hours pass and so far, there haven't been any Fallen Angels yet. The back door opens, and Samson, with his team of Food Souls, enters the kitchen. At the same time, the restaurant reaches its closing hours. I dry my hands and jump onto the island. The group is carrying these bags filled with ingredients and other resources. Samson is also carrying a small grocery bag, which I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't seem to be used for leveling up or for cooking. He greets, “Hey, guys.” Brownie replies, “Welcome back, Master Attendant. I shall prepare some hot tea for you.” They put the bags on the island. I step back to give them room. I take a look into the small bag and take its contents out. Inside, there are notepads, fountain pens, charcoal pencils, and a kneadable eraser the size of the palm of my hand. I figure out they're for me, and I put them back into the bag. Rice smiles. “With … this much ingredients … the restaurant will be … stocked for the next few days….”

Later that night, I head upstairs to the attic. Shortly after entering the room, Samson puts the small bag near one of the crates. He opens a nearby crate near the window on my left with a crowbar. He pulls out a blanket from it. He said, “Since you decided that this would be your room, I figured you need something soft to sleep on.” He places the blanket near the ground. He added, “We wanted to buy a dog bed from a nearby pet shop, but since we had so much stuff on our hands, we decided to get that tomorrow. I take a pen and a notepad out. I write on the first page Thank you, for everything. It really means a lot to me. He responds, “My pleasure, Danny.” He pats me on the scalp and leaves the room.

In the following morning, I begin wondering if there is a place for me to put the pens away aside from the bag. I pick up one of the fountain pens. Suddenly it disappears from my hand. By disappearing, I mean it glitched all of a sudden and vanished in a second. “Whoa!” I exclaim. “How the hell did I do that?!” Is there a way for me to bring it back from wherever it ended up in? As soon as I think that, the pen reappears in my hand. Do I have some sort of inventory? That’s so weird! But at the same time, it’s really cool that I can do that. I take a pen and the notepad I used last night and put them into my newfound Inventory. I leave the rest of the items in the bag. I head downstairs for work and for breakfast. When I enter the living room, Master Attendant enters the hall with the storage closets and the summoning machine. If I remember correctly, I think one of the missions from the twenty-day thing was to summon a few Food Souls. I follow him.

On the way there, Samson looks at me and asks, “Huh? Oh, good morning, Danny RPG. Ready to summon a few more Food Souls?” I nod. I wonder who’ll we get this time? He opens the door to the closet with the Soul Embers, which to my surprise, are the size of large marbles. He picks up a sack full of them and carries it to the machine. I follow along as he puts the Embers in the canister. I try reaching for the lever, but it's too high for my size. Samson chuckles at this and pulls the lever for me. The rings spin, the machine generates a strong gust that nearly knocks me off my paws, and a silhouette materializes. The wind dies down, and the figure is revealed to be a white-haired Food Soul with a blue dress that reveals most of her breasts and has a white bird of prey (most likely a gyrfalcon or a gray hawk) perched on her shoulder. She looks at Samson with her icy blue eyes. I know immediately who they are. The Food Soul is Vodka and her gyrfalcon is Andre. She asks in this Russian accent, “Are you a a Cooking Attendant?” Samson, nervous by her appearance and presence, stammers, “Y-yes I am. Welcome to Glorywest Grill.” Vodka went on, “Okay, Andre needs a clean and tidy living environment. You must be attentive. As for me, all I need is alcohol.” Yeah, I was pretty unsettled by her chest and how revealing her outfit is, but I’m pretty much used to it now. Damn fanservice. Her shoulders are covered by some kind of fluffy harness that matches the rest of her outfit. Along with it are these necklaces that are quite stylish around her neck. She’s wearing long white stockings and black pumps. Oh, yeah, she also wears a hat.

Andre looks at me and blinks. I swallow my saliva silently; I hope I don’t get into conflict with these two. Vodka is a Super Rare Magic Soul with the ability to silence her enemies by sending Andre to attack them. She can also freeze them for a few seconds. I feel literally cold just by seeing that badass duo. Her skill is linked with B-52, and for some reason she activates the linked skill of a pair of twin Food Souls known as Double Scoop. The developers didn’t really explain that one yet, and I’m not sure they will. Then again, I haven’t read Double Scoop’s bio, so it’s likely that part of the wiki might explain it. Though, since I’m in an entirely different universe with no Internet access, there’s nothing I can do about that. Vodka realizes what Andre is looking at and asked, “What is that creature standing next to you? Is it some kind of pet?” Yeah, sure, let’s go with that. Samson answers, “Actually, she’s not, but she lives with us. She’s a dragon and her name is Daniela, but she prefers to be called 'Danny RPG'.” Vodka is intrigued by this. “A dragon. Do dragons not exist in those books that humans write?” He replies, “They do, so it’s entirely new for us to see real life dragon that isn’t exactly a lizard. Anyway, there’s one more Food Soul I’ve got to summon.”

He pulls the lever again, and this time, a strong, manly, scantily clad Food Soul with very long green hair and bright green eyes gets summoned. He’s … wearing nothing but a green vest and white shorts with a loin cloth…. He also has a lengthy matching bandana around his forehead. And there are two Chinese bamboo rats perching on his shoulders. My jaw drops to the floor as soon as I see him. How the hell –?! Damn, Samson must be very lucky! This guy is Bamboo Rice, and he is an Ultra Rare Strength Soul, which is, like, super difficult to get since Ultra Rares are rarely summoned through normal ways. You'll get a much higher chance of getting URs by participating in events. Even so, it's pretty tough (and annoyingly expensive).

The bright-eyed Food Soul wields a machete, and he has scars all over his body. He boisterously asks with an eager smile, “What are you?! An elephant? A peaco*ck? You’re a human, right?!” Surprised by Bamboo Rice, Samson hesitantly replies, “Yes.” He exclaims, “Wow! So rare! It’s nice to meet you! This is Little Ah and Big Ah.” He briefly points at the two bamboo rats perched on his shoulder as he says that.

He looks at me. His eyes are just filled with wonder. “Wow! What are you?! Some kind of lizard? No, wait, you’re a dragon! I thought you only existed in those books humans like to write! My name is Bamboo Rice.” “Danny RPG,” I reply, “so cool to meet you.” Bambri (a nickname made up by the fans) gives an odd look, “Wow, that's a weird name.” – I give a dumbfounded stare – “I'm not sure if it even suits you.... What?” I exclaim, “HOLY sh*t! You can hear me?!” He looks confused. “Um, yeah?” Vodka adds, seemingly wincing at my French, “I can hear you too.” My jaw drops, and Samson just stands there, gawking with an impressed look. Ohhhh, boy. This is going to get wild.

Chapter 6: Chapter 6: I Swear, I Didn't Knew That's Going To Happen!

Chapter Text

“Okay, so far, you have collected four hundred Tips, earned fifteen thousand Gold – and spent five thousand of it upgrading your restaurant – you fought some Fallens in Parisel ten times, served about a hundred and fifty customers in a week, fought and defeated two Dine-and-Dash customers, and you’ve leveled your Food Souls up by ten. Good job, Samson,” Akira lists. “Now, you need to complete two delivery orders, complete three Explorations, obtain five spirits from the Catacombs, get past a total of ten levels in the Catacombs, and summon three more Food Souls. Keep in mind that you can summon more than one of the same Food Soul, but they’ll be turned to Shards for your corresponding Food Soul, which can be used to ascend them.” Samson asks, “Is there anything else I need to learn about Soul Shards?” Akira answers, “Yes, Food Souls can only be ascended up to five times, and you can use any excess Shards to convert them into Shards for other Food Souls. There are more missions to take care of, but I’ll list them later. For now, deal with the ones I assigned you if you want to directly summon the second Food Soul. You’ll also get rewards for completing your missions. They’ll be sent to you shortly.”

Akira leaves the restaurant, and Samson instructs his Food Souls on what to do. He also tells the two new Food Souls some of the rules of living in this restaurant, which is mostly just some common sense regarding self-care, keeping the peace, doing work when instructed to, and so on. Since I worked hard on helping Brownie yesterday, I got instructed on helping Vodka and Bamboo Rice take care of their animal companions. Also, Hawthorne will be accompanying me in case anything goes wrong.

Shortly after Samson summoned Bambri and Vodka, he tries to explain to the other Food Souls about their ability to somehow understand me. Of course, no one really knows how that sh*t works, other Vodka clarifying that only Food Souls that have animal or spirit companions (like Wonton, Bambri, or Sanma Shioyaki) can understand what animals say, and the same applies to Fallen Angels except all Fallens can do that sort of thing as opposed to a few types. Yeah, that totally makes sense, right? Still, Brownie does continue planning on teaching me sign language for the sake of convenience.

While most of the crew is working, Bambri, Vodka, and I hang out in the living room. I ask Bambri how does he care for his bamboo rats. He explains, “Big Ah and Little Ah are Chinese bamboo rats, and not unlike other rats, they can develop health issues if not cared for properly. Of course, since they’re summoned with me, their life span is endless like a Food Soul. Although Big Ah and Little Ah are playful and great companions, they’re also mischievous, so I have to keep an eye on them and make sure they don’t cause a lot of trouble. You might think that I put them in a wire cage, but I'm not that kind of guy; no, I let them roam freely while supervising them. Like other rats, they like to chew on things, so I carry pieces of bamboo and wood around in case if they need to gnaw or scratch on something.”

I query, “What about Andre, Vodka? How do you care for him?” Vodka answers, “Andre is a gyrfalcon. Like all birds, he needs a clean and tidy environment for Andre to live in. He likes to feed on rodents and small animals, but he’s not going to bother eating other people’s pets, such as Bamboo Rice’s rats. I often let him fly, so from time to time, Attendant needs to let him out so he can get the exercise he requires to be healthy.”

There is a sudden commotion in the dining room. Sounds like another Dine-and-Dash customer. We take a peek from the door with the STAFF ONLY sign. A disgruntled skeleton is mutating into another Bulimia. It is a nasty sight; I almost retch at it. (Yes, there are skeleton NPCs in this game. I've no f*cking clue why, but I guess it's like Undertale.) Meanwhile, Sandwich is comforting a trembling and probably crying Rice. The Food Souls and I get into the front of the house to face the Fallen Angel head-on. Bambri asks with a sly tone of determination, “Ah, do you want to fight? I will not lose.” Vodka adds, “Even if I haven't been here for very long, I shall protect everything behind me.”

Bulimia does the first move, but Bambri counters with a defensive counterattack using his forearms. The Bulimia fights back and is just about to stuff Bambri's face with whatever the hell is on her plate, but Big Ah and Little Ah crawl up to her and repeatedly bite all over her. The pain causes her to shriek and drop her platter, which clatters on the floor. I scrunch my face at the odor of the platter. The bamboo rats jump off her and onto Bambri's arms and climb up to his shoulders. Immediately, Vodka yells, “Be silent!” and sends Andre to stun the Fallen Angel, freezing her instantly. The ice immediately dissipates, and the Fallen is stunned. Hawthorne performs the finishing move with her attack, Rock Candy Flame, swinging her weapon at the Fallen, dealing critical damage. The Bulimia faints and starts dissipating. I look around. There's no one here but us Food Souls (and a sassy dragon).

A crash suddenly occurs. Someone from the team of construction workers building the Dine-and-Dash hall suddenly busts a hole into one of the walls. A Food Soul I recognize as a Tempura yells, “Don’t worry, your Master Attendant gave us permission to do this!” Riiiiggghhhttt.... Regardless, it's still business as usual. After thirty minutes of cleaning, we reopen the restaurant, two hours pass smoothly, and Samson and his team of Food Souls come back with supplies for Andre, the Chinese bamboo rats, and me. The rest of the day goes by normally. Master Attendant and his Food Souls come back, and Rice greets, “Master Attendant, you've … returned…. I'll go … put on a kettle … for you….” Samson decides not to question the Tempura's decision about the literal gaping hole in the wall. The Food Souls working in the kitchen and the dining area switch places with the team, allowing them to rest for a while.

Despite that, Bambri, his pets, and I help Brownie, Sandwich, and Samson with the cooking while the rest of us serve the customers and regain some energy from going out. It’s pretty straightforward on what to do; wait to receive orders from a customer, cook the food, and get it ready. Surprisingly, Bambri is really good at cooking. He might be wild, but he’s a hell of a sophisticated chef when it comes to cooking. Rice comes into the kitchen and checks on us.

I suddenly remember something. I run up to her and ask as Bambri translates, “I just remembered something. Do you remember that time when you went out to look for ingredients and made Master Attendant worried sick? Rice answers, “Worried sick…? Yes, I remember....” I add, While you were in the forest with Samson, did you encounter a strange hooded man and possibly an evil lobster guy?” She looks confused. “No…?” Now I'm confused too; that should have happened since it's part of the game's main story. I scribble awkwardly in my notepad Oh, never mind then. “Okay....” Rice said, looking a bit uncertain. She then picks up the plates that are ready to serve and walks to the dining area. Strange, why didn't that happen?

Later that night, as we're sleeping, I hear something shatter downstairs. I wake up from a decent rest and get out of the bed that Samson bought for me. Whoa, I can see everything in this room. The outlines of every object are shown in a dark neon red while the rest is in a darker tone (almost black), much like the very beginning of Beastars when Tem was in that classroom before that predator broke in and ate him. (If you’ve seen the first episode of Beastars, you’d know what I’m talking about. If not, think of my newfound dark vision thing as a sci-fi/cyberpunk thing.) The only exception to this is where the moonlight shining on through the windows and through the light itself. It's creating a weird contrast that oddly works, but I don't mind it. I head to the stairs leading to the living room, but I don't go down there. I hear footsteps in the dining area. They're getting louder. I decide to watch from above, peering through the bannister. The STAFF ONLY door opens. Two hooded people enter the room. Judging by their appearance, I think they're both male. I hear one of them whisper, “It should be here somewhere.” The second person asks quietly, “What do you think the boss is going to do when we give that thing to them?”

“Who knows. For now, we focus on finding that dragon.” My blood grows cold. I silently head to Black Tea and Milk's room and open their door. I close the door silently so the intruders wouldn't hear me and the Food Souls. I reach for her face and wake her up. As soon as she sleepily opens her eyes, I do the same with Black Tea. Milk turns on the lamp on her nightstand and asks, “Danny? What are you doing here?” I immediately scribble, INTRUDER ALERT! TWO BOGEYS DOWNSTAIRS! on my notepad and show it to Milk. Black Tea asks, “What's going on?” She answers with an alert look, “There are two intruders in the restaurant. We have to alert Master Attendant.” Black Tea adds, “Right. I'll take care of the enemies while you warn him.” Milk nods in agreement.

Black Tea and I sneak to the bannister as Milk stealthily walks to Samson and Rice's room. She grabs hold of her pistols and removes them from their holsters. Black Tea fires once at the floor, and the bullet ricochets – a warning that she'll shoot the cloaked men if they don't leave. One of the men turns on the light; Milk picks up the speed and knocks urgently on the door before opening it. Black Tea threatens, “You have one minute to leave.” One of the men yells, “Go, go!” and they rush up the stairs. Being the smart but occasionally indiscreet teenager that I am, I run to the intruders and attack in a similar fashion to how Bambri's rats fought that Fallen Angel. The man struggles but manages to grab hold of me. I hear the pistols co*ck, and Black Tea immediately fires at him, with the bullets somehow missing me. The two bullets pierce his shoulder and solar plexus, knocking him back and letting go of me. The second figure dodges the first, making sure he doesn't fall down the stairs with him. I feel something burning from my chest, surging to my throat. “Be silent!” a voice screamed. Whatever was going on in me fades right away. Andre swoops in with Vodka’s ice magic and knocks the hooded men off their feet. They stumble back up, and the second one exclaims, “Let’s get out here!” They flee from the restaurant as I hiss, “And stay out, ya c*nts!” while giving them the finger, much to Andre and Vodka's surprise.

Chapter 7: Chapter 7: Sauté and Flambé

Chapter Text

I wake up early in the morning and head downstairs. Since we’ve had a rough night from those amateur kidnappers, I think it would be nice if I make some breakfast for Master Attendant and probably his Food Souls. I know they don’t need to eat, but still, that doesn’t stop me from wanting to cook. Not only that, they've given me a place to stay when I could have been left for dead in the Secret Forest. Although I've already thanked Samson for his generosity, I feel like it's not enough. I know I'm not supposed to get any ideas (like the stunt from Chapter 2), but I'm sure trying to cook as a dragon isn't crazy as it sounds. Though, now that I've brought it up, maybe I should have let my Dad teach me how to make an omelet when I was still in Texas…. Oh, well. I reckon there's something in the cookbooks that I can make.

I climb on the bookshelf and read the spines of the books. There's one on how to bake some delicious pastries, but that's not what I'm looking for. I notice that a lot of books have titles that imply they’re fantasy and/or mystery books. About three or four of them appear to be realistic fiction. After some browsing, I find a hardcover book that says Food for the Food Souls. I pull it out and drop it to the floor while clinging onto the shelf; I wouldn't want to fall, would I? Of course, by dropping the book, I meant that I was careful not make a thud loud enough to wake the others. Regardless, it was pretty loud. I decide to look at some of the pages. They’re recipes on how to cook food for Food Souls and how is it used to strengthen the bond between the Attendant and the Food Souls. Some of the pages include tips on using certain materials to boost the strength of Food Souls. I think this’ll come in handy.

I find a recipe on scrambled eggs with tomatoes, a few vegetables, seasoning, and cheese. And it looks like I can add small amounts of Beginner’s Seasoning (used to level the Food Souls’ skills up) to this recipe if I want to. I wonder if I can do it successfully on the first try; the instructions seem pretty detailed and clear. I write the page number on my notepad, so I wouldn’t forget. I hear footsteps coming down the stairs, which reveal to be Brownie’s. In another page, I write in my notepad, Good morning, Brownie. What’s gotten you out of bed early? Brownie crouches down, so I could hand it to him. After reading it, he gives it back to me and replies, “A noise woke me up, so I came down here to investigate. What are you doing, miss Danny?” He looks at the book and he picks it up as he stands up. After skimming a few pages, he inquires, “Do you want to cook something?” I show him the page number on my notepad as I nod to Brownie’s question.

We then walk into the kitchen. Brownie explains as he sets the book on the counter not far from the stove, “Before getting started, we have to set up and prepare the ingredients. According to a dear friend of mine, this would be an example of mise en place, which translates to ‘putting in place’ or ‘everything in its place’.” He takes out the ingredients from the cabinets, along with a few eggs and a block of cheddar cheese out of a nearby fridge and places them on the island in the center of the kitchen. He also takes out two clear containers full of black pepper and salt from a cupboard full of spices and seasoning (the kind used for cooking instead of powering up Food Souls) and places it along with the rest of the ingredients. I climb on the island and take out a cutting board from a drawer below me as Brownie takes out a frying pan from another cupboard.

He gives me a knife and I start chopping the vegetables and tomatoes. The modest butler says, “It says here that we can add Beginner’s Seasoning to this recipe. Would you like to include it along with the other ingredients?”

I nod.

“In that case, I will be right back.” He leaves the kitchen. The recipe has green onions, tomatoes, and bell peppers, about a tablespoon of each, all of them chopped. As a result, it didn’t take long to finish chopping the ingredients. The recipe also includes a tablespoon of cheddar cheese, but Brownie forgot to give me a cheese grater. When in doubt, improvise. Also, we’re going to need more than a tablespoon if we’re gonna make enough scrambled eggs to feed all of the Food Souls in this establishment. I take the piece of the cheese that he brought out of the fridge and shred it to pieces with my talons. For the cheese, my claws are sharper than they look. After some waiting, Brownie comes back with a handful of the Beginner’s Seasoning. He takes out a bowl and a mortar with a pestle from the same cupboard as the one where he took out the skillet. As I’m doing that, I write down the reason for why I wanted to cook on my notepad, which he notices quickly. He asks, “Hm? Is there something on your mind, Danny RPG?” After I finish, which took me about a minute, I hand it to the Food Soul. He reads and gives a small smile. “I appreciate your enthusiasm for wanting to repay Master Attendant, but you don’t have to do that. Whatever it is that you need, leave it to me.” I write with a shrug, Still, it doesn’t hurt to try out my cooking skills. It’s been a while since I’ve done something that’s actually productive.

“Alright, if you insist. Let me beat the eggs, though, since the bowl is too large for you. I will let you take care of the rest.”

I coolly give him a thumbs-up.

The butler puts me near the stove. He then cracks the eggs open onto the bowl and beats them with a whisk until they’re blended. I put some butter on the frying pan that Brownie placed on one of the stove grates, and I turn the knob for the corresponding grate. Orange and blue flames appear under the pan. The butter melts quickly. Brownie places the ingredients I chopped into the pan while I grab a nearby spatula for sautéing them. The Food Soul hands me salt and black pepper. I open the cap for the pepper, and – oh sh*t....

“Ac-choo!” I sneeze boisterously and flames come out of my mouth and nostrils. Even though I covered my sneeze, the fire still manages to set the butter ablaze. Fire quickly shoots up from the frying pan. I shriek loudly as Brownie picks up a metal lid and slams it on the pan before the fire burns down the kitchen. I hastily turn the heat off. He lifts up the lid, and a huge cloud of smoke rises out. I didn’t knew butter can be flammable. But then again, it’s made of grease, so I guess that makes sense.

Even though the ingredients are unintentionally fire-roasted, they’re not completely burned, which is a good thing. With the mortar and pestle, Brownie grinds the Beginner’s Seasoning into a fine powder and mixes it along with the eggs. Then, he pours the mixture in the pan, and I turn the heat back on. I then gently pull the eggs across it as they start to set with the spatula. I continue lifting, pulling, and folding the eggs gently as it cooks until no visible liquid remains. I turn the heat off again and I season it with salt and pepper. Brownie puts the scrambled eggs on a plate and takes it to the front of the house. I then hear him put the chairs down from the tables. Roughly five minutes later, he comes back. We then repeat the entire cooking process for nine more times, minus the flambé incident (though, we decide to fire roast the ingredients but in a more prudent way). We also make a tenth plate for Samson, but without the Beginner’s Seasoning. I decide to make a plate of eggs for myself too, but smaller and with just the cheese. Brownie asks, “Are not going to add tomatoes and vegetables on your plate?” I shake my head. I’ve never been a fan of tomatoes except for ketchup. I've never been too fond of onions and bell peppers either.

By the time we’re done, the other characters come downstairs to discover the savory fragrance of the scrambled eggs. Hawthorne Ball smiles. “It smells delicious. What have you been cooking, Brownie?” He replies, “Well, it was Danny RPG’s idea. We made scrambled eggs for all of you. She wanted to thank you and the others for letting her live here.” Hawthorne smiles. “You’re very welcome, Danny!” Aw, shucks. It’s an honor to be here. Bamboo Rice utters with a smile, “Impressive, I didn’t know that she can cook.” Brownie replies, “I didn’t knew that either until we started cooking. Though, she did accidentally start a grease fire, but it was taken care of quickly.” Samson responds, “Yikes, you really need be more careful, Danny. I’m relieved you didn’t burn down the kitchen.” I nod in agreement. Same, dude, I think.

After that delightful breakfast and washing all our dishes that have been used, Olivia visits the Glorywest Grill with her Food Soul Tiramisu. I hide from under one of the tables so I wouldn’t be sighted by Olivia. She is one of the main characters of the game’s main story and is the captain of Squad 601 in the Skeleton Guild of Chefs. Those who know her well says that she is like an older sister to them. But, she can be quite cold to people that she doesn’t like. She greets, “Good morning, Samson. I’ve heard you managed to bring Rice back.” Samson replies, “Yes, and would you like anything to eat?”

“No thanks, I already ate. But, that’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I need to deliver some news to you.”

“What news?”

“Due to Fallen Angels, Hilena has become the hub for dispatching Attendants to surrounding areas! However, we’re unable to send support in a timely manner. So, the Guild President has decided to deploy additional manpower and let qualified restaurants become guild branches. This way, everyone from the Guild can start from here before carrying out missions further away.”

“So, you’re saying that my restaurant is also…?”

“You could sound at least a bit grateful.”

I nod in agreement as I eavesdrop.

“I thought you wanted me to become a Cooking Attendant, but instead you want to commandeer my restaurant?”

“Don’t give me that expression. You’ll be able to lead other Attendants. This is an opportunity other people would beg for.”

“So far, this sounds like more work for me….”

Tiramisu replies, “Perhaps I should mention that, if you agree to this, you’ll be able to petition for activity funds and share thirty percent of the reward for each completed mission.”

“I can make that much?!” Samson exclaims. “Ahem, I mean if I do this, can Ichi become a Cooking Attendant?”

“Ichi?”

“Oh, I forgot to mention him. He helped us stay out of a sticky situation recently and managed to find Rice, so I’ve invited him to this restaurant. Though, he hasn’t shown up yet because he had to run a few errands in Parisel.” The restaurant door opens, and a white-haired man in a black outfit enters the place. I recognize him as Ichi from Food Fantasy’s main story.

“Hey, Samson. What’s up?” Samson greets, “Hi, Ichi. This is Olivia from the Chef’s Guild. I was just talking about you.” “Really?” he replies. “Well, it’s great to meet you, Olivia. Now that I took care of some things, I decided to come here for the Chef’s Guild and protect others around me.” Olivia questions, “I can see that you have spirit, but how are your abilities?” Samson answers, “As far as his cooking skills go, he’s pretty good! If I was to run a Guild branch, he would be my first choice for a recruit.” Olivia informs, “Your optimism towards him is … intriguing. However, if he wants to enter the Guild, he’ll need to go through a trial.” Ichi is excited by this comment; he exclaims, “Ooh, what do I need to do?!” “Battle,” she answers. “Powerful Fallen Angels have been lurking around the Secret Forest and threatening residents. Exterminate them and prove your strength.”

“Got it! Leave it to me!”

After a while, Olivia, Ichi, and Tiramisu leave Glorywest Grill, and Samson opens up the restaurant. If you’re wondering why I hide from characters like Olivia and Ichi, it’s because I don’t want to screw things up when the game’s main story is involved. So, whenever a main character is present (with the exception of Samson and Rice), I stay out of it and watch from a safe distance. But, if Master Attendant or Rice end up mentioning me to Olivia, Mithra, and/or possibly a few other characters in the main story … welp, I guess I wouldn’t have any other choice but to show and introduce myself.

I check on the Dine-and-Dash hall. It looks like the construction workers are almost done with it. It’s funny how a busy team of workers manage to build a room without disturbing the peace of the customers during the restaurant’s open hours. Quite frankly, I’m impressed by that and by how well done they’ve made the new room. A few workers here and there are inside the restaurant, adding final touches to the place. The place is surprisingly spacious and it has the door leading to the front of the house where the Tempura punched a hole in. The new room is behind the women’s bathroom and part of the living room. With this much space, the Food Souls don’t need to hold back their strength as much as they needed to in the dining room. Of course, they’ve kept the window that is near the door, so it looks like the customers would end up having their meals with a show.

Nothing exciting happens today, and the constructions workers have finished building the new room, so we’re gonna fast forward to the next morning. (Yippee!~) Ahem, okay, so far, Bambri and Tom Yum are the first ones to try it out. In a nutshell, Tom is honing his boxing and hand-to-hand combat skills while Bambri and his rats train with his machete. I’m guessing the two decided to turn the Dine-and-Dash hall into a training arena, which isn’t a bad idea. But, we’re gonna need stuff like punching bags, targets, and training dummies if we’re gonna make it work. Despite that, the two don’t seem to mind.

Meanwhile, Samson heads to the summoning room. I decide to follow him. I wonder who’ll we get this time. He checks the amount of Soul Embers there are in the canister, and pulls the switch. I smile with excitement, just eager to see what new Food Soul we’ll get. Through the blinding white light, a figure appears on the platform. My smile disappears and my wings lower. Ayyyy … ¡mierda…!

Samson greets nervously, “Uuum…. Hi, I-I’m the Master Attendant of this place….” I could hear him quietly gulp his saliva nervously.

“Attendant? That sounded really terrific.” – the Food Soul steps down from the platform – “So, then let Big Sister accompany you.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!” I impersonate the boy from Home Alone and make a break for it. Looking back, I could glimpse that the Food Soul is surprised and confused by this. I look forward and hit the brakes immediately because I quickly realize the door is closed. Even then, I still bump my head from my momentum, but I find out my scales are tougher up there than I thought. As for the dumbfounded Food Soul, she's none other than the OG psycho bitch Spicy Gluten.

Chapter 8: Chapter 8: It Had to be a Goddamn Uke Mochi (and Spicy Gluten)

Chapter Text

“You have a very strange pet,” Spicy Gluten remarks. “Not only that, it’s quite unlike anything I’ve seen before.” Samson replies, “She’s a dragon. Usually, they only exist in books and movies, but, yeah, it’s very strange to find one that isn’t fictional. Her name is Daniela, but everyone calls her Danny RPG.” Spicy raises an eyebrow as she asks, “What does that mean?” He answers, “Role-Playing Games, or 'Robles Prado Gamer'. Her words, not mine.” Spicy deadpans, “Yeah, I don't think that nickname suits her well. Too weird.” Seriously? Her too?

I blurt awkwardly, “Uh, I think I hear Bamboo Rice calling.” I immediately get out of the room and head straight to the Dine-and-Dash room. Spicy is kinda hard to describe, especially what she’s wearing. If you don’t know what she looks like … it’s probably best to keep it that way since she’s wearing the uncensored version of her skimpy outfit. She also has this belt around her neck – like, what's up with that? (Is this some sort of Yu-Gi-Oh! shtick or something?) Her hair and her eyes are orange like fire, and she also has these antennae sticking out of her head that are probably made out of actual spicy gluten. Her strong character and appearance makes those around her nervous, which might come in handy against enemies. Hell, it’s terrifying me, especially with those massive tetas! According to her bio, she’s possessive, her height is 167 centimeters (which I think is around five feet and four inches), and she enjoys training and charming those around her. Spicy is also a Strength Soul with the ability to charm her enemies for a few seconds in the game.

In the training arena, Bambri and Tom Yum are sparring using hand-to-hand combat. They’re currently practicing boxing techniques until they see me. “Hey, Danny,” Bambri greets with a bit of concern. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a Spectra.” I reply, “I wish it was a Spectra. It's the new Food Soul. I don't know what's scarier, her appearance or her personality.” Bambri, his rats, and Tom look worried. Tom states, “I'm sure she can't be scarier than an Uke Mochi, right?” Bambri adds, “Yeah, maybe she's not so bad once you get to know her.” Buddy, you have no idea.

I add, “Are you sh*tting me? She's a very seductive dominatrix. If she tries to be flirty or some sh*t, DO NOT FALL FOR HER! She will literally whip your asses like there's no tomorrow!” The door suddenly opens. To my sheer relief, it’s just Rice. “Good morning….” she greets happily. “So, what are you … guys doing…?” I hastily reply awkwardly, “Sparring; I was just about to ask if they could teach me how to fight.” The scantily-clad Strength Soul replies, “Actually, she was telling us about the new Food Soul. Considering Danny's vulgarity, she's terrified of her. Speaking of, do you know her?” I answer with an agitated voice, “No, but I know of her. She's really creepy, and now that I’ve met her in person, she’s a nightmare.” Bambri translates what I said.

“Eeeeek!” a muffled voice shrieks shrilly through the dining room. It was Crepe as she scolds loudly, “What the f*ck are you WEARING?! You are not going to serve customers in that outfit, young lady! You’re just like Bamboo Rice!” – (“Huh?” Bambri asks.) – “Get the hell out of those clothes right now!” Spicy’s muffled voice teases sarcastically, “Well aren’t you excited?~”

“What – eww, not like that, pervert!”

I stifle an involuntary snicker at that remark. I don't know why, but I'm suddenly amused and I hate it. Kinda reminds me of my Dad's innuendo jokes. (Whenever my Mom is with her friends/co-workers, they'd have to watch their words while Dad's there as he often makes puns that have a double meaning in Spanish. Same with my affinity for anime and video games.)

“Uh,” Tom comments nervously, “I think sparring sounds like a good idea, Danny RPG.” I nod in agreement. He adds, “How much do you know about fighting?”

I gesture that I know nothing about it at all.

“I'll take that as a no. Let’s start from the beginning. We'll try melee attacks.” After five minutes of chastising from Crepe, Spicy enters the room. “I assume this is the training arena. Or is this another place for the Food Souls to hang out?” Everyone in the room stares at Spicy with a “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” look on their face while I just give an uncomfortable, deadpan stare. Unsurprisingly, Bambri is unfazed by her and is instead confused by everyone else's reactions. Considering his lack of modesty, I'm not surprised by that either.

“So, that’s where the dragon ran off to.” Unenthusiastically, I let out a forced, almost sarcastic smile. “Yep, that's me.” I'm screaming internally as I'm trying very hard not to look at her jugs. Spicy gives me a strange look and asks Rice, “Is the pet smiling?” Rice answers, “I … think so…?” An awkward silence fills the air, until Master Attendant breaks it. He clears his throat. “So, this is the Dine and Dash arena, though I'm guessing you guys decided to use it as a place for training.” Bambri remarks, “Where else could we train?” Tom adds, “Yeah, my fists are getting lonely. All of a sudden, they really want to fight. Plus, Danny RPG wanted to learn how to fight.” I nod. “That's not a bad idea,” Samson comments, “though I have some tasks for you guys before we get to do that. Crepe and Brownie will head to the market in Hilena to buy clothes for Bamboo Rice and Spicy Gluten. As for you two, would you like to join them?” Bambri replies, “I've never been to a human market before. So, sure, I'd like to check it out.” Spicy agrees to it as well. Master Attendant adds, “The rest of us will stay and take care of the restaurant.” As much as I want to join Crepe's group (because I’ve never been outside of the restaurant), I decide to say nothing about it. The last thing I want is to be near this crazy lady, especially with an outrageous outfit like that.

The restaurant opens shortly after the awkward conversation. Crepe, Brownie, and the two scantily-clad Food Souls head out to Parisel with the mission to buy new clothes. With Crepe being a fashion guru and the butler being an expert in modesty, Bambri and Spicy are probably going to have an interesting time. Not to mention, bystanders will probably be surprised by the seemingly unlikely encounter. Or, maybe they'll brush it off as something normal since they're Food Souls that happen to look like that. Anyways, back to the restaurant.

We open the Glorywest Grill, which is becoming more popular by the day, which I can tell because every time I check one of the windows to the kitchen, I see a small crowd of people who are either curious or are trying to get something to eat in this place but can’t because the tables are full. Also, once in a while, whenever I hang out in the dining area, I sometimes see a line of people waiting to get a table. Not unlike those restaurant simulator games like Diner Dash. Though, in Food Fantasy, there’d be a crowd of silhouettes in front of a set of doors at the bottom of the screen, and if you tap on it, it’ll tell you how many people are waiting. There it takes several minutes to a few hours to get the food ready depending on the type of dish, its ranking, and the quantity. From what I’ve seen, Brownie, Rice, Bambri, Hawthorne, and Sandwich are best at cooking and managing the restaurant, which interestingly enough, Brownie and Bambri are usually not recommended to manage the restaurant due to their limited Stamina and lack of Restaurant Skills in the game. Even in a world I know quite well, I still learn something new every day.

The first customers of the day order the usual eggplant rolls, salads, and crispy pork, which seem to be the most popular dishes in this establishment so far. But, that’s probably because the only dishes that we have available so far are crispy pork, eggplant rolls, salads, smoked salmon, mushroom soup, and pork burgers. The sides we have available are french fries, cheese bread, and fried rice cakes. Yeah, we’re a very small restaurant, but our service is great. Plus, my presence seems to boost morale around here, and it tends to attract more customers. I guess I’ve become famous from my stunt, which had unintended consequences, but all’s well that it ends well.

For the time being, I decide to be a waitress so I can improve my social skills and try to adapt to situations with NPCs and the occasional Dine-and-Dasher. Milk, Black Tea, and Tom are working as waiters as well while Sandwich, Hawthorne, and Rice work in the kitchen. Samson and Vodka are making sure that customers are paying their bills and keeping an eye for Dine-and-Dash customers. With luck, Vodka and Andre's intimidating presence will discourage customers from doing any funny business. I guess that makes them the supervisors of Glorywest Grill. They’re also in charge of keeping track of how much money they earn whenever a customer pays their bill.

When a skeleton and a pirate sit at one of the tables, I approach them with the question: “Yo, may take your order?” They peer from the side to see a cat-sized dragon with a notepad. Of course, I forgot there’s a one-sided language barrier, so I tap the notepad with my pen. The two customers realize I'm taking orders, and the skeleton responds, “Yeah, I’ll have a plate of eggplant rolls, and my friend would like to have some smoked salmon.” I write down their order on the next page. I flip back to my previous page and write Do you guys want any sides or drinks? The pirate replies, “No thanks. We’re good.” I give them a thumbs-up, and I head to the kitchen. I give the order to Rice, who starts cooking right away. After some waiting, Rice places the dishes to floor and I drag them across the area that I was in. Milk enters the kitchen and sees what I’m doing. She asked, “Do you need help with that?” I nod in response. She picks up the two plates and I lead her to the table with the skeleton and the pirate. This gets repeated with several other NPCs; I take the orders, and Milk or Black Tea help me hand the plates to the right tables. Sometimes, I see Samson or Vodka helping us out with serving the customers to make sure that only a small fraction of the Food Souls’ stamina is used rather than a large portion or all of it.

Inevitably, after a couple hours, a customer eats their meal, but refuses to pay their bill. Asshole…. As they’re about to run off, Vodka’s gyrfalcon blocks the door with some ice magic, and the Dine-and-Dash customer tries to fight with a giant fork with a large eyeball sticking at the end, which materializes in their hand out of nowhere. I immediately realize that we’re about to fight an Uke Mochi. I yell at the Fallen Angel, “Hey, you, crazy-ass bitch! Over here!” Upon doing that, I lift my tail and shake my end in front of the Dine-and-Dasher while doing the ol’ “Na-na-na-na-na” thing, as silly and immature as it is. (Then again, I had to do something quick and absurd before she destroys the whole restaurant.) Impressively enough, the Fallen actually gets provoked as she yells angrily, “You little sh*t!” I exclaim, “Wait, you actually heard that?! Whoa!” I jump away from a thorny tentacle that nearly hit me before luring her into the new room right before she fully transforms into the Uke Mochi's Normal form.

Uke Mochi are a type of Fallen Angel and are usually about four hundred and ten centimeters tall, which is about thirteen feet. So, this Fallen is massive, whereas Bulimia are about five and a half feet tall (the wiki says they’re a hundred and sixty-seven centimeters tall). They were born from the negative energy and evil dreams of the humans, and are one of the original types of Fallens that first appeared on Tierra. While Bulimia is an Evolved Fallen Angel, this one is an Enhanced Fallen Angel. However, there are two types of Enhanced Fallens which are Normal and Special. In Uke Mochi’s case, it’s a Normal Enhanced Fallen while its stronger Enhanced form is Special. Yeah, it’s pretty weird how an Enhanced Fallen has an Enhanced form that would be considered a Special Enhanced Fallen Angel. Hell, just writing this is starting make me confused, hahah. So, I’ll be referring the Normal Uke Mochi as its “Normal form” while referring the Special one as its “Enhanced form.” That should make things easier, right? If not, there’s a pretty good reason why there’s a Food Fantasy wiki on the Internet. It also helps to read that info in-game.

Anyway, I lead the customer to the Dine-and-Dash arena, and right as they enter the room, they fully transform into a Normal Uke Mochi that is trying to kill me with her weapon. Vodka steps in and exclaims, “What the hell?! How did we an Uke Mochi into this place?! Leave the dragon alone!” With Vodka’s ice magic, Andre flies to the Uke Mochi and casts an ice spell onto the Fallen, which creates in a violent flurry of snow that seems to be temporarily blinding it. Black Tea enters the room and fires her dual pistols at the foe. The attack is called Double Shots, which hits a critical part of the enemy, dealing one hundred percent of the Food Soul’s ATK, as damage to the enemy with the lowest HP deals extra damage. I decide to join the fight as well. Heat surges to my throat, and I let out a jet of fire at the Uke Mochi’s giant thorny tentacles that support and lift the body of the Fallen. It … barely does any damage to her. Uke Mochi hurls her giant fork at me, but I jump out of the way before it could pin me down or worse. Vodka and Andre cast another spell, which freezes the Uke Mochi and stuns it after the ice disappears. Black Tea declares, “It ends here.” She leaps up and fires more bullets six more bullets, which fly in a straight line. They coalesce to a single spot very close to the Fallen’s chest, creating a giant purple flower that literally bursts into bloom under three seconds, dealing critical damage to the enemy. The Uke Mochi faints, but hasn’t dissipated. She’s wounded, but not to the point of dying. Vodka glares at the Fallen Angel. “Next time, pay your bill.” Breathing heavily from the fight, the Uke Mochi gets struggles to get up and curtly replies, “Fine, you’ve proven your point. Here.” She tosses Vodka a small pouch of Gold. She then shapeshifts back to the form of an NPC and Vodka sends Andre to make the ice that is blocking the main door of the restaurant disappear. The Dine-and-Dash customer limps out of Glorywest Grill as everyone else stares at the event. Black Tea asks Samson, “Master Attendant, do we need to close the restaurant for now?” Samson thinks about and answers, “The damage done to the place is minimal this time thanks to the new room. I think we can continue operating the restaurant. In the meantime, why don’t you and Vodka rest? You’ve earned it.” Black Tea, seemingly not used to hear something like that frequently, answers, “Understood, Master Attendant.”

After returning to our usual business for another hour, Akira enters the restaurant. She’s carrying a box with the mark of the Royal Chef’s Guild She looks worried. “I heard about what happened. Are you guys alright?” Rice answers calmly, “Yes…. The battle went better, than I thought….” Akira asks, “Still, why didn’t you finish it off? It’s a Master Attendant’s duty to kill Fallen Angels.” Vodka answers, “We were planning to, but the Fallen Angel decided to pay its bill by giving us a small pouch of gold and left the restaurant without resisting. After a fight like that, I doubt it’ll cause much trouble anymore.” Knowing these Food Souls, it’ll take that Uke Mochi a lot of nerve to come back and cause havoc. Samson asks, “Anyway, it’s been a while since you last came here. Where have you been?”

“I was monitoring other Attendants from within Hilena and the outskirts of Parisel. I’ve been informed of the incident, and I received word about some of the tasks you’ve accomplished, so the Royal Chef’s Guild asked me to send this box to you. It contains the rewards you’ve earned. Complete the next several missions within the remaining two weeks, and you’ll get the next Food Soul. From what I heard, I think it’s an Ultra Rare. Not sure which one, though. Could be any of them.”

“Wow, really?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“I’ll definitely keep that in mind. Setting that aside, would you like to order anything from this place?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a pork burger and fries.”

“You got that, guys?”

Milk replies, “Yes. I’ll inform the others right now.”

Pretty much the rest of the day went normal; Akira leaves after having her meal, and by 4:30 in the afternoon, Brownie, Crepe, Bambri, and Spicy come back with arms and hands full of shopping bags (especially Bambri and Spicy Gluten; Crepe and Brownie are holding, like, two bags or so). They have so many bags, Bambri is carrying two of them literally by the teeth. Brownie remarks, “Good afternoon, Master Attendant. As you can see, Crepe insisted on buying a lot of clothes and accessories for these two. Master, I am a bit concerned for our budget because of this shopping trip.” Impressed, Samson remarks, “Yeah, I can see that.” Crepe rebuts, “Despite that, these two simply can’t serve customers or even go out in public in the clothes they’re wearing. And the reason why I let them go out like this today is because these are the only clothes they have until now – if you can even call them that. Now, go change in your rooms, you two; I’ve seen enough of your lack of modesty.”

Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Maybe Things Aren't So Bad?

Chapter Text

The two Food Souls changehalfheartedly, which is a good thing because I could use a break from the fanservice. Though, it looks like if the Food Souls are going to wear clothes like that, Black Tea, Hawthorne Ball, and Vodka could do the same.

“By the way,” Brownie said, “since you guys don’t have that many clothes, we bought some for all of you. They are all modest, and should be comfortable to wear. Here you go.” Crepe and the butler give the rest of the bags to the other characters. As mentioned before, they’re all filled with clothes in different styles and appearances; most for work in a restaurant like this while the rest are for casual days. Though, it’s most likely they’ll go for their default skins if they’re heading out to fight Fallen Angels.

A few minutes later, Bamboo Rice and Spicy Gluten come back downstairs with the new clothes they’re wearing; they don’t seem to mind their new appearances. Spicy’s wearing a black t-shirt with a blue image of a cat’s face printed on it, a pair of shorts, and tennis shoes that go pretty well with the rest of her outfit. I’m very grateful that her tit* are completely covered rather than partially like with her revealing default outfit. It’s a good look; not only is it rather conservative, she also gets to show her figure, so it’s a win-win for all of us. As for Bambri, he’s wearing navy pants, and a beige shirt. Though, unlike Spicy, he’s barefoot. Seems he’s not used to wearing shoes at all.

Despite that, the two characters are handling the changes pretty well. My biggest concern, though, is that if we keep getting more waifoods like Vodka, Milk, and Spicy, this place will become a Hooters inFood Fantasy. (I swear, I haven’t been to one; I just simply heard a few things about Hooters, and that’s it.)

What’s a waifood, you might ask? It’s a pun– a combination of the words “waifu” and “food.” If you’re really that unfamiliar with slang terms like this in general, a waifu (ワイフ) isa term used to refer to a fictional girl or woman (usually in anime, manga, or video-games) that one has sexual attraction to, and would even marry if the character is real. Keep in mind that (at least from what I’ve read in the Urban Dictionary) most Japanese speakers don’t use that term and instead use the word “tsuma” (妻) to refer to somebody’s real wife. The male counterpart for “waifu” is “husbando,” though inFood Fantasy’scase, it would be “husbento,” heheheh. Seriously, you guys don’t know what a bento is either? Dude, get a dictionary!

Okay, setting that aside, we start the next day off with Bambri, Brownie, Vodka, and Sandwich serving the customers; Black Tea, Milk, Crepe, and Hawthorne are cooking the food; Rice and Samson are keeping an eye on us while taking care of accounting; and Spicy and Tom Yum are put in charge of keeping an eye on me again.

The Dine-and-Dash room is a large and spacious room with awooden floor. It has roughly a few windows here and there, but I imagine they’re made from a sturdy glass that doesn’t break easily. There are lights on the ceiling, which is high enough for an Uke Mochi to be here. I know that because we fought one just an hour ago.

Spicy asks, “The dragon? Despite what Master Attendant told me about it, it still looks like a pet to me.” Tom replies, “Yeah, even though she’s been with us for about a week, we’re still trying to figure out whether of not she’s indeed a pet. She understands what people say and tries to be like a human sometimes, though. I guess the more appropriate term for someone like Danny RPG would be simply an animal companion.”

“Is that so? Can she do tricks?”

“I don’t know. None of us asked her to do that. I don’t think any of us have really thought about it. Well, except for maybe two or three customers.”

“Well, let’s see then. Hey, dragon, sit.”

I sit down.

“Roll over.”

I cringe internally at the command; I have an issue with rolling and spinning. Still, I do it anyway. Spicy commands, “Jump.” I’m tempted to say, “How high?” but I decide not to. I think about the height of my jump and do it. I anticipated that I would make a small hop, but to my surprise, I leap as high as a house cat would, which is six times its normal height. Upon seeing this, I almost panic from the unexpected jump, but I manage to land on my feet. The Food Souls are surprised and impressed by this. Tom comments with a smile, “Whoa, I didn’t knew you could jump that high.”Neither did I,I thought. Spicy commands, “Alright, speak.” I hesitate. Tom replies, “She can’t really talk. There’s a weird language barrier between her and us.”“Yeah, it’s quite a bother,”I add. Spicy asks, “Well, isn’t that odd?” The Defense Soul points out, “Mm-hm, though we're planning to teach Danny sign language so she doesn't have to write all the time on her notepads.”

A commotion suddenly occurs in the dining room. Sounds like another dine-and-dash customer. Brownie and Bambri run into the room with the Fallen Angels chasing after them. In front of us are a Bloodshot, a two Squidlings, and a group Ring Teeth. Behind them is a Bulimia. The entities in front of the Bulimia are Normal Fallen Angels from the Savage Tribe. Considering they’re labeled as Normal Fallens, I’m assuming they’re some of the most common types of Fallen in Gloriville, along with the Fallens from the Altered Animal Tribe. The Bloodshot and Squidlings are roughly my size. The Bloodshot is a Fallen angel that is literally a big eyeball with stubby arms made from the jelly inside the eye. It's holding a syringe and is wearing a white hospital cap with a red cross on it. The Squidlings are squid-like Fallens with pretty eyelashes and blush on their faces. They're much prettier as chibi sprites in-game. And then there's the group of Ring Teeth. A Ring Tooth is a Fallen that looks like a sushi roll with scribbled white eyes and the inside is some sort of red “rice” and “salmon roe,” which is held together by the black nori seaweed covering the sides and back of the Fallen Angel. Oh, yeah, aside from the scribbled eyes and the unnaturally red stuff in the front, there's also a ring of sharp teeth poking out from the front. (Hence why it's called a Ring Tooth.)

Spicy chuckles maliciously, “Training time~” She grabs the handle of her whip while Brownie grabs his gun from nowhere and Bambri grabs hold of his machete. I raise my guard and hold my ground. Tom does a fighting stance to show he’s not going down without a fight. He declares, “Ha, we must go all out!”“Right,”the others and I reply. The Ring Teeth launch themselves towards Brownie and Tom, which the butler fights back with a blast from his cannon and Tom deals a heavy punch towards the other Fallen. A Ring Tooth approaches Tom and launches its sharp teeth at the Food Soul like bullets.What the heck? Since when do they do that?! Another one does the same. A third one sends itself flying, spinning with its teeth out like a living shuriken star, but Bambri deflects it with his machete, slicing the small fiend in half. I quickly notice that the projectiles that flew have left an impact on the walls. Yikes, how much force do these little bitches have?! New sharp teeth come out of the Ring Teeth that have launched their projectiles quickly. Jesus, how many sets of teeth do they have? Probably endless, if I have to guess. “Hmph! Despicable,” Spicy scorns, killing the small Fallens swiftly with her whip. All that’s left now is the Bulimia. She uses her attack, Super Full, which she dumps her food reserves to us, dealing heavy damage, but Bambri and I dodge it. I run towards the Bulimia and grab her neck, strangling her while she tries to grab hold of me. I use my tail and hind claws to resist. I quickly glimpse at Bambri and I leap off of her; my wings unfold and I land as awkward as an albatross. Bambri immediately uses his energy skill, Colorful Bamboos, which his dense hair envelops his body as he leaps into the remaining enemy and whirls like a glowing buzzsaw, dealing forty percent of his ATK as damage to the Fallen Angel. The Bulimia screams in pain and collapses to the floor. She dissipates upon fainting.

Milk enters the room, asking, “Is everyone okay? Oh, my.” I immediately run from the room to get away from Spicy. She looks at the Food Souls in front of her and starts healing their wounds. Mostly, what these guys have are scratches and abrasions, but other than that, we’re pretty fine. I check on the restaurant. There are scraps of food on the floor here and there, one table got upturned, a few drinks got spilled, and about two plates have been shattered. We spend half an hour cleaning up the restaurant again. By then, the restaurant reopens. Reluctant to spend more time with Spicy, I head to the kitchen and hide inside one of the cupboards close to the floor.

I hear Tom’s voice faintly say, “Hey, Master Attendant, have you seen Danny RPG?” He answers, “I think I saw her run into the kitchen. She seems pretty anxious about something.” Tom enters the kitchen. I peek out and see that he’s alone. I cautiously step out and approach him. He asks, “Hey, are you alright?” I think about what to write. He sits down, and I get closer to him. I sit down too. I take out my notepad and start writing. I’m not really alright. I’m just hiding because I don’t want to be near Spicy. If I didn’t do those tricks, who knows what she’d do. Tom replies, “Yeah, even in her new clothes, she’s pretty intimidating. But, don’t worry. You got the rest of us. We’re not gonna let some dominatrix hurt you. Besides, I think she’ll only see you as a pet rather than someone with a sapient mind. Don’t worry about it too much, alright?” I give him a small nod. I writeIt's not just that – I have pretty bad anxiety, but I guess you’re right. Maybe I’m just delusional or paranoid, and I might be getting carried away. Now, let’s get back to work. Tom frowns. “Hey, don't call yourself that, and you don't have to beat yourself up over it. Besides,” – he smiles reassuringly – “if Spicy Gluten ever troubles you, you'll have the rest of us to back you up. While I'm not human, I hear anxiety's a pretty serious thing, so thanks for letting me know.” The Food Soul gives me a gentle rub on the scalp, and I get my confidence back.

I decide to work as a waitress again (along with Spicy while Tom works in the kitchen) which might help me get used to her presence. Besides, with the new clothes she’s wearing, it makes my worries ease a lot better. At one point, a small family of three enters the restaurant and they sit at a table near a window. As I’m walking in search of a table that hasn’t received orders yet, I hear a cheery little girl from the family saying, “Look, Mommy. There’s the dragon! Isn’t she cute?” I look at them, and I feel flattered about the compliment. I don’t really know why, though. Maybe it’s because of the brief conversation I had with Tom. Or maybe it’s because I needed to hear something reassuring when Spicy is in the same room as me. Either way, I decide to approach them. From the girl’s voice and appearance, she’s probably about six years old. I put myself in a crouched position like a coiled spring, allowing me to exploit the strength of my legs as I leap upwards. On landing, I pull myself with my back limbs, gripping with my talons, bringing myself to a clumsy but still graceful halt. The girl looks at me with awe. “That was cool!” I writeThank you. Now, may I take your order? After the family orders their food, which I write in my notepad, I jump back down. I’m getting the hang of my landings pretty well. I enter the kitchen and give the order to the fellas working in the kitchen. Brownie enters the kitchen, grabs two plates, and walks to a table farthest from the main entrance of the restaurant. In no more than a few minutes, Sandwich enters the kitchen. He asks, “Is the food ready for one of the tables?” Black Tea answers, “Yes, the food is ready. Take it out quickly to the Table One.” “Got it,” he replied. A few hours pass, and the restaurant reaches its closing hours.

As the customers are leaving, we clean up the front of the house, making closing hours pretty easygoing. Once everything in the restaurant has been mopped, dusted, and cleaned up for the night, we chill out in the residential area. The restaurant closes at 7:30 pm and we get everything cleaned up between 7:45 and 8:00; Brownie, Samson, and sometimes the other Food Souls usually take care of the residential area on their own time such as right now in the evening. Of course, some of the Food Souls decide to sleep immediately after we clean up the restaurant, and others like to hang out and play a small game (mostly cards) before resting. Spicy is sitting on the couch, watching Sandwich, Bambri, Hawthorne, and Vodka (who is drinking out of a glass of wine near her) play a game of cards. Not sure if it’s poker or blackjack, though. Still, I decide to watch too. Meanwhile, Brownie is dusting the furniture. As much as I want to sit in one of the chairs, I decide to muster up the courage to sit near Spicy while maintaining a distance. Spicy mutters quietly, “They really are all so boring. One, two, ugh, they’re all useless.”

She looks at me, but I immediately avoid eye contact. Three seconds second later, I take quick glance, and notice that Spicy isn’t looking at me. I decide to approach her. She looks at me again and questions, “Hm? What do you want, dragon?” I take a step back. I sit down again and continue watching the Food Souls playing poker. Albeit, they’re having their own conversations from time to time, it feels like there’s an awkward silence. I tap fingers nervously. After some thinking, I sigh out of impatience with myself. Dammit … let’s just get this over with. I take my notepad and pencil out of my Inventory and start writing.I would like to apologize for my overreaction this morning. After seeing how you treated the customers and the staff today, it seems that I may have misjudged your character. I guess you aren’t as bad as I thought. I show it to Spicy. She replies, “I won’t sugarcoat it, you are the strangest thing I have ever met, but I appreciate the apology. That said, you have some nerve to approach me like that.” I step back even further. She goes on, “Scared, aren’t you? I’m not surprised. People usually either try to flirt with me or run away except for the customers. Don’t think we’re going to be friends; I can create a suffering in you at anytime I want. Never forget what the crack of a whip sounds like, understand, pet?” I nod rapidly and run away from her. I head up the stairs as soon as possible while everyone else in the room stares at what just happened. Spicy chuckles, “I always enjoy a good conversation.~”

Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Don't Be A Danny RPG (Seriously)

Chapter Text

I open my eyes and let out a yawn. I get off the bed that Samson bought for me. I could go for a cup of coffee to make the day more pleasant, except they don’t have any in this place. I kinda wonder when are we going to get the Food Soul Coffee. Or, maybe even go to Satan’s Coffee House, assuming that place still exists. It’s really weird how even though the origin of coffee is traced back to Ethiopia from who-knows-when, it’s considered to be nicknamed “the demon’s drink” according to his story in-game and in the wiki. And, of course, the longest I’ve been without coffee is about a week, so this sh*t's hitting pretty hard. And more so, after that half-assed conversation with Spicy Gluten

I head downstairs to the second floor and come across Milk and Black Tea, who had just come out of their room. Milk greets, “Good morning, Danny RPG. Did you sleep well?” I nod with the corners of mouth tugging into a smile.

Liar.

I crouch and leap upwards to Black Tea’s shoulder. She got startled by this, but she quickly regains her composure. I perch onto the shoulders of the Food Soul. Neither characters seem to mind; in fact, they are mildly amused by my action. Black Tea said, “Next time, ask before you do that.” The Food Souls walk downstairs to the living room. A familiar rumbling occurs from the summoning room. Looks like we might be getting Coffee after all.

We head downstairs and hear a rumble. It’s the same rumble from summoning a Food Soul. Out of curiosity, we step through the doorway under the stairs and walk to the summoning room. Disappointingly, it’s not Coffee. Actually, it’s bad news: We got Sweet Tofu. Eyes widened, I think, Oh, sh*t…. Sweet chuckles sweetly,“Oh, hello~ Who might you be? And what is that strange thing on your shoulder? Looks kinda cute~” Sweet Tofu is a pretty bizarre but dangerous guy. I read his story once; it was really weird, but I do know that he killed his Master Attendant, and that his brothers are Salty Tofu and (strangely enough) Boston Lobster. This guy is exceedingly unpleasant and creepy as f*ck, but not as much as other Food Souls such as Whiskey, Fruit Tart, Spaghetti, and Green Curry. (Maybe a couple of others too, but I’m not that great with names.) He does love rock n’ roll, though, I’ll give him that. But, frankly, the cons outweigh the pros, and the taste for rock is the only pro he has.

I cringe at the remark. At least Salty Tofu has more sanity and is less dangerous, but is still as quirky as his older twin counterpart. If I had to choose between Sweet and Salty, it’s very obvious who I’m going to pick. Samson answers, “She’s Black Tea, Milk, and the dragon on her shoulder is Danny RPG.” That’s odd, Black Tea and Sweet are supposed to know each other. I think these Food Souls are not the same as the ones from their bios, otherwise things would have gotten worse. Black Tea doesn’t look like she knows him, and neither does Milk. Sweet doesn’t seem to know these Food Souls either. “Who are you?” Black Tea asks. Sweet smiles warmly. “I’m Sweet Tofu, it’s nice to meet you. And mind if I take a closer look at the dragon?” She hesitates for a second, but then said, “Sure.” I feel kinda relieved that the Food Souls here aren’t the same as the ones from the game’s stories. Still, I keep my guard up.

As his hand get close to me, I let out an uncomfortable growl. “Aw, it’s purring~” Milk, who appears to be slightly worried, replied, “I think that is that is a growl.” Regardless, Sweet picks me up as though I’m a cat. I let out an annoyed sigh and refrain from hissing. I’m so, so salty today from this. Plus, I still haven’t had coffee, which is not helping at all. He doesn’t seem to be aware that I’m sapient. At least, not yet. He remarks, “This is the most unusual pet I’ve seen.” I grumble under my breath, “I'm not in the mood for any of this.”

Sweet Tofu is an SR-rank Support Soul. In case if you forget, SR stands for ‘Super Rare’, even though they’re not that rare, ironically enough. Lemme clarify what I mean: Rares are common, Super Rares and Managers (the M-rank Souls) are uncommon, and Ultra Rares are actually the ones that rare. (I've also heard of a new “SP” or “Special” rank, but I don't know anything about it.) Hope this makes sense. Anyway, Sweet is wearing a strange black and white outfit, and he has a one of those piercings on his belly button. His boots stretch all the way up to his knees. His hair is white, but his bangs are brown. His eyes are heterochromatic, meaning his right eye is magenta and his right eye is white. Quite an unusual color scheme, admittedly, but seeing them up close is actually kinda cool. His breath stinks, though.

Samson says, “I’ve got to summon another Food Soul, so you guys may want to stand back.” He pulls the switch, causing the rings on the platform to spin rapidly. Sweet and I get knocked by the wind, causing him to fall on his back and causing me to fall on him. Milk, Samson, and Black Tea are somehow still standing despite how strong the gust is. Finally the wind dies down. I get off of Sweet. I’ve been close to that guy long enough. I think I’ll see the new Food Soul up on the platform later.

I leave the room and meet with Brownie, Hawthorne Ball, and Bamboo Rice in the living room. Brownie greets, “Good morning, Danny RPG. Who are the new Food Souls that are in the other room?” I stay quiet, and the butler notices that something is amiss. Meanwhile, I can hear some unfamiliar chatter in the dining area, so the rest of the Food Souls may have started working already. I reckon Rice is the restaurant’s supervisor in this game. Usually, in my game's account, Toast is the supervisor, though I’m not sure what the purpose of the supervisor is.

The characters in the summoning room walk into this room, and my guess on who the second Food Soul is is correct. A gentle, blonde-haired Food Soul with fine-looking shades. He appears to be a businessman, as he wears a suit and tie. This guy is none other than Coffee. That bittersweet aroma he’s emanating fills my nostrils and all of my worries seem to melt away in an instant … until Sweet appears again. Regardless, I hold back the urge to just run and hug Coffee. Not because everyone in the fandom loves him (myself included), but because someone can finally brew the Ethiopian drink in this place. Hopefully.

We begin introducing ourselves to the new Food Souls. When Coffee approaches Brownie, he greets modestly, “Good morning, sir, I am Coffee. You must be butler. Am I correct?” Brownie nods. “Yes, My name is Brownie. The dragon next to me is Danny RPG; she seems very interested in you.” I casually meow,“Hello.” Coffee remarks, “A dragon? How interesting. I’ve read about them in a fantasy book once, but I’ve never actually seen one before. I’ve always imagined that the dragon would much bigger, though.” Bambri added, “I’ve imagined the same thing until I met her. I never knew that dragons can be the size of cats. She doesn’t seem to act like one, though.”

“Is that so? Well, then, that makes the dragon an even more unusual creature compared to what I’ve read in that book.”

“I’m Bamboo Rice, and this is Big Ah and Little Ah.” He briefly points to the bamboo rats on his shoulders.

Hawthorne pipes up, “I’m Hawthorne Ball, and the others are working in the kitchen and front of the restaurant right now.” Sweet asks, “Aside from cooking and serving these customers, what else do you do?” Samson replies, “We do different jobs every day; some Food Souls work in the kitchen and some work in the dining area. After a while, they switch roles or have another Food Soul take their place if the other runs out of stamina.”

“So, depending on their skills, the Food Souls volunteer to do different jobs in the restaurant, then do a different job in the next day, while making sure that the roles stay consistent?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“You’re a strange man, but I don’t mind~”

“Look who’s talking,” I retort flatly. Of course, Bambri is the only who gets what I'm saying. So, they glance at me, but then focus their attention back towards Master Attendant, Coffee, and Sweet. “Nevermind,” I mumble flatly. Why do I even bother when I have a one-sided language barrier? After a few more greets, Vodka appears, saying, “Hawthorne, you are needed in the front of the house. Bamboo Rice, you are needed in the back.” Tom Yum and Spicy Gluten enter the living room fatigued from their work. Hey, working in a restaurant is not an easy job; I’ve watched enough episodes of Kitchen Nightmares and Cutthroat Kitchen as an example of how difficult and stressful it can and will be. Plus, I’m sure you guys still remember Chapter 2, right? Yeah, I’m definitely not doing that again for obvious reasons.

Wait, you actually forgot that? Alright then, let’s recap: Rice snuck out early to get some ingredients, which is what happened in Food Fantasy’s main story. Master Attendant Samson and the Food Souls (minus the M-rank ones) went out to find her. While they’re gone, the M-rank Souls and I thought it was a good idea to impress Samson by running the restaurant on our own, which didn’t end so well. That’s why it’s titled A Recipe For Disaster as a reference to One Little Slip by the Barenaked Ladies (no, I’m not joking). On the bright side, we got help from an otaku and a girl who suspiciously knew a few things about Food Souls. When the group came back with Rice and a bunch of ingredients for food, the pair left and Samson gave the M-rank Souls and I a pretty serious talk. And that’s the end of Chapter 2.

Huh? Why did consider the otaku and the girl suspicious? Their knowledge and experience with Food Souls and running a restaurant, of course. The only possibility of having that knowledge aside from being experienced Master Attendants is that they’re secretly members of the Chef’s Guild. But hey, that’s just a theory, a Game Theory! (Actually, these characters only appear as ordinary NPCs in the game, but you get the idea. And I’m not associated with The Game Theorists in any way possible. But I am a fan, though. Hence why this is a fanfiction, eh?)

Ahem, moving on to Chapter 11: The day has been pretty normal, and Coffee has gladly been helping Samson and Rice with his strong leadership skills, and with Brownie on keeping the restaurant peaceful and spotless. Work seems to have run a lot more smoothly for Brownie since Coffee got summoned. It’s a good thing because, personally, I don’t think Brownie has been looking good lately. As hard as he tries to hide it, Brownie recently developed some bags under his eyes due to a lack of proper rest. I noticed a few days ago that Sandwich and Milk offered to help him with cleaning the place (even if it’s just dusting that bookshelf in the living room), but Brownie stubbornly insisted that he can take care because he’s a solemn and very modest butler. Yeah, right, man. Have you looked into one of the bathroom mirrors recently, Brownie?

Of course, when I said that the day has been normal, it’s because Sweet went out and borrowed some money to buy some records and probably a jukebox as far as I know. I know this is the twenty-first century and we have online streaming and CDs, but hey, even Texas Roadhouse has a jukebox. Though, instead of vinyl records, it has a screen to pick a song, and it only plays country music, which is a bummer, because some ZZ Top would've been nice. So, yeah, without Sweet around, Glorywest Grill remained pretty easygoing and peaceful, and even more so with the lack of Dine-and-Dashers. Still, we musn’t let out guard down; who knows if this is nothing more than the calm before the –

An angry customer starts complaining about the bill and the food. Ungrateful wretch – they didn’t even let me finish my sentence! Looks like we got another Dine-and-Dasher. Sandwich is talking to the customer, trying to calm him down and diffuse, but the asshole is verbally attacking him. As it quickly escalates, the Dine-and-Dash customer stands up and grabs Sandwich by the collar of the shirt. Oh, sh*t, it looks like the enemy has a knife! I must do something! I jump up to the jerk and forcefully bite him by the wrist. He lets go of Sandwich as I lash furiously at this dude, literally fighting tooth and talon.

Still, everyone’s eyes widen and their jaws drop. The customer, who turns out to be a malicious bandit, throws me into a table, knocking the food off it and scaring a some normal patrons. The bandit growls, “You little bitch, I’m going to kill you!” He unholsters his knife and tries to stab me, only to stab table because I dodged off of it. More patrons grow terrified while Sweet Tofu comes back with a box full of records and CDs. “I’m back~ Did I miss – oh, my.” Upon witnessing the fiasco, he calmly jokes, “Hey, look. It’s lunch and a show.” “Now’s not the time for jokes, Sweet!” I roar. Meanwhile, the enemy keeps throwing daggers from seemingly nowhere, completely scaring the customers away while I’m using a table that I’ve uplifted as a shield from the throwable weapons.

My heart's racing, my vision gets blurred, and I cower behind the table as I struggle to keep my breathing under control. I look back at what I did.... Oh God … did I really do that...?

BANG!

Black Tea fires her pistols and knocks the bandit’s next two knives, thus disarming him for a few seconds. Samson runs to him and punches the bandit in the face, knocking back and stumbling to another table. The bandit nearly falls, but quickly gains his balance. However, Crepe summons a powerful gust that sends him flying to the wall on the far end of the restaurant, narrowly missing Sweet and his box. He puts down the box, grabs the bandit by the back of the shirt and shoves him right far out the door. “AND STAY OUT!” he yells angrily. Damn, I’m impressed he can be that loud. And angry – that guy always has a weird, calm demeanor like he's on weed.

Samson asks, “Is everyone okay?” The Food Souls check on each other and I hesitantly get out of hiding. It looks like we're the only ones here. Damn … this is all my fault, but I had to do what I did. It'd be a lot worse if Sandwich got hurt by that bandit, I'm sure of it! Brownie asks, “Danny, are you alright?” I let out a small smile as I nod. I coolly tell him, “Of course I'm alright. Besides, what would've happened to Sandwich if I didn't interfere?” Vodka translates what I said and adds, “True, but it was still really reckless of you. Even so, you have a point, if none of us had taken action, Sandwich would have indeed gotten hurt or worse.” Sandwich replies, “Yeah, and I'm glad you did. Thanks Danny RPG.” I smile to myself as I realize that my heart had already begun to slow down and my vision is normal. Though, I do have a bit of a headache from everything, but at least I'm alright now.

Looking at the front of the house, the front of the restaurant is badly trashed. Still, we sweep up the debris from shattered glasses and plates. The wood from the tables have been chipped and have gashes from the knives that were thrown. Samson and Brownie put the daggers themselves away to his office, so I’m guessing there’s a safe or something that’ll put the weapons away for safekeeping. Everything else remains intact except for one chair that broke from Crepe’s gust. Two hours later, the dining room is fully cleaned and Rice starts cooking some dinner. However, while they’re doing that, I sneak to the attic, reluctant to eat anything. Even if the place smells really good from whatever it is they’re cooking, I decide to stay up here and sleep on the animal bed Samson bought for me. As tempting as it is to stay down there, I'm exhausted.

Someone knocks on the door and gently opens it. It’s Samson. He asks, “Hey, can we talk?” I look at him with my unintentional resting bitch face – I quickly be more awake when I notice this. He sits down. “Although what you did was really stupid, it was pretty brave of you. And I couldn't be more thankful for you to stop that guy from doing any more to Sandwich. I don't think I could bear to see what would happen if you didn't. You fought well, Danny, so even if some people don't approve of what you did, you should be proud of yourself. And, I heard about your anxiety – Tom Yum told me.”

I look down briefly before continuing to listen.

“I have a sister who has the same thing, so I know what it's like to have a mental health struggle. Personally, I don't think I'm very good at helping with it, but my family has told me otherwise. The point is, you shouldn't beat yourself up over difficult moments, even if it involves a dominatrix making you do parlor tricks.”

I chuckle at that quietly. My stomach growls from hunger. Master Attendant picks me up as he concludes with a smile, “Now, c'mon, let's have dinner, the others are waiting for us.”

Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Foodtale

Chapter Text

In the morning after having that nice dinner with the rest of the staff, I decide to chill out downstairs in the living room, and do a bit of dusting using the fur on my tail before Brownie shows up. Though, frankly, Brownie has been cleaning the place so often, there isn't much of anything to clean. Maybe Coffee too, but I haven't been paying much attention to that as of right now. Also, he's only been here for a day, so I can't say anything else about it anyway.

After all that dusting, I pick up a book from the shelf on how to make Light Kingdom dishes to kill some time. Of course, roughly a few minutes later, Master Attendant Samson walks downstairs. He greets politely, “Good morning, Danny RPG.” I wave at him in response. He adds on, “I'm going to summon a few more Food Souls today, and we'll be training them along with Sweet Tofu and Coffee. Once everyone's awake, we'll plan for the day how the we'll handle our jobs and assign the new Food Souls their tasks for the day so we can see which jobs do they prefer doing.” I nod in response.

I climb onto Samson's shoulders, and he walks to the summoning room. After adding a pouch of embers from one of the closets into the machine, he pulls a switch that is on the right side of the machine, which turns it on, and the rings start rotating at a casual speed. The outer ring rotates clockwise while the inner ring rotates counterclockwise again. He then pulls the switch on the right, causing the rings to spin very rapidly. Two wisps of light materialize and meet at the center of the rings. There is a powerful gust of wind occurring, pushing Master Attendant. I almost get knocked off his shoulders, but I grip onto him tightly. Master Attendant yelps in pain when I accidentally dig my claws into his shoulder, but I still hold on anyway. Along with the wind, a silhouette appears on the platform. The light and the gust diminish, the machine whirs down, and the rings rotate back in their original speed. I hastily write an apology to Samson, to which he accepts. The silhouette reveals to be a cheery and self-confident Food Soul wearing a red and white uniform from the Napoleonic era; he kinda looks like he's from a marching band because of his hat and the design of his uniform. But, I might be confused with a different style of uniforms. Still, I know who this guy is, and the outfit gives away who he is. He also carries a fancy-looking rifle and a small yellow and white flag with a chibi picture of his face.

Napoleon Cake greets happily, “Bonjour~ Give the battle to me, and victory shall belong to us. By the way, are you good at making desserts?” If it's one thing this guy and I have in common is that we have a sweet tooth. Though, I'm more of a foodie in general. His presence activates Brownie's linked skill (kind of a bummer that it's not B-52 when I found out), and Napoleon's linked skill can only be activated by a guy named Pastel de Nata, but he's not here. Also, Napoleon activates Pastel's linked skill, so it's the same way Black Tea and Milk's skills are linked. Maybe not yet; it's probably likely that'll be the next guy Samson will summon. With those four Food Souls together, it's gonna be a hell of a team. Probably not the most powerful one, but the thought of it is pretty exciting.

Samson replies, “Desserts? Kinda, but I mostly leave that to my team.” I coolly add, “I'm good at baking too; I just haven't thought of doing it since I got here.” As soon as Napoleon sees me, his eyes widen. “Whoa!” he exclaims in awe. “A dragon! I thought those were fictional and a myth! Is this a real one?!” He picks me up from the torso – his eyes are so full of wonder and excitement. He asked, “Is it true you can breathe fire?” I nod.

“Can you talk?”

I shake my head.

“You can understand what I'm saying?”

I nod again. He holds me in the correct way of holding a cat, which helps considering it doesn't make me feel like I'm about to fall. With his other hand, he gently scratches my scalp. Involuntarily, an odd rumbling grows in my throat. His eyes somehow even wider, and he gets so full of awe, cartoon stars can be seen in his pupils. “Wow!” he said excitedly. “You can purr too? You're like a cat who is a dragon.” Is that what my throat is doing? Purring? Dude, humans don't do that! Is this some sort of feline instinct? It kind of explains why Hawthorne named me Maolong aside from my size. Napoleon adds excitedly, “I should give you a name! How about 'Cat-Dragon' or 'Napoleon Jr.?'” I burst into a raucous laughter. Napoleon looks confused. “Huh? What's so funny?” Samson lets out a soft chuckle and answers, “She already has a name. Her name is Danny RPG.” “'RPG'?” he asked. “As in 'role-playing games?'”

“Apparently, yeah. That's exactly what she said. Well, it's actually Daniela Robles, but she prefers her nickname.”

“Really? Since she can't talk, how did you know about that?”

“She writes. Though, we've been meaning to teach her sign language.”

“Oh, that makes sense. It's a weird nickname for a dragon, though.”

I stifle a snort.

“Yeah. I'm going to summon another Food Soul for a mission to get a powerful Food Soul that's really hard to get. I'm hoping they would come in handy to protect us from Fallen Angels.”

“Alright then~ Let's see who we'll get.”

Samson pulls the switch again. The rings spin rapidly, creating a strong gust, knocking Napoleon's hat off. He exclaims, “Hey, my hat! Whoa!” Napoleon almost falls but he holds his ground. My body flails, so I quickly grab his cape and the collar of his shirt to prevent falling. Of course, once Napoleon successfully holds his ground, I climb onto his shoulders. The winds decrease and the rings on the platform slow down. A figure appears on the platform of the summoning machine.

I stare at Food Soul in front of me; who the hell is this guy? The new Food Soul has light brown hair that fades to a darker tone at the tips, and he has brown skin. There are freckles over his cheekbones and bridge of his nose, right below his hazel cat eyes. His turtleneck sweater is a darker brown color, the sleeves are a beige tone with pale yellow rhombuses circling where his elbows are and a line marking around the end of his long sleeves. Rather than typical sleeves, these ones in particular grow wide at the end like a sort of kimono or a priest's robe, and there are metal pads strapped to his shoulders that match the color of the rhombuses and stripes. The bottom of the sweater has a yellow band around him that also matches the patterns and shoulder pads. His pants are an even darker brown, which stretch almost all the way to the platform he's standing on, and the holes where his feet go through are pretty wide too, but not much like actual bell bottoms. Well, I guess they kind of are, though I doubt this guy originated from the 60's. Oh, yeah, close to the bottom of his pants, there is also a yellow line that goes around each ankle, which also match the other markings on his clothes. The Food Soul holds a white scepter with oddly shaped symbols floating around at the top. His shoes are a posh sort of dark brown or black, and his gloves appear to be a thin, comfortable fabric that matches to gold accents of his clothing. Also, he has cat ears and a tail, with the fur matching the rest of his tail.

There's something very peculiar about that white scepter, and yet so oddly familiar.... At the end where the staff curls like a crescent, there are these “petals” of seven different colors of the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, light blue, blue, and purple – from top to bottom of where the scepter curls. The odd symbols include an orb like the sun inside the crescent, and the rest are much smaller than the orb. From the orb, the symbols are outside of the crescent, adjacent to those petals like those of flowers. They are a silver crescent moon, a desaturated blue rhombus like ice, an orange flame, a turquoise flower, and a purple shape that appears to be a floating decorative part of the staff

Still, I've no idea who this Food Soul is; I've never seen him before, nor have I read or heard about him. Not even in the wiki and Amino! Who is this guy? And why does he have the Delta Rune printed on his sweater? Also, he faintly smells sweet, like cinnamon and something else I can't get my talon on. The Food Soul looks at the stairs and walks down from the platform. The Food Soul asks with a kind smile, “Hi there! I'm Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie. How may I help you?”

My jaw hits the floor. “Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie”?! Isn't that the pie created by Toriel in Toby Fox's indie role-playing game Undertale? How is this even possible?! If this is Food Fantasy's main story, then why are there characters I've never seen before, even in the game? Could this really be an AU? An AU where the story is the same but there are characters that don't exist elsewhere? At least, not outside of the fandom. I mean, I know the whole thing, even my life, is fictionalized, but this is a whole new level. If an original character based on a food from another video game is here, then what about the other OCs? I bet there are also Fallen Angels that don't exist within the game, but exist elsewhere … such as here? What is going on...?

Wait, wait, I think I got it now; I bet since there are human and elf characters in this world, especially ones that don't exist in the original Food Fantasy, maybe it makes sense that there'd be Food Souls and maybe even Fallen Angels that would only exist in this AU. I mean, there was that guy in Archive of Our Own who made a Food Soul OC along with their own bio. I mean, this is fanfiction, after all, so it makes perfect sense! Since this guy is based on a pie from a game, and people have been inspired to recreate it over the next five years since the release of Undertale, I bet this guy is about five years old, or even less, despite him looking like a teen. I mean that's how Food Souls and Fallens came to be, right?

“'Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie'?” Napoleon asks as he picks up his hat, “That's a really cool name for a dessert. I'm Napoleon Cake. The dragon on my shoulder is Danny RPG. And … actually I don't think you've told me your name. Though, since you summoned me, I know you're my Master Attendant.” Samson responds, “Yes. I'm Samson Seromat. It's a pleasure to meet both of you.” Huh, so that's his last name. Never knew that. After picking up his hat, Napoleon dusts it and puts it back on.

Butterscotch inquires curiously, “So, what are you guys? I mean, I know what my name is, and I know a few very basic things like what's right or wrong, but I don't know anything else from the outside world. Like, what's a dragon?” The rest of us get surprised by what he said. Napoleon answers, “Well, a dragon is a scaly creature and usually has usually has wings and can breathe fire. Like Danny for example.” I wave casually at Butterscotch.

Samson adds, “It's pretty hard to explain everything, so I'll tell you about the most important things to help you get started. First off, you're a spirit known as a Food Soul, like Napoleon Cake. I'm a human, which means that I'm mortal unlike you and Napoleon. I'm a Master Attendant, meaning that I own a restaurant, which is a place where you eat, and I work with Food Souls. We also get to fight really bad spirits known as Fallen Angels, which are currently wreaking havoc in our world. As for the dragon … we really don't know much about her other than her humanly personality. I hope that makes sense and gives you an idea of what's going on.” Butterscotch replies, “I think so. There are parts that I don't really understand yet, but I'll learn as I go along. But, thank you for explaining some of the things about the outside world.” Master Attendant says, “You're welcome. Now come on, you two. Let's give you a tour of the place and help you get started on your new jobs with the others.”

“There are others? Like me and Napoleon Cake?”

“Yes, the ones I have are nice, so you should be able to get along with them.”

Well, most of them, I think with a deadpan look.

“Okay, sure. Let's go.”

We walk to the living room. Crepe is sitting on the couch reading a magazine, Milk and Black Tea are having a conversation about Fallen Angels, and Sweet Tofu is chilling out in one of the chairs, listening to some music in his portable CD player and headphones. Brownie and Rice are sitting at the coffee table, with the former teaching Rice in how to speak properly. Butterscotch's eyes are filled with wonder while Napoleon feels relaxed by the atmosphere of the place. He asks, “Wow, so this is the living room, right?” Samson answers, “Yes, and the people in front of you are all Food Souls. The two women over there are Black Tea and Milk, the butler and the white-haired Food Soul are Brownie and Rice, and the guy sitting in the chair is Sweet Tofu. He's new too. The girl reading the magazine is Crepe.” Napoleon asks, “Is she new as well?” Samson replies, “Not exactly, she's one of the Food Souls who have been with me since I opened this restaurant.”

Sweet takes off his headphones and smiles warmly. “Well, hello there~ I'm Sweet Tofu. You two must be new around here. I'm the same; I've only been here for a day along with a businessman named Coffee.”

“Greetings,” Brownie adds.

“Hello….” Rice greets.

“Master Attendant,” Black Tea advises, “While it is nice to have new Food Souls, you should consider training them before continuing with that particular mission. Besides, we only have two more weeks before the deadline, so there isn't much of a rush.” Milk includes, “Yes, and while Coffee got used to his new job, we should consider training Sweet Tofu to be more capable of handling different tasks since he hardly ever appeared yesterday in the morning.” Samson responds, “Hm, you're right, you two. I should stop summoning Food Souls for a few days until all of the newer ones have gotten accustomed to do various jobs in the restaurant and outside.”

After a while, and after some greetings from the Food Souls who are in the kitchen and front of the house, we quickly get started on opening the restaurant and serving the first few customers. So far, Butterscotch and Napoleon are working as waiters with Tom Yum, Sandwich, and Bambri (who, fortunately for me and the patrons, is currently wearing the clothes Crepe bought for him) while Brownie, Spicy Gluten, Hawthorne Ball, Rice, Vodka, and her gyrfalcon Andre are working in the kitchen. As for the rest of the Food Souls, they went out to run a few errands like fighting Fallen Angels and looking for ingredients from the markets near Glorywest Grill and where the Fallens live (which I believe is the Secret Forest and Parisel). As for me, I'm pretty much just here, chilling and minding my own business in the living room, though I conveniently find a book that Brownie recently bought on Gloriville Sign Language. It's probably likely he bought it for me so I could learn to communicate without that notepad.

It is bright outside with clear sunny skies. A quiet child with brown shorts and a blue t-shirt with two magenta stripes across around the shirt step into the kitchen of their house with a sentient golden flower in their hands. They don't have a specified gender, nor do they mention their age, and prefers staying quiet about their past. A motherly goat-like monster with white fur, white horns, mahogany eyes, and fangs protruding from her mouth is in the kitchen wearing casual clothes. The monster, Toriel, greets kindly, “Good morning, my child. Did you sleep well?” The child nods happily as an apparition only visible to the child looks at them with concern. They didn't exactly sleep well as they had a very strange dream last night about unusual spirits and peculiar creatures like the monsters they know. Except, the monsters the child and the apparition saw were malevolent and very much unlike the monsters they've befriended, bonded, and freed from their underground prison.

After the child, the flower, and the goat-like monster eat their breakfast, the child and the flower bid their adoptive mother goodbye as they and the apparition head out to play with their friends. A reptilian monster the size of the child greets them, “Yo, Frisk, Flowey. How're you two doing?” The reptilian monster kid lacks arms. The flower answers bluntly, “Eh, it could've been better; Frisk had some weird dream about monsters that kept them up all night. Based on their description, they don't seem like the monsters from the Underground.” Monster Kid asks, “Really?” Frisk nods in response. They don't seem very happy. Monster kid, noticing their worries, suggests, “Well, how about we hang out at Grillby's? Sans is usually there, and he always knows how to cheer you up.” Frisk starts smiling again. “Sure,” they said.

They walk to a town very close to the suburban area of the neighborhood they live in. It is mostly populated by monsters. However, some humans live there as well, but a few of them don't get along with the monsters very well, leading to some issues with the PTA meetings in the school the children attend to that is between the nonexistent boundary between the neighborhood and the town. This place that these inhabitants live in, the king of the monsters dubbed it “New Home.” Despite him being a great king, the monster is terrible at names. In the edge of the town next to the suburbs, there is a friendly local diner named Grillby's, which is owned by a silent fire monster whose name happens to be Grillby. Inside, a goofy skeleton wearing black shorts with white stripes, a black shirt, and a blue jacket is chilling in the bar of the diner, practicing puns with the owner and bartender of Grillby's. In his left bony hand is a bottle of ketchup he's drinking out of.

“… and so I said to Snowdrake, 'Hey, I think that guy's funny bone is broken, because that wasn't cool,'” the skeleton jokes. Grillby snorts laughter at the skeleton's funny story. Suddenly, the door opens, and Frisk, Monster Kid, and Flowey enter the diner. The skeleton greets with a wide smile, “'Sup, kiddos?” Monster Kid asks, “Hey, Sans. Can we talk?”

“Sure, thing. What's on your mind?”

“Well, Frisk had this strange dream last night, and we kinda hope you'd make some sense out of it.”

“Wouldn't it be more convenient to talk to Alphys about it?”

Frisk explains the dream they had. Suddenly, Sans isn't as smiling as much as he initially did. He responds, “Huh, I kinda see why you'd talk to me about it. Hey, listen, kid, I think it'd be much better if you talk to Alphys about that dream…. I'm not sure if I can –”

The door opens again. A much taller skeleton enters the restaurant. “Hey, Sans,” he calls out. The shorter skeleton replies, “Yeah, bro?” Although the other skeleton, named Papyrus, is taller than Sans, he is Sans's younger brother.

Papyrus says, “You seriously need to see this; I can't tell if you're pranking across time and space again or if this is genuinely an anomaly.” Sans looks confused as he replies, “That's odd, I don't remember pulling a prank on you today. I'm going to take a look at it; if it really is something unusual, then maybe Alphys can explain it.” Frisk asks, “Can we come too?” “Sure,” Sans answers. Flowey asked, “Hey, do you think it's got to do with that dream of yours?”

“I don't know, but let's find out.”

Impressively, it's been three hours since the Food Souls have started working and there really hasn't been any commotion. I keep reading the pages describing an abridged history of the language. Huh … it really is like American Sign Language. Of course, I don't know anything about it, so I'm just speculating.

Monster Kid, Sans, Flowey, and Frisk enter the skeleton brothers' house as they are led by the taller skeleton into his room on the second floor of the house. The room has decorations that make the place feel somewhat childish. It has a purple rug with flames printed on the edges over the carpet floor, the left end of the house has a brand-new bed as the previous one had been recently transformed into a functioning car, and next to the bed is a table containing a collection of action figures. On the end of the room in front of the door, there is a pirate flag above a few papers pinned to the wall. Next to it is a bookshelf that have a large collection of books from a variety of genres, including books intended for children. At the side of the shelf is a closet door, which the taller skeleton seems to be worried about. On the right end of the room is a window behind an old computer, and in a corner near the entrance to the room is a cardboard box filled with bones, which a small white dog is hiding in.

Papyrus says, “It's in the closet; I just hope it hasn't disappeared yet. When I opened the door, the inside was completely black and the light switch wouldn't work.” Sans approaches the door and opens it. The white pupils in his eyesockets disappear. “Sans,” Frisk asks, “what is this…?” Sans remains silent. Before anyone could say or do anything, the dog jumps out of the box with a bone in his mouth and lets out a muffled “Arf!” as he runs through the darkness in what is supposed to be the closet. The tall skeleton exclaims, “Hey! Come back here!” He chases after the annoying dog as Sans yells, “Papyrus, wait!” Monster Kid asks, “Should we go after them…? Frisk?” Nodding worriedly, Frisk runs into the closet, and Flowey exclaims, “Frisk, this is a really bad idea!”

Inside what is supposed to be Papyrus's closet, there is a dark void leading to seemingly nowhere. Papyrus successfully captures the dog, and Frisk and the other monsters catch up with him. Sans, on high alert, urges the others, “We should head back out.” But the door suddenly slams itself shut. Flowey yells, “Hey wait a minute!” The only monster that remains outside is Monster Kid. He exclaims, “Guys! I can't open the door! I'm going to go get Alphys!” Monster Kid runs off. Papyrus utters, “Uh-oh.” There is a sudden breeze blowing at them, and they group suddenly falls into the darkness of the void.

Wait, so this sign means “food,” but when doing it with the opposite hand, it means “Fallen Angel?” Eh...? I practice more signs, attempting to form a sentence. Supposedly, I'm trying to say, “Is there a steakhouse around here?” Alas, when I compare it to the book, and take a closer look at the pages, I find out I was actually saying, “Where's the whor*house?” Oops. That's definitely not right at all....

Suddenly, I hear some faint, muffled screaming from behind the stairs on the bottom floor, followed by a raucous crash. The STAFF ONLY door flies open, and Butterscotch enters the living room with his staff. He asks, “I came here as soon as I heard a loud noise. Is everything okay?” I nod, then point to the door where the crashing came from.

Napoleon enters the living room. “Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie, what's going on? We need to get to work, so we can make some delicious sweets~” Butterscotch replies, “There's something strange going on, big brother. We're just about to investigate. Would you like to help us?” Napoleon thinks about it, before answering, “Sure.”

Napoleon grabs his rifle from seemingly nowhere, and Butterscotch tightly grips his staff as the jewels on it start glowing. We approach the door and Napoleon opens it. We walk with caution towards the source of the noise, which is seems to be in one of the closets. We immediately start hearing voices. We decide to eavesdrop on them while we have our attacks prepared. The first voice (a male one that sounds like Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants) groans, “Uurrrgh…. Papyrus, are you alright?” “Papyrus”? I know that name. A second male voice answers, “I'm alright, Sans. Human, what about you?” A child's voice responds, “I'm okay. Where's Flowey?” “Flowey”? No f*cking way. No, it can't be. It's just impossible. A rude voice exclaims, “Get off of me, smiley trashbag – I can't breathe!” The Patrick Star voice jokes, “Whoops, sorry, weed. Didn't know I'm crushing ya.” I chuckle softly at those remarks. This is going to be very, very, interesting. Hm…. What do you think? Papyrus asks, “Where are we?” – thunk! – “Ouch! Wait, these are wooden shelves! Are we in a closet?” A high-pitched bark is heard from the door. Papyrus comments with annoyance, “Of course the dog is here.” Sans remarks, “I guess you can say that –”

“Don't say it,” Papyrus interrupts sternly.

“– we've become skeletons in a closet.”

The child's voice giggles, followed by unhappy groans and another bark. Something small starts scratching the door.

I write in my notepad, Guys, we don't have to attack. I don't think whoever is in that closet is making a ruckus on purpose. Let's just open the door and ask questions first before fighting. I show my notepad to the Food Souls. “Okay,” Butterscotch answers. Napoleon adds, “That sounds like a good idea.” I open the door and turn on the light for the closet. The inside of the closet has, aside from cleaning supplies, two goofy skeletons, a small human child, and a disgruntled golden flower with a face. The child, which I can tell by their peculiar jaundiced appearance that it's Frisk, is putting Flowey back in a flowerpot they're carrying. Despite the jaundice, their eyes are normal with red irises, and they seem to be in a physically healthy condition.

An awkward silence stands between us. Sans asks with a raised brow, “Don't you know how to greet a few new pals? Go on and shake my hand.” Papyrus scolds, “Sans, don't you dare.” Still, he reaches out with an outstretched hand and a casual smile. Butterscotch grabs his hand and a predictable fart noise is made. Papyrus groans as Frisk laughs. I laugh too. Sans chuckles, “Heheheh, the old whoopee cushion in the hand trick. It's always funny. Anyways, do you mind telling us why we're in a closet?” Butterscotch answers, “Honestly, we don't have a clue; we just heard crashing coming from this room, so we came to investigate.” Sans replies, “Is that so? Back in our home, my brother Papyrus said there was something weird going on with his closet, so we went to his room to investigate. Next thing we know is that we fell into a void and landed here, wherever 'here' is.” Flowey asks, “As much as I want this conversation to go on, can we please get out of this closet? It's getting claustrophobic and stuffy in here.” Papyrus adds, “Sure thing. Humans, would you kindly let us out of this room? I agree with Flowey here.” Napoleon responds, “Sure, the living room is this way.” I joke, “It's not every day I see you guys come out of the closet.” Papyrus and Flowey give me an appalled glare as Sans bursts into laughter while Frisk gives a confused look. They ask, “What did the dragon say?” Sans translates my dragonspeak – Frisk snorts a laugh with a mixed expression of shock, amusem*nt, and being impressed. The Food Souls just give me a surprised stare upon hearing Sans's translation. I pump my fist internally. Nailed it!~ I'm SO proud of myself~

We lead the Undertale characters to our living room. I hop onto the couch as Sans approaches me. He tells me, “Hey, that was a pretty good pun.” – I smile – “The name's Sans. The other skeleton is my younger brother Papyrus. These two are Frisk and Flowey.” He adds, “What's your name?” I answer enthusiastically, “Daniela, but I go by Danny RPG.”

“As in 'role-playing games?'”

“Mm-hm.”

“That's an odd name for a dragon.” – I shrug – “Do you guys video games or something?”

“Yeah! Well, I used to before wounding up here. These guys are Napoleon Cake and Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie.”

The Food Souls wave politely as I gesture them. Papyrus says eagerly, “'Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie'? Wowie! What a coincidence! That's the name of those pies Toriel likes to bake for Frisk and Flowey.” Butterscotch adds, “It's certainly a strange coincidence; I feel as though I know you guys and yet we've never met.” Although we've never met before, I do know you guys too – I'm a huge fan after all. I wonder if Chara is here too; I've been pretty interested in meeting them.

Samson bursts into the living room, asking urgently, “Hey, guys, where have you been? We need your help serving – who are these people?” Sans answers, “Long story short, we fell into a void and crashed into this place, and now we're introducing ourselves. I'm Sans, and this is Papyrus, Flowey, Frisk, and the dog is Toby. Let's just say we're not from around here.”

Papyrus adds, “Yeah, and everything looks so different, like we're in one of those shows our friend Alphys likes to watch. It's as if, as Alphys would put it, we've been 'isekai'd' to another world.” Frisk replies, “I think we have.” And based on what they said, I think they got into this universe the same way Kris and Susie fell into the Dark World in Deltarune, only instead of characters from that game and instead of the Dark World, we get characters from Undertale and the world of Food Fantasy. Could Dr. Gaster be behind this? That guy is very full of mystery and yet he's totally popular. For some reason, it's always the most obscure characters ending up with a load of popularity.

I've played Undertale and Deltarune before; I'm a huge fan of Toby Fox's creations. Flowey asks, “Hey, Sans, since you can teleport, how about you use one of your 'shortcuts' to get us back home?” Sans shakes his head. “Sorry, pal, I can only travel short distances, and I don't think it's possible for me to teleport to another world. I tried it once back in Snowdin a few years ago, and I ended up in a pile of garbage in Waterfall. Maybe Dr. Alphys can figure out what to do once M.K. tells her what's going on.”

After hearing Monster Kid's story at her house, Alphys decides to give Sans a call. But, there isn't an answer. She tries again and again. “Any luck?” M.K. asks. Alphys answers woefully, “N-no, not at all. Sans might be lazy, but he always answers the phone when I'm calling him. The phone he has is designed to pick up the signal from my phone regardless of whether there's any signal or not for the phones humans typically use. The only way Sans isn't getting the call is if he's in isekai.”

“'Isekai'? What's that?”

“It's an anime term meaning 'another world.' It's a very popular trope in anime and manga. Now, come on, help me carry my equipment to Papyrus's room so we can investigate this anomaly.”

Abruptly, there is a commotion in the front of the restaurant. Sounds like another Dine-and-Dasher. Samson tells the Undertale characters, “Wait here.” Master Attendant, the Food Souls, and I rush to the front of the house. We lure the Fallen Angel to the Dine-and-Dash arena. Butterscotch asks, “Is that a Fallen Angel?” Napoleon exclaims, “Oui! We must take it down as soon as possible!”

Unfortunately, since our strongest Food Souls are out, and since Napoleon and Butterscotch are inexperienced, we could hardly take that Uke Mochi down. Even with the help of the other Food Souls, this particular one is stronger than any of the other Fallens we've faced so far. Sans and Papyrus enter the room, and are shocked to see what is going on. The Uke Mochi is about to use her strongest attack, Crowd Control (also known as Devouring World), to finish us off when suddenly, Sans and Papyrus run to the heat of the battle and summons a total of five enormous dragon skulls with glowing blue eyes. These skulls, known as Gaster Blasters, can pack a mean punch depending on your LOVE and Karmic Retribution.

You'll only see something like this in Undertale's Genocide Route and the fandom. You see, if you're new to Undertale too the same way you're new to Food Fantasy, you have EXP in the former. EXP is an acronym meaning “Execution Points,” a way of quantifying the pain you have inflicted on others. When you kill someone in Undertale, your EXP increases. When you have enough EXP, your LOVE (or LV for short) increases. LOVE, too, is an acronym. It stands for “Level of Violence,” a way of measuring someone's capacity to hurt. The more you kill, the easier it becomes to distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will get hurt, and the more easily you can bring yourself to hurt others. If they're up against a very strong Uke Mochi, and if the Stats in Undertale and Deltarune can apply to Food Fantasy, then maybe the Fallen Angel's EXP is very high, but not to the point where her LOVE is at twenty. Back to the story. Strangely, though, Papyrus can summon Gaster Blasters too, even though he's never seen to be doing that at all except in AUs. However, there is a very brief hint at this in his dialogue if you take the Genocide Route and spare Papyrus (therefore aborting said route).

As soon as these Gaster Blasters appear, and they fire at the Uke Mochi and Papyrus adds a really cool bone attack at the Fallen. My theory is right. No sooner than the skeleton brothers use their attacks, and the Uke Mochi faints and starts dissipating. Sans declares to the Fallen, “Get dunked on.” The younger skeleton looks very troubled by their actions. Instinctively, Butterscotch and Papyrus rush to the Uke Mochi and use their magic to start healing the enemy. Sans asks, “What are you two doing?” Papyrus answers, “We're healing the enemy.” The Uke Mochi asks weakly, “Why ... are you doing … this?...” Papyrus replies with a kind smile, “Because I believe in you. You can do a little better at being good! Even if you don't think so – I promise.” Butterscotch adds, “Somehow, I'm with Papyrus on this one. I feel as though anyone, even a Fallen Angel, can do good if they can just try. So please, don't take this second chance for granted and make difference in who you are.” As the two characters are healing the Fallen Angel, parts of the Uke Mochi that were dissipating are rematerializing. A few moments later, the Fallen is as good as new. She shapeshifts to her disguised form. “Thank you,” she utters. “I promise to pay my bill next time I come here.” She hands a pouch full of Gold and Tips to Samson, who had been witnessing the battle nearby, and she walks out of Glorywest Grill.

Sans's phone starts playing Dogsong. He picks it up and answers it, “Hey, Alphys, how are you doing?” I can faintly hear Alphys's voice say, “Sans! T-t-thank god for answering the p-phone! I've opened a-a-a portal between here and where you are, so you should be able to come back!” Sans pipes up, “That's great, Alphys! I'll let the others know right away.” He tells Papyrus, “Come on, bro. We're finally going home.” Papyrus's eyesockets widen. “Really? Wowie! I can't wait to go back there and tell the others of this fascinating adventure!” After saying some goodbyes as we walk back to the closet, the group from Undertale walks through the door. Rather than the closet for our cleaning supplies, it now leads to Papyrus's bedroom, which has a bunch of cables and devices that I've never seen before, nor do I know how to describe them. But, I do know that Alphys and Monster Kid are there, so I'm guessing those devices came from Alphys's lab in either the Underground or the Surface. The characters walks through the doorway, and they close the door. After a minute, Samson cautiously reopens it, only to find out that the room has returned to being the ordinary storage closet. I guess you could say this was an ... anomaly between worlds, eh?

Chapter 12: Chapter 12: Existential Dread and Popular Culture

Chapter Text

Man, that has been one heck of a day, I never thought I’d see a skele-ton of things happening in one day. It’s uncanny, but the day's not over yet. I still have to keep working until the restaurant’s closing hours.

Despite the chaos that happened when the characters from Undertale showed up, the rest of the day goes by pretty well. As the day ends, and after we clean up the place, some of us head to our dorms while others chill out in the living room. Sweet Tofu is once again listening to some music on his headphones. I get curious and decide to approach him. Sweet sees me and takes off his headphones. “Well, hello, curious little thing~ What brings you here?” I point to the headphones. Sweet asks, “My headphones?” I nod. “Well, these are used to listen to different things, though you might not be into this kind of music, heehee~” I makes gestures that say something like “Pffft. Yeah, right.” I attempt signing, “I'm pretty curious as to what you're listening.” He lifts an eyebrow. “If you say so.” I put on his headphones and he starts playing some music. As I expected, it is rock n' roll. It's … actually pretty good. Obviously, I've never listened to any of the songs here in Tierra, but back in Texas, I was quite the metalhead. I also like other genres, such as house, rock, dubstep, trance, and much more. Of course, there are some genres that I don't like, especially reggaeton. That genre is often cacophonous and vulgar, and the worst part is that the beat of those songs make you have them stuck in your head, and it's damn near impossible to get rid of them. But, I digress.

As I'm listening to the song from what appears to be a hybrid of a portable CD player and an iPod, I nod to the beat and tap my finger to the rhythm of them song. Although I don't know this song, it has a familiar style similar to what you'd expect from my old world. In a way, it sounded like a mix of Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, with a hint of KISS and AC/DC. As soon as the song ends, I hand the headphones to Sweet, who is happy that I liked his music. Although Sweet Tofu Food Souls are known to be malicious and downright creepy, this particular one doesn't seem to be half bad. Maybe he's one of those guys who are misunderstood because of what these specific Food Souls are known for (not to mention the voicelines and the bio).

In the next morning, I decide to help Samson train the new Food Souls. We all meet in the living room, discussing the plans for the next few days. We've pretty much agreed for today that Mast Attendant goes out with Black Tea, Bamboo Rice, Milk, Tom Yum, and Napoleon Cake. Those working in the kitchen will be Spicy Gluten, Coffee, and Hawthorne Ball. The Food Souls working the front of the house will be Vodka, Sweet Tofu, Crepe, and Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie. Lastly, Brownie and Sandwich help me and Rice with vocabulary and Gloriville Sign Language in the living room. Somehow, despite the number of characters, I doubt that'll be enough to keep the restaurant afloat when you have to worry about fatigue and a lack of an ice arena.

An hour passes, and so far, things have been going well. I mean, there hasn't been any Dine-and-Dashers, and Sweet hasn't been causing much trouble other than an incident that nearly happened because of a rather fussy six-year-old dining with his parents. I guess even Tierra has picky eaters. Butterscotch has gotten along with pretty much everyone in the restaurant, and seems to be able to lift the spirits of people who have been feeling down. At least, that's what I hear from Sandwich and the animal companions. As for me, apart from helping with the occasional tones and pacing, I've been picking up new phrases to better talk without having to get writer's cramp.

I conveniently find a dictionary in the nearby bookshelf, so I decided to use it to help with Rice's speech. The funny thing is, despite my efforts to help, I still end up talking in my dragonspeak, and my attempts to talk like a human end up sounding creepy, so it kinda backfires. After some awkward moments, leading to an awkward silence, I excuse myself to see the Food Souls in the kitchen.

As I’m walking past the front of the house, I run into Sweet, who nearly steps on my tail while walking to a table with a tray of delicious-smelling food. Sweet apologizes, “Whoops, sorry, Danny. I didn’t see you there.” I gesture coolly, assuring him that it’s all good. I continue walking to the back of the house and get greeted by a “Howdy” from Butterscotch. Looking at the kitchen, Coffee has been keeping himself busy with the drinks and the dishes as Spicy and Hawthorne are cooking up something that smells wonderfully delicious.

I jump up on the counter near the sink where Coffee is working. He greets, “Well, hello, little dragon. What brings you here?~” Damn, he’s enough charming in-game, and he’s even more so in person. I sign, “I haven't had coffee since I got here, so I’d like a cappuccino please.” He chuckles with the most gentle and warm smile I could ever see. “Well, aren’t you an interesting creature?” he remarks. Hawthorne replies, “Yeah, she’s pretty interesting. She seems to know a lot too. So, what brings you here, Danny RPG?” Coffee answers, “Well, she said she wants a cappuccino.” Spicy raises an eyebrow. “A dragon that likes coffee – that's another new thing for me to learn. You're troublesome enough without the caffeine.” I roll my eyes, and Coffee tells me, “Well, tell you what, Danny. As soon as I finish up with these dishes, I’ll brew some coffee for you. Does that sound good?” I smile and give him a thumbs-up. He gives me a surprised and confused look. Right. I forgot that I look pretty weird when I smile. He adds, “And would you prefer regular or decaf?” I write in my notepad, “Regular.” He seems more impressed at the fact that I can glitch stuff into my hands like some sort of Inventory rather than the fact that I drink coffee. I excuse myself to the living room.

I look at the floor, unfold my wings and hop off the counter. Gliding in the air, I attempt to do a graceful landing when I crash into the door a few feet above the ground. “Ouch!” I yelp in a strained voice. As I’m about to slide down painfully, I use my claws to cling onto it like a cartoon character about to fall from a great height. Obviously, that doesn’t work, so Coffee manages to catch me before I could hit the floor. “Are you okay?” he asks. I give him a thumbs-up, and then I get off his hands. He opens the door to the front of the house for me, and I walk through. I could hear a few murmurs about an increase in Fallen Angel attacks from the patrons while going past the room. I just hope Samson and the Food Souls that went out would be alright. Just when I’m about to open the door to the living room, someone opens the front door. It’s Akira. It’s been a while since I’ve seen her; I wonder how she’s doing. I decide to follow her instead. It looks like she has a clipboard and a wooden chest. I bet she’s here to check on our progress with that twenty-day beginner’s event and to give us some more rewards with the things we’ve accomplished so far.

Butterscotch crosses paths with Akira and greets, “Howdy! Welcome to the Glorywest Grill! How may I help you?” Akira answers, “I’m here to see Master Attendant Samson to discuss some news about current events. D’you know where I can find him?”

“He’s out finding ingredients in the forest and fighting Fallen Angels.”

“Well, in the meantime, I wouldn’t mind staying here for lunch.”

“Sure, right this way, ma’am.”

He escorts Akira to an empty table and gives her the menu before walking to the kitchen. And before I could walk away, the elf takes a glimpse at me and asks, “Hey, you’re that dragon from last week, right?” I flinch before looking at her and nod tentatively. She adds, “Well, come on over – I don’t think we’ve properly introduced each other.” I jump up on the table and sit. My tail flicks. Akira starts, “Well, I’m Akira, and your name is Danny-something, right?” I nod and sign, “Daniela, but I like to be called 'Danny' or 'Danny RPG.'”

“As in ‘roleplaying games?’”

“Yes.”

“I've seen you before, and Hawthorne Ball told me a few things about you when she still called you something else, but like I said, we haven’t really met, have we?”

I shake my head. “ I don ’t think so. And yeah, it was back when I was still called 'Maolong.' I didn't knew how to communicate at the time, so I had to rely on charades and writing to attempt it. After a while, Vodka and Bamboo Rice get summoned, and I've learned right off the bat that some Food Souls can talk to animals and spirits if they're summoned with a companion of the like. Apparently, this applies to me too.”

“So, why ‘RPG’? Are you some sort of gamer?”

“Yeah. Specifically video games and arcade games.”

“Really? I don’t really play much games since the restaurant business is hard work, but I tend to hear some things about some games once in a while. Actually, I think there might be an arcade somewhere about ten minutes away from here. Maybe you could check it out sometime?”

“Sure, I can ask Master Attendant about it when he comes back. What kind of video games do they have here?”

“Well, there’s this game where you play as a Food Soul, and you navigate through this maze, collecting ingredients, while avoiding Fallen Angels. Another popular one is this fighting game where these people get summoned to a tournament and fight to the death – though that one has its controversies. And there’s this other one where you hit these arrows on a screen by dancing.

“I know games exactly like those, but what are the ones you mentioned called?"

“I think the first one is called Maze of Spirits; the second I’m not really sure, but I think it’s Power of Destiny or something like that, and the last one is Dance Resolution.”

“Yeah, that's exactly like where I came from, but with similar titles – PAC-MAN, Mortal Kombat, and Dance Dance Revolution in that order. I really love the second one; it's my favorite out of those three.”

“I still find it bizarre that you somehow know about these games like some sort of nerd. I mean, the name makes it really on the nose too.” – I roll my eyes briefly – “If you ask me, you act and talk as if you're some kind of human in dragon form.” I think about how I respond, since I still don't know all the words yet, so I instead have my notepad and pen glitch into my hands and write, “Touché.” She reads the word before I put the items away. I sign, “That's because I was human.”

I hear the door leading to the back of the house opening. Coffee is coming out with a cup of coffee as Butterscotch does the same, but with a copy of the menu. I wave at Coffee as he's about to go to the living room, but then sees me waving. He takes notice and walks over to the table. Coffee raises an eyebrow. “I thought you were going to help Rice with her vocabulary.” I sign, “I was going to, but then Akira wanted to talk to talk to me, so I decided to chat with her.” She remarks, “She's certainly an interesting dragon. I don't think I've ever met anyone like her.” “Neither did all of us,” he smiles. “As much as I enjoy a good conversation, I should get back to work. Take care, you two, alright?” He returns to the kitchen.

I pick my cup, gently blow onto it as steam is coming out of “the devil's gift”, and take a small sip. Whoa…. It's … incredible. I used to drink instant coffee from those mini cups you'd see at Walmart, and it's quite pleasant (especially the cappuccino mixes), but there was one time I had a real cappuccino. I decide to look back at the memory.

Supposedly three months ago

I was on a vacation with my family. It was spring break, and there had been a few rumors about a coronavirus pandemic. “Coronavirus Disease of 2019,” or “COVID-19” for short. But, it had just started spreading, so we haven't been affected by it yet. So, were on a holiday break, and my parents decided months ago that we should travel to Europe on that break. Three days in Paris, France and three days in London, England. It was such a fun experience, but that's another story for another time. However, one detail stands out as I sip the cappuccino Coffee just gave me. It took me back to that one moment in time, when I was in a beautiful little restaurant in the sky garden atop of 20 Fenchurch Street (commonly nicknamed as “the Walkie-Talkie” due to its shape).

It was morning and we had to go through some TSA security like in the airport, but after that we went to the restaurant thanks to the reservations we had. I remember ordering some sort of egg-related breakfast along with a cup of coffee, specifically a cappuccino. It was served in a white mug on a saucer, and the foam from the coffee had a mesmerizing heart shape on the surface of the drink. Even though I don't remember the breakfast itself, the soothing taste of coffee is memorable. Even though it was bitter, I didn't put any lumps of sugar onto the drink because it was just the right amount of bitterness. It had a wonderfully mellow taste, soothing my mind from any worries and the jet lag for a period of time. Funny thing about jet lag; when you're in a new country with a different time zone for the first time, you get so excited you can easily forget how sleep-deprived and jet lagged you've become from all that traveling. And then you get twice the jet lag on the flight back home.

Present Day

This coffee I'm taking a sip out of, it's just like that time back in London, but a million times better and more gourmet! I happily drink more of it, before I quickly realize that it's burning my tongue. I put the cup down and use my hand as a fan to cool down my mouth. Not to mention my eyes were tearing up from the hot temperature. Akira looks at me with bewilderment before asking, “Be careful, are you alright?” I stop fanning my mouth – my tongue is still sore, but I nod with a smile as I give a thumbs-up. Akira asks, “Have you had coffee before?” I shrug. “Yes, I really love it. I haven't had it since I got here. But now that the Food Soul is here, I can drink this stuff to my heart's content.”

“Yeah, about dang time.”

I nod in agreement.

“So, how long have you been drinking coffee?”

“I don't remember, but my mom once told me that when I was a baby, she had this cup of coffee with her, and decided to add it to this bottle of milk I was drinking out of. She remembered that I loved it, so I've been drinking coffee ever since.”

“That's quite awesome. But, wait, you said that you were drinking out of a bottle of milk at that time.” – I nod – “So you really were human!”

Akira looks at me with that surprised and confused look as she remarks, “Huh, I always thought dragons are reptiles, but I guess that's not always the case. It looks like I've got to learn more about dragons than I thought. But, then again, you're one hell of an odd case. How'd you become a dragon anyway?”

“I have no … F-U-C-K-I-N-G clue. I just woke up like this.”

Akira teaches me how to sign that swear word. I sign, “Thanks.” She thinks for a moment and come up with an idea. She says, “In that case, there's something I'd like to ask. That 'Mortal Kombat' you mentioned, I'd like to know more about it.”

“Sure,” I reply with a confused look.

“What do you know about it?”

“Well, basically, you pick a character from a list, and you play in a martial arts tournament to the death in order to stop this bad guy from taking over a version of this world called 'Earthrealm.' It's quite a lot to uncover and about half of the lore is ridiculous, but fun to look into. So far, I've only played Mortal Kombat II , Mortal Kombat XL , and some mobile version of the game.”

“And when was Mortal Kombat II released?”

“It was released in a time period known as the 1990's where I came from, which was about thirty years ago. That's when the original MK game got released along with its first sequel. Despite the age, the franchise is an utter 'Klassic,' so it's quite popular to this day.

Akira furrows her eyebrows, remarking, “That's funny, because from what I heard, video games weren't invented until about ten years ago.”

“Really? I didn't know that.”

“Mm-hmm, so it's quite bull that there are video games that have been around even before they were invented. Unless you're from the future.”

From there, it clicks in my head as to why Akira was asking me about Mortal Kombat. It was a way of finding out who I am or who I was. Damn, that was … pretty clever. Makes a lot more sense too. And now that she mentioned it, I never really thought about what time this would be here and now in the current state of Food Fantasy's world.... Still processing this, I respond: “I don't know what time period this is.” – I feel my worries kicking in – “When am I...?”

“Well, humans have ruled this world for about five hundred and fifty years, and the Wang Li era, which is when the Fallen Angels began appearing, started about thirty years ago.”

“So, it's the year 550?”

“Pretty much. 1990 seems like a long time, and you said that was roughly thirty years ago. So, does that mean you're from the year 2020, or somewhere around that?”

I nod slowly, with eyes wide open. Holy sh*t, not only am I in a different universe, but in a different time?! Damn, this is has gotta be some Rick and Morty horsesh*t or something! Maybe Doctor Who? I don't f*cking know, I haven't seen that series yet. But it's gotta be something of that notion, right?!?

Akira looks at me with the same expression. She utters in shock, “Then, that means … you're really from the future. Do you know how you got here?”

I take a few seconds to think, before I start signing, “I don't know. I can't remember anything, just what happened before....”

“Before what?”

“Before I got here. I remember getting out of high school as a sophom*ore, dreading my junior year, and then waking up here somehow with the world's worst migraine.”

We take a minute in silence to process this. I sit in a dreadful silence, hearing nothing but the relaxed chatter in the Glorywest Grill. Somehow, the indistinct conversations from the unaware patrons is making me feel a little bit better. I take another sip of that luxurious coffee and let the bitter yet mellow taste ease my mind. That doesn't stop my hands from trembling a bit. I've wanting to see the world for as long as I can remember, now I get to see beyond it without even knowing how or why. It feels strange, completely realizing that I've completely alienated myself from everything I knew. And yet, I'm here in Tierra, the fictional world of a video game, Food Fantasy, or rather, what used to be fictional. I'd deny everything and call this a dream, but everything I see, hear, taste, feel, and smell … it's all real. I decide to stop thinking about it before I spiral into insanity. I look at Akira, who seems so worried about my crestfallen state.

“I'm sorry,” she starts, “it must be really hard thinking about this. I can't imagine what it's like, to go back in time, or even imagine the future.”

“Howdy, are you ready – oh, my, what happened? Is Danny alright?” I jolt with a startle as I see that Butterscotch had approached to check in on us. Akira replies, “I don't think she really is. You'll need to tell your Master Attendant that your dragon companion is going through a lot. And now that it's dawning on her that she's from a thousand and a half years into the future, you and Samson will need to handle this delicately. Poor girl's going through an existential crisis as we speak.”

The Food Soul worriedly responds, “I will, and we'll do everything we can to cheer her up. Speaking of which, you haven't really eaten anything today, Danny, so is there anything you'd like?” I've been here for about a week and a half, I might as well learn what day of the week it is, if that still applies. Plus, I just realize how hungry I am, so I look at the menu and order a plate of baked lobster, and a refill for the cappuccino. Akira orders a plate of fried unagi, which (if my basic Japanese serves right) is freshwater eel. Butterscotch writes down the orders, takes the menu, and heads off to the back of the house, still seemingly troubled about my emotions.

Chapter 13: Chapter 13: A Not-So-Bad Revelation?

Chapter Text

The shock has left me quiet, and it feels as though the background noise from the patrons has begun to fade too. It seems as though I can only hear my thoughts.... An alternate universe where all this is real, and I'm somehow in the past at the same time. Akira did manage to answer a few questions (or rather, tricked me into answering my own questions), but even so, it still opened up new ones. And I have a feeling that the more I find answers to some things, the less I'll understand.... And, with me gone in both time and space, would the world I was born from ultimately become one that I've been pondering for years? Is there really such thing as a world where everything is the same, except that I don't exist? And with me gone, has it become that at all...? It's truly a haunting series of queries that I'm not sure if I wanna know the answer to....

“Danny?” Akira asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. “You're spacing out quite a lot. But,if it's one thing I can figure out from this is that you really shouldn't let whatever's going on in your head spiral out of control.” And then, another thing dawns on me – Akira brought up that I'm the past, but she didn't mention that I'm from a world where all of this is literally a game. Maybe … what if … what if the time in here is irrelevant to the real world, and the same goes the other way around. Well, maybe relevant for storytelling and worldbuilding, but you know what I mean, right? After all, if this is digital, then maybe I can still find a way back. But, there's some things that don't make sense, if this is fiction, then why do I need to eat, sleep, and do other normal things in a fantasy world of mostly managing a restaurant and Food Souls? It's not like the developers put that much thought into that kind of detail – I'm pretty sure the fandom did. Not to mention, that this is fanfiction, but then again, this kind of meta awareness if intended for satire based on some nerd's metaphor for life and the internet. And I genuinely don't think these fourth wall breaks would really affect my existential crises like those two gals from Doki Doki Literature Club! – something tells me this would break several things in this story, so best to do what Akira says and just live in the moment. And perhaps the future. Looking at the punk elf, she does have a point. I give her a look of agreement and think, Yeah, she's right. f*ck this bullsh*t and just get on with life. Besides, my life hasn't really been that great since my angsty teen years began to hit me hard.... So in the words of Rick Sanchez, I think to myself, Wubalubadubdub...! Yeah … come to think of it, maybe it's not so bad to be in a pair shoes similar to Rick and Morty compared to a mundane life of depression, academic pressure, and a stupid virus backed up with hate from a fugly and unreliable president.

Setting that aside, we quickly receive the dishes we order from the kitchen. Everything about the food is amazing. It's clearly made with such a passion I've never thought of imagining, so that's definitely another perk I won't get tired of. Reminds me of the times I've cooked at home, trying all sorts of recipes from websites online, eventually getting two cookbooks from the people I really love to watch on YouTube.... Well, setting these thoughts aside, I grab my knife and fork, and I begin munching on another fantastic meal cooked with love from Master Attendant's Food Souls. And damn – Red Lobster ain't got nothing on this plate of baked lobster!

After finishing up my meal, I excuse myself from the table. Akira, definitely looks a little reassured that the meal has cheered me up. But, at the same time, she has this serious look that could pierce a SOUL, presumably wondering how the rest of the staff will handle me once they find out more about where I came from. Upon entering the living room, Sandwich asks, “Is something wrong?” I look down, carefully thinking how I'm gonna explain what I've learned and try to filter out the fourth wall stuff. “It's going to be a long story,” I sign tentatively, “And I really wish you're not gonna freak out by the time I'm done.” I take a breath and let this truth bomb roll. I continue, “You probably know by now that I'm definitely not from around here. And well, I had this talk and a lunch with A-K-I-R-A, and she's gotten me to realize that I'm from the future. About a thousand and a half years into the future. But … even so … I'm not sure if that's even the case considering where I came from?” Rice asks, “How so...?” I answer, “Because I'm from a world where all of this is a video game.” The Food Souls look at me skeptically. Brownie raises an eyebrow. “A 'video game?'” I nod and keep signing, “I'm not from this … universe. I was born and raised in a version of 'Tierra' known as 'Earth' where the planet is round and revolves around one star instead of two. And instead of all these diverse races existing, it's only humans and animals. Instead of the year 550, it's 2020 – though, technology isn't exactly advanced in the same way as it is here. Sure, it's modern and advancing quickly, but it's not like we have giant robots and holograms outside of fictional media.” – their expressions grow more confused – “The concept of spirits, superstition, elves, dragons, and a whole bunch of other things of the like are often found in popular culture and fiction. Like … Dungeons & Dragons for example. It's a T-T-R-P-G where the world and its rules are bound by your imagination. We also have televised media, a mass communications tool called the … I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T, and wireless devices for entertainment and connecting with people from all over Earth. The history of the world is SO different from what I've learned here, and it's quite hard to explain when you don't have access to the 'I-N-T-E-R-N-E-T' or any sort of books to compare with the knowledge of this world. There's a lot more to it than just that, but I think I'm losing you at this point, so I'll just stop.”

Everyone stares at me with about a minute of stunned silence. Yeah … I think I definitely lost them.... I give them a small, awkward cringe. I hesitantly add, “I should probably add that I'm about 16 and a half, and I was at that age during 2020.... Maybe tell Spicy Gluten that before she pulls any more weird … S-H-I-T on me?”

Sandwich teaches me how to say “sh*t” in Gloriville sign language. He remarks in a dumbfounded look, “So, this 'Internet' and fiction and being from an earth where all this is a game … you're really serious about this?” – I nod awkwardly – “That's a hell of a wild story to take in. But at the same time, you've always been weird since we found you. Assuming that this is true, then how did you get here?” I shrug cluelessly. Brownie answers, “You told me that you didn't remember where you came from, so why did you lie to me when you told me your real name?” I sign, “Would you have believed me at the time?” Brownie frowns before solemnly answering, “No, and it will be hard for me to process what you've told me. Although, I will do my best to restrain Spicy Gluten's … habits.” I add, “Look, I may have lied about not knowing my origin, but I really don't know how I got here. When I first woke up in this restaurant, I was having a killer headache, so I'm assuming it's got something to do with how I ended up here as a cat-sized dragon.” They still take their time to process everything I say. I really f*cked this one up, didn't I?

Rice comments, “I … don't blame you … for not wanting to say everything at once.... And, I don't know … if we'll ever get you back home.... But, the least we can do … is to help you overcome the things troubling you … so you can be able to live even in a new world....” With a little more courage, I reply, “Yeah, I know it's a lot to take in, and heck, it's a lot for ME to take in the fact that I'm in an alternate world where all this is real. I mean, it's not like I have a way to go back anyway, so I might as well live my new life here. Even if it means stopping a Fallen Angel A-P-O-C-A-L-Y-P-S-E....” Rice briefly teaches me how to sign “apocalypse.” Brownie asks, “Danny, do you ever miss your home?” I immediately shake my head. I sign with a frown, “Even though I had a loving family and wonderful peers, I could never feel like I belong there. Not when there's so much academic pressure, disease, and so much corruption screwing up the world. The longer I lived my life there, the more isolated and lonelier I felt. I grew so unstable as I moved further into my high school years. I don't think I could bring myself to want to go back there. Besides, I'm a teenage dragon now, and I'm living in a fantasy world of food and supernatural entities that could do a lot of exploring. Not to mention, it's not every day I get to meet people from other realities, like S-A-N-S and F-R-I-S-K. I mean, who could say no to that? Sure, my life won't be the same even if I were to go back – but at this point, why should I care when my world's on fire anyway?” – I write in paper – “See where I'm getting at?”

Sandwich nods in an almost aloof manner. “Yeah, I get it. I still think it's a wacky story, but then again, there were those monsters from another world, so should I really be surprised that you'd be from another place as well?” Brownie adds with a very thoughtful look, “I definitely should not have been as surprised either, and I'm starting to see why you would want to lie about it in the first place. I always read about the possibilities of other worlds and the possibilities lies beyond the known parts of Tierra. Therefore, it is logical for our knowledge being limited to said regions while having our imaginations fill the gaps as to what is outside of it. After all, everyone knows the world is massive, and it revolves around two suns. But those who have traveled beyond the known lands have never returned, which is why the majority of Tierra is still a mystery to us. If Danny hasn't mentioned where she actually came from, I would have believed she came from outside the known lands, like somewhere beyond the Eight Godpeaks Mountains for example.”

He's referring to the “spines” of the fish planet, just before the extremity of its peninsula where Nevras is located. It still impresses me how I spent a lot of time on the internet studying the worldbuilding of Food Fantasy through its wiki and its artbook rather than just the geography of my old Earth. Looking at the butler, I casually sign, “Can't argue with that statement.” Rice asks, “Do you know what place Brownie is talking about...?” I give than a “more or less” hand gesture, and I give them a brief explanation (in a combination of writing and Gloriville Sign Language rather than just the latter) about my obsession with reading about the worldbuilding of various fictional worlds, including Food Fantasy, via the Internet. Of course, as I'm explaining that, Sandwich brings up the mention of a “Knowles-net”, apparently a Food Fantasy counterpart of the Internet, but it's barely at its infancy and only available to the most elite societies in the continent we're living in (aptly named Knowles). But at least we get holograms and modern fantasy fashion with bits and pieces of technomancy from the Food Souls and that Academy from Nevras. Kinda weird how this place balances out ancient and rustic with modern and high-tech (within most limits you'd expect between the 80's and 2010's); is Japan like this somehow? Guess I'll never truly know since this isn't my Earth anymore.

The chatter of the patrons suddenly grow restless and unsettled as Samson and his team enter the living room. They look pretty injured – especially Tom Yum and Black Tea. Poor Milk is looking pretty badly drained of her energy and strength as the Master Attendant and Bamboo Rice are struggling to support the healer. But, they're still not as injured as Milk's girlfriend and Tom. Shocked by their state, I exclaim, “Jesus Christ, what the hell happened to you guys?!” Poor Rice is so horrified, she's almost on the brink of tears as we try to help Samson and the others onto the couch and chairs. Rice exclaims as she notices blood on their damaged clothing, “Y-you're hurt...! All of you!” Sweet Tofu and Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie give the plates they were holding to the nearby customers and immediately rush to the group. As Butterscotch checks Tom and Black Tea's wounds, he summons his colorful staff while Sweet performs his move, Rock and Roll First, in a bit of a worried frenzy. It's strange that he practically needs to dance to heal his teammates, but at least it's reassuring the Sweet Tofu we have is on the more caring side.

An idea comes into my head – I rush to the the hall with the closets. If I'm not mistaken, I think I can restore the Food Souls' energy with the use of Magic Food, which I think I saw a few crates of them in the same closet as where we keep the Beginner's Seasoning. Since I don't come to this hall often except for when summoning Food Souls with Master Attendant, it hasn't occurred to me that much that apart from the Summoning Room at the end of the hall, there are two doors on my left and three on my right. I think the two doors are the private bathrooms and showers for the staff; I make a mental note to take a bath later since I'm starting to smell like an animal. The three doors on the right are storage for storage related to cleaning (which was where the Undertale characters fell into), Magic Food and items for leveling Food Souls up, and I think the one closest to the Summoning Room is for keeping tools and materials for maintenance in Glorywest Grill. I scuttle to the Magic Food closet and put some potions (known as Refresh Medicine) and a couple Soul Fruits into my Inventory. Oh boy, the weight of items are quite literally bringing me down and messing with my movements even though they're not really in my arms or anything.

I clumsily run back to the rest of the staff with the items in my Inventory and materialize them onto the coffee table. I hand the wounded Food Souls the Refresh Medicine, which they thank me for before drinking the potions, healing a few of their injuries with the help of Sweet and Butterscotch. Seems like Milk is still too hurt to heal herself with, so I give her the Soul Fruit, which she slowly eats. After a short while, the group becomes fully healed, but it still doesn't change the fact that they need to rest in order to fully recover from whatever befell to them. Plus, Tom still looks pale from the fight. While this is happening, Rice gets some human medical supplies as she treats Samson's injuries. Lucky for him, his damage is minimal compared to the other Food Souls. He also excuses the Food Souls working in the restaurant today to resume their duties, assuring them he'll explain once the day ends.

Figuring out what happened, I ask anyway, “What happened to you guys?” Bambri answers with a crestfallen look, “Fallen Angels. They did this to us. We still won, but....” I nod. Seems like I was correct, but I'm impressed they won that fight. Samson, who looks more shaken, adds, “Tom Yum got … killed during the fight. But his body came back to me … injuries and all.” – he could barely hold his tears – “his body was still cold when he came back.... He was still cold when he woke up, telling me of how much pain he was in. Olivia did tell me about Food Souls returning to me because of the contract, but I didn't think it would hurt for Tom this much....” He sobs ruefully as we try to comfort him. Black Tea, while holding Milk in her arms, comments, “It was a gruesome battle. But we were lucky to have prevailed even with our injuries. That said, Master Attendant is very lucky to have survived that. I do propose we rest for a day before resuming your quests.” Milk replies, “I can only hope that the Food Soul we will be able to summon after these ordeals will be able to assist us in winning these battles.” While calming down a bit, Samson still looks emotionally scarred as he responds, “I hope so too.” I sign reassuringly, “She should be – Ultra Rare Food Souls pack a mean punch, so having another one along with Bamboo Rice will certainly get us an upper hand.” Sandwich asks, “'She'?” I take out my notepad since I'm unsure exactly how to sign names. “Her name is Foie Gras. A Food Soul capable of charming her opponents as well as pack a serious wallop with her scepter. She can also fly.” Sandwich remarks, “Right, of course you knew that considering that weird story.” I shrug at the statement. Looks like I'll have to explain this one to the whole crew after the day ends. Oy....

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Recover and Encounter

Chapter Text

“So, let me get this straight,” Samson says, rubbing his temples as all of us gather in the living room for a very uncomfortable meeting, “Daniela Robles – being the teenage dragon that we rescued about two weeks ago – was a human and is claiming to be from another universe about a thousand and a half years into the future where all of this is some video game on a 'mobile phone'. And on top of that, we've had cloaked bad guys who tried to kidnap her and are now trying to get Rice earlier today for God knows what reason, right before we got ambushed by Fallen Angels and a freaky lobster guy.” Black Tea adds, “Not to mention, that man referred to Rice as an 'empty shell'.... Master Attendant, if I remember correctly, the only other people we know who recognized Rice as such were Olivia and Ichi.” Samson responds, “Yeah, none of this is adding up.” I think for a moment before signing, “Well, there was that time Rice snuck out – maybe someone other than Ichi saw her while she was in the forest?”

We all keep thinking, before coming up with an agreement that we should be more careful as we venture out of the restaurant more. We also decide to that we all should train for combat more often in case of any more of those bogeys decide to come back. From what I could piece together when Samson and his group of Food Souls arrived – and what I've been hearing from this meeting – it seems that when the team was out in the forest, they encountered that hooded guy and Boston Lobster from the first couple chapters of the game's main story. Since Rice wasn't there, the enemies weren't happy about it and things escalated pretty badly before Boston Lobster performed energy skill (Scissor Guillotine) on the team. Naturally, a move this early in the story would mean that he dealt with maximum ATK on them, before they got ambushed by the Fallens right after their defeat. Being already injured by Boston and later ambushed by the Fallens, only for Tom to die before getting revived in Samson's arms, that's gotta be some serious trauma on a Master Attendant who's barely experienced in that side of working as a Master Attendant. It kinda makes me wonder why Samson wanted to be an Attendant in the first place.

Butterscotch asks, “What is an empty shell?” Master Attendant answers, “It's a term for Food Souls who got summoned with no spirit power. They’re very weak and have their contracts canceled simply because of that. That said, 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. Seems cruel to do it anyway, if you ask me.” I nod in agreement. Still, are Rice Food Souls the only ones who are that weak? Because it seems quite counterintuitive to establish that kind of thing when there's a crap-tillion Food Souls to write about. Besides, there hasn't been any mention of other Food Souls who get summoned as empty shells; it's just that mention from Olivia about having their contracts canceled because of that. Either they forgot about it, or it's just some mediocre writing on the developers' behalf. Of course, I never really read Rice's backstory and I had trouble understanding Boston's as well, so what do I know? Not that that part matters to players anyway, since once a Food Soul gets summoned, they're stuck with the player forever until something happens to the data on the game's account. (Keep in mind, I'm explaining to the Glorywest Grill staff as I'm narrating.) Y'see, in the real world perspective Food Fantasy, players take time to complete missions and level up along with collecting Food Souls, which is the game's gacha mechanic as a result of the summoning machine.

Napoleon Cake asks me about what will happen in the near future based on what I've witnessed while in the old world. I explain with my combination of Gloriville Sign Language and writing, “So, basically, we go the forest where we encounter the bad guys as the hooded guy kills a Food Soul. One thing leads to another, Boston Lobster kills the hooded guy and runs off. We then find a syringe and some obscure foreshadowing of bigger events as we head to Nevras academy for answers. Eventually,we head to Sakurajima, and that's as far as I've gotten with Food Fantasy's main story since the levels get harder and the quests more tedious to complete. Plus some events that happen during my time of playing. But, I'll let you know if I remember anything else about the game.”

With some thorough planning, we come up with an idea to create a more thought out band of Food Souls to go with Master Attendant as I explain how Ichi and Rice will be there as part of this event. I also propose that we train a bit more rigorously for the less experienced characters (Rice and myself included) so they can be up to the same page as the much stronger ones. I add on that getting us to be more disciplined will take a lot of resources, so I suggest doing some farming (gamer's term for gathering resources in the most efficient way possible) as well as helping other guilds who may be starting out. So, in a nutshell, get good at fighting evil spirits while running a restaurant and expand to other groups doing the same so we can be a well-oiled machine in the field of battle. (Especially when it comes to tournaments and Disaster Fallen Angels, but those are for another day.)

After adjourning the meeting (which the lot of us feel rather relieved about), some of the Food Souls start chilling in the living room while the rest of us go to sleep right away. Samson and the Food Souls who went out go straight to bed as well. I decide to do the same; I’m not really interested in tonight’s gossip. It was pretty exhausting dealing with the shock of realizing that I’m in another universe as a literal cat-dragon and having to go through the discussion of the ambush. Also, shortly before I go to the attic, Master Attendant Samson asks, “Hey, Danny, do you know exactly when will this encounter will happen?” I shake my head solemnly. “Nope,” I sign, “I have no clue when will that happen. But we'll know it when Tiramisu barges into the restaurant with an urgent letter from the Chef's Guild.”

Hey, I’m from another universe, it doesn’t mean that I’m a psychic. I can’t just predict the future, even as a black dragon. Wait ... can I...? I mean I’m not human anymore, so maybe I can try someday...? Pssht, naaaahhhhh. That’s the most ridiculous thing since to think about since trying to understand how do the large-titted waifoods can walk around without getting back pain. (Maybe they do, but are just really good at hiding it?) Ahem, setting that aside, I head up to the attic and go to sleep. This was for sure a real doozy day.

Morning comes by and I witness a group of humans – Samson, Akira, Ichi, and the pink-haired woman named Olivia – discussing a few things. A familiar Food Soul is there, too, but not one that belongs to Samson. It’s a female Food Soul with a light gown with a few brown spots here and there and a lavender cape. She has light brown hair that stretches all the way down to her ankles, much like some of the other Food Souls living here. She has a giant metal spoon as her weapon, like a big fancy staff, like Butterscotch Cinnamon Pie’s staff, but lengthier and shaped like a spoon. There’s also these brown things with white spots in the centers, like flat Twinkies or perhaps ladyfingers of some sort. I know right off the bat who this Food Soul is: Tiramisu. She’s a Super Rare Support Soul. Interestingly, her eye color is rather inconsistent in the game, so sometimes you’ll see her with brown eyes, and sometimes you’ll see her with green eyes. I’ve wondered back in Texas when I first found out about this in 2019 if there’s a Tiramisu out there with complete heterochromia. Looks like Olivia's Tiramisu's eyes are indeed heterochromatic. Like Sweet Tofu (and Salty Tofu), except with green and brown eyes. Her height is said to be 172 centimeters, so about five feet and eight inches. For some reason, the game read that her personality trait is “Caring Cure,” so my guess they meant that she is super caring, and she has a strong healing magic. I peer through the STAFF ONLY door leading to the front of the house and begin eavesdropping on them.

“What do you think?” Ichi asks with a confident smile. “Am I amazing?”

“Mr. Ichi, you’re amazing!~” Rice answers gleefully.

“To have such a delighted expression after completing a mission,” Samson adds, “you really are a rare find.”

Akira smiles. “You deserve to brag a bit. You did well.” Ichi chuckles, “Hahah, you’re too polite!~” Rice asks, “Mr. Ichi, does this mean you’ve already passed the trial?” The pink-haired woman remarks, “I can't say much about the trial. The important thing to focus on is Master Attendant. If the squad lacks a reliable partner, it will be pretty laughable.” I let out a quiet, amused huff of air. Samson says, “In that case, hosting a whole unit would be out of the question.” Olivia rolls her eyes. “For the sake of this team, we need to do a little bit of work.” She pulls out a list from who the hell knows where. Kinda like how the Food Souls here can grab their weapons from seemingly nowhere. It's nothing fancy or anything, but I'm assuming that hammerspaces exist in this world. I bet that would explain why it's possible to get small items in and out of existence, like my glitches. Except, throughout the whole time I've been here, I'm the only one who can acquire stuff from said hammerspace in the form of glitching. For everybody else, it's usually from a pocket or the item just simply appears from nowhere into the person's hands. Much like the really old Looney Tunes cartoons I used to watch all the time when I was a toddler. It also kinda reminds me of a quote from a book I read back in Chisholm High School called Scythe, but I don't remember much from it.

Samson asks, “What's this?” Olivia answers matter-of-factly, “Building materials.” Ichi asks nervously, “Building materials? What are those for? You're not going to bring them and renovate the restaurant? Hahaha…!” Olivia nods, “Correct, they're to remodel this restaurant.” Samson asks in a seemingly dumbfounded tone, “I just opened this restaurant for a few days and you want me to renovate it again?” The woman from the Skeleton Guild of Chefs answers with a more serious look, “Let me put it this way, it's being retrofitted to meet the requirements of the Attendants. The places we'll be setting out for are ever-changing. If you don't alter the restaurant to accommodate for these places, it won't last long!” She's got a good point; I mean take a look at shows like Kitchen Nightmares and Restaurant: Impossible. Unless you keep the décor (and the menu) up to date with the times, you won't last long, like, at all. Samson, processing this bombardment of information, asks, “Eh? Uh, is that … how it is?” Jesus Christ, how is a guy with good leadership and decent restaurant ownership skills not know about this kind of stuff? Olivia adds on, “Also~ While you're out, I'll be having some ingredients and other goods transferred here. If we don't expand your little Glorywest Grill, how will I fit everything inside?” I dunno, I think in response to her obviously rhetorical question, maybe your hammerspace can help with that? Samson looks at Olivia with a bewildered look. “Ingredients and Goods? Really?" Akira asks, “D'you think she's lying?” He stammers, “N-no, no, no! I believe you, Olivia! Let's set out right now!” Tiramisu adds, “Master Attendant Samson, I'll look after you!”

I dreadfully recognize the clacking of high heels walking from behind me. I wince as I droop my shoulders, tail and wings as I turn around. Busted~ I taunt myself. Forcefully turning my cringe into a sh*t-eating grin (albeit a forced one), I look at Spicy Gluten in the eyes as she gives me a sly look in her eyes. She asks with a curious tone so sweet its giving me a toothache from hearing it, “Are you eavesdropping again? My, my, don't you know it's rude to listen to other people's conversations?~” I roll my eyes – I can't believe I have to deal with this woman again. I sigh as I sign sarcastically, “Ah, when will I learn, Principal of the Thing? Now, if you'll excuse me, I got some stowing away to do somehow.” The STAFF ONLY door opens, and Samson steps into the living room. He asks with a surprised look, “How long have you been standing there?” Spicy remarks bluntly, “About a minute. Your pet, on the other hand, is the one eavesdropping on you.” I shoot a glare at Spicy as I sign nonchalantly, “Guilty as charged.” Samson responds, “She's not a pet, and you know it. Now, I'm going out to discuss some business with a few people from the Chef's Guild. I trust that you and the others will be on your best behavior and make sure Danny RPG stays out of trouble.” Spicy picks me up with a smile. “Don't worry, Master Attendant, I'll make sure nothing bad happens to any of us. I mean, look at her~” Huh? She puts me into a really tight hug, and I'm uncomfortably being smothered by her chest. I resist her sarcastic embrace. She continues, “It's been a few days, and we're getting along just fine. Isn't that right, sweetie?~” Pulling out a middle finger, I hiss, “f*ck you, damn whor*!” Samson shakes his head in disapproval, grumbling as he pulls me away from her, “Good grief, you two.... And Danny, you need to watch that profanity.” I honestly don't know what's worse; the spicy scent she has of what I assume is actual spicy gluten, or that I was almost crushed to death by a dominatrix's hug. Either way, I'm forced to figuratively kiss ass so I stop being troublesome for now. Welp, at least I can tell even though Spicy is being super sarcastic about this whole thing considering she's only doing this to idiomatically pull my leg and feed off of my misery. Spicy Gluten, you sick bitch.

Shortly before Tiramisu, Rice, Akira, and the humans leave, Samson gives the instruction to Black Tea and Milk that they are in charge of this place. Brownie, Napoleon, and Coffee volunteer to assist in the women's unimaginably painstaking duties of babysitting us while managing Glorywest Grill. Not to mention, some of these Food Souls need to recover anyway from the ambush yesterday. Needing a break from Spicy's unforgettable clutches, I decide to head up to my room to take a nap. After two weeks of wacky fantasy bullsh*t, I figure this would be a good time to lay on my back in my pet bed, and forget that I'm a cat-sized dragon in a giant, fish-shaped anime planet that revolves around two suns for at least a few hours.

Twenty minutes of sleeping, I begin to dream. I recall having an interest in lucid dreaming and teaching myself how to control my dreams when I was 13. I gradually lost interest as the years passed, but once in a while, I would record my dreams and learn from them as a way of identifying what's real and what's not. I would do simple tricks to realize what a dream is while asleep, such as counting my fingers or pinching my nose and breathe from it. I eventually stopped doing reality checks and recording my dreams around the start of 2020 out of inconsistency, forgetfulness, and just simply lack of interest. Right from the start, I never cared about weird sh*t, like third eyes and astral projection and other stuff like that. In fact, when I first heard about lucid dreaming, I never saw it as that at all. It was simply the brain doing subconscious things, and just being aware of it. So, really, it's more of a scientific and/or psychological thing than anything. Being someone who is interested in learning so much about psychology and the human brain, this was something of interest as dreams are still being understood and studied, like with Sigmund Freud and his famous theories. I vaguely remember that one of the classes I planned to sign up for in my junior year of high school at Panthera senior high was Psychology AP. As someone interested in psychology, I knew it'd be a nice bonus to get into a class like this, even with COVID-19 wreaking havoc, and Donald Trump making the situation worse.

As I begin to dream, I start to see the world in my mind form around me. It looks like the attic, but with the colors faded and muted. I feel strangely aware that things aren't what they should be, and my mind feels numb, but focused. I push a finger through the palm of my opposing hand.... Yeah, it is a dream, and the odd part is that I figured this out much quicker than ever before. And, I feel more conscious about it too. Another thing that made me realize quickly that it's a dream is that my hands are human, and I no longer see a black and crimson snout in front of me. Strangely, I don't feel my wings and tail anymore, and I'm wearing casual but conservative clothes, even my glasses. I don't think this is a normal dream, but it's definitely not a nightmare. Besides, the feelings I'm experiencing in this dream are very benign, with little to no fear in me. I decide to get up and look around. Everything is like the attic up here, but when I look out the three small windows, instead of seeing the different parts of Gloriville I normally see, there's nothing at all. It's like a void with a reverse day/night cycle or something out there rather than Gloriville. I stare at the window in wonder, letting my thoughts come and go as they please.

I decide to turn around and walk to the door. It doesn't open; the knob won't even turn, like it's just a decoration on the wall or something. Even when I focus my mind into trying to open the door, nothing happens. I then look out one of the windows. I unhook the little things that keep the window locked and lift it open. It's surprisingly easy and light. Using my strength I carefully step out and dip my toe into the cold floor of the void, and shift to outside of the attic. I then gently close the window, so that it doesn't fall from its weight and possibly shatter the glass. I take a couple careful steps out into a the void and look back to see a block that is a piece of the restaurant from outside. I've never seen the outside of the restaurant before, so I wonder if that's what a portion of it looks like. There's nothing here even after a few steps, not even a sound other than my footsteps and my own breathing. I close my eyes, and reach out to something out there – something random, obviously, as I don't know what to expect. I sense something. Something like … a human, except it's not exactly human? Doesn't feel very threatening, but I could sense something faintly foreboding from it, like some kind of power I've never felt before. I open my eyes and decide to follow its source. Something doesn't feel right about it, so I'm walking with caution. As I get closer, this colorful mist appears materializes into a humanoid figure. I can hear them now … they're talking to someone. I don't know who they're talking to, but it sounds like she's having a sort of discussion about picking the right colors for some concert.

There's something strange about this person. She doesn't appear human, but acts and feels that way, like the monsters from Undertale. I wonder if she's an OC of some sort. Like the ones for Food Fantasy, except she's meant for Undertale. The monster's physical appearance is very slim and tall, with emerald green eyes. Her long, golden-orange hair covers her right eye as the bottom half of it ravels her left leg. The right half of her body is colored white with her right leg wearing a teal platform boot. The other half is hot pink with her left leg wearing a platform sandal. Her finger nails are painted a variety of colors alternating between shades of pink, orange, yellow, green, and blue. This person wears turquoise beaded bracelets, in addition to her left wrist having two bracelets unlike her opposite wrist; an earring dangling from her left ear, a head ornament all around her forehead, and three thin green chokers on her long neck. Her outfit is a black chest-less leotard with a teal breast cover on the right, and a chartreuse breast cover on the left. Despite the thin body, her hands are rather big, her legs are really long, and she's reminiscent of a fantasy-themed doll, like the ones in the videos of the YouTuber Dollightful. This is the most peculiar-looking monster I've seen. She seems human, but she's not. Almost like an abstract hybrid of some sort. Or maybe she's not a hybrid at all, and she's just meant to look like that. Either way, I walk around her with caution, observing every little thing about this humanoid is doing. She seems to be concluding her conversation.

Peering from her side, I stretch my arm out and gently wave my hand in front of her face. Huh. Like I'm not even here. She starts walking and I decide to follow her. After while, I find her sitting down down on some fancy upholstery Taking a deep breath, I tap her shoulder. She turns to me in surprise, and I flinch from being startled. Her eyes dart around, like she's looking for something, presumably the person who tapped her shoulder. I look at the end of the couch, and I see that a small bin and a cross between a desk and an étagère by the couch has materialized. On the furniture is a bonsai tree, some paints, a small stack of sketchbooks, and a large mirror with lights around the frame. I decide to walk around and find a conveniently-placed chair a couple feet away from what I'm guessing is the woman's studio. I take the chair and set it behind the mirror. Surprisingly, the backside of the mirror shows the actual room rather than just the couch, the étagère desk, and the woman herself, though the mirror shows a holographic view of it. It looks as though it is indeed some kind of dressing room in a studio.

My hand curls into a loose fist, and I hesitantly knock on the mirror. She hears my knocks. The room seems be very colorful, with vibrant patterns that deems it modern abstract art. I guess it explains a bit about the monster…? I knock on the glass again. This time, the woman approaches me. She sits in a chair by the desk as tries to peer through it. “Uhh,” I start, quickly noticing that my voice is human and in English like when I was in Texas, “hello?” The woman seems shocked by this. She closes her eyes and places her white hand into the looking glass. A light shines from her hand, and it spreads to the rest of the mirror before fading out. I can see her with better clarity now. Getting a better look at her, she's definitely not from Undertale. Unsure of what to say, I utter a friendly, “Hello. Um, who are you?” The woman asks, “Who are you? This mirror is not meant to show anything other than the reflection of this place.” I answer, “Well, um, I'm Daniela, but most people call me Danny or Danny RPG, and I was taking a nap this morning, but then I ended up here in this weird void. I figured I was dreaming, except I can hear you and me just fine as though I'm awake. Everything else, though, feels like an actual dream – I mean, look at this.” I push my finger through my other hand again, which does the same result of phasing through my hand as before. I bluntly ask, “You don't look like the other monsters I've seen from the Underground. So, who are you?” Her head tilts in confusion as I asked, almost like she has no idea what I'm talking about. After a small pause, she replies, “Eve.” I comment, “That's a nice name.” I quickly notice the small gap between her front teeth. Kinda like mine when I was human.

“Thank you,” she responds. “You do not look like other people. Your skin tone is light, but not very colorful and your hands are rather small. Your appearance is rather … boring.”

“And you look like Lady Gaga did a Dragon Ball fusion with a Picasso; you're not like the people where I come from either. So, let's keep it at that, alright?”

She nods, seemingly unsure about this situation. She asks, “Where are you from?” I answer semi-casually, “I'm from Texas, a state from my old world, before I ended up in some fantasy universe that's based off of a video game.” Eve looks at me skeptically. I add, “I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. How old are you by the way?” She gives a deadpan stare as she halfheartedly answers, “Twenty-six. Did no one ever teach you it is rude to ask a woman of her age?”

“Yeahhh, but I think it's rather silly to have a notion like that when the same doesn't exactly apply to dudes. (I'm not one to give much of a damn about social norms and rules.) I'm sixteen, by the way.”

“Duly noted.”

“What world are you from?” I query with curiosity.

“A world called Earth. I come from a place on Earth where energy can be harnessed in so many different ways, to the point it changes us physically, but we are still humans at heart. In my case, that energy is harnessed through music in a place called Vinyl City.”

“Funny, I came from Earth. Though, a city powered entirely by music is a first for me. And now, I've become a cat-sized dragon with apparently a connection to different worlds, one of which is the anime one I currently live in.”

“Would this mean that the human entity in front me that I am speaking to, was this how you looked like before becoming a dragon?”

“I suppose so,” I say with a shrug, “it's been about two weeks, so my memory of how I looked like is not as good, but I've gotten somewhat used to looking into a mirror and see a dragon face instead of my human face.”

“Danny?” a muffled male voice asks from who-knows-where. It becomes louder and clearer. “Danny, wake up!”

My eyes fly open as I see Sandwich sitting beside me and my bed. He looks about the size of a giant, and then I realize that I'm back into a dragon, and I'm back into the waking world. It'd be weird to refer to this as the real world, but after everything that's happened, I might as well get used to that. Sandwich remarks, “Are you alright? That must've been a heck of a dream.” So, I was right. It was indeed a dream, but I remember it so well and so vividly like I was awake in a sense except I wasn't. Still, it doesn't explain why the void, or why a woman from Earth looks nothing like the people from Earth, but is instead from a music-powered city in an alternate Earth. I might be well rested, but I need a coffee. And lunch. I'm hungry, and I could tell from the sun that is visible through one of the windows that it's midday, so no point in saying mentioning breakfast.... Unless, of course, we're thinking of brunch.

Ba-dum, tsss!

What was that woman's name again? Oh, yeah, Eve. She seemed nice. If games such as Undertale and Food Fantasy exist in a way as different planets from different universes (or somehow the same universe), then chances are that Eve is from another game. The problem is, I don't know which game was that. Was it a new one? Since time works weird (I was from 2020, and I get transported into 550), would it be this game that Eve comes from was released after 2020? Or maybe a point in time when it's still 2020, but I'm already gone? If I have access to the Internet … it really won't make any difference now that I think about it....

“Helloooo!~ Tierra to Danny! You're spacing out again,” Sandwich calls out. I immediately shift my attention to the Food Soul. He adds, “I think you need something to eat – you've been asleep for hours, and you won't stop getting distracted.” I chuckle as I sign. “Yeah, I'm hungry. And I could use some coffee. Let's go get some lunch!”

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Fight and Flight

Chapter Text

Sandwich picks me up and lets me rest in his arms. The whole experience as a dragon from the start has been … interesting, but fun, so I’d like to record my thoughts one day rather than having to express them in a notepad with pens and pencils. I’ve been used to writing with graphite pencils, so charcoal is an interesting change. The fountain pens aren’t bad, but I still prefer pencils. Maybe I can use them for drawing something. Though, I’ll need a sketchbook. Maybe a diary too; I’ll have to ask Samson when he gets back. In the meantime, I wouldn’t mind doodling in my notepad – I’ve been doing this for a while, ever since he first bought me those writing supplies. Due to how small the pages are, even when I’m the size of a cat, I can’t really make any of my usual, larger drawings. And due to the lack of supplies, I don’t think I can do any actual drawings. Especially since I specialize in pencil drawings and coloring with alcohol markers and inking pens. (I also do digital art, but that’s obviously not possible right now without a computer and my trusty Wacom Intuos tablet.)

After making to the living room, I decide to hop off Sandwich and try landing on my feet with the help of my wings. Sadly, the flapping of my wings become poorly timed, and I end up smacking the floor with my red underside. Since I’ve never actually flown before (other than a few short leaps with a second of gliding and landing in a chaotic manner clumsier than an albatross), I’ve been thinking about taking flight lessons one way or another in hopes that one of the Food Souls here know at least a few things about how flight works. Or, at least know the basics of aerodynamics. Then again, I’m in a fantasy world where food is personified as spirits with magical powers – it seems unlikely that some laws of physics just don’t apply here. Maybe I can be self-taught after all.

“Oh, my gosh, Danny! Are you okay?” Sandwich asks frantically and as he crouches down to help me us. I lift myself up (with the help of his gloved hand) and I give him a reassuring nod. Sweet Tofu, who initially was listening to his music, takes his headphones off and greets, “My goodness, Danny, that was quite a fall for someone of your stature. Are you sure you’re okay?” I give him a smile and another nod. Vodka, who is standing by the bookshelf, remarks, “You’ve never actually flown before, have you?” I answer in dragonspeak, “Nope.” She raises an eyebrow. “Did no one teach you how to fly when you were young?” I shake my head again. The group seems surprised by this, almost impressed. She questions, “You are a sapient dragon who can breathe fire and bring chaos from time to time. And yet, despite having wings on your shoulders, you don’t even know how to use them?” Sweet comments, “Well, I suppose Andre can teach you when he comes back. Vodka sent him out to fly for routinely exercise, though, but he’ll be back shortly.” I nod to him in understanding.

While waiting, I request a decent meal of grilled pork belly and a cappuccino. Given how busy the restaurant is today from the sound of it, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to take long. After a few minutes, Bamboo Rice in his usual loin cloth and shorts comes into the living room with a tray of the meal I asked for. He sets it on the coffee table – the tray includes utensils wrapped in a black fabric napkin. I tell him, “Thanks, Bambri.” with a cheery smile, which the Food Soul gives me a confused look upon mentioning the nickname. I briefly explain to him that “Bambri” is a nickname that the fans of my old world came up with. He seems rather flattered, and then he gladly replies, “You’re welcome, Danny. I hope you enjoy your meal.” I respond, “How can I not? I live in a restaurant with a bunch of Food Souls; I’m more than sure the meal is going to be fantastic.” He smiles as he scratches the back of his neck. “Thanks for the compliment! I’ll let the others know what you said.” I give him a thumbs-up. He picks the tray up, leaving behind the dish and the coffee, and walks back into the dining area and probably into the kitchen.

The pork belly is so well cooked, it just melts in my mouth. And, I could detect a bit of a familiar saltiness that I haven’t had in a while – soy sauce. Upon closer inspection as I take a sip of my cappuccino, I noticed they’ve improved the recipe with soy sauce and tiny bits of scallions. The sauce is different, but it enhances the texture and that wonderful umami so much more than it already has, but not to the point it overpowers the pork itself. This meal, this wonderfully executed meal, is truly an unforgettable experience for foodies such as myself. After finishing the meal, I wash the taste off with the remaining of the delightfully mellow coffee with a subtle bitterness. Oh, yeah, that hit the spot. They always nail it every time – it’s a bummer Food Souls don’t exist in my old world; think of all the good things they’ll make, all the fine recipes they come up with (not to mention how attractive they are, between you and me). Well, technically Food Souls do exist there, but in the form of cosplay and art. I wipe my mouth with napkin, and I place the knife, fork, and napkin neatly like some sort of fancy-schmancy aristocrat. Hey, just because I’m an animal doesn’t mean I should act like one. Actually, ever since I got here, I’ve been nothing but chaos, so having some decent table manners would hypothetically be a start in proving that I have at least a shred of humility in my life. Besides, this feels like one of those days where you can’t help but just be chill like nothing bad’s gonna happen, and you’d end up just vibing and doing a quiet hobby (like reading or drawing) while listening to some good ol’ lo-fi music. The only thing missing from this feeling is the quiet, productive hobby and the music.

A brilliant idea comes to me as I look at the empty plate and cup. I pick up the cup put it into my Inventory. Since it has a bit of weight (due to it made of ceramic), I could feel it in my shoulders and back. I decide to try something a little bit different; I look at the plate and focus my mind on it. After a second or two, the plate glitches out of existence and I immediately feel a much more noticeable weight on my back and shoulders. It’s nothing I can’t handle though. Despite my weight, my strength still feels about the same as when I was a human, which isn’t saying much since I had slightly flabby arms after letting myself go at the time, but it’s still something. Now that I’m a dragon, my limbs are pretty skinny again, but still ultimately has the same strength. Maybe I can get a nice workout when Andre comes back. In the meantime, best to take these items back to the kitchen. I walk out of the living room and into the front of the house. As I’m walking across, I notice some excited murmurs of telling those close to them that I’ve appeared. I wave with a smile when I notice this, and I keep walking to the back of the house – give or take a few short stops to greet the customers. I then wave them goodbye as I enter the kitchen. Inside, I see Hawthorne Ball and Milk cooking some aromatic dishes on the stove. Meanwhile, Tom Yum is doing the dishes. I jump up to the counter with the sink and place the dish and the cup in it. Tom greets, “Hey, Danny, how was your lunch?” I give him a thumbs-up. He replies with a proud chuckle “I’m glad you enjoyed it; Bamboo Rice told us what you said. Thank you so much for the compliment!” I happily nod in response. I drop off the dish and cup, and wave him goodbye before leaving the back of the house.

Once again, the patrons eagerly see me with smiles and greets as I walk past them. Vodka steps out of the living room with Andre perched on her wrist. Right on time, I suppose, for flying lessons. I walk up to her and she asks, “Are you ready to learn how to fly?” I nod eagerly – I’m so looking forward to this. She responds, “Excellent. We will train in the Dine-and-Dash room.” “Understood,” I respond.

We walk into the Dine-and-Dash hall, and I notice that there are some new scratch marks and bullet holes here and there. Was there a Dine-and-Dasher when I was talking to Eve in that dream? Considering how the restaurant is mostly built from wood, I guess we really do need an upgrade before the place gets torn from wear.

Vodka starts, “As you know, Andre is a gyrfalcon, the largest type of falcon in Nevras. Someone like him has the ability to chase down prey by flying high and then dive at breakneck speeds. While I don’t know much about dragons, other than what I’ve observed from you and from books, you body is lightweight, and your wings should be strong and large enough to lift you. Now, there is a thing called ‘powered flight,’ which is a form of flight used by animals, such as birds, bats, and insects. And it makes sense that it applies to dragons too.” I nod as I listen to Vodka; seems like there is a science to this whole thing after all. (Actually, I’m impressed that a drunkard in a revealing dress can be an expert in physics and aerodynamics, but I digress.) She goes on, “There are a lot of equations to consider in order to understand the physics of aeronautics. But, I don’t know how good you are with science, so I’ll keep it simple: Bodies that take to the skies, be it birds, Food Souls, or anything, must generate enough force upward to exceed the effect of gravity on their mass. And yes, size does matter. The larger an animal grows, its wing area increases with the square of the animal’s length. But, the animal’s mass is different – assuming that the density is the same, scaling mass is equivalent to scaling volume, which is a cubic relationship. Of course, I could go on about theoretical flight limit, but I will save that for a later lesson. For now, let’s get started on flying. We need to start working on your power skills. Show me what you can do.”

I think about what she says, somewhat processing all that stuff about physics and powered flight. I unfold my wings, take a step, and start flapping them. I’m well aware that wings are basically an extra set of limbs, but growing up with only four limbs in my body, it’s such a very strange feeling having two more, which are the wings. Still, I’ve never had a tail before, and that took time to get used to that, but I did it way quicker than the wings. As I’m flapping, I start stumbling, but I quickly lift myself off the ground, no more than a foot or two. The closest experience I’ve had to something like this was when I went indoor skydiving once on my fourteenth birthday. It was really nerve-wracking, but I loved it. (I wonder why I never got back into it, though? Whatever, I think having my own set of wings is more interesting.) Since I’ve never flown before, I immediately realize that this is a hell of a workout, especially considering I’ve lived a sedentary lifestyle for years. Vodka comments, “Good, good, just a little longer. Now try feeling every muscle you’ve got with each stroke. Feel the air flow around you … and push!” Following her instructions, I don’t want to take a breather just yet. I flap stronger this time, having the dust and a little bit of the gravel from the ground start flying and moving from my pushing. She asks, “Can you try turning? It’s very simple, you simply make subtle twists as you flap. Give it a try.” Despite growing tired and a little sore by the second, I nod. I do exactly as she says, twisting a few muscles with subtlety, and I’m able to turn, though not very good. I’ve got a lot to learn with how air and gravity work while flying. As I turn, I clumsily fall and slide to the ground. I walk it off, brushing off the scrapes I got from the fall. Vodka runs to me as Andre flies a bit to get closer to me. They both look stoic yet worried at the same time. She asks, “Are you okay?” I reply, “Yeah, I’m okay. ‘Tis just a scratch. I think I could use a break. All that flying was a workout.”

She responds, “Yes, the first time will always be tiring, so a break will be helpful to you.” She gestures me to follow her as Andre flies to her shoulder. As we walk out, Andre asks me, “So, what's the deal with your profanity?” I casually reply, “It's something that's been around for as long as I can remember. I grew up with a dad who's sense of humor is pretty pachuco. My mom wasn't a fan of it, but she's gotten used to it and takes his humor with a grain of salt. I got most of my personality from Dad's side, and my brother got our Mom's personality.” Vodka asks, “And 'pachuco' is a way of describing something as vulgar?”

“Yep,” I answer. “It’s a masculine term for something described as vulgar and raunchy. Its feminine form would be ‘pachuca.’”

“Wow, I never thought I would learn Spanish from a dragon. It would explain the accent, though.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“You are certainly very interesting, and even more peculiar after learning from you during that meeting.”

“Eh, I guess.”

Hawthorne walks out of the kitchen with an expedited order in her hands. We carefully go past her as she greets us briefly. We step into the kitchen as we are greeted by the wonderful savory smells of the food Milk and Bambri are cooking while Sandwich and Tom work to get every dish, glass, and utensil brought in here as clean as possible. Milk utters in her usual soft and monotone voice, “Greetings. What brings you here?” Vodka replies, “We are taking a short break from a flying lesson Andre and I giving to Danny RPG. She’s learning quite fast, but she needs to build a lot of muscle in order to improve. Anyway, do have any spare glasses we can use? One glass of water for Danny, and I’ll have a bordeaux on the rocks.” Bambri chirps, “Sure thing, Vodka!”

After enjoying our drinks, we head back to the Dine-and-Dash hall. This time, Andre takes the lead while Vodka supervises as she keeps an eye out for Dine-and-Dashers. I follow his lead, giving me pointers on improving my flight.

“Not like that, Danny. More flap, deeper flaps,” Andre instructs. “The still air has no shape to use. You have to compensate with your downstrokes.” I land to the ground, with grace and a noticeable lack of clumsiness. I watch him fly. He continues, “Make your wing tips almost meet, if you can without stalling.”

“Oh, so you mean like this?” I ask and do as he suggests, taking off from the ground and doing deeper flaps with the downstrokes he told me to do. Vodka cheers, “There you go, Danny! You got this!” Andre agrees. I’m doing a lot better than I thought I would. Vodka adds, “You seem to have gotten it. Now, inevitably, there will be times when you need to fight. So, let’s have you head to the ground and see what you can do in combat.” I nod and land on the ground as Vodka and Andre approach me.

Vodka starts, “While I don’t know what are your abilities other than wreaking havoc and breathing fire, we will start with the basics. We will need the help of Bamboo Rice since he knows how to train his rats to fight. While you are obviously not a bamboo rat, I imagine his knowledge on training them should work similarly with you.” I think I get what she means. I mean, the rats and I are mammals, we walk on four limbs, and we are great at causing mischief. I fly up to Vodka’s empty shoulder while Andre perches on the other. She walks up to Bambri, who had just returned a tray to the back of the house. He greets, “Hey, fellas! How are you three today?” Vodka answers, “We doing well, Bamboo Rice. We are here to ask for your help on Danny’s training. Since you taught your bamboo rats to fight, can you do the same to Danny?” His head tilts in interest of the topic, “Teach Danny to fight? Sure, can do that. Let me tell the others of this since my hands are a little full right now.” She nods, “Of course. Do what you must, we will wait for you in the arena.”

We return to the Dine-and-Dash room and we sit idly to wait for Bambri and rest for a bit. I figured Vodka would sit from the shoes she wears. As fancy and stylish as they are, they don’t look very comfortable. Of course, I’m just speculating, since it’s indeed part of her character design. We decide to pass the time by idly chatting about casual topics

Vodka asks, “So, what did you normally do when you were human?”

“Me? Well, I like to draw and do a lot of reading. I've had some interest in studying culinary or pastry arts when I go to college. Though, now that I'm here, college seems like wishful thinking. Not that I really wanted to go to college, or be excited about finishing high school. Life sucked, y'know? Especially as a teenager.”

Andre asks, “What kind of things do you normally draw?” I answer, “I usually go for anime, fanart, and furries. I've still got much to improve, but I'm pretty decent at it. I usually do traditional and digital drawing interchangeably.” Vodka comments, “I have heard some mentions of digital art, but I don't fully understand it. Maybe when Knowles-net becomes more readily available to the public, I could learn some things about it.”

“Yeah, you'll like it, it's pretty fun and easy to learn. As for traditional art, I usually use No. 2 pencils (basically graphite), some inking pens, and alcohol markers.”

“That is a thing?” the Food Soul asks.

“Yeah, they're markers that bleed through paper more easily, but they blend much nicer than water based ink.”

Before Vodka could ask any more questions, Bambri and his rats enter the room, with the Strength Soul wielding his machete in his hand. He smiles, “So, are ya ready to train?” I exclaim, “Heck yeah, time to learn how to kick ass!” He comments, “I like your spirit, Danny!” I let out a toothy grin at his remark. He then takes a thick piece of bamboo from his pocket and sets it on the ground about several feet away from me. He starts, “Let’s start with speed. Show me what you got by running towards this bamboo and pouncing on it.” I crouch down, like a coiled spring, presumably allowing me to use the full strength of my back legs. Like a cat, I burst into speed, running faster than I anticipated. My thoughts begin racing faster than a cheetah on steroids and before I know it, I’ve pounced on it, followed by a thrashing roll as I eagerly dig my claws into the bamboo. I then jump off and do an energetic land as I stand my ground and have my wings half folded and ready for combat. The characters look at me wide-eyed. As my head slows back to normal speed, I quickly realize that I may have gotten carried away.

“Whoa,” Bambri utters in awe, “I’m impressed. Not bad at all. Now, the next thing I want to test is your strength. Such as how well you can push and lift things, as well as how strong your bite is. I just need rope and some weights.” I joke, “May I suggest we borrow Spicy’s whip?” Little Ah replies, “That’s … a little questionable.”

“Well, do you even know where to get some rope?”

“Fair enough,” Big Ah squeaks.

“The real challenge from this is trying to approach her. Which one of us is going to do it? Because I’m not getting anywhere near that dominatrix.”

Vodka says, “I will talk to her. She may be intimidating towards others, but I can try to convince her to help you.”

Ten Minutes Later

Spicy enters the room with a seemingly annoyed Vodka. They’re each carrying a duffel bag. I'm kinda scared to know what’s in them. Spicy shows a menacing smirk. “Training time, pet~ Are you ready?” I sign with a more enthusiastic look, “As ready as I'll ever be.” The waifoods place the duffel bags onto the ground. Surprisingly, Spicy pulls out some training dummies that are folded in a way that would somehow fit in her bag. Vodka pulls out from equipment that would range from small devices to rope and objects that appear to be throwable. Other items seem to be weights. Vodka gives me the end of a six-foot piece of rope, and hand the other to Bambri. Big Ah and Little Ah get off of his shoulders. He gives me a daring look. “So, to test your strength, we’re both going to pull this rope. We’ll start with your jaw, okay?” – I nod as I put the rope into my mouth – “Ready? Go!” Surprisingly, I pull the rope with enough strength to resist Bambri, who is using minimal strength since that guy is strong enough to leave a deep gash into an Uke Mochi’s tentacles with his machete. As I pull harder, so does Bambri until I start getting dragged by my palms and soles. By some sort of instinct, I fight back even harder with the help of my wings. Alas, his strength becomes too much to handle for my jaw, so I forcefully let go of the rope.

I pant to catch my breath from that workout, and briefly massage my mandible. Spicy writes something on a clipboard (did she get that from one of the duffels?), presumably recording what I’m capable of. We repeat the same activity, only this time, I use my hands. The results seem more promising, as I’m able to have better resistance against Bambri’s strength (also used minimally to prevent injury). While I’m at it, I get myself to stand on my hind legs, sliding on my toes for a bit from the force. Impressively, I reach a point where I put my back into it and rely on applying a force equal to Bambri’s strength. I’m well aware physics are at play here, and I reckon Newton’s Third Law of Motion is what’s happening here. Of course, I’m no physicist, so I’m just speculating here.

Sadly, my force is unequal to Bambri’s, meaning he’s a crap-tillion times stronger than I’ll ever be, resulting in getting yanked by surprise when he decides to abruptly put more strength into it. Still, I’m impressed that I could pull that hard! With flabby noodle arms like the ones I had in my old world, I wouldn’t have even lasted a second. So, it’s rather perplexing that I could do such a feat in Tierra. Then again, I’ve proven myself to be physically tougher in Tierra (I fell on my face a couple times), and I use all four limbs to walk and run, so it’s probably likely I developed some muscle from doing that. Hypothetically speaking, I mean. Considering I’m in an anime fantasy world with personified food characters, Lord of the Rings elves, Undertale mishaps, and practically a big-ass fish planet orbiting two suns, the last thing I expected to deal with is a science lesson from a drunkard and a dominatrix. Would this mean that this story is a combination of science and fantasy? Well, now that I think about it, there are characters like Easter Egg and B-52 (plus those conversations I had about technology), so science fiction would be a real-life thing here. I guess it’s logical that Food Fantasy is a sort of science fantasy world – a world of fantasy with elements of science fiction and (apparently) real-world science. Well, that and a modern fantasy setting considering the clothes I've been seeing from patrons and the Food Souls.

After more experiments with my physical strength, we discover that my strength in general is terrible. I could barely lift the weights that Spicy brought, and I literally can’t last a minute of tug-of-war without Bambri holding back like, a hundred percent of his strength. It’s honestly really sad considering I couldn’t even lift my own body weight back on Earth using a steel pull-up bar. If training results are gonna be like this, I’d hate to see how I would fare with fitness exercises.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Spicy comments disapprovingly, “these have got to be the most pitiful results I’ve seen out of an adolescent. And I usually take pleasure in pain from others. Considering your physical strength is terrible, I wonder how you’re going handle the next part of combat training: Magic. We Food Souls, as well as Fallen Angels, have an ability to harness energy and manipulate it in countless ways. Humans can do it too, but it takes a lot dedication and effort to make it work. Now, onto the interesting part: You were formerly human, and you have the ability to breathe fire, albeit very weakly. You also have an ability to make small objects disappear and reappear as a way of carrying them in an Inventory, a basic skill in magic commonly used for that purpose. With luck, we can build on those abilities and develop a style of magic for you to have. For people new to magic, it usually happens in the form of an emotional response, and the results can sometimes be unpredictable depending on how the mind works.”

Before she can continue, the doors fly open as a group of Dine-and-Dashers are shoved into the room along with Brownie and Crepe. Vodka remarks, “It looks like you’ll be doing a crash course! Use what you’ve learned, Danny and show us what you can do now!” The Fallen is a seriously drunk Aizen with an Amazake, a Doburoku, and three Dumplings. These Fallen Angels are from the Dango tribe.

Doburoku is a home-brewed unfiltered style of sake, which is created by simply adding kōji mold to steamed rice and water and letting the mixture ferment. It was originally banned during the Meiji period in Japan but has since been revived as a local brewing tradition. The area around Mihara village in southern Shikoku is especially well known for its doburoku breweries. In the case of Food Fantasy, Doburoku is a Normal Fallen Angel mainly from the region of Light Kingdom (along with the rest of the Dango tribe). It’s pretty much an Alf-sized black jar of sentient doburoku inside, with a red paper lid and a big red rhombus on the side of the jar. (Maybe a little taller than Alf upon getting a better look.) The Dango Tribe in general are a group of cute and fluffy non-threatening Fallen Angels. Of course, that doesn’t mean you should go around and provoke them as they can be quite the pest. The three Dumplings have different colors – one red, one purple, and one rum-colored. They each individually have cute little outfits and accessories. And, they’re about my height.

Amazake is an Evolved Fallen Angel, like Bulimia. According to the wiki and the game, they’re 149 centimeters tall, so about four feet and eight inches. Amazake looks like a young boy with elf ears, small red antlers sticking out of the sides of his forehead, and is carrying a jar of amazake. In my Earth, amazake is a traditional sweet, low-alcohol (sometimes none), Japanese drink made from rice fermented with kōji mold. Much like how doburoku is made. Similar beverages include jiuniang from China. (Fun fact: Jiuniang is also the name of a Food Soul – she’s super sweet and shy, and she pairs with Yellow Wine.)

Lastly, there’s Aizen. Hoooo, boy. Aizen is an Enhanced (Normal) Fallen Angel. The people of Light Kingdom are renowned for their addiction to alcohol. This resulted in many poor souls losing their lives to binge drinking. These lost souls gave birth to Aizen – a Fallen Angel that personifies alcohol, specifically the bad parts of it, like alcohol abuse, poisoning, and death from being so dependent on alcohol. Interestingly, Aizen is the type of Fallen Angel that can be extremely friendly or extremely dangerous. If you're lucky, a drunk Aizen can be a man's best friend. (According to an in-game quote citing a merchant of the east.) Aizen is 202 centimeters tall (about six and a half feet tall), not including the dragon tail, which is a bit longer than his body. He has skin as white as snow (excluding his red clawed hands and the occasional scales on his body), with really long white hair turning to sake at the end. He has red eyes and matching antlers, with his hair tied into a ponytail with two red feathers sticking out. His dragon tail is a very dark grey (almost black, but not like my black scales), with a line of long white hair along it, and the hair kinda forms a feather shape at the end of it. Much like an eastern dragon’s tail. (For comparison, I’m a western dragon.) He wears a simple black and crimson outfit with a few necklaces, and his outfit includes a loin cloth. Kinda like Bambri’s outfit, but with a sleeveless robe and a sleeveless vest that is part of the loin cloth.

Alright, thinking about what the Food Souls and their animal comanions said, I also think about that time I was with Eve, and that time those Undertale characters crashed into Tierra. I wonder … if the rules of Undertale work here, then maybe, just maybe, I can use my SOUL for this. Suddenly, I feel a strange energy surge within me. As though by instinct, I rush towards the Amazake as Bambri and his rats fight the Normal Fallens. Spicy uses her whip against the Aizen, and Vodka and her gyrfalcon work together to fight him and Amazake. One of the Dumplings throws a dagger at me, which I dodge by taking flight. Somehow, I launch projectiles against the Dumpling, and the move sounds like a fairy firing bullets at you in Touhou Project.... I think I know a way to fight in this world.

“What the hell?!” Amazake exclaims. The fur on my tail lights on fire as I fly to it and do a barrel roll, causing my wings to light on fire and to have these bullets fire from them like firecrackers. The bullets fly everywhere, hitting the Fallens. Sadly, the damage is minimal, but it did leave first-degree burns, singeing them lightly with soot from the attack. Aizen roars, “GET THAT DRAGON!” Uh-oh. Now they’re after me. Okay, Danny, think fast.

The Dumplings and the Doburoku try to tackle me, but I push them back with a blast from a flaming wing flap. Aizen lobs a jar at me, which I duck from. I land on the ground, and I stand up like a human. My legs wobble a bit from being used to being quadrupedal, so I use my tail for stability. I hope this works. I close my eyes, and position my hands and arms in a way that would baffle everyone as I yell, “Kamehamehaaaaa!” Nothing happens. Rather than looking like a Saiyan, I instead look like an idiot. Everyone stares at me with a “Wut?” look. I deadpan, “Well, that was stupid.” I start running out of the as the Fallens chase after me. Brownie and Crepe fight back as Spicy yells, “Get back here, you weirdo!” How the f*ck does she run with those heels?! Surprisingly, Spicy lunges at me and successfully grabs hold of me. “Get the hell off of me, dammit!” I shout. Spicy exclaims, “You’re not going anywhere! Now, get back there and help us face those damn Fallens!” sh*t, she’s terrifying! I impulsively nod in terror and I fly back to the fight. I return to the scene and think of something that would kick those guys’ asses.

Ooh! Light bulb moment! Since I can’t fight like Goku, I can use what worked previously – I can pull a danmaku at these sons of bitches! In case if you’re not a Touhou fan (which is pretty likely if you’re not into anime-related stuff), danmaku is Japanese for “bullet hell,” a style of gameplay Touhou Project is known for. I probably can’t do something crazy and powerful like Marisa Kirisame’s Master Spark, nor Reimu Hakurei’s Fantasy Seal. So, I’ll have to improvise as I fly by the seat of my pants. I then remember the event those cloaked guys tried to kidnap me. I remember feeling something literally burning inside of me, like a heartburn but different. I decide to let it happen again and let it build up. I focus everything I have within as the heat amplifies. I can hear murmurs saying stuff like: “What is she doing?”, “I have a bad feeling about this….”, and “Is it getting hot here all of a sudden?” I can feel smoke coming out of my face as I open my mouth a bit. And I let ‘er rip. A blast of fire shoots out of my mouth towards the Aizen.

KA-BOOM!

The attack knocks him back, sending him flying a few feet across the room. The damage also shatters the Doburoku’s jar and incinerates the rum Dumpling. The living sake starts boiling, like the exposure of the world around it without its jar is killing it. The two Normal Fallens dissipate out of existence. As I pant from such an attack, everyone looks at me, eyes wide open and jaws dropped. Aizen, heavily singed from the blow, charges at me with utter fury. He takes a sharp turn and his tail swings in my direction. Before I can react, the tail sends me flying, and my body slams Vodka.

“No! Nooo! DANNY!”

“Don’t you f*cking touch her, you despicable thing!”

“Quick, get Milk here!”

“I’m on it!”