Poké Iron Chef: Slate vs. Morimoto

Summary: Mentioned in my "Gym Leader Wiki." Brock Slate is one of the most prolific cookbook authors in Kanto. Chairman Kaga can't resist inviting him to challenge one of the legendary Iron Chefs.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, Iron Chef, or any of the characters involved. All characters are assumed to be speaking Japanese unless otherwise noted.

===TITLE OF MUSIC CUE===

("POKÉSPEAK")

"Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are." -Brillat-Savarin

Chapter 1: The Signing

Brock Slate was on the top of the world. His two cookbooks were flying off the shelves, and he felt like a celebrity signing book after book for what seemed to be thousands of people. (As if being the former Pewter City Gym Leader wasn't enough for him.) A sizeable crowd had gathered outside the Pewter City Bookstore to get a copy.

Inside, Brock was seated at a small table, signing away. Sitting on either side of him were his Kabuto and his Vulpix (he would've let Onix out, but the store was too small to accommodate the giant rock snake), each of whom were enduring the onslaught of petting from some of the younger children whose mothers were buying his book. The poor Vulpix looked sick, perhaps dizzy from a headache resulting from the last child petting her too aggressively.

Kabuto skittered over the table until he reached Vulpix, startling Brock in the process.

"Whoa! Hey there, buddy, where are you going?" he asked as the crab-like Pokémon simply pointed a leg at Vulpix, who outstretched a paw to let her little friend climb on top of her head. He latched on, careful not to make Vulpix's head pain even worse than it already was.

("Helmet for you,") Kabuto said to her.

("Thanks, I needed that,") she replied. ("I seriously need a nap.")

("No kidding, I'm sick of these kids picking me up,") he sighed as he began to doze off on top of the fox Pokémon's head.

Near the end of the signing period—Brock must've signed upwards of 200 books by this point—a figure in a black trench coat and sunglasses walked up to the table and handed Brock his book to be signed. His long, dark hair was partially concealed by a black fedora. Brock noticed right away that he did not carry any Pokémon with him, thereby ruling him out as a member of Team Rocket.

"Mr. Slate," the figure said, his booming voice startling poor Kabuto right off Vulpix's head, "I was very impressed with your recipes in this book."

"A-a-ahh, thank you…sir," he replied, his voice beginning to quake a little bit. His hand was unsteady as he signed the man's book—by some miracle, it looked remotely like his usual signature. He handed the book back to the man and bent down to pick Kabuto up from off the floor, setting the little Pokémon back on the table.

The mysterious man pulled out a small envelope and handed it to the startled Gym Leader.

"You can read this when you return home," he said. "Thank you for signing my book." And with that, he tipped his hat and left.

~料理の鉄ポケット~

Brock arrived home relatively late at night, as he had to close down the Gym after the signing. He removed his jacket and hung it onto the coat rack near the door—as he did so, Vulpix came trotting alongside him with Kabuto still serving as her helmet.

"You two are something else," he laughed at the sight. "C'mon, let's get you two something to eat."

Little did he realize the envelope he received from the mysterious man had fallen out of his coat pocket and onto the floor. Vulpix trotted back to the coat rack and picked it up, handing it to Brock as she waited patiently for her dinner.

"Oh, right, let's see what this was all about," he said, setting Vulpix's bowl down. He carefully tore open the envelope and removed one of the ornate stationery pieces inside—an invitation, from the looks of it. Brock's eyes scanned the card, widening in sudden realization of what this actually was.

You have got to be kidding me…

At the request of TAKESHI KAGA,

Chairman of the KANTO GOURMET ACADEMY

Mr. BROCK SLATE

is hereby invited to compete in Kitchen Stadium

Against the Gourmet Academy's IRON CHEFS

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" he muttered to himself. He pulled out the other piece of stationery, which was a letter.

Dear Mr. Slate,

If memory serves me right, you have served as a judge for many battles in my Kitchen Stadium since 2005. I thank you sincerely for your valued opinions, and hope that you will continue to appear on our panel in the years to come.

I also have heard that you have become quite the culinary mastermind yourself—your two most recent cookbooks are a testament to that. To that end, I wish to have you compete against one of my Iron Chefs three weeks from the date my attendant delivers you this letter.

Please send your confirmation of your appearance as well as the name of the Iron Chef you wish to challenge to my office within the next week.

I await your reply in earnest.

Sincerely,

Takeshi Kaga

Chairman, Kanto Gourmet Academy

"Well, guys," he said, turning to Vulpix and Kabuto, "looks like we're gonna be on TV again. And I've kinda wanted to do this, too…"

He grabbed the nearest piece of paper and wrote back in record time.

Dear Chairman Kaga,

Thank you for the opportunity to have me compete in Kitchen Stadium. I accept your offer, and wish to challenge Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Regards,

Brock Slate

The actual show will begin in the next chapter, hopefully! If you've never read one of my Iron Chef stories before (and if you're familiar with Tales of Symphonia), I highly recommend checking out my "Iron Chef Symphonia" series so you can get an idea of what to expect.

Stay tuned…