Turquoise, Lemon, and the rest of the P.O.D Sorority were in front of a huge fancy hotel that made the ones in Vegas look like cheap motels. As soon as they entered they ran into Haruka along with the rest of the Elysium Cooking Course students.

“ Turquoise, Lemon? What are you girls doing here?” Haruka asked.

“ Our sorority was chosen to aid in the judging of the second to last test,” Lemon said.

“ They told us not to leak any details but good luck love,” Turquoise said before she and her sisters left to get their room keys. A bit later all the cooking course students were told to gather in the Argentum room for the details of this training camp.

Sometime later all the students were gathered in the room waiting for the training camp to begin. As the students were chatting among themselves a man wearing a black suit with tanned skin and a shaved head walked on stage before getting the student’s attention.

“ Greetings everyone. For those of you who don,t know me I am Archibald Hanzalik the Executive chef of the Elysium resort chain and owner of this Hotel. I’m sure all of you are eager to get this training camp underway but first, let me introduce you to your proctors,” Archibald said as many famous chefs walked on stage. The first chef was a man wearing a french chef’s outfit with pink hair and glasses.

“ No way, that's Kojiro Shinomiya the owner of Shino’s in both Paris and Tokyo,” One of the students said.

“ I heard he was the first Japanese Person to earn the Plucerpere Award,” Another student said. Next up was a woman with hair the same color as Turquoises with yellows eyes and fangs wearing a dark blue chef’s jacket with an apron.

“ And that is the master of Rare Ingredients Rindo Kobayashi,” Another student said.

“ How long is this going to be because I have a date with an anthill,” Rindo said bored out of her mind.

“ What does she mean by that?” Haruka asked.

“ One of the ingredients she uses is the formic acid from ants so she must be going to extract more,” Another student said. As soon as the six chefs who would be in charge of the exams were lined up. Archibald was about to explain more until Kojiro interrupted him.

“ You there in the third row from the front. The girl with the short blonde hair,” Kojiro said with Haruka pointing to herself. “ No next to you. The girl next to Haruka pointed to herself before Kojiro continued. “ Yes, you. You’re expelled, you may leave now.

“ What did I do wrong?” The girl asked as Kojiro approached her.

“ Your hair product has a citrus aroma to it. That would mask the scent of your cooking, yes?” Kojiro asked. I know it’s important to look good. A swarthy looking chef would lessen the appeal of their food. Next time use an unscented hair product.

“ Are you effing kidding me I’m expelled for something like that,” The girl shouted with rage.

“ Something like that can be enough to lose customers. You little bitch are you out to destroy my restaurant?” Kojiro said while giving her the death stare which frightened her. “ That will be all. get out of my sight. The girl left the room before Archibald continued.

“For the five days you are here we will be treating you exactly as if you were employees at our restaurants. As you have just seen your proctors have the power to expel you at any time. Do you know what that means? Anyone who does not perform to our liking is done meaning you’re expelled,” Archibald said while making a decapitation motion to prove his point. “ I wish you all the best of luck. You know your groups now get going. Sometime later Haruka along with twenty-nine other students was now in a classroom overlooking a huge wilderness area. Rindo walked in and got everyone’s attention.

“ As I’m sure all of you already know I am Rindo Kobayashi and I will be your proctor for this exam. I’m the master of rare ingredients and what that means is there are many types of insects and animals that can be used as ingredients so my challenge for all of you is to create a dish that emphasizes exotic cuisine,” Rindo explained while pointing out the window. “ You may only gather your ingredients from within the fenced area. Crossing the fence will result in automatic failure. You will be working in pairs and your partners will be the same ones from your first class.

“Thank goodness I’m working with Haruka again,” A girl with blue hair said as she ran towards Haruka.

“ Hey Mina, glad to be working with you again,” Haruka said.

“ You have two hours,” Rindo said before the students began to scramble. Haruka and Mina ran outside and wondered what they should make. While the other students were standing around confused Haruka noticed some Quinoa seeds in a nearby field. Suddenly Haruka had an idea.

“ Mina, can you find us these for me?” Haruka asked as she wrote down a list of stuff and handed the list to mina.

“ These should be easy to find sure but what will you be doing?” Mina asked.

“ I’m going to find the rest of what we need for prep work,” Haruka said. Sometime later both of them returned with everything they needed. Some of the students began prepping their ingredients while others were finishing up on their dishes. Haruka began grinding the Quinoa seeds into flour. She then made it into a unique looking kind of dough before cutting it into noodles. Mina was then working on some kind of broth using a bluefin tuna Haruka caught with her bare hands. While they were making their dish the students that finished presented their dishes with only a few teams passing so far and others failing.

“ Not good enough. make it again,” Rindo said harshly.

“ What the hell does this woman want from us?” One of the failing students asked.

“ They never taught us about exotic ingredients in culinary school,” Another student said. Suddenly Rindo was picking up the scent of something unique coming from Haruka and Mina’s station. Rindo looked excited about whatever it was. As soon as they finished Haruka and Mina presented their dish which looked like ramen.

“ This is BlueFin Quinoa Ramen, Enjoy Haruka said with Rindo practically drooling from the scent alone. After dipping the noodles in the broth Rindo slurped them down and suddenly looked like she was in a blissful state of mind.

“ The unique texture and smooth flavor of these noodles combined with the rich flavor of the BlueFin Tuna pair well together,” Rindo said while envisioning herself wrapped in the noodles by a warm fire. “ Tell me what kind of flour did you use to make these noodles?

“ We used Quinoa seeds. I noticed we did not have any flour or cornstarch so we improvised by grinding these seeds into flour,” Haruka said.

“ How did you know you could do that?” Mina asked.

“ From an anime, my wife and I saw. Dr. Stone. This dish was inspired by the Foxtail millet Ramen senku made to win the people of Ishigami Village over,” Haruka said.

“ Well, this tastes much better than that yucky Foxtail Millet stuff most of you served,” Rindo said to those who failed. “ Haruka Goldenburn, Mina Kagome you both pass.

“ Your welcome,” Haruka said as she pulled her headband off.

Meanwhile Turquoise and the girls from P.O.D were relaxing by the pool when they noticed how late it was getting.

“ I don’t know about you girls but I’m getting hungry,” Mana said.

“ It is getting around that time. Anywhere you girls want to eat?” Vivian asked.

“ Let’s try that sushi place on the third floor,” Juno suggested.

“ You girls go on ahead, I'm going to check on Haruka,” Turquoise said.

“ Hold on Turquoise you know what they told us. we are not to participate in the challenges until they tell us to,” Vivian reminded her.

“ Besides I’m sure Haruka is just fine we both know how tough and resourceful she can be,” Lemon said before she dragged Turquoise with her and the girls.

Meanwhile, in another part of the resort, the remaining students who passed the first day were gathered in front of the proctor for the next challenge.

“ You all will have some free time after you are done making dinner for these gentlemen,” The Proctor said while referring to a bunch of men with big muscles.

“ Who are all these muscle heads?” One of the female students asked.

“ Their members of Fabius High’s weightlifting team who are holding a competition down the road. The Football and Wrestling teams will be joining us as well. Tonight’s meal will be a steak dinner,” The Proctor said before lifting a serving dome with a full course steak dinner under it. “ You will need to make fifty servings each for this challenge.

“ Fifty servings each?” One of the students shouted.

“ That’s completely impossible,” Another student shouted.

“ And before anyone asks you are responsible for making your own meals while you're here that includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” The Proctor said before continuing. “ Also any students who fail to finish their dishes in an hour will be expelled. The proctor then hit the button on his stopwatch. “ Good Luck. The students were all fighting each other while constantly serving the massive jocks.

“ I can't lift my arms anymore,” One of the students said.

“ And we only have thirty serving left,” Another student said.

“ This, this, and this. It's not enough. Make it again,” The proctor said. Some students were focused on finishing the challenge and were close. As things were heating up, Haruka finished making her fiftieth serving.

“ Haruka Goldenburn you have completed fifty servings. You pass,” The proctor said.

“ Crap I fell behind. Haruka Goldenburn mine will taste better than yours. Probably,” One of the students said.

“ You use your hands instead of your mouth,” The proctor said.

“ Yes sir,” The student said.

“ Later I will be seeing my wife now,” Haruka said boastfully as she left.

“ But I thought we were not allowed to see any of those P.O.D girls,” One of the students said.

“ Get a move on dork,” A member of the football team shouted which scared that student.

Meanwhile, the girls were enjoying some sushi when Haruka comes in and sees them.

“ Room for one more?” Haruka asked.

“ I thought the cooking course students were not allowed to interact with us?” Lemon said.

“ We can interact with you girls, we just can't divulge anything about the training camp with you,” Haruka said.

“ In that case welcome,” Vivian said.

“ How are you doing so far?” Turquoise asked.

“ All I can say is I survived day one,” Haruka said while trying to stay within the rules. The girls talked over the course of their dinner. After the girls paid the bill Turquoise and the others went to their suite while Haruka went to her assigned room for the night. Even though Haruka’s hotel room was not as fancy as the suite the girl from P.O.D had, it was still enough to impress her. The next three days were intense for the cooking students as more and more failed. Before the end of the fourth day was announced the remaining 500 students were gathered in the Uraya Room to see Archibald Hanzalik standing on stage before speaking.

“ I’m sure most of you are tired from all the challenges but before you go to bed allow me to explain tomorrow's first challenge. As I’m sure all of you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day. None of us can start our day without it. So your challenge will be to create a menu item worthy of being served here in this very resort. Your main ingredient will be eggs,” Archibald said while holding an egg in his hand. “ The theme for this challenge will be to create an egg dish with a sense of wonder and you are to serve it in the buffet style. You're free to either use the kitchens to experiment with your dishes or turn in for the night just be at your assigned stations by six am tomorrow. After hearing the challenge the students who felt confident in their skills went back to their rooms while Haruka and some of the other students went to the kitchens to work on their dishes for this challenge. Haruka brainstormed on ideas for what to serve since she did not want to make the same mistake Soma did. After experimenting with ideas she finally settled on something.

The next morning all the students were divided into groups of 100 and sent to five separate assembly halls to set up their stations. Haruka was in Hall C. As soon as everyone finished setting up Archibald appeared on the monitors to further explain the challenge in more detail.

“ I assume you all finished prepping for your dishes and I'm sure all of you would like to know the conditions required for you to pass. But first, allow me to introduce your judges,” Archibald said before the doors suddenly opened and a bunch of kids and adults ran in. “ Welcome our suppliers and their families. They provide the ingredients used here at Elysium Resort. They serve as judges every year and have come up with the theme. An egg dish with a sense of wonder. As Archibald was explaining the background of the judges, Turquoise and the girls entered Hall C. Elysium's resort staff from the cooking and service divisions will also be acting as your judges. Two criteria must be met. First, the producers and staff must approve. Second, our guests must eat 200 of your plates in two hours. Now, remember to be vigilant and keep your customers happy. They are who matter the most. Whoever meets these criteria shall pass. Now then judges in all assembly halls enjoy this breakfast until your heart's content. Let the judgment begin. The students began trying to get the guest's attention which worked for some of them but not so much for others. Turquoise decided to swing by Haruka’s station first to see what she made.

“ Glad to see you come by love,” Haruka said.

“ What is that?” Turquoise asked, referring to the rolled egg dish Haruka made.

“ A Tamagoyaki. It's an omelet that is made by folding the eggs while cooking them and a staple from my home country,” Haruka explained.

“ Sorry but it seems kind of ordinary to me,” One of the employees said as soon as she stood next to Turquoise.

“ Not at all. Take a bite and you will see,” Haruka said. As soon as Turquoise and the employee took a bite they felt a mix of rice and egg in their mouths.

“ The egg and the rice merge nicely,” Turquoise said.

“ Agreed stuffing rice inside was a brilliant idea,” The Employee said. As time went on Turquoise and the other girls from P.O.D have tried every dish in Assembly Hall C. Just as the girls were about to leave Turquoise noticed things were slowing down for Haruka after the hundred and fiftieth plate and less than an hour remaining on the clock.

“ Don’t worry about Haruka, she will be just fine,” Lemon assured Turquoise.

“ Yeah those rice-filled Tamagoyak were the best thing we ever had,” Burning said.

“ Now let's hurry over to the next hall before the cooks reach 200 servings,” Vivian said knowing that once they serve 200 the cooks will close up shop. The challenge kept going with about a hundred and five students already packing up after reaching the 200 plate mark. Haruka was now at a hundred and ninety-five plates with twenty-five minutes left one the clock. Her skills improved with each round she did while showing off skills. After a few minutes went by an announcement played.

“ Haruka Goldenburn you served 200,” Archibald said over the pa system. As time marched on more students passed while others were struggling to get the customer's attention. As soon as the clock hit zero a buzzer was heard. “ That's it utensils down. The students who passed but still around left while the ones who failed were sent back to the university to pack up their stuff and go home. After completing the afternoon challenge the remaining students all gathered in the Argentum Room where Archibald was waiting for them.

“ Good looks like everyone is here. First, let me congratulate all of you on making it this far. Out of the 1000 students who entered this training camp 750 were expelled leaving us with 250. The whole purpose of this training camp was to give all of you a small taste of what it’s like to be a real chef. You will be required to work late at night with no sleep. The world of cooking is like a vast wasteland and once you reach the summit you will surely forget the way back. Just remember the comrades who traversed this wasteland with you who left tracks. And now the final step of this training camp,” Archibald paused for suspense while snapping his fingers which opened a door to a banquet hall with all the chefs who presided over the challenges preparing a huge feast. “ The final step is to congratulate you all with dinner prepared by our guest chefs.

The next day everyone returned to Elysium University. Everything returned to business as usual. Turquoise and Lemon were busy catching up on the assignments they missed over the course of the training camp.

Author's Note

Sorry, this one took so long. I was too focused on my other projects along with RL stuff.