Bake! or Die!

Flash!

Baking supplies appeared in front of everyone’s workstation.

“Please make a Cake that best represents you. You will have 2 hours,” Aphrodite cheered.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion as a clock appeared and started counting down.

“What is going on?” Nightmare Moon said in confusion.

“Luke? What is happening? Where are we? Am I to truly face… Dr. Blood ... a warlock… favored by the literal Greek God of War ... for the fate of thousands?” Sabrina asked concerned.

“Stop the clock,” Aphrodite shouted before giving a long sigh.

Everyone looked to the Greek Goddess of Beauty and Love.

“Listen up people. The recently ascended demi-gods Luke Smith and Dr. Blood have agreed to a formal contest. To avoid wasting mana and time, the godlings have agreed to settle their differences with a formal contest. Luke chose Sabrina Spellman as his representative. While Dr. Blood chose to represent himself. The fate of Atlantis will go to whoever wins this baking competition,” Aphrodite said putting her hands on her wide hips.

“But why has everyone been spirited away to participate in this … thing ... If we are not representatives, why are we baking too?” Nurse Bones asked still confused.

Before anyone could answer. Samantha jumped in.

“Why are the Greek Gods of Love and War here …judging a baking contest?” Samantha asked pointing to both Ares and Aphrodite.

Ares stepped forward.

“We don’t know why we are here. The ‘Arbiter’ just chose both Aphrodite and … me to judge this contest. And before you ask the ‘Arbiter’ is the name we gods give to the thing that controls everything. There are stories of people hearing his voice, but no one has ever seen him,” Ares said crossing his arms.

The room was silent for a long moment.

“So … think of us as Paul and Prue. Just a lot more sexy and powerful,” Aphrodite said happily before giving a wink.

“Any more questions?” Aphrodite asked annoyed.

The room remained quiet. Everyone was still reeling from the strange situation.

“Great, your time starts … Now!” Aphrodite said happily.

The countdown clock started again.

“But why are we participating too?” Nurse Bones asked.

“Sorry, Love … no more talking,” Aphrodite said snapping her fingers.

Everything when silent. The only sounds that could be heard were coming from work equipment. Dr. Blood’s work filled the tent.

“Sabrina! Please do your best. I have faith in you,” Luke thought into Sabrina’s mind.

“None of that,” Ares thought to Luke.

Luke felt his mental connections to Sabrina get severed.

“I want this done and over with. Everyone participate in this stupid game or I will kill you. Bake or die,” Ares thought into everyone’s mind.

At that everyone jumped into action.

Luke scanned the room. There were 7 contestants, 5 women, and 2 men.

Luke watched as Dr. Blood worked. It was unlikely that the Lich made many cakes, ... but seemed to be in his element. Luke then looked at Sabrina. His baby mama was just as busy as the Lich. Just then she looked up to him and gave a smile. But she looked to his station and frowned. Luke looked down and was embarrassed that he didn’t have any work done.

“Chill, I’m starting,” Luke thought putting his hands up in defense.

Luke began organizing his supplies which put Sabrina at ease.

“Okay Luke, what best represents you?” Luke asked himself.

The thought of how to represent himself with a cake was silly. But it had to be done. Luke reviewed who he was and what he stood for. Everything came down to one thing … pregnancy. Luke loved pregnant women. He had always hidden his maieusophoria from others. But with the Sunny Day Breeding Festival and his good luck … Luke had greatly benefited from using the ‘Breeding Passes’, becoming a ‘Life Wizard’, and leading a ‘Life Coven’.

“I am a Soul Cursed Demi-God Life Wizard, that loves pregnant women. A baby bump communicates that a woman is healthy and sexually active. There is nothing sexier than a pregnant woman,” Luke thought in self-reflection.

With that Luke sprang into action. He didn’t know much about baking, but Luke knew the basics. A rudimentary understanding of baking was enough to build a dessert that could represent who he was.

“Times Up,” Aphrodite chimed.

“Hands Up,” Ares shouted.

Everyone raised their hands involuntarily.

“Step away from your creation and wait for judgment,” Ares said watching everyone stop their work.

The judges slowly examined each station.

Keyleth created a cake in the shape of a Tiger bathed in flames. Samantha created a rune-inscribed sword glowing blue and gold. Sabrina created multiple cakes shaped into a bowl of bananas, apples, grapes, oranges, cherries, and peaches. Nurse Bones created a cake in the shape of a human skeleton. Nightmare Moon created a picture depicting the night sky. Dr. Blood created half a dozen cakes in the shape of multicolored potions.

“Well shit,” Luke thought embarrassed at his work.

Flash!

All of the cakes disappeared and were arranged at the head table.

“My my,” Aphrodite said reviewing the cakes.

“A pregnant belly. How predictable,” Ares said in disdain.

“What is wrong with being predictable?” Aphrodite said looking to Luke.

“The person who made this is clearly the male sorcerer who has 20,000+ baby mamas,” Ares said in dismissal.

“Now now, I like it. The baker clearly loves pregnancy. And the love of pregnancy is still better than the love of sex. Your father Zeus was a monster,” Aphrodite said hotly

“I bet that Luke would love any pregnant woman regardless of who the father was of her child. That is more than your family can boast,” Aphrodite said poking Ares’s large chest.

Ares looked at his ex-lover, before frowning.

“Point taken, ... let’s finish our task,” Ares said before cutting a slice of Luke’s cake.

Aphrodite did the same and cut herself a slice.

“Nice simple flavors, and not too much sugar,” Aphrodite said smiling.

“I thought you liked a lot of sugar,” Ares said chewing as he eyed Aphrodite’s “heavy/thicc” avatar.

"Well done to whoever made this lovely cake,” Aphrodite said blushing.

The two judges sampled each of the cakes. The exercise of creating a cake to best represent the baker was in conflict with the anonymity that the judges were pretending to exercise.

“They are mistaking the 1st and 2nd challenges,” Luke thought in concern.

Everyone watched the demi-gods eat and bicker.

“The next challenge will be a technical challenge. You are all tasked with creating two dozen raspberry jelly-filled donut holes!” Ares yelled in annoyance.

Flash!

Everyone’s workstation was cleaned and refreshed with new supplies.

“How long do we,” Keyleth asked before being cut off.

Click!

A giant clock appeared.

“Only an hour,” Luke thought in frustration.

Luke finished making his donuts and was silently watching everyone.

“It is not exactly like the ‘British Baking Show’ but it is close enough …,” Luke thought as he watched Aphrodite.

“Times Up,” Aphrodite chimed.

“Hands Up,” Ares shouted.

Everyone jumped as their donuts were teleported to the front table. A few seconds later, Ares and Aphrodite were reviewing each pile of donuts.

“Under Cooked, … Too much jelly, … Over baked, … Not enough flower,” Ares said as he tasted each donut in turn.

Aphrodite violently bit her last donut before slowly chewing and swallowing.

“Lovely, … Now … Everyone please make a triple-layered cake that represents your final goal in life,” Aphrodite said looking to Luke.

Luke was getting nervous at this point. Aphrodite was becoming more and more focused on him.