Stepping on Ingredients is Not Cooking

Alex's eye twitched in annoyance. The building that stood before her may have resembled an old style McDonald's down to the red and yellow color scheme but the differences she recognized were enough to make her reconsider entering the building. Instead of the large yellow M that she was accustomed to seeing around the building it was instead replaced with a large B and the name of the fast food chain had been replaced with a title that made her more angry than hungry. Where McDonald's would normally be written in large letters instead read BurgerTime in alternating red and yellow letters.

“You have got to be kidding me” Alex muttered miserably. I knew some of the restaurants in this awful place were based off of those stupid games but even the burger joint? Just how obsessed is that psycho chick with video games anyway? Is her whole life built around the pointless and stupid?

“Um, are we not going in?” Luanne asked timidly. “You said you wanted a burger and this place seems like the perfect place for it.”

Alex turned to glare at the girl she was stuck too. “Yes I'm aware that I said I wanted a burger. I'm the one who said it. But do you really want food from a place based off of that game?” Alex said pointing a finger accusingly at the offending building.

“Um, yes?” Luanne responded nervously. “Is there a reason I wouldn't? I've heard the name but I don't really know anything about the game. It's a lot older than us after all. I'm surprised you know about it?”

Luanne gulped as Alex's expression turned even more sour. “It's not like I want to know about it but my family owns a game store in case you have forgotten. Combine that with our star employee's obsession with retro games it's not like I had much of a choice.” Alex turned back to the restaurant and paused before continuing her explanation. “Besides it got multiple re-releases over the years so it being old doesn't really count as much of an excuse. You can get it on consoles as new as the PlayStation 4 and the Switch.” She grimaced as she looked at the restaurant. Let's just get this over with. So far if there is anything good I can say about this show is that all of the food has been delicious so this place should be the same. Taking a deep breath to ready herself Alex pushed her way through the doors and into the restaurant dragging Luanne with her.

Alex almost turned around and stormed back out when she saw the creature manning the register. Mr. Hot Dog, the humanoid wiener himself, was standing behind the counter flashing them a large customer service smile. “Hello and welcome to BurgerTime” he said cheerfully. “How can I help you today?”

Sighing in despair Alex walked up to the counter with Luanne. As you would expect with a McDonald's knockoff there was a massive menu hung up above the counter. Unlike a McDonald's menu though it was not split into a ton of different sections. This menu was only divided into two categories, regular and special. _What makes special so special? _Alex thought checking out that side first. As she read some of the options Alex quickly discovered what was so special about the menu.

8-Bit Burger – Turns the eater 8-bit for 24 hours (1 time consumable)

Pickle Burger Supreme – Makes any juices excreted by the consumer taste like pickle juice for 24 hours (1 time consumable)

Alex stopped reading after that one completely grossed out by it. So we can buy magic food that works on the other contestant's? That's potentially interesting. Distracted from her thoughts by her stomach growling Alex turned towards the regular menu where she noticed that everything was thankfully free.

“I'll just have a large burger, a large fries, and a large Dr. Pepper” Alex said to the giant wiener

“I'll have the sAME” Luanne said her voice raising at the end as her hand pinched one of her nipples.

Alex rolled her eyes as Mr. Hot Dog turned away to relay their orders to the back. As he did Alex had a disturbing though. “Oh and if I find out that your chef stepped on any parts of our meals I'm shoving you into the deep fryer myself, got it?” Alex shouted at him. He nodded at her fearfully before running into the kitchen area. She ignored Luanne staring at her confused as she looked into the back. Just like in most fast food restaurants it was clearly visible so she could still see him. As she suspected she saw Mr. Egg and Mr. Pickle running abound the kitchen along with the games human chef Peter Pepper. Thankfully none of them attempted to step on any of the ingredients as she watched them prepare the food normally.

Very quickly both of had been loaded up onto trays before them and they carried them over to a table and slid into a booth together. Alex had to use what little strength remained in her arms to **** the brim of her annoying wide and solid skirt under the table so it wouldn't be in her face the whole meal. A full load out of condiments littered the table and they made full use of them as they began to tear into their meals. As Alex took a bite of her burger she moaned in delight. This place may be awful and stupid but this is the best burger I have ever had she thought as she quickly took a second bite.

Daisy hummed happily to herself as she finished off another of her wings. She was lucky that bars specialized in finger foods otherwise eating without the use of her right hand would have been pretty annoying. Speaking of her right hand Daisy looked over at the person that was attached to it. Sylvia still sat in the bar stool next to her but instead of happily eating some wings Sylvia was slumped over the counter ****. Her face was buried in her half eaten basket of nachos and several empty mugs scattered the bar around her head. Maybe it's a good thing I wasn't allowed to drink. Given how she was acting under the influence maybe I should just stay away from the stuff with such an important contest going on.

Turning back to the bar Daisy picked up another wing and gave a friendly nod to the bartender moogle as he floated by. The moogle nodded back with a cheery smile and began to clean up the glasses surrounding the **** drunk. Not that I mind how things have turned out. I got the info I wanted from Sylvia and have had plenty of time to have a friendly chat with the moogle working the bar. That bitch Lydia may think she's the only one that has useful info after visiting that Junko's Information Academy place but there's more than one way to gather information around here. Cheaper ones too. This place is basically one giant video game and manuals like that do give you a lot of knowledge but befriending the NPC's is usually one of the most beneficial ways to gain knowledge and advantages in a game.

Looking back over at Sylvia Daisy was starting to realize the one downside to how things had played out. _I am kind of stuck here until she wakes up though. Oh well. _She pulled her copy of the rule book from her inventory and started reading to pass the time.

“Left, left, forward three paces, left again...” Akane concentrated on matching her movement up with Candy's instructions as best as she could which was admittedly quite hard since they couldn't see most of their bodies through the sea of plastic balls. She was beginning to internally panic. How long have we been at this? Akane wondered. It's definitely been hours but how many? Is it almost time for my date with Bruce? If so how close is it? Sally never said how long before the date I would split off so it could be in five minutes for all I know.

Looking at her two companions didn't do much for Akane's confidence. Candy continued to shout out the steps to the maze they had slowly memorized through much trial and error but Akane could see that she was starting to look worn out from all the effort. Gwen on the other hand seemed to almost be moving in a daze. After who knows how many falls through the holes in the ball pit and wading through all the balls Gwen's transformation had taken a noticeable toll on her. If Candy wasn't physically supporting her I'm sure she would have just laid down in the pit and passed out by now. The direct cause of Gwen's tiredness was something Akane was trying her best not to think about.

Candy keeps assuring us that we are close but she's been saying that for at least an hour. While I agree that it feels like we are close I have no points. If I'm late I'll be penalized and lose points. What even happens if I get a penalty? Sally's favorite punishment seems to be giving negative upgrades to transformations but what does that even look like with mine? Both are clothing based? I can't show off more of my legs than I already am. And how do you get more schoolgirl than schoolgirl? The fact that I can't figure out what it could be makes me more terrified. I'm doomed. We'll never escape this maze and I'll end up with a massive penalty for missing my date with...

“AKANE.” Akane was shaken out of her spiraling negative thoughts by Candy shouting her name. “Are you alright? I've been trying to get your attention but you weren't answering.”

“Oh um yeah I-I'm fine” Akane managed to stammer out. “J-just a little lost in thought.”

“That's good” Candy said looking relieved. “Don't worry, we're almost out of here. Look, we've only got a few more feet between us and the edge of the maze.”

Akane looked over and realized it was true. Just a few more big steps and they would be free. Her rising hopes instantly began to fall as she realized they had reached the part of the maze where they had nothing memorized. Physically we may be close but we could still be hours away depending on where the holes are.

“Stop that” Candy said cutting her off. “I can see the negativity forming on your face. Don't worry. Even if we get it wrong again that just means we have more info. If there is no hole in front of us we're free so I say we just close our eyes, take a deep breath, and just go for it. Alright?”

Closed eyes, deep breath. I can do that. Managing a small smile Akane nodded at Candy.

“Great” Candy chirped happily. Akane glued her eyes shut and took a deep breath. “Now on the count of three. One, two, three.”

Akane took a large step forward and to her intense amazement felt ground beneath her feet as she completed her step. After a moment's hesitation to make sure she wasn't falling she opened her eyes and turned to Candy with a huge smile on her face. Only for it to disappear as she realized she was standing in the ball pit alone.