The Food Eating Competition

     A Blue Tonu in a nice suit walks onto a stage. Behind him is a long table filled with plates of food and Neopets seated ready to eat. “Welcome to our Food Eating Contest! I’m your host, Mr. Huckerman! We are once again hosting our competition this weekend at the Neopian Plaza. Earn yourself a nice new trophy along with 100,000 Neopoints! We love to see new participants, so come on by and join us!” The host gave a wide smile before the commercial ended.

     “Oh, I’ve heard of this event being held before! Maybe I should go check it out this time,” Eli said to himself, continuing his day while dreaming of eating delicious foods.

     ***

     The weekend came quicker than he had expected, but Eli was eager to head down to the plaza and try something new. Once he was there, he saw the usual open-grassed area was set up how it was in the commercial. On the stage there were already some other Neopians and the host for the contest, Mr. Huckerman. He walked up the steps to join them and heard the Blue Tonu talking.

     “There will be a total of three rounds, each with three items you need to consume: an entrée, a dessert, and a drink. You want to eat the entirety of the plates as quickly as you can. The first to finish will earn themselves 5 points, second gets 3 points, third gets 2 points, and all others after will get 1 point for participation. Whoever has the most points after three rounds wins! Does anyone have any questions?” The host looked around, eager to get started.

     “Is it too late to join?” Eli piped up.

     “Certainly not! Here’s a nametag you can write your name on, and then you can all grab your seats as we get ready to begin.” Mr. Huckerman handed him a nametag and pen and left as went to finish setting up for the food eating contest.

     Eli wrote down his name and stuck the tag to his chest. He looked at the other contestants on stage with him – twin Blue Acaras named Junie and Joanie, a Red Mynci named Mikey, and a Green Grarrl named Greg. “Nice to meet you all! Have you done this before?”

     “This is our first time entering!” the Acaras said in unison.

     Mikey spoke up next. “Greg and I are regulars. Although it’s been a while since I’ve been able to beat him,” he said with a grumble.

     Greg laughed. “What can I say? Eating just comes so naturally! I’m sure you’ll get your win again,” the Grarrl said with a nudge. “Is this your first time? I don’t recall seeing you here before.”

     “Yeah, this is new to me! I saw the commercial on TV a few days ago and figured I’d give it a shot!” the Chomby said with glee.

     They continued with small chatter until they were directed to take their seats.

     The host walked to the center of the stage and addressed the crowd seated below. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen! I’m your host, Mr. Huckerman, and we are here today to see these eager Neopians eat some food as quickly as they can! Let’s give our contestants a big round of applause!” the Tonu paused as he allowed the audience to clap and cheer and continued once the noise died down. “We have an exciting theme for today’s competition: Gourmet Food!”

     ”Yum! This should be a grand time!” Eli dreamily thought of all the great tasting and expensive foods he would get the chance to eat. Chicken Filets with Fancy Sauce, Chokato Deluxe Aisha Cake, Cadaverous Cola… His mouth watered at the thought of all the possibilities.

     “Please bring out our first set of dishes!” Mr. Huckerman announced and waited for the judges to set the plates before the eaters. “Our first round will begin with The Fruit Basket You Forgot About, Tomato Cheesecake, and Onion Cola!” The judges pulled off the lids to the plates so everyone could have a view of the gross foods laid in front of them.

     “No way this is Gourmet Food!” Eli blurted out in surprise. He covered his mouth, embarrassed at his unexpected proclamation.

     “Ah, but it is!” their host said with his big smile. “It may also be Gross Food… but it is indeed still Gourmet,” he said with a wink.

     The Yellow Chomby took a deep breath. “Okay, this is a little different than we expected… but we still got this,” he said, still determined. He looked at the dishes laid out in front of him. ”I guess this first set doesn’t look that bad,” he thought to himself.

     “Everyone ready?” Mr. Huckerman announced, looking at the contestants and waiting for their approval. “Alright, let’s begin!” he shouted as he blew an air horn.

     Eli grabbed the basket filled with rotten fruits and the musty smell overwhelmed him. He felt like this was the worst of the options, so it would be better to save the easier food items for later. He picked out a worm crawling out of an apple and took a bite out of it. ”Yep, definitely rotten.” The Chomby grabbed the Onion Cola and took a swig to help him swallow the fruit. The onion flavour was unappealing, but at least it was manageable. As he finished the rest of the basket, he grabbed the plate with the Tomato Cheesecake. Cheesecake was his favourite dessert, although he was a bit unsure about the addition of tomato. Eli took a bite and was pleasantly surprised. Sure, he preferred the sweeter options he normally had like berry or caramel or chocolate, but this savoury edition wasn’t too bad. He quickly swallowed the rest and raised his arms up as soon as he finished his course.

     A judge came by to look at his empty dishes and nodded with approval. Eli pumped his arm in excitement and looked down the table at the rest of the contestants. He didn’t do too badly, with only Greg finishing before him. Mikey and the twins were still eating.

     A few moments later and the airhorn blew again. “Great job everyone for finishing the first round! Greg takes the lead with 5 points, Eli earns 3 points, and Mikey will follow them up with 2 points for finishing in third. Junie and Joanie will both earn 1 participation point.”

     ”Okay, not a bad start. Just a couple points behind. We can make that up in these next two rounds.”

     The judges came out with new platters and set them before the contestants. The covers were lifted so everyone could get a glimpse of round two. “Your main course will be a Smelly Sardine Wrap. These sardines were perfectly cooked by laying out in the sun for three days. Don’t mind the smell too much! This will be accompanied by a Week Old Glass of Milk to wash it down and a Mayonnaise Doughnut for dessert! Enjoy!” Mr. Huckerman gave everyone a moment to study their plates before he blew the airhorn again.

     Eli knew he needed to make up some time to earn more points, so he quickly grabbed the milk glass. It was not easy to drink as he felt the curdled bits slosh around his mouth, but he forced it down anyway. Next, he grabbed the sardine wrap. “Man, that sun-cooked fish really does stink,” the Chomby said right before he took his first bite. As he ate the wrap he glanced at the others and saw everyone was still eating. ”Let’s hope I can take first this round!” he thought as he shoved the rest of the wrap in his mouth while reaching for the dessert. Once he was able to swallow, he started on the doughnut. ”Okay, just imagine, no mayonnaise here… just a normal cream filling… nothing unusual or gross here…” In a moment Eli finished and signaled to show he had finished. In doing so he realized that Mikey had beat him by a second, with Greg finishing right after. ”Darn! So close! At least I was able to push Greg down to third this round at least.”

     Their host blew the airhorn. “Well done! Round two is complete. Our new updated standings show both Greg and Mikey with 7 points, and Eli with 6 points. Junie and Joanie seem to have dismissed themselves from the competition, so they are now out of the running.”

     Eli turned and saw the pair walking off the stage with pale faces. Their plates from that round hardly looked touched. “Fine by me. The less competition, the better,” he said. ”I really need to get first place this round though if I want to win…”

     “Let’s not wait any longer! Bring out our final round dishes!” Mr. Huckerman said as he waited for the judges to reveal their final meal. “Alright gentlemen, I hope you’ve kept your appetite! Our special today will be a Mynci Brain Sandwich with an Octopus Ice Cream Platter, paired with a nice cold Danderlice Surprise!”

     The Yellow Chomby felt his stomach turn in a knot. ”Come on Eli, you’re so close. You got this,” he thought, trying to hype himself up.

     “And begin!” their host yelled and once again blew the airhorn.

     Unsure where to begin, Eli grabbed the plate closest to him, which happened to be the sandwich. ”Well, I’ve never tried brain before, but now is as good a time as ever,” he thought as he started to eat.

     As he wondered how Mikey would do with this meal, he heard a chair scoot back and fall over from the table. Eli looked over to see Mikey standing and running off the stage. “I… I can’t do this!” the Red Mynci yelled with his paws over his mouth.

     ”That means it’s just me and Greg! I need to hurry!” Eli finished his sandwich and started on the Danderlice Surprise. Surprise! It wasn’t great. ”Just a milkshake… just a milkshake… get it down,” he thought as he finished the drink. He grabbed his bowl of ice cream at the same time as Greg. He quickly grabbed his spoon and started shoveling big scoops into his mouth. ”This strawberry ice cream is great! I could do without the rubbery bit though,” he thought as he chewed on a piece of octopus. The ice cream bowl was huge, but finally he took his last spoonful. “Done! I’m done! I’ve finished!” he yelled as he stood from the table raising his arms up. He looked at his fellow competitor and saw that he just put the last spoonful in his mouth.

     The airhorn rang. “Our competitors have finished eating! After tallying the votes for our two remaining competitors, we would like to congratulate Greg for second place with 10 points, and Eli for taking the lead right at the end, earning himself first place with 11 points! Let’s give everyone a big cheer!” Mr. Huckerman announced to the crowd. The audience cheered and the Blue Tonu came up to him with a shiny trophy and bag on Neopoints. “Congratulations kid! You earned it!” he said with that broad smile and handed him his winnings.

     Greg came up to congratulate Eli next. “Well done! It’s been a while since I’ve been dethroned. And to a newbie! Keep it up, it was fun to have some new competition,” the Green Grarrl said.

     Eli was at a loss for words. “Thank you everyone, I’m speechless! The food wasn’t what I expected, but I still had a lot of fun! I look forward to competing again in the future!” he said excitedly as he went to celebrate with some new friends.

     The End.