Ultimate Muffin Baking Contest! (Open)

[Tony Redgrave]

Ah, what a beautiful day in Strawberryland! A world composed entirely of sweet delights for the tongue. Sheesh, just looking at this place was enough to make even the most hardened of souls smile with glee.. but for a certain newcomer in the midst, this setting simply awakened a feeling he had not felt in the longest. A primal roar resonated throughout the land, reaching to the far corners of the world itself! A beast looking for its pray in the wild? A wild ape man taking to the treetops and swinging on vines?

Nope. For that was the mighty roar of a manly tummy and that tummy belonged to one such man..

"ROOOOOOARRR! I HUNGER FOR NOURISHMENT!" Yup, Nouri was quite hungry and this place was really getting to him. For he himself was walking right into town and gazing upon the wonders of the land itself. Gingerbread houses with pink icing on top, Homes made entirely of a muffins, and a Strawberry shaped house right in the center! Just how was it all possible? Even looking further out in the distance, there was a running lake completely brown in color (hopefully.. that was chocolate milk or.. something) and mountains made entirely of ice cream from the looks of it and not even a sign of melting.

He was tempted to just go bananas and start trying to eat things but there was a sign just a little to his right that read something must interesting

"Today is our 20th Annual Muffin Baking Contest! Anyone is free to enter and make delicious treats! The berry best muffins will receive very nice prizes!"


Muffins they say? Ah now this was something he could get into! Baking, contrarily to popular belief is a very manly activity and very fun indeed! To pass up this would be an insult to his own manly instincts and to his valor. That and well.. there was food there obviously so if he went, there was a chance he could get some grub.

There would be no second guessing. He would enter this contest and show everyone his muffins were the berry best! But where could he sign up? The sign didn't even tell! Or rather, looking just below those words, he could see a few more.

"Sign ups are at the town square!"

"Ara.. I knew that. Now to the Town Square, post haste!" and off he went into the tasty town,

[Angel]

Angel was.. happy. This place just seemed to fit for her, and her appearance seemed to fit in it perfect. Suddenly the girl was a bright, blonde haired girl of a very youthful look, matching all the little girls that inhabited the area and made it there home. Running around hand in hand with the other girls was so fun and it was just play at first, but they were now really busy with a berry special contest they were making for everyone.

You see, everyone in Strawberryland knows that fun, friendly competitions are the best when everyone is a good sport about it and works together to have the best time possible. They all worked as a berry big team to make this the best Muffin Baking Contest that there ever was in the history of forever. Angel was ecstatic to help of course, even if she was a bit worried that she would do something icky and make everything a big mess.

Now, normally there was no "Town Square" in StrawberrryLand, but there was the berry special place that they held most of their events, and being close to Angel Cakes house was great because all of her baking supplies could be easily used in her house with all her special ovens cleaned with anticipation. Though, to people signing up, the outside where big banners full of muffins and tables aligned were out and full of cheer.. just waiting for people to come and have fun.

Angel Cakes house, as some people might wonder is obvious a large, white cake looking ever so delicious, but not actually eatable. You don't go and eat someone's home after-all, now that wouldn't be berry good manners. Angel was standing with a girl in a adorable hat tied with a bow. It had a strawberry print design and was simple but cute. Her outfit was also more of the same, it was just a simple blue jean, striped white and red shirt combo.. but looked very feminine on her youthful body. Angel was wearing a similar outfit, but without a hat... she was wearing simply an overly-large red bow in her hair.

Strawberry Shortcake was the other girls name, and she was waiting with a pen and pad for more people to come and sign up. I mean, sure, Angel was here.. but there had to be others who wanted to join. The same girls had been baking for years and they wanted new, fresh faces.. but maybe Angel was the only one to find in Strawberryland. That would be an awful shame.

[SLE]

Ai was traveling around as usual, stumbling upon new worlds with every step. Within a few steps, she would be in another town. However, this one was different. Why? It just made her feel "happy" inside. Every house, the scenery, and even the environment was made of sweets. Thinking about her dietary habits, she realized she hadn't eaten in a while. Her sweet tooth was aching, she usually packed snacks, but she ate them all before even coming to the town. She just wanted to take a bite out of the frosting covered houses. Heck, even a lick of the floor would probably be sweet.

As she passed a post by the entrance of the land, she noticed a poster. It spoke of a muffin contest. She wondered about this. This would be good idea because if she won, she would receive some sort of prize. If not, she would still get to compete, and think of the muffins. She was excited about this, and wondered if she would need her own ingredients. And if not, what if they don't have the ingredients she needs?

Acting quickly, she noticed some trees with fruit on them. She knows they wouldn't mind if she collected some of the plants. Grabbing a basket, she began collecting. The trees were very high up, and she didn't want to waste the effort, she's seen the cartoons. So, she summoned her bow, this would be good target practice. Lucky nobody was around, she was pretty sure using medieval weapons to steal fruit was frowned upon here. Nevertheless, she shot through a strawberry tree, knocking down dozens of berries, being collected into her basket. These would be perfect.

As she tasted one, realizing how sweet it was, she realized she had no idea where the town square was, and probably sure she needed to sign up for an oven or something. She rushed out of the forest she was apparently in without much thought as to how she got there, she ran randomly into the town, eventually she would figure out there were residents willing to help out, or maps she could look at.

[Maelys Knight]

Being an emperor, you would think that Gavin would be very priveleged. But no, he seemed to be stuck in a strangely pleasant forest. The trees were full of berries, so he had plenty of berries in his pack. As he walked, he felt a disturbance in the cool of the forest. He homed in on it and found a town full of small houses. The residents seemed to be only young girls. What is this, pedo city? he thought.

He proceeded through and noticed a sign talking of a muffin contest. So he headed to what seemed to be the direction of Town Square. When he got there he saw two girls side by side, one of them had a big red bow in her hair, the other; a great big hat witha strawberry insignia on it. It looked as if they were signing people up for the contest. He walked over.

Gavin: Is this where I sign up for the conest?

Shortcake: Yep!

Gavin: then I`m in.

[Big Boss]

"Sir, We have arrived to Strawberry land, should we land now?" One of the SSS Pilots asked. "It Looks just like the map said it would look like." One of the pilots pressed a button and on the screen a map popped up.


"Alright men, we made it." Kin said "Now this is what i was hoping we accomplish here, you see, The SSS has had some very bad dessert lately, our cheesecake is old, our milk to make milkshakes is sour, there aren't many people to keep up on Foodstuffs, so this is where the great children of strawberry land come into play." Kin said as he took a swig of soda from his can." "Sir, you dont mean that we enslave all the children of Strawberry land and force them to make dessert for us at the SSS base do you!?" a SSS soldier spoke up.

"PHFFFFFF!!!" Kin spat out his soda. "No!, of course not...but it would be the easiest solution, but Im not into the whole enslave a race of children idea, its overdone anyway." Kin said. "Now" Kin spoke up again. "What I want to do is earn there trust, What I can give to them in return is the aid of the mighty SSS at any time, in exchange for a nice helping of Dessert." Kin said. "Now Normally I would call upon a brawler, but since everyone is on vacation and the fact that all of you are doing your job, I suppose im going in alone." Kin said as he took out his tattered and torn red headband. "

[Tony Redgrave]

As Nouri made his way into the little town, he couldn't help but wonder if he really could pull this whole muffin thing off. Just how long had it been since he put on the apron of aptitude and got down and dirty with the kitchen. Well since he had started having his own fun with his own friends, around the age of eight, he didn't stay in the house and help out his mother as much as he could so.. maybe nine years, give or take a few months.

Ah yes, now that he put a bit of thought into it, he realized he was a tad rusty when it came to this sort of thing. But like any other time this sort of truth hit him, Nouri shrugged it off as nothing big. Surely before this whole thing kicked off, he would be familar with all the ingredients and items he would need. Also, how hard was it to make a decent muffin anyway? All you needed to do was trust your gut and use the buttermilk and.. stuff!

Yes, this was going to be easy as pie.. and no one would be able to resist the power of his limit breaking muffin known as..

~THE BLUEBERRY MUFFIN OF BEFUDDLEMENT!~

The thoughts of the judges passing out from the pleasure of just one bite, it was too much! It had to be fulfilled! So, off he went, skipping along, whistling a sweet little melody and hopping about with a bit of pep in his step. He skipped past the strawberry trees and right into town where ironically, he instantly regained his sense of awareness.

But now that he had it... the young bandit seemed a bit dumbfounded, his mind in a bit of a haze. Just what was it that he was coming here to do again?

He looked to the right..

and quickly to the left..

Nothing on right but a large, tasty looking white cake of a house. Outside of it however where dozens of little people, each of them around a few tables that had been placed there for some reason. Ah but in front of all of the people, he noticed a bunch of banners depicting muffins and the words "contest!" and "sign up here!" and things of the sort. But more importantly, there seemed to be two girls wearing similar outfits of a certain.. red and white color scheme, the one with the strawberry print design holding a pen and pad as if she was awaiting something

And then, it hit him.

"The contest! I must sign up!" Hm.. but where? He wasn't sure at all. But what do you do when you don't know something? You ask! And who better then one of those two girls he had spotted earlier? They seemed to look like they knew things. Nouri rushed over towards them, his completely closed, lips pursed up, and flailing his arms in a blinding display of speed and panic all rolled into one.

"Hey Hey!" he shouted over "Do you any of you ladies know where I can sign up for the muffin contest thingy? I have a hankering for showing off glorious manly skills in baking!" Oh he was so excited he couldn't contain it all!

[Angel]

Angel smiled and blushed as she saw someone that seemed kinda familar in a strange sort of way.. not that she really knew from where. And in that unfinished thread where they had met, she looked entirely different so Bawb probably wouldn't notice it anyway. In Strawberryland, even though all the other people still looked so remarkably anime and out of place, Angel had altered her appearance to look just like the rest of the girls. She blended in perfectly-like.

In this land, her berry pretty scent of green apples was filling up Bawb's nose of course, of course. Now, he probably wouldn't notice it any different since there was so much fruit scents in the air, but this scent would make him love Angel all the more! How wonderful was that? Love is such a great thing, though Angel would hope that Nouri would like her for how Pretty on the Inside she was. That's what really counted, if you were pretty on the inside.. you had it made!

However, it was Strawberry Shortcake who answered the question with a happy, lovely tone of voice. Seeming ever so berry ready for the fun and cute. "Suure, it's berry wonderful to meet you. My name is Strawberry Shortcake and welcome to Strawberryland. I don't think I've ever seen you before, but you look so berry special. If you wanna bake, then we'll be happy to have you and your wonderful skills! In this contest, the only rule is to have fun and make the sweetest treats you can. The winner will get a super special prize, but everyone will get special chef hats and to eat all there berry good treats. So you wanna join?" she put the pen and pad out in front of her, offering it to Nouri.

Seemed like this was going to be fun day in Strawberryland after all!

[SLE]

Rushing to get back to town, she realized that there were bunches of little girls collecting berries around here. She could probably just ask one of them. Oddly "Excuse me, little girl, I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to town? I was wondering if you could tell me how to get to town, then into town square? I want to enter the muffin contest." "Well sure, it's berry easy! Just take this path down, and you'll be there in no time! The town square is right next to the house made of cake, you can't miss it!" "Okay, thanks little girl!" Ai manged to blurt out as she ran for the town. She was sure that she was late for entry, realizing she never asked the girl. She didn't want to go now, what if she was going to make it on time, but only if she ran?

Without thinking, she left her basket of berries in the forest. She wouldn't need them if she was late anyways. So she rushed past the berry filled forest, passing by tree after tree, finally making it to the town. Only then did she realize every girl had a house based off some sort of food. It would've been like finding a cotton ball in a snowstorm, had people not been swarming over to it. It was relatively easy to spot, she made it in time too. At the booth, there were 2 girls, wearing pink, red, and white ensembles. They looked about 6 or 7, really young to be holding a competition. She guessed that was just how things worked around here. Looking around, she noticed some freshly cleaned pink ovens, probably for the competition.

Going up to the girls, she noticed one was in a strawberry themed wardrobe, she smelled of strawberries herself. The other one smelled like apples, she didn't really stand out though. "Is this where I sign up?" "Why yes it is! Another new face, how berry berry delightful!" Another new face? Ai wondered who else, not many people would stand out in a crowd of 7 year olds. Then again, most of them were girls wearing dessert outfits, any normal person would probably stand out. But she couldn't judge, not many normal people could shoot spiritual arrows either.

Ai signed her name onto the sheet. There were a few names already, most of them were dessert based. I mean "Strawberry Shortcake"? "Ginger Snap"? Was this a joke? Almost all the names on the sheet were like this. Maybe this was a theme or something, so she put herself on the list as "White Chocolate Mocha" just to play along with the kiddies.

SPOILER: Click to show

Although, she sensed a disturbance in the force...

[Maelys Knight]

ooc: that looks like a mushroom. If it attacks, Gavin fights.

Gavin stood a bit away from the signup table, watching to see who his competitors are. Along with the usual assortment of residents, there was also a man with black hair and a yellow coat, and a woman in a white dress. So this is the competition hmmm? he thought. He was just waiting for someone to notice him. I mean, how could you not notice an adult with blue robes and a tunic in a colony of children. His height did quite stand out.

[Big Boss]

The Great fox had landed behind a giant mountain that looked like a strawberry iced cake. This made some of the crew hungry and even the scientists on board had issued a mandatory "Sample" for "Research." Kin looked at his men, laughed a bit to himself, grabbed his red coat then left the ship, saluting his men. "Dont worry, I wont be gone long, Ill Que you in once i hit there main gathering area." Kin said.

Kin was in awe of his surroundings, never before has he seen a land that looked so good you could taste it. He traveled a bit, admiring and tasting some of the scenery, taking it all in. "I might just have to put a summer house here." The SSS leader said to himself. He walked for a good hour until he saw a little village, houses were decorated with sweets and candy, some were even baked goods, Kins tummy rumbled a bit. Kin took out his smash orb and contacted the Great Fox. "Well I must say, this place is unlike any other place the SSS has visited before. This seems to be some sort of super species!" Kin said. "There so advanced that they have a unlimited amount of food, the oxygen is perfect, surplus of water, and they have houses that are made of food!, this is incredible. whats your take on it?" Kin asked one of the scientists. "hermnom..weff ut..loomks, nom nom nom...*ahem* Its very, i mean looks tasty to me!" he replied. "Dont get a stomach ache, Kin out." Kin walked further into the village, the first thing he saw was a poster, it read: Muffin Baking Contest! We would Be Berry happy if you came to participate with us "Muffins huh? This could be my ticket to glory." Kin whistled as he walked into the village of Strawberryland.

[Tony Redgrave]

Ah finally, the signs up were at least in front of him. All he had left to do was sign up on the little notepad. Just as he took hold of the little items and brandished the pen with signing intent, Something came over him. In the midst of all of these sweet smells, the scent of one young girl had started to effect him in unusual ways. His gaze had fluttered from the little girl with the strawberry hat and over to her companion. Just looking at her made him feel strange.. but in a good way. It was a warm and fuzzy feeling right in his chest that radiated throughout his body. He was on cloud nine, feeling as light as a feather but his face was as red as a beet.

His hands were becoming quite sweaty as well, the pen beginning to slide right out of grasp of his fingers too. And as if that wasn't bad enough, his voice had wavered as well. "Uhhh.. y-y-yeah.. I'll join.. Ummm.. err.. what's my name again..?" Ah, how embarrassing! Looking at this little girl made him all nervous and shaky, and brought on an inconvenient bout of memory loss. He needed a name.. as fast so he could get out of his situation! "Ummm... uhhh.. Lets see.." He took a moment to examine himself. He was wearing a yellow trench coat as far as he could see. He also had black hair, he remembered that fairly well. And he was wearing a pair of cargo pants of a certain light brown color. Yes, it was coming together now.. sorta.

"MY NAME IS BANANA PARFAIT!" he suddenly announced as he jotted it down. Then, after he handed back both the pen and pad, he turned his attention to the little girl with the super sized red bow. Nouri bowed to her at least ten times in a row, as if he was apologizing to her for an unforgivable act. "PLEASE DISTURB ME FOR EXCUSING YOU!" he shouted to her before taking his leave to the right. Charming and yet quite disturbing at the same time, he was in fact the type of person that got this way if he had a girl to crush on.. but wait, these girls were like seven years old at least! This just wasn't right.. was it?!?!?

[Angel]

Oh, Angel was kinda confused now. The bigger people had been showing up and thanks to Angel's less than terrific memory as of late, she couldn't remember living outside of Strawberryland. Not only that, the bigger person that had just spoken to her had acted kinda strange.. like he was all scared or something. She didn't know the exact feeling.

Luckily, if Nouri really was too disturbed by the idea of liking such a young girl, the emotional feelings of the scents could be shifted from romantic, to parental or really close friends. Just some sort of emotional attachment, something that made the person like Angel in some way.

But besides that point, Strawberry Shortcake was getting pretty happy. So many bright and fresh new faces. "Well, it's berry wonderful to meet you all. Banana Parfait, White Chocolate Mocha, and everyone else! I hope you guys are going to have fun and keep visiting Strawberryland as much as you possibly can. If it's not too much of a bother, can I ask where you all came from? We've never seen such special friends like you are around here!" not a hint of sarcasm or anything negative came from her voice. She was seriously happy to meet some wonderful new friends, and even though she had learned that not everyone was super friendly right at start she didn't suspect a single thing from them.

Angel on the other hand was just simply scared, clinging to Strawberry's shirt whenever she could obviously a lot more nervous at the new guests. She didn't wanna be hurt or anything scary, and these people looked a lot more dangerous. She hoped that no one would try destroy her berry pretty new home..

[SLE]

Ai hasn't seen any non-7 year olds around here at all. Seeing the only other regular person here, she seemed relieved. Well, until he had that random burst out. Now she assumed everyone here was nuts. Heh, she made a pun, sweets everywhere, nuts. But still, it was odd, she was the only sane adultish person around here. She felt special, but alone at the same time. I mean, she might be the only one who's legally allowed to use the ovens. That was a lot of thinking, the scents of fruit must've been getting to her.

"Well, nice to meet you, Banana Parfait.." Ai said with a compassionate smile on her face as she extended her hand forward. This man was weird, but he was competing too, better to make friends than make rivals. She looked back and saw the girl in the pink gazing at her extended hand, she was probably waiting for the shake of friendship. The other girl, however, was just sitting there, she looked scared. She was where the smell of apples was coming from. She had an urge to protect that one, no idea what compelled her to.

SPOILER: Click to show

Her feeling was correct, just as nothing was happening, A GIANT MUFFIN burst from the floor.

How ironic, a muffin attacking a muffin contest. Actually, she had no idea if it was attacking, maybe it was here for the contest. Nobody else seemed to mind, they seemingly all lost their colors. So Ai ignored it as well, maybe it was another random occurance, there was no telling what happens in this world.

[Maelys Knight]

Such drama. The man in yellow, Banana, has fallen in love with a 7-year-old, and another tall person comes up and wants to shake his hand. Could this be the beginning of a dramatic love triangle? Well, things like this were none of his business.

He looked around and noticed that everyone was preparing for the contest. Some ovens were being set up, a judges table was placed to the right of the ovens, a loooooong table that was as long as the row of ovens was placed a few feet away from the front of the ovens. So the contest is soon to start, hmm? he thought. Well, it looks like he should now introduce himself to the other two. He went up to them.

Gavin: Hello.

[Tony Redgrave]

Phew.. what a horrifying ordeal that was. He just didn't understand where in Sam Hill could feelings like that come out of nowhere. For now at least, he didn't want to get any closer to her, let alone look at her.. no matter how lovely she appeared... ~No! Bad thoughts go away, come again another day!~ Bad indeed.. as how was he going to live with himself, let alone do this contest in this state? He was considering actually dropping out of this whole thing and getting as far away from this place as he could. That is until someone quite approached him. A young woman clad in nothing but white as far as he could tell. She wasn't beautiful but, she wasn't homely either. In fact, one could say she had the looks of the average lady in an average town. Maybe she even had average parents who had average jobs and she herself had a rather average set of friends.

But, she seemed nice was evident by her greeting and the extending of the hand. Nice to see some people were in the spirit for a friendly competition and though Nouri was still shaken up about the odd thoughts and feelings that were filling his head, he took hold of her hand and gave her a firm and hardy handshake. Hello Hello! Hi Hi! he shouted at the top of his lungs, still shaking her hand up and down with no real end in sight. Just how long would he do it? He would have gone on indefinitely if no for another young man coming up to the both of them. With his words of greetings, Nouri released her hand, turned to him and began repeatably bowing to him in quick session Howdy Howdy, Sup Sup?? The giant muffin that had came onto the scene was largely unnoticed by him since he was caught up in his own little feelings.