Another little plot bunny. Hope you like it!
_ _ OP: "SHE no JIJITSU" – AAA
TORIKO X NARUTO
GENERATION X: BISHOUKYA EXTRORDINAIRE!
EP0: CHANCE MEETINGS AND THE GARARA GATOR!
_
~FLASHBACK~
A lone boy, shoulder-length blonde hair swaying in the wind, stood on shaky legs, looking around a large clearing frantically. Just from looking, anyone could see a battle of disastrous proportions had taken place; trees had been either torn to pieces or wholly uprooted, plants of all sorts and sizes torn from the ground, and the air… felt dense. The air had enough dust and dirt in it to be considered a health hazard. In fact, the air was saturated with a fair amount of smoke and steam, creating a large screen that obscured the boy's vision.
"GUYS!" the youth called, eyes darting in every direction, body twisting and spinning to keep up with his frantic searching, "GUYS! ANYONE, CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Growing frustrated by the smoke and steam, the boy held out an arm, flattening his hand so the fingers and thumb were all aligned.
"KNIFE!" the boy shouted, swinging his arm laterally in an arc, generating a gust of wind that swept away the smokescreen. He soon wished he hadn't.
Laying face-down in the dirt, scattered like chaff to the wind, were the bodies of almost twenty people, each one torn and bloody. Some looked as though they were missing limbs, while one in particular, a tall, muscular man with shoulder-length, spiky blue hair and three scars along his left cheek, had almost his entire torso and stomach missing.
"SENSEI!" The boy shouted. Taking off at a run, the boy slid onto his knees, stopping next to his teacher's side. The muscular man opened his eyes.
"Shounen…" the man gasped, trying to catch his breath. Seconds later, the man passed out.
"SENSEI, I'M SO SORRY! I SHOULDN'T HAVE PUSHED YOU TO LET US TAKE THIS JOB! THE NITRO… WE WEREN'T READY! I SHOULD HAVE KEPT QUIET!" Naruto said, tears flying down his face as the roar of industrial helicopters roared overhead. The boy shook his head violently, finally throwing his head skyward for one final scream of pain and anguish:
"YOU CAN'T LEAVE, TORIKO-SENSEI!"
~FLASH-FORWARD~
"In terms of remuneration," A single feminine voice said, "The chief has decided on a flat fee of two-hundred thousand yen regardless of whether the target is captured dead or alive; however, there is a one-hundred-and-fifty thousand yen bonus involved for bringing the target in unharmed. And, at roughly two-hundred thousand yen per kilo and roughly five-hundred kilos, you'd be set for life with the funds you gain from this job! What do you say?"
On the top of a tall cliff overlooking a grand, crystal-clear blue lake, standing on solid ground, in front of a large forest, was a young woman of medium build with long brown hair and brown eyes, wearing a clean white suit. Across from her, sitting on a tree stump at the cliff's edge, sat a muscular youth with shoulder-length spiky blonde hair. The youth, however, seemed to have completely ignored his addresser's voice, as he sat completely still, holding a long steel rod wrapped in what looked like extremely thick cord. The girl took a look around the side and, to her surprise, found that the end of the cord was wrapped around a massive grasshopper.
The youth, ever blissfully ignorant of his visitor, held the pole with his left hand while he reached his now free right hand into a cooler full of food and pulled out a large lobster. With less than a thought, the youth bit into the lobster's shell and grinned wide as he chewed his food, shell and all. The girl watched as the youth grabbed a small bottle, the word "BRANDY" emblazoned on the label, and held it level over his mouth. Planting the rod deep in the ground, the boy lifted his now free left arm and leveled it, flat with the pinky finger held downward at an angle, an inch from the bottom of the bottle.
The girl gasped: she never even saw his hand move. One instant, it was placed seconds away from the bottle's bottom, the next it was back at his side with the bottle's bottom falling off, sliced clean from the rest of the bottle, allowing the golden liquid within to drop down into the youth's waiting, open mouth, where it descended into his stomach in one hard gulp. The boy next reached for a small tree rooted into the cliff-face next to him and snapped a branch off. Placing it between his teeth, he smirked as he brought his empty fingers up to the waiting end of the branch and snapped. The sheer friction made a spark in the air, igniting the branch moments later. One deep breath was followed by a large cloud of smoke rolling from the boy's mouth like a fog cloud.
'H-he cut through a glass bottle with his bare hand and didn't get hurt… AND lit a Cigar Tree branch JUST by snapping his fingers? Who is this guy?' the girl asked. Seconds after, the line jerked, prompting the youth to jump to his feet.
The boy smiled wide and shouted, "ALRIGHT, IT'S HERE!" Giving the rod a good pull, the boy pulled up a massive fish with lobster claws growing under its gills.
"WHOO, I CAUGHT A CRAYFISH COD!" the boy shouted happily. Just then, a large eagle with five large tails swooped in and sank its talons into the fish, with the intent to carry it away.
The boy gave the bird a wicked smirk and muttered, "You think so, Tori-yaro*?"Releasing one hand from the pole, the boy whipped around, planting both feet square on the grassy turf as he pulled hard on the rod, bringing both the fish AND the eagle came sailing straight over his head, only to crash into the ground between him and the girl and lose consciousness.
"W-W-WHAT WAS THAT?" the girl shouted out loud.
Laughing heartily, the boy smiled wide and said, "DAMN! Haven't lost it yet! I managed to hook in a Five-Tailed Great Eagle with my fish! That's what I call a two-for-one special!" It was then, and only then, that his eyes landed on the girl ahead of him, both hands covering her mouth as she gave him a shocked and bewildered look.
"Who're you?" he asked, "And what are you doing here anyway?" The girl dropped her hands to her side.
"So, you didn't hear a word I said?" she asked. The boy shook his head, and the girl sighed.
"Since I have to start over again…" she began, "My name is Ichiraku Ayame. My father Teuchi and I are the head chefs of Hotel Gourmet. Due to a very bad back injury a few weeks ago, I'm here in his stead to represent both our restaurant AND the IGO, who have asked me to deliver a request for your aide." The boy held up a hand for her to stop.
"And why exactly do you think I should help? What's in it for me?" the boy asked.
A little miffed, Ayame continued, "AS I was going to say, your target is a Garara Gator that we wish to use for the main dish in a high-class dinner party several weeks from today. However, this one's a little… more mature than you've probably dealt with. IGO is offering two hundred thousand yen for its capture, whether it is dead OR alive; however, they will be adding an extra hundred-and-fifty thousand yen for a live capture performed without severe damage to the beast. They are also willing to grant you total collection of the royalties from the sale of the meat that isn't used. You're looking at well over a couple MILLION yen."
The boy thought it over a moment, and then shook his head.
He turned around and said, "Tell your boss I'm not interested. I've dealt with just about every kind of creature and sampled some of the best. I'm not interested in something I've already-"
"I WILL NOT LEAVE THIS PLACE EMPTY-HANDED, BISHOKUYA UZUMAKI NARUTO!" Ayame shouted loudly, running from her place by the woods to grab the back of Naruto's collar to shake him violently. Without a second's hesitation, Naruto flexed his muscles, effectively ripping his way out of his shirt and backing off several steps. Ayame took a second to look at the ruined garment, soon tossing it aside to charge him again… before her eyes caught sight of Naruto's chest. Twelve-pack abs, solid Pecs, and the arms… those rippling muscles almost made her knees give out. She felt her breathing go shallow, her face flush, and her hands go cold, before she violently shook her head. When she looked back up, Naruto had already pulled on a fresh shirt from a small sack on the opposite side of the tree trunk he'd been sitting on earlier, muttering something about being glad that he always traveled with spare clothes.
Giving the flustered Ayame another look, Naruto said, "You know what? I think I'll take the job after all. I have NEVER had a request from anyone as spirited as you, or from anyone with as much fight as you. How much info do we have on this thing?" Ayame snapped back and pulled a folder out of her handbag and held it out for him. Naruto walked over and took it.
Opening the folder, Naruto leafed through the pages. Suddenly he stopped, his eyes bulging.
"This thing… is?" he asked, smiling when Ayame nodded.
Naruto smiled. Things were finally picking up for him.
"Oh, and just so you know, I didn't respond to you earlier because of a combination of deep concentration… and the fact that you addressed me by a name that I no longer use. My name hasn't been Uzumaki Naruto for several years now," he said. Ayame, puzzled, asked what name he used. With a simple, cryptic glance, Naruto looked her in the eyes.
"My name… IS TORUKO*."
~GEN X~
~TWO DAYS LATER~
Ayame stood in front of a small speedboat, wearing what some might consider "hunting" clothes: full camouflage, high-legged boots, face paint, gloves, and blocker shades that obscured a good portion of her face; she'd covered the rest of her face with a cloth mask, so she really looked more like a robber than a hunter. She nearly jumped out of her clothes from surprise when a familiar voice called out from behind her.
"HEY AYAME-SAN, IT'S SO NICE OF YOU TO JOIN US!" Toruko shouted. When Ayame turned, she found him, holding a large sack over his shoulder by a pull-cord, walking up with two other people: a young man with a black bowl cut and a young woman with pink hair. The boy, sporting matching green-dyed jeans and cotton muscle shirt, had big eyes, eyebrows that resembled seaweed, and a small, cat-like mouth curved up in a smile. The girl, emerald green eyes sparkling in the sunlight, was wearing a red shirt and shorts with sandals. The two were holding hands. Ayame smiled.
"So which of these two is coming with us on this expedition, Toruko-san?" Ayame said. Toruko and his friends gave her a look.
"Toruko-san," the boy said, "You didn't tell us she'd be coming along!"
"Yeah," the girl said, "I don't want anyone taking Lee-kun from me!" The boy smiled as he pulled the girl's hand, yanking her into his arms and into a warm embrace.
"First off, it's been Lem for several years now. And besides, I've told you, Sakura-chan. I'm yours and yours ONLY. I'm not letting ANYONE mess that up. I promised you that, remember?" Lem asked. Sakura smiled.
"I know… You know my history with that … other guy…" Sakura said, her face curving downward in a hurt look. Toruko leaned in and ruffled her hair.
"Don't worry, Sakura-san. He wrote me a few months ago and asked me to tell you he's sorry for how he treated you. If he could have the whole thing to do over… he'd have tried a lot harder," Toruko said. Sakura nodded.
"In any case, Toruko-san," Lem said, "We're ready to shove off whenever you are. Board at your leisure, though we may want to get this done sooner rather than later. After all, it's as you always say: Strike while the meal is hot, because every time after that is the wrong time!"
"Are you sure about this? You may want to write up a will if you're going with us; we can't guarantee your safety out there… and if you die because you came of your own will and not because of orders… your worker's compensation won't cover it. Are you sure you still want to come with us, knowing all that?" Toruko asked. Ayame pulled out a folded piece of paper and opening it, revealing the cursive-print heading "LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT".
"I left the house this morning knowing full-well what I was getting into. I've already prepared for everything. Let's go and catch that gator!" Ayame said, boarding the boat. Everyone else stared after her as if she were crazy.
"Well, work waits for no man. I'll return as soon as possible, alright, Sakura?" Lem said, leaning in to kiss Sakura tenderly on the lips. She smiled.
"I'm counting on it!" Sakura said, smiling as she stepped back from the dock. Lem smiled and, with little more than a jump, landed in the boat's cockpit. Ayame looked at him as if he were a freak.
Toruko leaned over to his female charge and said, "You may want to hold onto something. Once Lem-san gets the boat out in the water… let's just say he "feels the need for speed." Ayame gave him another odd look, but held onto the guardrail as Lem edged the boat from the dock. As soon as he'd moved away from the pier, Ayame felt a sense of foreboding dread when these words left Lem's mouth:
"ALRIGHT OLD GIRL… SHOW DADDY WHY YOU'RE HIS LITTLE GIRL!"
With that, Lem threw the throttle into maximum gear and, unleashing a deep, guttural roar, the boat's engine sprang to life and sent the boat hurtling over the water. Ayame found herself holding the guardrail for dear life as the small boat roared its way across the waters, her screams of terror drowned out by the unholy noise of the engine.
Over the deafening roar, Ayame barely heard Toruko say, "Good that you can hold on so tightly! This boat's bee re-worked by Lem-san to go over two-hundred-thousand miles on a quarter-tank of gas. Lem-san reworked this thing to be a beast of the open seas… he can get us to the island and back without using more than that one quarter tank of gas." Ayame opened her eyes to look around, soon after gasping in shock.
While she was gripping the guardrail with an iron death-grip, Toruko was standing close to the bow of the boat, with one foot on the handrail and his arms crossed confidently, serenely gazing out over the seemingly endless waves.
'W-what's going on?' Ayame asked herself, 'I'm just barely holding one… how is he that balanced?' Toruko looked around narrowing his eyes as he noticed a group of gangly, long-chinned monkeys standing out on the rocks.
'Why are Friday Monkeys out on the reef? They normally spend their cowardly lives in caves… something must have driven them out. Must be that gator…' Toruko thought. Ayame snapped from her own thoughts when Toruko's voice boomed over the engine once again.
"GET READY, AYAME-SAN, WE'RE COMING UP ON THE ARCHIPELAGO'S REEF NOW! WE'RE IN LUCK; NORMALLY WE'D HAVE TO GET OUT AND ROW OUR WAY IN ON A LIFE-BOAT, BUT LEM-SAN KNOWS THIS REEF LIKE THE BACK OF HIS HAND!" Ayame suddenly felt sick. If Lem was this bad on just a straight shot, she didn't want to know how hard he'd take the incoming twists and turns of the rocky reef.
Sure enough, as soon as the reef came into sight, Lem pressed a button on the back of the wheel and sent the boat shooting into the reef, turning masterfully around each one. Ayame managed to look ahead and noticed the end of the reef… with one really big rock coming up.
"LEM-SAN PLEASE, GO AROUND THAT ROCK!" Ayame begged. Lem wasn't listening. With a psychotic laugh of triumph, he pressed the button again, forcing the engine to churn faster than ever and the motor to roar like never before. Ayame screamed in sheer horror as the boat careened straight toward the rock, took to the rock's front and soared up and through the air like an airplane going down the runway. One more scream pierced the air as the boat landed back in the water with an almighty splash. Sensing that they were close to land, Lem stopped the motor, allowing the small craft to skip along the water's surface several times before slowly drifting toward the shore.
"Lem-san… could you please bring out the raft. We're paddling the rest of the way to shore," Toruko said.
"Why's that?" Lem asked. Toruko looked out over the turf.
"I can smell something's wrong. There's danger afoot…" Toruko said cryptically.
~GEN X~
Half an hour later, after vigorous rowing, Toruko and Ayame hit land. Keeping her eyes wide open, Ayame looked from one side to the other, making certain nothing escaped her sight. A sound met her ears form the right, and out of fright, Ayame pulled the trigger on her rifle. A soft pop was heard, and a snake-like frog hit the ground with a needle in its belly. Toruko looked back and smirked.
"Heh… You're a decent shot. My old master used to tell me stories of a chef he took around these parts several years before I became his apprentice. The poor guy was so timid that the second one of these Frog Snakes popped out of the bushes, Master had to turn around and scare it off. He scolded the poor guy lightly for it. OH! That reminds me," Toruko said, "Make sure you keep a look-out for leeches. They could lead us to our target… or, if history keeps repeating itself… our target could find its way to US." Ayame's eyes went wide in fear.
"Y-you mean… that beast could be around here somewhere?" She asked. Mere moments later, she released a shriek of terror that was so high-pitched it could have tied an opera singer for glass shattering power. Before her and Toruko stood a large tiger with saber teeth, standing just over ten feet tall.
~BARON TIGER: MAMMAL BEAST – CAPTURE LEVEL 3~
However, what frightened Ayame more than the cat was Toruko's apparent LACK of fright. In fact, Toruko almost looked annoyed.
"What's up, kitty cat?" Toruko said, barring his teeth in a maniacal, defiant glare as his voice taking going hard on bass with a murderous tone that almost made Ayame fall backward, "YOU WANT TO PLAY?" Not even a second later, the space the cat had been occupying was now empty, save for a slowly dissipating cloud of dust that very closely resembled it. Toruko scoffed while Ayame stared in shock.
'He scared away a Baron Tiger, easily a Capture Level 3 creature… just by glaring at it? HE CAN'T BE HUMAN!' Ayame thought. She shook the thought from her head as she felt a hand hold her own. She looked up, blushing madly when she discovered Toruko holding her hand… and then flushed red as a beet when she saw why. Resting silently on her hand was the largest leech she'd ever seen. Of course, the only biggest leeches she'd ever seen were dime-sized things out of picture books that had been pre-cooked, but still… Toruko gave her a look as he pulled out a handful of strange-looking leaves and, holding that same hand over the leech, crushed the leaves to release a single drop of water-like liquid. The leech immediately slipped off.
"W-what was that?" Ayame asked. Toruko gave her a sarcastic look.
"Remember how I told you to watch out for leeches?" Toruko said, "You just got bit by the ones we should have avoided. Luckily, I have a salve to stop the bleeding on your hand. And you should take note that leeches hate salt. The Mangrove Tree, whose leaves I just used, grows in salt water, so all the salt gets stored in its bark and leaves. This keeps away insects that would eat it." Ayame nodded and committed the information to memory.
"Come on, let's set up camp. The Gator's a nocturnal, so if it doesn't find us first, we'll have better luck hunting it in the daytime tomorrow. And, as the saying goes… You can't wage war on an empty stomach, right?" Toruko said, grinning. Ayame nodded and followed.
By the time the sun had set, Toruko and Ayame had managed to erect a small camp, with a sleeping bag Toruko had brought along for his charge. They'd impaled the knocked out Snake Frog on a stick and spit-roasted it. Ayame had to admit, she'd expected the meat to taste foul, but it had a slight salty aftertaste to go with the surprisingly nutty tones. She hated to have to admit it, but for all the rippling muscles and strange mannerisms, Toruko had a good head for food on his shoulders, which was all the better for him in every aspect, given that they were living in the Gourmet Era.
In this, the Gourmet Era, animals of all kinds, plants of every genus, and even the water and dirt, EVERYTHING for as far as you could see, had just about any kind of taste. In this day and age, there were islands that were made entirely of jelly candies, peach trees that gave off milk-filled fruit and walnut trees that grew just about every kind of sweat pastry. There were waterfalls that had the perfect soup stock and noodles running down them, mountains made entirely of ice cream of varying flavors, and crunchy, sweet apples that fell from the sky like meteors. In fact, you could think up any possible combination of food items, and SOMEONE, SOMEWHERE would have found it and put it on the market. In this, the Gourmet Era, nothing you ate was ordinary or bland; everything was a sea of flavors on the tongue and palette, a veritable feast for the senses in every bite.
However, not everything was cut-and-dried simple like that. In order to get some of the tastier foods, some people had taken to developing special skills to capture these foods, and only the best of the best could call themselves Bishokuya: GOURMET HUNTERS who spanned the globe, hunting the rarest and most dangerous foods imaginable. Ayame remembered that some years before she and her father had taken over the Hotel Gourmet from a short, aging man, the world had been in awe of a small group called the Shitennou, The Four Heavenly Kings, and that only a few years ago, a larger group, trained by the original Four Kings and the Beast Tamer Rin, called the Twelve Heavenly Royals, who had gone off on a mission with their teachers… only to divide to the four winds as if there had never been anything tying them together as soon as they left the healing country Life. Ayame had always wondered what had driven the group apart.
"Hey… Do you have a dream, Ayame-san?" Toruko asked. Ayame looked up, shaken from her thoughts, to see Toruko biting into a slab of meat from his sack. She shook her head, trying to clear the image from her head.
"Uh… Actually, yes, I do. I want to be a world-class chef like the old guy tou-san bought the hotel from. He was known for always being around that one member of the Shitennou… Toriko! That was it. Toriko-sama always had a short chef following him around, didn't he? Komatsu-sama was his name. I want to be a chef of his caliber one day. But, he became the kind of chef he is by going out into the wild and seeing the creatures he cooked alive and in their natural habitat. If I want to be in his league and call myself a real chef… I have to live the same way. That's why," Ayame said, pulling open her jacket to reveal it was laced with sheathed cleavers, "I've been training myself in the art of throwing knives so I can help tou-san even more. If we need something rare, I hire a Bishokuya and help them out in any way I can… a combat chef like old lady Setsuno-sama used to be." Toruko nodded.
"What about you, Toruko-san? Do you have a dream?" Ayame asked. Toruko looked up to the few stars that were showing in the sky.
"Yeah… My dream is to complete a Full Course Menu just for myself, using only creatures I've seen and eaten with these two hands… just like my sensei did. I owe him for putting up with me back when he was training me…" Toruko said, his cerulean-blue eyes gazing sadly into the night sky. Ayame looked away; she must have opened an old wound.
"If I could change the subject," she asked, "Is there a reason all these animals are surrounding us? They don't look like they're going to attack… but it's still scaring me a bit."
Toruko took a cursory look around, almost immediately sighed.
"To put it simply," he said, "They're hoping for scraps. That Gator must be a pretty big predator for even the strongest carnivorous birds on this island to be starving… Food shortages hurt everyone, unless you end up BECOMING food to end the shortage."
Ayame thought about it for a moment, soon gasping as realization hit her. The gator was amphibious; once it finished on the islands, it would make its way inland unless they stopped it here!
Suddenly, out of the swamp next to the two sprang a large lizard, its pale flesh glowing in the moonlight as it roared. Ayame gasped and jumped off her tree stump, reached into her coat for two knives.
"Wait a minute… A Swamp Snake, Capture Lever 5… Master had this happen too… AYAME-SAN! GET INTO THE TREES NOW!" Toruko shouted, rearing an arm back with his hand flat.
Ayame felt the ground shake as she turned and ran, seconds before Toruko's voice shouted, "KNIFE!" Ayame got behind a bush and watched as, with only a swing of his right arm, Toruko sent a blast of air that pushed aside the Swamp Snake allowing the large gap in its throat to kill it silently. But, moreover, it allowed the real prey to show itself.
Toruko stood in awe of a monstrous beast that was at least three times his own height and easily several tens of tons heavier than himself, with eight legs and wings on each shoulder joint. Toruko gazed toward the ground and noticed that the eight legs that were indicative of the Garara Gator were now slimmer and stronger-looking, and now resembled claws instead of webbed feet, and that it seemed to have a fifth set of legs closer to its longer, slimmer tail. Similarly, the beast's mouth, which should have been gargantuan in size, was now split into three mouths, one on top of the other, all three leaking leech-filled saliva.
Toruko gazed upon the beast, smiling wide as he said, "Excellent… I was expecting BIG, but not MONSTROUSLY BIG! Ayame-san, you're employers are going to have to shell out a bit more… this thing's no Garara Gator. As soon As I read its age of six-hundred years in the file, I knew we weren't dealing with any simple Gator. The only creature capable of living that long would have to be the one that spawned the genus in the first place, THE GARARA GATOR DRAGON!"
~GARARA GATOR DRAGON: REPTILE BEAST – CAPTURE LEVEL 11~
With an almighty roar, the thing stood up on its rear legs, revealing that it did, in fact, have a fifth set of legs. The beast charged forward, leading in with a quick tail lash that Toruko had anticipated. Leaving his side open, Toruko grabbed the beast by the tail and lifted it off the ground, turning it in midair so it landed face first in the dirt as he pulled it back to the ground. Toruko didn't waste his advantage. With a battle cry of his own, he pounced on the behemoth and punched it twice in the eyes, temporarily blinding it. The beast staggered back onto its rear legs, howling in pain and stumbling around. Toruko waited.
"Hey… Ayame-san," Toruko called. Ayame looked up to see a wicked glare in Toruko's eyes.
"Y-yeah, what is it?" she asked, her voice shaking. She could tell the Gator Dragon could see exactly the same thing she was seeing: Around Toruko's body, the spectral form of a large red fox with nine tails emerged, the fox's face deformed and demonic in appearance. A twisted, demented grin appeared on the fox's face, stretching its mouth open wide to display rows upon rows of sharp, jagged fangs.
"IS IT OKAY IF I DON'T BRING IT BACK ALIVE?" Toruko asked in a deep, throaty voice. Ayame nodded weakly. Toruko stared the dragon down. In an instant, all the other animals on the island vanished, fearing for their lives. The dragon stayed because, much like its young spawn from years before, it simply knew no better. In all its years of life, it had NEVER found its life in peril; there had never been a single foe in its life that could have scared it. Even now, staring down this one muscle-bound human with the ghost of a demonic, nine-tailed fox surrounding it, the beast stood perfectly still, wings unfurled to full length, arms outstretched for battle and three mouths all roaring in unison. It rushed the human, confident in its power.
Ayame, scared out of her mind, reaching into her hip pouch and thanking the Gourmet Gods that she'd remembered to pack clean underwear for her trip; she hadn't expected she'd need them. Toruko, however, seemed undaunted. A second later, his fox image vanished from around him and he placed both hands together, as if in prayer.
"To all the ingredients in the world, I give thanks," Toruko said as the monster approached and Ayame screamed for him to get out of the way, finishing by saying…
"… NOW LET US EAT; ITADAKIMASU."
With that last announcement, Toruko hooked his left hand's fingers so they curled out like the tongs of a fork, while flattening his right hand so it resembled a knife. Waiting until JUST before the beast lunged, Toruko thrust his curved hand into the beast's belly with a guttural roar of "FORK!" The beast roared in pain, whipping its tail down toward Toruko's torso.
"YOU THINK YOU CAN GET ME THAT WAY? EAT MY KNIFE!" Toruko shouted, swinging his flat hand down to chop a good foot-and-a-half of the beast's tail off, leaving it with a nearly useless stump. The beast roared in pain and jumped back. Now it was concerned. This human had taken off a portion of its tail AND injured it. Silently, it began amassing extra muscles under its scales, sensing the next attack it took would be a fatal one otherwise.
Toruko nodded and readied his right arm, holding it at a right-angle with his left hand gripping his upper arm tightly. Seconds later, the great beast charged, engaging its wings for an extra bit of speed. Toruko was ready and thrust his fist into the beast's waiting stomach.
"SAN REN KUGI PANCHI!*" Toruko shouted, his fist striking the beast's belly with the force of three punches thrown simultaneously. The beast groaned as it slid back several yards, its stomach dented inwards slightly.
"I see… resilient little bastard, aren't you? I should expect nothing more from the true king of the Baron Archipelago! Looks like I'll have to step up my game a notch, eh?" Toruko said slyly. Ayame watched as the great spectral fox appeared around Toruko's body once more, and then began to spin in circles, slowly entering the muscle-bound man's body.
Moments later, both Ayame AND the Dragon stared in shock as a Toruko's hair lengthened, gaining about twice its original length in wild, red-streaked spikes, while his muscles became larger and his fingernails extended into claws. Both also watched as a single, burning red fox tail sprouted from the small of Toruko's back, then wrapped up and around his right arm, stopping and splitting into five portions until the whole thing looked like a burning red full-arm glove.
However, only the Dragon saw the most extreme changes: the human's face gained three sharp, jagged whisker marks on each cheek, while the sclera of his eyes turned a dark crimson. His pupils turned a dark golden color with vertical slits. Even his voice, when next he spoke, sounded darker and… deeper.
"HOW DO YOU LIKE MY SPECIAL FULL INTIMADATION MERGE?" Toruko shouted, readying his arm for another punch, this time the glove on his arm hiding the extremely inhuman degree of muscle growth happening beneath. The beast charged again, rushing in for a straight lunging claw attack. Toruko was ready, opening his hand so the fingers and thumb curled out like claws, exposing the palm of his hand.
"IPPAI-TE GO REN KITSUNE TSUME KUGI PANCHI!*" Toruko shouted, thrusting his open-palm punch into the beast's waiting stomach. With no more than a roar of pain, the beast found itself forced skyward as Toruko raised his arm upward to the sky. The beast could feel the force of the punch ripping through every extra layer of muscle it had prepared to defend itself. With each of the five sharp, six-pointed strikes, the beast screeched in pain and anguish until finally it exploded from front to back on the fifth hit, leaving a large, circular hole in its stomach. The beast hadn't more than a couple minutes to live. Toruko walked over, dropping his fox-mode, and readied a Knife attack.
"Sayonara, Dragon; you did well, but not well enough, so all I will say is this: GOCHISOUSAMA DESHITA*."
With a single swing, Toruko ended the creature's pain, taking its three-mouthed head off its neck. Curving the fingers of his Fork hand into their place, he swung his Knife hand against the tops of his other fingers twice, once towards and once away, then clapped his hands together and turned on his heels. Ayame stared. One minute, Toruko had been glaring down a massive dragon with a face that would have made an entire hospital full of new-born babies cry their eyes out, but now…
"Oi, Ayame-san, let's dig in!" Toruko shouted, giving Ayame a beaming smile. Ayame found herself smiling back, but she was still scared out of her mind.
~GEN X~
Fifteen minutes later, the two hunters had cut up the dragon's meat into slabs, one of which Ayame was slowly roasting on the spit they'd made before the brawl. Toruko was almost drowning in his own drool as Ayame nodded her permission to take a piece of meat from the slab. The brawny youth cut a chunk from the slab with his Knife hand, and then whispered a silent "Itadakimasu" before slipping the sizzling meat into his mouth. Almost immediately, his eyes shot open as wide as they could go, slowly narrowing in delight after two chews.
"DELICIOUS!" Toruko said, "It's so juicy! The fat is just the right consistency, and the juice in the meat won't stop coming out! I might get full just from the meat juice!"
Ayame gave Toruko a look of confusion before cutting her own piece and trying it. She soon found she couldn't keep the tears from streaming down her face; it was the best thing she'd tasted to date!
"SO MUCH JUICE!" she said loudly, cutting another piece mid-chew and setting it down on a hot rock to fry it. Soon it was finished, and with an expert chop of one of her knives, passed half to Toruko. About midnight, Ayame spoke about something other than food.
"Hey, Toruko-san," Ayame said, "I have something I'd like to ask you. It's personal request, of sorts."
"Well as long as it comes from you and not those guys at IGO, I'll hear it," Toruko said. Ayame gave him a warm smile.
"If another opportunity to capture rare creatures like the dragon comes up for you again… Would you mind if I go along with you?" Ayame asked. Toruko gave her a smile back.
"Heck, I don't see why you shouldn't! As Master once told me, "Strike while the meal's hot, because every time after that's the wrong time!"" Toruko said with a chuckle. Ayame chuckled with him.
"Alright then, from now on, I'll make sure to settle with my father every time I want to join you on your trips!" Ayame said.
The two kept going nuts over the different ways to cook the incredible meat well until morning. As the sun rose, Ayame looked around and saw the remains.
"Wow… we ALMOST devoured three-quarters of this thing!" she said, surprised. Never in her life had she eaten as much as she had the night before… but despite that staggering amount, she felt better when she looked at Toruko's stomach, which had bulged out to inhuman size, almost threatening to haul him up into the sky like a helium balloon. Ayame took a deep breath and exhaled; at least they'd managed to leave enough for the upcoming company party in a few weeks!
Looking back at Toruko, she asked, "So, what'd you think?"
"No matter how it's cooked," Toruko replied, "It was heaven on the taste buds and sweet bliss going down the throat. It is A PERFECT meat for any event. Truly, this dragon was a king amongst the kings of meat! Now the only thing left to debate… is if it should be in my Full Course Menu…"
"Are you serious? After you ate so much of it and just praised it so highly, you're really going to consider NOT putting it in?" Ayame said, almost insulted. Toruko shook his head.
"My Full Course Menu isn't about just finding delicious things to eat, Ayame-san. My Full Course Menu can only be filled by the most delicious things in this universe, things that are extremely difficult to find and capture. Only by capturing the most delicious and unknown foods are they able to be truly appreciated. That's why I have to debate it…" Ayame nodded.
"You know what, though?" Toruko said, drawing her attention, "If you give me an invite to this party and let me have first taste of this meat after you PERSONALLY have cooked it your own way, I'll make my decision. The way I see it, you were here when we caught it, you enjoyed it with me before anyone else could. Therefore, you cook it special, and I'll make my decision then. Sound fair?" Ayame smiled and nodded. Toruko smiled. He knew it'd be a while before he'd be able to get up again. However, when he next looked up, he saw Ayame, a smile plastered on her face as she reached a hand down to help him up. He happily took her hand and stood, though not without a fair deal of trouble.
Toruko smiled as he reached into his bag and pulled out a length of rope. Ayame stepped back a bit.
"W-what are you doing with that?" she asked, sounding a bit worried. Toruko shook his head.
"Knock those dirty thoughts from your mind, Ayame-san. The rope's to make a harness so I can sling the rest of the meat on my back!" Toruko said, making quick work of the rigging to sling the meat onto his back. Together, the two made it back to the raft, where they discovered a large problem: the meat was too heavy for both of them to be in the raft and go back to the boat. Toruko made a quick call to Rem to come and get the meat, while they'd stay behind on the island until he came back for them.
This went smoothly in the end, with only a few low-level beasts coming around to try their hand at taking Ayame away for their dinner. However, only one managed to almost survive a round with Toruko, at first believing that it was strong enough to take down what had befallen the beast that had been its hunter before. However, after a single Fork to the torso, the beast, known as a Hercken Chimp, fell quickly and died. While they waited for Rem to return, Toruko whipped up another spit roast and cooked the monkey's torso, having chopped away the head, arm and legs beforehand. They discovered that the ribs tasted like roasted chicken and red herring. Toruko put what they didn't eat away in his bag when Lem came back in the boat, and they all went back to the mainland. However, throughout the entire adventure, no one picked up on the small, mechanical fly that zipped around, watching everything and transmitting what it saw to a remote location…
~GEN X~
~GOURMET WORLD: NEO-BISHOKUKAI HEADQUARTERS~
A small, hunched over man in a decrepit brown robe with stitched lips and unmoving eyes approached a tall staircase, at the top of which sat a large throne. Sitting in the throne was a man in a sharp suit with a long cape on, a large, demonic mask covering his face.
"Lord Pein, the Spy Fly from Baron Archipelago just sent in some interesting footage. Apparently, your prediction was dead on; one of the Heavenly Royals was there with a young chef-girl. HE battled the Gator Dragon… and you'll be interested to see how he did it, I'm certain," the short man said. The man atop the throne stood and strode down the stairs, stopping just in front of his shorter addresser.
"Take me to the Video Room, Joe-Joe. I am most interested to see what we're dealing with this time," the man called Pein said, following Joe-Joe as they left the room. Had anyone else been in the room, the only thing they'd have been able to see as the two left was a single, large red cloud, cartoon-like in shape and design, adorning the middle of the cape, slowly vanishing from sight as the giant doors at the head of the room swung closed with a loud "THUD".
~GEN X~
~COUNTRY OF HEALING, LIFE: MOTHER WOOD~
A muscular man with darkened eyes sat in front of a row of healing pods, each one with a plaque at the pod's foot to inform passers-by of their inhabitants. The man, known around the Healing Country of Life as Saiseiya Yosaku, shook his head sadly.
"Almost fifteen years and not a stitch of progress recovery-wise or otherwise… What are you punks waiting for? You should be out there, hunting, not in here… by all accounts you should have been done several years ago!" Yosaku sighed. He looked out the window.
"Teppei… Where the hell have you vanished to?" Yosaku asked.
~GEN X~
~HUMAN WORLD, BARON ARCHIPELAGO: FIRST CAMP SIGHT~
A flash of brown canvas swept into the area left behind by Toruko and Ayame. Behind a pair of dark shades, framed by dark blue, hime-cut-styled hair that reached the person's back, a pair of pale lavender colored eyes surveyed the area. A smile formed on the mystery person's face as they strode forward, having sighted three large, circular slabs of meat.
A woman's voice echoed in the still silence, saying, "He left me three pieces this time… Is he trying to tell me something? Naruto-kun, why do you always try to spoil me?" The owner of the voice, mostly hidden behind her canvas trench coat, opened it up with a flourish to retrieve a small, lidded box at her side, no more than four square feet in size. Had anyone been with her, they would have noticed many things about this mystery girl: a slander figure, accented with a generous bust and long, model-worthy legs, covered in fish-net from top to bottom with only a khaki-green muscle shirt and knee-length cargo shorts for clothing underneath. Retrieving the box, she flipped a switch and removed the lid.
As if under a spell, the lid snapped to life, releasing a set of robotic arms that lifted the first slab of meat into the air. The woman leaned down, pressing another button on the side of the box. Seconds later, the box expanded to several tens of times it previous size, now large enough to fit all three slabs of meat perfectly. The woman waited for the robotic arms to finish their work, pressing the size-altering button once they finished, returning the box to its previous size and quickly replacing the lid after turning off the robotic arms. The large slabs, now reduced in size, stayed virtually still in their new home as the woman strapped the box back onto her waist.
'Seriously, Naru-kun…' the woman thought to herself as she turned to leave, 'Why are you still trying to apologize for all those years ago?' taking large steps, the woman took off at a run to meet up with the boat that had brought her here, courtesy of the only man who knew the area well: Lem.
~A WEEK LATER~
~ TORUKO'S CANDY HOUSE~
Waking with a loud yawn, Toruko smiled at the bright sunlight.
"It's morning already, huh? Damn… I was just starting to enjoy that dream… Aw well. Everything happens for a reason. The hunt calls! And look… it is Candy Cane Cicada Season!" He said, pushing his fingers into a pillar of nearly-fluid chocolate and pulling out a thick handful along with a small insect that looked like it was made of a candy cane. Shoving his hand in his mouth, Toruko slid the chocolate and insect off his hand with his teeth, chewed a few times, and then swallowed the whole bite as he wandered around the room, looking for his gear. A few minutes later, after a trip down the stairs, pulling a lollipop off the wall and EATING a mug of fresh milk he'd poured into a mug made of chocolate, he found his gear, consisting of a backpack and nothing more, sitting by the door where he'd left it the day before. Slinging the bag around his shoulders, Toruko headed off for his next hunt, not knowing what his haul would net him later that day…
_THE END, FOR NOW_
Hope you liked it everyone! As always, let me know what you thought! ^_^ R&R, CONSTRUCTIVE FLAMES ONLY! NOW FOR THE CLIFFNOTES!
*Tori-yaro: Bird Jerk
*Toruko =roughly "Small Harvest" or "Turquoise".
*San Ren Kugi Panchi: Three-Hit Spiked Punch
*Ippai-Te Go Ren Kitsune Tsume Kugi Panchi: Full-Hand Five-Hit Fox-Claw Spiked Punch (one of several special attacks Naruto will be getting along the way! ^_^)
*Gochisousama Deshita: It was a Feast.
*A box of cookies to whoever guesses who the mystery woman was!