Disclaimer: I do not own Toriko. Also, all descriptions of creatures in the story from the show came from Toriko wikia. Yes, it is probably wrong to get wikia descriptions from a wikia site but other authors get Pokemon descriptions from and admit it on their author's note. What's the difference between mine and there's?

Chapter 1

Narration: It has been said that there is a honey tree with the sap of candy coated sugar. The saps' sugar is so sugary it will give make a hole in people's teethes. Candy Coated Honey Tree. And that there's a river with fish who's tails are made of different color licorice's. Licorice-Tuna. This is the Gourmet Age. Where people hunt for culinary delights.

Meanwhile, inside a 5-star restaurant in the city of Maple Syrup Town, a young male chef named Ryou was sent to find a strong Gourmet Hunter. Packing his bags,
he journeys for this hunter, in a forest of deadly, delicious beings. Can our young hero find what he's looking for?

XXX

Ryou was not a fighter; he was a cooker. Ryou had knowledge of the gourmet world's anatomy and how to sauté meat and season vegetables and fruit, but he had no vast knowledge on animal habitats. Ryou was a small man, 4'1, wearing a small black suit with a red tie, red-blonde hair, and had large brown eyes.

" I wonder if I can really find him here?" Ryou thought as he was pushing tree branches away from his face. " Some say he's one of the best Gourmet Hunters. If that's true, why would he pick a swamp like this? There's been no data on anything above Capture Level Two here."

After searching for half an hour, Ryou finally found the person he was looking for—the Gourmet Hunter Zoltik. He was nothing Ryou thought he was going to be. Even though he was a Gourmet Hunter, he was slim, lean, had pale skin that made him look almost like a ghost, a black jacket with a roasted sirloin steak on the
back, yellow stretch pants, a white scarf with a cat's head at the tip, red-brown hair, and when Ryou moved to look at him straight into his eyes, he saw the color of green in them.

" Ah, hello there, Mr. Zoltik," Ryou stuttered as he bowed his head. " My name is Ryou. I was sent by the IGO to find you. I have a very special mission I need
you to—" Ryou stopped talking after hearing nothing out of Zoltik's mouth. Zoltik just stood up straight, staring down at him, and remaining silent. " Um, Mr. Zoltik, is something wron—"

" Gowurahhhhhra!" A blood chilling shrieking noise roared behind Ryou.

Ryou then jumped at the smell of the creatures' voice and jumped behind Zoltik for protection. The beast they were facing was a Batter Leopard. Just like its name, a Batter Leopard was a leopard whose fur was surrounded by the yellow batter made around restaurant fish, it having six paws instead of four, three tails instead of two, and eight small, slanted red eyes.

Batter Leopard

Capture Level 4

Status: Rare to Find, Carnivore

" Yaaahhhhhhh!" Ryou cried seeing the eight red eyes of the deadly Batter Leopard. Ryou hugged Zoltik around his waist for protection. " Oh, please save me, Mr. Zoltik! You're the only one who can stop this thing—"

The Batter Leopard pounced at Zoltik in the blink of an eye and quickly ripped his head off with its sharp teeth. Ryou's blood became cold watching Ryou's
decapitated head fall lifelessly on the ground as he gawked, nearly crying, in fear.

" B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bu-bu-bu-but he's suppose to be a Gourmet Elite! How can he lose so easily?"

" Gowurahhhhhra!"

Ryou didn't understand the whole dilemma between Zoltik and the Batter Leopard, but he knew he wouldn't survive alone against a fearsome beast like it. Without protection, no weapons to help him, Ryou could only tremble at the eight slanted eyes of the beast—then his trembling stopped when he heard a loud noise:

" Thunder Spider!"

Zoltik- the alive and angry looking Zoltik—he jumped out from above and came hurtling towards the Batter Leopard. The real Zoltik soon crashed on top of the Batter Leopard and jabbed a corkscrew into its head. Electric sparks surged out of the corkscrew, burning the insides of the Batter Leopard as it simmered alive. When Zoltik finally took his corkscrew out, the Batter Leopard became nothing but a roasted carcass.

Zoltik tore a piece of the Batter Leopard off with his hands, took a bite, swallowed, said, " The only thing that's missing from you is the BBQ sauce." Zoltik then went into a frenzy. He ripped through the carcass of the roasted Batter Leopard with great zeal, using his fingernails to take small chunks out, then he shoved handfuls after handfuls of meat in his mouth. "You get in my belly now!"

" This guy, Zoltik, he's so amazing," Ryou thought seeing Zoltik shoving pieces of Batter Leopard in his mouth. " Then again, there was something fishy about that Zoltik replica. He smelled sweet like cinnamon and nutmeg. And his skin felt so cold. It must've been made from wax. He actually set up a trap."

Zoltik stopped munching on the Batter Leopard's battery meat, looked at Ryou, said, " Hey, Ryou was it, you wouldn't happen to have some barbecue sauce on you?"

" He was actually listening to me? This is just too unreal." Ryou sheepishly rubbed his head and smiled. " Um, sorry, Zoltik, but I don't have anything on me. I'm really just here too—"

" I know, sent by the GTO. I heard you the first time. Sheesh, you'd think they bring a chef with some barbecue sauce."

" Huh? How do you know I'm a chef?"

" Because who else would be so wimpy and scrawny? By the way, nice move hiding."

" Uh, I wasn't hiding. I was just, er—"

" Doesn't matter. What's done is done."

Zoltik went into a feeding frenzy on the Batter Leopard; he didn't even need to use his hands anymore. In just a few shorts seconds, the entire carcass of the Batter Leopard was eaten away by the sharp teeth of Zoltik. Zoltik's belly bloated up like a balloon, licking the battered pieces of meat on his lips clean, then his belly deflated into his slim, lean body.

" I can't believe it. Was he even tasting that Batter Leopard. In a chef's opinion, the batter of a Batter Leopard is a four out of five delicacy."

Zoltik stretched his arms up and bent his legs. After stretching and bending his legs, Zoltik looked back at Ryou, smiled. " So, Ryou, are we going to tell me this mission or what?"

End of Chapter 1