so this is an idea i had while reading a few fics and some chapters of Toriko, hope you enjoy.

summary: Despite putting on a facade of happiness jaune faced bullying and torment from many of the students in beacon,including his friends albeit theirs unintentional. But through it all he was always able to find comfort and solace in one thing he has always cherished, food. To anyone else it sounded like something he shouldn't find comfort in, but it wasn't like he ate to excess he just enjoyed the many flavors he knew and new ones he's yet to taste.

One day after getting cornered and sent flying into the emerald forest by CRDL after a beating he finds a something called a back channel to a place he only ever dreamed about or read in his grandpa's books, The Gourmet World.

Watch as jaune tastes what the many area's have to offer as well as the taste of new found friendship. But he just has to survive, after all the saying goes:

"In the gourmet world it is always the perfect day for a meal, and at the same time it's always the perfect day to die."

key:

gourmet world locations: Bold always

Gourmet techniques: bold when first introduced then regular the rest of the time

Full course items: bold and underlined

noises and actions: *action*/*sound*


*GRUMBLE*

The loud rumble of an incredibly hungry stomach was all that could be heard from Jaune Arc. That was all the sound the prone blonde could manage from his place in where ever he was. At the moment he felt that he was just floating in black void, for how long he couldn't really guess. Hell for all he knew he could have been there for years and he would never even know, by now he felt like he was almost skin and bones.

How he ended up in this predicament was fairly simple, but how it became so life threatening he will never know. It just started out as team CRDL cornering him in the locker room and pushing him into another one of the rocket lockers and launching it into the Emerald forest.

Which wasn't usually a huge problem for him, he always made it back before any grimm found him, but this time was different.

They somehow screwed up the coordinates to where instead of just sending him to edge of the forest so it would look like a harmless prank they made it so he landed in the farthest part of the forest from Beacon. He could see it would've taken a day or two at least to get back from his current location.

Too bad for him though, that wasn't how things would go down. Instead Jaune felt himself fall into the darkness he was in now the moment he stepped out of the locker. Now he just lied there in the darkness... or floated he wasn't really sure.

Just as well, at the very least he had time away from all the bullying he had to deal with back at school.

It wasn't just the beatings or harassment from team CRDL, he could feel mocking gazes of the other students and hear the taunts and insults directed at him, even from his own team and friends. When it comes to them some of the things they said he could pass off as unintentional or just teasing, but often times there are things he hears from RWBY and his own team when they're together or when they think he's not around that hurt him, no matter how he tries to brush it off it still leaves an ache in his heart.

Sometimes he wasn't sure he actually had friends at all.

The only thing he honestly knew at the moment is that his stomach was empty. He wasn't sure how much longer he could last, normally if he was hungry out in the forest during training missions or these launchings his armor had compartments for small rations and snacks.

But all he had was just his regular clothes sans armor, so he had just been floating there; with no food and only his aura to dull the pain that his stomach feels. It was honestly the only consolation he had at the moment, if only there was some way that he could possibly satisfy his hunger.

But besides the clothes on his back all he had was his aura, and it's not like he could just eat tha-!

Wait. Could he?

He had seen aura do some pretty strange things in the amount of time he knew that it was actually thing. 'Maybe, just maybe.' the blonde weakly thought as he focused whatever aura he had left that wasn't used on dulling the pain into his hand. To his utter shock and amazement it actually formed a small glowing blue sphere in his right hand just the size of his palm.

It was different then when he first saw his aura, back at that moment when it was unlocked it was very bright and yellow like light reflecting of the surface of gold. Now the soft blue glow just relaxed him like sunlight bouncing off the surface of the ice cream he enjoyed as a kid.

'Well, I hope this works.' Without anymore thought he shakily raised the the ball of aura to his mouth. As he took the first bite he felt a hot almost endless stream of tears running down his face. "S-so g-good!"The very taste was reminiscent of every single meal he ate in his seventeen year-old life. All the food he and his parents cooked, all the deserts he had the joy of savoring, every drink and every soup was running down his throat. Not to mention every last ingredient his grandpa brought home whenever he visited.

It had been decided. His Full Course Menu finally has something in its categories.

Hors d'Oeurve: His own Aura.

This was something his Grandpa taught him about when he was a kid, but he had never found anything he felt worthwhile enough to include in his. An individual's "ultimate meal" so to speak, consisting of eight courses that should reflect who the person is in terms of personality, strength or both.

Maybe now he can build it up and have a great full course, just like grandpa Ichiryuu.

If he can get out of this darkness whatever it was. With his stomach satisfied for now he got a closer look at the darkness around him and for a brief moment saw a small beam of light just a few meters away from him. With whatever strength he had he pushed himself towards the the small ray of light. As he got within reach the light grew and enveloped him in a flash before he fell forward and landed on a soft pile of grass.

"Ugh" He looked up and noticed all around him was grass and plants, they were greener and healthier than any he'd seen on Remnant. He took in a deep breath and felt rejuvenated quite a bit, the air must have had high oxygen levels. Jaune looked around more and noticed that there some strange looking horses off in the distance grazing. One he could swear was a unicorn, while one looked to be a zebra and the last was spotted.

It was a strange yet beautiful sight, to bad that he didn't have the time to truly enjoy this image. His eyes began to droop as the fatigue from the hunger finally got to him, he rest his head down on the grass and let his consciousness go and found sleep. He slipped into his slumber just as the sound of footsteps and and the creaking of wheels reached him.


Later

Jaune's eyes shot open the moment the smell of food entered his nostrils. He saw that he was in some kind of house judging from the room he was lying in right now, an odd looking bed and the rest of the decor looked oddly creepy but reminded him of some buildings in Vacuo. The smell of food was starting to come closer, and then the door to the room opened and walking in with a large tray of bizarre looking food in one hand was a red skinned man with white hair and a long nose.

"So you're finally awake huh? Here eat this up, ya look like you're 'bout ta keel over any second." The blonde just looked at him, and then stared at the food for a few seconds before he dug in. Despite it's creepy look the food was so damn good! He couldn't stop himself devouring every last bite with tears once again streaming down his face from the new flavors he was experiencing. Soon every last morsel was down his throat, Jaune put down his chopsticks and thanked the red man.

"Thank you, thank you so much for the food. I have no idea how much longer I could've lived without anything to eat."

"Don't worry about kid, I wouldn' be doin' my job as a chef if I let somebody kick the bucket over starvation." The red man said with a proud smirk.

"You're a chef?" Jaune asked surprised.

"Yep, one of the best damn chefs around. Name's Brunch, what about you kid what's yer name?" The tengu asked the teen now that he has introduced himself. "My name is Jaune Arc, and thanks again for the food Brunch but can you tell me where I am."

The red skinned man raised his eyebrow."So you really don't know do you? Well then follow me down to my restaurant and I can explain a little." Jaune got up off the bed as he was told.

Soon Jaune was eating more of Brunch's cooking down in the main dining room of his high class restaurant. As he was eating he once again asked just where he was and what happened to him.

"So here's the situation Jauney. From what the 'old man' told me he said that you might've fallen through an opening to something called The Back Channel. That's what landed you over in the Atmosphere Garden, and then he had you brought over here to my place." Brunch explained as the blonde continued to eat his fill off dozens of plates that he prepared.

"*Chew* *Gulp* What's that?" Jaune asked in between bites.

"The old man can explain later. Right now you wanna know where you are right?" The tengu asked as the blonde was finishing up the last of the plates and drinks. Jaune let out a content sigh as he finished the last of his food.

"*Phew* Yes! Can you please tell me, I honestly have no clue what happened to me. One second I'm in the Emerald forest and the next I'm falling through some black hole and then I spent I don't how long in that darkness with no food." Brunch just grinned at Jaune's slight panic.

"Heh! Just follow me outside, Mappy and the rest of the villagers haven't seen a normal human in a while. They're pretty excited 'bout it." Brunch explained as he got up from his chair and walked towards the door followed by Jaune.

"Really, they're excited about a normal human showing up in town?" That was kinda odd, but if they can tell him just what was going on then he couldn't complain.

"Yep, not many from the human world can get around here. There are only a couple others here tending to the old geezer." The red skinned man said as they walked out the door and onto the streets of the creepy but lively looking village. Waiting over in the village square he could see was a large group of the residents gathered waiting for the two of them.

"Wow. This- this amazing! I've never seen a place this lively or spooky!" Jaune said as the two of them walked through the streets passing by many restaurants and food stands all the while the smells coming from each were starting to make Jaune hungry once more.

"OOII! I brought our new guest! Let's show 'im a good time!" There was a resounding cheer from the crowd, soon they all scattered about to their respective shops and stands while a few others stayed to greet the young blonde.

A frog person walked up to the two. "Jauney this here is Mappy, he'll be giving you the tour of the village. I've gotta see the old hermit 'bout somthin." Mappy smiled and nodded at the tengu before turning to the young huntsman.

"Gero gero, gero gero gero." Jaune tilted his head in confusion..."What?"

Brunch just sighed in irritation."Oi Mappy, you switched to frog-speak." Mappy reeled back in surprise at his own mistake."Ah! Sorry about that!"

Jaune just waved his hands."Don't worry about it it's fine." Mappy just gave a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his head. Soon he was being introduced to some of the villagers. All of whom looked like fictional monsters he'd seen in the in beacon's library, there were kappas, cyclopes, and so many other strange looking monsters welcoming him.

"Anyway what I was trying to say was, Welcome to our village, The Bewitching Food World!" Soon he was getting to know the villagers that stayed behind to welcome him with Mappy introducing them. Later on Mappy was giving Jaune the tour of the village taking him to quite a few of the local shops and such.

He really liked all the different eye related foods like the 'eyeball takoyaki' and 'eyeball ojiya' and so many others. He was eating so much more than normal without realizing, it was like his stomach grew ten times larger since he had eaten his aura. Each time he had a new dish his body felt grow stronger and healthier, his aura felt larger than before and every meal added even more flavors to his full course's hors d'oeurve and memory of each new taste. Surprisingly he didn't have to pay for any of the food, they were just happy to have a new human customer enjoying their cooking.

He even had some of the local bar's 'bewitching food beer' and 'ghost au lait', it surprised him they didn't mind his age and served him the drinks anyway. Apparently the only rule for drinking here was as long as they don't serve it to children it's fine. As it turns out he could drink quite a bit before he started getting drunk, eventually the two of them drank some 'Ie tea' to sober up.

Overall Jaune was having the best time since he woke up in this creepy but happy place.

But still all the fun he was having had to stop for now.

Jaune finished the last of his tea and turned to the mustachioed frog."Hey listen Mappy, thanks for the great time and everything but I still have no idea what I'm doing here. Is there anyone here that can help? Branchi said something about an 'Old man' that might know something and a couple other humans around tending to him."

Mappy sighed and set down his tea."Yep I guess it's time to see the Daruma hermit." The two of them hopped into Mappy's car Careruu and drove towards the garden where Jaune was found, and where the hermit would be waiting.

"Hey I was wondering, is there any other human besides the two Brunch mentioned?" The frog thought about that for a second."Actually there is a woman here that might know what you're dealing with. She's been here for a few years now, she run's a sweet shop in town."

Huh, this sounded promising."Can you tell me what her name is?"

"Oh yeah, I think her name is Summer."

Huh, that name sounded familiar. From there the three drove in mostly silence with the occasional questions about the bewitching food world.


"Ho ho! So our new guest is finally up and about?" The large hermit asked Brunch from his wheelchair as he enjoyed the rich air of the Atmosphere Garden. By his side was a large scarred and dark skinned man with one arm and a dark haired woman with pink surgeon's clothes with a surgical mask and bandage covering all but her left eye.

"Yep kid ate almost as much as Komatsu's friends do, but then again he looked like he starved in the back channel for a couple of years." Brunch explained as they waited for Mappy to bring Jaune over so he explain more on what happened.

"Hmm. Well he may be in for a surprise when he learns where he really is." Brunch nodded his head at the old man's words.

"Yep, I don't think he's even from the Human World."

"Perhaps he may be from the someplace beyond the back channel. Many strange places lead into the world of souls." The woman was the Gourmet Surgeon: Atashino-sensei. The man next to her seemed to have recalled something that may be of use and spoke up to the three.

"..." Every one just looked at the heavily scarred man as they didn't hear a word he said.

"Melk-san please use the 'amplifier stone', we can't hear you." Atashino said as Melk lifted up a small rock to his face and spoke once more.

"I said Ichiryuu once told us at the 0th Biotope that he used to visit a land beyond the Back Channel. He said that people there could fall into an opening as they are more scattered in that place than earth."

Now that they actually heard him all three of them saw that as a major possibility. There have been instances of people falling through the gap in space numerous times and even more so at the holes freshly opened by 'ANOTHER', or even the Deer king's use of it to decimate enemies that may anger it.

"Well as long as the kid is here we might as show somethings about the Gourmet world. Besides he might not get back through for a while, and his gourmet cells look like they're just waking." Brunch reasoned.

"Did you see his appetite?" The Daruma hermit asked.

Brunch looked serious for a moment."Yeah kid's got quite the demon inside him. It almost jumped out for a second when I brought him food. But they ain't wakin' just yet, at best they just began to stir from their sleep. He'll need tons more food before they can, or just have a taste of AIR when it's ready."

"Is that so?" The surgeon asked.

"Yep, but the kid has something a helluva lot different. Gourmet cells are awakened from the body right, but this thing he has looks like it could be his soul or something like that." Brunch said running his hand through his hair.

"So his spirit has awakened without the need to eat PAIR or NEWS? That's a bit amazing." Melk added using the amplifier stone.

"Hmm, He might make a promising bishokuya, from what we saw when he fell through to here he had just gone through Food immersion. If he had accomplished that then it shouldn't take long for him to learn food honor." Atashino voiced her thoughts on how the boy could be of use in the events coming to collect the food treasures.

"How long until those four arrive to this continent?" Melk asked.

"Might be a few weeks or months. Word is Toriko still hasn't returned to the human world, I think he and Komatsu are making a care package for the people there." Brunch explained.

"Well then it shouldn't be too much trouble to build up a new asset, they should be here by the time AIR ripens. Brunch can you convince him to train with you Nosh and Dinner?" The tengu just grinned at the hermit.

"Shouldn't be a problem, if the kid is up for it anyway. It's not like we can just make any kid with a strong appetite a Bishokuya whenever they pop up." They all just nodded at the ridiculous idea.

The sound of a car horn was heard approaching."Speaking of, here he is." They all watched as Careruu slowed to a stop in front of the four."Yooo, I brought him. We had blast with the others!" Mappy said as the two hopped out of the living vehicle.

"Ho ho, So you're up and about now, that was quite the shock you gave me. It's been quite some time since I've seen someone let alone a child fall through the Back channel." The Hermit said to the blonde.

Jaune just stared in awe at the hermit."Wow, So you're the one who found me?"

"That's right, you're pretty lucky to land where you did. If you had fallen into the Heavy rain region you'd have been dead." Jaune went slightly pale at the realization that he very well could have met his end.

He has no idea where he could've ended up, for all he knew it might as well have been an entire country taking part in a nationwide horse race, or a rural town with a murder who collects women's hands and kills with explosions, or even a beach town with a kid who lives with magical singing rocks.

Jaune shook those thoughts off and focused on the large hermit."So then just where am I? From what I've seen this isn't Remnant, so what is the name of this world?"

The daruma just stroked his long beard."So you aren't from here after all. Well for starters the planet's name is Earth, as for where we are you're in Area 8 of the Gourmet World."

Jaune just stood there shocked, not at the fact he was in another world but the other thing the old man said."D-did you j-just say, Gourmet world?"

"Yes, do you by chance know of this land?" This was a surprising revelation, if has some kind of knowledge of the land he's in he might agree to their offer without the need to convince him.

"Y-yeah. My grandpa used bring over all different kinds of foods and ingredients whenever he would visit, he said that they were all from this place." Jaune paused and looked around the gardens, he breathed in the oxygen rich air once more and closed his eyes, small tears began forming along with a smile.

The five just looked surprised at how emotional the blonde was being. He wiped the tears away before he spoke again."Sorry, it's just ever since my grandpa told me about this place its been a huge dream of mine to come here. And now I actually am!" the smile on his face could very well be the happiest they had ever seen on a person.

It actually brought a smile to theirs as well.

"Guess it's a dream come true for ya huh Jauney?" Brunch asked with a grin.

"Yeah, but gramps told me that this place's ingredients can be just as dangerous as they are delicious. I'm definitely not strong enough now that I know the things he said are true." Jaune lamented at his lack of strength.

But from that Brunch grinned, now he has the perfect opportunity."If ya want Jauney I and a couple others can help you get stronger."

His eyes were on the long nosed man in an instant."Really? You mean it!?"

"Sure, Yer not gonna be able to get through the Back channel or even see the world of souls the way you are now, and not without eating some certain ingredients." Brunch explained to Jaune.

"Really, without the special ingredients I won't be able to make it back?" Jaune asked, looking at his new found hope start to get further from his grasp.

"He's right, right now we're waiting for a certain group to help us capture them, but while they might be our only chance at getting them we still need as many hands as we can get on this." The surgeon added as they watched the blonde process the information.

"And that's where I and a bunch of others I'm guessing come in right?" The blonde drew the conclusion.

"Bingo." The tengu confirmed the blonde's thoughts."So do you get what we're saying Blondie?"

"I guess that if I wanna get back to beacon or enjoy what the gourmet world has to offer then you training me and then helping you guys nab these special ingredients is my best bet." This all sounded very far fetched but he doesn't really have any better options.

"That about sums it up nicely. So what do you say Jauney, we got a deal?" Brunch asked holding his hand out. Jaune didn't hesitate to grab and shake the red tengu's hand.

"You bet we have a deal!" Jaune exclaimed while vigorously shaking Brunch's hand. The two residents of area 8 and the biotope members just watched with smiles at the youth's new found vigor.

"Imma warn you though, this sure as hell ain't gonna be easy Jauney. Especially when we set off to grab the food treasures." Jaune stopped shaking his hand and went into a serious mode.

"Yeah I kinda figured it wouldn't be, but aside from me training just how hard is it gonna be to grab these food treasures?" He sighed as the hope was once again feeling out of his reach.

"Well we aren't the only ones after the food treasures and the beasts that protect them might not be to keen on anybody trying to get their hands on them. Probably smash any of us to bits in a blink of our eyes... Literally."

Jaune took a deep breath."Yeesh, I don't think I can imagine just how strong any of these guys are!"

"If it makes ya feel any better than neither can we." The Tengu was being completely truthful right now. None of them had the slightest idea of what any of the Eight kings fighting seriously would even look like.

"Well we can't just stand here guessing how much we might be screwed. How soon can we start training?" Jaune asked.

Brunch grinned at Jaune's readiness to start."We start in a couple of days, ya barely woke up after three and you need to eat more food till you're back to top strength."

"I guess that's fine, I just wanna get back home as soon as I can, And maybe bring back some ingredients to share with my family and friends."

"Haha! That's the spirit! Alright come on let's head back to the village, We still need to get more food into ya." Brunch said as they hopped back into careru with Mappy.

"Okay, but first I wanna meet this other human that Mappy here mentioned."

"Yeaaah, I figured that he might wanna meet her since she's kinda in the same boat as he is." The talking amphibian said while adjusting his sunglasses.

Brunch hummed at the travel frog's logic."Yeah, that's actually not a bad idea. Alright then let's go meet Summer!" And with that Careru sped off back to the village with the three in high spirits, leaving behind a smiling Daruma and Biotope members.

XXXXXXX

Meanwhile:

Back at beacon things were a bit of a mess. It had been about six days since Jaune's disappearance, and things shortly reached a boiling point with his and team RWBY. When they found out that CRDL was the ones responsible for their missing friend they were not merciful.

However the same couldn't exactly be said for the teachers. While they did punish the four they felt the numerous broken bones they recieved from the enraged teams were suitable enough, along with several restrictions and all privileges stripped from them for possibly sending a fellow student to his death.

Right now both teams were requesting the headmaster to let them head out and find their little success.

"Please Professor! Why can't you let us go out there!? It's been days now And Jaune could be really hurt or even dying!"

"Yeah! You have to let us go, we're his friends we can bring him back safe and sound!"

Pyrrha and Ruby's pleas were met with a tired sigh of the headmaster. They had been at this for a hour without Ozpin budging even slightly, at this point he had given them every excuse he can think of. But he none left and just let out a tired sigh.

"I suppose I should tell you the truth. Listen there is a reason we haven't let any of you search for mister Arc." As he spoke he brought up a video on his scroll and sent it to a holographic projector in his desk. On the projection was their missing friend stepping out of the very locker he was launched in.

"This is the video caught by a surveillance drone following the locker your friend was in." They all just stood there and watched as Jaune just stood there or a second before taking a step forward, just a single step before he just fell through the ground.

That was it, he just fell through, like there was an opening there in the ground that they couldn't see."Professor... what just happened?" Asked Yang trying to process what she saw happen to her fellow blonde.

"We honestly don't know what happened to Mister Arc, as you can see he appeared to have just vanished." Ozpin said running a hand through his hair.

They all just stared blankly at the projection."We have sent search parties and scoured the forest for days but we couldn't find any trace of him. Not even any sign of grimm attacks, no blood or signs of struggle, just nothing." He paused letting them process the information.

"Quite honestly I'm concerned that whatever happened to him might happen to any of our other students as well. I'm sorry but we can't risk losing anymore."

"So that's it? Our friend just literally disappeared into thin air and we can't do anything about." Ruby said with tears starting run down her face with her eyes shadowed by her hair. She sounded as angry as she was confused. But how could she not be, her very first friend that she made on her own might be lost or even dead.

And just like she said there wasn't a thing any of them could do."I'm sorry, we will continue the search as long as we can and extend to beyond the forest if need be. But I can't in good conscious send any of you."

"And why not professor?"Pyrrha said as she was almost in tears herself. Much like Ruby Jaune was the very first person who treated her like a normal person and a true friend. Even if she herself wasn't the most tactful at times with her lack of real friends, she saw that some of her slips of the tongue hurt him and she intended to make up for it.

The headmaster took a moment to consider his next words to try and comfort the distraught huntresses."Because, if we find him or he somehow makes it back on his own or with help he'll need his friends here to greet him."

Ruby wiped her eyes of her tears and took a deep breath."We understand professor, but please if you change your mind then please let us go look for him." She said looking straight into his eyes with all of them doing much the same. Nora and Ren considered him a great friend although at times they may not have such good ones themselves. Weiss while she disliked his attempts at flirting with her and even when she was very harsh to him he was genuinely nice to her, Blake didn't interact with the blonde much but she can't say she disliked him. As for Yang he was the first one to ever laugh at her jokes and not perv on her like other guys.

Ozpin just smiles at their determination to find their friend.

"Of course."


And that is a wrap, please leave a comment as i am not getting enough of those lately. I hope you guys liked it and please follow and favorite if you did.

This will follow most of the events of the gourmetworld up to the big fight with Acacia and NEO, who i can only imagine how a certain ice cream themed mute would react to meeting the gourmet cell demon who shares the same name.

So if any of you are wondering why i chose to do a Toriko cross well here it is. I once again got the idea stuck into my head while working on my other stories. And i got back into the manga a couple of weeks ago and i remembered how much i loved it so i thought it would make a nice story, that and i saw no other crosses with Toriko and thought "well that won't do, let's write another fic."

But again I hope that you guys enjoy reading this. peace.