Éclair stood on the outskirts of the civilized Biotope. She looked at Toriko, "Wait, why are we here again?" Rin rolled her eyes, "Hush blondie, we're waiting for my brother." "Hey, my hair isn't blond. It's, it's honey colored." She stuck out her tongue at the woman. As her last word ended, a loud thud began. They were loud steps that were crushing the ground. Rin pointed, "He's here!" Éclair raised her eyebrows, "Wow, that's the Regal Mammoth! And that guy is carrying it with one hand!" Mansom chuckled, "No sweetheart, he's using more than that!" She pouted at the pet name but continued to look on. Creatures began to crawl from behind rocks and sound their battle cries. The blond pointed, "They're gonna take the Mammoth, or worse, kill him!" Toriko ruffled the girl's hair, "Just watch. You worry too much." She shooed away his hand and fixed her hair. "Oh, sorry I care about lives dwindling in the balance." She crossed her arms, "If I am getting ready to watch another Gourmet Hunter die~" Her words stopped as she saw the Ganghoods stop in their tracks and set whipped away. But she didn't even see anything happen. Now she's seen it all.
The new man walked forward and tossed the Mammoth to Director Mansom. The man's feet immediately sunk into the hard rock. Sunny's beautifully colored hair was a sight for sore eyes. It was something that filled Éclair's eyes and she couldn't get enough of it. She smiled, "Talk about eye candy." The blue eyed man shook his head, "Was that too much for you Director? You caught the mammoth, yes, but it lacked grace and therefore made your bow-legged stance very disgusting to look at. The world would do better without you in it." Éclair rolled her eyes, "Whelp that killed it for me. Is he serious?"
He jumped closer to the group, "Toriko, long time no see." The blunette grabbed his face, "Please Sunny, the way you touch people is creepy." Éclair scratched her head, "What? I know my eyes can be kinda slow but I didn't see him touch you." "Sensors Éclair. They can't be seen by the naked eye. It's how he carried the Mammoth. Each one can carry 250kg. He already felt us all up. It's like being licked and it's disturbing." Toriko rubbed his face harder. Mansom yelled from struggling with the Mammoth, "True, he felt up everyone but not the Battle Wolf." Sunny smiled, "Seems like there is at least one person with grace. Who's is that anyway?" "It's Toriko's. If we're done with the meet and greet, we need to get the Regal Mammoth." Sunny pursed his lips, "I already got the Mammoth. It's in your hands." "This, ha! This is just a baby." Éclair grit her teeth, "Just a baby? I'm totally gonna faint!"
After a good walk and exploring, they found themselves in a field of black grass. Toriko smiled, "Ah! The Black Carpet!" Éclair clapped her hands, "How cool, people always order a side at the hotel. I've never seen it in the wild though!" Sunny turned to the girl, "Who are you?" She lifted an eyebrow, "My name is Éclair. You know we've walked quite aways for you to not have caught on yet." "I really don't care about your name. Tell me about your diet." She shrugged, "The usual I guess." He shook his head and placed both hands on her face bringing her in close, "For a plain looking girl such as yourself, a plain diet just makes you all around plain." She removed the hands from her face and got even closer to his, "I like what I eat and I eat what I like. As for my looks, sorry I couldn't be one of those girls who wear enough makeup to bake a cake. I go all natural, baby." He smiled bigger as he enjoyed her response, "Help yourself to my full course
menu sometimes. It would help brighten your, natural, skin. Speaking of full course, how is your menu coming along Toriko?"
The man was indulging in the Black Grass, "So far I only have the dessert." "Dessert, that's it! You've eaten more ingredients than anyone I know and all you have is the dessert!" His face went a bit more serious, "Your main dish. You still have it, chosen?" "Ooh Toriko look. It's a Coco Mayo Tree!" The bluenette ran to the tree and squeezed some onto the grass. Eclair sighed, "Running around with Toriko, you get used to being ignored at times." The bright man snatched the Black Grass out of her mouth. "See, it's things like this which that leaves your skin plain as ever." She quickly swallowed the remains, "Remind me not to travel with you again. You are so judgmental." Toriko waved over his new animal partner, "Come on Terry let's eat some grass together." Terry wouldn't budge and Toriko knew why. He looked at Sunny, "Pull back on the feelers already will ya? You should be tired already." Sunny shook his head, "Nope, he'll just have to get used to it because I'm not pulling back one bit." Terry began barking relentlessly and Éclair folded her arms, "Looks like Terry really has a problem with you Sunny." "Not exactly." Sunny pointed in the direction of the large capture level 27 Rock Drums. The blond girl dropped to her knees, "Goodbye world. It's been nice."
Toriko cracked his knuckles, "Hey Sunny, help me out here. Let's take care of these Rock Drums." The man faced away from the Rock Drums, "No way, they bore me and they are really repulsive. I refuse to fight them." Éclair jumped on the man and clung to his side. "What! You mean to tell me you aren't going to fight the bone crushing Rock Drums because they are ugly! Are you kidding me!" Toriko nodded, "Éclair is right, don't be like that Sunny. Their meat is a delicacy, and also, minor detail, we could possibly die!" The blond girl bit her bottom lip, "Please, you have to help. I'm too young to die!" The Rock Drum pounded down a vigorous hand and Toriko dove out of the way. "Five fold Spiked Punch!" He punched a hole clear through the hand of the Rock Drum. Just as it was going to lay down a powerful foot, Terry attacked the eyes and the monster tilted over and seemed to be down for the count. Rin ran over, "Looks like your fighting days are done for now! Super Relaxation!" From where Éclair was hanging she could see the Rock Drum get extremely upset. It roared loud and got as enraged as ever. She stepped down from Sunny and looked at him with puppy eyes, "Sunny, please help. For what it's worth, Rock Drums shells are very valuable. Some of the finest marble tables and counters are made from it. We used to have one in my house as a kid."
Rin could be heard running away from the Rock Drum and screaming for dear life. Her life flashed before her eyes as she tripped over her own feet and was at the mercy of the monster. She covered her head and the Rock Drum flew away. Rin looked at her brother and smiled, "Wow Sunny I knew you cared. You saved me!" She laughed joyfully as her life was spared. "Of course I cared; I wouldn't want this beautiful shell to be damaged. It will make a wonderful table." Éclair pointed, "I hate to ruin your fantasy princess, but it's coming back!" Sunny put a hand over his face, "Please, die with dignity and grace. Spatula!" A third ran up to the group and Rin yelled to the girl, "Hey, you better back up or you'll get caught!" The blond was confused, "Caught? By what?" Toriko yanked the girl away and brought her out of harm's way, "You'll get caught up in Sunny's feelers. Once you're in it there's no way of getting out." She watched on as the man stopped the Rock Drum in its tracks. He was all about elegance and the show he put on was just that. She climbed the Coco Mayo Tree and squeezed the mayo in her mouth, "Mmm, this is yummy. Nothing like a good snack and a movie " No wonder he's a Heavenly King. He's so powerful."
Just as they were becoming comfortable, Sunny walked back to the group with a smug look of accomplishment. Éclair squirted more mayo into her mouth, "Good job Sunny. Way to go!" He ran quickly over to the tree, "You need to stop eating that Coco Mayo right now! It'll go straight to your thighs and you'll look like Rin!" The black haired girl crossed her arms, "Hey!" Toriko looked around, "Do you hear that?" Éclair hopped out of the tree and pointed, "Rock Drum!" The doped up Rock Drum ran relentlessly at them and kicked them into the distance. As they flew Éclair took out her phone, "I totally have to take pics for Komatsu! Aww, they're all coming out blurry!" She soon found herself in a sea of mushrooms, the Mushroom Wood. She rubbed her lower back, "Ouch, that's gonna leave a nice bruise. Good thing I fell on this..Giant Gummyshroom, awesome!" She looked down hesitantly. The drop was like jumping off a balcony. She heard something moving in the bushes and decided it was probably best to stay up there. "Drop down, I'll catch you." She looked down and it was Sunny. He had his arms out for her to fall in. "Okay, but you better not let me fall." She hopped down right into the man's arms. Getting a good glance of his face up close was a sight she could stare at all day. He kept her held up like a baby until she jumped out of his hands. "Thanks for that." She gasped as she looked at her surroundings, "This is a mushroom paradise! Yummy, are those Cream Mushrooms!" She took out a mini grill from her backpack and started a fire.
She cut the mushrooms into thin slices and began her song. "Take me down to the river underneath the blood orange sun, say my name like a scripture, keep my heart beating like a drum." Sunny looked at the woman as she sang, he couldn't take his eyes off her. She flipped the mushrooms and as she did, she felt a hand on her cheek forcing her to face Sunny. His serious eyes looked into hers, "Your face may be plain, but when you sang that song, you reached your own bliss. Éclair when you cook, you are beautiful." She blushed intensely at the compliment, "I should get these mushrooms off the grill, I wouldn't want them to burn." He removed his hand and watched her delicacy with the ingredients. Éclair snapped her fingers as she saw an ingredient pass her eye line, "A soy sauce hopper would go great with these mushrooms. I think I might die if I try to get a big one." She took out her machete, "But I can always go for the small ones!" Just as she stood up she heard a large thud behind her. It was a large Soy Sauce Hopper. Sunny smiled, "This will work?" "Yes, thank you." She squirted some of the soy sauce on the mushrooms and squealed from excitement. "Okay, let's eat!" The man smiled as he ate her simple cooking. "Éclair this is exquisite work for such generic ingredients."
He smiled, "I licked your cheek just now." "Huh, you did what to me?" He chuckled, "Nothing at all. Did you want me to do something?" She rubbed her sensor touched cheek, "No! Let's just hurry so we can find Toriko and Rin." She began to pack up everything and put some ingredients in small containers. "Okie Dokie, let's get outta here." He poked at her lower back, "Is that a heart shaped birthmark? For a horrendous blemish, it's actually cute." She didn't know how to respond to the insulting compliment. The blond girl put on her backpack, "Let's find everyone shall we?"
The two went on through the forest and feasted on all the wild plants on the way. The Mushroom Wood was ending and a new land began to emerge. "So Muffin, do you sing just as a hobby or you do it for money as well?" "Muffin? Okay then. Um, I sing as a hobby, nothing serious. It helps me to concentrate on the ingredients. Each ingredient gives me a different song. It's like I don't choose the words, the ingredients use me as a voicestress to tell their stories though song." "So you are making up the lyrics as you go?" She nodded, "Yup, every song." She stopped in her tracks as they reached somewhat of a dead land. "Okay, I'm officially freaked out."
Sunny smiled, "Don't be scared Muffin. It is the Prehistoric Marsh, older than human memory." He looked over to see her undressing, "What are you doing!" "Well I don't want anything holding me down when we swim across." Sunny shook his head, "Adventurous little one aren't you, gross. As much as I hate to touch this disgusting bottomless bog, it's better than actually diving in." She put her pants and boots back on. She was relieved to hear they weren't going in but a bit disappointed. He lifted off the ground and pulled her along with his feelers. She squirmed around, "Whoa! Hey, I know it's unconventional for you, but I'd prefer a piggy back ride. It makes me feel a lot safer while I'm over a lake with countless amounts of creatures that could kill me in an instant." Her terrified eyes amplified, "Whoa look at that Swamp Eel! That Swamp Eel just got attacked by an Eight Headed Snail! They both got attacked by the Gator Shark for the win!" Sunny rolled his eyes, "Thanks for that play by play."
His face suddenly looked surprised, "Something's weird about this Marsh. There aren't nearly as many animals as usual. They are few and far in between." Dead creatures could be seen on the sides of the landscape. Éclair shook her head, "What a shame." "Especially since it was done by human hands. The Bishokukai and their GT Robots most likely." The blond girl squeezed tighter around Sunny's neck, "I love everything I've seen so far on my adventures with Toriko, but things like this I could do without. There are things you just can't unsee." Sunny was quiet for a moment and Éclair shifted her body so she could see the side of his face. "You okay, Sunny?" "Such an act of cruelty isn't amusing in the least. The Bishokukai is going to bring out a side of me that's not pretty." She sunk her face into his shoulder and tried to kill the silence. "So those Bishokukai people, what's their play?" "They're trying to get all the top ingredients to advance their Gourmet Cells. In case you didn't know, me Rin, Director Mansom and Toriko are all hosts. In a nutshell, Gourmet Cells make you super human and can advance your abilities with certain ingredients."
"Cool, I wish I had Gourmet Cells. With that kind of power, I could do anything." Sunny raised an eyebrow, "Power tripping without the power." She squeezed tighter around his neck, "Hey, I've got power, you feel that! That's my death grip! It would be stronger but I don't have those fancy Gourmet Cells!" The man yawned, "That is not what I'd call a grip, and certainly nothing close to death." He lifted her with his feelers and constricted her body so she couldn't move a single inch. "You want to make someone feel helpless, then do it." She grunted and wriggled around, "Okay, okay. I see your point!" He moved her back on his back, "Alright Muffin we're almost there!" She sighed in relief, "Good, I'm getting tired of not carrying my own weight, literally! I hope Toriko and your sister are okay. We haven't seen them in hours." Sunny pointed, "There it is, the Regal Plateau." Éclair dropped from the man's back, "We aren't gonna climb this thing are we? I like a good rock climb but this is ridiculous." He began to scale the mountain and sat her on his stomach as he climbed vertically. She swung her feet back and forth, "Talk about an unconventional chair." The girl looked down at Sunny, "How long until we reach the top?" "Don't worry Muffin, we've only got 3000 meters, so 36 minutes exact. Get comfortable." She sighed harshly, "And just as I was getting used to standing on my own to feet~"