The blond girl stood in front of her Sous Chef in the kitchen. "So what do you think Koma-chan? You like the soup?" His face was uncontrollably smiling, "It's so good, I can't stop smiling. I see why everyone has been ordering it." She smiled, "Thanks. It's a shame you couldn't come to the first tasting. I wish you could have been there, but I know you weren't in town." She lifted a bottle of Rainbow Fruit Wine and put it on her cart. "I better get these bottles to Toriko, he's waiting on me." He nodded, "Alright, I'll see you later then."
The girl rolled the cart out and stopped beside Toriko's table. "I see you're still enjoying the soup. That is, the Century Soup from the now 6 star hotel." He smiled at the girl, "Yeah, and I'm not the only one." She looked around and everyone was smiling. All of the customers were happy. "Looks like the soup has the complete ability to make even the unhappiest of people smile." Toriko shook his head, "It's not just the soup, it's your cooking in general. Your skills in the kitchen have greatly improved Éclair, I can both see and taste that. She waved her hand fictitiously, "You're too kind. ~Oh that reminds me." She opened up a case and set the bottle on the table. "Your Rainbow Fruit Wine is good and ready. I made 2 just like you asked." He popped open the bottle and down the hatch it went. "Slow down Toriko, it's 85% alcohol." He licked his lips, "Ahh, that was so good. The taste of the wine changes in my mout even after I swallowed. It's flavor is strong, but it's just like the ice cream you made me." She set the other bottle on the table, "Please tell me you aren't going to drink both of them right here right now." He shook his head, "No, this one is a gift." "Must be a special person if you're gifting it." She looked at the clock, "You leaving right now? Tell your hot date I said hi." Toriko stretched, "Yeah, I've gotta get going, and it's not a date. It's especially not a hot one." She laughed, "Alright, I'll see you around then Toriko."
The woman was finally able to clock off of work and take a walk around her city. She sat down beside her furry little pink buddy, "Let's try this one last time shall we?" She dialed a number on her phone and petted her Poof Ball as she waited, "Damn, voice mail." She cleared her throat, "Um, hey Take-chan, it's Éclair. I know I've been bothersome about meeting up with you lately, but I really miss you. ~Please just call me back. I'd like to hear from you again." She hung up and stared at her phone. "I really miss him Poof Ball. He was my best friend." She picked up the Wall Penguin and walked on, "That'll be the last time I try, but cutting off friendships is always a shame. Let's just get some ice cream shall we? I think we deserve it." She walked over to a small ice cream parlor and got a triple scoop of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. She gave the small penguin his and continued to walk alongside him. "I think we should head home now. I need to get some sleep. Let's go little one." The two walked until they reached a tiny hole in the wall apartment. She opened the door and everything in her home was rather plain. It looked like the equivalent of Setsuno's diner, but a home version. She plopped on her couch and sighed, "Who would have thought this is where the head chef of a 6 star hotel would live." She smiled as she scarfed the last bit of her ice cream down, "Well, home is home. Goodnight Cotton Candy Poof Ball."
The next day Éclair was woken up by her cellphone. "Hey Toriko, what's up?" "Éclair, meet me in Gourmet Town, I'm gonna take you out." "Okay, see you soon." The girl frowned, "I wonder what it is this time. He's never just taken me out. At least I'll get a good meal out of it! I'll be back in no time Poof Ball, I'll call Tina and see if she can watch you."
Dining in the sky is where she was, or sky box rather. The blond girl sat across from Toriko in the Gourmet Tower in Gourmet Town. She couldn't get enough of the view. "You know, I lived in Gourmet Town for 15 years and I always imagined what it would look like from the inside of this building. I guess I was wrong. It looks far more magnificent than I imagined." She smiled at the bluenette, "Thanks for taking me here. This place is breathtaking, and the food is what I'd imagine 7 star quality to be." She grabbed her chopsticks and grilled the meat, "The open grill, the view, the food. Everything is so foofoo." He nodded, "Well the Gourmet Towers are talked up for a reason, and now you know why." She stuffed her face with the grilled food as she looked outside. "I've been wondering about those blimps flying around. They're restaurants?" He nodded, "Yeah, I'll take you to one sometime." She smiled "That would be, nice. ~This food is so good! I know I said I could live off of the Rubbing Potatoes, but I could live off of this meat too. Even raw the meat tastes juicy and delicious, but grilling it unlocks the flavor and makes it perfectly crisp and succulent." Her face turned red from enjoyment. "Being 273 stories high puts dining into a whole new perspective. I just want to sky dive out of this glass box and jump onto one of the restaurant blimps." Toriko chuckled, "You are quite the daredevil aren't you?" She shrugged, "Hey, after all the things I've been through with you, not that many things scare me anymore."
More food was placed before them and Éclair grabbed her cheeks, "My taste buds want more, but my stomach is saying it's going to be quitting time soon. How much did you order?" "Don't wave the white flag yet, there's a lot more where this came from. Leave some room for the vegetables." Her eyes glistened, "Vegetables? I know it's pretty weird, but I love vegetables, even as a kid. It's the one food that I love almost as much as cotton candy. Cotton candy always wins." He smiled, "Good, well just don't call it quits yet. I have to thank you for making that bottle for my old man." "Your papa? Did you tell him I said hi?" He shook his head, "I just call him my old man, he's actually the president of the IGO. And no, I didn't tell him." "The president? Yikes, I hope he enjoyed the wine." He rolled his eyes, "He did, but the old man still can't handle his liquor." The vegetables were brought to the table and Éclair grinned widely, "Fresh greenery is my forte! Let's grill it all! Let's combine the meat and greens! Let's scarf it all down!" She did just that and enjoyed every bite. "This is one of the best meals I've ever had, and by far these are the best vegetables." Toriko smiled, "You want to taste delicious vegetables? You should taste the king of vegetables. It's 10s of 100s of meters up in the sky. There grows a vast garden that they call Vegetable Sky, or Vegetable Heaven. Only extremely skilled Bishokuya venture there. My old man, he asked me to get it for him. It's the Ozone Herb. It's said to taste much better than any perfect vegetable grown on the ground." She rubbed her chin, "I have never heard of that. I wonder if it's just a myth considering how many people have been there." "You think so? Come with me then. Let's find out."
The two were sitting side by side in a jet. Éclair dusted off her pink jacket and pants, "Why are you so quiet Toriko? It's not like you to be so silent. What's on your mind?" He shook his head, "It's nothing." She ruffled his hair like he usually did to her. "Oh come on! You can tell your old pal Éclair. Tell me what's wrong?" She stood on the seat and annoyingly poked at his face, "Tell me!" The plane shifted and she fell into the man's lap, "What was that?" She looked out the window and her view was blocked by a flying sea lion. The girl shrieked, "Eeep! How big is that thing?" Toriko yelled to the pilot, "Use the net so it can back off, and punch it!" The net shot at the beast and it fell, and the jet sped off. Éclair looked out of the window and saw the large winged animal fall out of the sky. "That was kind of cool." She looked back at Toriko and scooted close to him like an awkward stranger. "Don't think I forgot what I was talking about. What's weighing on your mind?" He looked at the girl, "I'm just thinking about how I can protect you. This Vegetable Sky is going to be very dangerous." She smiled "And you call me a big softy. I'm not worried even one bit. I have faith in you Toriko, so have faith in me. I'm a tough cookie." He nodded, "Thanks for that. ~Hey look, we're coming up on the beanstalk." She looked out of the window and saw the large beanstalk hanging from the sky.
The two set foot outside of the jet, and the beanstalk was put into perspective. It was so large and beautiful, but very dangerous. The wind was powerful and blew the girl in any direction it wanted her to go. She looked ahead and saw that Toriko was already making leeway. She walked slowly ahead, "Hey don't leave me behind! I can't climb this thing as fast as you. The wind is blowing my 120 pound body around like it's nothing. Not to mention this beanstalk is steep as hell." She ran forward and tripped over her own feet. The girl caught herself and looked up, "That was close!" She heard flapping in her ear and looked to her right. Ugly, man looking birds were flying next to her. She made a slow ascent as she tried to get closer to Toriko. "I don't want to freak the birds out with my pitchy scream, but I'm freaking out Toriko." She breathed heavily as she tried to make her way over to the man. "It's okay Éclair, they aren't what you think. They look like they're vicious to ward off predators. They're actually pretty friendly. One of the small babies flew into her arms. She smiled, "Aww, it's kinda cute. If I took you home, I'd call you little Croquette." "You are nothing less than interesting when it comes to naming things." She stood up and set the little bird down, "Yes I am and it makes me endearing, admit it." He waved her on, "Come on, let's get into this climb."
They began to climb the beanstalk, and it was like an extreme workout with no break. Éclair did her best to keep up with the bluenette as they made their ascent. Part of her wanted to complain, but she wouldn't do it. She wanted to show for once that she could handle the tough stuff, but things were getting tougher and tougher. The climb was completely vertical now, and her arms were giving in. The man looked down at her, "Éclair, get on my back." She didn't want to accept his help, but she remembered what he said about accepting help his help back in Ice Hell. She climbed on his back and held on tight, "I really want some vegetables." He smiled, "Well let's get them then." The adventure went on and enemies came and went. She was enjoying this time with Toriko. The man stopped on a large leaf where they stopped to eat. Éclair sat with her feet hanging off the leaf, "Hey Toriko, it's kind of weird." "What?" She turned to look at him, "How you went from being some hired muscle to becoming my friend. A few months ago I didn't even know you, and now I couldn't imagine life without you." She cleared her throat, "Not to get too sentimental or anything." He handed her a bottle of water, "I feel the same way. It's interesting how friendships are built. ~Now drink up, we're getting ready to get a move on."
As they continued climbing the beanstalk, a large monkey came stalking from behind the vines. Éclair pointed, "Please tell me that's another capture level 2 but it just looks like it's really powerful." "Nope, actually it's 40." The animal came charging at them and before it could reach, a snake like vine disembodied itself from the rest of the beanstalk and ate the high leveled beast. "Please tell me that the vine doesn't have a taste for humans." Before Toriko could reply, more vines disembodied themselves and snapped at them. "Hold on Éclair!" He jumped from vine to vine trying to escape from the treacherous monster. "Flying Fork!" He deflected the attacks with his powerful counter. A vine wrapped around his leg, "Knife!" He cut off their only line of survival and now there were in for the free fall of a lifetime.
Éclair screamed out, "Woo hoo! Now this is what I call a skydive!" Toriko looked back at the girl, "You aren't scared?" "Of course not, we'll just land in the water." He shook his head, "If we fell in the water from even a fraction of this height, we'd still die." Her face changed to immediate fright, "Really! We're gonna die!" "You're right, we are gonna die, but not today." He pressed button on his suit and enabled his flying squirrel ensemble. They glided through the air at a slower but still rapid speed. She looked around, "This view is really cool." Her shaky hand pointed, "What are those spinny bird things? Toriko, they're headed right for us!"
The birds drilled their way through the suit, ripping the wings to shreds. "Flying Fork!" He swung at the birds and they plummeted toward the Earth. He swam his way through the air until he reached a leaf to hang on to. They were at the bottom of the beanstalk and Éclair sighed, "Please tell me that suit has rocket boosters that can get us to the top. The initial journey was hard enough, phew." He shook his head, "No, I don't have rocket boosters, but I do have a plan." A large gust of air blew up her hair, and a cool wind chilled the pair. Éclair wiped a bit of water off her face, "That was cold, but I brought my lighter suit so it wasn't as bad." She looked up as she heard the sound of thunder. "It's really dark. That overcast came out of nowhere." "Yeah, and that's the next enemy we have to face." Éclair's eyes amplified, "The cloud? We can't take out a cloud!" "It's not just a cloud, its a beast. We're gonna have to take on that cumulonimbus." The blond girl frowned, "No cloud is gonna get me to shy away from the king of all vegetables. I'm all in!"