The sight of lightning filled the girl's eyes. She thought the environment was dangerous before, but she very quickly realized that everything changed. It was 20 times more perilous than it was before. Toriko set the girl down for a moment and dug through his backpack. "Here we are. ~Take this Éclair. It's an oxygen leaf." He put it in a mask and handed it to the girl. "Whoa, I know what this is. I've never even seen one of these leaves in real life. They run at a very high price." She tied the mask around her face and looked at the man, "You don't have one Toriko?" He picked up the girl and strapped her to his back, "I'll be fine. My main concern is you." He started uphill and the wind was blowing harder than ever. It was 50 below 0 and dropping. Éclair shivered, "Ice Hell was definitely a good training exercise. If I didn't experience that, I wouldn't be prepared for this in the least." It was still far from a cakewalk. She saw that the conditions were even taking a toll on Toriko's body. The regular wind blew her away but not him, and now this wind was blowing him away.
She didn't want to see what was ahead. The girl closed her eyes and waited for this to be over. As Toriko went on, she heard a loud sound. It sounded like an airplane crashing to the ground. She opened her eyes and propped up, "What was~ That's the size of a small yacht! What kind of hail is this? Toriko, I'm really scared!" "Just hold on Éclair, I'll get us out of this!" He ran uphill and narrowly missed getting hit by the large ice rocks. Lightning struck before the two and they fell back to the ground. "You okay Éclair?" She nodded, "For now, yeah. I'm just really scared. ~But I didn't come all the way here to see our good work go to waste now. Let's get through this Toriko. I want to eat." He nodded, "Alright, let's get a move o~" He panted as he stood back up. "The air up here is really thin." He felt something cover his mouth and allow him to breathe perfectly. Éclair held her mask to his mouth. "You're~ doing all~ the running~ so take it." He took the mask off and put it back on Éclair, "Don't be ridiculous, you can't even talk without breathing hard. You need it more than I do." "Thank you Toriko."
The man ran uphill at full speed. "Into the cumulonimbus we go!" It was so dark up there. She squinted her eyes but it was no help, it was far too dark. Toriko slowly walked ahead, "Looks like I'll have to rely on my sense of smell." Before he could go up even 1 more step, the wind blew their bodies back like paper. Éclair gripped tighter as she didn't want to be separated from the man. "My glove, it's slipping Toriko! I can't hold on!" The cloth wasn't holding together as she tried to hang on. Her gloves were made for keeping warm, not venturing off, so the material didn't have good gripping. Toriko wasn't responding as his body was losing oxygen. There was only one option if she wanted to live. She took off her glove and it blew away in the wind. Her nails dug into his shirt and held tightly, "Éclair!" He looked back and she nodded, "I'm still here Toriko." She looked at her fingers and they were quickly turning blue from the cold weather. To save her life, she may have just sacrificed her own hand. Her teeth chattered from the cold, "I still maintain the same faith in you right now as I did on the ground. If I didn't I would have let myself blow away already." He smiled, "I won't let you down Éclair. Enjoy the ride and don't sweat the turbulence. You are now flying Toriko Air." She wouldn't let go no matter how much it pained her. Her right ungloved hand was her only means of staying on. Her faith in Toriko gave her a power that she didn't know she possessed. It was the power of hope, and strength to push through tough times.
She felt the fairly light impact of them landing back on the beanstalk once again. She saw a golden light in the corner of her eyes. In that moment, it felt as if time stopped. The wind came to a halt, and the air seem a bit warmer. Toriko looked in awe as a golden bird flew before his eyes. "The legends are true. The beast that flies in a thunder head. The Lightning Phoenix." Éclair couldn't burn the sight out of her memory if she tried. Toriko reached up, "I hope you don't mind if I take one of these." He plucked a feather from the bird, and just like that it was gone. The wind picked up again, and the lightning stuck. Toriko deflected the strike with the bright feather of the phoenix. One last gust of wind pushed them down the beanstalk and Toriko held on for the life of both of them. He looked up at the sky, "You see that Éclair? The sky is getting brighter. We're almost there!" He ran as if he hadn't just exerted tons of energy. The light got brighter and brighter until he jumped through the clouds. "We made it!" Éclair looked around, "It's so light up here. It's beautiful." The grassy cloud plane was something to be seen.
The man jumped down on the cloud grass and wobbled a bit. "Walk on it Éclair, it's safe." She jumped off, but her feet didn't touch the ground. Her hand was still hanging onto his shirt. "Kneel down Toriko, my hand is stuck on your shirt." Being in the heavenly light now, she could see the full effect of the weather on hand. It was frozen in place to the man's shirt. She pulled away and her hand made a loud crack. "Ahhhhhhh!" She screamed out in pain. He looked at her blue hand, "Don't worry Éclair, it's painful because the numbing feeling of the ice is wearing off." He wrapped her hand with the torn cloth that kept her on his back, "Keep it wrapped and warm." She nodded, "Okay, but I don't think it'll matter what I do. I think I'm going to lose my hand." He shook his head, "You won't. Any longer out there and you would have, but I think when the Thunder Phoenix went by it momentarily stopped your hand from freezing. You'll be okay Éclair." She smiled, "Okay, let's do what we came here for and eat some veggies!"
They walked through the open plane and Toriko spoke back to the girl, "Éclair I want to thank you." "For what?" He smiled lightly, "For your words of encouragement when we were falling through the cloud. You believed in me, and that gave me the motivation and strength to keep going." She chuckled, "It's funny. I was thinking the same thing. You save me all the time, I knew you could make it, and you did. It gave me strength to hang on too." She took off her oxygen mask, "The air up here is so nice. I suppose the photosynthesis is allowing more oxygen to flow." The man frowned a bit, "You know about photosynthesis but you didn't know that falling from the beanstalk would kill you? You're an interesting girl Éclair." She laughed, "Hey, don't make fun of me, I have my moments."
They found themselves in a forest of vines. Éclair looked down, "Check it out. It's a mineral worm. These little guys cost so much money. They cost even more than I spent on the Century Soup." She looked up at Toriko and he seemed to be in his own world, "I can smell it. Éclair I can smell the vegetables!" The two ran through the forest as fast as they could. Éclair moved the vines out of her way and an uncontrolled gasp took her breath. Vegetables as far as the eye can see. She put her hands together, "I give thanks for the vast bounty this world provides." She ran right in and straight for the celery. "This is the best celery I have ever had. It's so crunchy and juicy and not at all stringy." Her eyes looked around for more, "Carrots!" She pulled the carrot from the root and dusted off the dirt. She bit into the carrot and it tasted like a sweet sugar cane. The texture was that of a perfectly chilled crunchy cucumber. She couldn't get enough of the vegetables in front of her. She grabbed an avocado from a tree and the smell was overwhelming. It smelled so sweet and it was ripe and soft as it slid down her throat.
Toriko waved the girl over, "Éclair, you have to try these pumpkins!" She poked the orange fruit, "They're so spongy." She put it in her mouth whole, "It tastes like a marshmallow, it's so sweet and soft! The seeds inside give it a nice salty balance, it's so good." They ate as much food as their stomachs could handle. Broccoli trees with natural cheese in it, sweet tomatoes, and even sweetened corn. The two lay side by side on the ground. "I see why they call this place Vegetable Heaven. If I could live here I would~" Her stomach growled loudly, "It's also nice that things are digesting well~ WHOA! It's digesting a little bit too well. Toriko!" The man looked at her, "I know! Nature's calling!" They ran off in separate directions. "I'll see you in a couple Toriko. Oh please let me make it."
She sighed loudly, "I feel so much better now." The blond girl began to walk back to Toriko, and she heard something she hadn't heard in a while. It was a melody. It was such angelic music in her ears. "Where is that coming from?" She walked to the edge of the grass and the song was louder than ever. "I guess the legends are true. There really is an Ozone Herb." The appearance of the pealed back leaves was like a corsage of the greatest flower in the world. "Toriko!" She ran over to the man, "Toriko, I found it!" She noticed he was looking at something, but she was too excited to ask what. She grabbed his hand and dragged him along, "Toriko look! I found it! I found the Ozone Herb!" She ran with him to the edge and the man smiled, "It's huge!"
The girl scratched her head, "That is really strange, I just saw it peeled back and~ Well anyway, here it is." Toriko jumped down onto the plant. The man cringed fiercely. "What's wrong?" "I just got a really strong whiff of pesticide. It was like it was sent straight up my nostrils. I'm okay though." He grabbed hold of a leaf and struggled. He grunted as he tried to peel back the firm layer. "Toriko wait!" He peeled back the leaf and it was too late. The entire mass let out a gas and began to shrink itself. She blinked at what she just beheld. The herb just turned back into a seed. The girl jumped down and landed in Toriko's arms. She pointed, "It reverted back into a seed. Toriko I found this ingredient because it sang to me, but the second you jumped on that leaf, it stopped. This herb is to be handled delicately. It is a special preparation ingredient, I know it." She looked intensely at the seed, "I think there is a certain order we must take. When you touched that leaf, I heard the herb say 'not this one.'" His eyes amplified, "The ingredient actually spoke to you?" She nodded, "Yes. It was the first time the melody ever just stopped and spoke. Come on, we have to find more, I want to eat this herb."
They walked along the sky path and Toriko smiled, "Éclair, your improvement is unbelievable. You are really progressing as a chef. I think the ingredients have always sang to you, but now they are speaking, and you can feel it." She nodded, "Thank you." She stopped and listened out, "I can hear it again. It's like a small choir. It's gonna show us the way!" "You and me? We're an us?" She punched his arm lightly, "Don't get mushy." The girl ran forward, "Aha! I knew I heard a choir." There were Ozone Herbs as far as the eye could see. The girl smiled, "We're gonna eat an Ozone Herb, I can feel it." They jumped on one of the plants and Éclair laughed nervously, "Hehe, looks like the choir took a break. I can't hear at thing." "What! ~Alright, let's just try to get the leaf in front of us down." They peeled back the leaf and once again, it reverted back to a seed. "Hmm, maybe if we go by number of veins?" "Toughness?" "Brightest color?" None of the plans worked and they flew through many plants. Éclair jumped up on a leaf and looked at Toriko from across the plant, "I'm not entirely~" She felt the top of her leaf becoming submissive. She looked over, "Hey Toriko, do you feel the top of your leaf giving in?" He nodded, "Yeah."
"I think the key is to pull them down simultaneously." He shugged, "Let's try it." They pulled down the leaves and the plant didn't shrink. He smiled, "Way to go Éclair!" The two made it to other leaves and the girl yelled over, "We can't do it at random. The herb wants us to peel in a specific order." She pointed, "Try the one next to you." He nodded, "I think you're right. This one is giving off the strongest scent." They peeled back and the plant shrunk into a seed once again. Éclair sighed "Sorry, I think I was a bit late." The man grabbed her hand, "How is your hand?" She unwrapped it and it was a lighter shade of blue, "I think I'll be okay. It doesn't hurt as bad anymore. It won't affect me getting that herb that's for sure." Dozens more the pair blew through. Time after time they were just not in sync.
They stood in the center of the plant finally. Only two leaves were left to peel back. "Hey Éclair, after we get these leaves peeled, there's something I want to ask you. It's a favor." She nodded, "Of course, anything. What is it? You can ask me now." He shook his head, "I need to fulfill the old man's request. I'll ask you after." She sighed, "Fine then, be secretive." The two grabbed each side of the remaining leaves and peeled back. A light green herb unrolled itself and sprang out of the leaves. Its wetness splashed the girl's face, "Now that is what I call juicy." The man sniffed the plant, "It looks so succulent and good. I just want to taste it." The girl shooed him away, "Don't drool on the plant!" Toriko took a step back, "Éclair, I will let you have the first bite. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here." She took a step back as well, "And if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it onto the beanstalk at all, so go ahead. You take the first bite." "If you say so!" She folded her arms, "Ugh, you could have put up a complementing fight." He put his hands together, "I give thanks for the vast bounty this would provides. Now let's eat." He took a bite of the plant and it turned brown right before their eyes. He spit out the plant, "It tastes so revolting, I couldn't swallow it." Éclair put her hands over her face, "You don't think~ we have to eat this plant together?" The man ran toward another plant, "Picky one isn't it. Let's try it."
The two were once again in the same spot as before. Standing before the great Ozone Herb. The two put their hands together, "I give humble thanks for the vast bounty this world provides, now let's eat." They both took a bite of the herb and their eyes lit up. Éclair jumped into the man's arms, "We did it Toriko! We got the Ozone Herb!" She grabbed her cheeks, "It tastes sweeter than any veggie I ever tasted. Now I can speak true about the vegetable of legends. It is greater than any vegetable grown on the ground." She felt the man's muscles pulsating as she hugged him. She released her grip and backed away. His shirt ripped to shreds. His muscles grew and he looked at his arms. "This ingredient is what my Gourmet Cells have needed." She poked at his stomach, "I don't mean to stare, but it doesn't matter how long I stay at the gym, I'll never be this rock hard." He ruffled her hair, "Why would you want to be?"
The man sat down next to the blond. "Hey Éclair, we're a good team, us 2. What do you say we make it official? Only if you want to and you're up to the challenges that lie ahead. The two of us should become a combo and prepare the ultimate full course menu together. Are you in?" It was a rare sight to see the girl cry, and even rarer if it was because of someone's words. She looked away and let the tears stream down her cheeks. "Toriko, there is one memory that I can't shake. It is more prevalent than anything I can think of. When I first met you, there was that Pincer Fish. It jumped up, and I can still see the beads of water in my eye line. It was so amazing to me, seeing the ingredient in its natural habitat." She turned to the man, "I knew right then and there, I'd walk through fire with you, just to cook the ingredients you captured. You're my best friend, and Toriko, I'd follow you to the end of the Earth." She gave the man a tight hug, "It would be my deepest honor to be your combo partner Bishokuya Toriko. I'll make you proud." They embraced tighter and Éclair looked up at the man.
"So, what about the herb? Any ideas perhaps?" He shook his head, "I'm not gonna put it on my full course menu. It advanced my cells, but I know there are greater things out there. With us working together, we can find something magnificent. Not to mention it takes two people to eat the plant." She nodded, You're right! I will make them all taste very delicious, you can count on that!" She looked around as she heard the sound of something crashing to the ground. The two looked over and saw a large birdlike creature. Toriko frowned, "Another GT Robot?"
The new person walked toward them. She was standing in complete fear of the creature. A sweat broke from her face as it walked between the two. It made its way toward the Ozone Herb and took a bite. The black birdlike person spit out the herb and quickly jumped in the sky taking off. Éclair exhaled, "Why didn't it try to attack us? I guess that robot sensed your power." "That wasn't a robot. I'm not sure what it was, but it definitely had flesh and blood." She shivered, "Ew creepy, but why did he spit out the herb. Poor thing has bad taste." He looked at the herb, "That's very strange. There are 2 bite marks. It's as if he bit it so fast that the herb couldn't tell only one person ate it." The man walked toward another plant, "Come on Éclair, let's get another herb for my old man and get out of this place."