It was bright and early this fine morning. Éclair was on her way to Toriko's house with her favorite furry friend. She waved to Terry and Ob on her way to the door. "Hey boys. Give me kisses." The two licked her rosy cheeks and the girl laughed, "I missed you guys. You're both getting so big. We should have another beach day sometime. Okay, I've gotta go get the crazy blue guy now." She pat their head, "Love ya boys." They walked up to the door in high spirits. "Toriko! It's me and Poof Ball! The door swung open in front of her and Toriko's scary face screamed in hers." The girl fell back from fear, but her little pet caught her before she tumbled down the stairs. "What the hell is your problem!? You just scared me to death!" The man smiled, "I'm sorry, I'm just trying to practice surprising a certain ingredient." The girl pouted, "Well you don't have to practice on me and Poof Ball, now that's just cruel." The man helped her to her feet, "Come on. Our ride is waiting."

Éclair and Toriko set sail and were out on the ocean once again. The girl walked over to the railing and smiled, "I'm the king of the world! Make that the Food Man of the world!" The bluenette walked over to the girl and ruffled her hair, "You mean you're the Food Woman of the world." She shook her head, "Ah ah ah, that wasn't the name of the title." He smiled at the girl, "You know what's cool about you Éclair? You're always ready to go on an adventure, even when you don't know what ingredient we're searching for." "Well, I do assume you'll fill me in at some point. Not to mention the fact that I haven't been disappointed yet. But now that you mention it. What have you dragged me, Poof Ball, Terry and Tom into?" Before the man could answer, the sound of cannons went off. She grabbed the tiny Wall Penguin, "You dragged me and my baby into a war zone!" The man shook his head, "Of course not. I brought you guys to collect some Surprise Apples. It's an apple that changes tastes when you surprise it. The more surprised it gets, the tastier it becomes, and higher valued. The IGO recently brought some seeds back from Battle Island." He pointed, "We're almost there. By the looks of things, they've already started the Frightening Festival." Tom waved at the two, "Bring me back some good apples. They're very rare on the market." Toriko nodded, "No problem. I'll scare them to death."

They disembarked from the boat, and the island was even louder with cannons sounding and guns going off. "Thousands of people come here this time of year for the festival. It get's louder than usual because they want to scare the apples good." The girl pointed, "Look who's here. I guess we know who isn't going to scare any apples. Hey Longe, how are you gonna scare any apples if you're busy being scared yourself?" "It's Zongeh, and I'll show you! I'm gonna scare these apples real good!" The girl looked back as a group of men approached. "Tooooooriko is here? It looks like weeeee will have some serious contenders thissssss year." Éclair looked at the man "Taste master Apalon is here?" The bluenette nodded, "Yes, he's here to measure the levels by how the face looks." The girl frowned a bit, "Face?" She looked at the apple, "Gross! I'm not scaring this one! It's got eyes and a mouth!" She looked around, "Wait a minute. Eww! They all have faces! Why do they have faces! I don't want my food to have a human-like face!"

"Yeah, they're all alive. Hey, plug your ears okay Éclair. I've got this stone from Melk the First that I want to try out." She nodded and ran back a bit. The man yelled into the rock in the face of the apple and it was a frightening sound. The sound alone was enough to make her body scoot back a few feet. "I feel like I'm with Zebra again! It's so loud!" The girl picked her ear, "I swear I lost a bit of my hearing from that." The people cheered for Toriko as he scared the living crap out of the apple. The taste master walked over to the apple and observed, "I do believe thissssss isssss at a scare level 27. That's the hiiiiiiiiighest we've seen all daaaaaay." The blond girl clapped, "Good job Toriko!" "Thanks, but I want to get even higher than that. There are some that can't be scared just by loud noises." As he spoke of different scaring techniques, Tsurara Mama came walking out the forest. Éclair's eyes glistened, "Oh my word! Someone pinch me, I must be dreaming! That's Tsurara Mama! She's ranked in the top 50 chef's and was once a credible Bishokuya before that. She's so gorgeous in person." The woman walked over to an apple and smiled, "You don't have to worry about being scared, I won't kill you. I'll just stew you in formalin and make you a furnishing for my store for all of eternity." The apple instantaneously screamed out in fear. Éclair clasped her hands, "She's wonderful. She just scared the apple with beautiful threats." Apalon pointed, "Amazing, that's a scare level of 20!" The blond girl sighed, "That's the kind of woman I aspire t become. She's just perfect."

The girl looked at her partner, "Okay Toriko, I'm gonna go scare me some apples." She ran into the forest and looked around, "Alright you bastards, from now on, you play by my rules!" The apples all sighed from the empty threat. "Playing hardball huh?" Before she could start scaring the apples, she felt a great force blowing her back. The girl held onto the tree as her high pitched scream carried throughout the forest. It gave her a good idea. She ran back to Toriko, "Was that wind you just now? The man nodded, "Yeah, I just punched the apple short of its face and it would have been a level 50 but it fainted." The girl snapped her fingers, "That's a damn shame. Hey, can I borrow that loud rock thing?" The man handed it to her, "Sure, go scare some apples with it." She yelled into the loud rock, "Excuse me. I would just like everyone to plug their ears please." She faced an apple and cleared her throat, "This is what I like to call the Falsetto Scare." The girl put in ear plugs herself. She held the rock close and sang in a very high pitched falsetto tone. It got louder and louder until not a single person was shy of her voice. With one last force of her voice, she went even higher and cracked the glasses of Apalon himself. The girl's huffed as her note was carried out for well over a minute. She put down the rock, "I need to~ catch my~ breath." She dropped to her knees and looked up, "Did I do~ good?" Apalon walked over to the apple, "Congratulations Miss Reinbou, that's a scare level 32." She laid back in the grass, "Woo! I just think~ I need to~ catch my~ breath for a while." Toriko pat the girl on the back, "Good job Éclair! You did great!" "Thanks. I rarely ever~ sing in falsetto~ especially for~ that long."

While down, she overheard a conversation going on. Apalon walked over to an apple with a scare level of 80. Toriko ran over to check it out, and the girl's eyes looked in the direction. "No way. What kind of powerful Bishokuya possessed the power to scare the apple to an 80?" Her scared eyes were practically busting out of its sockets. She sat up and her little pink friend came to sit with her. She rested her head on his, "You hear that Poof Ball? Someone here is mighty powerful. I bet it's a highly skilled and respected Bishokuya. Her attention turned to the Bishokuya Zongeh. It seemed he was finally giving up on scaring the apple. He pulled down his bottoms and let one rip right on the apple. The taste master pointed at the apple, "My woooord. That's a leveeeeeel 80!" The girl's face looked like one of the Surprise Apples after what she'd just witnessed. She was frozen in fear from where she sat. "I-I-I just saw~ that man's ass. I just~ I can't." Her eyes rolled back into her skull and her body fell back into the grass.

It was much later and the girl woke up on large fluffy pillow. She looked around, "Where am I?" "Come eat Éclair. You've been passed out for a really long time. I was worried. Some doctors said you'd come to, but you were in an extreme state of shock." The girl rubbed her eye, "So I was in a mini coma? Cool! I survived it!" She looked at the table in front of her and there were cut up pieces of Surprise Apple. She put her hands together, "I give humble thanks." She pulled off her backpack and took out a chili seasoning. "I'm going to sprinkle a bit of this on here. I like a bit of kick with my apples." She handed the spice to Toriko and he added some onto his food. The two took a bite and it was a sweet, salty, and spicy combination. "I made this in my kitchen with different crushed peppers. I usually don't make my own seasoning mix like this, but I thought I'd try something new." "I love it Éclair! This tastes great!" Her eyes shifted around, "Remember when I told you I was playing the~ Jumbo Lottery?" The man shook his head, "No, you never told me that." She sighed, "Oh right that was a dream I had when I passed out. Anyway, I played right after we came back from the temple, and guess who won? Guessing time is over, I did. That's right I won."

The two started walking on their way to who knows where as she continued her story. "I was so surprised. I mean, things like that don't just happen to me. In fact, I was broke for the longest time, and then I broke even, and then I had a little spending cash. But now, I could go on a full blown vacation if I wanted to. But I was thinking of all the things I can do with this money and the possibilities are endless." Toriko nodded, "10 billion yen is a very large sum of money. That's awesome." She shook her head, "No, I won 1 million actually. I was so excited!" She noticed the man's face change and she frowned, "You better not say anything about how this isn't a lot of money, because it is. I'm not rich like you Toriko, and because of that you've always paid for my things. Now, it's my turn to treat you. Go ahead, hit me with anything. What do you want?" "A plot of land." "What! I offered some of my money, not the whole damn pot. You can't even buy land with this amount of money, I think. Maybe like a shack or something." She sighed, "Fine, I don't care. Take my money. If it makes you happy, I'll buy the land with my lottery money. Let's go buy this before I change my mind."

The man walked along happily. "There is an animal that lives there. It's the Chicken Tiger. It only lays eggs in places it likes." "So this plot of land. The Chicken Tiger must like it huh?" The man nodded, "Yes. An old stubborn man named Yocchi is selling the land for nothing less than 10 billion yen, minimum." "10 billion! There better money in that suitcase Toriko!" They saw the small shack inhabited by the old man. "Looks like no one has bought the land yet. We still have a chance to get it Éclair." The man looked at the group of men standing outside the home, "Is it okay to go in." One of the men shrugged, "Be my guest. But that old coot isn't budging." Toriko and Éclair stepped into the house and it was very plain. The girl smiled at the man, "Hello." The bluenette sniffed the air, "The egg, it's here. I can smell the rich, chewy, strong fragrance." The girl licked her lips, "Mmm, that sounds good. I want to eat it too." The man cracked his frown with a smile, "Finally, some people who actually want to eat the egg purely and genuinely instead of just wanting money." He lifted the floorboard and revealed the egg. "Let's eat it then."

The hot dishes sat before the three and the smell danced around their nostrils. "I give thanks for the vast bounty this world provides. Now let's eat." The girl took a piece of the omelet and buried her face in her hands. "I've never felt this way before. I just feel like beyond its amazing taste and tanginess, there is so much weight to this. I feel like I got a lifetimes worth of love out of one single bite. Why is this? Why do I feel like crying?" The old man took a drink of his liquor, "Let me tell you a story that might clear things up. Many years ago, I used to be a Bishokuya. I raised the Chicken Tiger from a chick to an adult." Toriko raised his eyebrows, "But Chicken Tigers are at least capture level 50. Why would you keep something so dangerous?" "My wife, Miko. She was very sick, so I would work my ass off to get ingredients so I could feed my wife. One could even say I was obsessed. After coming home for the first time in a while, I soon realized her condition was getting much worse. I'll never forget her last words. 'Rather than a large amount of money I could never use, just once I wish we could eat together.' I am the worst!" The man burst into tears, "When I thought about the food she liked, I could only think of one. The Chicken Tiger Egg. It was fate, because a Chicken Tiger was born right in the place I buried my wife. I knew it had to be her reincarnation. I felt it was my destiny to raise it. This time I was going to be delicate and give it love and shelter. I would never leave her."

Éclair wiped a tear from her eye, "I don't know how, but I think I felt like I knew that story all along. It was like the Chicken Tiger Egg told me as I ate." The old man wiped his tears away as well, "That's an old story though. 50 years old actually. Retiring as a Bishokuya forced me to sell my land bit by bit because I had no income anymore." The bluenette frowned, "Then why are you planning on selling that precious land? I would think from a story like that, you'd want to keep it." The man smiled, "It's because I am going to die soon, and I want my land to go to someone who isn't incredibly money hungry." The blond girl shook her head, "Don't write yourself off just yet. You still have time." "No, no. When you get to be my age, you'll know when it's your time too." Toriko pointed at Éclair, "Well she just won the lottery, so we'll buy it for 1 million yen." "Huh? Well, Toriko has 10 billion yen in his suitcase. Right? Right!?" The man shook his head, "Actually, I brought the Surprise apples." The old man laughed, "Ahaha! Sold! You've got a deal." The girl scratched her head, "Huh? But wasn't the minimum~" "I know what the minimum was. That went for the money hungry guys, not you two. Money isn't worth anything to me anymore. Toriko the praise you gave the egg earlier was what my wife used to say. For me, those words meant more than any money can bring. Thank you. ~You two can use the land however you want. I just have one request; come play with Meeko once in a while. She'll get lonely and I don't want her to feel abandoned."

~The girl walked in her long black dress to the grave of the old man alongside her partner. She wiped a tear from her eyes as she readied herself for a song. "When I ride, I'll shake the dust from my feet. Wipe the tears from my eyes. What a day~ they tell me it's gonna be~ Bye~ Bye." She hugged her partner as they stopped at the burial sight.. "One day that'll be us. Six feet under. I'm not ready for that day yet." "Then don't think about it." She looked down and noticed a small egg cracking open. "Toriko, look. Isn't it wonderful! The old man has come to reunite with his wife. Let's name him Yocchi." The man smiled, "It's perfect."

I just wanted to urge everyone to visit my poll if you get the chance! It is very detrimental to the outcome of this story! Please take a few seconds and vote! Thank you! -Rex