In the wide field outside of the city of Life, Sunny deduced the most promising creatures to catch were small mammals. But he'd need to catch a lot. Toriko could easily eat twelve shisha-ka-bobs of rabbit, and... ew, that was a disgusting image.
Although Toriko would eat anything, Sunny was going to make sure it was worth eating. A body needed proper nutrition if it was going to heal and that meant only the finest foods.
Teppei wasn't doing too bad on that account, although he seemed pathologically focused on vegetables. With his strange green bouffant bobbing in the grass, and that ridiculous green track suit, he looked like some sort of vegetable himself.
That image was more amusing than the rabbit-ka-bob, and Sunny relaxed into the strangely peaceful and refreshing mood.
"You promised to tell me about Yosaku," Sunny said.
"What do you want to know?"
"Well, for one, is he really as talented as they say?"
"I think the only 'they' is me. And you trusted me pretty easily," Teppei said, giving him an odd look. Those eyes, those amythst eyes tugged at him. If only those eyebrows weren't so thick, he'd be a beauty. He had an air of refinement to him that was so rare. At least, rare if your normal companions were Rin, Toriko or, gag, Zebra.
"You're snapping their necks," Teppei pointed.
"It... It's the most beautiful way to give the rabbits a quick death," Sunny commented, flustered. He changed the subject. "Anyway, isn't there anything larger?"
"Well," Teppei halted and placed a black-gloved finger next to his lip. "No. We'd have to go farther inland."
"Show me," Sunny said.
Teppei hesitated, then shot off towards a hillside. Sunny followed him over the treetops to a cave entrance.
"Have you ever killed a Slug Dragon before?" Teppei asked.
"A WHAT?!" Sunny exploded. "That sounds positively disgusting!"
"Have you?"
"NO!"
"Okay, I'll Knock it, then." Teppei rapped sharply at the stone wall, the tones echoing down a large chamber.
When a giant yellow slug-like mass started oozing out the hole, Sunny almost vomited. "Damn right I'm not touching that!"
Two tentacled eyes unwrapped themselves from the sticky body and woozed into place. Next, a pair of slimy wings started to unfold. Before they could shake the goo off, Teppei flashed into action.
"Impact Knocking. Medium!"
With a flip, Teppei landed on the large creature's head. Then, with artistic precision, he splayed his legs between the two eyestalks and slapped his palm against the Slug Dragon's soft skull.
The effect was immediate; the yellow creature stopped advancing. Teppei visibly relaxed, turning back to Sunny with a smile. "Help me carry it?"
Sunny really didn't think he loved Toriko enough to touch it, let alone haul it back.
"Please?" Teppei asked. The bald pleading in Teppei's eyes almost made him want to concede.
"No way. Isn't there anything at all of a decent size other than this? If I'd know you were going to capture a Slug Dragon, I wouldn't have agreed at all!"
"Oh," Teppei said. "They're the largest animal around that's approved for Capture. They've actually become a nuisance recently because they've been burrowing under the hills and displacing some of the Ruby Crabs, not to mention they leave slime stains that change the PH and keep Log Mushrooms from growing-"
"NO. It's final. No."
"Oh." With a shrug, Teppei slanted his hand and rammed it back into the Slug's head. The creature squirmed to life, making a rapid retreat back down its hole as Teppei leaped off.
Sunny released a breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding.
"Ugh, that slime gets everywhere," Teppei said, shaking his hand. Bits of goo sprayed.
"We're going back to get more rabbits," Sunny gritted his teeth.
Teppei grinned sheeplishly. "I guess so."
Once everyone was back in the same room, whatever tension Sunny carried in from the hunt evaporated. Toriko wasn't smiling, but he was intensely focused on eating and that was a return to normalcy.
Yosaku immedately excused himself to go pass out, and Teppei went off somewhere as well, which left Sunny and Toriko at the food table. Stomach grumbling, Sunny lifted a leg of rabbit.
"Hey! That's mine!" Toriko yelled.
"It's mine! I caught it!" Sunny shouted back.
"But it's my medicine!"
"Too bad!" Sunny licked the meat off the leg in one go.
"Aw, fine. I guess this isn't Jewel Meat or anything so it doesn't matter."
"Don't insult the food you're eating. This is all selected for max nutritional value."
"Really?" Toriko gave him some goofy smile. "Just what I'd expect from you."
"Losing an arm, that's what I'd expect from you." The sheer atrocity of a lost limb was something Sunny could barely comprehend.
"Yep, but it's going to regrow, so it's all okay."
"Doesn't it bother you?"
"Well...no. Stuff like this happens. Scars, sickness, injuries. "
"But it's your whole arm! Whole! Arm!"
"Yep."
"Wha... You know, it's poetic justice that you got in over your head and lost the means to perpetuate getting in over his head," Sunny scoffed.
"You lose your hairs all the time," Toriko retorted.
"Yeah," Sunny said, a bit taken aback that Toriko had noticed. "They shed, they get pulled out all the time. But I have 200,000 of them. You've only got 2 arms."
"Right now I'd say it's about 1.1 arms."
"As if! that's a .01 if I ever saw it!"
"Don't be mean, it's growing back."
Toriko seemed dejected for the first time, so Sunny ate a bit more, then decided it was time to go enjoy a spa.
A/N: Just more food-gathering this chapter. Plus Sunny acting pretty childish all around. It's not his fault he's surrounded by so much gross stuff! Poor guy needs a vacation.