This is really the most active place Sarafina has ever been in. Not too much of animals life... but at least the plants here are active enough. Every where she turned the plants, some which looked like Venus flytraps and some words couldn't describe, had some sort of animal in the process of being eaten by them. 'It's lively, but this isn't anywhere to the jungle in the Gourmet World.' Sarafina thought as she stuck close to Toriko, Terry walking beside them. Kururu stayed inside her bag and watched everything from the small opening.
"Plant hell. A forest ruled by plants, it sure is something amazing eh Sarafina?" Toriko commented as he looked around in a laid back manner. "I suppose there's some charm to this place. As long as it doesn't try to kill you." The blind woman said as the trio continued to walk. The giant hunter gave a slight chuckle as he continued to look at the plants curiously. "They're probably creatures from gourmet world. They probably were blown here through seeds and spores on the westerly winds." Something fell from somewhere above the trio and landed with a plop onto the Toriko's bear shoulder. "Ew. What's that smell?" She asked as a split second later the giant shouted in disgust, "Owa! That stinks! What is this bird crap?!" They all looked up to see some ugly-looking birds crapping on the area the hunters were standing in.
"Sh-it, these guys... They're getting shit on me!" Toriko shouted as he glared up at the animals. Ugh. Just what they don't need. Sarafina undid the sash from her waist and ripped it in half. She then placed a bit of her power onto it and gained a mind of its own as it stretched over them and tired themselves to more safer trees and granted them coverage. Terry suddenly started to bark in warning. "What is it Terry?" He asked as he looked down at his belt. No pelts have fallen off so what's got her barking.. A spark of life went off on her fellow hunter and she gazed over to him. "Toriko! Your shoulder!" Sarafina gasped. Toriko quickly looked at his shoulder and quickly gave a loud yelp of surprise when a plant was already taking root in his flesh. Even as he stared at it it continued to grow.
"From...from the bird's crap a plant sprout was..." The hunter's face paled a bit as he realised the true nature of the situation. "No...in the beginning, inside the bird's crap...there was a seed mixed in!" Toriko thought back on how in the real world there were many cases when a plant grows somewhere it normally doesn't because droppings from a bird contained seeds from the fruits it ate. In other words.. "These plants...did they get here using the bird'a crap as an intermediary?! What's more, it can germinate on a human body?!"
"Toriko!" The blind huntress shouted as the plant continued to take root, the roots burrowing into his skin as he quickly realised it was sucking the nutrients from his body. "There's no helping it!" Sarafina heard him say as Toriko grit his teeth as he shouted, "Knife!" Her eye widened in shock as Toriko literally cut a chunk of his shoulder off along with the plant. Blood quickly gushed out as he grimaced in pain, quickly placed a hand on the wound to try and stop the bleeding. "Toriko! Hang on!" She said as she placed her hands on his shoulder. Sarafina concentrated her power into restoring and healing him, good thing this will result in little damage to her.
"Terry! Be careful! Don't let the droppings hit you!" Sarafina shouted over to the pup, noticing Toriko checking out the Peaceful Flowers. Much to her horror, three whole petals fall off... Looking on the other side of the man, Sarafina could've sworn that there was something crawling on the ground and was about to push Toriko out of the way when something shot out towards the hunters as everything turned into a blur. Kururu jumped out of the bag and Terry gave a quick bark before pushing Toriko and Sarafina out of the way, knocking them to the ground. Kururu quickly forming a wall of ice around them. "Terry! Kururu!" Sarafina shouted as vines wrapped themselves around the pup and kitten. "What're you doing, you!" Toriko shouted in surprise as he started to get up. "What is this thing..?" His eyes got a sharp angry look as he and Sarafina got up and glared slightly at the plant beast. "What is this?" The blind huntress asked.
The beast was a large and grotesque plant-like beast with a fearsome presence. The entirety of its body is made of wooden roots and branches interconnecting and crisscrossing with one another giving it a very peculiar and random body shape. It has white hair, blue gem-like eyes, sharp teeth and its body is mostly light green in colour. A Goblinplant. The creatures lifted one of its "feet" onto the ground and started walking.
"If I wasn't standing here to sense this, I wouldn't believe this was real." She said. As it neared the two hunters, they couldn't but notice something strange was happening every time it placed a foot into the ground. "Is...it using the roots that are hanging to walk..?" From what she could think of it was somehow it was using the aerial roots as a form of prop to walk along with the feet roots. If memory serves the Okinanwain banyan tree, roots that were out in the open air and dangled around the surface of the ground, becoming something like support.
But the ones on this particular plant grew at an insane rate...if that was the case...whoa..those weren't feet at all but roots appearing practically in an instant. Terry and Kururu, who were still caught by the vines, was lifted high into the air with her frantically try to chew her way out but the vines were either stronger then they appeared or something else. The thing finally took notice of the battle wolf and quickly wrapped the pup up and started to squeeze. Kururu growled and hissed at the Goblinplant. Her eyes glowed a light blue colour as she began to freeze herself and the vine that was keeping her in place. Once it was frozen solid, a chunk of ice formed around Kururu before she burst out of it with ease, shattering the vine the process.
Kururu landed back on the ground on her feet and was about to go and save Terry when Toriko stopped her. The ice kitten stared back at the larger hunter like he had gone insane. "Toriko..?" Sarafina asked in concerned as she felt of him being pissed off was radiating off him. "Terry...why did you help me?" Toriko asked calmly. Much as she hated to, Sarafina thought it be best to stay quiet. It was impossible to forget that deal those two had going and she knew the giant had a point. Terry must learn how to take care of herself. "Kururu. Stand down." Sarafina told her. Kururu gave a shock look to her owner, not believing she was taking Toriko's side. But still... She did as she said and tool a few steps back. Gazing up at her friend with worry.
The two watched as the young wolf continued to get squeezed tighter by the vines. "That he was coming after me from behind...I basically realised it.. Understand? You probably planned to help me but..." A cold shiver went down her spine as she, Kururu and Terry both shivered a bit even though Sarafina couldn't see the hunter's face it didn't take a genius to figure out what expression he was wearing. Feeling something falling from the giant man's belt and from her hair, Sarafina nearly did a double take when the flowers they had with them had nearly burned up from being in close proximity to him. A strange call was in there air as a bat like animal flew by, getting the creature's attention long enough for Terry to get away. The hunter calmly took out and a lit his cigar bark with Terry landing neatly beside him, breathing slightly hard from getting squeezed.
After taking a quick puff, the giant hunter glanced down at the pup, telling her in a firm stern tone, "Terry. This is your penalty for breaking our promise not to help each other out. You can manage him on your own. From the beginning, the goal this time was an ingredient for your sake. Put your own power into getting it..!" That seemed to motivate the pup, turning to face the troll-like plant with proud determination. The plant shot out a claw like hand towards the pup, who dodged the attack with ease. Sarafina knew she was fast but to sense Terry actually use the speed in a fight was extremely impressive.
As the blind woman "watched" the young pup in amazement fight the plant using her speed and agility, the larger male stood nearby watching the event with a stern expression. Based off of how many petals fell off of the Peaceful Flowers, the giant hunter could bet that this guy's capture level would be around 30. Toriko mused to himself as he watched the two fight, taking a puff from the cigar bark. The plant monster was strong.. 'I'd be interested in seeing how far Terry can fight now.' The large man thought as he watched the wolf and plant fight.
Glancing over to the young woman, he was quite surprised to see how calm she was as she too watched on. Now that he thought bout it Sarafina hadn't complain too much about the bet...perhaps it had to do that she had a similar one with Kururu, so hopefully she understood his reason. A snapping sound caught his attention, breaking him out of his thoughts, looking over to the fight he saw that the pup had broken off a piece from her opponent and land neatly nearly in front of him.
Putting a hand in his pocket, the giant hunter took the cigar bark out of his mouth as he continued to watch the match. 'I'm impressed by how well Terry is doing.' Sarafina thought as she watched on. It was a tough one to beat but she was confident that the young pup could do it. Glancing at the plant, the girl couldn't help but hear the sound of bones clunking from within the Goblinplant. Along with the smell of decomposing bodies. 'Is that thing capturing and using its roots to suck up nutrients?' She thought. Damn. Was that giant thing one large parasite?
'The only damage the trunk has taken had only been bites taken out of it.' Toriko thought as he reached into his bag and took out a small bottle of booze as the hunter continued. 'And not long ago new roots had grown from there.' Popping the top off, Toriko took a drink just before he called out, "Terry!" At the mention of her name the wolf started a bit as the hunter continued. "It's a tough opponent. Use your head."
"Toriko how much booze do you have to drink before being satisfied?" Sarafina asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she watched on in amusement as her companion took another swing. Not that she's one to talk, but she couldn't help but tease him. She shook her head in amusement when a chuckle was heard from his direction as she turned back to the fight. The giant hunter watched on, a deep concentrating thinking expression etched onto his face as he continued to drink and muse to himself. The Obsaurus was his subordinate at one time...which means that the fact that it was now Terry's meant that at least one time the young Battle Wolf showed a power that was greater than his.
At the moment the Battle Wolf doesn't have that true power...at some point the Obsaurus felt that future promise and potential in Terry. Terry has plenty of talent.. 'That is the Terry fully releasing everything without constraint!' Toriko thought, watching Terry as she panted a bit and planned her next move. Without warning she jumped high into the air and literally became a blur, jumping all over from tree to tree. 'Wow! Look at that speed! It's insane!' Sarafina thought in shocked surprised as the hunter mused that speed must be Terry's weapon. Just as suddenly the plant monster the surrounding area with branches. "He filled his surroundings with branches! Terry will get caught!" Toriko exclaimed. "Hey! It's too soon to call it Toriko!" Sarafina called over, smiling proudly at Terry.
In what seemed like a flash the young wolf had, just for a few moments, her intimidation out. The intimidation was that of a large feral wolf that in what seemed like mere seconds bit through the branches that were in its way. Her eyes widen a bit before a smile formed. She knew the pup had it in her. Judging from the excitement on Toriko's face he saw the pup's talent as well. The plant monster made some kind of gyru type of noise as its branches reached out and suddenly caught Terry unawares, wrapping and tightening around the young wolf.
Sarafina's eye widened as she gasp out in shock. The pup did quite good up to this point. Surely Toriko would... "Terry!" The hunter called out. Why the heck was he still standing there? Toriko looked up at the young pup, who was panting for breath as the vines continued to tighten. "Terry...that was plenty...you did well." He praised her when the plant creature a loud, pleasurable cry and it appeared to have eaten Terry.
'Was that thing giving out a victory cry?' She wondered as her male companion went, "Ah..? He gave some kinda happy sounding cry but...was it suppose to be a victory cry..?" Blinking a bit, his face changed to a slight cocky expression. 'Guess someone's having a Proud Father moment.' She mused to herself as Toriko told the Goblinplant, "The battle is truly over. It's your loss." Smoke began to rise up from the ends of some its branch when a moment later fire quickly burst into existence, the fire but not before coughing up Terry in surprise. Toriko, with a soft expression, caught the falling pup with ease, who was beat up from the fight. "Are you ok, Terry?" He asked her as she panted slightly as the man continued. "That was a good fight. It's your victory!"
Meanwhile the plant creature continued to catch fire and burn quicker than she expected. Suspecting that there was more going on then meets the eye, Sarafina glanced around around until her nose caught the scent of alcohol and looked up to see the same fruits, that she and Toriko had drank yesterday, in a palm tree, with its fruits cracked open and dropping fluids onto the plant. 'So that explains why the creature is burning at an extremely fast rate... The alcohol would be acting as an accelerator for the fire. Not bad, Terry. You're a true Queen of the Battle Wolves.' Sarafina thought to herself as she kneeled down as the hunter gingerly sat the pup down next to him. Kururu gave a happy, and relieved, mew and run towards Terry. The two animals nuzzled against each other, both happy that Terry won.
"Nice job, Terry. You did great." Sarafina told the pup warmly as she reached out to scratch behind her ears. Terry looked at her a bit as the wolf allowed her to touch before turning to look at the former opponent. "Terry jumping all over at her top speed, was not to make you dizzy..." Toriko said to the fallen foe as he stood up before continuing, "It was to break open up the Sakeyushi fruits all. That poured the 50% alcohol sake on you. She pointed her fangs there with all her might, that wasn't just to break your branches...the sparks from when she bit down were meant to light the alcohol on fire. She's probably behind you in fighting strength but it seems Terry's battle sense and talent were higher..!"
'Definitely proud daddy but I doubt you'll ever get him like him to admit it such a thing.' Sarafina thought as her lips twitched a bit. He really does care about the young pup. Terry started to walk towards her fallen foe, went up to one of the many broken steaming bits of the plant and took a bite. Ah... The young wolf was taking what Toriko had talked to her before they left and was showing respect to her opponent. Judging from the look on Toriko's face, the same conclusion was reached in his mind as he said Terry's name before laughing a bit and knelt down to her level. "Nice, Terry... Even without eating this guy, from the beginning he wouldn't die. The bacteria that breaks down burnt ashes will absorb their nutrients and it'll be brought back to life soon."
"What's on my mind is where did this guy's branches go? With this huge quantity of a food supply, what kind of fruit is beared on the end of these branches?" Of course he'd wonder bout that but was that plant thing even a plant that had food..? Looking up Toriko continued, Terry followed suit as well. "Hey...you're concerned, aren't you, Terry?"
"Well, we won't find the answer by just standing around here, now will we?" Sarafina said with a smile as she and Kururu began walking towards the roots that seemed to be leading up all the way into the canopy. "Come on, we've got some climbing to do." She told them. Toriko gave her a smirk and followed her up. Who knows what they'll find once they get to the top. But if it has the BB Corn they were looking for and for Terry to actually eat for once, then this trip will be worth it.
~Later on~
Reaching up with ease Toriko grasped the branch above him above and hauled himself up. "Huuu..." The hunter went, kneeling and reaching up to wipe some sweat off his face. They've been climbing for quite a while and are now just reaching the top. "It sure is high. Just how many hundreds of meters is this tree...what's more these thin branches, they can more than support my entire body weight.. Is it by many branches entangled with each other that they're keeping up this much strength and durability..? It's like connected power lines supporting each other on telephone poles. But this scale... A giant building could be constructed on top of a forest and it would hold out. If that's the case... I don't think it's a building but some giant food. I'm so excited I can't stop drooling."
Sarafina laughed at Toriko and said, "Now don't get distracted by food now, Toriko. We're almost at the top." Sarafina smiled as she jumped on a few more branches like an expert gymnast. A bark was heard from somewhere above the giant hunter. Jerking his head up, Toriko looked and saw Terry and Kururu above near the top, the sun shining threw the leafs. "Oh, Terry! Is that the summit?!" Toriko called over excitedly. He crunched down low and made a huge jump into the air, with Sarafina close behind him, before feeling the warmth of the sun on their faces.
The first thing Toriko saw when he bursted through were tree tops but looking into the distance, sticking out of the trees here and there, were some of the largest corn cobs he's ever seen. Excitement etched into his face as he landed neatly on top of the trees, the branches and leafs were dense enough to walk on. Whipping his head towards the wolf pup, the hunter clenched his hands into fists in excitement as he exclaimed, "Bingo! We found the BB Corn!"