"Argh, what a pain." Toriko grumbled a bit reaching down to pull the switch of his suit when a loud, thunderous roar came up from above and saw Kururu in her giant panther form and flying down towards them. Kururu flew down to get behind them and Toriko and Komatsu landed safely on her back. The actions startles Komatsu back to life. "What the?!" He squeaked out as the hunter explained happily, "Hey Kururu! What took so long?" The Snow Panther flew back towards the vine. It would've been fun if this wasn't terrifying! "W..WOW, TORIKO-SAN! WE'RE FLYING!" Komatsu shouted excitedly clearly enjoying the ride.
Bird sounds started to appear out of nowhere. Turning towards the sound, Drill Birds were flying right for them. Drill Birds are green-eyed, purple birds with small bodies about 1 meter in length and they weigh about 15 kilograms. Their orange-coloured beaks are long, sharp and slightly hooked and can pierce stone with ease. When attacking they resemble flying purple drills.
And that's exactly what they did. "Toriko-San, something's coming at us!" Komatsu shouted. "Hm?" Toriko went before shouting, "WHOA, WHAT THE!?" The Drill Birds were attacking them and damaging Kururu's body. Growing angry at the filthy creatures that dared to touch her, Kururu let out a ferocious growl before shooting cold blizzard towards the birds from her mouth.
The attacked worked but now the three were in a pickle. Using what was left of her strength, Kururu flew to the nearest leaf to safety. Once the landed, Kururu transformed back into her kitten form, causing Toriko and Komatsu to unexpectedly fall on the stalk. "Ow, that hurt..." Toriko said as he rubbed his rear end. Kururu let out a small growl as she licked her wounds the Drill Birds left. The kitten blinked in surprise when Toriko came up and lifted her into his arms. "FREAKIN' PESTS! NOW WE HAVE TO CLIMB ALL THAT AGAIN!" Toriko growled in annoyance.
A sudden freezing down draft rushed past them, causing them to look up in response. "W..what was that?!" Komatsu asked as he wrapped his arms around himself trying to warm up. Down draft...didn't that usually proceed the coming of a storm...? Oh...crap.. Toriko got a nervous thinking look, talking aloud for a moment, "This is..." He looked up again. "A blast of cold.. Don't tell me..." He stopped when it got pitch black in mere seconds.
"Huh? What now...? It suddenly went dark." Komatsu said.
"Look up, Komatsu. Take a look at...our opponent!" Toriko told him, drawing the smaller man's gaze up once more. "What...is it?" He asked.
"A monster of a cloud! Now this is what I call training. It's do or die. We may never return from this cumulonimbus!" It was a giant cloud that could reach hundreds of meters high, from time to time called a monk cloud or lightning cloud. It was beautiful as it was deadly, unleashing flash down-pours, lightning strikes and tornadoes. The turbulence and lightning made it impossible for aircraft. Speaking of lightning, a few flashed across the sky as the wind picked up at an incredible rate, blowing hard enough to take sod of the gorillas off the plant.
Toriko set Komatsu down and began to rummage through his bag, with Kururu resting on his shoulder. "What's happening? It was clear just second ago! Where'd the clouds come from?" Komatsu asked.
"We didn't notice the air closer to the ground becoming unstable. Unstable air rapidly ascends to produce a cumulonimbus. A cumulonimbus can form in a matter of minutes." Toriko explained looking into his bag for a few more minutes before bringing out some leafs and a breathing mask. "Good, found them! Oxygen leaves." Komatsu watched him put a leaf in the mask and handed the items to him. "Komatsu. Put these on."
"What is it?" Komatsu echoed taking his as well.
"An oxygen mask. It'll be hard to breathe soon." Toriko explained putting stuff away. "An oxygen mask? But there's a leaf in it." Komatsu said, looking at the mask in confusion. "It's a leaf from the oxygen tree. They only need a tiny bit of light to photosynthesis the water vapour and carbon dioxide in your breath into oxygen. They can still function one month after being plucked."
"It better not need much light.. It's super dark." The chef commented as he put the mask on. "The darkness is proportional to the cloud's thickness. For a cloud to block out the sun this well, it must be several thousands of meters thick. Don't worry. There's tons of lightning. That'll produce more than enough light." The hunter explained simply as if it was no big deal. Which was kinda unnerving considering how fast this storm was coming and how big it was. But at the back of Toriko's mind, he was worried to death of how Sarafina was fairing. She sent out Kururu to save them and now all three were separate from her. He could only hope she was okay.
Though the causal way he said the lightning bit was slightly disturbing. Komatsu had no desire to be a human lightning rod. And where was Toriko's mask?! Don't tell him that it was part of training? "L...lightning?! We're going in there?!" Komatsu asked frightfully, looking up at the clouds uneasy. "Hey, wait... Why aren't you wearing a mask?!" Komatsu asked as the hunter placed him on his back again. "It's about to get cold, Komatsu! Here comes the down burst!" Down burst... Wasn't that a phenomenon where turbulence inside a cumulonimbus cloud funnels warm air up and pushes cold air towards the ground..? Oh no. Komatsu's eyes nearly bugged out as the burst literally rushed towards the the three.
Ice immediately covered them when the down burst nailed them. "IT'SA BIG ONE! AND IT'S -50'C!" Pretty dang cold but a heck of a lot warmer than Ice Hell! And the wind..! So loud that it almost drowned out Toriko's voice. "Shivering!" The hunter's body temp rose up in response. Unfortunately it wasn't going to work in this particular environment. 'Shivering eats up a ton of energy. And the oxygen up here is halved.' Toriko thought already calculating his next move. He couldn't afford to waste energy! He already realised he couldn't fight Mother Nature. In the face of severe conditions, it wasn't hostility but flexibility and adaptation that would triumph! Toriko instinctively turned to his gourmet cells to help him.
The cells did their best to conserve the oxygen in his lungs in order to stabilise oxygen levels in the arteries. His cells conserved oxygen by cutting out most of the breathing process. As a result, Toriko's gourmet cells became fuel efficient and capable of unleashing loads of energy! All of that happened in mere moments. A split second later large fast moving boulder-size objects headed their way and pummelled into the vine. The impacts caused Komatsu to scream in terror. Those objects? Hailstones the size of boulders! "W..what are these things, Toriko-san?!" "They're hailstones!" Toriko explained as said hailstone was coming at them.
Suddenly a flash of light came overhead and sliced the hailstone in half. What the..? "HEY!" A familiar shouted at them. Toriko looked up and smiled in joy when he saw Sarafina standing just ahead of them, safe and sound. "You guys alright!?" She shouted.
"HAVE HAILSTONES ALWAYS BEEN THIS BIG!?" The chef shouted in surprise shock with his eyes as big as plates. The giant hunter then shouted him a warning, "Hold on tight, Komatsu! We're going through!" "GYAAH!" The small chef screamed as the large man quickly bounded up the vine and managed to avoid the onslaught of hailstones, and reunited with the blind woman. One of the oncoming hailstones nearly nailed them and landed like a bomb practically on top of them. Komatsu gave a loud cry of fear and exclaimed fearfully, "Toriko-san! Sarafina-san! We'll never make it! Let's go back!"
"No, we are not! We didn't go through this chaos just to turn tail and run away!" Sarafina scolded a bit as the chef's words distracted the hunter long enough for him to go, "WHAT!?" "Going up into these clouds is like walking into our graves!
"Calm down, Komatsu! You're over reacting!" Toriko said. "Don't be stupid, Komatsu! Calm down! The worst thing you can do now is panic! We're taking on nature here! Nature doesn't have to be our enemy! If we just stay calm, we'll survive! And one more thing." Toriko turned his head to look the smaller man in the eye. "We are NOT going to die! We've still got something to eat! So we're going to push forward and stay alive!" The chef stared at him, letting his words sink in. "Trust us, Komatsu!"
"O..okay, Toriko-san!" Komatsu said.
With that and looking at one another with faith and confidence, the two hunters continued to move up the vine. Between the darkness mixed with lightning, heavy rain and Toriko and Sarafina jumping around like jack-rabbits, Komatsu was becoming a bit disoriented and squeezed his eyes shut and held tighter onto his companion. "Right 'atcha, cumulonimbus!" Toriko shouted.
Given the environment they was doing quite well.. "...?! Urk.. It's too dark to see. I'll have to sniff my way through the cloud." The moment he used his nose a zing of pain greeted him. The air was too cold for it to work. Suddenly a gush of wind caught him off guard and knocked him into the air. Sarafina let out a gasp as she reached forward and grabbed his hand. "I got you!!" She shouted, holding on tight to him.
Toriko gripped her hand for a moment before their bodies were slam against something solid. Without warning the wind knocked them once more into the air, tossing them around so much that they lost track of what was up from down or left from right! They couldn't even move. D..damnit, Toriko didn't expect so much force! It felt like being caught in a giant blender! Darkness danced along the edges of his vision.. 'Uh-oh.. I'm blacking out..' Toriko weakly thought as the darkness began closing in when suddenly he felt that his back and his hand was empty.
The sensation quickly woke him and caused him to whip his head towards the two. "Komatsu! Sarafina! Kurur!" He shouted in fear and worry. Much to his immense relief and joy, the three were still hanging on with death grips on him and Kururu freezing herself in place on Sarafina's shoulder. "Komatsu.. Sarafina.. Kururu.."
"H...heh.. Guess I worried about you for nothing.. If you got time to worry about us.." The blind woman teased weakly, with a small smile. "Don't give on us, Toriko."
The hunter said nothing, realising those two had placed their complete and utter trust in him. The dead set determination that had completely came over Toriko's face. The look of determination quickly was replaced with a huge cocky smirk. "Leave everything to me, you two! Sure, we're being tossed around in a storm of air currents but don't worry! Just pretend you're on a roller coaster!"
Toriko took a deep breath and held it in. 'Normal breathing won't cut it. I can't waste a single precious ounce of oxygen. I should only exhale carbon dioxide!' The larger man thought, working on a way to conserve. When he exhaled his larynx halted a portion of the air. In order to conserve his body's temperature, moisture and oxygen he kept the breath inside. Some -80*C air drifted out of his nose and mouth. Of those non-oxygen elements collected in his mouth and drifted out.. Carbon dioxide, with its high melting and boiling points froze first. He was suddenly exhaling frozen carbon dioxide! All while drinking back in the remaining breath that still had oxygen. 'This is it.' Toriko thought excitedly. He found a way to breathe that conserves the maximum oxygen, moisture, and heat!
'It's still wonky, but at least I can move more freely than before.' Breathing deeply he calmly reached out and grabbed a leaf that happened to be close. Using it to regain his footing he happened to notice a very large four eyed bird nearby that slightly brought Phoenix to mind. "Amazing! The lightning Phoenix is known to live in cumulonimbus clouds. Perfect timing. We'll just borrow one of its feathers. We can use it to protect ourselves from lightning." Just as luck would have it, the moment the hunter got a feather a bolt of lightning went straight for them but it hit the feather harmlessly. Toriko began the long, gruelling trek up the vine, the two hanging on with all their might.
Though one of the passengers proved a slight distraction with a...certain part of their body pressing hard into his back which he ignored. Barely. The weather continued to get worse as he climbed but once a certain point was reached the three noticed it was getting lighter. "It passed...thank the heavens.." Sarafina sighed out in relief.
"It's getting lighter!" Toriko just noticed..? "Sarafina! Komatsu! We're almost at the top of the cloud!" Toriko cheerfully exclaimed to the others. That said his speed doubled as he eagerly rushed towards the end and leaped high into the air, easily clearing the cloud line. "WE DID IT!" The hunter shouted joyfully smiling big. "We made it to the vegetable paradise! Vegetable sky! We made it, Sarafina and Komatsu! We're in vegetable sky!" Toriko continued excitedly, landing neatly on a near by piece of vine.
"It's so warm." Sarafina commented, squinting her eyes a bit at the sudden brightness. "No surprise considering we just emerged from a dark cloud. Or that there's not much between the sun and us." The larger man explained a bit before turning his attention towards the land. "But this warmth! It's proof that we're out of the troposphere and just below the stratosphere. And we're right near the equator, at an altitude of about 20,000 meters."
That was great to know but when will they get moving? The woman mused, wondering what got the hunter quiet for a moment. "Look, you two. A field 20,000 meters above the earth. We made it to vegetable sky!"
"You told us. Three times already. We gonna stare at it or get a better look?" Sarafina inquired then blinked a bit as Toriko chuckled a bit before bounding off like a rabbit over to the stark green lush looking grass...only to stop just short of making land.
"I don't believe it." Toriko started as he reached a hand towards the grass. "This grass put its roots down in the clouds." He took a deep breath and smiled. "Mm, smell that rich soil. I bet it can hold me up."
"Wait! You don't know if that place can support us!" Sarafina started to panic a bit, images of the three falling back down flashed through her mind. She nearly fainted as he jumped over to a spot, the lush ground holding him up. "Oh.. Wow!" Toriko wondered aloud, amazement in his voice. Guess falling to their deaths wasn't happening. "Cool! I'm walking on a cloud! Komatsu, Sarafina! You've got to try this!" The two quickly let go and dropped, literally, to the ground. "Oh my! It's solid land! But it feels so nice and fluffy!" The blind woman joyfully said. Feeling ground was such a refreshing feeling! She took a deep breath of the fresh air and agreed the soil smelled rich. Kururu took a whiff of the grass once before started rolling over on it.
"Ha ha. What's the matter? You're not still scared, are you?" Toriko asked Komatsu.
"W..well...getting through that cloud was so scary.." The chef had his back to them as he removed his mask. "It really...took years off my life." As Komatsu said this he turned to face the two, which Toriko's jaws dropped in astonishment. Instead of a young man, an ancient looking Komatsu looked at them.
"Komatsu! You geezerfied!" A puzzled look came over the smaller man as he looked between the two in confusion. "I did what...?"
"You look ancient! At least 80 years old!" Toriko told him. Komatsu rubbed the back of his head sheepishly wearing a smile to match. "Well, my life did flash before my eyes so many times that I started seeing past lives." The chef said to him.'Was it really that scary back there?' Sarafina wondered as she listened to them. Toriko blinked at that then replied, surprise in his voice, "Whoa, how traumatised would you have to be for THAT to happen?! Wait...past lives?!"
"Still..." Komatsu continued, unfazed by the hunter's reaction, "I remember how relieved I was...by what you said, Toriko-San. Thank you." Ah. That's right. Toriko told them to pretend to be on a roller coaster. "I'll admit... You had me worried for a bit... But you did good. Thank you.." Sarafina closed her eyes as she smile in amusement at them. These two really are something else. They would make the perfect team. Toriko turned around, saying nothing for a moment then went, "I should be the one thanking you."
"Huh?" Komatsu squeaked out in surprise. Now why would he thank him? 'I almost passed out. That could've been the end. It's only thanks to Komatsu and Sarafina that I learned to breathe right.' Toriko thought, thinking back when he thought he lost the two. They believed in him...and held on tight.
"Why would you thank us...?" Sarafina started to inquire but got silence instead. Then he flashed the two a grin. "Don't worry about it. Like I said, I'm gonna protect you guys on this trip!" That appeased Komatsu when he smiled happily in response. Sarafina just smiled at them and stroked beneath Kururu's chin. After that, the three started the long trek of walking up. Sarafina was amazed that trees were growing so well at this height. Toriko stopped and kneeled by some solid piece of cloud, the whole area was pocketed here and there with tufts of cloud poking up, and reached out to scoop up a small piece. "Huh. Interesting."
"What's interesting?" Sarafina inquired, looking back to see Toriko kneeling by a cloud that poked out of the ground and inspected it in an inquisitive manner. "What is it, Toriko-san?" The little chef spoke up, the two watching the hunter. "I smell ash." He explained bringing the small piece for closer inspection. "This cloud is mostly volcanic ash. It's like the ash rose from a volcano and froze. The grass lives off the minerals in the ash."
"I...I see.." Komatsu walked over and inspected a piece curiously. "So this cloud is so nutrient packed that things can actually grow on it. Wow." The chef wondered aloud. "Isn't Wul Volcano close by? That could be contributing to this area." Sarafina mused as she watched the boys. "There are a lot of active volcanoes on the surface below here. I'm surprised you remembered the area, Fina. Wul isn't that far from here." Toriko was impressed that she remembered since she was only there once.
"I've been told I got a good memory." The blind woman explained, sensing the men stand up. "The ashes of Wul volcano are as nutrient filled as it gets. This soil is sturdy enough to support even my weight with ease. I'll bet the roots of this grass travel deep into this cloud of densely frozen ash...brought up from the powerful ascending currents."
"Huh? Speaking of which... I can breathe." Komatsu wondered aloud once more, looking up a bit. "You just noticed, Komatsu?" The blind woman lightly teased even as the hunter explained, "Well, yeah. Look around. Photosynthesis is going on here like you wouldn't believe, creating an oxygen pocket. And once air enters the stratosphere, it stabilises. That's why it feels so much warmer."
Now that Toriko mentioned it...it was a lot warmer than back there. "That's great! This'll be a stroll in the park!" The small man chirped happily. The group walked for a bit until some hanging vines came into view. The trio entered the dense foliage, with the two hunters' height it was easy for them to moved through the vines and tall grass with ease while Komatsu struggled to keep up.
"L...look at that, Toriko-San!" Komatsu gasped out in excitement, looking down and pointing at something. "A worm!" That surprised Toriko. "What?!" He and Sarafina kneeled down and they spotted it. A cute-looking 10g worm wiggled its way through the grass. "Ooh! That's a Mineral Earthworm! It's a very special little creature said to only live in rich soils." Toriko informed the chef, kneeling down to look at the worm. "If we're seeing these..." Sarafina started, her excitement reaching over the peak. "It means we're close, Komatsu and Sarafina!" Toriko finished.
That brought out the spark in the little chef, who clasped his hands together happily and exclaimed, "To the vegetables?!"
"Sure hope so. I'm feeling a bit hungry." The men stared at her a bit. "What? It's alright for Toriko to say but I can't?" Sarafina asked as she raised an eyebrow. "That's the first time I've heard you sat that..." Toriko explained only to grin widely at the adorable embarrassed look Sarafina had. The redness made her look even cuter. "Ye...yea. Normally you stay quiet about this kind of thing." Komatsu added, furthering her embarrassment. "Oh be silent! It's not a crime is it!?" The blind woman started when she and Toriko got the scent of something. "What is it?" Sarafina started to inquire when Toriko loudly exclaimed, "What's that smell?! It's coming from over there!" With that he and the blind woman took off in a direction in pursuit.
It smelled like the deep richness of plants and sunshine, which made her relax a bit. The scent made her feel slight nostalgic of home. "Oooff!" Sarafina grunted out as she ran into Toriko's back. "What is it...?" The woman stopped in awe at the sight that stopped the hunter in his tracks. Vegetables! Vegetables as far as the eye can see! Vegetables of every size and shape in whole varieties! So this was way it was called Vegetable Paradise! Toriko snorted out a "MYAAAH!" at the same time the smaller man gasped out, apparently stunned at the sight before him, "I..IS THIS WHAT I THINK IT IS!?"
"It is! Vegetables as far as the eye can see!" The blind woman clarified, slightly amused at Komatsu's awed expression coupled with hearts in his eyes. Putting his hands to his face, he continued. "This must be...Vegetable Paradise. Vegetable Sky." The hunter grinned, adding, "So I was smelling vegetables, huh? The fresh green aroma is stronger, deeper, and richer than any old grilled meat or fish!"
Sarafina sniffed a bit. It smelled like the deep richness of plants and sunshine, which made her relax a bit. The scent made her feel slight nostalgic for home. Movement caught her attention. Sensing a bit, she noticed that Toriko had jumped down so he was closer to the vegetables. "But it's not a pungent rawness that I smell. It's the succulent scent of wet, juicy, leaves!" Toriko stated matter-of-factly, reaching out to pull up a rather huge radish. "I've gotta try at least one. So heavy! I've never seen a daikon radish with such tight fibres or high moisture content."
'That did it.' Sarafina thought as the two watched Riko peel/skin the radish. Not wanting to be left out, she was quick to join him. Quickly looking around for a way down, the blind woman joined the larger man in moments. Now then... What grabbed her fancy...? "Ah...here we go..." Sarafina said, reaching down to pick up a carrot.
Cleaning it off with her hand and a bit of water, she and Kururu took a bite and immediately felt their eyes widen at the incredible flavour that hit her mouth. No way this could be real! The solid crunch and the juice was...was... ARGH! The words she knew didn't accurately describe the carrot properly! "Komatsu! Sarafina!" The hunter called out only to find the two eating already. "Yes, Toriko-San/Toriko?" The two went, turning to look at him. Toriko nearly did a double take when they saw the chef, young again and sparkly. "WOW! You're practically sparkling! But you were just an old man just moments ago!"
"That's probably because.." Komatsu started before taking a quick bite of the cucumber he was holding then continued talking between bites. "I've been eating fresh cucumber! The wrinkles are gone and my skin's as smooth as a baby's behind! This cucumber's amazing! Cucumbers are usually full of water, but I guess I never realised how much that diluted their flavour."
Komatsu looked at the vegetable in his hand. "This one tastes so rich that even by itself it's a palate pleasing savoury delight. I can't get enough of the juicy crunch! I've never had a cucumber like this before!" Sarafina didn't think she had ever heard of someone taking so long to chew a bite. "The carrot's the same. The nice solid crunch, the sweetness of the... Why are you guys staring at me?" Sarafina asked when she felt the men's eyes on her.
"I believe that's the first time we've heard you talk about any food like that since we met." Toriko rumbled out in amazement, causing a slight blush to pop up. "Y..yeah. This place must be something! To get even you to describe the vegetable." Komatsu added, smiling brightly at her causing her blush to deepen, but only from embarrassment. Sarafina growled at them before turning her back to them.
Toriko let out a laugh, causing her face to heat up more than it was. "How cute! She's embarrassed!" Toriko teased a bit and grinned even more when he saw her face turn even redder. Really too cute. "S..silence! Am not!" He had to bite his lip to stop from teasing her even more. Instead he shifted his focus to the smaller man, who watched the two in slight confusion. "The daikon I ate was amazing too. It was really crisp, but with an after taste as deep as oden broth." Toriko's twitched a bit when he noticed the statement got the woman's attention. So Sarafina liked oden hm? Must remember that.
"Wow! I wanna try!" Komatsu cried out in excitement. The hunter grinned at him and offered his vegetable. "Trade you." At some point Sarafina turned around and watched the exchange. Sarafina watched Komatsu take a bite and shouted happily, "Woo-hoo! This is one delicious daikon!" That seemed to have made up the hunter's mind, for he exclaimed, "That does it! Let's sample some more vegetables, you two!" Looking around as the three tried to decide what to eat next when something caught her attention. She kneeled down and felt it around and took in its scent.
"How cute! A mini pumpkin." The woman said as she reached to pick up one of the pumpkins. "Oooh, that's a Marshmallow Pumpkin!" Toriko exclaimed picking up one as well. Marshmallow huh? That explained why it was so squishy. "It's so cute!" Komatsu squeaked out in excitement, looking at his happily. "Awesome! I've never seen one before!" The three all bit into theirs and she nearly choked on her bite from laughter as the men jumped up like excited children and cheered out, "Yum!" Swallowing hers made her feel like jumping but restrained herself. Before having a chance to enjoy the pumpkin the men had moved onto the next item. A tree-sized broccoli.
"A broccoli tree!" The hunter cried out excitedly. The woman couldn't help but laugh at Komatsu as he gasped out, "Holy cow! A whole tree made of broccoli!" She blinked a bit as the two literally jumped onto the tree and began munching away. "Mmm! And thousand island dressing's oozing out from the inside!" Toriko said between bites. "One bite's just not enough! Hurry and try some Sarafina-san!" The chef said between bites as well. "Trying but the way you two are chowing down I'm scared I'll have my hand bitten off." Sarafina started, reaching up and breaking a piece off. "Like that'll happen!" Toriko said. "Whoa. There really is dressing inside!" She muttered taking a bite and felt like she was in heaven. This was completely delicious! As she finished she noticed that the tree had disappeared in mere minutes. Not surprising at all. Well, at least she had a bite.. "Ahh...that was a meal." Toriko said as he wiped his chin even as the smaller man and blind woman gave their thanks to the tree stem.
Sarafina shook her head with a smile just as the hunter called out, "Oooh! Do I see a potato spring?!"
"A potato spring?" Sarafina echoed then saw the two dive into a pond of French fries. Quickly making her way over, she started to reach down to grab some when the larger man grabbed her wrist and yanked her in, causing a Yelp of surprise to escape. "What the-?! Was it really necessary to yank me in?!" She growled at him, popping up out of the fries. Her eyes narrowed angrily as Toriko ignored her in favour of stuffing his face. In between bites the dork mumbling something about unsalted naturally and all you can eat. Sarafina's eye twitched. 'He'll pay for that!' Sarafina thought as she ate some, the taste alleviating some of the anger. After the fries the trio tried huge green onions that surprisingly didn't taste bitter and the more bites chewed it got sweeter. Then tomatoes were next.
She couldn't get over how sweet the tomatoes were. After that, the group sampled almost everything that came into their sight. After a while the blind woman called it quits. "Argh... I can't believe I stuffed myself full. I feel so sleepy now.." Sarafina groaned out in sleepy full contentment. "Agreed. I'm stuffed." Toriko added as the men plopped down next to her, only their stomachs were bulged out, full of veggies. Luckily her stomach didn't do that.
"I can't eat anymore. It was all delicious. I feel so nice and full." The chef sighed out in bliss. Agreed. Everything they ate was delicious it was hard to believe it was vegetables. Going back to the ones below will be hard... Hm? Feeling the chef sit up with a curious expression Sarafina wondered what he was going to ask. "U..um, Toriko-San?"
"Hmm?" The hunter grunted out.
"While I was eating...I felt something odd.." Before he had a chance to finish all of their stomachs gurgled at the exact same time. Don't tell her...!! "T...Toriko-San, is this what I think it is?" Komatsu asked as they all jumped to their feet. "That took no time to digest! In Vegetable Sky, obviously everything tastes great but it's super healthy for you too. The food are full of minerals, vitamins and fat-free cellulose. It's so nutritionally sound that our bodies were able to digest everything swiftly. Eh?! Fina, where you going?!" Toriko asked as the men watched her take off. "Finding a spot! I DO NOT wish to do THAT in front of you two!" Sarafina called over her shoulder looking for a spot. "You're gonna take a dump in paradise?!"
Komatsu exclaimed in shock. "Yes!" Though Sarafina doubt the small man heard her when she found a spot, Kururu staying a few feet back to give her space, and did her business. 'Argh...this is so humiliating! But didn't expect it to come this fast!' The blind woman thought as she cleaned up. Kinda weird to use the fresh clean water to wash her hands but what else was she suppose to do?
A sudden chill then a thrill went through her. Kururu's ears perked up and started growling. Something besides them were up here. Sarafina closed her eyes and relaxed. She launched her power to create a sound wave and waited. Then....*th-thump*. Her eye shot open. Something else was indeed up here. Watching. Waiting. But for what? Kururu quickly ran up to her shoulder and Sarafina gripped her sword's hilt.
She was about to go and confront it when Komatsu's voice startled her, halting her actions, shouting, "Toriko-san! Sarafina! I found it! Torikoo-saann!" Sarafina turned back, glanced over her shoulder once last time, before walking back towards the chef who was waving his arms frantically to get their attention. "Coming!" Sarafina shouted back, doing a brisk walk/jog back to them.
Toriko hadn't moved from his spot, staring down at something. "Toriko? What is it?" Sarafina asked right at the moment his stomach gurgled. "AAHH! I forgot I was going to take a dump!" "How in the world could you forget to relief yourself?!" Sarafina growled as she watched him take off chanting "Not gonna make it!"
'Honestly! What a pathetic fool of a man you've ended up to fall for.' Fyreia said in a rather disappointing tone.
"Hey come on...I don't even know what to make of my feelings. It's too confusing for me right now. Besides, you said it yourself that he's reliable. So he's not a complete fool." Sarafina told her.
'Ugh. Even so, he's such a headache sometimes...but whatever you chose to make of it. I'll learn to tolerate him....and him....' Fyreia said that last part with such venom.
"Haha, whatever you say."
Turning to walk over to Komatsu when she noticed he too took off. 'For the love of... Can't these imbeciles focus?!' Fyreia shouted.
"Now, now. Don't get over-." A sudden wave of dizziness washed over Sarafina, making her lose her balance for a moment. "What...was that..?" Sarafina didn't get a chance to ponder that when all of a sudden her body felt feverish. 'Sarafian?! Sweetheart? Oh no..! This isn't a good sign!'
"I don't...feel so good..." She muttered, quickly kneeling down in case she fell over. What was going on with her? "Phew! That had to be the best poo I've ever taken. My body was tooting with joy!" Toriko, both he and the chef both sparkling clean, said as the two came back. Heh...his statement would either be funny or gross but for some reason she couldn't concentrate and not to mention she was starting to get blurry vision.