After a rest, Toriko's group continued on.

Although they lost a lot of people along the way.

"Guys, are you holding up okay!?" Toriko asked while Aurorus led the way.

"Yeah." Match said. "Well, behind us, everyone's retired except for my subordinates!" Match yelled over the weather.

"Even with Aurorus' help, the Lighter Suits can't endure any more than this!" Takimaru managed to say, "What is this level of coldness?"

"Even though it's morning, the sun is completely blocked by clouds. The temperature is just going down." Toriko looked back at Kimiko who looked at Aurorus in worry as the prehistoric Pokémon looked tired.

"Aurorus is using a lot of her strength to shield us from much of the wind, but using too long is wearing her out." Kimiko frowned.

Then Aurorus growled.

Kimiko looked and the group saw a herd of Freezer Bison.

"Freezer Bison" Match grumbled

"And we're in such a hurry." Takimaru said

"No, this is lucky," Toriko said," I heard that Freezer Bison's meat is delicious. And their pelts can be used as arctic clothing, too, right?"

"I see" Takimaru said.

"And moving around will warm our bodies up,right?" Match dropped the bag that he was carrying and grabbed his sword.

"Leave this one to me." Takimaru said as he went up to one and punched his fists together and took a deep breath while also moving his arm in a synchronized fashion.

"Those movements Takimaru-san is making..." Kimiko said looking surprised.

"That's his pre-shot routine." Toriko said

"Pre-shot routine?"

"Yeah, he does a certain set of actions before he uses his techniques, to boost his power of concentration. By upping his concentration, it fortifies the image of his technique's success in his mind. You know when I use Fork and Knife, I rub my hands together? It's the same as that." Toriko explained

"Oh!" Kimiko said. 'It's almost like grandpa's Gear forms when he uses them to transform.'

"Anyone could have a pre-shot routine. The more you increase that quality, the greater performance you can expect out of it"

The bison charged at Takimaru, who quickly put his hands on the bison's side. A large crack sounded as the bison was flipped out of the way.

"I was able to dislodge the bones." Takimaru gasped completely exhausted.

"That's quite some concentration power. The more you raise the quality of the pre-shot routine, the more you can raise the power of the technique."

STOMP!

Kimiko looked over to her left and saw a Freezer Bison standing in front of Match.

"Here it comes, Match-san's exhaustion." Ram said

"Exhaustion? Another pre-shot routine?" Kimiko said and then looked at Match who was preparing to take out his sword.

"Exhaustion. The more strength that escapes his body, the more Match's iai speed and destructive power increases" Ram explained as Kimiko saw the bison charge at Match who calmly stood still as the bison ran right past him and then fell down. She then looked over at Match who was now sheathing his sword.

"That's our Match-san! Amazing!" the subordinates exclaimed.

That was when they heard the sound of another bison charging right at them and started to run out of the way.

"3 REN KUGI PUNCH!" Toriko yelled as he delivered a blow to the bison and knocked it back.

"Incredible!" one of the subordinates said

'Just as I thought, he's not someone I want as an enemy...' Match thought and saw that the other bisons were getting ready to charge and prepared to pull out his sword.

But then...

A large red oni demon appeared with a sinister red aura surrounding growled at the bison making them turn and run away.

"Three should be plenty." Match looked over at Toriko who was walking towards him, "There's no point in needlessly taking any more lives."

Match stared in surprise.

Kimiko smiled and looked at Aurorus.

"Great, we have something to keep us warm now. Take a good rest girl." Kimiko returned Aurorus to her pokeball.
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After having a quick bite, and heading off, the group finally made it to the Ice Mountain.

"We made it" Toriko said, "This is the ice mountain of Ice Hell"

"We somehow made it!" Kimiko said while smiling

"Yeah, good job holding up" Toriko said, "You're very brave"

"Thanks." Kimiko smiled.

"Toriko-san, shall we take a rest?" Takimaru asked

"No, we've gotta keep moving" Toriko said, "The Century Soup is somewhere in this ice mountain." Kimiko heard his stomach growl, "There's no time like the present! And everytime after that is the wrong time!" Toriko started to march into the mountain, "Hurry up! I wanna eat that soup!"

"Toriko-san, might it be that you're just hungry?" Takimaru said

"Hit the nail on the head." Kimiko giggled

"Come on! Hurry up, you guys!" Toriko looked back at them, Kimiko laughed as she saw that the drool was hanging out of Toriko's mouth got frozen making him look like a walrus.

"Toriko! Your drool's turning into icicles! You look like a Gauchi!" Kimiko said while smiling.

-------------------

As they were now safe in the mountain, Kimiko let Empoleon out again as they started walking.

"Well because of the burning ice, it created all those crazy winds, and it became perilous." Kimiko summarized.

"But then we would be late for the Century Soup." Toriko said and noticed Kimiko was growing.

"Something up?" He said.

"The guarddog of Ice Hell..............he was killed before he was frozen. He would be able to move with no problem if he was alive. But it has a capture level above 50......." She said as Toriko knew as well......

---------------------------

As the group pressed on, they soon got attacked by a Silver Grizzly. 

Kimiko smirked. "Let me handle this one." She said as electricity pulsed in her hands.

"Eh?"

"Electricity?"

Kimiko rushed at the bear, dodging it's attack, aiming for the back of the neck.

"Plasma Fists!" She got him as beast roared before it went down.

"Whoa!"

"Amazing! The Silver Grizzly has a high capture level, but she took it down in one shot!" Takimaru said.

'She's really skilled as well. The scramble for the soup might be tougher than I thought.' Match thought.
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The entire group was sitting in a circle as the watched Kimiko stir a boiling pot of cooked grizzly meat.

"I think now, I'll add this Icicle scallion, or Icicallion, I found before." she said as she added them to the pot and stirred it for a second, "It's done! Silver Grizzly Kakuni!"

"It looks delicious!" Toriko drooled

"That smells wonderful." Takimaru said, as Kimiko started pouring the meat into bowls.

"Itadakimasu!" They all said before digging in.

"Delicious! It has a simple taste like white fish, whilst having a juicy consistency! So this is Silver Grizzly Meat?! With the piping hot meat and the tingling spiciness of the Icicallion, my body feels like it's melting right to the core!" Toriko said before taking another bite.

Empoleon was enjoying his meal too.

"It is delicious" Takimaru commented

"It really warms you up!" Match said as he and his subordinates were eating with gusto, "Right?"

"Yes!" the subordinates said in unison

"Kimi, seconds!" Toriko exclaimed while presenting an empty bowl.

Then Empoleon felt something poke his back.

"Pole?" He turned around to see.....

A light pink penguin that had a dark pink circle on its stomach.

"Yun!" it chirped getting everyone's attention.

"What? Is that a baby Wall Penguin? They are an endangered species!" Kimiko said amazed.

"Empole!"

"Yun! Yun!' the penguin chirped

"Oh!" Kimiko said before smiling and then hugging the penguin.

"You're so cute!" she exclaimed.

"Yun! Yun! Yun!" it chirped

"Looks like it's lost, doesn't it?" Takimaru asked.

"Yun! Yun!" the penguin chirped and then started to poke Kimiko in the cheek.

"Ow. Owowowow. Hey!" she said as she held the penguin arms length away, "It's not nice to poke people" she lightly scolded.

"Yun." the penguin frowned

"Oh. How can I stay mad at that face!" Kimiko exclaimed before hugging the penguin to her chest making the penguin chirp in happiness.

"Baby Wall Penguins have no sense of danger. It can get attached to any animal. But on the other hand, the parents are ferocious protectors. I'll bet right now, they're rampaging all over the place looking for him." Toriko exclaimed bringing Kimiko out of her happyfest of hugging the baby penguin.

"Seriously!" Kimiko exclaimed as she imagined two gigantic penguins that had fury in their eyes.

"They'll think you kidnapped him. You can be 100% sure."

"Ah, I have Empoleon, he's a penguin. They may be reasonable if they see him." Kimiko shrugged as the others laughed.

"Now then, sorry, but I'll be taking a rest early." Match said as he got up. "We need to preserve our stamina for when we really need it." he chuckled as he looked at the penguin. ''A baby penguin that got separated from its parents, huh? Make sure you watch after it." he then went toward his tent.
"Match-san?" Kimiko said

"Have a good rest Match" Toriko said

'Toriko. A time may soon come where you and I will have to fight..' Match thought before heading inside his tent and then looked at his sword. 'Even if I can't win. I need to store up enough power so I can at least get a blow in.' He thought. 'But then... there is Kimiko and her beasts. They are no slouches either...'

" Um, everyone." Kimiko said. "Why did you come here to get the Century Soup?" she was met with silence and blushed, "Ah, sorry..."

"Have you ever heard of Nerg City?" the subordinate with brown hair and glasses asked

"The Gourmet Crime city not affiliated with the IGO, Nerg?" Toriko said

"The lawless area that circulates ingredients which have been banned from trade?" Takimaru said

"We can't forget it. When we were kids, we were blessed with food by Match-san." Ram said

"If I were to try and describe the happiness I felt back then, I wouldn't know how to describe it. That happiness of knowing I'd have enough to eat for the first time." Louie said

"I see. So you guys joined him because of that debt you owe, huh?" Toriko asked.

"No, that's not it." Shin said. "We all deeply admire Match-san. That man is special. The reason that Nerg is poor is because of a group who unfairly control all the ingredients. That man couldn't just stand by and let that happen. Isn't that awesome? He picked a fight with them all on his own. And he shared the food he took. The adults in that town would have never done that. It's true that we're hated by society, but that's really insane. Hogging food to the point that other people die."

"After all, kids don't bear any sins." Ram said.

Kimiko smiled. "I think that's fantastic! The feeling of wanting to let those children eat the soup!"

"Empoleon!" Her partner agreed.

"We chose to do this on our own." Shin said

"But to venture out here into danger, where there are all these high Capture Level beasts and all." Takimaru said

"What about you, Takimaru?" Toriko asked, "Do the other members of the Gourmet Knights know about this job you're doing?" Takimaru frowned

"It's the century soup. For the Gourmet Knights that are encouraged to have a simple diet, a high-class ingredient like that is pretty unorthodox, don't you think?" Toriko asked

"The other members do not know about this job."

"I knew it." Toriko said, "There's no way a new entrant into the group would be entrusted to work like this in the first place. Don't tell me you didn't even tell that Ai guy?"

"A-Aimaru-san… Our leader, was the one person I could never tell." Takimaru said

"So why'd you take on a huge job like this alone?"

"I-I need money. A lot of it. The country of healing, Life. It's so I can buy a medicine they sell there. A medicine said to be able to cure any disease." Takimaru explained

"So in other words, it's to help someone." Shin said

"You're braving danger for other's sake just like us, huh?" Ram said

"But I'm sure the Gourmet Knights weren't allowed to take" Toriko said

"I know. We have a doctrine to entrust our lives wholly to nature. Administering man-made medicine goes against that. But in the healing country of Life, there are many natural and organic medicines and curing ingredients. If I use that, it won't go against our doctrine. I have to get a panacea. No matter what the cost." tears started to trail down his face, "Aimaru-san, please wait just a little longer for me. I will get it."

"Takimaru-san..." Kimiko said

"I haven't heard all of the details, but it seems like those tears have a value that outsripts the Century Soup, Takimaru. Don't worry, if you have a reason enough to cry. You guys too. When people act while thinking of others it brings out the greatest amount of power. I'm sure we'll all get our hands on it. The Century Soup It'll be okay, we'll definitely find it."

"Toriko-san" the three subordinates said

"Toriko-san" Takimaru said while wiping away his tears. Kimiko smiled as she held Yun

"By the way, what reason do you have for going after the soup, Toriko-san?" Ram asked.

"Isn't that obvious?" Toriko said, "Because I want to eat it. That's all!"

The others grinned and then started laughing. Empoleon just rolled his eyes as Yun climbed him.

"No, Toriko's serious about that." Kimiko said as she saw Takimaru trying to stifle his laughter. "Takimaru-san it's nothing to laugh" she stopped as Yun started to wave his hands excitedly.

"Looks like he's totally attached to you and Empoleon now. So take responsibility and look after him." Toriko said

"Don't worry. I've looked after young beast before, remember?" Kimiko asked.

"What the hell, 'Because I want to eat it'? It's for the sake of that chef too. Like hell I'll be able to sleep..." Match said as he heard the group talk.

However, Empoleon stiffened.

He turned his attention somewhere else with a frown.

Kimiko noticed right away.

"We got trouble coming."

---------------

Here is the next chapter, we will get to the Century Soup, but we will see a certain dragon too......

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