“Yum, yum, yum!” A male voice stated. The voice belonged to someone wearing a pair of blue jeans tucked into brown construction boots. He wore a blue-grey t-shirt under a red jacket with the sleeves torn off at the elbows. He had a mane of curly brown hair that stopped at his shoulders. His overall build was a balance of strength and speed. Around his neck was his convention pass with his name: Marshall. “The food court at this convention is so good.” He exclaimed as he took a bite out of some food he got at the international food court. He bought a small sampling of every food from each country. “Dongos from Japan, Swiss chocolate, hot dogs served Coney Island Style, genuine Greek gyro sandwiches. This place is awesome!” Marshall laughed out loud as he passed some merchant stalls. “Listen to me carry on like that;” he took another bite from his sandwich, “I must sound just like Toriko when he eats good food.” He noticed the food he was carrying all added up to one bite, so he simply stuffed it all into his mouth. “While the food does make a great memory, I cannot take it onto a plane to take home now can I?” He reasoned as he looked at the merchandise on each side of him.
“Perhaps I could help you stranger.” A slightly creepy and raspy voice spoke from behind him. Upon turning around, Marshall saw a man dressed as The Merchant from Resident Evil 4. Before him was a wide selection of items from multiple genre. He saw power ups from platforming games, weapons from shooter games and many books from various cartoons and anime. However the thing that drew his eye the most was a hook and cleaver set made of semitransparent blue plastic. The overall design of the set looked like they could fit around his hands.
“These are perfect.” Marshall said as he picked up the items. “These are the perfect accessories to finish my cosplay.” A light bulb flashed above his head as if the universe was waiting for his revelation. ‘Wait a second,’ he thought as he took the merchants appearance was too perfect. ‘Those missing people from the blog seemed to have bought something from a guy like him.’ He looked at the items in his hands, ‘And here are the items I need for my outfit.’ “To heck with it.” he stated as he gave the man a serious look, “You’re one of the guys causing people to disappear, aren’t you?” the merchant chuckled and nodded, “Alright then, if I go through with this, I want something put straight now.” He held up a finger, “First off, I want the place you send me to have anthro people.” He held up another finger, “Secondly, I would like a representative from the IGO to be there when I appear.” He raised a third finger, “Lastly, I want my journey with Toriko to start when the Rainbow Fruit is ripe.”
“Your terms are acceptable stranger.” The Merchant said as he was paid three hundred for the props. “I’ll even have your convention pass turned into a Gourmet Identification card for free.”
“Cool,” Marshall stated as he then started to feel dizzy, “Wish me luck.” He fell back as his world faded to black. The next thing he knew he was getting awoken by a ship’s whistle. Marshall opened his eyes and saw he was in a rather Spartan room on said ship. The first thing he did after getting up was to shape his hands like the props he had bought and scrapped them against each other.
*Shing* *Clink*
“Glad to know that works.” Marshall stated as he stood up only to bang his head against the ceiling. “Ow, that’s right,” he moaned as he rubbed his head, “My OC was loosely based on Toriko and he was the second tallest of the Heavenly Kings.” A knock on the door catching his attention, “You may enter.”
“Good day to you Marshall.” A man in a three piece business suite said as he opened the door. He wasn’t really anyone of significant note in the anime, one of the generic character models the show used to flesh out crowded areas. “Are you excited about your first assignment for the IGO?”
“Oh I really am.” Marshall stated although he was a little confused as to why he was on a boat. “In all of my excitement, I may have forgotten what the assignment was exactly.” He gave a sheepish smile.
“I suppose that is to be expected from a new graduate.” The man stated, “Well then to refresh your memory, I am agent Lee. We have been assigned to an expedition to investigate a previously undiscovered island group.” Agent Lee handed Marshall a Manilla folder with the IGO logo. Inside was a high altitude photo of a group of landmasses. Marshall instantly recognized it as Equestria. “The IGO wants us to document the largest of the island group. The Gourmet Cartographer that is coming with us will be documenting the landscape.” He then pointed at Marshall, “Your job is to defend the team and test the ingredients that we encounter.”
“That seems straight forward,” The Gourmet Hunter nodded, “What if we meet an indigenous people living here.” The file was closed and handed back. “A place that big, it has to have some kind of native people.”
“Then we are to establish a peaceful report with them and see if a trade route can be made.” The agent stated. He held the photo of Equestria and pointed at a certain spot. “We will be making landfall here,” he pointed at a spot that looked like a horseshoe. “We will then fallow the river inland.”
“How long will it take until we get there, Agent Lee?” Marshall asked as his nose twitched. ‘The cooks in the Galley must be working hard to make enough for me.’ He chuckled and walked toward the door. “Don’t want to run out of food before we get there.”
“We left the docks a day and a half ago.” Lee stated as he followed the Gourmet Hunter. “Seeing as how we are on one of the fastest Gourmet Liners around, we should make land fall within three and a half days.” Lee smirked, “We have no worries about running out of food. The president gave orders to pack enough rations to feed Zebra for a week.”
“He’s gonna take a potshot at you for saying that ya know.” Marshall said nonchalantly. A thought came to Marshall as he looked down at his hands. “I should probably train to keep my skills up and with the length of this trip I don’t want to get rusty.” Marshall said aloud in a way that wouldn’t seem suspicious. Marshal soon got into a routine; he would spend hours honing his skills with his Butcher Tools. By the time the coastline of Equestria came into view, he had improved the reach of his Hook to three feet. His Cleaver could now break the bones of a moose like beast. His Hot Press Punches could reach 300 degrees Fahrenheit and his Cold Press Kicks Reached -300 degrees Fahrenheit. Marshall was currently on the bridge of the ship looking out at the ocean. He was helping the lookouts keeping an eye out for Equestria. Suddenly, through the binoculars he was using he saw the glint of something in the distance. “Could it really be?” Marshall asked as he adjusted the device in his hands. He saw what looked like a large port city with tall skyscrapers and air ships flying above it. “Captain,” Marshall said as he lowered his binoculars, “Call agent lee up to the bridge.”
“What is the problem,” Agent Lee asked looking at Marshall, “The captain asked me to come here and sounded urgent.”
“You know that plan B the president wants us to use.” Marshall said still staring forward, “We may have to use it from the get go.” Marshall pointed at the distance and handed the binoculars to Lee.
“Is that a city?” Lee asked astonished at what he was seeing. “I guess you were right about a native people living here.” He adjusted where he was looking, “Seems like there is a place we can make port.” He then saw something approaching the ship. “I think the natives are coming to us.”
Marshall took a set of binoculars and spotted a group of creatures flying toward them. Their general appearance was that of a human with horse like add-ons. Instead of feet, they had hooves and the tops of their heads had pony ears. Coming off their backsides were tails and meeting the shoulders were a pair of wings. The thing that stood out most was the law enforcement uniforms they wore. The one at the head of the formation held a megaphone in her hand. She had a sea green coat and sun yellow mane and tail. Her steel grey eyes were hidden behind orange sunglasses. When the formation got within a few yards they stopped and the leader raised the megaphone. “Attention unidentified vessel, this is Captain Steady Wind of the Baltimare Port Authority.” Her voice was just as commanding as her appearance seemed to hint at. “Drop anchor and prepare to be boarded.”
“Do as she says Captain.” Agent Lee stated getting a nod from the captain. “You and I will head to the main deck and speak with this Captain Steady Wind.” Lee walked toward the door as he spoke to Marshall. “With any luck, we may get the diplomatic affairs settled faster.” As Lee and Marshall stepped onto the deck, Captain Steady Wind and her fellow Pegasus ponies landed. “Captain Steady Wind,” Agent Lee said as he approached the mare, “I am Agent Lee of the International Gourmet Organization.” He handed her his badge to look over, “I, along with Gourmet Hunter Marshall, am the leader of an expedition team sent by the IGO to explore and map out this continent.” He pocketed his badge before he corrected, “At least that was plan A if the land was uninhabited, plan B was to get in contact with the leader of your society and establish a peaceful and lucrative agreement between us.” During his talk Steady Wind’s wings seemed to twitch however to the rest of her squad she was actually giving them their orders.
“We’ll have a message sent to Princess Celestia,” Steady wind stated as two of her squad flew off, “My team and I will escort you to the harbor.” Even though she had schooled her features well she still held some satisfaction about one piece of the regulations she had to follow. “When we get there, we are going to demand that you and your crew get checked by our medical staff and be inoculated.”
“I hate getting shots.” Marshall groaned as he rubbed his right arm. “Not only do they hurt, my family is notorious for having hard to find veins.”
Later that evening in the center of Equestria, a city sat on the side of a mountain with a castle above it. In the throne room of said castle sat a pony woman wearing an ivory white dress and golden jewelry. Upon her head sat a golden crown with her multi colored mane and tail blowing in an unseen wind. This was the alicorn princess Celestia. Her beautiful face that normally held a serine smile was now marred by a concerned frown as one of her many guards had finished giving her his report. A dangerous beast was driving the more vicious predators from the depths of the Hayseed Swamp. Many of the outlying settlements had been sighting Timber Wolves and Hydras. Her little ponies were in trouble and she had no idea what to do. “You’re Majesty,” a unicorn stallion clad in gold armor said as he came in with a scroll. “We have received a message from Baltimare.” He levitated the scroll to her.
“A foreign ship was sighted in the waters off of Baltimare.” Celestia said aloud as she read the report. “The crew was sent by something called the International Gourmet Organization to explore Equestria.” She then saw something that made her think. “They have a person known as a Gourmet Hunter.” Her eyes widened at the description of such a person. “A gourmet Hunter is someone that is capable of taking on creatures that would normally need several well trained Army Platoons to kill.” She then looked at the report from the Hayseed Swamp. She stood up and walked toward the door, “Sargent contact my chariot team and tell them to be ready to leave for Baltimare in a few hours.”
“Yes you’re majesty.” The stallion said as he left to do just that.
“Captain Steady Wind,” Celestia said as she penned a letter to the captain after she summoned a quill and parchment.