Chapters After a long day of spending time with her friends Twilight likes to unwind with a good book. Yet, this particular book wasn't just any old book. This book was a book about other worlds that may be out that could possibly be outside of their.
“Oh this is a weird book,” Twilight said as she turned the page and continued reading.
She eventually came to a chapter that talked about a land where there were many different varieties of creatures. Yet it didn't say any more than that besides a small note that read turn to the back to back to find where the world lies over the monstrous side.
“What?” Twilight said looking at the little saying. She quickly turned to the back of the book where a simple teleportation spell was placed.
“That’s odd,” she said looking around before turning back to the book. She closed her eyes and began to perform the spell. Her horn glowed a bright purple before turning a black and green light that wrapped around her.
“Spike!” she called out for her assistant yet it was too late. The light wrapped around her and vanished taking her along with it.
Meanwhile a young hunter was stalking a large bear-like creature called the Arzuros.
It’s movements were sluggish as it walked over to a tree dripping with honey and sat down. He quickly began to consume the honey all in the tree.
“I got you now,” the hunter whispered smiling as he peeked over the edge of a tree. The hunter was a somewhat grey color with blue eyes and short hair. He was ready to rush the creature when a bright light appeared right behind the monster and a purple girl seemed to drop out from it.
The creature turned away and looked at it’s intruder with a low growl before getting up quickly to attack her.
The hunter ran forward toward the girl who seemed to be freaking out looking at the huge monster that towered before her.
The monster growled loudly before raising it’s claws to strike at the girl.
The hunter dashed forward at almost blinding speed while drawing his Iron Katana and stopping the beast’s claws in it’s tracks. He looked back at the girl, “hey get out of here!” he yelled before turning back to face the beast.
Twilight looked up at what was going on before stumbling up to her two feet. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on two feet she thought to herself as she ran behind a couple trees to watch what was going on.
The hunter looked as if he was having trouble trying to hold off the monster that sent him sliding backwards. He quickly jumped back to his feet and charged at the monster in a quick slash which caused it to fall on its back where it thrashed around for a bit.
“This isn't good,” the hunter said as he sheathed his weapon before running into the cover of the trees. He was looking for the purple girl who had seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Twilight looked around and saw the hunter who saved her from the dangerous beast. “Hey thank you for saving me,” she said walking shakily over to him. “So what’s your name and where am I? I've never seen an animal like that in Equestria,” she said sounding worried.
“Well my name is Rain and what’s Equestria?” he said looking at her. “You’re up in the Misty Mountains, but Yukumo Village is nearby we should head over there,” he said motioning to follow him.
Twilight nodded before following him. “What was that creature?” she asked looking around.
Rain looked at Twilight, “I can tell you’re not from anywhere,” he said smiling. “That was an Arzuros a low rank monster,” he answered before turning around.
Twilight looked confused, “low rank? What exactly does that mean?” She was confused “you fight those things?”
Rain looked at her “well it is my job and different monsters have different ranks depending on their difficulty,” he said sounding like his teacher from hunting school.
“Why not try to settle things peacefully with them?” she asked sounding concerned.
Rain looked at her like she was crazy and busted out laughing “now I know you’re not from anywhere here.” He looked at the entrance to the village and turned around “this is Yukumo Village and forgot to ask what’s your name?”
“Oh my name is Twilight Sparkle,” she said with a slight smile. “Well this place is interesting but I have to get back home,” she said as she began to walk away.
Rain looked at her and grabbed her arm to stop her. “You do know that you came from some light and that it’s not there anymore?” he asked looking worried.
“Yeah, but I can use my mag--,” she stopped as she felt for the horn on her head disappeared. Her wings were gone as well.
“Now how am I supposed to get home!” she yelled out.
Rain looked at her, “well maybe that book you have there can tell you how,” he said pointing down at the book in her open satchel.
She looked down to realized the book and been transported along with her. She quickly opened it and noticed all the pages were torn out except for one.
The page read you are now here in the land of beasts now defeat its ruler beneath its feet and you will be set free.
“What does this riddle even mean?!” she said angrily at the book.
Rain looked at it and knew exactly what it meant, “oh boy you’re not going to like this,” he said scratching the back of his head.
“What is it?” Twilight asked turning towards him. She didn’t like the sound of his voice.
Rain looked away and back at her, “there is a beast with extreme power it’s an elder dragon named Dire Miralis.”
“Hmm, how about we just talk to it?” she asked innocently.
Rain shook his head, “there’s no way to talking to the Lord of Fire and Calamity,” he said sounding urgent. “But, I’m willing to train you and help you in your quest to get back home,” he said pointing to the village. “The only way you can get home is if you become a hunter.”
Twilight looked at him as if he was crazy and paused. “Well, if it’s the only way…where do we start then,” she said sounding determined.
“It will be a long and tough journey are you sure you want to do this?” he asked once more.
Twilight nodded once, “yes.”
"This is so hard!" Twilight said sounding stressed and tired.
Rain shook his head, "You can't even do one push-up?"
It was the first day of training and Twilight wasn't off to a very good start.She wasn't able to make up her mind on what weapon she wanted to try, she couldn't do any of the regular exercises, and she wasn't able to get any quests.
Twilight looked exhaustively at Rain, "can we take a break?" She slowly sat up, "this is a lot of exercise, way more than what I'm used to," she said folding her legs.
Rain sighed, "it's alright it does take some time to train up," he said softly. He then jolted up "I do have an idea that might work on training you, but this is an advanced method so it won't be easy and possibly dangerous," he said excitedly.
Twilight looked away, "I don't know...," she said sounding unsure.
"C'mon i'll be there so it won't be dangerous, and it'll be a great learning experience for you," Rain said smiling. "But first you have to pick a weapon and some armor before we begin and i think i know the perfect weapon for you," he said leading her back into the village.
"Are you sure this is good for battle because it's a bit light," Twilight said feeling the new armor that Rain bought for her.
"That's the Yukumo gunner set I bought for you," he said as he came back from the shopkeeper. "It's a perfect starting out set and since you're not much of a close combat hunter I got you this too," he said as he gave her her new weapon.
"A bow?" she said examining it closely.
"Yup, it's easy to use and you can do devastating damage from a distance," Rain said before giving her the quiver which was full of arrows. "Let me show you how to shoot it," he said taking the bow up from her. "This bow has the ability to shoot up to six arrows at once in what's called a spread shot, and there's different levels depending on the power of your drawback," he said taking a couple arrows and demonstrating how to pull back the string at the nocking point. "When you get the desired power you want for the shot release it and the arrows will fly towards the target," he said as he let go of the string and all of the arrows hit several trees. "Got it?" he asked giving her back the bow.
She nodded slowly and examined the bow before getting up to try to shoot it. "So put the arrow on the nocking point, pull back, aim, and let go," she said as she fired one arrow the missed the tree just by a couple inches.
Rain's face grew with happiness at the sight, "you're pretty good for a beginning archer." He looked around and then looked back at her, "practice for a bit before you go train with me," he said walking away.
A few hours later the sun had set and the two ventured off into the nearby forest.
"Why are we going out at night when monsters are sure to be more active?" Twilight asked as she looked around to see if any were coming after them.
"Just for that exact reason," he answered smiling. "If you want to be a hunter and get home you have to be able to hunt day and night besides all you're going to do is hunt a couple small Jaggi down and gather some resources," he said as he walked beside her.
Twilight looked as if she was going to say something, but then a strange noise came out of nowhere. "What was that?" she asked looking around frantically.
"It was your stomach," Rain said laughing. "You should really eat something," he said smiling.
"But there's nothing to eat," Twilight said simply.
"Wrong there's resources all around you, go gather some resources and I'll show you what you can eat," he said smiling. "Oh and don't be afraid to kill a monster for it's meat they do taste good," he said with a slight grin.
Twilight looked horrified at the idea of killing a monster to eat it. "Is that all there is to eat?" she asked innocently.
Rain looked at her confused, "that's probably the best thing to eat but if you're a vegetarian go look for resources like I said," he replied turning around. "Oh, here's a three riceballs to keep you satisfied until you find some things so don't dilly dally," he said handing her the food.
Twilight nodded before going further out to search. She noticed the sky was beautifully gorgeous showing all the stars and maybe other nearby plants as well. She then thought of her friends and how they were feeling because of her. "Don't worry guys I'm coming home soon," she whispered to herself. She had come across a vast variety of plants and berries that all looked edible.
Rain was waiting silently and looking around, "something isn't right there aren't any monsters out tonight," he whispered to himself.
"I'm back!" Twilight said and she came up to Rain who jumped up at her sudden voice. "Oh sorry," she said with a slight smile.
Rain smirked before noticing the vegetation and berries she had gathered. "Hmm all of these are edible but let's take them back to a chef so we can get a stew," he said looking around. "I think we'll have to skip out on hunting today something isn't right," he said worriedly
Twilight nodded happily and looked confused. "What do you mean?" she asked watching him glance around.
"Haven't you noticed no monsters are out, not even the common Jaggi," he said sighing.
Out of nowhere a loud howl erupted and the night seemed to light up a bright blue color.
"Oh no," Rain said before pulling Twilight into the bushes with him. "Be quiet and cover your eyes when I tell you," he said in a whisper.
Twilight nodded as they both peered out the bush to see a wolf-like creature sluggishly strolling through. Each step seemed to make the ground quake. It was coated in a blue light that seemed to move around. "What is that?!" she asked whispering.
"That's a Zinogre, the Thunder Wolf Wyvern," he said silently.
Suddenly the Zinogre began to glow a brighter blue color.
"Cover your eyes quickly and don't look," Rain whispered to Twilight.
The beast suddenly let loose a bright blue shock wave of light that lit up the surrounding area. It's body was coursing with electricity that seemed to travel from it's head to it's feet. It stood in one spot looking around and sniffing before it continue through the forest. Before long it's blue light was swallowed into the forest.
Rain looked up first before Twilight poked her head up.
"Well that was close," he said before pulling her back to the village. "That is a powerful rare monster very few encounter it and live to tell the tale," he said sounding concerned.
"Are we going to need to hunt that?" she asked sounding in shock.
Rain looked back at her and smiled, "maybe."
Author's Note
For the armor it's the one on the right that she's wearing.
Great Jaggi, Great Baggi?
"So you think you're ready to take on a quest?" Rain asked as him and Twilight approached the guild quest counter. "They're harder than just hunting the small monsters," he said before facing her.
Twilight nodded confidently. She was now decked out in iron plated armor with a scope attached to her helmet. Her leggings were a green-ish color and the right side of her chest plate was red. She noticed a lot of hunters wore this same set as her.
Rain on the other hand wore something similar to a purple suit with a purple top hat. The cuffs around his wrist were rolled back and the coil around his waist hung down behind him to about his knees. His sword hung tightly behind him, the frost coming off it's ice elemental blade was noticeable. He wasn't too comfortable wearing this flashy armor set, but it was all he could afford.
As they approached the quest counter the quest receptionist greeted them. She was dressed in a light green guild dress and had a friendly smile.
"Hello there, would like to take a quest Rain?" she asked with a light smile. She looked over at Twilight with the same smile, "Oh you must be new here can I see your hunters license?" she asked.
Twilight looked at Rain with a confused look before looking back at the receptionist, "I don't have one," she said simply.
"Oh I'm sorry I can't let you go on a quest yet.." she said sounding disappointed yet light-hearted.
Rain interrupted, "she's with me," before flashing a symbol on his wrist to the receptionist.
The receptionist stared at the symbol for a moment before nodding, "well if she's going on a quest she's going to need a hunters license," she said before running into the back room. Moments later she came out extending a card to Twilight, "here this is your hunter's license, it's temporary though so after awhile get it renewed." She then pointed over to a board filled with papers, "that's the quest board you can go check out what quests are available for your hunter rank," she said before looking back at Rain. "Take care the two of you," she said smiling.
Twilight and Rain quickly walked over to the quest board to see what quests were left. Two quests were left, 5,000 zen to hunt the Great Jaggi one quest read while the other read 5,000 zen to hunt the Great Baggi.
"What's a Great Jaggi and what's a Great Baggi?" Twilight asked looking confused. "There are bigger jaggi?" she asked looking over to Rain.
Rain chuckled, "you still have a lot to learn anyway you choose since it's your first quest, they're both pretty much the same," he said nonchalantly. "One is just a giant jaggi while the other is a subspecies that can put you to sleep," he said looking over awaiting her choice.
Twilight looked carefully at the quest papers, "one says it's in the tundra and the other says it's in the desert."
"Choose carefully then," Rain teased.
Twilight rolled her eyes before concentrating back on the papers, "i guess I'll go with...the Great Baggi," she said picking up the quest paper.
"Nice choice now give it to receptionist and we can get on our way and don't forget to stock up I'll be waiting by the gate," Rain said walking away.
Twilight nodded and hurried back to the receptionist desk, "this quest please," she said handing her the paper.
The receptionist stamped it with a red symbol, "good luck and the shop is right up ahead next to the gate," she said waving good-bye to her.
Twilight smiled and returned the wave before heading to the shop to pick up a couple potions and coatings for her arrows. Once she came out she met Rain right next to the gate.
"You ready?" he asked with a slight grin.
Twilight returned the same grin and answered with a confident, "yes."
It was almost dusk when the hot air balloon reached the tundra area. Once they reached the campsite the two hopped off and gather the supplies provided in the boxes. The ground was coated in a thick snow that almost imitated dirt, and a couple of snowflakes fell to the ground as well.
"This place looks gorgeous," Twilight said looking around in wonder. Just as she said that a light breeze blew by and sent her shivering, "it's...freeee--ezing.....here," she said as her teeth began to chatter.
Rain laughed slightly, "here drink this," he said handing her a small container.
"What is it?" Twilight said reaching for the drink.
"Just drink it and find out," Rain said as he drank one himself.
Twilight drank the liquid slowly before suddenly she felt as if she was on a hot tropical island. "Wow that feels good and it's not cold anymore," she said smiling.
"It's a hot drink, once in awhile you have to drink one to keep your body temperature up so you don't freeze to death while you're here," he said smiling. 'Anyway let's get a move on the faster we kill this thing, the faster we get back home for some training and a good rest," he said as he walked forward.
Twilight nodded and ran up to catch him.
The stars began to play among the clear night sky once again. The moon followed and provided ample light to see everywhere they went. There were cries that pierced the silence in the air. They sounding like jaggi cries but with little differences and then there was one loud deep cry the sounded like some kind of bird's cry.
"What was that?" Twilight asked looking around.
Rain drew his sword which looked to be growing bits of ice on it's blade, "they're coming."
Twilight, without hesitation drew her butterfly color patterned bow, the Arko Nulo. She drew in an arrow and held it there. The silence ensued them once again.
Just when Twilight was going to whisper a blue-ish white colored wyvern hopped out of the white trees at them. It had an odd crest right above it's head and it's underside rivaled the blue color on top of it. There were dark blue spikes on it's back and glared at them with yellow eyes. With it small jaggi like creatures popped out with the same color pattern and began to encircle them. All of their hind legs clawed the ground ferociously before letting out a small screechy cry.
"Take care of the small ones first before we take the leader!" Rain yelled as he raised his sword up and slashed as one of the small ones attempted to jump on him.
Twilight looked slightly hesitant, but kept her cool. "Ok..one..two..three.." she repeated in her head as she quickly fired off shots at the small baggies. She felt the rush of adrenaline pumping through her, the excitement of the hunt, the thrill of the kill. She quickly finished off the rest of them before she noticed Rain looking tired and sluggish. Before she could help him the Great Baggi swung it's floppy tail around and sent him flying backwards into the snow.
Twilight ran to help him, but more of the baggies came to surround her once again. She was looking panicky, she looked back at the crested leader and then back at Rain who seemed to be moving a bit more. She then turned her attention back to the small ones, but before she could the Great Baggi charged at her.
She expertly dodge the charge before taking an arrow and slashing at it's face.
The leader flinched and let out a frightful cry before running off with it's small minions trailing behind it.
Twilight then ran over to Rain, "are you ok?" she asked frantically.
Rain shook his head of the snow, "yeah I'm fine they just caught me with their sleep liquid," he said rubbing his head. "It doesn't last long though so don't worry anyway let's go," he said rushing up to chase where the beast had run off.
Twilight shook her head smiling and ran to catch up with him. "I guess this is what it means to be a hunter...it's kind of great," she said to herself smiling.
Up ahead they noticed the pack of the baggies waiting to great them along with their leader in the middle looking ready for another fight.
"Change of plans Twi," Rain said without looking at her. "Go for the leader if we kill it the rest of them should fled," he said before getting into his stance.
Twilight was taken aback when he called her Twi. all she could do was smile and nod. "Let's do this," she said releasing an arrow that whizzed past them jutted right into leader's side.
The leader cried out and charged for Twilight ignoring Rain. It caught Twilight off guard while she was about to load in another arrow.
Just before the Great Baggi could reach Twilight, Rain had ran back towards it and jumped up using his long sword to propel himself into the air and landed a fierce slash into the Great Baggi's back. The beast surged upwards into sudden pain before toppling over and laying still.
The rest of the baggies looked around making their loud cries before retreating to the caves that lay before them.
Twilight looked shocked at what she saw, "how..what?" she began asking in confusion.
Rain silenced her and smiled, "consider that as a thank you for saving me back there," he said sheathing his sword.
Twilight smiled before hugging him.
Rain laughed and returned the hug, "since it was your quest you get first carve," he said pointing to the body of the Great Baggi.
Twilight was still a bit uncomfortable carving up beasts, but she did it anyway. "That was tough," she said when she was finished carving the pieces she wanted.
Rain bent down and began to carve his share from the beast, "yeah I know anyway let's get the bad boy home so we get our rewards and take a nice long rest," he said stretching. "Maybe we should visit the blacksmith too," he said looking at his armor.
The two trekked back towards the campsite with felyne cats wheeling the dead monster behind them.
Author's Note
Sorry about the armor pics I couldn't mind much of better ones. I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far :)
Author's Note
Hey guys i needed to edit the chapter. I want to know if you guys prefer longer and more in depth chapters it would really help me out to make even better chapters in the future.
A Fiery Duo
"So we're hunting two wyverns this time?" Twilight asked. "That seems a bit more of a stretch than our previous quests don't you think?" she said sounding somewhat discouraged.
The two embarked on an urgent quest by the guild to hunt down a Rathalos and Rathian. Rathalos which are usually red with a couple black markings and a very distinct intertwining pattern under their wings. Rathalos have something similar to beak on its mouth and closely resembles a dragon. It has spiky features along on the wing edges, head, knees, back, tail and tail tip and is known as the King of the skies because of it's behavior to stay in the air during battle most of the time. Rathian on the other hand is the female counterpart to Rathalos and is colored green with large spikes on it's wings and tail. All spikes on her tail are poisonous. Due to this it has a less aerodynamic shape and mainly stays on the ground. It is know as the Queen of the land.
"Yeah it's Rathalos and Rathian mating season and it's not uncommon that there are a large amount of urgent quests for hunters to do to population control for them," Rain said as they were in the hot air balloon slowly heading towards the hunting grounds the duo wyverns were last saw. "Plus it's two new wyverns you haven't seen and trust me they're pretty common to see while you' re out hunting almost anywhere," he said sharpening his upgraded longsword the Rime & Treason. It's cold blade letting off a cool blue color while it let off an icy mist as he sharpened it.
Twilight nodded and readjusted the measurements on her uprgraded Arko Du(W) that looked like dark butterfly wings that also gave off an ice-like effect. It's rainbow colors looked dull and reminded her of her friends back in Ponyville. She hoped they were all alright without her. Her new bow allowed her to apply status coatings instead of more damaging ones which would allow her to whittle away her enemy while Rain finished them off up-close.
As soon as the air balloon landed the two headed over to the campsite to gather their items to go out on the quest. This time they were taking a trip to the Deserted Island where the mountains and seas seemed to be full of life even though there weren't any inhabitants besides the wildlife there. The duo left the camp and hiked all the way up to the top of an inclined ledge where a small river ran to fall off the side of the cliff.
"Hmm this is typically where they like to hang around," Rain said just as they made it to the top. "let's wait a bit since we do have some time till they might show up," he said taking off his orange Wroggi hat that was a piece of his new armor set that had light orange linnings before fade out to a dark brown color. He also wore a brown cloth around his mouth and mixed brown and light orange boots with metal coverings around the knees.
Twilight wore the same set without the scarf and looked around cautiously, "what if the monsters come?" she asked sounding concerned for his safety.
"Well just cause you're a monster hunter doesn't mean you can't relax on the job once in awhile, it does get stressful," he said smiling before taking off his boots to lay his feet in the gentle, cool waters of the river. "You do need to relax and let all the stress go away sometimes," he said as he laid backwards.
Twilight looked confused at him, but then smiled "you remind me of somepony," she mumbled to herself. She shook herself of the thought of her friends and focused on Rain. "Well I guess you're right," she said before joining him to relax. She paused before turning to him, "Rain why did you become a hunter," she asked curiously.
Rain smiled before it disappeared, "well my father was one of the most successful hunters and well he disappeared during a hunt one day," he said before he turned away and stared off over the ledge. "That was twenty years ago and he was a lone hunter which is why nobody knew anything about him," he said softly still staring off at the water falling over the ledge. "The sword I had when you first met me was his first weapon he used." He looked back at Twilight, "I'm happy I met you and that you hunt with me, it would've been lonely to hunt on my own," he said with a smile.
Twilight returned the smile, "I was scared at first, but I'm glad I ran into you when I did you saved my life not once but twice," she said putting her arm on his shoulder. "Oh one more question, what was that ma-" she began to say but was cut off by a loud roar that seemed to come from nearby.
Rain quickly put his boots and his hat back on before grabbing up his sword. "We should get a move on they're nearby," he said before wrapping around the scarf around his mouth.
Twilight paused before grabbing up her equipment and putting back on her hat and boots before nodding. She drew out her bow to be ready.
The two began to hike back down the incline to see the first wyvern slowly walking around. Its red razor sharp scales had a dull glisten in the sunshine. It's contrasting black scales gave off a shiny light. It's ferocious blue eyes gazed over to the two before letting out a load roar.
"That's Rathalos, be careful," Rain warned before drawing his sword and running forward towards the dragonic beast.
Twilight nodded as she drew her bow back for an accurate shot that looked almost like an icicle fly into one of the scales of the wyvern.
The unpleased Rathalos roared once again before jumping to leap to skies.
Rain looked back at Twilight, "get it down," he told her.
Twilight nodded but before she could do anything she watched as the Rathalos clawed down on Rain and pinned him down. She aimed quickly for the Rathalos, but instead broke into a run towards the wyvern.
It's head leaned in close to Rain and opened slightly showing it's rows of large white jagged teeth.
Twilight took out an arrow slammed into the beast's eyes. It then cried out and staggered backwards.
Twilight lent out her hand to help Rain up, "that was close," she said as Rain got up.
"Yeah a little too close," he said before wiping the Rathalos's drool from his face. "Anyway let's finish this," he said picking up sword.
The Rathalos stayed staggering all around dripping blood from the eye with an arrow lodged in it's eye.
Rain rushed in at it, but rolled to the side to avoid being crushed underneath the monster. Once it stood back up to its feet he slashed at it's face ferociously.
The Rathalos swung it's tail around, but Rain parried it and slid backwards from it's force. It then leapt backwards into the air to fly off.
"Dang it got away," Rain said looking up as it flew away.
Twilight came up next to Rain, "don't worry it seems like it flew over this way," she said pointing to a small trail of blood leading into a small clearing that then led up to a steep cliff.
Before they could leave a green spiky wyvern slowly landed down behind them. It's light green wings outstretched showing it's odd pattern. It's golden eyes focused on the two hunters in front of her before raising her head high and letting out a similar roar to the Rathalos.
"Forget the Rathalos we got her to deal with," Rain said rushing in towards.
The Rathian backed quickly before letting out a fireball flew right passed Rain and lit the ground next to Twilight on fire.
"These things can shoot fire?" she asked jumping away from the fire on the ground.
Rain ignored her question and raised his sword to slash downward onto the Rathian's chest. Before turning the blade upward to draw into another slash that released ice from it's blade.
Twilight quickly loaded power coatings into her arrows before letting loose a barrage of arrows that flew directly at the Rathian. Even though all the arrows stuck into the beast, it reared it's head and charged trampling Rain in it's way.
Twilight rolled to the right and prepared herself to launch more arrows at the beast as it fell trying to stop itself from charging.
Rain got to his feet and ran past Twilight and yelled, "cover your eyes!" He threw a small projectile towards the wyvern before the object exploded into an expansion of light that seemed to daze the beast.
Twilight looked up after seeing the flash go off and the Rathian running around charging at nothing. She ignored the urge to ask him what he did and continued to shoot arrows at the confused wyvern.
Rain did his best to follow a certain pattern of attack to keep dealing damage to it. Wide slashing before focusing on it's legs and ankles before rolling to dodge it's tail as it continued turning around in circles.
The Rathian stopped and looked directly at Rain before roaring, fire leaking from it's mouth to show its anger. It backed up once again and looked ready to let loose another fireball.
"Twilight duck!" Rain yelled over to her getting ready to dive out of the way. Little did he know his prediction was wrong before the Rathian let out a wide blast of flames that blasted Rain backwards and lighting up his armor with small flames as he rolled backwards.
Twilight ran over to Rain who was slowly recovering from the blast. "Are you alright?" she asked watching the monster stare them down from a distance.
"I'm fine," he said as he got up holding his sword. The tips of his gauntlets tinged black from the fire that was once there. "I'm going to need you to throw this," he said handing her a ball that looked similar to what he had thrown before.
"What is it?" Twilight asked looking over it.
"It's a flash bomb it can stun a monster with a blast of light, just look away when you throw it," he said turning back to the Rathian. "I'm going to lure it over here and try to injure it a bit more, after you stun it start using exhaust coatings," he said getting ready to run at the Rathian.
Twilight nodded and waited for Rain to lure the Rathian closer to them. the Rathian was staring at them with it's fierce gold eyes scrapping the ground occasionally with it's feet and drooling from it's mouth.
Rain ran forward towards the Rathian trying to get it's attention . The beast growled lowly before charging right for Rain. It's feet seemed to drag against the ground as it ran forward towards them.
Rain then dived to his right as Twilight threw flash bomb right in front of the Rathian. Just like before the bright light blinded the beast once again making it stagger and attack the air hoping to hit them.
"Nice toss," Rain said walking over to Twilight. "Let's finish it," he said getting ready to charge back in. But before he could a Great Jaggi came running into the area with a pack of small jaggies following closely behind him.
The purple and slightly orange beast scraped it's legs viciously against the ground before letting out screechy cry similar to the Great Baggie's cry. It's eyes were focused on the two hunters, it knew it was no match for the Rathian.
"Twilight let's get out of here!" Rain said running before grabbing Twilight's hand.
"Why? We can do it," she said protesting.
Rain kept running and pulling her along, "No! It's too dangerous to be fighting two big game monsters at the same time with just the two of us and I'm sure our gear isn't that strong to do that either," he said as he slipped into a inter-pass that seemed too small for the Great Jaggie to fit through. "Here! Come!" he said helping her slip through the passage.
The G. Jaggie seemed persistent and grabbed onto the back of Twilight's armor and tried to pull her back out.
"Rain! It's got me!" she screamed out. She could feel Rain's hands slipping to keep their grasp on her hands.
"Twilight move!" he ordered before drawing his sword.
She immediately obeyed and watched as Rain stabbed his sword straight past her to hit the G. Jaggie right in it's face. It immediately released it's grip on her armor and she and Rain fell forward onto the ground. They could hear the G. Jaggie's screechy cry before it was cut off and they saw the Rathian fly away gripping it in her talons. The jaggies down below screeched out and seemed to scatter off into small nooks and crevices.
The two watched as the beast then flew over them and right onto a nearby cliff.
"I think that's where the Rathalos flew off to too," Twilight said pointing up at the cliff.
"Well let's find a way up there quickly, it's becoming night and more monsters will be showing up," he said looking around.
The two of them began to hike back to the spot they had rested until they noticed a small opening by the gentle waterfall. They slowly descended into it to see a wide open cave that seemed to have a little piece of the ocean within it's caverns.
"This is pretty amazing," Twilight said looking around.
"We'll admire it later right now we have to kill these things," Rain said looking around. "Look there's a ledge that we can climb," he said pointing to his left. There were two small ledges that seemed to lead upwards. "Maybe they'll be up here," he said climbing up the first ledge and then turning around to help Twilight up. They had then came to a rough path that led to a dimming light to reveal the two wyverns feasting on the G. Jaggie's corpse.
Rain and Twilight ducked back to the wall to prevent them from being seen.
"Ok it's obvious that they're both exhausted because they seem really ravenous," Rain whispered.
"What are we going to do then?" Twilight asked just as she loaded an arrow in her bow.
"Relax, we have to play this smart," Rain said rubbing his chin. "It's either all or nothing, we don't have too much time to complete the quest and we can't afford them flying off again," he said before looking in his pouch. "Ok here's what we'll do," he said taking out a few odd looking things. "I want you to throw another flash bomb to stun them both, if the Rathalos tries to fly away I want you to shoot it with this special coating," he said handing her a small jar of liquid. "I'll take care of the Rathian first and then once she's done I'll handle the Rathalos that should be on the ground," he said drawing out his sword.
Twilight nodded, "what happens if we can't complete the quest?" she asked Rain.
"Well all our hard work would be for nothing and we'll be out a lot of money," rain said in a low voice. "And we need funds to do more quests so you can get back home," he said turning to peek at the two wyverns.
Twilight sighed, "alright let's do this," she said picking up two flash bombs.
"Now Twilight those are our last two flash bombs so make sure both of them are looking towards you before you throw it," he said warning her.
She nodded, "I got it," she said as Rain charged out first screaming at the top of his voice to make sure the wyverns noticed him.
The wyverns looked over to see the familiar hunter before both let loose a combined roar that seemed to drown out any noise.
Rain motioned to Twilight to throw the flash bomb and before they knew it the light flashed brightly confusing the two wyverns.
Rain quickly rushed over to the Rathian to finish it off with an upswing underneath it's chin. Twilight focused on the Rathalos who was getting ready to take to the skies.
"Oh no you don't," Twilight said to herself as she shot the Rathalos in the side of it's wing causing it to immediately fall to the ground. It squirmed as it writhed on the ground confused and in severe pain.
Rain then began to slash away doing a combination of quick slashes on it's face causing it to chip away with every slash he threw at it.
Before he could land the finishing blow the Rathalos backed up and took flight. It launched a fireball down at Rain who somewhat parried it but was sent sliding backwards. "It's going to get away!" he yelled back at Twilight.
Twilight looked at the distance the Rathalos was going, it was slowly ascending into the air. "No it's not," she said cocking back the string to it's furthest point and letting the air fly at lighting speed to the Rathalos. The arrow seemed to pierce through it's face and all the way to it's tail. It dropped down as soon as the arrow left it's body and lay still on the ground.
Rain looked back at Twilight, "not bad," he said smiling and waving. "Just in time too now let's get these two back to the camp, get some felynes to come," he said pointing to the exit.
Twilight sighed exhaustively but wore a proud smile as she bound away.
Rain leaded up against the rocky surface and slid down to sit. "She seems to get better every quest we take, she's turning into a true hunter.." he said to himself chuckling.
"We're doing a what quest?" Twilight asked smiling.
Rain shook his head, yet couldn't help to crack a grin and her enthusiasm, "I said we're doing an event quest," he repeated to her.
The two of them moved themselves to a busy port full of hunters from far and wide coming to take quests, to trade, and to enjoy the luxuries of life.
"What's an event quest?" Twilight asked smiling.
"It's a special quest that opens whenever there's a special monster or there's a huge amount of monsters in one area or any other conditions that may apply for there to a be a special quest," he explained shaking his head. "Anyway there have been large hordes of Shogun Ceanataurs appearing in the volcanic questing area so the guild has issued an event quest to take down at least three of these monsters," he said handing the paper over to Twilight.
Twilight read the paper carefully before looking back at Rain with a worried expression. "Hunting basically inside of a volcano? That doesn't seem too safe," she said pondering the thought. "Wouldn't it be impossible anyway considering the temperature of inside and the lava nearby?" she asked.
Rain smirked and shook his head, "don't worry I have you covered but let's get there first," he said before guiding her to the familiar process of being able to get to the hunting grounds.
The two of them wore matching red and black armor. The spiky red and black scales of the Rathalos along with metal padding to be extra durable and protective. Rain's helmet covered his whole face, but had a metal piece for him to look through and breath. His shoulders had the larger black spikes of the Rathalos while his faulds hung downwards reached the back of his knee. Twilight's armor was somewhat similar. Her helmet exposed her face and her left arm was heavily plated with Rathalos scales. Her faulds hung unevenly to her left side and reached near her upper thigh.
"So you still haven't explained to me how we're going to be able to stand the heat in there to be able to hunt anything," she said getting out of the air balloon and immediately checking the quest box which held all the equipment they will need for the quest.
Rain took out a bottle and tossed it over to her, "here drink this," he said simply.
Twilight looked at the bottle and noticed it looked similar to what she had drank in the tundra. "Hmm," she said before drinking it down. "I feel pretty cold now," she said with a shiver.
"That's the point genius," Rain teased. "Anyway let's get a move on," he said as he packed his newly made Kibamaru onto his back. It's blade seemed to be wet even in the increasing heat of the volcano it could still stay wet enough to keep from heating up.
Twilight rolled her eyes before joining him with her Queen Blaster lll made out of the Rathian they took down from before. It was the pure embodiment of the wyvern into the bow. The glistening green scales in the light from the volcanic area made it look stunning. "So what is a Shogun Ceanataur?" she asked as they walked into the volcano.
Rain shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry I don't know this one," he said with a slight chuckle. "This particular species of monster is from an entire different region than here," he said lightly.
Twilight frowned, "you're supposed to be the monster expert how are we going to fight something that we don't even know what it looks like, or what it can do, or if we're even ready for it?!" she asked in blazing heat of questions.
Rain couldn't help to smile even though his armor didn't show it for him. "Well i'm guessing this would be one," he said pointing to a blue looking dead crab-like creature. It seemed to be using another monster's skull as it's shell. It's pincers looked razor sharp and deadly. "This thing looks like it was being hunted so I'm guessing we're not the only hunters here right now," he said looking at the lacerations on the monster's body.
"Oooh this'll be interesting I've never talked to any other hunters besides you," she said excitedly.
"Don't get your hopes up," he said looking around. "A lot of hunters like to solo their hunts nowdays there are very few who form a hunting party," he said grimly. "And the solo hunters don't tend to be too nice to other hunters hunting their prey," he said continuing on.
"I see," Twilight said carefully. She paused to look around the lava infested cavern before she spotted another dead monster off in the opposite direction they were heading. "Why don't we go see who it is," she said running off towards the dead monster.
"No!" Rain said as he ran to chase her.
"I see another one after this one," Twilight yelled back to Rain who was nearly caught up with her. She then suddenly stopped and Rain caught up to stand at her side slightly panting. The sounds of slashing blades echoed throughout the caverns. "They're over here!" she said pointing down a small gap in the wall leading to another part of the cave.
Rain sighed, "fine let's go," he said reluctantly.
Twilight smiled and grabbed his hand to lead him through the gap to reveal a spectacular sight.
A hunter in an armor that seemed to be made of blades themselves. The whole set looked like standard knight armor except for the sharp edges that looked like they could be a weapon on their own. The armor was blue-ish with white tinges in it and looked almost like the Shogun Ceanataur. The hunter seemed to be wielding a pair of Grimmest Noxwings and dashing around the monster zipping in and out of slashes. He seemed to be everywhere at once. His blades would occasionally collide with the Ceanataur's blade-like pincers that created the sound of clashing blades. Accompanying this was the sounds of happiness and glee as the hunter seemed to dash around the monster recklessly slashing away at it.
"C'mon let's help him," Twilight said flipping out her bow and readying a shot.
Rain put his hand infront of her to block her, "wait just watch," he said looking intently at the fight.
The hunter seemed to dance with the two blades in his hands, yet it still had the appearance of recklessness of one who dared to kill just for the kill with no art. After a couple minutes of watching the monster looked worn out and began to dig underground.
"Damn! First one that got away!" the hunter said in a slight rage. He threw a couple more slashes at the air before throwing the two blades over his back, "oh well no matter I came looking for a particular one of these..." he stopped as he spotted Twilight and Rain. He approached them in a slow walking manner and seemed intimidating every step closer he came.
Rain stepped forward to look at the hunter, "that was nice bladeswork," he said in a somewhat light tone.
The hunter looked at him intently, his armor not showing his true emotions before he replied, "thanks, I didn't know the guild would let a couple of novices do this quest," he said as he looked down at Rain.
Rain looked back at him, a hidden glare in his eyes. "Ok then, we'll get out of your way then.." he said ready to turn around.
"Hold up one minute there mister!" Twilight said coming up to the mysterious hunter. "Who do you think you are we're just as qualified to be on this quest as you so you have no right to say we're novices," she said with fury. "You better apologize to Rain because he's been teaching me how to hunt all this time and we took on many monsters even both a Rathian and a Rathalos at the same time!" she said getting even closer to the hunter.
The mysterious hunter looked down at Twilight before chuckling, "you sure got some temper there misseee," he said beginning to break into a laugh. "If you're so sure of yourself and your teacher then why don't you prove yourself then, defeat one of these beasts," he said in a challenging tone.
"Fine!" she said sternly. "And who am I addressing?" she asked with purple eyes full of anger.
The hunter paused for a moment before answering, "my name is Soul," he answered simply.
"Hmm...ok one Ceanataur no problem," Twilight said then grabbing Rain to pull him back through the gap. "Let's go find ourselves a Shogun," she said in a vicious tone.
Rain looked at Twilight with a shocked expression. He had never seen her angry and she seemed like an enraged savage Deviljho(that's for another chapter).
There was a puff cloud suddenly emerging a couple feet away from the two to reveal a pair of blue pincers pierce through the ground and grab it to pull it's full self out of the ground.
Twilight already had her bow drawn all the way back to launch a single arrow from the string to fly right through the monster.
The Shogun turned around to face the two hunters before quickly charging at them with it's claws extended outwards.
Rain drew his sword to realize there was lava on both sides of them and that he couldn't dodge the crab creature's attack.
Twilight still focused on the monster unflinching and unwavering before launching another arrow to flinch it and stop it's attack.
Rain nodded before charging in with his sword. He needed to push it backwards or lead it back so they could have ample space to fight it. "Twi stop shooting it for a moment," yelled over to her.
She obeyed him until she heard Soul's voice behind her, "you just let him boss you around like that?" he asked in a dark teasing fashion.
Twilight frowned before continuing to fire arrows at the monster drawing it's attention back to her.
Rain looked at her with a confused look, "I need you to stop shooting so I can lure the monster away," he said as the monster seemed to be more interested with her than Rain.
Twilight looked even more determined and ignored his order and continued to fire arrows at the creature. The arrows seemed to be doing nothing to it before it raised up a claw and forced it downwards.
Rain dashed in between the claw and Twilight. The claw was inches off from her head, yet she didn't look phased by the development.
"This is just sad," Soul said shaking his head disappointingly.
"Oh don't help both of you," Rain said struggling to keep the Shogun's pincer from slashing downwards anymore.
Soul sighed before taking out his dual blades and dashing in past Rain to deliver a flurry of slashes into the beast's face. It flinched lifting it's pincer from Rain's block and backed up slightly. He then proceeded to dash around while slashing wildly at it before causing it to collapse over and remain still.
He then sheathed his swords and walked up to Twilight, "you need to trust you're partner more," he said grimly.
Twilight looked at Soul with rage before her expression faded to realization, "but you were saying all those things..." she said softly.
"So what? That doesn't mean not to follow your partner's orders which he is telling you because he wants the best for you and himself," he said seriously. "In the midst of a fight you can't let your trust be fragile and break, you're trust for that person has to be strong enough for you both to survive," he said before slipping through the gap.
Twilight stood there for a moment just as Rain came up to her.
"What's going on? you didn't hear me? I needed you to stop shooting so I could've drawn it's attention to lure it out into a better spot to fight it," he said with deep concern laced in his voice.
Twilight frowned and didn't respond. She felt embarrassed to be shown that still after all this time her trust for Rain was fragile and flimsy. They would've been in serious trouble if Soul wasn't there to save them. She sighed before turning to Rain, "I'm sorry..." she said softly.
Rain looked at her confused, but before he could respond a pair of black and crimson red pincers pierced through the ground and pulled up a dark brown and red Shogun Ceanataur. It's pincers looked even larger than the regular blue Ceanataurs. It also wore the black skull of a mysterious large wyvern. It looked over at them before letting out a oddly sounded cry.
Rain quickly rushed in at the monster and began slashing at it until it swung it's left pincer in a low swing towards him. He expertly stopped the pincer with a block before slightly looking back at Twilight. "Poison coating now!" he demanded.
Twilight looked down at her bow before closing her eyes for a moment and exhaling. Trust she said in her mind before slipping an arrow into the nock and letting it fly into the creature. The Shogun backed up letting out a similar cry to before and pounding on the ground with it's sharp claws forcing Rain to dodge roll right underneath it to end up on behind it.
Twilight loaded the poison coatings while the Shogun focused mainly on Rain who began fade away slashing at it trying to avoid it's swift claws.
Soul appeared behind Twilight before noticing the new Shogun that had appeared. "Yes! There you are," he said in a happier tone.
Twilight ignored Soul and continued to fire arrows at the creature. It seemed to be paying very little attention to the arrows flying into it's back. "Why does it look like my arrows aren't having any effect on this thing?" she asked herself sounding frustrated.
"Because you need to break that shell," Soul said rushing past her. He pulled out his dual swords and charged full speed at the creature's shell and began recklessly attacking it.
The Shogun still seemed to be interested in Rain who was dodging and attacking in an unseeable pattern. He seemed to be slowing down from exhaustion.
"Switch!" Soul yelled over to Rain who nodded and rolled underneath the Shogun's legs. Soul rolled in place of Rain and ended up in front of the monster. "Keep attacking the shell till it breaks," he said before crossing his blades together and dancing around slashing at the monster wildly.
Rain focused harder using wide and accurate slashes to hit the monster's shell, slowly chipping it away.
Twilight decided to switch up her shots and applied left overs of the special coating Rain gave her. She fired a barrage of arrows before the Shogun looked as if it couldn't move. She paralyzed it and long enough for Rain to break that monster's shell and Soul to do a considerable amount of damage and apparently poisoning it.
The Shogun spun around and slashed in a low sweep and sent Soul and Rain flying backwards towards a pool of lava. The creature seeing the time the two threats it saw were down burrowed back into the ground.
Soul hopped to his feet, "hurry I know where it's going," he said following a couple small dust clouds that seemed to be heading away from the area.
Rain slowly got up before being accompanied by Twilight. "Quickly let's follow him," he said as the two of them ran to catch up with Soul.
The puff clouds ended in another cavern, but this are seemed to have a small overhang with on every other side waterfall of lava pouring down into a lake down at the bottom of the edges.
"It's in here," Soul said entering slowly having his poisonous dual swords out. Both their purple and black blades dripping with a purple liquid.
Rain and Twilight entered after him slowly and cautiously.
What none of them knew was that the Shogun was on the ceiling, quietly climbing and getting into position. Just as soon as Soul put his swords away it launched a beam of what looked like water at him. He went tumbling backwards towards the edge of the platform.
"Twi get it down and I'll go help Soul out," he said sheathing his sword and running over to stop his comrade from falling into the lake of lava below him.
Twilight nodded and looked upwards at the monster getting into place to blast Rain with the same kind of beam. Twilight quickly drew her bow and began shooting upwards at the Shogun. The arrows seemed to do nothing to it though and it continued to get into position. Trust the word repeated in her mind again. Twilight closed her eyes and focused intently, she could hear her own heart beating slowly. I don't only have to trust them, but I have to trust myself she thought to herself before releasing the arrow that seemed to fly straight for the monster and surprisingly knocked it down onto it's back for it to struggle to get up.
Rain pulled Soul up who seemed to ignore his gesture and hurried over to the monster and began attacking it again.
Rain rolled his eyes and joined him in the assault on the vulnerable monster until Soul pushed him backwards.
"That's enough," he said before tossing down a small disk that seemed to emit some kind of faint light. "Here on the count of three throw this at it," he said handing him a bomb casing.
Before Rain could ask the Shogun hopped back to it's feet only to be shocked by what looked to be a shock trap.
"One, two, three!" Soul said as he and Rain threw the bomb casing at the monster before it fell over and laid, yet it still seemed to be alive.
"What was that?" Rain asked looking over at Soul.
Soul chuckled lightly, "that's how to catch a monster a task I see you've experienced till now," he said seriously.
Twilight ran over to join Rain, "it's still alive?" she asked.
"Yes because I have a quest to catch this Terra Shogun Ceanataur," Soul said sighing. "I just didn't count on it being this toug-- I mean pesky," he said putting away his blades.
Twilight and Rain sighed, "I guess we better get back, I've had enough of these Ceanataurs," Rain said exhausted.
"Just a minute," she said before walking over to Soul who seemed just as tired. "Hey we looked like a real team out there and I'm sure there's more you could teach both of us," she said extending out her hand to him. "Will you join us on a quest to hunt the Dire Miralis," she asked slightly smiling.
Soul paused before shaking her hand, "sure," he answered with a serious voice contained with excitement.
Author's Note
Even though this isn't a real quest I might do a little mix in of monster hunter from previous or coming games.
Nothing Like Sand Fishing!
"A sand monster?" Twilight asked sounding confused. "And it swims in sand? How is that possible?" she asked.
Both Rain and Soul rested their faces in the palm of their hands. "There are monsters that swim in lava, why is one that swims in sand so strange?" Rain asked with a sigh.
"Well just because it seems impossible," Twilight said objecting to the idea.
"Look stop babbling about what's possible and impossible you two are hunting the thing," Soul said sounding annoyed at the two. He looked back at Twilight, "remember what I said and you both just might come back alive," he said before walking away and disappearing into the crowds of hunters around him.
Rain turned back to Twilight, "anyway we got a hunt to do so let's go," he said walking away to their usual spot to prepare for a quest before taking the hot air balloon ride there. the two were dropped off at what looked to be a desert savanna. There were small trees and structures in some places before meeting the edge of the desert that seemed to continue on to the horizon.
"Well we're here and where we're going you're going to need one of these again," Rain said tossing over a cool drink to Twilight. "Don't drink it now though wait till we get closer," he said fixing up the same equipment he had brought on their previous quest.
Twilight nodded and followed after him. As she walked beside him she looked around at the environment and noticed everything felt temperate and that life seemed to flourish here. "This place is surprisingly alive and temperate for a place pretty close to the desert," she said looking around.
Rain nodded, "it's very nice in this part if it because it get's somewhat of some rainfall," he said looking around. "This way," he said leading the way.
The two of them made their way through a cool cavern to come to the sandy desert plains. The sun seemed to have grown harsher in not only in heat, but in sunlight as well.
"How come it suddenly got so hot?" Twilight asked as she wiped the sweat that already began dripping from her forehead.
"Drink the bottle I gave you now," Rain said as he too began drinking the drink thirstyly.
Twilight did the same and was relieved to feel the cool chill through her body, "that's better," she said with a slight smile.
Rain smiled but then heard the clacking of something hard. Out in the distance two Rhenopolos's were having somewhat of a small dispute. They backed up and got into a low stance before charging and butting heads with each other. He sighed, then noticed something stealthfully approaching the two rhino-like creatures. Before they could back up a light brown monster with huge mouth showing row after row of sharp teeth jumped out of the sand and swallowed the two of them whole.
Twilight looked at the beast with fear and horror, "is that's what's called a Nibelsnarf?" she asked hoping he would say no.
Rain nodded in shock to have witnessed the scene himself. "Well let's get it before it gets away," he said running out towards it.
Twilight sighed before joining him, or before it get's us she thought to herself.
The beast immediately noticed the two hunters and surprisingly fled back underground.
"It's running away from us?" Twilight asked looking confused as the monster vanished underground.
Rain sighed, "there's only one way to draw it back out," he said feeling around in the sand. He felt around till he could feel solid ground, "Twilight come over here," he said waving.
Twilight looked around and saw the monster was nowhere to be found, yet she still seemed reluctant to walk out onto the sand. Trust your partner Soul's words repeated in her head. She slowly stepped onto the sand and made her way towards Rain. She could feel the vibrations of movement underneath the surface of the sand. She closed her eyes and repeated the word in her mind trust trust trust . She made it to Rain feeling relieved to be on a solid surface. "So how are we going to get this thing out of the ground?" she asked sighing.
Rain dug in his pouch and pulled out two collapsible fishing poles, "why of course sand fishing," he said with a slight smile before giving her a rod.
Twilight looked at him as if he was crazy, "how is that going to work?!" she asked seeing the proposition as foolish and impossible.
Rain looked at her with a confused look, "you do know this is a fish-like monster right?" he asked before sitting on the hard surface and casting out his rod.
Twilight sighed and sat beside him and cast out her rod slightly to the left away from his.
Without warning a school of Delexes jumped right over the two and let out a screechy cry. The sailfish sand monsters hopped back into the the sand to continue on their way.
Twilight looked even more scared than before. The desert seemed to be more like an ocean with most things living underneath the surface.
Just then Twilight got a bite on her fishing pole. She stood up trying to reel it in, but found she was too light to stay grounded and felt she was about to go for a swim in the sand.
Rain grabbed the rod and positioned himself right behind her to help her stay grounded. "Keep reeling I got you," he said holding onto the rod as well as her.
Twilight could feel Rain straining with all his might to pull the beast out. She kept reeling and pulling back until the beast finally popped out and laid on it's back exposing its bright blue and yellow underside.
"Great," he said to Twilight before running over to the beast to draw his sword into a slash that seemed to have exploded water onto the monster.
Twilight sighed a moment before drawing her bow to launch exhaust coated arrows.
The beast flipped back over onto its web-like feet. It immediately raised up on its hind legs to bodyslam Rain, but he rolled sideways to avoid being crushed. He retaliated by doing a wide slash to flinch the beast.
The nibelsnarf hissed somewhat at Rain before turning its attention to Twilight. It dove underneath the sand and swiftly approached towards Twilight.
Twilight watched as the beast came closer and closer. She began to panic looking around for a way to escape being chomped down by the monster. Just as the beast seemed to be right in front of her a loud screech sound was heard and the monster popped out of the ground seeming dazed and confused. She looked back to see Rain who ran up to her totally forgetting the sand monster.
"Are you alright Twi," he asked looking at her with a worried expression.
Twilight nodded slowly still a bit shaken up by the ordeal.
Rain nodded before turning back to the beast who seemed to have recovered from its daze and looked angry. It puffed out its reddish gills and let out an odd sound before diving underneath the sand and heading out before it seemed to turn around and head straight for them.
It's head slightly poking up above the sand exposing its top row of sharp teeth. It was closing in on them fast.
"Twilight come! Get out of the way!" Rain yelled getting ready to dodge the oncoming attack.
Twilight was ready to join him when the word ran through her mind trust . She looked at Rain before looking back at the charging beast to draw her bow back as far as she could.
Rain looked at her, "what are you doin--," he said until she cut him off.
"Just trust me," she said not taking her focus off the monster.
Rain nodded and grabbed his sword, ready to strike.
Twilight was surprised that he stayed with her by her side. She then realized something, the one who saved her life time and time again, the one who put himself in the way of danger to keep her safe, was the same one who trusted her fully with his own life; then there was no reason she couldn't do the same for him.
The beast raised its head even more out of the ground and showed its wide mouth coming for them. But, before it could reach them Twilight let the arrow fly. It shot straight through the beast piercing it's mouth and its eye before still flying at high speeds as it left it's body.
The beast cried out before diving underneath the two and seemed to have fled to the cave they came through.
Twilight lowered her bow and watched the puff clouds from the monster lead to the cave.
Rain put his hand on her shoulder, "nice shot!" he said smiling.
Twilight smiled, "well it was nothing," she said sighing. "Anyway it seems like it went this way into the cave," she said pointing to where they had originally came in.
Rain nodded, "alright well we're going to try and capture this monster," he said shuffling through his pouch. "I was looking into a book and found out how to craft one of these," he said pulling out a small disc similar to the one Soul had used in the volcano. "It's a shock trap, it sends out electrical pulses that can immobilize a monster temporarily," he said putting it back in the pouch and taking out a couple bomb casings. "Here these are tranq bombs that we need to capture the monster," he said handing her four. "We only have one shot so we have to be sure the monster is exhausted enough so we can use these," he said looking towards the cave.
Twilight nodded and proceeded towards the cave. Inside they both could see the Nibelsnarf peacefully resting near a small water source towards the back.
"I guess it's already tired," Rain whispered to Twilight. "I'll set up the trap and then go wake it up, you then can distract it and lead it towards the trap to be captured," he said resting his hand on her shoulder.
Twilight nodded and got into position while Rain began setting up the trap.
"Ok now I'll go wake it up," he said before slowly going towards it. While he was coming closer to the monster a couple jaggies came in and began to cry out at the two. It wasn't long before the Nibelsnarf had it's sleep disturbed and awoke to see the two hunters. It puffed up its gills before and opened its mouth wide before trying to suck everything in its way.
Twilight watched as everything seemingly flew towards the beasts open jaws. Rain was no exception and began slipping as the beast's current caught him. He did all he could to resist falling into it's jaws before long he went sliding closer and closer towards it until it stopped and whipped it's tail around to send him flying to the walls of the cave.
The Nibelsnarf then looked at Twilight and charged her at medium speed.
Twilight couldn't draw her weapon out in time enough, her only hope was for the beast to stumble into the trap so she could tranquilize it.
Rain got back to his feet slowly and noticed the beast charging for Twilight, but it wasn't going full speed. He ran towards the beast not drawing his sword but looking it's tail. He knew it was getting ready to jump at Twilight and it did just that.
The monster leaped into the air aiming for Twilight and looking as if it would miss the trap completely.
Just as it leaped Rain grabbed onto it's tail and pulled tightly. His feet grounded firmly causing the beast to fall short from Twilight and falling right onto the shock trap where it lay seemingly in discomfort.
"Now," Rain said as he fell to the floor.
Twilight instantly threw two tranq bombs at the beast before it stood up slightly and fell down with little resistance. It's soft breathing could be heard as they both sighed full of relief.
"We got it," Rain said smiling and walking over to Twilight. The beast was inches away from her and yet she looked calm and relived as ever.
"Yeah it was really something else fighting this thing," she said smiling.
"I guess you could say it nibbled on more than it could chew," Rain said sarcastically.
Twilight rolled her eyes along with a small laugh. She went to the back of the sleeping monster and carved a single scale from it. "Alright I'll go get the felynes to get this guy," she said walking out of the cave.
When the two got back they could see Soul waiting for them by the gate. "So you guys aren't fish food eh," he said in a mocking tone.
Twilight gave him a sly grin and grabbed his hand to put the single Nibelsnarf scale in his hand.
Soul looked down at the scale and grinned at Twilight. He then leaned down by Twilight's ear, "well it seems you finally learned to trust your partner good because you're going to need it," he said before backing away. "Listen up you two apparently the guild has been keeping an eye on you two and well you got a personal urgent quest they want you to do. This quest is also your chance to get into high rank hunting," he said somewhat proudly.
Author's Note
This is the last chapter before they actually enter hunting high rank monsters. :O anyway I''ll be away for the week so expect this chapter to come out sometime late next week. Happy hunting :)
Author's Note
Almost time for the special urgent quest, what monster do you think it'll be?
Down Time Training
Rain looked over the paper carefully reading every bit of it. He was excited yet frightened at what their quarry was soon to be. He rolled it back up and handed it back to Soul, "we need to train...hard if we're going to take on that now," he said grimly hiding the excitement he contained.
Twilight hung back not knowing what they were going to be faced with. The uncertainty scared her a little, but thrilled her even more.
Soul nodded with an evil smile, "which is why Twilight is going on a small gathering quest while you and me get down to training first," he said turning to Twilight to direct her to the quest counter.
Twilight frowned, "why don't we all train together?" she asked sounding disappointed.
"Because you two will distract each other," he said firmly. "If you want the training to work I have to train you separately so go!" he said once again.
Twilight looked so annoyed that she was probably contemplating some evil scheme to get back at Soul before turning towards the girl at the quest counter and talking.
"Now that that's out the way we're going to the deserted island near Moga village, I hear it's Jaggi mating season," he said just as Twilight left through the gate to go to her quest area.
Rain shrugged his shoulders are proceeded to the quest counter.
Once the two of them reached the island they were dropped off at the base camp and hiked out to small shady stream where him and Twilight had sat down to relax. "Well this is the spot," Soul said turning around to Rain. His hands reached for his dual blades slung over his back. "Let me assess your abilities," he said just as he drew his blades out.
Rain looked at him confused and startled as he drew his poisonous blades and pointed them at him. "Wait, you can't use these weapons on other people it's against guild rules," he said in protest.
"Then are you going to let me kill you then?" Soul asked as he lunged forward to stab him with both blades.
Rain rolled to right to evade his attack and grabbed the handle of his long sword. He hesitated before drawing it out completely and pointing it at Soul. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded.
"It's better to practice on prey that is unpredictable, than on something that you can predict," he said before lunging at him again but instead of stabbing he slashed at him in a somewhat dancing motion.
Rain couldn't react fast enough and felt the blades slash all the way up his shoulder and across his chest. The armor defended him against the blades, but the power made him fall backwards.
"Too slow. Now get back up," Soul demanded looking ready to continue.
Rain got up sluggishly and raised up his sword again pointing its tip right at Soul.
Soul gave him a sly look before rushing in once again, but this time Rain was ready and sidestepped backwards so his blades were mere inches away from him. He then countered by raising his sword high and slashing downwards.
Soul quickly dashed forward and stopped his blade in mid-slash, "c'mon I know you know how to fight better than this," he said tauntingly before kicking him backwards into the small stream.
Rain looked agitated as he got up. He took off his helmet and tossed it aside, before doing the same with the rest of his armor to reveal a light black shirt and shorts he wore underneath.
Soul looked amused, "what's wrong am I too good for you?" he taunted.
Rain didn't respond and grabbed his sword out of the water and gripped it tightly.
Soul readied himself into a stance where one blade stood out in front diagonally while the other blade was help perpendicular to it.
Rain gripped the handle with both hands and quickly drew it over head into a somewhat horizontal slash.
Soul seemed to have predicted the move and parried it with both of his swords, but before he could react Rain reversed the slash and slashed as he hopped backwards which caught Soul off guard and sent him falling backwards.
He chuckled as he rose to his feet, "nicely done now you're ready," he said as he raised his blades up in the air quickly crossing them. The two blades became cloaked in what looked to be a red aura around the sharp edges. He lunged again at Rain before he could even react. He seemed to be moving at supernatural speeds as he dashed around slashing the air around before raising a blade up to Rain's neck.
Rain was surprised at how quick he moved that he almost didn't realize he stopped right in front of him with his weapon held up to his throat. "How did you do that?" Rain asked sounding somewhat surprised.
Soul chuckled before lowering his blades and returning them to his back. "Give me your long sword," he said reaching out his hand to Rain.
Rain slowly handed him long sword and watched him carefully.
Soul stepped away before gripping his blade tightly and intently focusing before raising the sword high to slash downwards into a stab and a rising slash. He then followed into an overhead slash which followed into a flurry of stabs and slashes before finishing with a perfect horizontal slash that seemed to make a circle around him before it became cloaked into a white aura all around the blade.
Rain looked in amazement as he preformed the spectacle in front of him.
Soul turned towards him, "you see both the dual swords and long swords might not seem so fancy but they do have a unique power to them," he said looking over the blade cloaked in white aura. "They seem to draw power from the user when this happens and what's special about the long sword is that there are different levels to its power," he said handing out the blade back to Rain.
He reached out to it slowly before grabbing it, just as he did the aura dispersed and the blade returned to normal.
"Now learn how to channel that power into your weapon," Soul said challenging him.
"How do I do that?" he asked sounding as if the task was impossible.
"You saw me do it follow them steps, although...if you want to challenge yourself there are a couple G. Jaggies running around here you can practice on them till you have it perfect," Soul said before turning away to walk back to the base camp.
Rain looked down at his Kibamaru long sword and sighed. He quickly put his armor back on before leaving the area to head down the cliff.
As he was walking he could hear faint yelping in the distance before being accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a G. Jaggi. He quickened his pace before seeing the familiar small pack of Jaggi and Jaggia (female Jaggi) all around with the G. Jaggi leading them. The giant raptor looking beast turned its head to the side before it spotted Rain. It fully turned towards him to scrape its feet against the ground and let out a screechy attempt of a roar just as its blue and orange rimmed frill went up.
The Jaggi and Jaggia already started running towards him, but another screechy roar sent them turning around to return to their leader's side. The G. Jaggi stepped forward slowly before making its trademark call.
Rain drew his blade ready to engage his target in the same way Soul had showed him. The beast charged in leaning in and opening its mouth wide for a bite. This gave him the perfect opportunity to step back and then lean in with the over head slash to its face. He then followed up with a reverse slash and an upward slash and continued slashing away before finishing with a downward slash which flinched the monster. "Now for the finisher," he said as he began leading into the sweeping slash Soul had done, yet when the blade made contact with the G. Jaggi it simply bounced off its hide which made Rain stumble backwards.
Seeing this the G. Jaggi quickly turned to its side before ramming him full force sending him sliding backwards.
Rain got to his feet quickly and raised his sword up, "why didn't it work?" he asked muttering to himself.
"Stop holding back," a familiar voice answered him.
Rain looked back at the pack of Jaggies to see all the way in the back Soul leaning casually against the side of a rock. The minions didn't seem to mind his presence and seemed to be focused more on the battle with their leader.
The G. Jaggi seeing the hunter distracted began to limp away to the overgrowth of vegetation near the tree to escape. Seeing this the minions followed their leader into the vegetation and disappeared.
Soul slowly walked towards Rain, "you're holding yourself back, think of your blade as not only as an physical extension, but also a spiritual one," he said standing in front of him. "Only then will you be able to channel the power into your blade," he said before walking the path back to the base camp.
"Spiritual extension.." Rain said to himself. For a moment he stood there staring at his blade for what seemed to be countless hours before sitting down with the blade in his lap. He took out a small smooth rock and began sharpening the edge of his sword slowly. He did this until the blade looked as if it could cleave through any substance in its wake. He then began to practice the basic combo they had taught him in hunter's school. "Down...stab....upward slash...and back down," he repeated as he preformed the simple combo that could go on for eternity. He then paused before once again starting the combo, but this time at the end of the combo he led into an overhead slash and followed it up with a stab and then a reverse slash before going into an upward slash. He quickly followed it up into four diagonal upward strikes before finishing with a downward slash. He sighed before returning his blade to its sheath and going to the next area to see where the G. Jaggi had run off to.
As he walked into the next area he could see the sun making its way downward into the edge of the horizon. The area was quiet everything seemed to stand still as if it was waiting for the impending night. As he stepped around the corner he could catch a faint glimpse of a lone quiet Jaggi running away into a much shadier area.
Rain hesitated at first before following it. He trekked through what seemed to turn from grass to straight dirt littered with bones everywhere. He looked around and could notice Jaggies and Jaggias everywhere sleeping peacefully. In the far upwards corner he could see the G. Jaggi resting on its side. He carefully made his way through and around the sleeping minions towards the G. Jaggi.
Just as he drew his sword ready for a sneak attack the sound of unsheathing his sword echoed through the Jaggi area. Many small heads poked up to see what was the source of the noise before alerting the entire pack which made the leader hop up to his feet to confront the intruder.
Rain led into it with a downward slash before stabbing at its chest. The beast didn't seem to be affected by his attacks and continued into its own attacks. Rain flinched as the G. Jaggi spun around to whip him with its tail yet he didn't stop attacking he continued to follow his combo. He followed through with the overhead slash and a stab as the G. Jaggi swiped him with a bite.
Rain maintained himself and continued into the flurry of diagonal upward slashes.
Seeing his attempts on the hunter were unsuccessful the G. Jaggi raised its and let out its call for reinforcements. Many Jaggies came rushing towards him from all around.
Rain had just slashed downward when he could see from the corner of his eye a wave of Jaggies rushing towards him. He gripped the blade tightly as he began to move into the final slash. His movement seemed to be one fluid action that went by so fast he was a blur when he completed the sweeping slash, he sent the Jaggies flying back as well as the leader.
Everything was quiet again as the leader and his minions seemed to lay still. He sighed heavily and looked at his blade which seemed to glow a ghostly white aura. He smiled weakly in accomplishment as he sheathed his sword.
"Very good," a voice said breaking the silence.
Rain turned around to see Soul leaning nonchalantly against a giant stone. "You finally were able to do it, but don't get a big head that aura is still on level one and is looking pretty weak," he said killing Rain's accomplished smile.
"Whatever I'm going back..." Rain said walking past him.
Soul smirked as he passed by and turned around to follow him back.
When the two of them returned back to Port Tanzia they were greeted by Twilight who seemed enthusiastic to see them.
"Hey guys I encountered an Arzuros and took it down myself!" she said excitedly.
Rain walked up to her and gave her a proud pat on her shoulder, "nice anyway I'm going to take a nap before we head out for the urgent quest," he said walking past her.
She nodded and watched him disappear into the crowd of hunters, "well I guess it's my turn to train, I'll be right back my bow is at the blacksmith," she said looking ready to run off when Soul's hand caught her by the shoulder before she could leave.
"Don't worry you won't need it, your training is going to be a little different..." Soul said seriously.
Twilight looked at him confused, "ok?" she answered as they both walked over to the gate to leave.
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Urgent Quest! :Assassin of the Jungle (Part 1)
Author's Note
Finally! This took awhile to write, but this is only the first part who knows what's going to come. :O
Urgent Quest! :Assassin of the Jungle (Part 1)
Rain opened his eyes to see Twilight peacefully asleep in the bed next to his. His eyes surveyed the room to see Soul leaning in a chair asleep in his armor, yet his helmet was off to reveal his facial features. He had short black hair accompanied by a somewhat light brown skin with a roundish jawline. His right eye bore a scar of what looked to be from an edge of a rugged sharp blade that ran all the way down his cheek.
Soul opened up his eyes to reveal his brown-reddish eyes that stared right back at Rain's blue eyes.
The two held the gaze in silence, not letting up on what almost seemed to be a staring contest until Soul simply reached over and slipped his helmet on. He then looked back at Rain once more before grabbing his pair of blades off the table and walking out the door of the inn they stayed at.
Rain rolled out of bed slowly before standing up and stretching. He looked over at the quest paper that laid on the table, before quickly putting on a mixed set of armor. For his head, chest, and arms he wore Wroggi armor and for his lower body he wore Rathalos faulds and leggings. He then approached Twilight to grab her shoulder and shake her awake.
"Wha-- five more minutes of sleep..." she said with a tired voice.
Rain sighed before grabbing her shoulder and dragging her out of bed. By this time Twilight was somewhat fully awake with a slight temper.
"Damnit Rain, what in Celestia's name do you want!?" she yelled in annoyance.
Rain backed off before pointing to the quest paper laying on the table. "Did you forget today we're doing an urgent quest?" he asked in calm tone.
Twilight calmed down before looking at the paper and then back at Rain, "sorry I'm just not a morning person," she said apologizing. "Well let's go," she said going into the next room to get her armor on. "Where's Soul?" she asked from the other room.
Rain stayed silent for a moment before responding, "I'm not sure he looked at me when he woke up and then simply left," he said as he grabbed his newly made Ananta Boneblade and strapped it to his back in its blue fur like sheath with a single white strip running down the middle.
"Wait did you see his face?" she asked curiously.
"Yes," he simply replied. "It's weird, its the first time to actually see the man under the armor," he said waiting for Twilight to finish getting ready.
"Hmm," was her only response as she came out in her full set of gunner Rathalos armor. "Well we better find him before we depart on the quest," she said getting ready to leave. "Oh and before we head out remind me to pick up my new bow from that blacksmith, I told them to make me a Type 64 Multibow Ⅱ , I hear they're pretty good for hunting," she said as she headed out the door.
As the two walked around the port that seemed somewhat deserted except for the dock workers and merchants, they looked around for Soul who appeared nowhere to be found.
"Where could he have gone?" Rain asked looking around carefully.
Twilight looked around and noticed at the far end of the port she could see Soul leaning on his usual pole waiting for them. Yet this time he was looking right at them.
"Found him," she said pointing over at him.
Rain looked over to see him watching them carefully. He could now see the somewhat red eyes peering through the slits in his helmet.
Both Twilight and Rain walked over to him until his voice stopped them.
"What took you two so long?" Soul asked sounding a bit agitated at being kept waiting.
Twilight frowned at him, "well if you wouldn't have ran off we wouldn't have taken so long to find you," she responded with annoyance laced in her voice. "Anyway if you'll excuse me I have to go pick up my bow from the blacksmith," she said before running off.
Rain watched her as she left and then looked back at Soul who seemed to be looking around. "So...how did you get that scar?" Rain asked curiously wanting to break the silence between them.
Soul gave him a fierce look. His eyes seemed to be burning with anger at the mention of it. "Remember your place..." he said calmly yet the underlying tone was one filled with a fiery rage.
Rain sighed and backed away slowly. "Alright.." he said before turning away to avoid his gaze.
Twilight returned holding a fully green bow with ridges along its handle, its string looked rubbery. The green quiver that seemed to hold thousands of arrows hung behind her, "well let's get going shall we?" she said walking through the gate past Soul and and Rain.
The two exchanged somewhat of a glance before following after her.
As they reached the base camp at the Misty Peaks they immediately went for the blue chest, but were met with an unfamiliar sight.
"It's empty," Twilight said sounding confused. "Why is it empty?" she asked looking up from it.
"Expect no help from the guild on higher rank quests like this, we're lucky they didn't drop us out in the middle of nowhere," Soul said looking ready to leave the base camp. "Now listen up this quest has somewhat of a back-story and its important that I tell you," he said seriously.
Twilight looked intrigued at this, yet Rain felt a shiver through his body.
"That's not good..." Rain said with the same level of seriousness as Soul.
"Indeed its not," Soul replied. "Apparently we're hunting a Nargacuga that wandered in from the jungle, two hunting parties consisting of four hunters were sent after it and never returned. This Nargacuga also seems to have a nasty temper, so when its eyes glow red and its tail spikes up the guild says to try to avoid getting hit. Especially by the tail... its known to be extremely quick" he said as he looked at the quest paper. "That's all the information from the guild so I guess we're on our own now, let's get moving," he said before turning around to leave.
Twilight looked over to Rain with a face of fear and concern while Rain looked at her and gave her a light reassuring smile.
"Don't worry it'll be alright," he said resting his hand on her shoulder, before following after Soul.
Twilight sighed and wished to herself she was back in Ponyville with her friends and not risking her life out hunting. She was scared yet excited still that she developed a love for the hunt, but she didn't want to lose her life and never see her friends again. She sighed before running to catch up with Rain.
The three of them walked around the familiar parts of the mountain, but didn't spot any signs of the monster's presence. The still quietness of the forest gave away the presence of a larger monster lurking nearby though.
Suddenly Soul stopped and looked around examining the vegetation by a nearby stream.
"What is it?" Twilight whispered to Soul.
Soul put his finger up for her to be quiet. In the silence soft rapid footsteps could be heard through the silence before they stopped. A low growl then could be heard from the dark vegetation as two yellow cat-like eyes peered through the shadows.
"Don't make any sudden movements," Soul whispered to the two as he slowly reached for his dual swords.
Rain slowly reached for his long sword, yet when Twilight flipped out her bow the shadowy creature let out a roar before darting out towards them. Luckily all three of them dodged to the sides as the creature pounced on the ground they once stood.
The creature had the body of a cougar along with a pair of wings that seemed to have claws at the tips and bladed edges of the wings. Its face resembled a bat with long pointed ears that flattened down. It had a long sleek tail with the exception of its tip which seemed to be plated over with large spiky scales. All together the creature was a jet black color with a shiny tinge to its fur from the last of the sunrays that peeked over the horizon.
For a moment everything seemed to freeze in time, the three hunters watched the monster carefully as they clenched their weapons.
The Nargacuga snarled looking at its new enemies. It rose its head up to release a cougar-like roar that would send a Great Jaggi running. Then without warning it charged straight for Twilight who had already pulled back an arrow ready to fire at it.
Yet once Twilight released the arrow, the creature quickly dodged it and leaped into the air to pounce on her.
Just as the monster was making its descent down onto Twilight, Rain tackled her out of the way. "Stay quick on your toes," he said before getting up to confront the beast that seemed more interested in Soul's quick movements that seemed to match it.
His dual blades seemed to be moving as fast as the Nargacuga seemed to be as it dashed in and out at Soul trying to hit him. Yet swings of blades clashing with the bladed parts of the wings and claws kept the beast from actually striking him.
The beast eventually gave up before backing up slightly. Yet it quickly swiped its tail across to catch Soul and send him sliding backwards. It then turned its attention over to Rain who stood ready for it with his sword pointed towards it. The beast snarled before lunging forward in a slash with its right side, yet Rain was ready and slashed at the beast before hopping backwards leaving a yellowish substance smeared into the cut he made on the beast.
The Nargacuga jumped back slightly before raising up its tail and twirling it around for a couple moments.
Soul took this time to rush the monster, but just as he did the beast whipped its tail around, but this time he expected the attack and rolled right over its tail. And got into position right behind its foreleg and began slashing away.
Twilight had just loaded up a whole batch of power coatings to her bow and began to fire quick, rapid shots at the monster.
The beast was too busy trying to fend itself off of its two bladed attackers to dodge the incoming arrows that made it flinch backwards. It raised its head to let out another ferocious roar causing both Rain and Soul to cover their ears from the intense sound. Taking this moment of freedom the Nargacuga leapt up and took flight.
Twilight tried to continue firing, but the beast had already began to fly off. "Whew that thing is fast," she couldn't help saying.
Rain and Soul chuckled in agreement, before bending down to sharpen up their bladed weapons with the ample supply of whetstones they acquired.
As soon as they were finished they headed out to track the beast down once again. The whole forest felt eerie feeling as if they were being watched and followed from the shadows. The sun was now hidden from view under the horizon so the darkness of night didn't help the situation.
"This is going to be a lot tougher now," Rain said keeping his hand on the handle of his sword.
Soul nodded keeping his dual swords drawn out and constantly looking around as he led the way.
Twilight kept her bow drawn and was bringing up the rear watching behind them for any movement.
Rustling from a nearby bush quickly caught the trio's attention. It rustled for a moment longer before a small grey deer-like animal came running out from the vegetation.
"Oh thank the stars...its just a Kelbi," Rain said relaxing.
Just as soon as the Kelbi made it halfway to the hunters the Nargacuga lunged out of the shadows and pounced on it.
The hunters flinched and jumped backwards as they watched the monster gorge itself on the helpless animal.
Rain took this time to rush in and slash away at the beast's flank. He finished his combo with the signature sweeping slash, which covered his blade in a strong, glowing white aura.
As he finished the Nargacuga flinched up from its meal. Its tail then seemed to spike up and its eyes glowed an evil shade of red. It then jumped sideways where it let out the same cougar-like roar yet it seemed to be filled with a fiery anger.
Soul dashed in quick for a couple slashes before he was met with a swipe from the beast's claws that sent him flying backwards into the marshy wetlands.
Twilight was somewhat closer and had just loaded up a clear coating that seemed to be more effective the closer she got to the beast. She was surprisingly light on her feet and evaded the beast's strikes towards her.
The Nargacuga, frustrated at its attempts feinted left as if it was going to strike again making Twilight begin to go right to avoid it.
Rain could see right through the beast's moves and rushed over to Twilight dropping his weapon.
The beast whipped its spiked tail around, just as it did that Rain pushed Twilight down for her to avoid the attack. Yet, Rain didn't have time to evade and ended up with the tail crashing into the right side of his shoulder just puncturing his armor. The tips of the spikes just grazing his skin, but he was stuck on the end of its tail.
Soul and Twilight watched as the beast ran around struggling to get Rain off of its tail. Rain was just being dragged around violently as he tried to get the spikes out of the wedges in his armor, yet the more the beast ran around the deeper they penetrated his armor.
Eventually the beast jumped up and flipped around before slamming its tail down on the ground along with Rain.
Twilight watched in horror holding back tears when she saw the beast free its tail from Rain's armor yet her partner laying still in a small pool of dirt and blood as well as seeing a good number of spikes jammed through his right shoulder. All she could do was stare with pools of tears forming in her eyes.
"Damn," Soul said as he began shuffling around his pouch frantically before pulling out a flash bomb. "Twilight close your eyes!" he yelled before tossing the small ball before it exploded into light blinding the angry Nargacuga.
Twilight quickly ran over to Rain's side and frantically shook his side, "Rain? Rain?!" she asked repeatedly.
"Not here," Soul said picking up Rain. "Grab his sword we need to get him back to base camp," he said before running back towards the direction they came.
Twilight nodded and grabbed his long sword, just as she was leaving she glanced back over at the Nargacuga who seemed to be looking right at her. She noticed a scar over its right eye that seemed fresh, it just stayed in place drooling somewhat snarling at her.
She gave it the dirtiest look before running to catch up with Soul. "This is personal now.." she muttered to herself, her voice overflowing with seething rage for the monster.
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Urgent Quest! :Assassin of the Jungle (Part 2)
Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter. Lovely Hunting (Valentine's Day Special)
Soul awoke to see both Twilight and Rain standing over him. They wore somewhat happy yet confused looks on their faces. "What do you two want." Soul demanded calmly.
"Well...um me and Rain are going to head out to do some training near the Moga village today.." Twilight said nervously.
It had been two weeks since Rain had gotten injured on a hunt and he was recovering surprisingly well. He was ready to set out and hunt once again, yet both Twilight and Soul suggested starting off with low rank smaller monsters before he got back into the high rank ones.
"Alright, well give me a moment and I'll be joining you two," Soul said getting up slowly.
"Well that's the thing you can't...at least not today," Rain said scratching the back of his head.
Soul looked at them confused and annoyed, "Well why not?" he asked.
"Today's Hearts & Hoov...er I mean Valentine's Day and the guild is having a special rule today that you can only take on quests in pairs or full parties," Twilight said looking around. "And well...there's only three of us," she said trying hard to avoid Soul's gaze.
"Alright..whatever," he said getting up slowly and leaving the room to get his armor on.
Rain and Twilight watched him walk to the room feeling sorry.
"Well you can still go on a quest...you just need to find a partner to go on with you today," Rain said. "Also the guild said no helmets only headbands and hats and other headgear that expose your face are allowed," he said before resting down a blue colored Wroggi hat on the table. "I dyed a Wroggi hat so if you want you can use it," he said trying to sound optimistic.
"So we'll be going...see you later Soul," Twilight said before walking out the door with Rain following behind her.
Once they were gone Soul poked his head through the room to look at the hat. "Well at least it matches my armor..." he said sounding irritated. As he finished putting on his armor and the hat he walked out the door. He could see many of the hunters were in pairs today, walking about some were even holding hands.
Soul shook his head slightly, "what a stupid event..." he muttered to himself before he headed out. He headed up to the questing counter that was decorated with hearts and the occasional Rathian and Rathalos together to form a heart. "Any new quests?" he asked the quest girl flatly.
The girl looked at him with a look of disapproval before nodding, "yeah there's one, The Tundra Shadow but you do know you need a hunting partner," she said with a hint of attitude.
Soul rolled his eyes, "fine..." he said before looking around. His eyes were soon met with a pair of light sapphire eyes that shared his irritated look. Those eyes belonged to a hunter on the way right of the quest counter. Her white hair hung up in a ponytail with slight bangs covering her forehead which had a matching headband. Her armor was a purplish black color with tinges of red. The armor looked lightweight and leathery smooth as well as attractive. It exposed her thighs, upper breast, and her waist. She had a huge brown rigid weapon that seemed to have two different blades folded up opposite to each other that hung off her back.
"What are you looking at?" she asked sounding just as irritated as he did.
Soul growled, "well I'm looking at you," he shot back at her.
"Whatever newbie..looks like you can't hunt without a partner," she said, her voice filled with attitude.
"It seems you have a similar problem," he said in a taunting manor.
The girl growled, "why don't you go get killed," she retorted.
The quest counter attendant looked at them before interjecting into their little squabble, "well you two could go on the quest...together," she suggested.
Two angry glares faced her before she put the quest paper on the counter before backing away slowly.
The two glares returned to each other before softening up.
"This is the quest I have to do anyway, why not bring along a newbie ," the girl said with a sly smirk. "Whatever, come with me if you want and if you need help just call me...Skyla," she said before taking the paper to walk towards the gate.
Soul looked already annoyed with her, yet he followed her. "I'm a damn high rank hunter like you let's get that straight you little brat," he said calling after her.
Skyla waved her hand back at him, "whatever you say newbie, at least give me you're name so I know what to call you," she said not turning around to face him.
"I'm older than you, you runt, but you can call me Soul.." he said catching up to her to walk beside her.
The two of them were then dropped off in front of a cave that seemed to be made of ice. Bones of many different creatures laid on the ground nearby and even a freshly killed Popo laid near the cave's opening.
"Well at least we know the monster is in there," Skyla said smirking. "You better take this," she said handing a hot drink to Soul.
Soul pushed it away before taking out his own hot drink, "I don't need handouts," he said before gulping down the warm liquid.
"Jeez...I was just trying to be nice," she said before sipping on the drink. She looked over at Soul while he drank and noticed the scar over his eye. "How did you get that scar?" she asked curiously. "It looks like it was from a blade rather than a monster," she said before focusing back on her drink.
Soul looked at her with an annoyed look, "it's none of your business," he said flatly. Before walking towards the cave entrance.
Skyla grabbed his arm, "why wouldn't it be?" she asked with a slightly annoyed tone. "You need to stop being in a shell and let people in," she said before continuing forward.
Soul watched her as she went ahead, "who does she think she is?" he said to himself before walking along with her inside the cave.
It was almost pitch black, except the only light source coming from the two entrances. It was a wide open space, the ground seemed to be littered with hundreds of old bones everywhere. The temperature was extremely colder than the outside and the wind was visibly seen carrying frost across the ground.
Soul looked around, "do you remember what monster we came to fight?" he asked as he continued on into the cave.
He heard no response.
"Skyla?" he asked again. Before he could turn around to face her she leapt onto Soul's shoulder before jumping off causing Soul to fall backwards. She had her weapon drawn that looked somewhat like a great sword yet she was able to wield it in one hand. She swung downward on what looked like a grey tube hanging from the ceiling. Within moments after her slash an entire body followed right after the tube.
She landed and rolled to the ground, "yeah its a Gigginox, you should really look up sometime," she said as she got up to face their stealthy adversary.
The monster got up, its top side was a light grey and looked as if it had two heads yet one maw had rows of teeth in them. Both tail and maw had purple markings on the top of it. The underside of its flat body revealed a full red underside along with two distinct purple markings that seemed to have their own glow.
Soul got up and quickly drew his dual swords, "shut up," he said before charging at the monster. Yet he was stopped in his tracks as the monster emitted an eerie powerful roar that echoed throughout the cave intensifying it.He was forced to cover his ears from the Gigginox's terrible roar. A couple icicles even came crashing down around them.
Skyla who seemed unaffected by the roar continued attacking the monster with the large sword. Yellow-ish sparks could be seen coming off of its blade with every swing that came into contact with the leech-like beast.
Just as the roar died down, Soul rushed in to join her in the assault on the side of the monster. But, before he could its long maw stretched out into a side swipe that sent him sliding backwards.
"Damn I need to get in close," he muttered out of frustration. The Gigginox's head seemed to be focused on him while the tail seemed to be trying to reach for Skyla, but was unable to.
She then stepped back before stabbing the Gigginox with the sword, but it began shaking before it let loose an explosion that sent the monster toppling over revealing its underside.
"Perfect," he said to himself before rushing in to slash wildly at the red underside of the monster. He then felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and looked over to see a small Giggi attached itself to him. He quickly grabbed it and threw it on the ground, there seemed to be an excess of the small leech creatures crawling around.
Before he could assess what was going on the monster got back up to its feet proceeded to spit out globs of purple at the hunters.
Skyla jumped backwards to join Soul, "don't let that stuff touch you, its poisonous," she said slightly panting. Her weapon seemed to have changed form into a longer, more blunt-ended shaped axe. "This thing is annoying to fight," she said before getting ready to rush in again.
"Wait," Soul stopped her. "Watch it carefully," he said looking at the Gigginox.
The monster stood on the otherside of the pools of poison it had spit out at them, drooling and breathing slowly as if it was exhausted already. Without warning it acrobatically leapt over them and attached itself to the nearby wall. It slightly limped as it walked along the surface of the wall, to the ceiling, before leaving through an opening in the ceiling.
Skyla looked over at Soul, "how did you know it was going to leave?" she asked seeming quite interested in his predication.
Soul chuckled, before walking away towards the next exit to the cave. "You just have to watch the monster sometimes," he said with a hint of challenge in his voice.
Skyla picked up on this and giggled slightly, "I knew that.." she said trying to sound serious.
As they exited the cave they walked side-by-side with each other in silence. The snow was slightly falling from the light gray sky.
"Everytime I come here, even if its to hunt something like that Gigginox I still think this place is beautiful," Skyla said breaking the silence.
"I can see why," Soul responded before looking up at the sky.
"So you still didn't tell me how you got that scar," she said looking over at him.
Soul was ready to look at her with the same scornful look, but he caught the soft curious gaze of her sapphire eyes and couldn't bring himself to do so. "Do you really want to know?" he asked sighing.
Skyla nodded her head slowly keeping her gaze.
Soul smiled somewhat feeling her gaze still on him. "Well it was just from my first hunt, I felt I could take any monster down. I was assigned to go on a hunt for a simple Qurupeco in the desert area. Me and my partner at that time, Len we were both ready. Yet, we weren't ready for this..." he said grimly.
"What happened?" Skyla asked as they continued walking through the snow.
"Well we were warned the area was unstable and that random monsters could appear, but we didn't care. We thought maybe a G. Jaggi would be the most that would appear. We were doing good until the worst possible thing happened..." he said shaking his head. "The dang beast called in a....Black Diablos," he said sadly as he remembered the faithful day. "We thought we could handle it until we got a taste of the power it had. I wanted to retreat, but Len didn't he was determined to kill the thing. Well he was using a Jawblade greatsword passed down from his father. And the beast caught him before he could block its attack..." he paused for a bit. "The blade was knocked out of his hand and hit me giving me the scar..I passed out after getting hit and when I woke up I was back at base camp with Felyne doctors crowding around me...when I asked where Len was they told me..." he paused again clearing his throat. "They told me he didn't make it..." he finally said letting out a heavy saddened sigh.
Skyla watched him before just turning towards him to embrace him in a tight hug.
Soul didn't speak a word and returned the hug. He sighed as they stood there in silence hugging each other. They soon met each other's gaze. Her sapphire eyes looking deep into his brown-red eyes sharing the same kind of pain and sadness. They held a stare at each other. He could feel her heartbeat while she could feel his, time seemed to stop just for the two of them.
A shrieking cry off in the distance broke the moment for them and they quickly parted.
"Oh..yeah," Skyla laughed shyly. "We got a monster to hunt still," she giggled before running off in the direction of the cry.
Soul smirked as he watched her part away from him, he felt oddly strange. He also felt somewhat...delighted as well. "This girl..." he whispered to himself before running to catch up with her.
The continued walking until they came to a large open area at the base of what appeared to be a mountain made of ice. There with the Gigginox looming over the carcass of a small Popo. The small mammoth like creature's parents were just fleeing away from the monster that had killed their calf.
The Gigginox looked up from its soon-to-be meal before raising both its tail and head high and letting out the eerie sounding roar. Its skin then turned from a pale grey to an almost black color.
Skyla quickly switched her weapon back to what appeared to be sword form. "It's in armor mode, I'll hit from the outside while you go in close and attack its side and belly," she said before rushing off.
Soul nodded before running behind her.
As the monster stretched out its elastic neck to swipe them again, both of them slid underneath to avoid it.
Skyla got up and turned around to slash the beast's maw, the clang of the metal was heard before it penetrated through its skin.
This made the Gigginox flinch upwards exposing its red underside giving Soul the perfect opportunity to demonize and slash wildly at its soft belly.
The beast didn't take to kindly to this and acrobatically jumped backwards and landed a good distance away from the two hunters. It then stuck its tail to the ground before letting out a glob that seemed to pulsate like a heart.
"What the..." Soul stared in disgust and amazement at the odd spectacle.
"That spawns Giggi's, distract it while I go take it out," Skyla said rushing towards the beast.
Soul nodded and ran ahead of her to deliver a fierce-some dance of blade slashes to the beast's head.
While the beast's focus now moved to Soul, Skyla slipped by towards the glob sack. Her weapon switched back into axe form as she raised it up in the air, before slashing downwards bursting the sack.
Soul just narrowly rolled out of the way as the Gigginox body-slammed the ground.
"Move out of the way!" Skyla said running as fast as she could. Her weapon still out in axe form dragging slightly behind her.
Soul rolled away again to distance himself further away from the monster.
The Gigginox, now focused on Skyla who was quickly approaching it. The beast began charging towards her, opening its maw wide exposing its circular rows of teeth.
Soul watched in anticipation, "what is she doing?" he muttered to himself.
She looked as if she was going to run into the monster's mouth until she slammed the axehead down on the ground propelling herself high into the air. And in one motion, mid-swing the weapon transformed back into sword form as she came down putting all her weight into the swing. The blade easily cleaved deep through the monster's hide, splitting its side.
The monster lurched up a bit, before flipping over and squirming around before laying dead on its back.
"Wow...I can't believe that worked," Skyla said smiling while trying to get the tip of the sword out the blood stained ground.
Soul shook his head smiling, "well you did hit it pretty hard, and where did you learn that from?" he asked. He walked over to her to help her pull the sword out of the ground.
He stood behind her and gripped the handle, their hands touching each others. It wasn't long till the sword came flying out of the ground and went sliding on the ground behind them. The two fell on top of each other laughing.
"Well...I," Skyla began before looking down at Soul who looked up at her. The two of them then looked to the side to see a group of Felyne workers staring at them.
"Um...nya..sorry" one of the cat workers said before returning to load up the dead Gigginox onto a cart.
Skyla got up off of Soul, "well..you didn't do so bad for a newbie," she said with a sly smile.
"Oh please," Soul said shaking his head. "I expect that kind of foolishness from Rain and Twilight," he said chuckling.
"New partners of yours?" Skyla asked.
"Yeah, but they went off alone today to train in Moga woods," he said passively.
Skyla smirked, "just train you say," she said raising her eyebrow at him.
Soul rolled his eyes, "You're too much," he said as he got up and began walking back to the base camp.
"What? I'm just saying," she said following him. "Oh wait," she said putting her hand on his shoulder to stop him.
"Wha--" Soul began to say before he was interupted with a pair of soft lips that pressed against his.
Skyla pulled away smirking, "I almost forgot to give you that," she said walking past him.
Soul smirked before turning around to follow her back.
Once they were back at the port, Soul and Skyla were met by Twilight and Rain waiting at the gate for them.
"Well it was fun hunting with you...Soul," Skyla said smiling sweetly. "I'll be seeing you around," she said before walking past Twilight and Rain and disappearing into the crowd.
"Who was that?" Twilight asked raising an eyebrow at Soul.
"Just a fellow hunter I hunted with today," he replied hiding his true feelings.
Rain shook his head smiling, "you're a bad liar," he said with a slight laugh.
"I don't have to take this from you two runts! I'm going back to the inn to rest!" Soul said storming off. While he was walking away he wore a slight smile. "It was a damn interesting hunt though," he said to himself.
Twilight and Rain followed behind him giggling and laughing as they made their way back to the inn.
Author's Note
Lol who would've thought Soul would find someone he actually opens up to. Anyway this chapter took super long to think of and I wouldn't call it one of my best. And I DON'T own this character or the pictures. The two character pictures are owned by Adi.
"So what are we doing today?" Twilight asked rubbing her eyes tiredly. She yawned raising her head up to the rising sun, "Is it that important to wake us up this early in the morning?" she asked with a slight groan.
Rain followed behind her sluggishly, "I'm so tired," he said as he slowly strapped together his new Hidden Saber.
A black blade, as dark as night. An additional blade appears when charged with spirit.
Soul led the way with his arms folded, "quiet down you two, it's something important," he said firmly. "As a result of that incident with the Nargacuga I realized that we all rely on each other too much and not enough on ourselves as an individual so I'm taking it upon myself to make us a bit more self-sufficient," he said before turning around to face them. "In addition to what we're doing today, all of us will now be responsible for our own armors and weapons as well as certain items we'll be using during quests," he said before turning back around to continue leading them. "Twilight you'll be continuing with the Nargacuga set you have right now, the armor is perfect for archers, Rain I suggest you work on the Rathalos set and find a new long sword, you don't deserve that one," he said harshly.
Both Twilight and Rain looked at Soul with a tired gaze and responded in unison, "whatever."
Soul's eye twitched, "you two get on my damn nerves at times," he muttered to himself.
The three of them soon arrived at the very familiar Moga village.
"What are we doing here?" Rain asked as he waved to the passing villagers.
"Just follow me," Soul answered before walking down a small wooden bridge that led to a small farm. "The farm keeper owes me a favor after taking care of a couple G.Jaggi for him so he offered to let me use the farm to grow some resources and I thought we all could learn a thing or two how to make some things," he said as they reached the farm.
"Oh hello Soul, how is everything with you?" a short old man wearing a yellow robe with a cane in his right hand with a farming hat over his head greeted him. "And who might your friends be?" he asked.
"Well they're more of apprentices of mine, and I think they would benefit from learning how to farm for resources," he said lightly.
"Good to know what you think of us," Twilight said sarcasm overflowing in her voice. "Anyway I don't think I can do much farming in my new armor," she said examining herself. Black layers of spiky fur covered her head and hair and rose up at the top of her head to form what looked like cat-like ears. The left side of her chest was covered in a white cloth that was plated with Nargacuga claws. Her left arm was coated in the midnight black fur of the beast and plated with three claws at her knuckles. Her mid-section and torso was covered in a net-like covering and she worse black leggings that exposed her inner thighs and pelvis.
Rain simply shook his head slowly, "well besides this lil fiasco I think it'll be a nice change from hunting all the time," he said shrugging.
Twilight looked around the farm place, "I'm curious though what do you grow here," she said looking around intrigued by the different assortments of plants, mushrooms, and insects around the farm.
"Oh many things my dear," the farm keeper answered with a frail smile. "We grow anything you give us here and with these two felyne helpers will...well help you with the farming," he said gesturing to the cats sitting down by the small fields with similar farming hats.
"Well I got a couple of resources here to get us started on a farm, a couple plants, mushrooms, insects, and lets say fertilizer," Soul said with a sly smirk.
The farm keeper chuckled, "that's good, well it seems like its time for all you to start farming," he said with a raspy voice. "If you need anything the felynes will help you, otherwise I'll see all of you later," he said with a soft smile before slowly walking off toward the village.
"Alright let's start with the crops I brought," Soul said taking out a variety of seeds from a small pouch. "I have some herb seeds, sleep herb seeds, fire herb seeds, and antidote herb seeds. Pick which ones you want to start with just be careful with some of them," he warned before giving them the pouch.
Twilight took a handful of seeds, "I've heard of plants like these, but I'll take the last row. Hey can you plant these for me?" she asked handing the bunch of seeds to one of the felynes.
"Nya sure," the cat worker said taking the seeds and running over to the last row of plowed field.
Rain sighed and took a couple herb and antidote seeds, "I'll plant these myself," he said before turning away to go plant his seeds in the middle row field.
"Don't forget your fertilizer, " Soul said tauntingly while extending a small pouch that had a couple flies buzzing around it.
Rain gave him a look before grabbing the bag and turning away.
Soul chuckled before handing the remainder of the seeds to the other felyne. "Go plant these for me," he directed the cat.
"Nya but sir..." the felyne objected, but Soul gave the worker a glare that made him stay silent.
"Now time for the mushrooms," Soul said taking out another small pouch. "Use these sparingly as I only have a few," he said cautiously.
Rain just finished planting his set of crops when he got up to see Twilight standing over him.
"What's this Rain?" she asked holding out a yellow looking mushroom.
"Um, Twi you should be careful with what you're holding," he said backing away slowly. "That's a Parashroom and it's pretty dangerous," he warned her.
"What does it do...." she asked before falling on the ground. "I...can't move..." she said as she laid motionless on the ground.
Rain sighed and shook his head, "don't worry you'll be fine the paralysis wears off in a couple minutes," he chuckled. "Anyway I'll take the Nitroshroom and Exciteshroom and let them grow in the shroom box," he said placing the two mushrooms down on some dead debris in a small quarters.
"Well that wraps up here, now let's go take care of something I wanted us to do," Soul said dusting his hands. "I think the both of you will enjoy this," he said smirking.
Twilight got up slowly, "I think I had enough farming for now," she said stretching out.
The three of them began to walk back towards the village to catch the ship back to the port.
Author's Note
Hey sorry guys I've been loaded with school work lately, plus I thought what's monster hunting without a bit of farming shenanigans lol.
"So what are we doing now Soul?" Twilight finally asked as the three of them reached back down to the port.
Soul looked back slightly and smirked, "go ask the quest counter girl that has that crowd cramming around her," he answered pointing over to the massive mob of hunters cluttering the quest counter.
Twilight looked over at Rain with worried purple eyes and then back at the desk.
Rain looked confused, but walked ahead while Twilight then followed right behind him. As the two approached the counter the crowd seemed to have grown even larger forcing the two to squeeze their way through the sea of hunters.
Just as they made it to the front they could see three more hunters in front of them talking to one of the quest receptionists.
"...and that'll be it for your registration you're team number six in the competition," she said right as she stamped down on a sheet of paper.
"Now remember you two, don't underestimate the competition," said the hunter wearing a skull mask half hidden with a hood over his head. There appeared to be a bigger skull on his left shoulder, the majority of his armor appeared to be made up of a full skeleton of a beast lined with a seemingly weathered dark red and black linen. A dark grey scythe-like longsword hung from his back that let off a deep chill that could be seen in the form of frost.
"No sweat, these losers here could never even come close to beating the Death Trio," a hunter wearing dark brown golden samurai looking armor with strips of white patterned linen while the inner linings of the armor had red stripes, his helmet was off showing off his wavy light grey hair. "After all we're probably the only hunters here who actually took down an elder dragon," he said. He had a grey bone and steel axe-like longsword it closely resembled a switchaxe. Frost also seemed to be coming off his blade as well.
There was a third hunter with them as well, he looked to be the youngest of the three and wore standard Rathian armor. The armor showing its mix between the green wyvern scales and hard steel with the exception of the helmet which revealed his spiky purple hair. He had two dual swords on his back one that was fiery red with dark black scales running down its middle and lining the edge of the blade. The other was completely covered in green scales with smaller dark green scales running along its edge. His blades seemed to give off small glints of fire sparks.
"Who are they?" Twilight asked looking at Rain.
But before he could respond the grey haired hunter turned around to face her. "Why we're the Death Trio, we're the best hunters around," he said triumphantly. He examined Twilight over before continuing, "my name is Smoke...Smoke Rodriguez what is yours my darling," he said grabbing Twilight's hand.
Rain stood in between the two of them, "Yeah sorry bub, but we're trying to get to the desk and you're in the way," he said separating Smoke from Twilight.
"Hey! You should watch it mister I bet you can't even qualify for this competition here," he said pushing Rain back.
The other two hunters came to join Smoke by his side.
Rain pushed past him and looked at the quest attendant, "excuse me miss what exactly is going on here today, is it an event quest?" he asked curiously.
Twilight came and joined Rain keeping close to him trying to ignore the gaze from Smoke.
"Well today we have a hunting competition, first place prize is a special weapon and armor set, registration is here do you want to sign up?" she asked.
"Don't even bother fool, you could never get past the Death Trio," Smoke said leaning in on Rain's shoulder. "You see my companions here Poison Fire and Reaper easily defeated every monster we ever came across. We even came upon a Kushala Daora and took it down ourselves," he said proudly. "Also we're looking for a fourth," he said winking over at Twilight.
Twilight squirmed around uncomfortably in his gaze.
Rain ignored him entirely and nodded to the desk attendant, "team of three Rain, Twilight, and..." he said before he was interrupted.
"Soul," Soul said coming from behind Rain squeezing in a position right between him and Twilight.
The quest attendant nodded and stamped down on the papers and handed them to Soul, "the competition begins in one hour and meet by the arena," she said before rushing away to tend to the other potential contestants.
"Well see you losers at the competition and you beautiful," Smoke said winking at Twilight before walking off with Poison following behind him.
Rain shook his head, "c'mon Twi let's get ready," he said before walking the other direction.
Twilight nodded before following him.
Soul looked over to see Reaper looking back at him.
The two veteran hunters held a gaze for a moment before reaper slowly extended his hand out towards Soul.
Soul looked at his hand with a questioning gaze before reaching out to complete the firm handshake.
"Soul.." Reaper said with a lighter tone than before.
Soul looked up at the face hidden by the hood and mask, "yes?" he answered.
"May the best hunter win," Reaper responded before turning away to follow after his group.
Soul held a puzzled gaze as he watched him walk away, "there's something familiar about him..." he whispered to himself.
Author's Note
I'll be doing this in separate parts, and thanks to Poisonian for letting me use his OCs "The Death Trio"
Round 1: The Twilight Blades
Twilight poked her head through the small entryway to peek into the arena to see rows upon rows filled with people chattering and waiting to watch the tournament.
"Wow this place is packed, I never seen anything like this not even back home," she said looking back at Soul and Rain who stood waiting for the start.
"They use this arena for certain events and for competitions like this," Rain said calmly. "Kinda surprised we got accepted so quickly, how many groups do you think there are?" he asked looking to Soul.
Soul casually shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know all I know is that there's four rounds," he said calmly. "Just remember you're training you two and we should blow away the competition," he said before sitting down to sharpen his dual swords.
Twilight nodded before checking her new bow, it's black feathery design was somewhat appealing. It's tips were a lighter blue color that resembled the color of moonlight through the dark jet black. Her hands grazed over it's surprisingly soft, flexible leather-like feel.
Her mind flickered back to the memories of her friends back in Ponyville, it had almost a full year since she found herself in this strange world. She missed them, but thought to herself she would miss Rain and Soul if she ever went back. Before she could ponder the thought any long a guild attendant poked her head around the corner.
"Are you lot ready?" she asked quickly that they almost didn't catch what she said.
Soul stood up straight slowly before nodding to the attendant, "yes we're ready to go," he responded.
"Alright, what's your group's name then?" she said hastily preparing to leave.
Rain looked around, "we're...um the.."he tried to think of one.
"The Twilight Blades," Twilight quickly shot out.
Before Rain or Soul could interject the attendant nodded and sprinted away.
Rain looked at Twilight as she gave a shrug to him. He smirked and shook his head, "nice name," was all he said.
The gates that were in front of them opened up into the sandy arena.
The attendant came appeared from around the corner, "listen for your name before going out and remember the rules. There will be two monsters with red or blue collars, attack the one that corresponds to your color. Your team is red, good luck and happy hunting," she said before darting away again.
Rain cracked his neck, "alright time to see what we're up against," he said confidently.
"Don't be too cocky now," Soul said before walking up to the gate.
"Oh come on I'm just ready to have some fun," Rain said before following after him
Twilight felt nervous, her knees were slightly shaking, "I wish had Rainbow Dash's confidence right about now..." she said before following after the two hunters. She was met with the light of the sun and a large crowd of roaring and cheering people as she entered.
"And on this side we have the Twilight Blades!!!" a loud voice boomed throughout the arena.
The crowd cheered as the announcer called their name, a couple whistles directed at Twilight could be heard through the roar of the crowd.
Twilight shuddered looking all around her, she felt extremely nervous and shy. She could feel her face turn hot from all the gazes and stares. Her palms began sweating rapidly, she forced herself to look down to avoid the gazes.
"And over here we have the Monstrous Maulers!!!!" the voice boomed again.
Three blademasters stepped out of the shadows, all three appeared to be wearing a type of dark greenish brown armor. It had ridge plating protecting the hunters wearing them. Two of the the hunters had a purple and yellow, spiked sword and shield. While the other held two chainsaw like blades.
"In this round the teams will be facing the Landslide Wyvern, Barroth!" the announcer shouted. "Let the round begin!" he said as gates closed behind both teams and giant door opened up to let two big dinosaur like creatures with brown rigid plating and an odd shovel head. Both looked to have packets of mud sandwiched in the ridges of their body.
"Alright be careful, don't want to get disqualified now," Soul said looking over at Twilight. "If even one of those arrows hit the other team's monster we're out so be as accurate as possible," he said drawing his swords.
"No pressure," Rain said with a silly smirk. "I'm just messing with ya, you'll do fine," he said before drawing his own sword.
Twilight sighed and nodded, she couldn't let her nerves get the best of her at a time like this.
The Barroth with the red collar went straight for them, charging with its head dragging against the ground. The team dispersed to evade the attack.
Soul had rolled to the side to only be met face to face with the rivaling team's Barroth which side swiped him with it's head sending him flying to the other side of the arena.
"Soul!" Twilight cried out as she watched him fly into a a sand dune near the arena wall. She was suddenly grabbed and pulled backwards as the red collared Barroth slammed its head down where she once stood.
"He'll be fine, but you have to pay attention here or you'll get hurt," Rain said releasing her and darting forward to slash at the monster's chest.
Twilight nodded and glanced over at the other team, they seemed to be having a bit of difficulty as well one of the hunter's were already KOed lying on the ground face down.
Twilight looked back and drew her bow back to fire a flurry of arrows and the beast causing it to flinch. Just as she was cocking back her bow, the tail of the blue collar Barroth swung against her knocking her slightly away. Twilight quickly rolled over and got back up to her feet. She observed that the tail had swung upward and hit the red collar Barroth right under its jaw causing it to stumble backwards slightly.
Rain rolled back over to Twilight as Soul was dashing in between the wyvern's legs.
"Rain, are the monsters allowed to hit each other?" Twilight asked him.
Rain looked back at Twilight, "Yes what are you planning?" he asked with a slight grin.
Twilight leaned in close to his ear and began to whisper.
"It's dangerous, and I like it," Rain said smiling. "But we'll have to stun it first then I can try," he said looking back at the Barroths.
"No problem," she said smiling. "Soul lead it over here!" she shouted.
Soul looked over for a quick glance and nodded before sheathing his swords and dodging as the Barroth swept its tail fiercely along the ground. As soon as he was clear he ran straight over to Twilight and Rain with the Barroth beginning to charge right behind him.
"I hope you two know what you're doing," Rain said sounding annoyed.
"Dodge on 1...2....3!" Twilight said as all three of them rolled out of the way of the charging Barroth as it slammed into the wall.
The wyvern fell backwards onto its side and struggled to get back up again. "Now Rain," Twilight commanded.
Rain ran up to the beast and mounted onto its back just as it stood upright again. He grabbed onto a scale as hard as he could with one hand and with the other he pulled out his carving knife and stabbed it in the back sending the beast into a horrid rage.
The Barroth shoke itself ferociously and slammed itself into the walls in an attempt to throw Rain off its back.
"Now what?" Soul asked looking to Twilight.
She looked over at Soul with a smirk, "just wait," she said looking at the blue collar Barroth which was harassing the other team by now, they were obviously exhausted.
"Ok now Rain make it slam into the other team's Barroth," Twilight said pointing over to the other Barroth.
Rain nodded slightly as the Barroth began to tire out. He took his knife out of its back and began to repeatedly stab it making it rush towards the other Barroth. It's head slammed heavily into the blue collor Barroth's side toppling it over.
"My turn," Twilight said as she ran past the other team and mounted the other Barroth and gripped onto its scales as it got back up.
The blue Barroth didn't pay attention to Twilight on its back, its main focus was now on the other Barroth which was running around frantically trying to get Rain off its back.
The blue collar Barroth charged after the other Barroth slamming into it's side. The red collar Barroth retaliated by swinging its tail, knocking it right into the blue collar Barroth's face.
"Wow this is fun, now I know why Applejack likes to do this," Twilight said happily riding the monster.
"Wow folks I've never seen anything like this in all my years, two hunters mounting the monsters and pitting them against one another, what a crazy idea," the announcer's voice boomed.
"I can't believe these two, they are absolutely insane," Soul said shaking his head as he watched.
The two Barroths clashed with each other knocking viciously into each other with their heads and tails until their movements became sluggish and began to drool heavily.
"We can get off now Rain," Twilight shouted as she hopped off the Barroth's back.
Rain jumped off and slid on the ground, the two Barroth's seemed only focused on each other. They stood still for a moment before the blue collar Barroth charged sluggishly at the other. The red collar Barroth didn't even attempt to move and fell to its side. The blue collar Barroth paused for a moment before raising its head high and smashing down on the other Barroth with all its might. The red collar Barroth cried out hoarsely before lying still on the ground.
"And red team's Barroth is down, red team wins, now take out the blue collar," the announcer said excitedly. "This has been one exciting battle folks we witnessed a team using the monsters to attack each other's monsters what a spectacle, be back for next round's battle."
The opposing team looked shamed and hung their heads low.
"Well I guess its time to take care of this fella now," Rain said walking towards the Barroth.
"Wait!" Twilight shouted.
Everyone looked back at her as she drew back her bow.
She smirked slightly as she let a single arrow fly right into the Barroth's chest. It flinched for a split second before falling right ontop of the other motionless.
"Impressive Twi," Rain said putting his arm around her.
"Well...you know it was all apart of the plan," she said smiling.
Author's Note
Hey guys sorry I've been overrun with crap for school, trying to find a job, I'm in need of a car and life has just been real hectic for me so don't expect me to be posting how I usually do, but I still will be continuing the story just be patient with me. Hopefully summer helps with life a bit anyway thanks for all your support.
Round 2: Kings of The Sea & Tyrants of Wind
"Hey folks are you ready for another round of monster hunting action," the familiar voice of the announcer boomed through the arena.
"So how are you feeling Twilight?" Rain asked as they were waiting at humongous gates to the arena.
"I'm feeling alright, just a little nervous. Do you know what monster we have to go up against now?" she asked exhaustedly.
"If you two would just quiet down and listen to the announcer you'll find out," Soul said sounding irritated.
"The next round will be against a formidable foe the one and only King of the Sea, the Lagiacrus!" the announcer said as the sounds of a cheering crowd could be heard. "The teams will be separated in this round for safety and less confusion."
"What's a Lagiacrus?" Twilight asked curiously.
"It's a beast that is said to be the King of The Sea, its vicious and has special organs that produces electricity underwater and prevent it from shocking itself," Soul answered. "It has somewhat of blue scales with spikes on it's back that glows when its filled with electricity. It's said to have a couple subspecies of it as well."
"I see sounds dangerous and intriguing," Twilight answered rubbing her chin.
"You can swim right Twi?" Rain asked.
"Uhh well..." Twilight tried to answer.
"Teams enter the arena!" the announcer interrupted.
Twilight looked back at Rain with an expression of fear and nervousness.
Rain smiled back at her, "don't worry it'll be fine," he said reassuring her.
She nodded before following Soul through the gates into what seemed like wide deep lake.
"Time to dive," Rain said running ahead and diving in.
"C'mon," Soul said before diving in as well.
Twilight looked hesitant before taking a deep breath and diving in after her friends.
Underneath the surface was surprisingly clear, open, and deep. A beast of intimidating looks of orange eyes that seemed to be locked in an eternal scowl with dark bluish green scales seemed to be waiting for them.
She tried to speak, but quickly remembered they were underwater and quickly rushed towards the surface for a breath of air.
Soon Soul and Rain resurfaced as well.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked curiously.
"It's scared out of its mind its all the way in the corner and staying there," Rain answered.
Twilight looked down through the water and sure enough the creature was all the way at the bottom curled up in the corner barely moving.
"Something isn't right, these creatures are tough things to scare," Soul pointed out. "A more powerful monster must be nearby."
Rain looked up and felt tiny droplets of water falling from the sky. The sky turned stormy and wind whipped up violently. "I think we might be caught in a huge storm," he said as he got out of the arena.
"Folks it seems that a Kushla Daora was spotted close to the city, All high ranking hunters are required to help with the hunt. The tournament will be postponed," the announcer's voiced echoed through the building.
"I guess we're hunting ourselves our first elder dragon," Rain said smiling.
"Yeah first " Soul said sarcastically as he chuckled.
Suddenly a man wearing a yellow robe came running up to them seeming very panicked.
"Please help! Please help!" the man said.
"What's wrong?" Twilight asked calmly.
"There's two of them! There's two Daoras and one is a Rusted Kushla Doara!" the man yelled.
"What's the difference between a normal Kushla Daora and a rusted one?" Twilight asked curiously.
The man looked ready to explain, but Soul cut him short. "Simple one has a rust color and we need to kill that one first," he said before the man could answer. "Where is it exactly?" Soul demanded.
"It's that way with the other one," the man said pointing to the city gate that led to the plains.
"Let's go!" Soul ordered before rushing off to the gate.
As they were leaving the Death Trio were also leaving in the same direction.
"Where do you think you're going?" Smoke asked.
"None of your business," Rain retorted.
"Would you two put aside your petty rivalry for one second!" Soul and Reaper seemed to yell in unison.
"Anyway we're going to need to cooperate there are two of them..." Soul said.
"...so we're going to need to split up and take them down as a team," Reaper finished.
The two of them looked at each other and back at the group and nodded.
They had reached the gate and slowly went through, two sets of blue eyes quickly looked towards them. One seemed to have lighter shinier scales while the other one had a deep red and brown rusted look to its scales. They seemed unpleased to have to deal with more hunters.
"Alright Reaper you and your team take the normal one, we'll take the rusted one," Soul said firmly.
Smoke looked ready to argue, but Reaper grabbed him and pulled him away.
"Are you ready Twi?" Rain asked smirking.
Twilight turned to him and returned the smirk, "isn't a hunter always ready?" she said.
Author's Note
There is more hunter goodness to come very soon. Happy Hunting!!!
