Monster Hunter Freedom Unite Fan Fiction
By [Mac] Smith N' [Dan] Spicy
[Mac]
I woke up to the chirping of a small bird, it was the same one that has shown up upon my window sill for the last few years now, at the break of dawn, a red bird with a blue specked tail, fed it a honey worm, it let out a soft chirp and flew off. I grabbed my training armor, and slipped it on, went outside and met up with a friend of mine, Dan. "Today" I said, "will be the day we become fully fledged hunters!"
[Dan]
"Hey Mac, you ready for today? I sure am excited to get started. I got a new Hunters Bow and Armor!" I said, stepping out of my house. Mac was already walking to the training hall when I met up with him. Living in Pokke, you know everyone within a few days, or at least if you went outside once or twice. Mac lived here for years, knows everyone, and knows everything about the village; he was a good friend and a great town's person.
[Mac]
With every step towards the hall, every heart beat seemed an eternity apart, I was so nervous you could hear a rattling sound if you listened closely. My thoughts raced, "What is this Instructor like? What about the Village Elders' quests, I heard no one returns from her quests. What about that cat? No one knows, and frankly, I don't want to know." Dan and I approached the threshold; we looked into each other's eyes, took a deep breath, opened the doors and walked in.
[Dan]
Inside the training hall, it smelled of sweat, and had a penetrating sense of fear and intimidation within it. The room was dark for having windows open, little light shone through. "GOOD MORNING STUDENTS!" The Instructors voice boomed. "Today, you two unlucky punks are going on a hunt, a basic Giaprey killing quest. They have been ravaging the local Popo and Kelbi packs. 10 ought to be enough to reduce the 'slaughter rates'" he took a deep breath "try not to bleed too much, they go wild near the scent of blood" he chuckled. Mac look worried. "Now, GET TO WORK SLACKASSES!" I tried to start a few conversations, such as "what are you looking forward to doing when we become fully fledged hunters?" or "Do you really think The Instructor is such a hard ass, or is he a really soft man?" All I could get was a murmur and a chuckle, Mac had this real somber look on his face, so I finally asked, "Why the Greatsword, why not a sword and shield?"
[Mac]
When he asked that, I felt some worry had ebbed away. I replied with "It is a fearsome weapon, the width of the blade allowed for a large shield, without having to switch to arms, it heavy blade also allows me to deliver lethal blows at the sake of my speed I returned the question, "why the bow? It seems to have very little to no pure power whatsoever." Talking seemed to bring me away from my fear, and I felt somewhat confident in this, our first mission.
[Dan]
"The Bow may not seem it, but it has some serious power behind it, it has the capability of sending a barrage of arrows my prey's way. But what's better is its range, I can pierce a Kelbi hide anywhere from 6 meters to 100 meters, its range is so very versatile. Yes the Bowguns are fancy, but nothing compares to the sending an arrow right into the monster's critical areas." I reply with a smile as we get to our Base camp. Looking at the sun's position, I say "we should get camp set up here. What do you say?"
[Mac]
"A yup" I casually say. "Hey watch this!" I plucked a single blade of grass, and made a grass whistle, I blew a most ominous tone, that reverberated around the area for a considerable time, out of nowhere a few felines popped up and I bargained a single Sushi-Fish for their help setting up camp, they agreed and we set up in no time, I split the fish evenly into 3 pieces for them, they slinked off. That night, I heard rustling outside; grabbing my Greatsword I quietly exited the tent and went to the source of the noise, I made it to a pine tree when suddenly a pair of felines stumbled out of a nearby tree, I shouted for Dan to wake up and come help, both cats were wounded quite harshly, one was supporting the other, the one carrying the other had a crude Greatsword in his hand, and the other had what seemed to be a sling shot and some ammo…
[Dan]
Mac grabbed a blade of grass franticly attempting to make a grass whistle until he managed to blow 3 tones, one low one high and one that seemed to make my ears tickle. The feline medics showed up and I gave them orders to rush to Pokke and talk to the Village Elder. They dutifully accepted and sped off, worry filled the both of us. I plead that they survive. I refrained from asking what had happened until morning. "Okay, I'll bite, what the hell happened last night?" He simply shrugged. I think his mind was elsewhere.
[Mac]
Thinking about the hunt, I scouted ahead, I knew the land better than Dan, after a few hours I came across a lot of tracks, Popo, Kelbi, and lots of Giaprey all leading North of Base Camp. I called for Dan, time to get ready, we trekked down a path to a clearing, when suddenly I see a pack of Giaprey, Eleven I counted, and I looked Dan in the eyes, nodded and ran down.
[Dan]
Attempting to get my Bow out and run at a decent pace, I said aloud, "One is huge compared to the others!" He looked and said "Well, what do ya' know, it really is!" I said to stop about Fifty meters away from the pack. "Alright, here's the plan, you go for the giant one and separate him from the smaller ones, and I'll pick off the smaller ones." The pack ran off high into the mountains, and after a few hours of climbing, we were ready. I had my 30 power coatings, my Battle Armor, and Hunters Bow I, and Mac with his Chainmail and Bone Sword+
[Mac]
Running extremely close to the pack, I chucked a rock at the large one, it looked at me, so I punched it, and ran off, that definitely got its attention, getting my Greatsword, I stood as intimidating as possible, as one if the smaller Giaprey jumped at me, I heard a whistling sound, and then the Giaprey was on the ground. It was less than a meter away from making my neck its meal. I knew it was Dan. Slapping the large Giaprey once more, I sheathed my Greatsword and ran into an extremely cold cavern.
[Dan]
While Mac wasn't looking I slipped a Hot Drink into his pocket, I knew he would need it. As I sent a dozen or so arrows into the pack, all saw me, and ran towards me, I am SO grateful that I had scatter arrows, loading my arrows I take aim, and fire!
[Mac]
"F**k it's cold" my few thoughts, as I felt my muscles tighten and stiffen in the cold, when I feel something in my back pocket, it was a red drink, I thought "eh, what's the worst that can happen?" Drank it all in one big gulp, a warmth filled my whole body. "Whatever that was, I need more." When I heard a screeching sound, and saw the Giaprey running, so I ran towards a rock face just low enough for me to jump and climb unto it, banging my sword to make noise, I chucked another rock at it, and ran off. I just hoped Dan was alright.
[Dan]
The damned beasts were relentless, running and blindly firing, I had no time to take an aimed shot, and they seemed to be extremely aggravated without their leader. "Fwit." 8 left. "Scraw!" 7 left. As I blindly fired.
[Mac]
I ran into an opening with a fallen log and bones scattered everywhere, I had nowhere else to run, I carefully unsheathed my Greatsword and took a long, deep breath… Suddenly he appeared, right in front of me, a death stare between us, feeling brave I took the first swing, I grazed his thigh, he bit back at my arm, and swiped at my shoulder with his sharp claws deep into my right shoulder, I slashed in a wide arc, he dodged. He lunged at my neck and I blocked with my blade, the bone blade's hilt had given in. His fangs were stuck! He tried to free himself, and it became a tug of war. I shouted, hoping Dan could hear me. "Dan, GET YOUR ASS HERE! I NEED YOUR HELP!"
[Dan]
Finishing off the last of the Giaprey was quite difficult, but when the last one died, I heard Mac hollering for help. Running as fast as I could, I came to the cavern, and saw the two locked in a battle for their lives. I took out my bow, took a deep breath, held it, and let an arrow off the nock, and the arrow flew true and went straight into the large Giaprey's neck. But the damned beast didn't die.
[Mac]
Locked in each other's eyes, I heard Dan approach, and saw him fire, and the Giaprey flinched and turned his way. I saw why, an arrow stuck out of the beast's neck. Seizing the moment, I took my blade and slapped the arrow with the flat of my blade with all my force, sending the arrow through its neck, spraying the ground with its blood.
[Dan]
I jumped down, and walked over to Mac, handing him a bag of Giaprey carvings, his fair share. I accidentally put my hand on the wound on his shoulder, he didn't flinch whatsoever, I think he was numb with adrenaline, "Let's go." He nodded, and said "We have to take this to The Instructor; maybe he knows why this beast is so much larger than the others." And he hoisted the carcass on his shoulders. Walking back home was tedious, but well worth it. With all the parts we had. I could make a Gunners set.
[Mac]
He said aloud something about gunners set; I replied "pff, yeah right, Bowguns are for sissies, Bows are got the champs." As I attempted to pull off a heroic pose, I toppled over with the extra weight of the Giaprey. All Dan did was look at me inquisitively. AS we neared the village, The Instructor came to greet us, but when he sat the giant Giaprey, all he could do was look at us in pure shock and managed to stammer out " You two ? But how?" I burst out "Wait a second, a gunners set allows you to use Bows too." The Instructor and Dan looked at me, and then resumed their conversation. I let the carcass drop and said "Why is this beast so much larger than the rest?"
[Dan]
The Instructor looked at us and said "You fools! That isn't a regular Giaprey, that there, is the Giadrome but that was probably sheer luck. I hope you two are ready to kill another, or attempt to. To the arena! NOW!" So Mac and I strolled to the arena, The Instructor gave us some of the arena equipment, not our own, each set different, Mac the Greatsword, I, the Bow. Not even five minutes had passed and we walked out, dragging a carcass so riddled with slash marks and arrow heads, the only identifiable features were the skull and teeth. The Instructor begrudgingly handed us our licenses.
[Mac]
That evening, before I parted with Dan, I asked him a question. "Would you like to live with me? I can take my earnings from the arena and add an expansion, add a sparring room" he said he'd get back to me on that one. Then we parted. Before I sat down at my table to eat my meal, I heard a knocking; it was the pair of cats Dan and I had seen, they were fully recovered. The larger one said "we owe you and the other one our lives, we would be honored to serve by your side, if you could point out where the other lives, my friend would like to ask the same question I am about to. Can we live with you guys?" I happily accepted, and the smaller one went to Dan's house. I asked him his name, "I don't have one sir" I pondered for a few minutes. "Scorpion! That shall be your name from now on." He accepted, and I gave my scraps to him, and went to a well deserved sleep.
[Dan]
I greeted my new comrade and immediately started to train him in ranged combat. He was a remarkable feline sharpshooter. I named him Kono, I told him "We will call upon you for help on urgent quests, until then, you two could do some sparring, or train like crazy, in fact, I'll have Mac pull some strings, maybe he can have you two train under The Instructor's commands." A few weeks later we got our first quest from the Village Elder, Mac opened it with trembling hands, and I was so excited. "The two of you shall do the Elder's quest today." Suddenly confusion came across his face. "HERB GATHERING? OF ALL THE THINGS WE ARE CAPABLE OF, HERB GATHERING?" As we left I couldn't shake this Sinking Feeling.
[Mac]
I was so bummed out, but, a quest was better than no quest at all. We set out, gathering was easy, all we needed were 5 bundles of 10 mountain herb plants, they grew in a few places, but I knew where. Strangely enough, there were no monsters out that day, a calm washed over, and for some reason I could only feel on edge. A Popo here and there, but not Giaprey. Dan kept saying that he saw large wyverns flying around the mountain, and claw marks in the deep rocks. I said "Relax Dan, there are no wyverns here, we just need a few more plants, and we're done, and lookit I got a celebratory item" I pulled out my Farcaster. "When we're done, we can save a lot of walking time, just tossing this down, and poof, home." I shouted "Look there it is! The last few plants we need" I picked them and then suddenly we heard a low rumbling noise, and a crash, a zone away (that's the term the Village Elder used) so we ran towards it, only to find the creature of fears. The Tigrex.
END CHAPTER 1