Ominous rumours – A Claymore and Monster hunter crossover

In terms of the timeframe this story begins just before the events of the Claymore anime, and about the same time as the events in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. There will be some slight indirect spoilers for Claymore, so I'd recommend watching up until at least the first awakened being battle with Mira just in case. Likewise, there will be a few people referenced that won't make much sense unless you're familiar with the characters of Claymore. Monsters will mainly be from 3U and 4U, since I don't have much experience of the monster hunter games from before these, and I'd like to get the feel of the monsters right. The monster hunter games aren't exactly story heavy, so I doubt I'll be spoiling much; but if you haven't yet played monster hunter, you should; it's damn good fun.

Chapter 1

The scene opens in the northern town of Pieta, sometime before Claire's first encounter with Raki.

Lena, number 7 of the organisation, had found herself having to deal with an entirely unexpected situation. She had recently been transferred in anticipation of an attack on the town by an awakened being; the plan being that she would lead a small ground of warriors to ambush the creature before it could strike.

Her team consisted of herself and three others; Kammy, Rise and Mai.

All of the single digit warriors of the organisation had some kind of extremely distinctive skill at which they excelled above all others, and in the case of Lena it was her ability to concentrate yoki into very specific parts of her body. Her signature attack is to harden her fingers and then cause them to extend; piercing her target. Partly because of the similarity of this attack to the methods used by strong Yoma and awakened beings Lena is sometimes nicknamed the demon hand. Lena possesses another unusual trait amongst the warriors of the organisation; she has the characteristic underlying abilities of both offensive and defensive type warriors, allowing her to regenerate.

Lena's physical appearance differs a little from most of the other warriors, being of a somewhat shorter stature than most, but with a substantial bust, and with completely white hair. Her hair is quite long, and while she wears it loose it somehow never gets in the way. She also possesses pointed ears.

Kammy was the next highest ranked after herself, and the second youngest on the team. While she seemed initially unremarkable as a warrior, her secret lay in her immense stamina reserves; she could fight continuously at levels that would rapidly exhaust other warriors. She carries the 12th rank in the organisation. In terms of appearance Kammy has the silver eyes and platinum blond hair possessed by nearly every other warrior of the organisation, although hers is extremely long; she claims to have never cut it since her 'recruitment' as a child. She typically wears her hair bundled into a pair of points, slightly resembling horns or wolf ears. She also has quite a noticeable musculature, enhanced somewhat by her tendency to wear a sleeveless variant of the normal uniform. Thanks in part to these, and her relentlessness in pursuits she's sometimes nicknamed the wolf by the other warriors.

Rise was something of an enigma to just about every other warrior in the organisation. When asked of her rank she'd simply say somewhere in the thirties, and that it had changed so many times throughout the course of her life she'd given up keeping track of it. Additionally her claymore is the only one known of to have actual damage, sporting a hole through the centre of blade. This hole means her symbol is no longer visible, and to add to this her uniform also bears no symbol. She has refused to have her blade repaired, claiming the damage actually enhances its function; and that it serves a very important secondary purpose; to provide hope. When others ask exactly how it does this she explains that she once fought something powerful enough to damage a claymore and lived, despite being such a low ranked warrior. What is known about Rise is that she's easily the longest surviving warrior never to have awakened, and that while her basic strength, speed and swordsmanship are of the sort of level one would expect a single digit to possess, her ability to release her yoki is possibly the poorest of any warrior ever to serve in the organisation. When once confronted by Ophelia she simply told her that thanks to her pitiful energy reserves she probably couldn't awaken even if she put every ounce of her will into trying.

Rise's appearance is quite striking, as she is amongst the tallest of the warriors; taller even than Gallatea, and her eyes are permanently golden. She keeps her hair in a long, spiked style.

Mai was the youngest and most inexperienced serving warrior in the organisation at this time. Ranked 46, mainly due to her abilities having never been formally tested on anything above the lowest level yoma, she was effectively being tutored by Rise to establish her true skill levels. Compared to the other warriors her sword skill was poor, and her ability to perceive her opponent's energy was still flaky beyond simply identifying yoma. Her basic speed and strength were unremarkable; but her yoki reserves were monstrous; even tapping into just enough to turn her eyes golden was enough to give her a marked increase in physical ability.

Physically Mai is very petite; quite possibly the smallest of the current warriors, and in all likelihood she has yet to finish growing. As a consequence her claymore looks ridiculously over sized for her. She wears her hair in twin tails, which come about halfway down her body, and like Lena she has noticeably pointed ears. She's sometimes referred to as the pixie by some of the other warriors, although she doesn't seem to mind this.

The ambush in question was perfectly executed, with the team managing to infiltrate the awakened beings hideout undetected. Unfortunately they discovered someone; or more likely something had beaten them to it, as the awakened being was quite dead, with a substantial portion of its body missing. Unsure of how to proceed Lena decided the best course of action would be to retrieve the corpse and await contact by an official from the organisation. In the meantime her and her team were left to ponder just what happened.

"Bit of anti-climax to all that plotting and sneaking; but I guess one dead awakened being's a good result."

"Something's badly off about this Lena; the injury pattern doesn't make sense."

"How so Kammy? Something chewed him up; no great mystery there."

"And what pray tell would consider a Yoma, let alone an awakened being, as a menu option?"

"Another bigger, meaner, and hungrier Yoma?"

"Wrong answer Mai, but I'll forgive you since you're the rookie here. Cannibalism amongst Yoma is almost unheard off; Yoma flesh apparently tastes utterly disgusting to them. The only reason it would happen would be if the diner in question was on the verge of dying of starvation; and in that sort of state victory against any strong yoma, let alone an awakened being, would be impossible."

"Besides, the hideout's pretty close to Pieta; the mystery diner would've had ample opportunities to snack on people, cattle or goods moving into or out of the city; and the only disappearances we've heard of have involved people straying far out into the wilderness."

"...Interesting; the wound patterns are kind of odd, but Mai is actually onto something. I think something did decide to make a meal out of this guy, but the damage pattern doesn't really match up with a yoma attack. Yoma always feed by tearing their victims open and feeding on the internal organs, but they tend to leave the body mostly intact. By contrast this guy's had his limbs and part of his torso scoffed, but his internal organs haven't been singled out."

"Bleagh…do you really have to go into that much detail Rise? Brings back some pretty bad memories you know."

"Bear with it Mai; we're all in the same boat in that regard."

"If you're done with your little episode of squeamishness I'll continue. The actual fatal injury appears to be a pair of puncture wounds to the head and neck; would've killed anything short of the most extreme regenerator pretty much instantly. The remains of the torso do contain a couple of other odd injuries though. This one would match up with a barbed flail; if said flail was about the size of a human torso; and these look a bit like classical mountain lion claw marks, only much bigger."

"How come they're still there? Don't yoma normally regenerate anything short of a severed limb or a severe body puncture pretty quickly?"

"My best guess is it was a very brief fight. Either that or lunch here was particularly crap at regenerating. Anyway, the vast majority of the damage was posthumous and caused by a pretty powerful set jaws, with exceedingly sharp teeth. The bones have been bitten through with very little splintering, and again that's not something you see from Yoma. Their jaws are designed simply for eating for the most part, whilst the owner of whatever did this has jaws that have been honed into weapons."

"How come you know so much about this stuff Rise?"

"My home village used to be somewhere around here. There are some pretty dangerous creatures in the snowy wilds, so learning as much as we could about them at an early age was pretty much vital to survival."

"What happened to it…sorry, I think we already know…"

"The yoma were a problem, but one the town ultimately overcame with a little help from the organisation. The town was abandoned after people realised the snow layers high up on the nearby mountains had destabilised. Sometime after that the town got buried under an avalanche."

"Why'd you have to be a spoilsport and explain it all so clearly? I was hoping you'd leave me some wriggle room to imply you were secretly banging Dae."

"Urrrgh, Kammy! Rise, please, go back to the autopsy details; that was one thing I do not want to picture."

"To be perfectly honest with you I think he pleasures himself with the laboratory specimens; I've seen how excited he gets whenever he gets something new to work with, so I think I'm too alive to be within his strike zone anyway."

Absolute silence holds sway for a few seconds.

"What?"

Lena, Kammy and Mai all respond simultaneously.

"Too plausible…"

"Have we got any jobs coming up Lena?"

"No Kammy; given how things turned out the organisation will want to examine the remains in detail so we'll have to wait for further contact. Rubel's pretty swift, but he'll still take at least a day to get here."

"Good; I say we drink the nearest pub dry. I've got images of Dae going at a yoma corpse like a dog missing its master's leg in my head, and I want rid of them. Badly."

"Not a bad idea Kammy. It's been some time since I last had an opportunity to get hammered; as your current captain I approve of this course of action. How about you two?"

"Mmm…I've never had alcohol before to tell the truth…and…aren't I a bit young?"

"This is Pieta Mai; if you can see over the counter, order and pay, they'll serve you. If there's one thing people living freezing climates appreciate its good booze, and they're not inclined to keep others from it. What about you Rise?"

"I don't drink myself, but a trip to the pub sounds like a good idea all the same. I might be able to pick up some clues regarding our mystery creature from the locals."

"Don't tell me you're a straight edge practitioner?"

"Good heavens no! Alcohol just isn't my thing; I prefer substances with a more; how best to say this; psychedelic effect. There's a variety of cave fungus in this area that's potent enough to even effect Yoma if you're interested."

"I'm not sure what's more worrying now; this job or your past Rise."

Rise gives Kammy an evil grin.

"Let's just say Mother Nature's tools can be a scarier weapon than any blade in the right hands."

"We might as well head out then. Lina, anything we need to do with the body storage wise?"

"We can leave it here. This building's organisation property, plus is got to be minus ten at the very most in here so it'll be just fine."

The four warriors make their way out in search of a nearby drinking establishment.

In the meantime, somewhere in the wilds north of Pieta a large Yoma sprints across the snow at high speed, with a look of abject terror in his eyes.

"That thing can't have been real…it didn't even have an aura, but it took out Sully in seconds! It…started eating him as well; and nothing feeds on Yoma…oh shit…Rigardo's probably gonna kill me for this…but they need to know…yeah, Isley's pretty smart, maybe he'll know something…"

The yoma continues to sprint across the snow and after another minute the unyielding white finally gives way to forest. The yoma slows down a little once he makes it to the tree line, and a voice calls out to him.

"Bloody hell, that was quick! I take it Sully's figured out a corker of an ambush plan then."

"We're not safe here, we need to get underground."

"Whoa, what're you yapping on about?"

"Sully's dead; I've no idea what killed him either, but it started eating him…"

"This had better be a joke."

"I wish it was…"

"So what's gonna make being underground safer?"

"It struck from the air; completely got the drop on us. It can't do that if we're underground."

"The caves ain't far, but you know a certain silver eyed lion king is gonna want an explanation, and he ain't exactly nice to anyone who comes up short."

"I think I've got a better chance with him than that thing. Hell, at least he won't eat me."

"You really ain't joking are ya, we'll talk on the way…"

The two yoma make their way through the forest at a brisk pace.

"…come to think of it we've had a few grunts go missing over the last few weeks. Nobody who'd be missed mind; but Sully pulled some serious weight. If something could take him, that's gonna get the attention of the higher ups."

They approach a cave entrance.

"Safe! Right then, what did it look like?"

"If anything, a little bit like huge snow cat. Pristine white fur, but a really long tail with spikes at the end. It had spikes all over its forearms as well, and what looked like wings attached to them. Weird thing was it had scales as well as fur, all over its head and down its back; and as for the head there's one thing I'll never forget when I saw it's mouth…"

"…enormous amber tusks?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess? Wait a minute, where're you running off to? I hadn't fin-"

The remaining yoma runs deep into cave.

"Poor bastard; at least it was quick; he didn't even get to scream. Lucky for me he was big bugger as well; that things gonna be full once it's done with him so I should be in the clear. Now I gotta worry about how Rigardo's gonna take this…actually knowing him it'll brighten his mood; he always seems to perk up when he thinks he's gonna get the chance to lock horns with something that can put up a good fight."

Back in Pieta…

"Hey, I know it isn't the nearest, but there's a drinking den in this part of town called The Flag that'll be the best place for us to go. The landlord's pretty cool about warriors like us so we won't get too many gawkers in there."

"That'll be nice; I know we're pretty far from normal, but those looks we get; sometimes it gets to me."

"You'll learn to phase them out soon Mai; and Rise, is there any other reason why we should be going to this particular establishment?"

"You can buy a lot more than just food and drink there Lena. The Flag's a meeting place for fighters, merchants, mercenaries, and characters nearly a colourful as us. If anything strange has been going on, someone there probably knows something about it."

"Sounds like a nice change of scenery, but don't those sort of establishments normally get shut down?"

"Only the ones that cause trouble Kammy; and Flag keeps its trouble carefully contained…and available for a pretty reasonable price for that matter. While the door won't open to just anyone, I happen to know the passcode to gain entry."

The four of them make their way through the snowy streets of Pieta. It doesn't take them long to reach an inconspicuous alleyway.

"Down here…"

The alleyway leads to a small covered courtyard; and at the other side is an extremely robust looking metal door. There's no identifying placards or signs by it, just a tattered black flag.

"This is it."

Rise knocks on the door. There's no response.

"Oi! Gillespie! Get off your fat arse and answer the fucking door! And get your hand out of your trousers while you're at it! You're paid to be security, not spend all day playing pocket snooker!"

A letterbox sized panel slides open.

"Well I'll be buggered; you got the passcode spot on. How can I help you four lovely ladies today?"

Rise gazes through the opening.

"Ah, that kind of business. Been a while Rise, nice to see you again."

There's the sound of several bolts sliding back, followed by the sound of locks turning.

"Sorry to make you wait. You know how serious the boss is about security with those bloody yoma trying to snack on the unwary; and speaking of which you might like some of the new trophies we've got on display."

There's one last click and door slides open. The four of them raise an eyebrow at just how thick it is.

"There we go; right, I know you know the rules Rise, but I'll need to make them clear to your companions. Firstly; don't start any trouble in the flag; but if trouble comes to you you're perfectly entitled to finish it. Secondly; any business dealings are to be made with the consent of all parties involved. If anyone calls out that they're being forced into something under duress, well break it up and make sure the threatened party receives protection. Lastly; what happens in the flag, stays in the flag. Rise has got special dispensation to bring newcomers to the flag, but it'd be helpful to everyone here if you kept as quiet as possible about this place if you know what I mean."

The four of them make their way through the entrance, which leads to a poorly lit set of stone stairs heading down. As they descend they feel the temperature steadily increase, and their senses are bombarded by a fantastic mix of barely identifiable aromas; they can make out the sounds of noisy conversation, laughter, music, and the occasional sound of breaking glass; which steadily increase in volume as they progress.

"How far down does this go Rise? Just what exactly is this place?"

"One of the last bastions of real human spirit Kammy; a gathering place for the unbroken of this land. The people here aren't going to cower before any king, god or monster; they've decided that their fate is their own to make."

On a side note although most of my stories haven't been updated for a long time, I haven't abandoned them. Fingers crossed I'll have another chapter for one of my Xenoblade stories ready soon.