So, its been a while. If you are one of my old readers im sorry, this isnt 39 clues. But, if i do still have some of my old loyal readers, if you want me to start writing those again send me a PM or leave a review on one of my stories. In the mean time, i hope anyone here for some monster hunter stories enjoys. All of these characters are based off of my closest friends and my lovely boyfriend who introduced me to the game. Enjoy!

Grappling her way to the top of the largest tree in the Ancient Forest, Elaine groaned.

"This had better be worth my time," she said to herself. Her Palico, PAC, climbed beside her. Pac's purple and black fur was shiny from a monster's blood and viscera that Elaine had taken down only a half hour earlier. Elaine promised her she'd get her cleaned as soon as possible, but that was before Elaine was told about the Pukei Pukei in the area.

"Just one more of those fucker's bones and I can get my hammer upgraded," she said with determination.

She had been working towards getting this particular upgrade for almost a month. Finally, she reached a good height in the tree to see where the infernal aerial enemy was. Scanning the area, she caught a glimpse of it flying below. It was just gliding around lazily, like it hadn't a worry in the world. That is, until a certain high rank monster hunter brings her hammer down on its skull from 10 stories up. Taking a few steps back, she drew her hammer and took off at full sprint and leaped. Right on target.

She swung her arms forward, hammer in hand, as hard as she could manage. This caused her to begin spinning, faster and faster, until the blunt end of her hammer hit the spine of the Pukei Pukei. It roared and spat poison as they both went down together. She stood on its back and shot her grappling hook around its feet in case she fell off. Then she began to wail on the beast with her weapon, trying to bring it down. It snapped and snarled at her as she did so until it decided to fly through branches of the great tree. Elaine could dodge them for the most part, but was caught off guard as the monster flipped upside down and she fell, hitting a branch. The two became entangled as the Pukei Pukei tried to free itself from the grapple and as Elaine fought to get back on top. The Pukei Pukei pulled hard enough to unlatch the grapple hook from Elaine's wrist right as Elaine finally got on top of the branch they were stuck to. The force of the action caused the tree to shake and Elaine flailed wildly to get a holding. Her foot flew upwards and her grappling hook latched shut around it. Elaine, not noticing, got back up just as the monster took another big pull, flying off. Elaine had no time to react as she followed the line of her grappling hook to her ankle. Suddenly she was jerked off of her feet and flung into the air by the leg of the Pukei Pukei, hitting her head on the way down. She groaned and tried to grab the grapple to open it, but it was snapped shut.

Bishop hopped off the ship, his Palico Bitsy beside him. He took a deep breath. "Fresh air, that's what that is, Bitsy. New world, new start, new monsters, and new friends! Can you believe that we might get to hunt alongside some of the most skilled hunters in their craft? What could we learn from them? I can't wait to make friends and form a hunting party and learn the strategies these talented people...is that a person hanging upside down from that Pukei Pukei?"

Bishop watched as a woman dangled freely from her ankle, flailing and yelling out some very colorful choice words.

"Hmph. That is an...interesting tactic! Freeing up both of your hands to do more damage perhaps? Let's go watch!" Bishop said excitedly as he took off after them.

"I SWEAR TO ALL THAT IS HOLY! IF I DIE BY A BIRD WHOSE NAME SOUNDS LIKE PUKE, I AM GONNA COME BACK AND HAUNT EVERYONE ON THIS ISLAND!" Elaine shrieked, trying to free herself once more. She really didn't want to have to do this, but this damn reptile was leaving her no choice! Sighing, she drew her skinning knife and cut the line, falling into the brush. Landing with a thud, she groaned and looked up into a pair of big, curious hazel brown eyes. This guy was probably only a little older than she was, with short strawberry blonde hair and light caramel skin.

"The fuck are you looking at?" She snapped, sitting up and rubbing her head.

"Oh! Hi, I'm Bishop. I saw you over head and just had to learn what strategy that was?"

"It's called none of your business," she threw back at him, picking dirt and foliage from her hair, "Hey, you got a grappling hook?"

"Well yeah why- hey!" Bishop exclaimed as Elaine swiftly grabbed it from him and dashed away.

"I'll bring it back!" she called over her shoulder as she ran after the Pukei Pukei.

Bishop took off after her, hot on her heels. Not only because she had his grappling hook, but because he wanted to see where this went. She was fast, which was impressive since her hammer was very large and likely weighed a ton. Agile as a Congalala, she clambered up a tree to get to a higher vantage point. Bishop was finding it difficult to keep up, but he stuck to his tracking training and managed.

"Why are you following me? I said I'd bring it back."

"Because I want to see what happens! This is cool!"

Elaine rolled her eyes. She worked better alone, so she didn't want to deal with the responsibility of keeping this guy alive. She could tell by his gear he was a low rank hunter, and shouldn't be within 100 feet of a Pukei Pukei, let alone following one. Well, if he dies she can keep the hook at least.

Bishop was still behind her, now admiring her gear. Was that Odogaron armor? And her Palico was wearing the same. Those things were ferocious. Fast and dangerous, he'd seen one once when he was a kid. The monster hunters in his village had to band together to finally down the beast. Yet, Bishop had the feeling this girl was a bit of a loner which means she had to have killed quite a few of them, by herself. She must be a high rank hunter! Man, if he could convince her to take him on higher level missions he'd be that rank in no time! Right now he was just a low rank, but he was pretty high up there. He may be a nice guy, but when he was in hunter mode he was lethal. He recalled his friends Rogal and Levin back in Astera.

The three of them had grown up together and were currently the top three low level hunters. They just needed to make an impression, kill something big, but they didn't have access to high level missions. If he could tell them he convinced this girl to take them, then he'd get a good few drinks from them at least. He was determined now. He had to get this girl to join up with them! Speaking of the girl...where did she go? Bishop had spent so much time getting excited he lost track of her.

He climbed a tree and gazed around. That's when he saw her, hanging onto the Pukei Pukei's tail! From a distance, he observed the battle.

Elaine climbed up the spiney back of her prey, making her way to the head. She got to the nape of its neck and it tried to buck her off, bad move. It launched her in the air and she came down right on the nape with her knife. She let out an almost ungodly war cry and began to impale the monster with her knife over and over. They crashed into the ground, tossing her off of the monster, but she rolled and landed on her feet. The great bird started to limp away, but she wasn't having it. She took off after it, drawing her hammer again.

"Nothing personal, but I. Really. NEED. YOUR. BONES!" She got up to speed and jumped, hammer over head, and mashed it into the Pukei Pukei's head, crushing it. The monster twitched a few times before finally dying. Panting, Elaine grinned down at her prey. Finally. FINALLY she would upgrade her hammer to the Blooming Hammer III. It wouldn't match her armor set, but the stats fit her much better than that of the Odogaron.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Bishop yelled as he ran up to them. "You were all AAARRRRGGGG and RRRRRAAAAAA then you were all HYAH, TAKE THAT and it was all then BOOM and CRASH and SCWAAAAHHHH and ahh that was so friggin' cool! You're amazing!"

Elaine shoved the grapple into his hands, hitting him in the chest, "Glad you got your entertainment, now get the fuck back to Astera before you get eaten by a Great Girros or something."

"Ha, that's funny! Cause Girros are total pushovers. Hey, so you're high rank, right?"

"Why?"

"Well, you see, my friends and I are trying to get promoted and we happen to be-"

She turned and put her hand over his mouth, "No." Then she turned around and kept collecting the pieces she needed and other from the monster, so she could sell any surplus material.

"-the top three low rank hunters," Bishop instantly continued the moment her hand left his mouth, "So if you could take us on high rank missions, we could get promoted!"

"I said no, are you deaf?"

"Nope, just persistent. Come on, please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"With-"

"NO. Now fuck off, dude."

Bishop sighed and tried to put on his grappling hook. Then he grinned wickedly.

"Well then, repay me for breaking my equipment."

"What? It isn't-" She started turning her had to see, and sure enough, the clasp was broken. She groaned and reached for her zenny bag, but Bishop held up his hand in a stop gesture.

"Nope. I don't want money."

Elaine glared. This guy was going to say he wanted her to take them on missions to repay him, wasn't he?

"Let me guess, I take you on a few high rank missions and we're square?"

"Yep! Me and my friends."

She looked him in the eyes, trying to stare him down, but he looked right back with the dumbest, cockiest grin on his face. She was trapped.

"If any of you die, I'm not responsible and I'm looting your corpses." She said monotone, walking past him.

With a leap and a fist pump, Bishop celebrated his minor victory, "Yes! I can't wait to tell the guys!"

This was going to be the longest few missions of her life, Elaine could already tell. The two walked back to Astera, Bishop talking the whole way and Elaine rubbing her temples from the forming headache. There goes the excitement over her victory.