A whale of a love story
By Demonardvark
*do not own monster hunter*
Chapter 1: Still learning
Alexander slowly walked down the staircase leading into the belly of the tavern. It was rather crowded on this day with the tables full of new and veteran hunters alike. The smell of grilled meat and alcohol was pungent in the room. The various rambles of conversations and the occasional drunken ode echoed abound. Alexander looked around, the owner of an item shop was busy pitching discounts and bargains, the guild receptionists were busy giving missions, and a cavalcade of hunters stood in front of the quest board looking for work.
"Alexander!" a rather gruff voice cried. Alexander turned in time to see his old friend Shade waddle up with a big smile across his bearded face. "How the hell are you? You coming or leaving?"
"Just got back" Alexander replied stretching his arms and yawning.
"Fun hunt I see" Shade sarcastically remarked.
"Yeah, four Great Jaggi's in a row" Alexander sighed "Doesn't matter if you are an expert hunter in Pokke Village no, you are in a new area and your previous guild exploits don't count"
"Trying to raise your place in the guild quickly? Shade questioned.
"Obviously, I heard stories about powerful monsters that drew me here. The second I get here all my credentials are removed and they award me a guild rank of Hr 1. Have to be at least 30 to fight anything fun"
"Whatcha at now?" Shade asked
"Sixteen" Alexander grimaced.
"SIXTEEN?" Shade bellowed his many chins jiggling in excitement. "You've only been here a few weeks and you've come this far?"
"I don't have time to mess around" Alexander said plainly.
"Shoot" Shade exclaimed with a toothy grin "You must been working with some hardcore hunters"
"Nope"
"WHAT!"
"Do the quests by myself, people get in the way"
"It would go a lot faster if you worked with others" Shade spoke with hit first subtle hints of intelligence.
"If they could keep up" Alexander said plainly.
"Bah, you need people to keep ya happy" Shade bellowed loudly drumming on his stomach "Look around you people drinking, dancing, having a good damn time" Alexander just raised his eyebrow "Bah, party pooper, you'll never find anyone at this rate.
"Shade" Alexander said softly with a smile "I'm not anti social I'm just in a hurry. I'm not as young as I used to be. I spent most of my prime in Pokke, I'm starting to slow down. If I don't take on the prize monsters now, soon I'll run out of time"
"YER IN YOUR MID TWENTIES!" Shade shouted agitated "Look at ya, still young, still fit and strong, still sexy" Shade stopped suddenly, his wide cow like eyes wide in bewilderment. Alexander stood there with a blank look on his face and there was a nice quiet awkward moment that lasted a minute.
"….. Lonely out there in the wilderness eh?" Alexander asked with an eyebrow raised.
"Err, I uh….." Shade was looking around for the words.
"So, impending sexual frustrations aside, how ya been?" Alexander changed the subject. Shade coughed to clear his throat.
"I been training up an apprentice" He announced proudly
"Oh god, the poor child" Alexander covered his mouth in shock
"SHADDUP" Shade bellowed "He's coming along"
"Well, how good of a hunter is he" Shade's face twisted at the question. "Well, how is your apprentice doing?"
"Well….. He's still learning" Shade said slowly.
"He sucks doesn't he" Alexander said bluntly.
"Not quite" Shade said abruptly "He is … different".
"Different how?"
"That's hard to explain" Shade said scratching his beard "He kinda needs to be experienced. Want to go on a quest with him?"
"Are you trying to get me laid?" Alexander said bluntly his arms crossed defiantly.
"GO TO HELL" Shade yelled while jumping up and down. "JD is a good hunter, he's knew but he ain't bad, he's goanna make a fine lancer"
"I'm sure" Alexander said while walking away. Shade wanted to stop him but knew better. He was a feisty one, full of life, vitality, plays hard to get too often. Shade shook his head, he was twice his age… Bah, why was he thinking these thoughts, he had to hunt. Alex walked up to the guild desk.
"Hiiiiiiii" The perky guild receptionist cheered loudly causing Alexander to grimace. "Here are the available quests we have at this time" She listed out the various quests, hunt a Gobul, hunt a Rathian, and hunt a Royal Ludroth, all the same, all boring as hell.
"That Great Jaggi hunt still up and going?" Alexander asked annoyed.
"Yes, we have had endless problems with the Great Jaggi's in the desert area."
"I'll take it" Alexander sighed annoyed. It wasn't exciting but it was the quickest way to raise his rank. He went to his equipment box and shuffled through his weapons. His Bone Bludgeon advanced hammer would do the trick. He didn't bother gathering any materials for the quest. The supplied items would work out fine.
He arrived in the desert mid day and found the supply box. He grabbed some rations and first aid medicines. He quickly ate one of the rations, he wouldn't need much energy. He ran two areas down and found a Great Jaggi walking around. He slung his hammer behind him and started to tense his muscles, he ran up the Great Jaggi, he swung his hammer in the air and brought it straight down on the Great Jaggi's head, a super pound. It roared with rage, it was aware he was there.
It started to taunt Alexander and he took the opportunity to smash it three times in the head with his hammer, the Great Jaggi tripped backwards and before it could regain its balance, he smashed its head with another super pound. The Great Jaggi's frill broke off and it angrily roared, steam appearing to come out of its mouth. It dashed forward snapping, Alexander stepped to the side and smashed his hammer twice into its leg. It swung around, snapping its tail quickly through the air. Alexander ducked and the momentum of the Great Jaggi's attack spun it around, its face right in front of Alexander. He smashed his hammer three times, dazing the Great Jaggi, he super pounded its leg knocking it over, and a few more quick smashes later, the Great Jaggi stopped moving.
"That's one" Alexander said bored. He sat down in the area and waited, soon enough a different Great Jaggi would show up. He wiggled his legs and looked around, it was quiet, and lonely. A rhenoplos roared as it rammed its head into a tree. In Pokke Alexander had a felyne companion who fought with him, but here he was all alone. A roar caused him to casually look to his right, another Great Jaggi ran up and started to roar. "Lets do this" Alexander said slowly standing up.
The fight with the Jaggi went pretty much the same. This one had a tendency to try and tackle him a lot, all he had to do was take one step to the side, and it was open for punishment. As the third fell, his mind wandered from boredom. How many more times would he have to do this, before he could fight something strong, he was an expert hunter, but he certainly wasn't treated like it. Another roar drew his attention but this time it wasn't a Great Jaggi, slowly a Qurupeco landed. It bobbed its head around like a bird does and started walking around. Alexander smiled he liked birds, he thought they were graceful but, people usually made fun of him for it. He didn't care much, they made fun of his fear of whales too.
Suddenly, a shadow cast over him. Alexander looked behind him to see the fourth Great Jaggi standing there.
"Oh hell" Alexander said softly. The Great Jaggi roared catching the attention of the Qurupeco. They both charged him at the same time. He jumped back and caught them both with the same super pound. These two weren't as simple as the previous monster he faced on this day. They both roared, the Great Jaggi summoned a number of jaggi and jaggia while the Qurupeco summoned three rhenoplos.
"Six….. Seven….Eight" Alexander counted slowly. "Eleven!" he sprightly finished. "This might actually make me sweat" He smiled. A few super pounds later the desert looked like a battle field. The rhenoplos, jaggi, and jaggia, lay strewn about and the Great Jaggi was dead. The Qurupeco was slowly trying to limp away, Alexander stepped and it turned to him quickly.
"Go on, it does me no good to kill you" he said softly and the Qurupeco flew away. The guild representatives showed up to confirm the kills and give him his money and rewards. His journey seemed long and soon enough he found himself back in the tavern. He wasn't tired yet and he figured that he could go on another hunt. He walked back up to the Guild Receptionist.
"Hey, sign me up for another Great Jaggi hunt"
"I'm sorry sir we cannot" The receptionist said apologetically.
"What? Why not?" Alexander asked annoyed.
"We just gave out the last one for the month, we can't kill them all now can we?"
"No" Alexander said gruffly. He walked by the quest board to see what was available. Sure enough someone posted a request for help on said Great Jaggi hunt.
"Great" he exclaimed 'Who is leading this?"
"I am" he heard a voice cheer from behind him. Alexander turned to see a man a few years younger than him standing there with a smile. His armor was very odd, he had combined bits and pieces of a number of armors to make himself have an appearance of a clown or a walking garage sale. He had a spiral lance that he held awkwardly. Alexander raised his eyebrow at this odd person.
"My names JD great to meet you" the stranger said with a big smile stretching out his hand. Alexander looked at it.
"JD?"
"Yup that's my name"
"Does the name Shade…"
"He's my mentor" JD interrupted cheerfully.
"God help me" Alexander thought to himself. He had spent less than a minute in this kid's presence and he was already annoyed. However, he needed to do this quest. He tried to seem as friendly as he could and then turned and slowly started walking up the stairs.
"Heyyyyyyyy where ya going" JD whined
"We have to leave to go on the quest don't we? Alexander asked annoyed.
"Wait, so you are going to quest with me? JD asked his eyes sparkling.
"It would appear so" Alexander said slowly.
"YAAAAAAAAY" Alexander cheered.
The trip the to desert took forever, or at least it seemed that way. JD kept quiet but kept staring at Alexander intently. They arrived and Alexander walked to the supply box, while he was gathering his items, he saw JD go running off into the desert. Alexander sighed. The arrived in an area and saw a Great Jaggi. It roared and JD ran up to it and started stabbing it with his lance. He attacked wildly and didn't block much. When he tried he would end up getting hit from behind. Alexander kept to his tactics of super pounds and soon enough the Great Jaggi fell. JD ran up and quickly started to carve it, Alexander didn't bother, the materials were so cheap it wasn't worth the effort.
Alexander sat down and waited for the next Great Jaggi to appear. The sound of carving stopped and there was silence. All of a sudden he saw JD hunched over slowly walking around in circles.
"What the hell are you doing?" Alexander asked confused.
"Sneaking!" JD replied happily.
"Wh…..Why?" Alexander asked exasperated. JD didn't respond. Alexander noticed JD was banged up pretty bad. "You should heal" before Alexander finished another Great Jaggi appeared and JD ran after it. "NO" Alexander shouted "HEAL HEAL DAMNIT" JD kept attacking until a tail swipe knocked him against a rock and he passed out. Felynes ran up with a cart and dragged him off to the camp site. Alexander sighed, at least he was out of the way but that would cost him a third of the missions pay for their help.
Alexander started his usual routine of attacking the Great Jaggi. The Great Jaggi was injured to the point where it tried to limp away. Alexander ran in for the kill when he heard "ALEXANDER HERE HERE" he turned around to see JD screaming for him.
"What it is?"
"TAKE THIS TAKE THIS" JD jumped up and down.
"Why?"
"TAKE IT" Alexander walked up as JD threw a barrel into his arms.
"What am I supposed to do with this? JD ran off without giving him an answer. He stood there baffled. "What the hell?" He ran in the direction JD did to find the Great Jaggi's nest. JD had managed to piss off every monster there and they were attacking him.
"God help me" Alexander sighed to himself. He ran up and used a super pound to clear the area, he turned to slam his hammer into the Great Jaggi when he got stabbed in the side by JD's lance and flew back a few feet.
"Sorry " JD chimed loudly.
"Damn it" Alexander shouted as he ran up and smashed his hammer into the Great Jaggi's head. It fell over dead and JD began to carve it. Alexander walked back into the area they started at and noticed a Qurupeco landing. He hid behind some rocks. He had enough on his plate to deal with as it was. Just when it seemed the Qurupeco was going to leave…
"OH MY GOD, A GIANT CHICKEN" echoed through the air.
"WHAT?" Alexander screamed turning to see JD pointing at the Qurupeco. "No, you idiot" Alexander started to say as the Qurupeco flew at them. At the same time a Great Jaggi came up from behind. "Damn" Alexander shouted. "JD get the Great Jaggi, I'll take the Qurupeco."
"The what?" JD asked confused.
"THE GIANT CHICKEN" Alexander shouted angrily.
"Awwww, I wanted to fight the chicken" JD whined.
"JUST DO IT" Alexander shouted smashing his hammer into the Qurupeco. JD drew away the Great Jaggi's attention. Alexander started to attack when he heard.
"I'm setting off a bomb"
"What?" He turned to be blinded by a flash bomb JD threw. The intended target of the Great Jaggi wasn't blinded, and as he was smashed by a giant feathery tail, Alexander knew the Qurupeco wasn't either. JD tried to attack the Great Jaggi but stabbed Alexander again.
"Sorry" JD shouted as he chased the Great Jaggi back into the nest. Alexander showed up in time to see JD get knocked unconscious again. As the felynes dragged JD away Alexander finished off the third Great Jaggi, one left. As he waited for the fourth JD ran up cheerily.
"I'M BACKKKKK"
"Heal more! If you get knocked out again we won't have any money and will fail this mission!" Alexander yelled.
"You are a really good hunter" JD chimed.
"What?' Alexander was taken back.
"Well, I'm new to this and never got this far by myself, you are really strong" JD smiled widely. Alexander felt warm inside. It was quiet and they both sat there saying nothing. Alexander thought to himself that it was kinda nice to have some company. He wanted to say something but the last Great Jaggi ran up. The fight was awkward and clumsy like the previous one with JD making a lot of mistakes but in his own way he was pretty adept. He would stumble but somehow end up in the perfect strike range of the Great Jaggi. The beast fell and JD ran up to carve it. He was interrupted by a super pound which knocked him back a few feet.
"Heeyyyyy, what was that for?" JD whined.
"Thought I would knock some sense into you as a present" Alexander said with a smile.
"That was mean" JD pouted.
"You should have blocked it"
'I mean you… wait what?" JD was confused.
"You use a lance, you have a big ass shield, use it more. Even when you think the area is safe, you need to keep your guard up." JD sat with sparkly eyes at Alexander's advice.
"I can block like this" JD showed off his guard. It was pretty good, form was a tiny bit sloppy but it would do the trick. Alexander was fairly impressed.
"Not bad, you might be able to stop the Qurupeco" Alexander said encouragingly
"The what?" JD asked
"THE CHICKEN DAMNIT" Alexander's impression with JD was gone. The quest was over, they got one third of the money they normally would have. Alexander's rank did not improve either. Not a complete failure, he was closer but still so far. They arrived back in the tavern to Shade's boisterous demeanor.
"Oi Alexander you stealing my apprentice?" Shade asked jokingly
"No"
"Yup, he is a great teacher" JD said happily. Alexander scowled at him. "We finished the four Great Jaggi quest"
"Well shoot, you never finished that before, maybe he is a good teacher" Shade scratched his beard. "Say Alexander how bout you take up JD as your apprentice"
"No"
"THAT WOULD BE AWESOME" JD shouted aloud.
"Its settled then!" Shade said happily.
"I said no" Alexander protested in vain.
"YO GUILD LADY' Shade screamed loudly drawing the attention of every person in the tavern. " ALEXANDER HERE IS JD'S NEW MASTER" Alexander grimaced and was suddenly surprised from the applause coming from the tavern.
"Bout time you teamed up with someone"
"Hey, maybe you ain't got a stick too far up your ass"
"Stealing peoples young men, hide your teammates, Alexander is on the loose"
The hall was filled with encouragement and JD was jumping up and down with joy.
"YAAAAAAAY"
"All finished" The guild receptionist said cheerfully "Alexander you are now officially JD's master. Let's hear it for the new duo" The tavern cheered loudly.
"Damn" Alexander said softly.
Chapter 1 end
Next Chapter: Special in many ways
*Authors note*
If you need images of the monsters referenced you can search online or check out the monster hunter wikia. Thanks for reading.