Monster Hunter Tri: Dragon's Touch
Chapter 1: Another Day, Another Quest
Yeah, too much MH3 recently. I was playing a female character, and when the Rathalos quest came up something clicked in my head. Maybe it was my D&D. Maybe it was my generally sick mind. However it happened, I suddenly thought of this story idea. Has it been done before? Dunno. But here's my try at it. And this one's clean. Deal with it.
Monster Hunter Tri and all related names, places and creatures are copyright Capcom. Any variations are my work only, and I reserve the right to kick the ass of anyone who copies them.
The Lagiacrux is a beautiful beast. It's an electric blue lizard that moves through water in smooth motions, and in the mating season it's possible to see the shocks of the males from the coast as they contest the latest beauty.
This one had lost the crystals from its back, giving it a raged, rough appearance, while huge scars ran across its chest. Someone had taken the tip of its tail off, leaving a red raw wound from the base. Should it live to see mating season, the female would be hard pressed to get through unnoticed.
It would most likely not.
She roared as the small human took another swing at her face, cutting the scales around her eyes but avoiding the fragile organs. She slammed her head onto the floor to hit her, but the human deftly rolled sideways, giving the Lagiacrux a raging headache. Again.
Glacic stood up a little way from the crash site, skipping over the net that had been lain there by her friend earlier. He lay a few meters away, taking a sniper position to get better shots on the other stray monsters. He could see a Jaggi cave not far away, and one trained eye kept a look out for stragglers.
It had been the Bowgunnner's idea to capture the Lagiacrux. It showed all the signs of being a girl, size wise, he had said, so why couldn't they be kind to it. The only objection had been being the one to lay the net. Crack, as he was officially called now, aimed at the area around the net.
The Lagiacrux was furious now. She could see the clawed human not far away. Tensing her body, she flung herself sideways to flatten her-
And ten seconds later she was induced in a tranquilised sleep, happily dozing away. Despite the lack of battle sounds, only two creatures came near.
"Capture it he said, it'll be easy he said."
"Oh shut up."
Crack walked around the Sea Wyvern, evaluating the damage she had taken.
"I'll start patching some of her wounds. Hopefully we won't have to wait long for-"
Glacic screamed as the ground suddenly shook. Crack crouched low, eyes wide with fear, as the Lagiacrux woke suddenly. He started rubbing it along the back of its head.
"Shhhhhh shhhh shhh, it's OK, no more hurting."
Glacic returned the stare she was getting from the wyvern for a few seconds before being forced to look away. As Crack tended to the most severe of the wounds, she blushed furiously, angry at herself.
"If we've got the Lagiacrux here...
"What the hell caused that?"
"You're sure it was captured when the quake hit?"
"Gave us the fright of our lives, but yeah, we're certain."
"Well... I guess it's a good thing you captured it. We've got to wait while the guild sorts the fancy stuff out, but you've got some more quests to do in the meantime. The Sweetie said something about getting hot before she vanished off to do something."
The chief shifted position until he held his pipe in one hand and could stare at the sea uninterrupted from his window. Glacic nodded to Crack, and they both gave their own signs of respect before leaving the chief's hut.
Moga Village was only about fifty years old. The chief was a spry man, a veteran hunter himself, and his son had looked set to follow in his footsteps until the pair of amateur hunters had turned up on the villagers doorstep.
Crack was almost scrawny, his armour covered his skin almost completely no matter what it was, giving him the aura of whichever beast he happened to be kitted out as. Normally a mishmash of different things, the combined rewards from this quest and the surprise appearance (And subsequent defeat) of a male Lagiacrux nearly a month ago had now combined to give him the materials for a suit of armour fit for the King of the Seas. His skill with a bowgun was above average – he was never any amateur, but now he excelled in a near impossible task. With limited ammo, tricky shots, and challenging creatures, he had earned respect that he would never had planned for, and he was in no hurry to abuse it.
Glacic, on the other hand, was gorgeous. Her body was filled out in the right places, and the challenges of her job gave her a build that made her armour bulge. Her own armour – not as impressive as Lagiacrux plate, but the fiery aura of a suit of Rathian armour, added to her stature to make her really look like a queen. Her own weapon of choice was a short sword and shield – a set of upgrades which the pair worked together to get, making taking on the Lagiacrux earlier that day that crucial bit earlier. Unlike the photophobic Crack* she quite happily showed her skin, and had a nice even tan.
I did lead to some nasty scrapes though, including a scar across her stomach from a Rathian the pair had fought to earn the armour parts. As a nice touch, the Wyvernian Artisan had given it a tail, and there was a stretch of webbing between the arms and chest. Crack had laughed when they'd gotten it.
"What are you making, a ball gown?"
The artisan had laughed too, and they'd both enjoyed laughing at the bright red blush from Glacic herself.
"Well, better it's multifunctional! Probably better than most of the gowns at the ball too!"
In the present, Crack yawned and looked around for Cha-Cha.
"If you see Cha-Cha, tell him I'm up at the forge. You get some sleep, I'll be down later. We can figure out those next quests tomorrow."
Glacic sighed and stretched her arms. "You got it, but make sure you don't keep Stokey** up for long. God knows we don't need him grumpy in the morning, my armour's already problematic enough."
Crack chuckled and headed up the steps, shielding his eyes from the light of dusk. Glacic stepped into her own hut and automatically reached down to scratch Chamberlyn's eyes.
"Long day boss?"
"You," the huntress yawned, "Have no idea. Help me shed this and I'll flop down for the night."
For unfathomable reasons, that night she dreamed of Crack and a girl. And a Lagiacrux. The last two sort of blended together.
Crack experimentally flexed his arms. The armour was of the skill he'd expected from the artisan, and the mask covered everything but the lower half of his face. The artisan nodded happily.
"I toldja the head was worth keeping."
"Well if it's anything like the Jaggi face mask..."
His gloves crackled with electricity as he reached around to grab his bowgun.
"Are you completely sure this is safe?"
"Do I make anything but?" Stokey replied indignantly. He paused. "Actually, don't answer that."
"I feel like a Lagiacrux with this on. Can it shoot lightning?"
"No, but anything getting its jaws on your back is gonna get a nasty shock," Stokey chuckled, "No pardon needed."
Crack rolled his eyes. "Well, I have to report to find out my job for today, so if you-"
"Cha-Cha needs help!"
Before anyone knew what was happening, Crack was pulling Cha-Cha out of the drink, there were fish heads in the water, and Junior was face first on a pile of Kelbi hides. Cha-Cha shivered uncontrollably.
"Water much colder when in deep water... Brrrr..."
Crack left Cha-Cha to one of the villages mothers, and turned to Glacic, who was peering into the water.
"You see something?"
"I thought I saw..."
"Skin pale Blue and Eyes like fire, we spotted the Lagiacrux over here!"
Blackspear crouched down on the jetty.
"Though, uh, I think the girl likes you. Seen it hanging around other parts of the island too. Just so ya know."
"Right."
Glacic sighed.
"So I'm going to a volcano, you're going after the Gigginox – with Cha-Cha once he's better, I might add – and the Lagiacrux you saved has a crush on you." She looked at Crack. "I think it's hard to get a day much worse than that."
"I think Cha-Cha's about to give us a worse one." Crack replied, standing up and checking his weapon. "There's a big storm coming. I can feel it..."
*Not really, but otherwise (like me) he'd get horrible sunburn. But whatever works...
**Yeah, they have normal(ish) names in this. Deal with it.