MHFU
Rae squeaked, staring at the Melynx as it whined and fainted. She turned to Marco, wincing.
"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. You don't know him, do you?"
The Deep Blue Felyne snorted. "Not every Lynian is related, you realize, just as not all hunters are related. You didn't know that requester from last week, did you?"
Raelinae looked befuddled. "Well, of course not. I'd never seen him before in my life."
"Just as I've never seen that cat before," Marco retorted. "What would you want me to say? 'Oh, no, it's okay. That's George. He spits in the milk at parties.' Mistress, don't be worrying about the small monsters- we are after a Daimyo."
Rae blushed, felt the redness creeping up her neck. "O-okay, shut up. I get it, I get it. Sorry."
Marco snorted, but he was smiling. "It's fine, mistress."
The flame haze surrounding the Elder Dragon scorched her skin even as Lunastra rammed her bodily, tossing her head to send the young hunter sailing airborne.
Rae had a few seconds to realize what was happening before the ground met her with a bone-crushing crunch. She cried out a high-pitched shriek as pain shot up her left arm and side, her hip banging sharply onto the rocky, superheated ground.
As she struggled upright, fighting the nausea of strong, strong pain, a wailing noise she'd never heard the likes of before erupted from seemingly nowhere. Even Lunastra looked around confusedly.
Marco, nearly indistinguishable from the female cat-like dragon's scales, had latched onto the Elder Dragon with sharpened claws, his eyes alight with murder. He was scoring Lunastra repeatedly with those deadly scythes, growling and hissing and yowling.
Then, as Luna reared and bucked and tried to dislodge the painful annoyance on her back, Marco's blue eyes flashed and his katana was in his paw, point downward.
Swaying on her feet now, Raelinae watched in awe as the Felyne plunged it down, punching through Lunastra's shell easily, down into the Elder's heart. Luna looked amazed, yellow burning eyes staring unseeing at the sky, before she simply went limp and slumped flat on the ground.
Marco didn't stop, his eyes still feverish, his sword descending again and again into the dragon's carcass until she called, "Marco! Enough. She's dead; you've killed her. And I'm all right."
Her reassurances finally broke through to the Comrade, who looked up at her with a gaze both filmy and tired.
"Mistress..? You are well?"
She winced just a little as she clutched her arm but smiled tightly and nodded. "I'll be fine, Marco. Broken arms can heal. Help me back to the camp and it'll go faster yet."
The Felyne bounded over to her side, reaching for and taking her shield and hooking it on his own back, helping her adjust her Lance to balance more on her right side to free up pressure on her left, and then her Comrade took her hand and led her away from the Elder Dragon's carcass.
By the time they arrived back at the camp, there was a man in a red Guild Guard armor set peering closely at her from under his hat. With him here, she had no doubt they were already taking care of the Lunastra carcass in the higher reaches of the volcano. She'd get her carves yet, it seemed. Luck was on her side.
"Afternoon, ma'am. A very honorable fight, but will you be needing a healer?"
She thought she nodded, but her head felt heavy... Marco nodded instead, and the man inclined his head in his own affirmative before barking orders over his shoulder. Marco helped her hobble to the bed, and her whole body just went limp when it came into contact with the soft surface. The scent of the healing herbs in the brazier washed over her and her muscles unwound. Distantly, amid drifting into unconsciousness, she heard the man congratulating her Felyne. Marco's voice was further away still, and then he was instead a purring warmth by her uninjured side. She exhaled a long breath before slipping asleep.
The Gypceros fell and the huntress wasted no time, darting forward. Just because it was dead didn't mean much; as soon as she started carving it other monsters would appear, attracted to the scent of blood. So she set about working on the biggest piece of the creature she wanted: its head.
Unsheathing her heavy carving knife she drew back and, with three hard blows, hacked the head from the neck. Pursing her lips as the Bird Wyvern's blood started to spurt, she levered the head away from the body and tossed it into the shallows to drain and keep it clean.
Marco meowed at her urgently and she leapt back and away from the body. It had begun to twitch, in its inevitable death throes, though… something seemed weird. It should have already had them…
The headless Bird Wyvern stood up, stretched its wings out, and pushed off.
Gaping, woman and Felyne watched the headless monster fly out of the area.
One eye twitching, the huntress flicked a quick, reassuring glance back at the Gypceros' head- still lying in the shallows and quite lifeless- then stared back at the now empty skies. "D-did it just..? Did it really just-?"
"Apparently so," Marco replied numbly.
"How?!" Rae spluttered, turning a dumbstruck look at her Felyne.
Marco shrugged, just as lost as she was. "Well, you know how chickens can run around for hours after their heads get cut off-"
"A Gypceros is not a chicken, Marco!" Rae shrieked, pointing at the clouds. "And chickens can't fly great distances headless!"
Marco winced. "That one did."
Raelinae devised a test of their abilities, to see if she could train a Hammer user.
She conscripted her husband to join her and her eager trainee and they headed off to the Forest and Hills.
"A Kut-Ku," she explained as the wagon bounced over the dirt roads, "shouldn't present much of a problem to you. I've got one of my weaker- weakest- weapons, same as Rhouin. We'll bring it down and you can smash away. Just watch carefully for an opening and in the meantime, try and stay on guard. The Kut-Ku may not be the only thing lurking in the hills."
He would wonder, later, if that had been a warning, but at the time he had shrugged it off.
Rae wore little for this quest, still in her Mafumofu Jacket and Coat, but he could see the multi-colored glint of the Chakra Bracelet and Anklet she wore. What skill set she had equipped currently he didn't know, but she seemed confident. A Protection Piercing- useless to him, but a wonderful resource to her- dangled from her left ear.
Rhouin sat idle and serious, dressed in Kushala X gunner armor, which Tsanfang knew did not offer much in the way of strong protection, even at its rank. Gunners and Archers, after all, were supposed to stay far from the line of fire, but Tsanfang had no doubt that Rae was quick enough on her feet to cover her husband.
Their driver announced they'd arrived at their destination and Rae sighed, slipping out the back of the wagon. Rhouinte hummed and swept out after her, leaving Tsanfang to heave his weapon onto his back and leap from the vehicle.
The Kut-Ku gave a shrill, croaking roar and clawed the ground, beady yellow eyes fixed on them. Rae's eyes narrowed and a lazy, confident smirk spanned her countenance. Rhouin sighed grimly, unhooking his Bow and unfolding it slowly. The two took their time, making the new hunter realize that they were waiting for him to take the first move.
Tsanfang hefted the Spiked Hammer+ they'd gotten him and started charging his strike, dashing straight at the pinkish-red wyvern.
The Kut-Ku, seeming rather surprised by his boldness, reared its head back and stood straight for a second. Tsanfang switched directions when he caught sight of the flames licking at the beast's beak, running to the right.
The Kut-Ku's first fireball struck far to his left, but the Bird Wyvern was aiming at him now, pulling its head back to facilitate the rising of fire to its beak from its internal flame sac.
Tsanfang darted, turning straight toward the wyvern itself and feeling the scorch of the flames as they arced over his head.
It didn't see him.
It had still had its head up when he slipped in close to its feet. He released the tension in his muscles in one huge swing, the hammer's spikes scoring the pink carapace in multiple places before landing hard and embedding themselves in the Kut-Ku's left foot and the soft soil.
The animal screeched its pain and fury and he rolled away, rising to his feet charging another superpound. The Kut-Ku started to turn his direction, but a near-earsplitting sound jangled harshly and the pink bird went ramrod straight, swaying with a dazed look in its eye.
Rhouin, who'd tossed the Sonic Bomb at the thing's ears with inhuman precision, winked at Tsanfang. The younger man nodded and rushed back toward the monster, stopping (but not stopping his charge) when Rae ran in, the blue tip of her Lance Valhalla held out straight and glinting. Then the weapon's end buried deep into the Bird's kneecap and it fell, crying shrilly.
Tsanfang twisted his grip and the spikes ejected again. He rushed past his smirking mentor and released the blow on the creature's head.
The Kut-Ku went unnervingly still, and for a moment everything was quiet. He stared at it, amazed. Had he… just killed his first monster?
Then Rae charged past him, Lance still drawn, and he realized it was still wheezing. He'd stunned it with the last Hammer strike. Rhouin barked an order at him that he didn't hear, already pivoting on his heel (far away from the stabbing Raelinae) and turning in dizzying circles that had the spikes gouging the Kut-Ku repeatedly.
Suddenly, the Bird Wyvern gave a great shuddering caw and went utterly still. Tsanfang forced his momentum to halt and the Hammer slammed into the ground with enough force to crater. He blinked and shook his head, gazing down at it in amazement.
This time, Rae hooked up her Lance and Rhouin shouldered his Bow.
"Not too shabby, kid," Rae murmured as she pulled out her carving knife.
Rhouin echoed her sentiments as he came forward and copied her actions.
Tsanfang stared at the great pink wyvern corpse and bowed his head, fisting his hands together.
"Thank you for your sacrifice, noble monster. I will use you well."
MH:Tri
Raelinae blinked, stared. The girl behind the counter shuffled nervously, looking anywhere but at the blue-haired huntress- but her cat's gaze was just as intent. Finally, the poor Guild Sweetheart grabbed a handful of hair on either side of her head in pure frustration.
"What?!" she shrieked, "What did I say that was so dang amazing?!"
"…a Rathian." Rae repeated numbly.
"Yes, there's a Rathian request! Up in the hills, she might be making a nest. You need to go kill/wound/maim/capture her!"
"And you want me to…" The Lancer paused before making the appropriate air quotes around her next words, "…'be careful'. Because 'she bites'."
"W-well," the girl stammered, blushing furiously, "I just was trying to be funny because I didn't think you had any experience fighting a Rathian-"
A corner of the huntress' lips twitched upward. "Honey, I've killed dozens of Rathians in my lifetime. One more is no big deal."
It was the poor receptionist's turn to stare. "D-dozens?"
Rae paused, looking thoughtful. "I think- right, Marc?"
"I believe our last count was ninety-six of them."
The woman snapped her fingers triumphantly. "Yes, that was it. Anyway, point is, don't worry 'bout her. Marco and I will have her corpse delivered to you pronto."
Rae shifted in the underbrush and Marco beside her handed her a piece of dried meat. She took it with a small grimace but nodded to him.
"Thanks."
She munched on the tough strip, watching the Aptonoth slurp at the stream. With a small sigh she turned to her cat.
"Man, Marco, I swear- a lot is the same down here, but so much is different…"
The Deep Blue Felyne paused in rummaging in his bag to look her in the eye. "Yes, mistress, I understand completely. You were almost relieved to hear a familiar name, yes?"
Rae rolled her eyes and laughed softly. "Got me there. I almost fainted dead away on the spot when she said 'Rathian'."
Marco chuckled. "I noticed. Though I wasn't much better."
Rae laughed. "No, but your face was-"
And the woman cut off, dark blue eyes narrowing and shooting up toward the treeline. She quickly popped the rest of the jerky into her mouth. Marco closed his eyes with a content smile, one ear twitching at a sound only he could presently hear.
"I heard wingbeats…" Rae murmured, "Didn't I?"
"You did," the Felyne replied quietly. "She's doing a quick flyover, but I'm sure she'll be landing soon. As for the Aptonoth…"
The poor things never saw her coming, and heard her too late.
With a familiar screech the green wyverness dove out of the sky, snapping her wings out and talons aimed abruptly forward. The lethal claws quickly found purchase in an Apto's flesh and with a victorious growl the female Rath set to eating her kill.
Marco watched his mistress, who hadn't moved. From his angle he could see Rae carefully scrutinizing the green wyvern.
"They're brighter patterned down here," the woman muttered, "and more muscular. Their tails seem a little more like a Diablos' tail, kind of a club, than used purely for poisoning- see how the whole thing is thicker? Her poison spines are bigger and thicker too, meant for heftier work than the ones we know. Rathians down here seem to rely more on combat than on their poison. The back and wings barbs are denser in spread too, likely in case of an aerial attack on them or something latching on- you remember Velociprey and how they leap on them? Yeah, probably for that."
The she-Rath seemed almost finished, evidenced by her constant horizon scanning. Raelinae turned to her partner and smirked, hooking her thumb over her shoulder at the beast.
"Shall we?"
Marco picked up his katana and bared his teeth in a fearsome smile. "Let's."
MHP3rd
Rae smirked, the Bulldrome officially finished- it lay on the ground twitching in its death throes, blood spurting intermittently from the gaping holes she'd left in its hide- and hooked up her lance. Marco put away his Iron Sword and sat down, cleaning his face of blood and gristle while Laurie darted around the area with her Ore Nugget hammer back in its sheathe, checking to make sure her leader wouldn't be interrupted.
Halfway through her first carve, the huntress felt the hair on her arms and the back of her neck stand up. She froze, listening to the night. While before the crickets and other night bugs had been chirping their songs, they had now gone deathly quiet. The owl that had been hooting off to her right had silenced, and the most immediately noticeable- Marco and Laurie had stopped their post-victory purring. Though Marco had not stood and Laurie was still running around the perimeter, the meanings behind their movements was different. Laurie was making sure nothing was coming their way and Marco was listening intently.
The Lancer rose to her full height, looking around. Every sound stood out that much more now, every little rustle in the bushes unsettling. The whole evening suddenly seemed charged with electricity, the kind she would feel when she blocked a Khezu's discharge.
"Marco? Laurie?" she called quietly to the cats.
Marco got to his paws nigh-silently and padded over, his ears still twitching every which way (if she concentrated she could hear them swishing around inside his helmet) and his little pink nose working furiously. Laurie ran up next to them, hovering between her leader and her mate wringing her paws.
"What is it, Madam? Do you know?"
Raelinae shook her head. "No, I don't. In any case…" she glanced around warily, "…we've finished what we came here for. Let's go back to the village."
Marco hissed quietly and shook himself. "I agree, Mistress. I don't think we should linger."
Nodding, the huntress hurried through her carving and once she had everything squared away, she gestured to her Felynes and the trio headed back to the village gate.
It wasn't long, though, before Laurie hissed and grabbed at her leader's vambrace with sharp claws. Rae jumped and glanced down, only to see a confused and anxious look on her secondary Felyne's face.
"Laurie? What is it?" she asked.
"Look, Madam. The Thunderbugs..!"
Marco looked up first and he felt his tail frizz. Once Rae followed her Comrades' gazes her mouth dropped open.
A veritable flood of the insects were swarming above them, but worse was that… they were all headed in one direction.
The direction they were headed.
The Lancer felt her blood run cold and she exchanged glances with her Felynes. "Well," she murmured, hoping her voice didn't waver, "What do we do now?"
Marco shook his head. "I'm not sure."
"There are other ways into the village," Laurie added, her soft blue eyes still eyeing the Thunderbug stream, which was only growing in number.
"Laurie's right. We'll try to go around."
They tried, but once they rounded the bend into area 6 they saw the Thunderbugs again and Rae swore under her breath. "I hadn't expected this-!" she growled.
Laurie hissed. "We have to hurry out of here!"
"Too late," Marco muttered.
Raelinae's head whipped around and she could only stare at the intimidating, almost horrifying sight before her.
The monster was huge. White fur amid blue scales and golden ridges all framed the mass that was the beast. Saliva dripped from ivory fangs and massive golden horns curved over its bright electric blue eyes- eyes that turned on the huntress.
Just like that, Rae's avenue for escape evaporated. Adrenaline had started pumping and she wasn't about to back down from a fight, no matter exactly how under-equipped she happened to be. She reached for her lance, unhooking it and bringing it to bear in one fluid movement. The wolf-like creature threw back its head and howled, and the hunt was on. As it advanced, Raelinae could only think of the cats beside her.
"Marco, Laurie, run." Rae hissed over her shoulder at the Felynes.
Marco snorted. "Absolutely not."
Laurie hissed between her teeth. "We could never leave you, Madam."
Marco unsheathed his sword and Laurie swung her hammer, brandishing the heavy thing at the monster. Rae groaned her frustration under her breath, but she was smiling. These cats had stuck with her through thick and thin; had she really expected them to leave now?
The beast charged.
Startled by the monster's speed, the Lancer could do no more than block the incoming attack and she could feel her boots sliding along the ground as her shield absorbed the brunt of the impact. A quick spot-check revealed that Marco and Laurie had dodged to the side of the creature and were circling back around. The Deep Blue Felyne scored a line in the blue scales that evoked an irritated growl and Laurie slammed her hammer into the beast's foot. A hairline crack split one of the claws but the monster was largely unfazed. Instead, it was angry, turning burning blue eyes on the small Felyne. Rae watched in horror as its body curled back like for a hipcheck and he was aiming at her Comrade.
"Laurie!" she called, hoping to catch her cat's attention.
Marco was already running, his Iron Sword sloppily put back in its sheathe. "Laurie!" he yowled, but they were both too late.
Laurie's cry echoed in the air as the creature slammed its shoulder- and all the mass behind it- into the Blue Felyne's small frame. Immediately furious, Rae lowered her lance and charged.
Rae had to deal, as she had last year, with the rapid and unknown movements of a large monster. She evaded through some and blocked the rest, but the beast could hit so hard that she often couldn't keep her shield up for the entirety of its assault. Once her guard was dropped the monster would drop all its force onto her unprotected self and she'd feel the sensation she was rapidly becoming familiar with again- flying through the air or skidding across the ground with the wind knocked out of her lungs. She would stand, shakily, but she would stand and continue to try and hold the fight against the creature. He bested her twice, knocking her fully unconscious, but she knew she couldn't hand the fight over as won yet.
Rae went back.
She'd found a weak spot relatively quickly on the beast- his back legs and the beginnings of his tail were softer, less armored and protected against damage. His shell was weaker there, and it was there that she aimed, relentlessly as she could. She got the tail more often than not and she watched its progress carefully. Gradually, bit by bit, the shell and skin tore and the muscles beneath followed suit quickly.
It took time- nearly an hour- but that tail severed.
The monster roared in agony as, with another one of its quick turns, the bone could no longer handle the strain of the weighty appendage and snapped, sending a three-foot-long chunk of tail careening away. Rae eyed her prize carefully, planning the best time to dash up and carve its rewards, but the monster was having none of that. Enraged by the loss of its tail it pressed the attack. Marco, catching the look in his mistress' eye, hurried to distract the wolf-wyvern while she ducked and ran for the remnant of tail. Once next to it, she reached for her carving knife and selected a nice, unblemished scale. Working the knife's edge beneath the scale she prized it off.
Marco yowled and she turned a second too late.
Thousands of pounds of angry monster slammed into her and she blacked out.
Her eyes opened to Rhouin's worried face.
"That was unpleasant," she muttered, covering her eyes with one hand.
Rhouin laughed softly, taking her other hand and squeezing it. "I'll bet. Your left side from shoulder to hip is a mass of bruises, but you'll recover."
She levered upright with her patient husband's help. "Marco and Laurie?"
"They're both just fine, and rather worried about you. Marco's been beating himself up for days about letting it get to you."
"I hope you told him he's being stupid, then," Rae muttered, swinging her legs out of the bed and wincing at the tightness of her muscles and the overall pain in her left side.
Rhouin held out a hand and helped his wife upright. "I tried, but you know he's never been big on listening to my opinion."
"He's certainly stubborn."
"And he wouldn't have learned that from any blue-haired Lancers, would he?" her husband questioned with a soft laugh.
"…I've never seen a beast with that much mass move so quickly," Rae admitted quietly under her breath.
Rhouin crossed to their dresser- where all their under-armor clothing and casual clothing ended up being stored- and pulled out her Loc Lac skirt and top. "Need help?" he asked her as he came back with her casual set.
"I might," Rae replied, waiting until her husband was next to her again before she attempted to stand without aid. Agony seared up her left side, but with a bit of willpower and a hiss through gritted teeth, the pain dropped back down to a dull ache. All hunters, after all, were carefully trained to be able to lessen the pain they were dealt.
When she opened her eyes again, she realized that her husband was gripping her arm tightly, his expression as tense as her spine was.
"You okay?" Rhouin asked her softly.
She nodded and gestured for her clothing. "I'll be fine. It's just bruises; nothing a nice long soak in the springs won't mend."
Though she was mildly embarrassed at having to have her husband aid her in dressing, within a few minutes she was dressed as much as she cared to be if she was going to be removing it soon.
As usual, Rhouinte picked up the previously abandoned talk. "So he was quick then?"
"Very. If I had any Power or Mega Juice materials, they might've saved me some of the damage I took," Rae said, getting up and rolling out her left shoulder experimentally.
"And I am sorry about that, Hunter."
Rae blinked and Rhouin got to his feet, bowing to the Village Chief. The Wyverian woman stood in the doorway of their house, looking the picture of piety and sympathy. Even her long ears were drooping.
Rae smiled and shook her head, waving her hands to placate the sorrowful Wyverian. "Not at all your fault, ma'am. Neither you nor I was expecting that beast to show in the Mountains last night. He caught me by surprise is all." Raelinae's eyes narrowed dangerously. "…it won't happen again. Next time I see that monster, he's mine. I already have his tail, not to mention a scale to remember him by."