Log 1: Days Passed – 8

After a week of the constant back and forth rocking of this accursed boat, I've decided to take the advice of a fellow hunter and start a journal. Where to begin? Well, I volunteered to join the 5th Fleet's Expedition to the, and I quote, "New World". Apparently, we finally found where the elder dragons run off to every decade or two, and that is where we are currently heading to.

Anyway, none of that is the point. The point of this journal is to stave off this fiendish boredom. By time the second day had come to pass, I had done all that any one person could do on this ship. For the past 5 days I've been forced to socialize with some of the other hunters, and by the Star do I regret every moment of it. At least my Palico, Terry, has been good company. Adorable little fella has been trying so hard to keep me in a good mood. I should get him a present. I never asked, but I wonder what Palico's do in their time off. Questions for another time, I suppose. Anyway, Terry had heard that some of the other hunters use these as a means to help them study, or reflect on decisions they've made or will make. So, being the good buddy that he is, he managed to procure one for me and recommended I use it to keep myself entertained. It's not the most entertaining thing, but it works. Just wish something a little more exciting then journal keeping would happen.

Well, I guess I should end this entry with a little about myself. My name is Deszros Fy, male, my height is about 5ft 11in or 180 cm, weight is about 175lb/79 kilos, black hair, green eyes, about 25 years old. I'm one of those rare people that have the "miraculous" ability to understand monsters. That said, the only monster I've ever had any sort of intelligent conversation with was a Rathalos trying to roast my face. His side of the conversation was mostly "Stop running filthy human", how he comprehends us calling ourselves human I'll never know, and my side responding with "No" followed by an arrow in his flank. Or chest. Or butt. Monsters really don't like it when you poke em in the butt, who knew? My hobbies include picking flowers, taking long walks through the forest, and getting burned. Usually in the facial region. One of those is false, and I'll give you a hint to which one it is. The first one is true.

Terry's here so I need to go. Till next time I guess.

A young man closes his book as a cat like creature shuffles up to him. The cat looked up, its gaze silently asking permission to accompany him. The man patted the spot next to him, scooting over a couple inches to allow the cat a comfortable spot. The cat wasted no time and jumped up, landing gracefully in the opened seat, kicking its feet out to hang over the edge.

"Good evening Meowster. I nyoticed you were taking my advice." The cat started, taking not of its master's expression; an agitated calm turn exasperated.

"Yes, Terry, I have. It's not much more in way of excitement, but it's something." He released a sigh. "Hey Terry?"

"Yes Meowster?"

"Thanks for tagging along, I know you didn't have too." The hunter reached down and patted the Palico's head in an affectionate manner.

It was at this moment that the boat they were currently riding in began violently shaking, throwing the duo to the ground. They barely managed to stand up before the ship began rising, barrels and unrestrained items rolling down the deck. The young hunter cradled the cat to his chest and hunkered over to protect it from any harm. A couple mugs hit him in the head, but nothing to serious an injury to worry over.

"Meowster! We need to jump now!" The cat shouted in his ears.

A quick glance around showed that the boat was rapidly approaching a near vertical angle. He also spotted two hunters hanging on to the railings at the bow of the ship. With no time to safely secure themselves, he and his Palico jumped overboard and into the chilling waters.

No rest was taken, for as the moment he dived in the raging waters, he was pulled under, flipped about, and twisted around. Try as he might, he could not get any air and soon he could feel his lungs burn. With his vision fading, the last he saw was his brave Palico tying him to his little raft, trying his hardest to keep his head out of the water and them afloat.

The sounds of chirping birds and crashing waves lulled the hunter into a subtle consciousness. He laid still as his senses slowly returned to him. First his hearing, sensitive as it were. His sense of smell and touch soon came after. He smelled the salt of the ocean and felt the grit of the sand beneath him. His mouth was dry with lack of water, a headache slowly forming as a result. Groaning he lifted a hand to his head while slowly opening his eyes.

After sitting up, the first thing he laid eyes upon was the vast ocean before him. The next was the small sandy beach surrounded by rocks and boulders. Behind those he could see the tops of trees in the near distance and one particularly large tree even further. He awestruck at the land's vivid beauty. From the royal blue of the ocean to the lush green of the forest, everything was so clear and breathe taking.

He went to ask his Palico if he was seeing the same thing but when he looked around he could not find him. Panic beginning to bubble within him, he immediately began searching for his Felyne friend. Having no luck finding him in the beach, and with the sense of mind to not shout in an unexplored region, he quickly set off towards the wooded area.

"Come on, where are you pal. I know those waters wouldn't take you, you're too good a swimmer for that." Though he searched for hours, in locations both high and low, there were no signs of his friend. All he managed to discover were some small footprints, those he likened to small predators, and some mushrooms with a blue tinge. Unfortunate that he did not find him, he at least found no signs of a struggle or trails of blood. If the cat survived the ocean, then he is at least alive elsewhere. Hopefully in a more secure location too.

Thinking of safety, he finally took hold of his situation. His armor was in shambles, likely made useless due to the onslaught of the waves. His pouch was nearly empty, a couple days rations, a potion, a bottle of water, and his journal were all that survived. His launcher seemed untouched though, however, it looks as though he lost his weapon sometime after he blacked out. He let out a groan as he slowly descended on a nearby rock. It was large enough for him to lay on comfortably. The little things. With so little in way of food and water, and no information on where the next human settlement is, he'd have to dig up on some old initiative hunter training and brave the wilderness.

First thing first, don't panic. Easier said than done, but he has a good sense of mind to not lose himself. Next is to look for a good spot to build a shelter. He already has water, and with how lush and vibrant these trees are, a good source of water is bound to be nearby, so he needs to make a place to hold the elements at bay. No point in searching for water if nature decides to knock some teeth in.

His thoughts were interrupted when the shaking of some nearby bushes alerted him to a new presence. He quickly dove behind the rock he was sitting on, hopefully hiding from whatever may come. A moment later and a yellow head, with brown stripes near the eye, poked out of the bush opposite him. It takes a moment to sniff the area, angling its head sideways or looking around as it did. Once it deemed the area clear, it turned its head towards the bushes and began a series of hisses. A couple of barks and some low hisses answered its call and shortly after five of the yellow lizards stepped out. Each lizard had a varying shade of green on their underbelly, hind legs, and a few stripes down their side. They also had some spines that went from the base of their head to below their shoulder, ending in three or four large spines.

He didn't wait much longer to study them, as having no defense or means of attack would make him an easy meal. So, after carefully stepping over a twig that would have given his position away had he stepped on it, he turned about and quickly, but silently, made his way out of the area. He started off in a careful sneak but as the distance grew from that location, so too did his speed, until he was running through the tree limbs, vines, and roots. Once he deemed himself far enough away to no longer be considered part of their hunt, he slowed to a stop, resting against a nearby tree.

He gave a quick scan of his surroundings, making sure there were no signs of predators or sounds of anything following him. He seemed to have come across a large stream, it was massive in width, but the deepest parts looked to be nearly knee high. Enough to slow him down, but that's it. There was a nice break in the canopy of the forest, making the stream glimmer in the sunlight. He could see a rainbow where a rock caused a break in the stream. There seemed to be plenty of fish in there as well. Nothing to make a meal by itself, but he imagines a few would be enough.

Past the stream lies more of the forest, appearing to be even more thick than the one he just exited. It was lush and beautiful though, the right mixture of greens and browns to make a picture perfect setting. Even though it feels like the woods are alive and converging to make his survival near impossible, he figured he could still admire its beauty. The ground turned rocky at the tree line, almost unnaturally so. The dirt and foliage just stops and the rocks begin, a little weird but acceptable.

He gave some thought as to what to do from here. With nowhere else to go but back to some yellow carnivores, he figured it'd be best to trudge on through, even though the forest looks thick, he might be able to use it to his advantage. The larger monsters won't have an easy time catching him, the smaller ones are what he'll need to watch out for.

With the sun midway from high to horizon, he figured it'd be a good idea to set up camp. He'd have to climb the trees to find a suitable resting spot, as the ground would make him far too easy a target for some nocturnal beast looking for a snack. Once he made plans for the location of his rest, he made to gather food for the night.

Catching the fish necessary for a meal proved difficult. Without a knife he had to use a sharp rock to whittle at a large, but sturdy, stick. Finding both took the better part of an hour, whittling and catching fish went on till dusk. He managed to catch three edible fish. A meager result to the effort he put in, but it was something to get him through the night.

Finding materials for a fire, cleaning the fish, and cooking said fish pushed him into the nocturnal realm. He managed to finish as the sounds of the midnight beasts began to crescendo, and as he did he snuffed out the flame and climbed a tree quite a distance away from where he had the fire. No sense in drawing further attention to his location.

As he laid on his branch midway up the tree, he thought about what happened in the past couple of weeks. The reason why he took this trip, where his friend was, and what the devil was that monster that knocked them into the ocean. Those ships were built to handle even the most infuriated of waters, what happened was nothing short of a large monster attack. The type of which escapes him, he never got a good look.

He released a sigh and shook those thoughts away, giving room for the whole reason he's here in the first place. Alive, because of terry, but here? Was it because he was bored? He accepted the request without much thought. They were asking for some A-list hunters that would be needed for the Research commission on a newly discovered island. He had a small hope that he'd meet another monster, be it captive or wild, that could talk. He's always been at least a little curious them and his gift, and the quest seemed simple at the time. He hadn't expected that he'd be showing up and riding with an entire fleet, the 5th to be precise, and riding on a likely one way trip to an island filled with never before discovered monsters.

Here he is though. He got his wish, but at what cost? Nothing's boring now, yet at the same time, his life is on the edge and his best friend is missing, safe, or dead. Not dead, Terry's too resourceful to die. No, missing or safe is all that's left. A yawn snapped off the rest of his thoughts and he decided it best to get some sleep while he can. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Alrighty so on to the author's notes. This is gonna be a long too, as i plan to get most concerns and possible questions out of the way here and now.

So, first off. I don't know a whole lot about the lore of Monster Hunter. World is the one i have the most time in, 86hrs, and the one i've done the most research on. That said, it's super hard to find information on how the monsters interact in their environment. I've looked through about 4 different sites and all they give is the materials they drop and how to kill them. So, if anyone knows of a site i can get info on the monsters of World habits, that would be great to have. It'll make this more real to ya, i hope. I'm going for showing how some of the monsters interact with the environment they live in. What they eat, where they are in the food chain, etc, while also changing things up a bit. If you haven't noticed, our hunter pal can understand monsters, so having someone that can understand the more intelligent ones is bound to change how things work.

Now, to answer a possible question, no, dezros isn't some unique human that can understand monsters. There are plenty others that can, but they are few and far inbetween. The reason they can will be explained at a later chapter, and i'd like to think it makes some sense as to why and how it happens.

Will there be romance? Pbth, ha! if someone wants to write a romance they can do it. I suck when it comes to matters of the heart so i will not be making it in any sort of priority. That said, if it happens it happens, most likely it will be on accident though. If someone spots a potential pair, works it over with me, and it fits into the story well, they can write up a couple chapters for them and i'll find a spot in the story to put em in, credit WILL be given. That said, you're probably better off just makin your own story.

No, this entire story won't be Dez surviving with never finding Astera or the 3rd Fleet's ship. He'll find them both in due time. If you haven't noticed, he's not you. He's not the main character you play as in the game. He is the main character of this story, however.

Next, this is my second story. The first should be killed, burned, and wiped from history. I aim to make this better, so please, be merciless on your reviews. I need to know where i've gone wrong and what it is. I want to make this an enjoyable experience for you, the reader, and i can only do so if you tell me what's wrong.

Another thing is, I have no idea when i'll update. this chapter alone took me about 2 months to come out with. Between work, hanging out with my brother and working on our project, hanging out with my friends, and learning programming, getting chapters out will take a bit. So if you don't like waiting, then, well i'm sorry to see ya go, but this is the time to bail. But if you're gonna stick around, well, thanks. It means a lot. Especially since this seems to be on the smaller side of communities.

Feel free to pm me btw. You don't need to leave a review, though it helps others who wish to read this but like to read reviews before hand. I'll try to answer ya asap.

I think this covers everything, if i think of something else and i deem it important i'll let ya know.