DISCLAIMER:

All the characters in this story are fictional creations. I do not intend to emotionally hurt or abuse anyone. Any resemblance to any person, dead or alive, is purely coincidental.

CHAPTER 1: Electric Suckers

"Are you done?"

"Yes, just a minute, Rick!"

Rick waited impatiently, tapping his feet on the floor of their house on 35th Avenue, San Francisco. He was lounging on one of the two matching cane chairs in the room he shared with his sister. He was 15, five feet six inches with jet-black close cropped hair and intense black eyes. He was holding a Red Nintendo 3DS with a symbol of a dragon and the words Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate on the flap - cover.

He and his sister, Joanne were full-on Monster Hunter addicts. They'd played every game in the series that were available in English, and some that were not too. They had played other games, but had never been much into anything else. Today was Saturday, which meant game time. They killed about twelve hours every weekend playing Monster Hunter. They had hunted together so many times that they could hunt a Rajang and a Deviljho in one area without smoke bombs.

"Come on!" shouted Rick, "Or I'm going to go without you!"

Just then, Joanne walked in. A toddler could tell that she and Rick were siblings. She looked exactly like Rick. Same height (almost), an age difference of only two months. The only visible difference was that her hair fell around her shoulders. She didn't like to cut it.

Rick often asked his aunt how he was older by only two months. The math didn't add up if he and Joanne weren't twins or something. His aunt never told him. She said she didn't know.

This is probably a good time to mention that Rick and Joanne didn't have parents. They'd died in an explosion while they were at this lecture. They had both been environmentalists. Rick and Joanne had not even been able to cry at their funeral. They'd just stood there looking paler than the white gravestone.

Now they lived with their uncle and aunt, who were thankfully not very bad, but not very good either. They fed them and paid the school fees, but didn't really talk much or offer to help with school projects. That was fine with the kids. They liked to be left alone.

Joanne sat on the other cane chair and removed her 3DS from the bedside cabinet; a matching Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate edition, but hers was black.

"So, what are we hunting today?" she asked, as she powered it up.

"Nothing special, I finished grinding for my Gore X set. You wanna grind for something?"

"Nah. I guess we'll just help some newbs then. We can limit it to G3 quests. We have to get to the 8th scroll"

"Sounds good."

Rick liked helping randoms, especially newbs. He liked to kick them or skewer them with his longsword if they got annoying or made mistakes.

They were looking for good requsts when Rick exclaimed, "Hey, Freddy's asking for buddies to hunt Frenzied Zinnies!"

Joanne scowled. Rick knew that she hated Zinogres, much less frenzied ones, but he figured they should help Freddy out. And he liked Zinogres.

His name was Frederick but he insisted on being called Freddy (even though he was over 10 years older). He was an engineer who loved weapons. He always marveled at the weird and wonderful weapons in Monster Hunter. He'd come to their school to give a lecture and spotted Rick and Joanne sketching out some of their weapons. He'd confiscated the book, only to come to them later and asking where they'd seen all of these.

They entered the gathering hall. Freddy recognized them and waved, How's it going, fellas? He typed.

Hey, Freddy! I thought you had a date today! Rick typed.

Freddy stomped repeatedly on the ground, a gesture Rick recognized as frustrated, Yeah, but she wanted to go to a restaurant, and I wanted to go to the cinema. So we didn't go anywhere.

Joanne rolled her eyes. Rick did the clapping gesture. Freddy kept planning dates and pretending to get frustrated when he lost them, but both of them knew that the dude just preferred to stay home alone and chug cokes (Freddy hated alcohol because everyone liked it, just like he loved Monster Hunter because no one liked it).

So, why frenzy Zinny? Joanne typed as her hunter lay down on the floor with her hands supporting her.

Cuz I'm bad at fighting him alone, plus I need materials.

Rick moved his hunter over to Joanne's and kicked it. Let's go then. What are we waiting for?

I'm not sure we should hunt a Zinogre with a hammer, longsword and duals, Joanne typed.

Rick knew that she was just trying to talk Freddy out of hunting Zinogres, because she hated them. He gave a stupid grin and said, "You ain't getting out of this, sis!" Into the 3DS he typed, Are you kidding? It's perfect! You can paralyze him and Freddy can knock him out! Para duals are awesome, and you're good with them. Besides, Zinny's tail isn't even high up, so you can help me cut it!

Joanne growled.

I HATE ZINNIES, she typed, making her hunter stomp his foot in frustration.

Zinnies are awesome ;) Rick chided.

I think they're weird, typed Freddy. I mean, who just sucks electricity out of the air?

THEY SUCK :(

Yeah, That's what I said. They suck electricity.

Rick was getting impatient. Cut it out guys. Crack better jokes or I'm outta here!

Freddy went over to the quest counter and got the quest. Rick and Joanne joined in. Just as they were about to leave, Freddy moved over to the item box.

Forgot whetstones :P

Both Rick and Joanne clapped and cheered.

I think that should be enough, said Freddy after they'd killed half a dozen Zinogre hunts.

It better be typed Joanne, who was heartily tired of the wolves. Even Rick didn't feel like going for another one. It had been a messy job, especially since Deviljhos showed up in four of the eight hunts. Freddy insisted on killing the Jhos too, which led to a lot of unnecessary carting and failing the quest twice. A job that would've taken no longer than two hours had lasted three hours, and Rick's fingers were aching. Plus, the 3DS was beeping. It was out of juice.

"I think that's enough for today," he said, plugging his 3DS in. "I think aunt's announcing dinner."

They had a hearty dinner. Rick was really tired. He'd run for two hours in the afternoon for no reason, just because Joanne said he couldn't. His legs and hands were screaming for rest.

Without waiting for his sister, he pulled his blanket up and fell asleep instantly, dreaming of Zinogres chasing Deviljhos around the jogging track.