Ryuhime was so nervous. Finally, after ten years of academic trials, in addition to the massive amounts of preparation, finally it was time for her Final Exam. The test was required to all hunters who wished to be established with a Guild branch. Passing would mean receiving an emblem to denote her rank to all hunters, in addition to giving her a method of escaping her house. Failure, for her at least, would mean ridicule and mockery from her peers, and, even worse, she would lose Xera.
Xera, a tall, lithe, and sensual girl, was pretty much Ryuhime's only friend. She was beautiful, confident, perfect, everything Ryuhime wasn't, and although she'd never admit it, Ryuhime had a secret crush on her. She was far too shy to openly admit as much to anybody, even herself. Why would Xera like a girl like Ryuhime anyway? Nobody liked Ryuhime, not even herself. She only liked two things about herself: her voice, nothing really special, but she enjoyed the melody of it; and her hair: a vibrant purple that easily distinguished her from everybody else. Nothing else though. She was short and absolutely hated that fact. Added to that, she felt that her body was disproportionate. She had almost no fat lining her body, except for her breasts. She hated them more than anything else, even above her hatred for her height. Her breasts were huge, far too big to be comfortable for a girl of normal height, and she wasn't. They were almost three times larger than her fist, over twice as large as almost any other girl's in the class. The rest of her body was compact, thin, muscular, but not hard. She had a good body, soft and pleasing to the eyes. She hated every inch of it. She liked Xera's body: tall, lean, muscled yet still soft, and she wasn't nearly as buxom as Ryuhime. Hers were only small mounds, barely enough to actually cup in one's hand. At least, that was what Ryuhime inferred from what she saw. Xera chose to cover her private areas completely, no matter the situation, even after practice battles when they bathed. Either way Ryuhime preferred Xera's to her own.
Ryuhime looked up as the door opened. Is it Xera? She thought hopefully.
A rigid-bodied young man walked into the large gathering room. Muscles rippled across his imposing form as he swaggered around. Ivan, Ryuhime thought his name with disgust. A total braggart, he honestly believed that he was a divine gift to all women, and he was more than willing to share his "charms" with all of them. The majority of the class detested him. Even the girls who had succumbed, few though they were, still didn't like him. He personally hated Ryuhime though. She'd completely denied his advances and mocked him doing so.
He stared across the room at her. Good, he's chosen to sit on the other side of the room. And what a room! The gathering area also functioned as a training room and a practice area for both novices and experienced hunters. It was large enough to easily contain all but the largest monsters, even several leviathans simultaneously. Once, when it was flooded, they had had two lagiacrus and a full team of hunters; there was still enough room for strategies and dramatic aquatic maneuverings! It was similar in size to the arenas where hunters wagered their lives for money and the crowd's approval. And even over all of that immense space, she could still easily see all of the adulterous leers he sent her way.
She shivered underneath that oppressive glare. Then two slender arms twined their way around her torso. She squealed and leapt to her feet, disentangling the arms from her waist. She wheeled about to see who would dare. "Oh, it's you." She said, immediately cheerful when she saw who it was.
Xera, she was probably the only person who would dare. Ryuhime gave her a once-over. She was still at least a foot taller than Ryuhime, but Ryuhime liked Xera's height. Xera's night-black hair was still worn like always, long and loose in a sweeping curtain down her back to her waist. It looked silky and soft as always as well. Ryuhime idly toyed with the end of one of her forward tails. Even Xera's hair was so much more beautiful than hers.
Ryuhime wished she could've worn her hair like that. She shivered again, this time in fear. She couldn't wear it long, it would provide an easy handhold for them to grab.
Xera got her out of her stupor. She leaned forward, knocked Ryuhime's hand aside, and gave a tug on both of the jeweled metal pieces holding Ryuhime's tails. Ryuhime remembered why she liked wearing her hair tied into the dual tails at the front of her head, one to either side of her face. Of course, Xera liked playing with them. She kept her hair restrained with her most important items; the last keepsakes from her mother adorned her fore-tails. Twin, rather large, silver bands embedded with sapphires in a flower design. Each of the bands was about as large as her thumb. Everyday when she woke up she gathered her hair into the two tails, one on either side of her head, and then clasped both with her mother's keepsakes. And Xera liked them, so of course Ryuhime couldn't not wear it like that.
"Hey!" Ryuhime exclaimed as Xera tugged her head downward to stare at the ground. "What was that for?"
"You were staring at Ivan again. What, do you have a crush on him?" Xera leaned in close to hear the response.
Ryuhime leaned in close, conspiratorially, and beckoned Xera even closer. She looked around quickly, then shouted in Xera's ear, "No of course not!"
Xera staggered back and flicked Ryuhime in the forehead. Ryuhime flinched back and blinked her eyes several times to clear them. "Ow…What was that for?" She asked Xera.
"You shouted at me," Xera said sadly, on the verge of crying.
"Sorry!" Ryuhime said hurriedly. She hated making people feel bad, especially Xera. "Please don't be mad at me!"
Xera tackled her to the floor. "I'm not mad at you silly! I'm just messing with you! Stop worrying so much, jeez!" Xera then jumped back to her feet and tugged on Ryuhime's hairpieces until she stood back up.
"Owowowowowowow!" Ryuhime staggered back up to her feet. "That hurts you know."
"Too bad, you yelled at me." Xera said as she twirled around to stalk toward the bleachers. "That's what you get!" She lounged across several of the seats, getting herself quite comfortable before beckoning to Ryuhime. Ryuhime, of course, immediately ran over to sit on the ground at Xera's feet.
"You know, there are seats you can sit on, right?" Xera prodded Ryuhime in the back of the head.
"Well…yeah…b-but…umm…" Ryuhime stuttered. "I just like to sit on the ground." Which was true, even during class she'd rather sit on the floor instead of in one of the numerous seats strewn in the rooms.
"Yeah, whatever you dink," Xera made a vague waving gesture with one of her hands. "Grrrrrrrrr." She was growling, that meant she was annoyed. "When are they going to get here so we can do something?"
Before Ryuhime could respond the doors at one end of the room flew open. In stalked the "teachers," a score of experienced hunters who, for whatever reason, had chosen to teach another generation rather than continue their own legacies. They strode confidently, an aura of excellence radiating from them. They lined up along the front wall in accordance to their rank. All the way to the right stood the most veteran of them: Michael. He was fidgeting, as usual. He made it no secret that he didn't want to be there; in fact, if he hand hadn't been bitten off by a fatalis (or so he claimed), he would've continued going out to hunt with the best of them. Next to him stood the only female teacher, Lynn. Ryuhime didn't know anything about the other eight teachers; she'd only ever had one of those two. Midway through her first year she'd been taken from her class and advanced ahead a year to a higher level class. Soon after she'd been advanced again, putting her two years ahead of her peers. But the teachers didn't want her to go out as an inexperienced hunter and get herself killed. They'd held her back, giving her extra classes and private sparring lessons with the both of them. They'd even taken her out on a couple of actual hunts, low level ones without much danger, but still, they were actual quests. She'd gained much more experience than any of her peers.
Lynn took two steps forward from the other instructors and addressed the congregation of students, "The forty-three of you, here in this room right now, have surpassed all of the challenges we have set before you and ascended to the level where we cannot truly teach you anything more. Therefore, as of this moment, you have the right to be called hunters."
Michael now took a step forward, "You now have the right, but we're not going to honor it." A large collective groan went out from the whole of the group of students. Ryuhime swept her head around. Did they think they were just going to hand out the ranks? Didn't they know they had a Final Examination? Apparently not. "Today you will be challenged once more, with a final exam before you're awarded the title of 'hunter.'"
"Gather together in groups of no more than four." Lynn was back in charge. "You are more than allowed to go about this challenge alone, but I strongly advise against it. You have five minutes to form your groups."
Immediately everybody started to pair up with their closest friends. Ryuhime stayed close to Xera's side; she wanted to make sure they were on a team together. Then she saw where Xera was now walking to, another group of her own friends, people Ryuhime didn't know. There were three of them standing around waiting for her. Three. That meant that Xera didn't want to take the exam with her, she'd rather do it with her own friends. They must have all grown close during classes Ryuhime wasn't in. While she was busy memorizing all of the monsters types, weaknesses, everything that could possibly be learned about every monster, they were busy becoming friends, allies, people they knew they could rely on. Ryuhime felt a surge of envy as she realized that she didn't have that. The only one in her class she knew was Xera, she knew most of their names, but she only really Xera. And if Xera was going to go with them, who would Ryuhime be able to say she could rely on? Who would even want to partner up with her?
Ryuhime turned and began to scan the area for somebody who wasn't in a group already. It appeared that everyone was already teamed up. She only saw two people who were alone. One was a lance-wielder, a guy who preferred to hunt by himself; he would never want to hunt with Ryuhime. The other was…Ivan…He would definitely want to hunt with Ryuhime, but she didn't want to be anywhere near him.
She could do it alone…probably…whatever it was…
She started to walk away to give Xera and her friends space. As she wandered off a firm hand clasped onto her shoulder, holding her in place. She started to shrug it off, but stopped herself midway. She turned again to see Xera holding her in place. "Where do you think you're going?"
Ryuhime responded sullenly. "Well, you already have three other people going with you…I was going to leave so you had some room around you…"
"And what group were you going to go with?"
Ryuhime started stuttering at this inquiry. "W-well, I didn't really have a group figured out, so I was just going to do whatever they wanted us to do by myself…"
Xera flicked her in the forehead again. "You really are a dink. The smartest dink I know, but still a dink. You really thought I was just gonna leave you alone? You're the only student in our grade who's had hands-on training and hunting experience with two of the teachers! Of course I want to hunt with you, you dink! Besides only two of them are my friends. The other one's one of Ivan's buddies." She said his name in disgust. "The little one, his name's Tiny. He's Ivan's friend and is really strong. Despite the company he keeps he's still a pretty good kid, really reliable in a pinch. He's gonna be going with Ivan. The other two are my friends. The girl's name is Nailah. She's pretty good, but she's definitely delicate. She sticks to the bow or bowgun for the most part. The guy's one of her friends, I think his name's Wolf or something. He's a show-off, but unfortunately he's actually good. I know, I know, me saying that some guy's strong." She was mocking herself and 'Wolf' both. He must have been really good though, Xera hated giving men any appreciation whatsoever. In fact, Ryuhime couldn't think of another time Xera had given a guy a complement like that, she was very biased against men, so this Wolf guy must really have been good.
Xera dragged her over to the pair. "Hi, how're you? You must be the famous Ryuhime, right? Xera won't shut up about you, you know? You must really be something because usually I have a hard time getting Xera to say anything. I hope you don't disappoint otherwise I'll be very annoyed with Xera for leading me astray," All of this came out in a rush, words tumbling over each other in their rush to escape Nailah's mouth. She had a distracted look on her face that made Ryuhime wonder if the girl even realized what she was saying. "By the way I'm Nailah and he's Ulf. He's like the best I know. I'm pretty sure that he's gonna end up this year's champion and usually when I say things like that I'm right. And when I say that he's good I really mean it, I mean really, really good. He took on a whole bunch of the little jumpy things, like twenty or thirty all by himself and he made it look so easy. He's so awesome and powerful and amazing and the best and m-"
She cut off abruptly when Ulf covered her mouth with his hand. Though he didn't press down against her skin, she immediately stopped talking and focused on it. She lunged forward with her teeth and bit down softly on the pads of his fingers. He flicked his fingers, almost purring in her ear, "Ow."
"Wimp," She came back with in a voice just as husky as his had been.
Xera cleared her throat loudly. "You know, not all of us want to see you two being so, ah active, right here in front of everybody."
Ulf swatted lightly at the top of Nailah's head, "She's right you know, love."
"I know," Nailah whined. "But I want to!"
"Okay, okay, later, not now. I don't want anybody but me to see you like that."
"Okay to both of you." Xera's input caused both of them to stare at her. "Now, stop undressing each other with your eyes and focus."
"What are we focusing on? They haven't actually told us what they expect us to do yet. They haven't said yet, right?" Ulf looked like he honestly didn't know. He was obviously more interested in examining Nailah than the final examination.
"Shhhhh." Ryuhime shushed him, speaking up for the first time since she'd joined the party.
Ulf shouted out in joy as she spoke. "Hooray! She speaks!" Immediately, everybody except for Nailah and Ryuhime shushed him again. He whirled his head around for a minute or so before realizing that everybody was looking at the front of the room.
Lynn had taken the stage again. "For your final examination, we ask you only to do one simple task. Hunt down and defeat a bird wyvern. You even get to choose which type and which one you want to hunt. You will be graded on how well you all did, how injured you come back, and how dangerous your monster was. Each of the groups will have another five minutes to decide, by consensus, which of the bird wyverns they wish to eliminate. Remember, the most important rule of hunting is teamwork. Half a minute's already passed; the quests are up on the far wall. Pick faster."
Immediately people started leaping up to their feet and rushing toward the back wall. Nailah leapt up to follow them, but Ulf grabbed hold of the back of her skirt and held her back. "There'll are plenty of quests on that wall. I'm sure that we don't have to worry love. We should each put forth our vote before we pick a quest."
Xera nodded solemnly and asked them all, "Alright, so what's it gonna be? I personally need a better grade."
Ulf responded with, "Me too. I'm the best when it comes to weapons, but I don't test well. I suggest we hunt a velocidrome, iodrome, or something stronger. Nailah love?"
"I like Ulf's plan." She answered.
Ryuhime and Xera shared a long look. "Didn't see that comin, did you?" Xera asked.
Ulf put on an obviously faked look of innocence and turned to face Ryuhime. It took her a moment to realize that everybody else was staring at her as well. "Well?" They chorused.
"Oh," She stuttered. She hadn't meant to hold them up. "Well, um, I thought we should do a weaker monster. Like a great jaggi or something. We aren't really used to fighting together so we should do something like that for practice."
"Well, since we only have to do the one quest together, and the fact that I've hunted a congalala already, I'm pretty sure that we can handle something a little more powerful." Ulf tried to coerce her. He'd already hunted a congalala! Nailah was right he was strong! Ryuhime's thoughts were whirling at that admission. Novices like them weren't allowed to hunt something like that! He continued speaking, "If you're so scared, you don't have to do anything, I can take your share of the work too."
Ryuhime straightened, "I-I can fight too. I just thought we should be safe."
"Good, then we're all agreed," Ulf said as he headed toward the back wall to accept their quest.
"Agreed on what?" Ryuhime asked naively.
