`` Get out of the way! We need to bring her to a medic now!´´ a man shouted as he crossed the crowd. He adorned a red armor that resembled scales of some kind of dragon, a helm which a visor that was raised so he could see better and a giant greatsword that seemed to be made of the same material as the armor. A Rathalos´ equipment, made of the said wyvern and symbol of skill and pride for the ones who killed the beast. Behind this hunter four walking cats were pushing a wooden cart with a woman on it. She wore a simple armor made iron and connected iron rings without the helm, her short red read was stained with dirty and she looked unconscious. A very deep wound could be seen on the left side of the armor plate, as if a knife or something sharp had penetrated the armor. ``Dam it! How did this happen?!´´ the hunter thought as he rushed towards the healer of his village.
(Flashback)
``Hey Derek! What job you took?´´ a man wearing a purple rubber armor asked coming towards his friend. They were on the tavern of the village, a place where the monster hunters of the village of Kokoto would gather to get new jobs. The village was placed on a group of hills that connected many hunting areas and was a beacon for hunters and people. For the commoners and the villagers, monsters were a menace and wished that they never existed, but for others it was always a challenge, adventure and a form to gain money. Derek was one these hunters, his skills for fighting the Rathalos species earned him the title of "Blazing Fire" as his favorite sword was the flame great sword. However, even his hunting abilities weren´t perfect. Derek had hard time fighting water and dragon monsters since his equipment was unsuitable against these creatures, because of this, he never went past four stars on the hunting rank.
The hunting rank is a system designed to measure the skills of the hunter so the guild masters can give the appropriate jobs. A hunter always started on the first rank, the one star. With this rank, you can do missions involving gathering of materials for the everyday life or hunt minor monsters like the velociprey and bulfango. With two stars, more dangerous monster are available, including the leader of the "prey" species, gathering of ore in dangerous areas like the desert or a fight against your first wyvern, generally the fire spilling Yian kut ku. With four stars, Derek can hunt practically all the wyvern species, be it fire, water, electricity,brute and others and also egg deliveries(which he hated to do).His dream was to one day challenge the legendary Crimson Fatalis, one of the elder dragons. The rank went up to six stars, where you are allowed to hunt the fearsome elder dragons or any creature with a power to challenge these creatures. Of course, each kind of job had a proper reward in the form of money or prize. But for the monster hunters, the items obtained from the creatures were more important than money.
Rick, the rubber armored friend of Derek, had three stars and could only hunt lesser wyverns such as the Gypceros, a purple bird wyvern which the skin was resistant against thunder attacks. Rick and Derek were friendly rivals when both had three stars, challenging each other but also respecting each other victories. When Derek killed his first Rathalos and gained one more star, Rick vowed to reach the same rank. But his abilities weren´t enough against the more dangerous monsters nor his lance and shield could save him when a fast moving monster was around. The only monster he didn´t fightt was the weird wyvern Khezu, a placid monster which could create electricity. It was the perfect job for him, his armor was great against the electric attacks and the slow moving monster was an easy target against his lance. Sadly, Rick never found such monster on the missions, it didn´t matter how many months he waited, it was like no one was having trouble with the monster. ``They live on cold caverns, so it is very unlikely that they will cause some trouble since they eat kelbi and little more. I only fought one in all my life´´ Derek told his friend when the rubber hunter asked for his friend.
Back on the tavern, Derek smiled at his friend. ``It is an azure rathalos hunt on the North Jungle. Now it is my chance to upgrade my armor´´ the red hunter said excited while rubbing his hands. An Azure Rathalos was a rathalos that reached middle adulthood, for unexplained reasons his scales turn to an azure color and it is more ferocious than his younger siblings. ``Any Khezu job?´´ Rick asked. ``No, but there is a Purple Gypceros that is stealing food in the Swamp´´ Derek answered but when he saw the sad expression on his friend´s face he put an arm on the rubber knight´s shoulder, ``Look, I know you wish to win that rank, like I want to reach six stars to hunt that Crimson Fatalis. But until then, let´s hunt the most dangerous monsters we are allowed!´´ the red warrior exclaimed and so Rick raised his head and grinned. ``Yeah, you´re right! It is time to see if I can still hunt these coward birds´´ the rubber knight said doing a handshake with his friend.
(North Jungle)
Derek swung his sword vertically as the wyvern dived into his direction, the blade connected with the monster´s belly and forced the beast back into the ground. They were in a clearing in the middle of the jungle, with many trunks on the ground and some trees burning because of the battle between hunter and hunted. Derek panted heavily, the azure creature was harder than he thought, smarter and faster. When he rolled to dodge a fireball his opponent would soon follow up with a charge and he noticed that the creatures´s wings and hide were way harder than his younger relative. But the battle was finally over and the hunter could finally collect his prize.
``That was…hard´´ Derek said to himself as he put his greatsword on his back and turned to the immobile body on the ground. ``And to think there is still the Silver Rathalos…I can´t even imagine it´s power´´ he said grabbing a yellow flute from a pouch he always carried. The flute worked as an alarm to call an Aptonoth, an herbivore monster which was often used by hunters and villagers to carry the materials and equipment. These animals, while docile, were strong in their own way but were on the base of the hunting hierarchy. After some minutes said creature came from the trees with many bags hanging from the sides. Derek smiled to see his aptonoth safe, they were easy prey for the other monster when alone. After some carving(which the hunter took special care to not damage the materials) both hunter and creature went the way back to the camp.
After some minutes of walking a female scream echoed through the trees, ``Someone needs help!´´ the hunter thought, ``Stay here!´´ he commanded the aptonoth and rushed to the direction of the sound. ``Maybe it is a hunter, or even worse! A villager!´´ he thought sweating, he stopped to catch some breath since he was exhausted after a fight with the Rathalos. ``Dam it! Where is she?!´´ he shouted between gasps. Someone moaned in pain, making the hunter look at the sides with despair. He saw a woman leaning on a tree, her hunting knife and shield on the ground and with her head lowered. ``Hey! Are you okay?!´´ Derek crouched and shook the woman, his eyes widened when he saw a gaping hole on her chest with blood coming from it. Judging by her iron armor and sword she was a one star hunter, probably a newbie. Derek looked at the sides searching for the responsible creature but found no traces of any monster, he turned his attention back to the red haired woman. ``Where are the cats? They should be here by now!´´ the man thought, little did he know that the feline rescue team was knocked out not too far away from their position.
Having no choice, Derek grabbed the huntress´s body in his arms with some difficult and raised from the ground. ``You are heavy!´´ he complained as he run the fastest he could.
(End of the flashback)
(Kokoto Village)
Shen, the master of the village, watched horrified as the red hunter and the cart approached. ``What happened?!´´ he asked, ``I was doing a job and found her, she needs medical treatment now!´´ Derek said. ``Bring her inside!´´ Shen commanded, the hunter grabbed the woman´s body and went inside the man´s hut. ``Leave her here´´ the old man said pointing to a bed at the side of the hut and the hunter complied. ``Hum…that is a nasty wound. Can you tell me how you found she?´´ Shen asked grabbing some herbs that were stored on a cabin. ``Inside the jungle, unconscious by a tree. I believe a horn or fang of some kind is the source of the wound´´ Derek answered looking at the woman, she was pale as the moon and her torso was moving very slow.
``It isn´t a fang, the hole is straight, a fang would cause a slash form´´ the elder said smashing the herbs on a pot and adding water, honey and a blue mushroom. Shen was, at one point of his life, a reputed hunter but when his wife was killed by a monster he fell on depression and quit being a hunter. Because of this, he vowed to save the lives of every hunter he could, he respected them as the defenders of the people and for this he studied medicinal herbs for many years to improve his healing skills.
``Can I do something?´´ Derek asked, ``Grab some fabric and clean water, there are some on that bookcase. You know what to do´´ the elder answered walking towards the bed with a flask filled with a green liquid. He opened the huntress´ mouth with a finger and put the recipient on her lips so the green fluid could flow into her mouth. Meanwhile, Derek cleaned the wound with water and took the opportunity to check it. ``So?´´ the elder asked, ``Two ribs were broken and she lost much blood, but fortunately the heart wasn´t stabbed and the lung seems to be fine´´ Derek sighed with relief after patching the wound.
``That is good to hear. The potion I gave her should be taking effect right now, but she needs to rest for a while. I will take care of her wounds from now on. Now comes the question…´´ Shen said, ``I didn´t see any monster nor any footprint or signal. It seems that the rescue team was killed or didn´t find her. They usually are very wary of the situation´´ the hunter answered the unspoken question. ``But what kind of monster can do this?´´ the elder rubbed his long bear thinking about the situation. ``Something with horns, I guess. I will search on my archives for something like that´´ Derek said. Every hunter knew the importance of knowing the monster´s behavior, habitat and characteristics and so everyone had a book with this kind of information. Some gathered the information themselves while others resorted to general books given by guilds and elders.
``By the way, who is she?´´ the red hunter asked taking off his helmet. ``I believe her name is Yoru, she came to Kokoto three days ago and wanted to be a monster hunter. Today was supposed to be her first mission, mushroom gathering I guess´´ the elder told. ``That explains why I never saw her. Anyway, I should be going´´ Derek said going towards the door but stopped to look back. ``She is very unlucky, isn´t she?´´ he asked, ``She is lucky to have you around to save her. A knight in shining armor I suppose´´ Shen joked, ``Very funny´´ he whispered looking towards the woman, he felt happy that he could save her.