Disclaimer: I do not own the Monster Hunter series.
A/N: Even though I'm currently fighting Qurupeco in a mission where it can't even summon big contenders like Deviljho or Rathalos, it still gives me a hard time. I'm probably just not a very good hunter, but being tenacious is an important aspect with a game like MH. I just wrote this out of a random little idea. This ended up being a bit more tragic than I expected. And in the first part, they were speaking in Deviljho language or whatever since Qurupeco is multi-lingual.
In a certain forest, separated from the rest of humanity...
It was late at night, and as the stars twinkled brilliantly in the night sky above, an unlikely pair of monsters were keeping each other company: a Qurupeco and a Deviljho. They had been friends for quite some time now, and they always made some time out to spend together every day. They were a tag team to be reckoned with although they had not been attacked by another aspiring monster hunters as of yet.
"You know...I've been kind of depressed lately..."
The Deviljho slightly turned its head in the direction of its feathered friend. "...Really?"
"Yeah." The Qurupeco nodded. "Like, I feel that my life really isn't going the way I want it to."
"Do you think you could give me an example?"
"An example?"
"Yeah. I may be nothing more than a big hungry dummy, but that doesn't mean I don't want to try my best to help you, and to do that I'll need a better understanding about your situation."
The Qurupeco thought quietly to itself for a few moments. "Well...I guess...hmm, how do I make sense of it...ah, so you know how lately there's been alot of humans running around in the jungle here? I think they're called hunters or something,"
"Yeah. I see them scurrying about all the time; most of them go off in the opposite direction as soon as they see me coming. Are they what's bothering you so much?"
The Qurupeco's tiny eyes become glossy as it thought back to previous days, and it felt a deep sadness rise up within its chest. "I think so, yes, they are the ones responsible for it. Every day I am afraid that they might come for me next. It's worrying me so much that I can't sleep or eat, and I'm starting to get paranoid. I was unfortunate enough to witness a Nargacuga, a NARGACUGA for crying out loud, get struck down by a single human. They also wear strange outfits and use weapons that carry the scents of our deceased friends. You can smell it on them too, I'm sure. It makes me so, so depressed...each day, another one of us will fall..."
Much to the Qurupeco's surprise and annoyance, the Deviljho let out a snort of laughter. "Ha!" it shook its head and replied, "You worry too much, my friend. Stop overreacting!" Qurupeco was not amused by this.
"Excuse me? Overreacting? You think I'm overreacting? I'm worrying about my bloody life here, you know! You're way too relaxed about it! They call us monsters, but really they're bigger monsters than we are!"
"C'mon, even if the hunters did come for you, you could just fly away, right? You're pretty lucky that you got wings, while I'm stuck with these worthless little arms...!" Deviljho waved a tiny forelimb to emphasis its point. However, this was not enough to help lift it's friend Qurupeco's spirits at all.
"No, it's no use. Even if I did try to escape, they have weapons that can attack us no matter whether we are under water, on land, or airborne. We can't avoid them no matter how hard we try. We have no choice but to fight back with all of our might, for the sake of living at least one more day, and if we are killed, then the only thing we could have to regret is becoming a target for the hunters."
Deviljho pouted. "Geez...now you're making ME depressed..."
"Sorry."
"Well, don't you worry your pretty little head! If a hunter attacks, then I want you to just remember one thing," the Deviljho, always trying to look on the bright side of things, gave the Qurupeco a reassuring smile, "All you have to do is call me, and I'll be there in a jiffy to bail you out!"
"...Thank you, my friend." The Qurupeco was honestly touched by Deviljho's promise. After everything they'd been through together, the bird wyvern knew without a doubt that it could count on Deviljho. Through thick and thin, they would be there for each other. All of the sadness and anxiety that had been tormenting the Qurupeco melted away in an instant.
"Hey, it's no problem at all! Besides, it'll let me avenge our dead friends AND give me something to eat! Gah ha ha ha ha!"
The two friends fell asleep soon after that, both of them dreaming of what kind of food they'd find for breakfast tomorrow morning.
The next day...
Deviljho had been feasting on a rotting carcass when it heard the call. It was a loud, hollow roar that seemed to echo throughout the perimeter of the jungle. The great beast rushed to the scene as fast as its massive legs could carry it. It could feel its tiny heart pounding dully against its rib-cage; it hadn't expected that Qurupeco would be attacked so suddenly like this. Because of what it had said last night, the worst thing it could do was go and let down Qurupeco now. That wouldn't be something that a loyal friend would do.
'Please...please let him be alright...!'
As it drew closer to its destination, Deviljho's nostrils were soon filled with the scent of freshly spilled blood. It was not the smell of human blood, or any other kind of blood it was familiar with. That was when a horrible realization dawned upon it. A series of flashbacks of its friendship with Qurupeco passed before its eyes.
'Oh no...'
Deviljho was too late. It burst out from behind a massive tree that stood in its path, and what it found both shocked and horrified it. Three hunters clad in colorful armor were tearing apart Qurupeco's lifeless corpse with their hunting knives. They were fervently at work with carving off chunks of its flesh and skin for their own use. Qurupeco's body was laid out in a sprawled position, with its head bent at an unnatural angle. A puddle of its own blood was flowing out from underneath it. Its opaque, empty-looking eyes almost seemed to be staring up at Deviljho, asking it why it didn't keep its promise.
At first, the Deviljho felt sadness, but that was quickly replaced with blinding rage. It let loose a mighty scream, and its muscles started to swell to massive sizes. All it could think about was avenging Qurupeco's needless death. Every nerve in its body screamed as old battle scars tore open all over its body. Another roar from the Deviljho, fueled by hatred and agony, knocked one of the hunters off his feet.
'Qurupeco...Qurupeco...Qurupeco...!'
"O-Oh god! Let's get out of here! It's gonna kill us!" screamed the hunter.
"No! We've been tracking this one for too long, and now we have it right where we want it," stated another hunter, who was wielding a lance, "We can take it now! I am sure of it! It's three against one, after all!"
The third hunter simply nodded in agreement with his braver companion, and he raised his sword in preparation to strike.
Deviljho charged straight ahead at the men responsible for the murder of his beloved friend. In its blind fury, it had failed to take heed of a fourth hunter that had been hiding in a nearby tree. That hunter had been apart of the group who had killed Qurupeco, but he was the first to prepare ahead of time for Deviljho's imminent arrival. Just as Deviljho was barely a few inches away from the three hunters, it felt the ground give way underneath it. It had been trapped from a previously-planted mine. Deviljho howled. The hole was so deep that only its head was able to stick out, leaving it a perfect target for the hunters.
The fourth hunter leaped from the branches and began pelting the gigantic monster in the head with lightning-powered bullets in mid-air. The other hunters quickly joined in on the offensive once they realized that they were safe from harm. Deviljho could do nothing but scream pitifully as it was struck from all sides, over and over and over. It tried to pull itself out of the pit, but its arms were too tiny and weak to do anything. Out of the corner of its eye, it could still see Qurupeco lying there. None of the hunters saw the single tear that trickled down the Deviljho's cheek. Its face was soon splattered in its own blood.
'Qurupeco...I'm sorry...I failed to protect you after all...I broke my promise...'
Later that same day, the four hunters would return to their home village, weary but alive. They would inform the elder and the guild of their successful conquest of eradicating both the Qurupeco and the Deviljho. A grand feast would be held in their honor, and the people would view them with both awe and respect. The skins, bones and flesh collected from the two slain monsters would be used to fashion new armor and weapons for the hunters to use on their quests. For the hunters, it was simply just another day on the job.