Boma Village

Disclaimer: Monster Hunter is copyright Capcom. All the characters in this story are mine.

"And that's another pot to me. Perhaps you should give up now Desig, or you might end up losing this voyages wages to me as well."

Aboard the cargo ship Coral Wrath, a young crew member threw his cards down in dismay before pocketing what few chips he had left as his own. "Fine then," he growled to the ships first mate, who was pulling away the young man's wages. "I know when I'm outmatched. I'll let someone else lose to you now."

"You do that," the first mate laughed. "Oh, yes, and since I'm sure you have idle hands without a losing pair of cards in them, perhaps you'd like to spend the rest of the afternoon swabbing the deck over by the helm."

Desig winced at the thought, arousing a laugh from his fellow crewmen. "But, sir! I just mopped the deck this morning before lunch!"

"Oh, I'm sure you did lad. But we wouldn't want our captain having to steer the ship standing on a dirty deck, now would we?" the first make chuckled to himself again, before grinning evilly at Desig. "Or perhaps you'd prefer we lower you down to scrape the barnacles off the hull? It's been near a month since we last had you do it, and I'm sure we've picked up quite a mess down there in that time."

Desig shuddered in revulsion, remembering the filth he'd had to clean off the bottom of the boat during his first week aboard as a crew member. The rookie's job, they'd told him, you'll only have to it once, then some other newbie will be aboard to do it instead. But out of all the stops they'd made in the last month offloading and taking in cargo, no new faces save the occasional travelers buying passage had gotten aboard, meaning he was still the "rookie" of the crew, and the first to be "volunteered" to do the less pleasant work.

"No, sir," Desig sighed in surrender. "I suppose the captain will want the deck swabbed before dinner so I'll go do that."

"I thought you might," the first mate chuckled. "Now on your way boy," he said, waving Desig off. "Perhaps if you're quick, you can be first in line for supper."

Yeah, if you get excited for pig slop, Desig thought sullenly as he walked across the deck. But I suppose if I was first in line, the slop would be warm. He continued to mutter to himself as his continued across the deck and removed the mop and bucket from their posts. After dropping the bucket into the ocean and pulling up the (relatively) clean water, he sullenly began mopping near the helm, thinking on the last few weeks of his life and how much he regretted his choices.

Sailing the open sea was not turning out to be the kind of adventure Desig was hoping it would be. Since he was a young boy, he'd always sought out a life of adventure. He supposed that, growing up near the docks of his home village, he was bound to dream of living a life on the sea sooner or later. But misfortune seemed to have become his new companion, since the day he gave up on his last dream of adventure and turned his sights towards the sea, was just about the time he was old enough to join a crew. If only he'd been a little younger! Maybe this misery could have been avoided.

But no matter what he wanted now, here he was, signed on to a year's voyage on the deck of the Coral Wrath, swabbing the deck day in and day out and always the last in line for meals. At least at their last stop, the first mate had gotten drunk enough for him to sneak out and explore the town.

Desig grinned at the memory. Now there had been a fun day! Their last stop had been a town called Nero. It was a small town just east of the great desert that was the domain of Loc Lac. And while the city, the country, and the people of the town were nothing great to see, the travelers and passer through was what had really caught his attention.

Hunters! While Nero was not much of a town on its own, it played a vital role as a carry-over stop for hunters traveling around the world in search of the deadliest monsters. Now there was an adventurous lifestyle for you! Journeying rugged lands, fighting vicious beasts, bringing home wondrous trophies and spoils of war!

But the thoughts of such an adventurous life only made Desig sigh in misery as he dumped his now filthy water overboard. The only reason he was aboard this ship right now was because he had failed his Hunter's Exam. Not enough strength, they'd said. Not enough stamina. Not enough guts, willpower, strategy, reflexes. Not enough anything! He'd never felt as worthless in his life as when he'd dragged his feet out of the Guild Hall that day.

"Ah, buck up boy!" he remembered a voice behind him saying.

Desig remembered turning around and finding no one behind him at first, before looking down and seeing the short-statured Guild Master sitting on a stool outside the entrance, grinning up at him. Desig remembered the flare of anger that shot through him.

"And why the hell should I!" he'd yelled at the old man. "I've imagined joining the Guild for years! And they throw me out like leftovers! Not even a better luck next time or anything, just 'you fail, out with you.'"

"Well, of course," the old Wyvernian had chuckled. "It's implied."

That had caused Desig to pause in confusion. "What? I mean… what's implied?"

"The 'better luck next time' part," the old man laughed. "Come on now, boy. If you truly intend to join the Guild, you're going to try again aren't you?"

"Well, yes," Desig had stuttered. "But I can't reapply for a year and a half!"

"There you go! Plenty of time to improve yourself! Work out, run some laps, practice with a sword, that kind of thing. Go get some experience out in the real world before throwing your hand in with the Hunter's Guild again."

Desig let out an exasperated sigh. "But for that long? That's a lot of time to waste just waiting for another test."

"Then go on an adventure!" the Master had said excitedly. "Do a different job for a year or something. Be a traveling merchant, learn a trade, travel the land, travel the seas! Do whatever you want, but do it for the sake of improving yourself! And who knows? Maybe once a year or so rolls around, perhaps you'll not want to be a hunter so bad and find a different job that suits you better."

And so, like certainly so many others before him, he had taken the old crackpot's advice, and joined up on the first hint of adventure that came his way. And here he was now, miserably wiping the gunk off of the deck of a ship. At least he didn't get seasick anymore.

"The first thing I'm gonna do when I become a hunter," he grumbled, "is punch that old coot in the mouth."

"You won't be the first man aboard this ship to make that claim boy!" a jovial voice laughed behind him.

Desig jumped in fear at the voice, turning quickly to salute. "Yes, Captain!"

Captain Vin laughed again at Desig's fright, and Desig relaxed slightly. Vin was certainly a man who commandeered respect aboard the ship. Standing nearly a head taller than anyone else on the ship, and with a girth that made Desig wonder how he stayed standing on the rough seas, he was easily the largest man on the ship. And that was quite something considering the mass of muscles some of the other men were.

"Aw, calm down boy," Vin chuckled, shaking his head. "The only crewman on this ship that feels the need to make sure I'm saluted is the first mate. Now put your arm down. At ease! Or whatever it is those Guild guards bark at each other to make each other relax."

Desig gladly put his arm down and leaned against the railing. "What do you mean by that, Captain?" he asked, "That I'm not the first to say it?"

"You are not the first crew member on this ship who wanted to get off this tub and become a hunter, Desig, that's what I mean! You aren't the first dropout that jumped aboard to 'improve' himself. The last one left 'bout… oh, three months before you came aboard. Passed with flying colors too, I heard! And he was about as shrimpy as you were when he came aboard."

Desig bristled at the "shrimpy" remark, but the realization of what the Captain had said was more shocking. "You mean people have actually gotten better after sailing?" Desig asked with surprise.

"Oh yes, boy," Vin said with a grin. "Sea life makes the best hunters! The work makes you strong, the rocking of the boat gives you balance, and the emergencies make you fast on your feet and in your brain. Think about that, boy, before knocking about the life of a sailor." Vin continued to chuckle as he turned away from Desig and took a spyglass to study the horizon.

Desig was stunned. After so long aboard, he'd never even thought about the possibility that working on the Coral Wrath would turn out to be beneficial to his dream of becoming a hunter. But as he thought about it, he began to realize that the captain may have been right. Thinking back over the last month of work, he had found the work progressively becoming easier. Moving cargo around while in port was less tiring and he could carry more; he rarely lost his balance when a large wave struck the ship anymore, and he was much better at handling situations when storms hit.

Desig suddenly found himself smiling. Perhaps the guild master had been onto something. He thought back once again to the ship's stop in Nero, remembering how he'd ventured into a hunter's bar. He remembered listening with rapt attention at every story and tale told by the traveling warriors. So many strange and wondrous and adventurous things they'd done. And if Desig managed to survive this hellish year at sea… he could very well be a hunter like them as well!

Suddenly, a memory sparked in Desig's head. He recalled one of the hunters mentioning something in the bar during his time in town, a strange story he'd never hear the like of before…

"Captain," Desig started quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course, boy," Vin answered, turning away from the water to look at Desig.

"You go on land every time we dock, right? To get information about current events or something?"

"Of course," Vin said matter-of-factly. "In order to get the most profitable cargo, we must stay on top of things happening on land. If we want to have a profitable voyage, we must be sure to stay ahead of the latest cravings and desires of the people in all the harbors we stop at." Vin paused. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I heard this strange rumor while I was in town and was hoping you knew something about it?"

Vin shrugged. "I might. What rumor did you hear?"

"Have you heard these rumors about these people appearing? Out of nowhere? The - what are they called? - the Lost?"

Captain Vin grimaced for a second, before taking a deep breath to compose himself. "Ah, that oddity. Yes, I've heard about it."

"Can you tell me what you know about it? It seemed to be a really important issue, but no one wanted to talk about it."

"Because it's so strange," Vin began, "no one knows how to talk about it." Vin grunted, scratching his head in thought. "But from what I've heard, some time ago, maybe half a year or so, strange people just began… appearing. Out of thin air. And everywhere. I think the first few began to appear somewhere near the deserts out by Loc Lac. A stream of them just starting appearing at the gates of the city, claiming to be from some world with fantastic technology. Now normally, people would just assume it to be some big attempt at hoaxing the people of the city into something, I don't know what. But the trickle of people started to grow. Enough people to fill dozens of villages just began piling through the gates of Loc Lac, requesting help from this world of ours. Nobody knew where they were coming from, but the Loc Lac council finally agreed, upon seeing the dire conditions some of them were in, to section off a section of Loc Lac for the use of those people. Got the nickname 'the Lost' about then I think.

"But it got really bad after that. None of them knew how they got here at all, but they all starting swearing tales of fire and brimstone raining from the sky before they were brought here. Horrible sweeps of death and decay, all sorts of nasty stories. And then they just, I don't know, fell asleep or something, and woke up in the desert. Well this caused some hellish panic in Loc Lac. If these people whole city or whatever was destroyed by some unknown force, how would we know if they weren't bringing this terrible threat along with them? About then the council commissioned an expedition to be sent into the desert in search of the source of all these people, and hopefully whatever was attacking them. Well, by the time the whole thing was set to move out, the stream of people from the desert had trickled to a stop all of a sudden, and a swarm of people was wandering all terrified out of the rainforests to the south, swearing on their lives that their homes and cities had met a similar destruction. Now the Loc Lac senate was already trying to recover from providing homes and apartments, and this new swarm of people screaming tales of disaster just popped up too, begging for a place to live."

"That's… terrible…"

"Oh, it gets worse. A couple months ago, the winter season in the Tundra ended and hunters were finally able to hunt up in search of prey again. When they got there, they found bodies. Hundreds of them, the same kind of people that had come from the desert and jungle. They'd all died during the winter freeze. The cold had frozen them over, so no one had any idea how long they'd even been there, buried under the snow."

"That's horrible!"

Vin nodded solemnly. Desig looked away from the Captain, trying to process the strange story that was being told. In a small part of his mind, he realized that a small crowd of crewmen and passengers had gathered around the captain and were listening to the story as well with sullen looks on their faces. After a long moment, Desig found his voice again.

"What happened? To the people's homeland I mean."

"Who knows? Perhaps a war? Perhaps some natural disaster?"

"Could it have been a monster of some sort?" a traveler spoke up. "Maybe it was a Rathalos or something like that."

Vin shook his head. "You'd think so, but there are two problems. One, no monster known will just pick up and carry a civilization from… wherever they came from, to here. And the second… well…"

"What?"

"Apparently none of these people have ever seen a monster before. None of them. Wherever they're from, there are no Jaggis, or Aptonoth, or hell, no Felynes!"

"But that's impossible…" Desig said. "Monsters are everywhere in the world! Where could they have come from?"

"Who knows?" Vin said. "Maybe from some unknown, inaccessible section of the earth that no one's ever explored."

"But…" Desig sputtered. "What happened?"

Vin sighed. "No one knows, boy." Vin looked at his crowd, a look on his face as though he'd just noticed them. "What are you slackers doing?" he asked the crew. "Story's over! Back to work with you!"

The crew of the Coral Wrath grumbled at having to go back to their jobs after such a strange story, and the passengers filtered after, not comfortable at having to stick around with all the crew walking away. Desig continued to lean against the railing as the crowd drifted away.

"Is it true?" he asked quietly. "The stories I mean. What they say."

Vin shook his head. "I don't know, boy."

"It's true. All of it."

Desig turned in surprise at the voice. Among the few remaining listeners was a young woman who stood out from the rest. She wore strange-patterned clothes made from fabrics Desig had never seen before in his life, with strange symbols and images lining the whole of the fabric. The woman herself was quite attractive in Desig's opinion. She was only an inch or two shorter than Desig and had a body that was toned well. She emitted a different feeling than the other passengers, with dark brown hair that dropped to her shoulder blades tied up at the base of her skull, and shocking green eyes that were steeled and determined as opposed to the confusion and fear reflected in the eyes of those around her. Her scowling face seemed to match her eyes and Desig would have believed it if someone had told him she had been born with such an angry face.

"You're a strange looking woman, miss. You're one of them, then?" Vin asked the woman. "One of the Lost?"

"I am," she replied without hesitation. "And as I said, all of it was true. The destruction, the chaos. And now here we all are, somewhere vastly different than where we were born."

Vin looked thoughtful for a moment before speaking again. "When you boarded, you told me you were training to be a hunter. You said you were hoping to gain an apprenticeship under a hunter in a town along my path so you could pass the exam."

"Your point?" the woman shot back.

"No offence, miss, but why would you want to hunt monsters? I've heard that there were no monsters back wherever you came from. Why would you seek to hunt and kill such dangerous beasts that you've never seen before?"

The woman glared at Captain Vin for a moment before saying simply, "I have my reasons. And you don't need to know them."

Vin sighed in defeat. "Fine then. When are you getting off then?"

"I get off at Boma Village. That's where I was told a good hunting teacher lived."

"Then you'd best be ready, girl," Vin said pointing to the horizon. "We'll be arriving there by evening."

Desig turned to follow Captain Vin's gesture. Sure enough, on the horizon, the outline of the coast was beginning to materialize, as though slowly rising up from the ocean. With a nod of acceptance, the young woman left the helm and went below deck to prepare her things for departure.

"What an odd woman," Desig whispered as the woman's head disappeared through the hatch. "I can see why people say the Lost are a strange civilization."

"Indeed they are, boy," Vin replied, nodding. "Indeed they are."

The two stood in silence for a moment before something clicked in Desig's mind.

"Wait a minute, I could have requested to become a hunter's apprentice instead of joining a ship's crew?"

Captain Vin's jolly laughter could be heard echoing around the boat for a long time after that.

Eleanor was in a bad mood now. She had been fine for the majority of the trip, but only because she was able to keep her distance from the other passengers over the course of the trip. She'd taken a chance by leaving the sleeping quarters to go above deck and look at the sea, hoping the view would calm her down a bit from the restlessness she felt. Just her luck that the Captain was telling people about the Lost and their circumstances. Those were memories she didn't want in her head, not now when they were so close to shore.

As the ship got closer to land, Eleanor carried her things up on deck, standing a bit away from the other passengers as they got nearer to land. Slowly, the rise of the hills in the distance grew larger on the horizon, and as afternoon passed, a small village appeared at the base on of the larger hills. Time passed, and eventually Eleanor was able to make out the features of the village.

The village of Boma had was mostly a shore-based village, with a medium-sized dock for trading and cargo ships jetting out from a small outcropping of land jutting out from the beach. Eleanor could see a bright ring of torches on the near end of the village, and guessed that to be the town center and market. As the village stretched onto the hill, small notches had been etched into the hill itself, no doubt a relatively safe place to grow crops and other necessities.

It's such a small place, Eleanor thought to herself. Is there really a hunter who can train me living here?

After the Coral Wrath docked at Boma Village in the early evening, Eleanor quickly hurried off the ship with her luggage in tow, not wanting to face anyone who had figured out who she was and what she was a part of. People always showed such fear when one of the Lost was present! They couldn't help what had happened!

Weaving through the lines of passengers disembarking to stretch their legs, she followed the small signs painted to the walls and made her way across the docks towards what was labeled as the marketplace, where her recommendation had said she would find the local Guild Representative. And hopefully, she would be able to find the man who was supposed to be training her as well.

After a few minutes of walking and a couple wrong turns, she finally emerged into an open circle of houses and huts. Many of the buildings had large open awnings and welcoming signs to attract customers from the village as well as travelers. Brightly painted signs told customers of discount items, from potions to herbs to home-cooked meals and more. Eleanor took a long look around, trying to memorize the shops and stalls, since she might be staying awhile.

Finally, Eleanor's eyes spotted a small and simple booth that had a Guild banner hanging proudly over the counter. An enthusiastic young woman stood behind the counter, chatting happily with a white-haired old man carrying a child Eleanor assumed to be the old man's grandchild. Eleanor glanced around the shops surrounding the Guild representative, hoping to spot the man who would be training her. Her eyes lingering on a blacksmith's shop next door, the stall window displaying a large sword as well as a spear and broad shield.

My first stop for tomorrow, for sure, Eleanor thought, before striding over to the Guild booth.

"Oh, hello!" the Guild representative said excitedly as she saw Eleanor approaching the booth. The old man she was speaking to chuckled and leaned back in his seat to coddle his grandchild. Grandson, Eleanor noticed. "Can I help you with anything?"

"Yes, please," Eleanor said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a slip of paper. "I've received permission from the Hunter's Guild to come here and request apprenticeship with a hunter in town." She quickly glanced at the sheet. "Someone named Marshall? Can you tell me where I could find him?"

"Oh, he's not far," the old man next to her interrupted the Guild rep with a grin.

"He's not?" Eleanor asked quickly. "Could you tell me where he is?"

"I'll do you one better," the old man said. "I'll take you to him." He turned to the confused looking Guild representative. "Don't worry, Miss Melanie. I'll take care of this."

As the guild rep nodded slowly, Eleanor picked up her bags. "Thank you for your help sir."

"Of course," the old man smiled. "Do you need help carrying your things?"

"No," Eleanor snapped, a little more forcefully than she would have liked. The old man raised an eyebrow at her. "I mean, you're already carrying your… grandson, I think. I wouldn't want to make you work harder."

The old man nodded in understanding and with a strong gait that Eleanor found surprising for a man his age, began walking towards the hilly area of town. Eleanor had the run a bit to catch up, but managed to match the man's strides once she had done so.

"So you're aiming to become a hunter, are you?" the man asked as they left the town center and entered a quieter section of town. He hoisted his grandson up and slowly began rocking him in an attempt to lull the child to sleep.

"Yes, I am," Eleanor replied. "A Guild councilor called Zhanin suggested I find a hunter who'd be willing to train me before I took my Hunter's Exam. He suggested this place. He told me that the hunter here, Marshall, would probably be willing to take me on as an apprentice."

"Did he now?" the old man said with a thoughtful look. "But this place is quite a distance away from the nearest Guild Examination arena. Was there nowhere closer?"

Eleanor thought for a moment. "I'm not sure," she said doubtfully. "But Zhanin seemed very enthusiastic about Boma Village. He assured me that coming here was my best bet."

The old man glanced down to his grandson to find the infant sleeping contentedly. "Is that all?" he asked suddenly, turning to look her in the eyes. Eleanor resisted the urge to shudder. The old man felt like he was looking straight through her, like he already knew everything about her and it was futile to resist his questions.

"They… they may have been trying to get rid of me, now that I think back on it," Eleanor replied nervously, suddenly feeling very self-aware. "I may have been too aggressive in my attempts to join."

The old man stared at her a moment longer, before smiling at her. Eleanor relaxed immediately, feeling as though a tremendous pressure had been taken off her. "I see," the man said simply. "Guild folks tend to be quite unkind in situations like that I guess. Just send them far away and hope they don't return, seems to be their kind of philosophy."

Eleanor found herself staring at the ground in disappointment. Had it all been a sham? Could she just been sent on a wild goose chase, simply so the Guild could be rid of her? Damn them!

"But you won't give up that easily, will you?" the old man asked. Eleanor looked up to find the old man smiling at her again. "If you're really so determined to enter the guild, I imagine you'll just go right back there when you're ready and show them what you're made of won't you?"

Eleanor could help herself from grinning. "Yeah, of course I will."

"I thought as much," the old man said. Then he looked away from her and asked in an odd tone of voice. "So why do you want to become a hunter?"

Eleanor's blood grew colder. Again this question! "I have my reasons," she said with finality.

"I see," the old man replied nonchalantly. "Then perhaps you can answer me this: what do you hope to gain as a hunter?"

This made Eleanor stop where she stood for a moment, forcing to rush when she realized the old man hadn't slowed. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, panting, as she caught up.

"What I mean is what do you want from hunting? Fame? Glory? Riches?" the old man looked at her, again with the cold and judgmental eyes that made her shiver.

Eleanor gritted her teeth against the old man's stare. "I just want to kill monsters," she said with a growl. The two of them slowly stopped walking and stood eye to eye without speaking. Eleanor glared right back at the old man's face in defiance to his cold judgmental look.

The silence was broken by the old man's grandson, who woke up from his nap and began to babble in his unintelligible infant language. The old man held Eleanor's glare for a moment longer before turning away to pay attention to his grandson. "We're almost there," he said quietly to Eleanor without looking at her, his arms rocking his grandson again. The two began walking again, and soon came to a grouping of small huts at the base of the hills that held the fields.

Looking around, Eleanor realized that the small houses all resided next to a small inlet that came in from the ocean. From the looks of it as they walked down the path, it was mostly only used for fishing, not deep enough to act as a docking bay for larger ships.

"Most of the hunters live on this side of town," the old man explained. "The Guild sanctioned boats that carry hunters to different areas of the world are small enough to get into the inlet, so we have them pull into this bay so the cargo and transport ships aren't hindered over at the main docks. We keep the hunter dwellings on this side of town so that they can get their goods from their homes before paddling out to the Guild boats."

"Why is the Guild rep in the town center then?" Eleanor asked.

"So hunters just visiting or passing through can find it easier," he replied. "Sometimes hunters that live out on the islands off the coast will pass through Boma on their way to Loc Lac. We keep the Guild rep close to the center so they don't waste time having to look."

Eleanor nodded, accepting the answer, as the old man led her up to a small hut that looked fairly new compared to the rest. "We're here," he said, shifting his grandson onto one arm and pulling apart the entry flap.

"Should we be entering without asking?" Eleanor asked.

"The owner won't mind," the old man replied reassuringly, pushing on through.

As Eleanor stepped through, she found herself in a very utilitarian room. The walls were bare and there were no carpets or other distinguishing features around. The back of the room led out onto a small deck that reached a few feet over the inlet, overhung by what appeared to be a homemade awning, with a small stool sitting on the deck near a fishing pole. A nearby shelf had a couple reference books on monsters on it as well as a greenish scale that had a thin roped looped through it to form a small necklace. The only other signs that the room was even remotely occupied were the unmade bed and an odd yellow coat hanging over the edge of a storage chest in the corner of the room. Otherwise, Eleanor might have assumed that no one lived here.

"Now where is he?" Eleanor heard the old man whisper to himself. He laid his sleeping grandchild on the bed and took a long look around before his eyes rested on the opening to the deck. "There you are," the old man said quietly.

Eleanor followed his gaze to the deck, trying to determine what the man was looking at, as the old man slowly crept over to the opening in the wall. He knelt quietly and picked up the fishing pole at his feet, holding it from the opposite end, and looked up at the awning. Looking up, Eleanor realized that the weight distribution of the awning was odd. There was a large bulge in the middle of the awning that she realized must be quite large weight considering the fabric of the awning.

With a quick thrust of the pole, the old man stabbed at the weight in the middle of the awning. With a yelp, a large object dropped from the awning, bounced off the deck, and rolled into the water with a large splash. Eleanor hurried over to the opening in the wall just as a young man surfaced from the cold water, sputtering and spitting ocean water.

"Damn it old man!" he yelled as he crawled out of the lake. "You could have been a bit gentler about it!"

The old man laughed spitefully. "And I suppose you want me to be more forgiving as well when you try and hide all day in case a hunter mission pops up and needs to be dealt with? Need I remind you what your job in this village is boy?"

"Oh, shut up," the young man spat, shaking the water out of his hair and clothes. "You could've just poked me in the back and been done with it, you know? But no! You have to go all the way and throw me in the ocean! And besides, you've spent the last few days making me do worthless work! 'Find some Kelbi horns, mine some ore, pick some goddamn weeds!' That's all I get out of you!"

"Ah, shut up boy," the old man growled. "You should be grateful this town supports your lazy ass."

The two continued glaring at other, long enough that Eleanor started feeling very much like making a dash for the exit. All of a sudden, the young man snorted in laughter, and soon the two were laughing together. Eleanor was still standing still, looking very confused as the two caught their breath.

"I win again, boy," the old man chuckled.

"I'll get you one of these days, old timer," the young man replied. "Your poker face won't hold forever."

"Ha! By that time I'll be dead. Then I'd like to see you try and get a grin out of me then."

"I'm not above digging up a grave to beat you in this game, old man."

"Probably not," the old man replied. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. I have someone I'd like to introduce you to," he said, turning to Eleanor.

"Oh, right," the young man said, following the old man. As he stood in front of Eleanor, she finally was able to get a good look at him. He was a decent looking man with a muscular body which Eleanor figured was from monster hunting. He had rugged brown hair that just grazed the base of his neck and soft brown eyes that she hadn't expected to see from someone of his profession. His smile made him look bemused, as though he was thinking of a secret joke only he knew and understood. What caught her eye the most, though, was a large three-lined scar across his left eye, like the mark of a claw.

"Who's this lovely lady?" the young man asked, with amused curiosity.

"Your new apprentice," the old man replied with a smirk.

There was a moment of silence as the news set in, before the two younger ones turned on the old man. The young man responded first.

"Hold the hell on! What the hell do you mean an apprentice?"

"Just as I said. You'll be taking her on as your apprentice, so she can pass the Hunter's Exam."

"Wait a minute," Eleanor cut in. "You mean… this guy is the Marshall who's supposed to train me?"

"Wait. What the hell are you talking about?" the young man sputtered, turning on Eleanor. "My name's Levin. I'm not even an official hunter myself! This old bastard is Marshall," he said, pointing to the old man. "And what do you mean by 'this guy?'"

"Wait," Eleanor said, ignoring Levin and turning on the old man. "YOU'RE Marshall? But… but you're…"

"Too old?" Marshall asked with a smile. "I believe Levin here said the same thing we he started as my apprentice. You shouldn't judge the value of a hunter by their age, young lady."

Eleanor was dumbfounded. "So you're the one who's going to teach me how to hunt?"

"I'm not so old that I can't hold my own against a monster or two, if that's what you asking. Besides…"

"Besides nothing, old man," Levin cut in. "What do you mean I'm going to be teach her how to be a hunter? I'm not a qualified hunter myself yet, and the Guild sent her to you, anyway."

"And I passed her on to you," Marshall said with a grin.

"Wait, hold on," Eleanor said. "Why the hell would you have him teach me? You said yourself he was your apprentice, why make me his?"

"Because it will be better that way, I think," Marshall replied.

"How the hell do you figure that?" Levin demanded.

"Will you be quiet and let me explain," Marshall shot back, an edge to his voice. Eleanor shivered. It seemed Marshall had the ability to dominate a conversation with his voice as well. She realized that she should have known who Marshall was earlier considering how strong willed he had appeared as they had walked here.

As the two rookies sat, Levin on a stool and Eleanor on the edge of the bed next to Marshall's sleeping grandson (The boy is a really heavy sleeper, Eleanor thought wryly), Marshall took a deep breath to calm himself, then cleared his throat. He looked back and forth between the two, as though daring them to try and argue again, but the two of them held their tongues. Marshall cocked a wry grin before beginning.

"Now, as I've said, I've decided to make Miss Eleanor here your apprentice instead of mine, Levin. I realize you are not a fully trained hunter and that I have the qualifications, but listen to my reasons. I've realized over my own many years of training the occasional rookie, that when teaching, the teacher is likely to learn as much as the student. Now, Levin, I've felt over the last couple of weeks that I haven't been able to teach you quite as much new information as I was able to give at the start of your own apprenticeship. I'm sure you've felt the same?"

Levin scratched his head with uncertainty. "Yeah a little," he admitted. "But I thought you were just waiting for something new to pop up on the hunter's board."

"Oh, most monsters follow a lot of the same rules with a few minor altercations," Marshall told him. "But when teaching someone else, you have to learn a lot more. Especially you, since you've never worked with a team on anything. As a teacher, you must gain the ability to read your apprentice's actions and know when and how to assist them. This will help a lot as you develop into an official hunter, at which point you'll need to work together with others to hunt the truly dangerous monsters. You'll also find that you'll fine tune your own abilities over the course of teaching her, since you'll have to work at properly explaining how to properly hunt, you'll find flaws in your own methods. Oh, don't worry, I'll be looking over your shoulder the whole time, since I am still your teacher, but the bulk of what she'll be learning will be up to you."

"But even so," Eleanor began, receiving a look from Marshall, "wouldn't it be better for you to teach me since you've been at it for so much longer?"

Marshall sighed. "Perhaps, but there are other issues besides the whole 'teacher-apprentice' mutual learning idea. My other issue comes from your… similar circumstances."

"What circumstances?" Eleanor asked, looking over at Levin. He turned away from her, as if embarrassed.

"You're both part of that Lost group, aren't you?" Marshall asked.

Eleanor gasped and shot a questioning glance at Levin. "You're one of the Lost?"

Levin was frowning when he turned back. "Yeah, I am," he admitted. He seemed uncomfortable admitting it though, Eleanor thought. "We weren't called the Lost back when I applied for an apprenticeship with Marshall, though. There weren't enough of us for the Loc Lac council to take us seriously at the time."

"But there were some of you that were considered enough of an annoyance to do something about, though," Marshall said matter-of-factly, causing Eleanor and Levin to both shy their eyes away in embarrassment. "And because of your similar circumstances, you both have certain character traits that will make it easier for the two of you to understand each other."

"Like what?" Eleanor asked, staring over at Levin. What could she possibly have in common with this lazy idiot?

"Stubbornness, for one," Marshall chuckled. "Far too determined to fulfill your desires to know when you're going too far."

"Got me with that one," Levin admitted. Eleanor felt embarrassed. Marshall had her with that one, too. She hadn't realized she may have been led on in her goal to becoming a hunter until she'd already gotten to Boma Village.

"Not to mention… other problems that you Lost seem to have with this world. I still remember the problems I had teaching you, Levin."

"I guess I was a bit of a problem child, huh?" Levin said with a half-hearted smile.

"I'm just saying you'll have an easier time teaching than I will. You come from the same culture, have had the same problems, at least the same big problems, and you both have a… strong desire to be a hunter. Or at least that's my opinion on the matter. It's up to you whether or not you'll trust my decision I suppose."

Levin sighed again, and looked over at Eleanor. He seemed to look at her with more searching eyes, trying to get a better hold on her. Eleanor glared back. She didn't like the thought of the two of them juggling her apprenticeship around like it was something simple. She couldn't risk her Hunter Exam on something as stupid as this. She had to become a hunter! Had to!

Levin looked back to Marshall. "You say you think I'll do better?"

"I do," the old man replied.

"Then I'll trust you about this," Levin said. "Your intuition has been right almost every time you've ever made a point of it."

"Wait, you're going along with this?" Eleanor nearly shouted.

"I trust him," Levin replied simply.

"And I think what you need to ask yourself, Miss Eleanor," Marshall said, turning to Eleanor, "is, since you've come all this way to train under me, will you trust me as well?"

Eleanor was silent for a long moment. She didn't like the thought of having to train directly under someone who wasn't fully trained themselves, but after coming so far for the sake of becoming a hunter, was she really willing to give up just because of some wild whims of the teacher?

"I'll do it," she decided. "I don't like it, but I'll do it."

"Good to hear," Marshall chuckled. "Though I'm sure you don't see it yet, I'm sure you'll find that this will be a good idea." The old man continued to laugh to himself as he walked to the bed and picked up his still-sleeping grandson. "Now Levin, I'm sure since you'll be training her, you're perfectly willing to take her to town tomorrow and buy her some decent gear for her to use out on a hunt?"

Eleanor saw Levin openly cringe at this request, before cracking a strained smile at the old hunter. "But you're the one who arranged all this, old man. Surely you have some spare cash from your hunter days."

Good lord, he's a cheapskate and a mooch, Eleanor realized glumly. Fantastic.

"Oh, I do," Marshall replied. "But I imagine it will all be going into spoiling little Theo here," he said, motioning to the little boy in his arms. "Besides, you have some extra money from that Great Jaggi you captured yesterday without telling me don't you?"

Levin had a stunned look on his face before laughing quietly. "Nothing gets past you, huh?"

"No sir," Marshall laughed with him. "You can wait on the weapon for a bit though." (Eleanor bristled a bit at this. She wanted a weapon tomorrow, dammit!) "I imagine Miss Eleanor here hasn't had too much practice with a wide range of weapons does she?" Eleanor shook her head in response. "Didn't think so. Take her to see Melanie tomorrow. The Guild always keeps a few weapons around to provide examples to prospect hunters. Give her some practice with whatever's available and we'll see what she's best with. Oh, yes, and I think Miss Eleanor here will be taking the unoccupied house next to yours, I think. More convenient that way. I'll fill out the paperwork tomorrow while you two are getting geared. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get this little one off to bed."

Once Marshall had left, the two rookies were left in silence for a minute. Eleanor looked over inquiringly at Levin. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" she asked uncertainly.

"Not at all," Levin said as he stood up and stretched. "But like I said, I trust Marshall. He's saved my ass far too many times for me to doubt his instincts."

"But I don't know him like you do, so how am I able to trust him?"

"Because he knows how to read people. I'm sure you've seen how he looks at people whose personalities he's judging."

"I suppose," Eleanor replied, thinking back on Marshall's cold and calculating stare from their walk earlier. "But I guess the better question is: how do I know I can trust you?"

Levin thought for a second before smiling. "You can't yet, and I don't expect you to without getting to know me. But since I've decided to do this whole 'training you' thing, I'm going to do my damn best to make you the best hunter that I can, and I'm going to keep you alive and safe as well. So we'll have plenty of time to get each other's trust I think."

Eleanor stared at him. How could he be so carefree after… everything that had happened to the Lost? What made him so content with this sudden change in lifestyle? She somewhat envied his ability to recover from the past, but… she couldn't allow herself to get soft. Everything she'd gone through, and what she'd decided to do with her life, she couldn't afford to become so simple.

"But for now, let's get you moved in," Levin grinned at her, grabbing her bag off the floor.

"You don't…" Eleanor started, grabbing for her bag.

"But I am anyway," Levin said with a grin, moving the bag out of her reach. "Oh, and by the way," he said, looking back to grin at her as he walked toward the door, "nice to meet you, Ellie."

Eleanor nearly tripped over her feet at the nickname, before scowling at Levin. "My name's Eleanor."

"Sure it is," Levin laughed. "And I'm going to call you Ellie."

"No you're not."

"I'd like you to try and stop me, Ellie."

Eleanor growled in frustration. This was going to be a rough apprenticeship.

Author's notes: Please review!

Wow this chapter turned out way longer than I thought it would! Every time I read through it, I kept thinking of more I wanted to add.

Eleanor (or Ellie) probably won't have the sole viewpoint through this story, but I thought she'd be a good character to start this story with.

Also, yes I invented a couple villages. I don't know if Boma actually is similar to any of the villages in other MH games, since I've only played MH3.

The whole idea for this story spawned while I was watching a friend fight the Caedaeus. He mentioned that he believed that the Monster Hunter world was actually some sort of dystopian future of our world (maybe not a dystopia, but I can't think of the right word). I didn't agree with him exactly, but the idea grew on me and soon this story unfolded in my head. After a few months of thought, I finally thought 'Screw it, I'm gonna write it.' At the very least I'm working on my writing abilities, so whatever. I've already got most of the story plotted out in my head (and a little on paper) so I've got a good idea of how it'll flow.

I hope anyone reading this is not too impatient with me, but it's probably still going to be at least 2 chapters before they actually get out hunting. I just feel the need to extrapolate on how I think this world would work if it was real. So next chapter is going to be about how to determine you affinity with a particular weapon, and a bit more info on how the village works. Oh, and the Guild rep Melanie gets some screen time.