Chapter 3: Playing in the Sand

The next morning, Hawk rolled out of bed, groaning. He was still a little sore from the battle the day before, but not enough to stop him from going on today. He grabbed his swords and walked out into the sunlight, ready to hit the desert.

Rayna sat on her bed, thinking about all that had happened yesterday. She shook her head. Crying in front of one of her new hunting companions? What a weakling. She shook her head again. I won't let that happen again. She stood up and shouldered her longsword, ready for the day ahead.

Flak lay on the floor next to his bed, doing his daily workout. He stretched each muscle in turn, then grabbed his bowgun. He looked at the sparsely decorated room. I'll have to fix that… He nodded at his own idea and walked out into the sun, praying that there wouldn't be any large monsters in the desert today.

Kimothy snored loudly.

"Where's Kimothy?" Rayna said, looking at the assembled hunters. "He's the one who suggested this Harvest Tour."

"May be he slept in." Flak said. Rayna sighed. "Should I fetch him?"

"No, I'll take care of it." Rayna said. "He doesn't respect you yet, and he really doesn't respect Hawk…"

"Hey!"

"Shut it. I'll take care of this."

Rayna walked down the street to the apartment area and found Kimothy's door. She knocked. "Hey, big guy! What are you up too?" No response. She hammered on the door, but still got no answer.

"What am I supposed to do now?" She grabbed the door handle and turned it. She walked into the small room and over to the mass on the bed. She grabbed the blanket and yanked it off Kimothy's sleeping form. She screamed.

"What was that?" Hawk turned to Flak.

"Sounded like Rayna, but what could have happened?" Flak said, staring down the street. "Hey look, here she comes."

Rayna was sprinting down the street, fear in her eyes. She ran right past Flak and Hawk and collapsed onto the food counter. "Give me your strongest Tanzian Ale!"

The chef meowed. "Would you like anything to eat with that?"

Rayna shook her head. "Just the drink."

Flak and Hawk glanced at each other, then looked at Kimothy, who walked past them and over to the chef.

Kimothy sat at the counter in front of the chef. "Just grab me your finest milk. I'd also like to open a tab." The chef meowed in answer, dropped a paper in front of him and grabbed a mug. He looked over at Rayna.

"You should be more careful barging into people's rooms." He said. He grabbed the mug the chef placed in front of him. "Never know what you're gonna see."

Rayna groaned. "I knocked like, fifty times before I came in. Why weren't you awake?"

"I wake when I wake. Unfortunately, you came just a bit too early."

"Is there something we ought to know?" Hawk called. Rayna glared at him.

"Buzz off."

Flak grabbed Hawk's shoulder and pulled him away. "Let's go talk to the weapons or armor guy or something."

They turned down to the street and left, leaving Rayna and Kimothy to talk out their differences.

"So what do you think happened?" Flak asked Hawk.

"I have a guess, but it relies on so many things that I don't really want to share just yet." Hawk said, nodding sagely.

"What does that mean?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"What do you mean it's a cultural thing?!" Rayna yelled.

"I mean that everybody where I live does it. I don't even think about it anymore." Kimothy shrugged.

"That's not how we do it here!"

"Just because you don't do it doesn't mean that I'm going to change. It's the way that I was raised. I'm not gonna change just because you got uncomfortable when you invaded my personal space."

Rayna was quiet for a moment. "I guess that is true."

"Alright, since we got this figured out, why don't you go grab the other two and we head off to the Sandy Plains."

Rayna got up and tossed some zenny onto the counter. "I'll be right back."

The three hunters came back in time to see Kimothy boarding the air ship. Hawk and Flak ran over to jump onto the ship. Rayna shook her head and ran over to the merchant to grab some cool drinks. She tossed a couple to each of the guys and they took off, heading off to their second group hunt, in the Sandy Plains.

The four hunters jumped out of the airship at the camp, and then split up. Rayna and Kimothy jumped down into area 7, intending to hit the desert areas, while Flak and Hawk headed into area 1 for the first lesson.

Flak watched Hawk as he battled the Rhenoplos in area 1. Every once in a while he would fire a shot, redirecting the Rhenoplos that was charging at Hawk. Otherwise he stayed out of it.

"You can't just attack half-heartedly. You have to finish things!"

"It's not that easy! I'm trying to, but I can't!"

"In the wise words of my uncle, 'do or do not, there is no try.' You have to do."

Hawk sidestepped the next Rhenoplos' charge and swung his blades down, sinking both into the beast's back. As it continued running, he was yanked off his feet and dragged a short distance before he let go of his swords. He stood back up and swore softly. He drew his hunting knife and stared down the now enraged Rhenoplos.

"Alright, no more playing around." He muttered.

The Rhenoplos charged. Hawk sidestepped it, then stabbed wildly with his hunting knife, which caught between two of the plates on the Rhenoplos' back, jerking him off his feet. He was dragged by the Rhenoplos until he found a momentary foothold that allowed him to swing up onto its back. He held on tight, one hand grabbing at his swords so he wouldn't get thrown, then he pulled his hunting knife out of its side. He stabbed at its throat.

Meanwhile, Rayna and Kimothy were hunting Delex in the sandy areas.

"Why won't these things stay where we can hit them!" Rayna screamed in frustration.

"They don't want to die any more than we do." Kimothy said. Then he pulled out a small ball. "Cover your ears."

He threw the ball and there was a loud bang. The Delex leaped out of the sand and started flopping around, stunned. Kimothy and Rayna made short work of them, then headed into the other half of the desert. They wandered over to the cacti and continued gathering.

Hawk lay on the ground, winded. The Rhenoplos lay dead on the ground beside him, his hunting knife buried in its throat. Flak shouldered his bowgun and walked over to the Rhenoplos' corpse. He yanked Hawk's swords out of the Rhenoplos' back and tossed them next to Hawk. Then he pulled the hunting knife out and started skinning the Rhenoplos. He turned back to Hawk, who still hadn't gotten up.

"Are you going to lie there all day?"

Hawk groaned in response. Flak laughed and grabbed his hands, pulling him to his feet.

"Come on, the Jaggi aren't gonna hunt themselves. The Felynes well take care of the Rhenoplos."

Flak and Hawk headed off to find some Jaggi.

"Bnahabra are irksome." Kimothy muttered, swinging his hammer wildly. He finally hit one, knocking it out of the sky and killing it. He pulled off its wings and slipped them between the pages of one of the books in his bag, then turned back to the others. "I'm gonna crush each and every one of you."

Rayna rolled out of the way as a Jaggia tried to hip check her. Kimothy had abandoned her, running to find some other materials. She drew her longsword, holding it to the side. She sized up the Jaggia, then swung her sword over her head and down in anticipation of the next attack. Her strike cleaved the Jaggia's head from its body. She re-sheathed her longsword, drew her hunting knife, and got to skinning it.

"Hey Rayna."

She looked up to see Hawk and Flak headed her way. She smirked at Hawk, seeing the blood on his armor.

"Did the Rhenoplos get ya? They're feisty, aren't they?"

"Actually, I won against the Rhenoplos. Sank my hunting knife right into its throat."

"Your hunting knife? What about your swords?"

Flak started laughing. "He got them stuck between the armor plates on its back. Almost lost the hunting knife the same way."

"Shut up. It wasn't that funny."

"It was great. He stabbed at it with his knife and got that caught, but this time he didn't let go."

Rayna looked at Hawk. "You're kidding me, right?"

Hawk shook his head. Flak started chuckling again. "Then he got pulled off his feet, obviously, and dragged a short distance. He regained his feet for a moment, but instead of jumping back and assessing the situation like I was, he jumped onto its back. That was the best part to watch."

"No."

"Yes. He was on top of a bucking Rhenoplos, and somehow he stayed on long enough to get his hunting knife out of its back and into its jugular. It was actually pretty impressive."

"And he killed it himself?"

"Yep. He finally has a kill."

Rayna looked at Hawk. "And you feel alright about it?"

Hawk nodded. "I'll be fine. I think I can hunt with you guys."

There was a sudden yipping sound from behind them and Flak came running past. "Accidently pissed off some Jaggi, you're up."

Hawk turned and drew his swords, staring down the crew of 5 Jaggi bearing down on him and Rayna. Rayna unsheathed her longsword and they prepared to attack.

Kimothy put the pickaxe back in his bag, tucking the ore he had gotten into another compartment. He stepped back from the now depleted vein in the wall and back into the light by the cave mouth. He looked out to see his hunting partners locked in combat with a growing herd of Jaggi.

"Goddamn it. Do I have to do everything around here?"

He pulled his hammer out and charged into the crowd, swinging back and forth.

"Who decided this was a good idea?" He shouted as he drew closer to the two sword users. "You're way outnumbered!"

"There were only five when we started!" Hawk shouted, rolling to avoid a lunge from one of the Jaggi. "They just suddenly swarmed us when we were fighting those five."

"Feh. I have everything I need. You guys ready to go?" Kimothy sidestepped a Jaggi and smashed it in the side with his hammer. "This is somewhat tiring, and I know we can get out. Lucky there isn't a Great Jaggi directing these nutters."

"Yeah, let's go." Reyna sheathed her sword and ran, dodging attacks from the Jaggi. Hawk followed close behind, while Kimothy took up the rear. Flak, meanwhile was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's our gunner?" Kimothy asked having noticed that Flak wasn't with them. The three hunters were sitting next to the mud pool, resting after getting away from the Jaggi.

"I haven't seen him since he brought the Jaggi to us." Hawk said.

"Then where did he go?" Reyna asked.

"HEY!" The three hunters looked up, then saw that Flak was on an airship. "I signaled that we were all set. I hope that's true. Let's get back to the port! I want to get a good night's sleep before our first real hunt!"

The three hunters on the ground looked at each other and shrugged as Flak threw down a rope ladder. They climbed up and settled in for the ride, discussing the hunt they were planning for the next morning.

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait. I had this chapter mostly finished, but never really got around to finishing it until today. Sorry about that! I plan on working on this more in the coming days, but there are a bunch of things distracting me, ranging from school work to Fallout 4.

Now for a couple of notes about the story. In the future, there won't be nearly as many jumps in the story because the four hunters will all be together. I'm slightly bothered by it too, but at this point it's the best way to tell the story. Secondly, I don't plan on writing a chapter for every mission, just key quests. Also, I'll have them do a hunt for monsters that don't show up as key quests, and in cases where multiple quests have the potential to fill a smaller number of key quests, I'll have them do all of the possible choices. I'm also going to skip gathering keys quests, at least ones where the environment is stable, because those are straight up boring. Finally, in order to make monster hunting look more glamorous, I will avoid the grinding aspect of the game and the characters will get all the pieces of a monster that they need to forge both weapons and armor. Speaking of armor, each hunter will have a new set at the beginning of the next hunt! I'm looking into both style and functionality so that the armor sets will actually match up with the character and their personalities, and suggestions are welcome. I'll be checking back over the next few days for suggestions, and if you can successfully argue a set, I'll use it. The limit is small monsters that you can find in the Deserted Island and the Sandy Plains and Arzuros, so go wild.

I appreciate all reviews, and to everyone who reads this, I wish you many happy hunts, and may the desire sensor be ever in your favor!