Chapter 4: Raptor Brothers

The way is clear,

The light is good,

I have no fear,

Nor no one should.

"Dammit Relena, stop singing!" Saber shouted as we ran through the streets. Amidst all the chaos, people were being evacuated. I looked back to see a stretchy-t-rex looking green monster rampaging around the town.

"What, you don't like Into The Woods?" Relena asked as he/she stopped to help a civilian trapped in a car. The Deviljho behind us was beginning to get closer, and we still had so many people to evacuate. Once the civilians were out of harm's way, then we bring the pain.

I heard sirens getting closer and saw some police cars and ambulances coming from the main road. Even though this town was considerably small there were still plenty of people living around the area. It was a good thing that we were nearby when a Deviljho decided to show up and go haywire. My fists were still clenched in rage as I remember the unfortunate street dog I watched get devoured, I couldn't do anything to save it as I had carried some toddlers to be taken to their parents.

"Authorities are here," Arachnid spoke through the voice chat, I saw her trying to slow down the pickle-saurus by sniping at it from a far-off rooftop, "You asswipes can worry about musicals once we're through this."

Saber was the first to make it to the authorities, putting kids down and helping the other evacuees get there safe. He always was the fastest out of the four of us, then again both his armor and weapons are considerably light. "Is it just me or does the little girl have the foulest mouth among us?"

"Keep talking like that," Arachnid said as she fired another piercing shot, "And I'll turn you to a little girl."

Relena finished escorting the people and readied her Charge Blade, "Wow you can almost feel the sexual tens-"

"NO!" I screamed as I ran with babies in my arms, "NO. NO."

The Deviljho was getting even closer, looking very pissed and very hungry. Power lines entangled it, which would've slowed it down, but instead the monster just twisted around until the lines started breaking and the posts nearby started collapsing down.

Thankfully, we had finished helping the people evacuate, and we're all ready to take down the pickle-saurus. Even though Arachnid's only been in the team for a week, she had shown the ability to cooperate with us, all while verbally abusing us at the same time. It was almost like a weird love-hate relationship.

Just before we could even shout our battle cries or start running towards danger, we heard a weak 'WAIT!' from the crowd.

"Oh shit," I heard Saber sigh, "It's that same researcher guy from before."

I looked behind and saw,indeed, it was the same researcher guy from before.

"Hey…. same researcher guy from before," I waved at him, "What are you doing here?"

"Wait, is his name really same researcher guy from before?" Arachnid asked, "Why is he even a recurring character?"


Basically, same researcher guy from before needed a fresh Deviljho body for research (duh), so the four of us had to capture it. Arachnid has speed setup while Dirge had Capture Guru so me and Relena just need to keep it paintballed while kicking its ass.

That shouldn't be so hard.

Right?


"By the way Char, I mean Relena," I said as I slammed my Hunting Horn at the Deviljho's feet. I heard Saber grunt as I accidentally slammed him as well, and said sorry as I rolled out of the monster's spin-attack. "How're the twins?"

In case I forgot to mention before, while both Xavier and I have sisters (mine was younger than me while Xavier's was older than him), Char had twin brothers. Named Yuri and Yuel, they might as well be called Yin and Yang, being practically opposites of one another. Yuri is the sweet one, always saying please and being understanding and basically a gentleman. Yuel is wild, but not YOLO wild, he is hyperactive and miraculously has not yet broken a single bone in his eight year old body. The best part was that even though they're completely different from one another, they still somehow manage to get along and never have I heard them fight.

I understand that doing flash backs is not ideal while fighting a Devijho, but sometimes you just think of something and everything comes pouring back, you know?


"You're supposed to press Y to unsheathe your weapon first," I pointed out to the little boy snuggled next to me. Wearing blue pajamas with smiley prints all over it, Yuri was nearly past his bed time, but I promised Char I'd help him teach them how to play MH3U and I don't see why an additional hour would hurt since it was the weekend tomorrow. His hair was almost like a bowl hair-style, but somehow no matter how much I ruffle it, it never gets disheveled. "Then you can press Y again to use that item."

"That's a lot of trouble just to drink something," He giggled as he saw his character fly back from a Great Jaggi side-tackle. "Can't I just poke my gunlance on it like it's a pencil holder? That way I don't need to keep my weapon anymore."

"YEAH!" Yuel shouted from across the room, which was pretty much next to us, so my ears got a bit traumatized for a second. "STABBY THAT G JAGGI !" His pajama was orange-hued, with red and yellow stripes which made him look like a walking flag or something. His hair, which was always an adorable mess, seemed impossible to fix without a gel (which he hates).

I put my finger on my lips and shushed him, warning him that the adults downstairs might get mad and force us to go to sleep.

Now that I think about it, if you put Yuri, Char, and Yuel in a straight line it would look like different levels: Soft, In-Between, and Loud…or something like that.

"You know," Char said, lying down on the cushion while playing with Yuel. I think they were already doing some co-op quests together. "When Xavier gets a 3DS we won't be able to play together all at once."

"Then we'll take turns," Yuri replied with a sweet smile that made me think how ideal it would be for him to be a child actor or a model in the near future. Then he can introduce me to any 'actresses' he co-works with…

"What's with the evil grin?" Yuel asked with an eyebrow raise that can rival mine(I'm proud of my eyebrow raising skill okay). "Ri, be careful, he might've gotten a boner from your cuddling." Now he's the one with an evil grin.

I fought his eyebrow raise with my own, "Seriously? You think I'm that kind of guy?"

"Just looking after my bro-bro, Bro."

Yuri giggled again, "Hee hee, 'bro bro bro'." And then he jumped up and almost stepped on my gut, "Yay, I did it!"

I watched as the wyvern fire from his gunlance finally kill the so-called 'Hunter's Punching Bag', he had been struggling with the whole R+X+A button combo and I'm glad he finally got around to doing it.

Meanwhile, I looked over and saw Yuel spamming his character's lance charge attack, which would be nice if he didn't include Relena in his piercing path all the time.

"I swear, it's almost like you're aiming for me," Char grunted as he watched his female charge blade user get cancelled from an attack.

"Don't get in the way bro," Yuel grinned, "I keep telling you when I'm about to charge anyway."

"Yeah," Yuri butted in, "Press B so you can dodge out of his pathway."

"I know that," Char sighed, "And can't you use any other attacks?!"

"It's more fun like this," Yuel said with a thumbs-up.

To that, we all agreed.


"Get your perverted head out of the clouds, Didgeridoo!" I heard Arachnid snap in my ears. Her voice was beautiful in person but painful through the voice chat, especially when she shouts, "It's about to dragon breath your ass to Valhalla!"

I dodged away in time to hear that Relena was about to talk.

"You missed the twins already?" She said, "Me too. Don't worry their summer camp actually finishes today so…"

She raised her shield to block some flying boulders, "Woah, that hit harder than I thought it would!"

"That's what she said," Saber snickered.

Even with our helmets, I could feel all our eyes glare at him and it was almost like a silent promise to kill him after we finish the quest.


"Ohh, that's so gross!" Yuri mewled with his hands covering his face, of course, he was peeking. We were watching Char play Outlast on his computer and we were having a blast with all the jumpscares and outright nightmare-fuel.

"Meh, I've seen worse," Yuel said but he was also covering his face.

"Seriously though," I spoke up as Char shut the game down and we went downstairs for lunch. "If I lost my fingers like that, my camcorder is the last thing I'd be thinking about."

"Yeah, my 3DS would be top priority," Char smirked. Pizza had been delivered and Frank was already waiting for us by the table.

Frank had already took a slice of pizza and didn't even bother to wait for us to actually eat, "A horror game? You guys sure are brothers of the year, showing that to those kids."

I chomped on a slice of pizza and reveled in its stuffed crust awesomeness, "There are worse things to show to a kid, you know, like por-"


"What?!" I heard Arachnid shout through the chaos. The Deviljho had gotten angry(which gave Saber a 'that's what she said' opportunity), and was wrecking stuff around us. The mini-map at the corner of my eye had a pink ball that was still unblinking.

"BORN! I said I was born to kick ass." I shouted back, swing an uppercut slam at the D-Jho's face. I saw Saber climb up to a nearby roof and go helicopter blade on our enemy, unfortunately it was not enough to make it mountable.

The D-Jho flinched and I saw that Relena was able to hit it with a phial attack, "It's getting too close to the main road," She spoke. "Can we cap it yet?!"

I shook my head and my teammates all groaned. The enemy was a lot sturdier than we anticipated, and any back-up from the police is currently unavailable due to a different infestation in a nearby town. I could feel it and so can they, this Deviljho was outlasting us in terms of stamina.

We were still human after all, and we were getting tired.


"Great," Char grunted as he plopped at the couch next to me and the twins, "Now you're teaching my little brothers to play Akibastrip?"

"It's an interesting game," I smirked and the two agreed with me. We had been taking turns and it was Yuri's. He had been doing the sidequests while Yuel just picked fights and started stripping everyone. Both of them giggled adorably while playing, which was a good stress-relief than playing the game itself in my opinion.

After getting a little tired of being in front of a large tv for too long (my poor old eyes can only handle up to two straight hours of big screen games), we decided it was time to do some MH3U quests and see how far the yin-yang brothers had come. Coincidentally, Yin was Yuri's hunter name while Yang was Yuel's.

When MH4U finally came in, the armors they truly went for was the Gore and Shagaru armor, since it was perfect for the whole Yin-Yang thing (even though it wasn't ideal for their weapon styles).

It's really too bad that they had to go to summer camp, if they didn't Char and I might've brought them along to play with us at the mall…

Then again, at least they didn't have to be a part of this danger we were in.


"It's capturable!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as we chased the D-Jho to the highway. The speeding vehicles went even faster as they saw a green t-rex rampaging through the road. Metal screeches and burning rubber surrounded us as panicking drivers slammed their breaks and tried to swerve away from the monster.

At this point, a fender bender is nearly inevitable.

"I'll set one in the middle of the road," Arachnid shouted, running recklessly through the oncoming traffic, "Cover me!"

"Don't screw this up!" Saber shouted back as he tried to keep the Deviljho fixated on him.

Relena was quietly beside Arachnid, prepared to block any incoming attacks(or even cars) that might hit her. He didn't have to wait long, since Arachnid's speed setup meant she only took a few seconds to put the shock trap on the ground.

I finished playing a Defense Up recital on my hunting horn and caught up to them. Relena, Arachnid, and I were all defending the trap and waiting for Saber to bring the monster to us.

"To quote Tony Stark," Saber said as we saw him running towards us, "I'm bringing the party to you!"

Arachnid had her tranq shots prepared, but Relena, Saber and I had prepared our tranq bombs just in case. Our muscles were all feeling the strain, and I could only hope that we don't all collapse before this was over.

As strong as our hunter avatars are, our actual bodies still receive part of the stress and damage that our avatars get. Char's body and mine might be able to take that much beating, but Xavier and Amy are just kids. We can't afford to stretch this out any longer.

The Deviljho was only a few steps away from the trap, just a little more…

When a speeding van crashes right at its feet. The Deviljho was barely fazed by this, but it took interest in this meddler. There were more vehicles near the monster, and it had finally noticed all these new prey it can attack.

"Dammit!" I cried out as I ran for the monster once more. After a few steps, though, I felt the strength fade from my body and my legs gave in.

I watched in horror as my hand unconsciously let go of my weapon, the hunting horn fizzling softly and dissipating as it hit the ground. The gauntlets I had on were starting to disintegrate as well, and I knew right then and there that I was weak again. Human again.

"Wait, is that-" Relena, slowly turning back into Char, mumbled while staring at a familiar looking car just meters away from the Deviljho, "-God, please no…"

I looked closer, it was their family vehicle. Char's parents must have been on the way to pick-up the twins from camp.

No, wait, if they are on this side of the road…

"They must have already picked the boys up," I groaned as I tried to keep standing, never have I felt this tired and beat up before. Arachnid was still there and Saber was trying his best to stay Saber. How ironic that the older ones are the ones that lost their strength first. "That means their all in the car…"

I saw Char inch closer to their car, struggling to keep going and holding onto random stopped vehicles to drag himself forward.

"You two can't even keep your avatar up that long?" Arachnid sighed as she prepared to shoot the monster. Once she had loaded an ammo I saw that the barrel of her heavy bowgun had begun dissipating as well. "Fuck, am I already out of juice?"

"Sabe-" I was going to tell Saber to make one last attack or anything, but wasn't surprised to see that he had also turned back to Xavier. We couldn't do anything anymore, just lay down and hope the police or military arrive to help in time. I would slam my fist on the ground if I could, but I can't. My body just won't listen anymore.

Char was still trying to move, but there's only so much the body can do, and he was nowhere near his family yet.

Could this really be…our first quest failed? But then again, even if we fail there's no retry…

If we fail, a lot of people will die. Including us, probably.


Just a little bit more.

If I could just push my body, a little bit more, I could make it.

And then what? A voice in my head muttered, probably the sensible version of me, When that Deviljho attacks they'll all die. Oh well, at least you get to die with your family,huh?

Maybe, just maybe, I can save them. Papa and Mama and Yuri and Yuel, I can't let them get hurt, not when I finally have the power to fight…

Dammit, it can't end like this!


"All right, let's do this quest," I snickered. Char, Xavier, Yuri and Yuel were all sitting near me. It was Yuri's turn to join in and we were more than happy to have two tanks in the team: Relena and Yin. His Arc Armor S and White Cannon Gunlance may not be the best equipment, but Yin seems comfortable with it and that's what matters.

"Y'know," Xavier said as we began the quest, "We really need some kind of team name, something awesome that shows how much our skills complement one another or something."

"Yeah, like, a wolf pack or something." Char grinned.

"I got an even better idea, something better than wolves…" I replied with the Jurassic Park theme song playing in my head, "Raptors. Just like wolves, they cooperate in hunting prey and can take down even the largest enemies. With teamwork."

"What, so we're like Raptor brothers?" Yuel asked and Yuri nodded along.

"Yeah," I said with a smile, not expecting that what I would say next would stick to them, "Raptor Brothers."


The Deviljho had its foot on top of Char's family car now, it's drooling mouth hovering above the roof like it was about to devour it. Unfortunately, there were no quick time events or any button smashing that can help them now.

I saw Char crawling closer to the car, and thought of something as I saw the twins inside looking terrified and dumbstruck. Would it be safer for them to stay in the car, or run out and away? What would Alan Grant or Ian Malcolm do?

I took my phone out of my pocket, surprised that it was still there, and dialed someone.

"Maybe there's a dog shit somewhere we can throw," Xavier muttered as he struggled to stand up.

A familiar voice answered my call and I managed to say what I needed to say.

I just hope this works.


I propped myself up on a nearby vehicle and saw my twin brothers exit the car. Still dressed in their camp uniform (a blue shirt with the camp's name silk-screen printed on it and khaki shorts) , Yuri and Yuel stood on both sides of the car, staring the monster down with their best poker face on.

Both of them were clutching something in their hands. Wait, are those their 3DS?

They flipped their consoles open and stared intently at the screen as the Deviljho roared at them.

I prayed to everything I can pray to that it would work, I mean why wouldn't it? The weird wave-thingy was a worldwide event, shouldn't it have affected them to?

The Deviljho attacked. It's jaws wide-open and ready to gobble up my brothers.

The twins were still standing there, human as they can be, their avatar hunters not showing up.


The Deviljho was so close, it was about to eat Yuri, and I can applaud the little boy for standing his ground. This was on me, I thought, I shouldn't have called them and told them to try using their Hunters like we did.

I just killed my cousins…

Just as all hope was lost, something caused the Deviljho to flinch. It was almost like being in slowmotion, with the D-Jho's face barely touching Yuri's as it was about to devour him. And then, something that looked like a bullet hit it in the face.

The Deviljho flinched and stepped back, when all of a sudden it's face exploded.

"That's either a grenade launcher," Amy winced, "Or a Crag shot."

We all looked at where the shot came from, and saw a bunch of police officers. The person leading them was…armored.

Looking like some kind of special ops commando kind of guy, he was wearing light-brown-ish military looking armor. It took me a while to realize that this must be the Nibelsnarf X armor, which I should've easily recognized due to the gas-mask looking helmet and the backpack and armor plating. In his hands he pointed a Seregios lightbowgun at the Deviljho.

Behind him were police officers, and a few military-looking soldiers.

"I've got the monster," He gestured at the officers behind him, I can only assume he's the leader of their operation. "Get the civilians out."

He reloads his bowgun and walks closer to the tired but pissed-off Deviljho. The police officers had escorted Char and his family away from the danger zone, and I saw the other ones headed our way.

"Alright big guy," He points the gun straight at the monster's face.

"You're under arrest."