I'm back~! Not that I left, but back nonetheless. SO. This chapter will reveal some... Curious revelations. In other news, the reason this took a while to post is bexbecause of my new distraction. (/-,-')/ BUT. Because of it my cover photos will be GREATLY improved, so sit tight for an update. With that out of the way, ONWARDS WITH THE STORY!
\(^w^;)/
"You have hate mail! You have hate mail!"
The comical ringtone of Sift's battered phone chimed, distracting him from his morning meal of AJ and grilled cheese sandwich. Inspecting the sender's ID, he opened the message from his teammate and friend Igmund.
Ig: hey Sift! U got any rath talons?
Sift: All out. Y u need?
Ig: 1 short 2 upgrade Chimæra. Meet up at your place?
Sift: fine. Already hir anyways. Lyxi's not coming tho. Got jaggi pups.
Ig: ooh! Puppies!
Sift: -,-' R da others going 2?
Ig: ya. Ish and p r comin. Ok c u!
'Great. The dingus of damnation is coming.' The young hunter though as he finished his sandwich and got off his chair to check for mail.
The doorbell rang just as the pups started to chow on their raw egg and fish. Grabbing a slice of cold cucumber, the young hunter answered the door grumbling something about the temperature being hotter than normal; but then again, they were in the middle of a frickkin' desert. Judging by the rapid rapping on the door, it seems like the sharpshooting "Iggy" was the first one to come over. "Heya Sift!" The ever enthusiastic fourteen year old always gave Sift a warm brotherly vibe. As the two entered Sift's humble abode, the first thing Iggy noticed were the two adorable jaggi pups noming on their food, literally going "om nom nom" as they ate. The next few minutes were a blur of Iggy gushing over the pups and playing with them, though the shy one kept hiding from Iggy, causing him to call her Daisy. "So how's Ramrod been?" Sift asked amid the cuteness that was happening, recalling the little Rhenoplos he gave to Iggy back then. "Oh him? He's been better than ever! You were right about him loving cucumbers, I give you that." Sift could only shrug in smug modesty at the comment. "What can I say? Cucumbers never go wrong."
The other two were quick to follow, Trisha and Paul getting there in half an hour. Trish was as peppy as ever, greeting Sift with a joyful "Ohayo Neko-chan~!" In her Otaku-esk tomboyish behavior, which oddly enough, is actually cute in Sift's opinion, and Paul being as egotistic and as obnoxious as ever, ruffling up Sift's hair as he passed by.
The next few hours were passed by discussing what quest they should go, accompanied by the occasional distractions (the pups being cute, food, and the occasional bickering between Sift and Paul, which Trish will have to pull apart, Igmund watching the three sort themselves out like watching a comedy show. -_-') until finally settling on taking a Rathian red ticket quest set on deserted island.
As the three left for the guild, they decided to let Iggy get the tickets while the others get prepared. Soon they were kitted out for the quest: Sift in his full chainmail armor (minus the helmet) and bone katana dubbed "Fossil's bane", Paul in full hunter's armor and Barroth switchaxe "Rib Reaper", Trisha in Rathian armor and Baggi sword and shield named "Cold Cut", and Igmund in a hodgepodge of different armors (preferably a hunter's cap, Barroth vest, Rhenoplos guards and leggings, and Rathian coat) and "Chimæra", a custom built Bowgun he made from his preferences. As they entered the airship terminal for a connecting trip via Jæger bay, they handed over their tickets to the too bored to bother fellow punching in the tickets, not really noticing that Sift isn't supposed to be on any form of guild's matters, and that's just how Sift wants things to be: undetected.
Reaching the famed hunter's sea transport city, the observant eye of Igmund noticed that Grilland's team is also in town, much to Sift's disdain.
A few hours later, our group of hunters find themselves hearing the two tone tune of the quest initiating. It seems that Sift wasn't the only one to not bring a companion along; Shiru, Trisha's Ludroth, wasn't there too, leaving Ramrod as the only companion on the quest. Soon they decided to split up, Trish taking the lead and heading for area two, Sift making his way to the nest in area eight, and Iggy and Paul trudging on to area five to test out some new shots.
*chirp chirp!* *chirp chirp!*
The faint yet clear signal Trish is sending out made Sift's gears turn.
No target here.
'Strange. You would have thought that She'd be where she was last seen...'
Five minutes pass...
*BEEP!* *BEEP!*
Another signal, this time from Paul, rings out in the distance, distracting Sift from driving off some pesky jaggi.
Still no target. Regroup near camp?
"The heck is going on here?..." Sift could only wonder as he pulled out a pen whistle to agree and give the go ahead.
*RRRRRRRROOOOOOOOO!*
Another signal, this time from Ramrod, echoes from below before Sift could give the signal.
Sending a chill down his spine.
S.O.S. REGROUP! S.O.S. REGROUP!
No sooner did he hear the herbivore's cry that the startled hunter saw something, or somethings, start to blot out the blue of sky. Looming overhead, the famed Queen of the land began to descend, and above her, not one, not three, but FIVE Rathalos are circling, hovering, and swooping in from all all the terrifying wyverns, Sift could only focus on one thing.
Pain.
A horrible, clawing sensation tearing at his mind as he crumpled to the ground.
Ev'uoy lla emoc ot yuoer mdoo. Find the Heirs. Evael wno. Raise them to be strong. Evlae. Fight alongside them. ALEVE. Stop him from releasing the end of all. I SDIA LVEAE!
What? Where are these thoughts coming from? Are they from the Rathian?
The next thing Sift knew was the ground hitting him hard to the side. By the aching in his legs, he must have jumped straight for area five, which is not what he often does. Getting his bearings, he saw Paul hacking away at a fallen Rathalos, Trisha distracting another one while Iggy looses round after round of bullets, tears streaming down his face. Behind the young gunner, the still form of Ramrod is splayed across the ground, his frill cracked and side gaping with black edges. All of this is absorbed into nothing as Sift focuses on another Rathalos facing him off. The wyvern's wings are clipped, and it's face is bloodied, a straight line cutting from his left eye to the right corner of his maw. There is a slight ringing in his right ear, and pain shooting through his left hand. As he faced off the angered beast, it seemed to give a message.
Anger. Hatred. Disgust. Leave now.
"Wh-what?" The thoughts are making him woozy, lowering his guard in the process, leaving him open to attack.
With a piercing cry, the wyvern before him charged forward, jaws ablaze, aiming to chomp down on the disoriented rumbling ground and approaching red blurr is enough to warn Sift, but not enough to warn him of what it'll do, causing him to defensively hold Fossil's bane overhead.
The next few seconds will be the most excruciating moments of his life.
The charging beast, seeing him raise his longsword, clamps down on the hunter's sword, and, unfortunately, his left hand as well. The unbearable pain then loss of feeling in his hand is quickly followed by being lifted up five feet off the ground and being ruthlessly thrashed about by his hand. The pain. The shock. Everything at that moment. It was too much to take in.
"... still no sign of the other elders?"
"I'm afraid so..."
"Ah, don't beat yourself up for it, you did what you can."
"... I don't know... it all feels off... I just have a bad feeling about this..."
The distant thunder pulls Sift out of sleep. Not a startling jolt, not a gentle shake. Simply opening his eyes to the white antiseptic feel of a hospital or a clinic. His head is swimming in nausea, the effects of the fight taking it's toll, as before hand, everything he felt was his heartbeat. In his ear. His side. His hand. Wait, hand? As he tried to place a hand to his forehead, pain, oh the unbearable pain, wracks through him again, eliciting a pathetic groan from the hunter. A slight shifting to his side alerts him that he's not alone right now.
"Boss?"
Lyxi. If only he could get up and hug the little felyne, which he did attempt, and failed miserably at.
"Easy there boss..." The felyne soothingly said, helping Sift prop himself up. "It's nya miracle nyour alive boss..." Lyxi said, grabbing a glass of water for him. "The others are rrrecoverrring too." Carefully taking the glass in his right hand, Sift took a moment to take a few sips before slowly taking a deep breath, and glanced at his left arm, which was feeling numb. There at his side, his arm lay, making him break out in a cold sweat. The arm is heavily bandaged, a few brown splotches here and there. Further down, well... there's nothing left. From the middle of his forearm, the poor lad had nothing left of his hand. Seeing this left him speechless, the thoughts, or messages(?) From the quest running through his mind.
What heirs?
What happened back there?
Did Ramrod make it?
The next few days sped by, with Lyxi checking in from time to time. The first one to fully recover was Trisha, who took a bruising, but otherwise (surprisingly) unharmed, ignoring the small cut on her cheek, followed by Paul, who also looked unharmed, minus his slight limp. When Trisha laid eyes on the bedridden hunter, the floodgates opened, tears of relief streaming down her cheeks, happy to see Sift alive. In terrible shape, but alive nonetheless. She filled him in on what happened during the quest shortly after.
It seems that Sift was on some sort of autopilot when he blacked out. By Trisha's description, his breath was ragged, his head was twitching, and he wasn't responding to his friends. He was just focused on the Rathalos; The Rathian had gone unnoticed through all the chaos going on.
Not to mention that he somehow gained superhuman capabilities.
Speed, durability, strength, everything. He stayed like this for a while, from jumping down from the nest to topple the Rathalos cornering Paul against the Cliffside, to tackling a Rathalos on his own, to which he finally snapped out of it, after dodging a cluster blast of fire and getting smacked by the wyvern's tail club. After Sift snapped out of it, he had his little "episode", being bitten on his hand, and thrashed about vigorously like a ragdoll, before being flung once more across the area with one less hand. Fortunately for them, all of the Rathalos just stopped attacking once Sift was down, returning back to whence they came. Shortly after, the dull rumbling of the guild's recovery wagon (completely Trisha's words right there) followed suit, late in action as always. A quick trip back to Jæger bay and there they are in the situation they're in now.
After being filled in for now, Sift had to know one thing. When he snapped out of whatever happened to him, he definitely saw something he hoped was wrong about.
"So.., did... Ramrod..?"
Silence. Silence and akward glances. That's all he got in reply. Paul, being quiet this whole time, finally decided to break the news to him. Only to be interupted by a knock on the door. Quietly opening it, a nurse popped her head through, probably checking in on Sift.
"Uh, excuse me? Ooh. Am I interupting something?"
(A/n: what is with me and akward moments? That's like the second time in a row. -,-')
"I-I'm, just here to talk to the patient about something... alone?"
Looking at each other, the two gave Sift a questioning look before going out the room for privacy's sake.
"Sooo... what can I do for you?" Sift casually said, just about to twiddle with his thumbs, then realised he can't do that anymore.
"Actually, it's about your, um... predicament," the nurse said, motioning towards his stump of an arm.
"Yeah...? So, your offering me a prosthetic hand, is that it?"
"Well, more of a half a forearm, but yeah, that's what the doctors ordered."
Trying to digest what to do, Sift was starting to lean on not getting a plastic arm.
"Probably not. Nah, not really. Oh frickin' fruit flies I don't know."
"Probably not a good time to decide, huh? Well, I'll just go and check on you again some other time, maybe you'll get things sorted by then?"
With a shy nod, the nurse left, letting the others know they can come in.
"Where's Iggy?"
The question hung over the Sift's mind as he noticed that the young gunner was nowhere to be found. Asking the others, the same thing could be said for them.
"We didn't see him come by. We thought he visited you already."
"Come to think nyof it, nyI don't think nyI saw him here." Lyxi mused as she put a paw on her chin to think it through.
What Trish and Lyxi said deepened Sift's worry, his brow furrowing in concern.
"Hey, don't worry for now. You can worry your ass off when you get out this hospital." Paul reassured him, his dry humour trying once again to lighten the mood. "Until then, just rest. We'll find'im."
"I hope so..."
\(o0o\)"
Where DID Iggy go? What DID really happen back there? When will we see the Heirs? And most importantly, WHY ARE MY HANDS FREEZING WHEN I'M DOING THIS IN A ROOM WITH AN AIRCONDITIONER SET TO TWENTY THREE DEGREES?!
All this and more will be answered...
after I put up another chapter in my other story.
m(_ _')m
remember, new cover photo
BYEEEEE!
AND AS ALWAYS...
NO H8, MPIXL8! ;)
(and I forgot to turn of the caps lock... idiot.)
(And for making a grammatical error... gud job me...)
