Ikara pounded down the hill toward the water where she found two very satisfied Shakalakas patting their stomachs as they lounged against the stone walls. They saw her in the distance, taking their time to stand and grab their staffs to brace themselves for battle. Ikara shifted her eyes away from them as they met.
"Did minion find nice giggi to slaughter-laka?" Cha-Cha asked merrily, patting his full tummy again. The mention of slaughter gave Ikara goosebumps for whatever reason.
"N-No," she answered hesitantly, cursing herself silently for forgetting her initial motives. The Deviljho took her completely by surprise. "There uh...weren't any around, so I gave up after a while and came this way."
"Aw, have no fear," Kayamba chirped as he slid past Ikara to begin sauntering in the direction of the caves. "There plenty of time to fight monster. Great Kayamba help find giggi." Ikara shifted, her switchaxe digging suddenly into her back.
"No," she blurted, a bit too directly, which made the blue-masked Shakalaka stop and turn to her in concern. Ikara took a deep breath and reached back to move the switch axe, biting her lip and thinking quickly. "I-I'm sorry. I'm just a bit antsy. We don't fight poisonous monsters very often, so my mind is focused right now on taking that Purple Ludroth down," she lied the best the could. "Ludroth are usually easy for me to deal with, but this is a Purple one, so I'm a little bit more nervous. If it's okay with you guys, I think I'd just like to get this hunt over with so we can go home." Heaving a relieved sigh as her two companions relaxed once more, Ikara released the weapon on her back.
"Why minion not say so?" Cha-Cha giggled, adjusting his mask and preparing his game face. "We show Ludroth how it done-done."
With that, her tiny friends led her away from where she found the Deviljho and to an area lightly flooded by water, and there in the distance, where the water grew deeper and the sea was within reach, crawled the Purple Ludroth. Cha-Cha and Kayamba still trod in front of her as they approached the monster as quietly as they could. Ikara whipped out her switch axe just as the Ludroth heard the three of them sloshing through the ankle-deep water. He swung his head about to face them, opening his maw and letting his eagle-like roar tear through the air. The closer she got to the monster, however, a growing fear began to pulse inside of her. She splashed to a halt suddenly as something came to her, watching as the two Shakalaka charged into attack. That thing is humongous! she thought to herself incredulously. Cha-Cha and Kayamba could barely reach the monster's crest, even with a great leap and the length of their staffs for added height. The Purple Ludroth struck Kayamba with his toxic claws, poisoning him and throwing him back into the shallow water. At that, Ikara sprinted into the fray, winding back her axe as she reached the monster's back and slamming it down into his tail. This earned her a pained shriek from the Ludroth, and it swung its wounded tail in retaliation, colliding with her chest hard and knocking her to the ground as well. With the breath knocked out of her from the blow, she wheezed and backed away to try and recover her composure, switching her gaze to the still-poisoned Kayamba. He looked terrible, pale and shaking as he weakly charged after the monster once more. The poison shouldn't be weakening him this quickly, she thought. She focused air into her lungs and called out to Cha-Cha.
"We need an antidote dance, now!" she wheezed just loudly enough for him to hear. The Shakalaka didn't seem to hear her at first as he wildly swung his staff against the Purple Ludroth's claws, raging each time they deflected off the strong surface.
"Give Cha-Cha a moment," he retorted, winding back his staff for another blow before dodging the Ludroth's bite," Purple monster not feeling mighty-laka pain yet!" Ikara shifted her gaze back to Kayamba, who was about to drop to his knees. Ikara panicked for a moment, opening her pouch and digging around frantically to find an antidote for her companion.
"No, Cha-Cha," she called out a bit more strongly. "We need one now. Kayamba won't last much longer." Almost reluctant to back away from the monster, Cha-Cha fled. As the Ludroth began to make chase, Ikara flung her switch axe at the creature, bouncing off his claws and tumbling into the water. It did no cutting damage, which disappointed Ikara immensely, but it got his attention. He shifted his piercing gaze to her, inhaling deeply before spewing a rather gruesome wad of poison at her. She rolled to dodge it, scrambling to her feet as she went to retrieve her weapon. When it was safely in her hands again, however, she flinched and let out a pained cry as the Ludroth sneaked up behind her and swiped at her with his claws. It hurt terribly, far worse than she remembered in the past from such a creature. I don't understand, she moaned silently, swinging her axe behind her and slicing through only a small portion of the Ludroth's smooth, spongy hide. Ludroths are easy to overcome. Why is this one so tough? Catching sight of Kayamba back on his feet and slamming his staff against the Ludroth's back and redirecting his attention, Ikara heaved a deep sigh of relief, shifting the gears in her axe to where, when she swung the weapon about, it unfolded into its sword mode.
"Cha-Cha make retreat for now - Ludroth too strong-strong!" the tired Shakalaka cried as it rapidly burrowed a hole and hopped down into its depths to escape. Ikara wore a defiant face as he left. This can't be just a rough day, she pressed, dragging her heavy sword through the shallow water toward the Ludroth as he tried to catch Kayamba between his teeth. She arched the sword over her head and sliced the weapon against his tail with a roar of her own. The Ludroth whipped its tail to brush her off, and she shifted footing to avoid the attack. Winding her sword back again she rammed into his back, getting it caught in the flesh and making the monster scream. As she tugged on it, the Ludroth rolled, flinging both her and the sword into the water. Before she could get to her feet, the monster had mustered another ball of poison, which he spit at her, hitting her in the back of the head and making her slam her temple against the hard surface beneath the shallow water. She nearly blacked out with the collision, but tried to get to her feet, hoping a concussion wouldn't hurt her too much in the fight. She looked around frantically for her sword, until she heard a snarl in the distance, one that didn't quite sound like the Ludroth. Ikara moaned in panic, hoping she wouldn't have a Rathian on her hands as well.
"Minion!" Kayamba cried to her as he joined her. "Minion, get your dung bombs!" Ikara tried to clear her head. The Ludroth was distracted by a newcomer to the area. A Deviljho stepped into the shallow water, which came merely to the tops of his claws, and glowered menacingly at the Ludroth. Ikara froze. "It's the monster from yesterday!" Kayamba hissed before clambering into the ground, digging a hole and leaving Ikara alone with the two enormous monsters. Ikara dared not move as she looked into the Deviljho's eyes and saw a silent rage. He was just poisoned earlier, she thought. He certainly made a quick recovery from the state I found him in. The Purple Ludroth stood its ground, albeit shakily, as the green monster approached him and slowly backed him into a corner against the stone walls surrounding the watery area. Once the Deviljho stopped, Purple Ludroth screeched and swiped a clawed hand at the Deviljho's feet. The bigger monster stepped back, even though the claws didn't even come near him, before lifting a foot, letting it tower over the paralyzed Ludroth for a moment before it came crashing down on the smaller monster. The Deviljho's claws wrapped around the Purple Ludroth's breaking body as he put his weight on him. Moments passed, Ikara still frozen in another corner of the area with an awestruck expression on her face. The Deviljho finally lifted his foot off the Ludroth, watching to make sure it didn't move when he turned around. The monster found Ikara in her corner and stopped, gazing at her. It took her a moment to realize, actually, that he wasn't staring at her, but at her weapon. Slowly, Ikara reached behind her to sheath her switch axe, the Deviljho's eyes and body never moving or changing. When the weapon was put away, he finally turned from her and headed away from her in the direction of the Jaggi's lair. Ikara kept frozen for a moment before realizing what had just happened. She looked over at the still Ludroth before jogging over to it through the shallow water to examine it.
"He killed the Ludroth for me," she whispered to herself.
"Why big Deviljho not try to eat-eat minion?" came a voice behind her. It was Cha-Cha, accompanied by Kayamba. The two slowly approached the Ludroth with her and looked up at her curiously. "Tasty hunters always on Deviljho's menu."
"I don't know," she said, almost more to herself than to them. Silently, she took her carving knife and began to dig into the corpse of the Purple Ludroth, picking from it a few items that she could find useful back at the village. When she finished, she turned to the two still curious Shakalaka and said, "Please...don't tell anyone about this hunt, okay? We go back to the village, tell them it was a success, show them our carves, and be done with it. Nobody mentions the Deviljho."
"But Chief man said that if Deviljho pops up again, village must call in G-Rank hunter," Kayamba retorted. "We should tell."
"Please," she repeated, on the verge of sounding desperate this time. "He...seems different to me. Different from other Deviljhos, I mean. I think you'll understand in time, just...please, keep this between the three of us, if only for right now." Cha-Cha and Kayamba were silent for a moment, examining the damage that the Deviljho had made on the Ludroth in contrast to what they managed to do.
"Cha-Cha predict that Deviljho not only monster that G-Rank right now, but...okay," Cha-Cha mused. "As long as big monster not get near village again, Cha-Cha not tell."
"Kayamba hope the same thing...but Purple Ludroth too big to handle right now," Kayamba added. "Can we stick to smaller monster from now on?" The hunter gave a small roll of the eyes and smiled.