Frustration

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

Edited by: Hoenn Master96 and Thomas A. Hawk

This one-shot is CANON with The Lost Civilization

Five Years Since the Fall of the Alatreon

"Sir, we're coming up on the gully."

"I can see that, David. Tell the men to prepare themselves. If there's a place for us to be ambushed, this is it."

"Yes sir."

Grant grumbled in frustration to himself as David darted off, passing around orders to the other guards. He glanced around nervously at the thick trees around them, rustling gently in the cool wind. Under other conditions, their surroundings might have been quite relaxing, with the lush plant life, a well-walked path trailing beside a small river, and tall mountains rising up on both sides of them. However, given their current predicament, the cool shadows of the trees looked ominous, perfect for hiding enemies; the road gave a clear path for a charge from the front or back; the mountains could have bowgunners and archers ready to fire on them or drop rocks down on them.

Grant was the leader of a corps of twenty 'private contractors'… which was the nice way of saying it. To put it bluntly, he was the boss to a band of mercenaries. They weren't the type for shady dealings or anything like that, but a group of thugs and hired swords that were brought in for protection of caravans or as muscle to guard dignitaries. They had been able to make a pretty notable reputation for themselves in Loc Lac escorting traveling nobles and merchants to and from the desert city safely or a regular basis.

Grant had feared they might be out of a job once the city had been leveled by the Alatreon a few years back, but there'd actually been even more work for them since then. A lot of hunters were either killed during the attack or put on leave when Stergo had returned to his place in the Guild, and since hunters were the primary competitors for men like Grant, that had left a fine opening for non-hunters to get themselves a slice of the pie. He supposed it might have been a bit dark to profit from the misfortunes of others… but to hell with it. He had men and women to pay, and he needed to put food in his belly just as much as the next man. Besides, hunters could always go back to hunting if they needed the money, couldn't they? Leave the simpler jobs like this to men like him!

Well… simple was relative, he supposed. Some jobs were pretty straightforward: get important person from point A to point B, keeping them safe; stand tall and look tough when escorting VIPs to important meetings; act as bouncers for big functions; easy stuff like that. Some were trickier, though. That A to B thing got a little harder between towns when monster attacks were more common, though Grant did his best to get word from the Guild on which roads were looking safer than the rest.

And then there were jobs like this one, where their path had no large monster sightings, but there were reports of a bandit group in the area. Grant could handle outlaws in small numbers, but the size of the raiding party was unknown. He had twenty well-trained men and women under his command, but large numbers or a solid ambush could end poorly for them.

It didn't help that their client, some dignitary from Loc Lac, was riding along in a gaudy Aptonoth-drawn carriage that could be seen a mile away. It just screamed nobility and wealth. If these bandits were paying attention at all, they'd never miss an opportunity like this. Of course, there was a chance that they were off at their hideout, or whatever place they had bunkered down inside, but…

They were rounding a wide bend in the road now, where the elevation dipped a little, dropping into a gully and passing a deep overhang of trees as a small bluff rose up on their left. The men were looking nervous now; with a rock wall on their left and a river to the right, this was the perfect place for an ambush. The scouts hadn't seen anything though, and their rear guard was just as silent, but Grant couldn't shake the feeling that they were still being watched. The mercenary leader made his way over to the carriage, intent on telling the driver to be ready to flee at a moment's notice.

"Charge! Take 'em down!" Grant spun about at the shout, his eyes darting about as he reached for the hilt of his sword. Impossible! How had their enemy managed to sneak up on them so fast? How had their scouts been so easily fooled?

However, as his gaze landed on the river, he spotted several dozen shapes rising from the water in a wide line, men and women that were drawing swords and daggers and rushing the shoreline. Grant realized that they all had smooth, plant-like objects covering their mouths and noses. Air philters! Damn it, he hadn't anticipated the bandits being able to plan something like this!

The sounds of battle sounded around him as at least thirty raiders rushed up from the water, their weapons clashing against the blades of the mercenaries. Grant cursed, dashing towards the carriage to defend it long enough for the driver to make an escape. The raiders seemed to have planned for this, however, and almost half of them had charged it, blocking the Aptonoth's path and clashing steel with the guards around the carriage. His subordinates were skilled enough to deal with their attackers, and the bandits' swords weren't sharp enough to really damage their armor, but numbers were on the raiders' side, and it wasn't long before they were being overwhelmed.

There was a shout, and four bandits branched off from the rest, darting towards the door to the carriage. Grant cursed, lunging towards them to intercept. Lashing out at them from the side, he swung his saber low to the ground, slicing into the exposed ankle of one of the bandits. The woman screeched in pain, dropping to the earth and clutching her leg in agony. Grant lunged at the next one, but this one proved sharper, snapping his dagger up to parry.

Grant tried to push the man aside and place himself in front of the carriage door, but both the bandit's comrades turned to assault him as well, steel blades lashing out at him and pushing him back. Grant struggled to block, but he wasn't quick enough to block three attacking opponents at once, and hissed in pain as one of the blades nicked the back of his hand, nearly making him drop his sword. Before he could recover though, another bandit swept up behind him, swinging a polearm over his head, snapping the wooden rod against his throat, and dragging him the ground.

"Hold him down!" one of the bandits that had been attacking him snapped. He was a bigger man, the one that had managed to block Grant's attack and hold him back. "We'll want a few hostages to negotiate with. The more there are, the more we can demand!"

Grant hissed a curse under his breath as the bandit behind him pulled the pole against his throat. He could see that the bandits had managed to get between the rest of his mercenaries and the carriage, and the raiders were doing a good job keeping them from rushing in to help. Damn it, the bandits had moved too quickly for them to counter! He hadn't lost a man yet, from what he could see, but they'd gotten to the carriage so fast!

"Get the rich guy!" the larger bandit snapped. "We get him, the rest'll stop fighting!" Three of his lackeys nodded, rushing the door to the carriage. Grant grunted, struggling to rip himself free of the bandit's grasp to stop them, but a punch to the back of the head nearly knocked him out, and he staggered with stars dancing in his eyes.

The carriage door was yanked open, and one of the bandits pointed a sword inside. The interior was dark, and the man had to squint to see, but growled viciously. "Alright, anyone in there, come out with your hands where I can see 'em, see? Don't do nothing funny, and I won't hurt ya!"

"Ho, don't vorry," a muted female voice chuckled from the darkness within. "Hy know hyu not gunna hurt me, but not for de same reasons hyu tinkink uf, hey?"

"'Scuse me?" the bandit snapped. "Look here, woman. You're in no place to argue, see? Now come out quietly, and maybe we'll be gentle when we-"

From the darkness of the carriage, a heavy-plated boot lunged out, smashing against the side of the bandit's head. There was a gurgled cry of pain as the man was thrown backwards down the embankment and into the river. The two others on either side looked at each other in shock, before one cursed, drawing his sword and lunging towards the door. Before he could enter, however, a gauntleted hand snapped out, clamping around his face and hoisting him into the air. The man's muffled yelps of fright could be heard through the glove as he swung at his assailant, but his blade ricocheted harmlessly off the heavy yellow plating that stretched down the arm.

The third bandit stumbled back as their attacker emerged from within the carriage, still carrying the other outlaw in her hand. She was positively massive, nearly seven feet tall and wearing heavy, dull-yellow plated armor and mail. A more knowledgeable person on the topic of hunting would have seen the knobby stumps protruding from the armor and known that it was Uragaan material, but the bandit could only stare dumbly at her. The woman's face was uncovered however, allowing them to see the fierce, excited grin she had plastered on her face, as well as the long brown hair that trailed down her back.

She looked down and rolled her eyes at Grant. "Look at hall dis. Decided to schtart de fun viddout me, hey?"

"Wouldn't call this fun, Miss Lynn," the mercenary hissed from the ground against the rod digging into his throat. The bandit holding him down snapped at him to shut up, but in doing so leaned his head in too close to Grant's. With a quick motion the mercenary swung at him, punching the man in the side of the head with his gauntleted fist. The man howled in pain, releasing Grant and clutching his skull, allowing the mercenary to wrench the polearm from his grasp, roll back to his feet, and quickly strike him across the face with it, knocking him out.

"Fun enough," Lynn chuckled.

From behind her, in the darkness of the carriage, a small boy appeared, blinking under the bright sun and looking around. He had messy black hair, but excited blue eyes as he looked around the carriage. He didn't seem to show any fear at all, despite the bandits having surrounded them. "Are we winning, mama?"

The bandit standing next to Lynn suddenly snapped out of her shock upon catching sight of the young boy, and lunged towards him. But Lynn growled venomously, and with one swing of her arm, backhanded the woman across the face with such force that she smashed into the side of the carriage. The woman staggered, trying to keep herself upright, but Lynn swung around, throwing the bandit that she still held in her other hand at her and sending both of them crumpling to the ground. The boy only blinked in surprise, actually leaning over to look at the fallen raiders before Lynn snapped her fingers at him.

"Get beck inside, Logan. Hyu not old enough to fight against pipple like dis, hey?" The boy sulked at the words, frowning and crossing his arms, and the woman chuckled. "Maybe ven hyu a fev years older, hey?"

"Hey! Woman!" Lynn turned at the shout as the taller bandit in front of her barked viciously at her. "What the hell do you think you're doing? If you really think that fighting me and my men's gonna get you out of this in one piece, you got another thing coming. Now how 'bout you play nice and-"

Before the man could finish, however, Lynn lunged at him. The bandit's eyes grew wide in shock at the retired huntress' speed, far faster than he would've thought a woman her height could move, before her gauntleted fist smashed him across the jaw. The blow staggered the man, but somehow he managed to keep upright, shaking his head and raising a hand to his face. As Lynn strode towards him, he swung blindly at her, but she raised her arm, and the blade clashed harmlessly off the heavy Uragaan plates.

Her other arm snapped forward, wrapping around the bandit's throat and pulling him towards her. She glowered down at him, a look of disappointment clear on her face. "So hyu de boss uf dese guys, hey? Hmm… Hy vas hopink for more. Bah, oh vell."

With a sharp motion, she snapped her head down, head-butting the man in the nose. The man grunted in pain as the blow broke his nose, but was silenced as Lynn lifted him above her head and smashed him down onto the rocky path, knocking him unconscious. The former huntress huffed disdainfully, before turning to look around at the rest of the bandits. She smirked upon realizing that her appearance had left the remainder of the raiders staring at her with stunned expressions while the rest of Grant's mercenaries gawked in disbelief.

"Looks like dere's, vat, tirty uf hyu left?" Lynn asked, rolling her neck and cracking her knuckles. "Dat's goot. Hy'd hate for dis to be too borink. Kome on, now, hall uf hyu. Hy've been puttink up vith dis dem kouncil vork for five years now, und since Hy ken't pummel doze stubborn kouncilmen, den Hy'm gunna vent my frustration on hyu fools instead, hey?"

"Sir, we're running out of rope."

Grant scowled irately down at the bandit in front of him. Night had fallen, but even in the dim light of the waning moon, the thug's injuries were clear to see: the man had a broken nose, a swollen eye, and more than one missing tooth. Others around him had a bevy of various injuries as well: cuts, bruises, and a few broken arms. No broken legs, thankfully; that would've made things quite a bit harder than Grant wanted them to be. However, at the words from Grant's subordinate, a gleam of eagerness lit up on his face. He wasn't the only one either; four more bandits nearby suddenly looked up, foul intent clear in their expressions. Grant's mercenary group had managed to capture twenty-two of the raiders after the rest had fled, but they hadn't exactly planned on taking captives and had run out of rope before they could tether all of them.

"We can't have them running off…" Grant muttered sourly. "We have no choice. Send a scout ahead to Nastre. I want them to know we're bringing them some prisoners that need seeing to. They'll likely need to be transported to the prison in Orage. Request shackles as well, and bring them back as quickly as possible, or at least some more damn rope…"

He motioned to the unbound men and women before him. "As for these criminals… triple the watches tonight. I want as many eyes as we can afford to keep on these brigands. Also… if we cannot afford to bind them with rope, then bind them with threats. If any of them even look like they're plotting an escape attempt, slit their throat. The Ludroth breeding season came early this year, so we can toss their bodies into the river and give the beasts something else to think about besides attacking our caravan."

The unbound raiders paled at the words, looking between each other nervously. To their credit, Grant's subordinates played along, one asking another for a whetstone to sharpen her blade, while two more pondered loudly whether they should just use the bandits' confiscated weapons instead of their own since they'd just polished their swords and didn't want to stain them. Grant nodded encouragingly, knowing this cowing wouldn't last for the rest of the journey, but hopefully it would keep their attackers compliant until their advance men returned with more rope, or shackles if they could get them. If they were really lucky, Nastre would be able to spare some guards or even hunters to help them keep these bandits under control until they were safely in prison.

Grant wasn't sure how Lynn had done it. A raiding party of over thirty men and women striking their caravan, and the council woman had single-handedly beaten down over half of them. Sure, they were wearing makeshift leather armor, while the retired huntress had been in full Uragaan armor, but the yellow materials weren't exactly lightweight. They also had iron swords and daggers to wield, while the councilwoman had charged them with only her fists. He knew hunters were a different breed of human; hell, he'd even seen a few hunts in person, and not just the ones they set up at arenas.

She hadn't got off scot-free though. Looking towards the central campfire, where the retired huntress sat laughing and joking with a few of his subordinates, Grant could clearly see that she had a black eye and a rather nasty welt on the left side of her face. Her armor was off now as well, and one of the other mercenaries was wrapping bandages around an arm and leg where a couple of the bandits she'd overwhelmed had managed to needle their blades through the gaps in her armor. It was luck on their part; after Lynn had managed to knock out their leader, the fight had essentially descended into a brawl.

Miraculously, there hadn't been deaths on either side of the fight. A couple of Grant's men had been stabbed by a sword or dagger during the fight, but neither were fatally injured or crippled, and had accompanied the forward scouts going ahead to Nastre so they could be treated. Still, that left eighteen men and women, twenty-two bandits, and two 'civilians' remaining, with no bodies to bury. Impressive work, all things considered, even if it had mostly been accomplished by the woman that Grant and his subordinates were supposed to be guarding.

However, despite how nicely the whole situation had turned out, Grant still didn't like it.

"Miss Lynn, if I may be frank," Grant grumbled, sitting down next to the woman, "I appreciate the fact that you're not one of the useless nobles that we're usually hired to guard, and can actually hold your own in a fight. You can more than hold your own, if I must be honest… I also appreciate that you're allowing us to take the credit and payment for capturing these raiders. But I'm not a big fan of you demanding that we take the paths that are known as having been attacked by bandits in recent weeks."

"Vat, de pay's not goot enough?" the councilwoman chuckled.

"No, the pay's fine… for standard escort jobs. But you're intentionally throwing us against raiders and thieves! Encounters like this are supposed to be a risk, not a guarantee!"

"Sorry bot dat," Lynn chuckled, leaning back against the wheel of the carriage. "Hy've been a kouncilmember in Loc Lac for five years now… As zumone dat used to be a hunter, den retired from dat to become an innkeeper und bartender, trust me ven Hy say dat beink a pencil-pushink member uf de kouncil hain't eksactly my favorite tink in de vorld. Und it's not like Hy kan hit dem if dey're beink schtubborn… vell, not again. Hy vould hef schmacked dat fool Hodson herder if Hy'd known it vas de last time Hy kould do it viddout 'political ramifications'. Bah…

"Dot's vy Hy do hall dis," she continued, motioning to the mostly bound bandits. "Hy gots a reputation to uphold now. Hy gotta vent my anger zumhow, und Hy kan't chust go to a hunter's bar und schtart a fight like Hy used to. Und it's not like Hy kan chust travel on my own, chust me und Logan. No, Hy gotta keep up appearances, look hall important-like vith an entourage und everyddink, hey?"

Grant scowled, frowning at the councilwoman and crossing his arms. "What about Logan, your son? I don't think taking him on outings like this is very safe."

Lynn sighed, glancing over towards another one of the fires, and Grant followed her gaze. The black-haired boy was talking excitedly with a couple of Grant's mercenaries. Judging by how both of them had their swords out and were swinging them around, the boy was obviously trying to get lessons on swordplay and fighting again. It had been a common occurrence during the whole journey; as soon as they settled down to camp for the night, Logan would ask around, looking for someone to spar with or duel using some oversized hunter's knife. Lynn seemed to have made no effort to stop him, either.

"Boy's gotta learn de fightink sooner or later, hey?" the woman muttered quietly. "He's vyink to be a hunter vun day, but… Dis iz de first time Hy've ever brought him along on zumddink like dis. Hy vant him to see dot it's not hall heroism und dot odder schtuff. Ah, vell. Hy vouldn't hef brought him along if Hy tought dis vole tink vas gunna get rilly dangerous. If dere's a real chance uf danger, Hy'd hef left him back in Loc Lac."

"A thirty-man raider group doesn't qualify as real danger?"

"Kompared to fifty hunters gettink into a drunken brawl? Kompared to a real monster dot he's gunna try und hunt for de Guild vun day? Kompared to… to riots in de schtreets? Kompared to de Alatreon? Ve vere both in Loc Lac five years ago, hey? Hy've seen vorse ten dis… und so hes he."

Grant grimaced at the words. He'd been fortunate that he and his men were out of Loc Lac during the riots and Alatreon attack. Some merchant lord had called them to the south-western forests to accompany him back to his villa from some secret event and never shown up… "Still, you're not exactly encouraging him to be careful using methods like this. If even the smallest thing went wrong…"

"Hmm… hyu probably right… Gah, almost six years takink kare ov him und Hy'm schtill no goot at dis modderink tink… It's herd to schtop tinkink like a hunter or a bartender…"

Grant sighed, sensing that he'd hit upon a touchy subject. "Look, Lynn, Logan seems… fine. I'll admit I'm not exactly an expert on child-rearing… mercy knows there's not many women that find thugs like me charming. But Logan's a good kid from what I've seen. Pretty smart, polite, seems to get along with people. He's a little bit… rambunctious when it comes to learning how to fight for his age, though I guess coming from me that doesn't mean much. But at least you're trying to raise him right, and that means something."

"Hyu tink so?"

"I do," Grant nodded, and Lynn sighed in relief. "Though I still think bringing him along through bandit territory isn't the best plan ever."

Lynn grumbled to herself, crossing her arms. "How em Hy supposed to vent hall uf my anger, den?" she muttered sourly. "Hy kan't hunt, Hy kan't get into bar fights… Hy kan't pummel doze fool kouncilmen…"

Grant sighed, glancing around his subordinates before lowering his voice. "Well… you didn't hear this from me, but you know that airship company in Nastre?" Lynn raised an eyebrow, leaning closer curiously. "You see, a lot of those airship pilots and crewmen, they're a feisty bunch, kind of like sailors, right? Pride in their strength. But their boss, that, uh… what was it, Silas? He wants them to retain a professional appearance for the sake of the company, so they're not allowed to roughhouse or drink too much when they're in other cities. The men and women under Silas' employ really like their jobs and don't want to risk losing them. Seems flying's got quite the pull on some folks, like the sea's got on sailors, and like hunting has to folks like you, Miss Lynn."

"Heh. Dat von't schtop dem, if dey're de kind uf men Hy tink dey are, hey?"

"And you'd be right. It took a few months, but they finally decided they'd had enough of all that professionalism. They needed to vent their own frustrations, but they had to be quiet about it, right? So… a few of them gathered up, all quiet-like, and started having underground fighting matches, nice and hidden. They find a bar or an inn that'll… sponsor them, give them some nice, out of the way place where they won't call attention to themselves, and… well, now there's at least one in every town with an airship dock these days, since the crewmen certainly wouldn't want to wait to return to Nastre to blow off steam.

"Now, like I said, they keep it quiet, but… certain folks have learned about their little sessions. Certain folks like yourself, that may or may not want their pastimes to become public, but still need a way to 'vent'. I'm not sure whether Silas himself has heard of this little club, but if he has, I guess he considers it obscure enough that he hasn't stepped in to stop it. It may not have the same rush as assaulting a small army of bandits, but it just might be what you're looking for, without the risk of… accidental stabbing. Word has it that a few of the wealthier participants even hired a doctor to keep on hand to get rid of those incriminating bruises that wouldn't be looked highly upon by the more prudish nobles and politicians out there."

The whole time that Grant had been speaking, a smile had been growing wider and wider on Lynn's face, and a clear glimmer of violent excitement became clear on her face. She gave Grant a wicked smirk. "A secret klub, huh? Und how deed a man like hyu kome across information like dis, hey?"

Grant shrugged. "I'm the leader of a mercenary band, and not every job is nearly as… exciting as this one. You find ways to keep your subordinates busy in business like mine, and they do tend to get antsy if you don't give them an outlet every now and then. I suppose we're like hunters in that way, even if we aren't quite as up to fighting beasts a dozen times our size. Anyway, that information is yours to do with what you will… and for future reference, I'm pretty sure there's a place in Loc Lac that sponsors these sorts of things, though I'm not sure where exactly it is. You'll have to get that information on your own time."

"Heh. Vell, Hy may be a kouncilvoman now, but dot doesn't mean Hy kan't get schneaky info like dot like Hy kould as a bartender, hey?"

"That'd be up to you to figure out."

"Hy appreciate de tip," Lynn chuckled, leaning back and smirking excitedly. "Hy might need to ekstend my visit to Nastre by an ekstra day or tvo, now dat Hy know dis, hey?"

"As long as we're paid-"

"Ja, Hy know."

"Alright, then, that's fine by me. We don't have any immediate commissions after this job, so we can spare a few extra days."

"Vera nize. Might even hef to giff hyu und hyu lackeys a bonus for beink so… helpful."

"I wouldn't say no to that."

"Didn't figure hyu vould, hey?" Lynn smirked, leaning back and staring wistfully up at the stars above them. She glanced over towards the other campfires, where Logan was going through some awkward sword practice with a couple of the mercenaries. "Schtill… as fun as dis secret klub uf hyus sounds, it's herd to beat dat rush hyu get ven fightink a real threat, hey? Hy mean, Hy schould keep Logan avay from henny real danger from here on, but…"

Grant sighed wearily, rolling his eyes. "If it's our only option aside from a monster-infested road, and your boy's not tagging along, then I have no qualms. But while I realize that we'll be rewarded for bringing in these bandits-"

"Hy'll dubbel hyu pay."

"...Right then. Should be able to buy better armor with that… At least allow us to requisition shackles or something next time, would you? We've only got so much rope to tie them up, and keeping them cooperative at sword point wastes manpower."

"How pragmatic," Lynn chuckled. "Alright, hyu got it. Tenks for playink along, by de vay."

"Ah, well, it's really not that bad…" Grant muttered, scratching his chin. "Besides, this kind of work will spread word of our group, and we could use the renown. If people start seeing us as really good at this kind of work, we'll get more hires from merchants and nobles, and we'll be able to get better pay."

Lynn smirked at him. "Ho, ja, Hy'm sure. But Hy'm tinkink dat maybe, chust maybe, dough hyu pretend to be hall tough und serious around hyu lackeys, hyu like dis kind uf challenge as much as Hy do, hey?"

Grant stared in silence at the fire for a couple moments. "It doesn't… hurt to put your skills to the test every now and then, I suppose."

"Heh. Tought so," Lynn laughed, pushing herself to her feet and rolling her shoulders. "Vell now, now dot Hy'm feelink better, Hy tink Hy'm gunna giff Logan a real lesson in how to fight, hey? Und maybe zum uf hyu mercenaries too…"

"Be gentle with them, please!" Grant shouted after her as she strode away. "I need them in shape for the rest of the journey tomorrow!"

"Ja, ja."

Grant sighed, turning his gaze towards the captured bandits. His subordinates were keeping a good watch on them, so there didn't seem to be any worries there for the moment. Hopefully the men he'd sent ahead would return with shackles in the morning, or by noon at the latest. But for now they seemed to have things under control.

He leaned back against the carriage wheel in thought. Double pay, and a chance for his little troupe to make a name for themselves, huh? He could live with this. He supposed there were worse jobs to have. Lynn could more than hold her own in a fight, and his men and women would certainly appreciate the excitement, so long as the councilwoman kept her son out of danger. And this would certainly lead to even higher-paying jobs for nobles and merchants in other parts of the country…

Yeah, he could definitely live with this.

Author's Note: Please Review! Not much to say this time through… Though I hope you guys liked this chapter!

Oh, yeah, and I guess I've actually finished writing the first chapter of TLC's sequel, even if it's not slated to be released until next March at the earliest… Thought you guys might want to know.

Reading: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Playing: MH3U, Bastion, Final Fantasy III
Listening: The Divine Comedy, The New Pornographers
Watching: The Five People You Meet in Heaven