Chapter 12: Fear and Loathing

Hey, hey

Wouldn't it be great, great

If we could just lay down

And wake up in Slowtown?

I zone out for a while, playing a twenty one pilots song in my head as we sat on a bench at a park. I could easily just put some earphones on and blast the song on my phone, but that beats the purpose of hanging out and chilling with my brother and my cousin. Oh, and Charlie's here too, for some reason.

"You look out of it today, Frank," Char mentions as he opens a bag of chips, it was the cheap kind that you can buy from street peddlers, nevertheless they were pretty good. I doubted if they were clean,though. I noticed he had let his hair grow out a bit longer, looking incredibly thick like an anime character's. With his squinty eyes, Char looked like he could be a part of a K-Pop or J-Pop group or something.

"When am I not out of it?" I asked, remembering that I still had plenty of homework to take care of.

"You think we can call you Lee instead?" Indigo butted in and motioned a hand toward Charlie, "Having someone named Char and someone named Charlie might cause confusion in the group."

"What kind of demented pickle stuffings are you on, mate?" Charlie replied, I wasn't sure if he was swearing at that point, "You go and recruit me telling me to accept who I am and join your group as my true self, now you're asking me to change my name?"

"I can always just go as Full Frontal or Quatro Bajeena," Char said with a smirk. I have no idea what he's talking about.

"No one has any idea what you're talking about, Char," Indigo said and gestured at us, "He's actually making Mobile Suit Gundam references."

Charlie and I shared a moment of clarity, a very short moment followed by a complete disregard of whatever we were talking about minutes ago. No one mentioned the name thing ever again, I think.

Meanwhile the park itself was peaceful, as peaceful as a local park in our country could get at least. Children were messing around in a nearby playground, couples were making out under the trees, street vendors were walking around selling their wares, and from afar you could hear all the noise from vehicles and the train station, and of course all those people on their phones trying to catch Pokemon(You'd think they'd be more worried about actual monsters lurking around). Peaceful is… an exaggeration I would say.

But we are at peace, I think, and that's what matters. School has gotten me very stressed lately, not to mention the pressure of being part of the Raptor Brothers without actually being able to transform into a hunter and contribute yet. The same can be said for Charlie as his 'final exams' are coming up as well, whatever it is that they do there. Indigo was busy with work, and I quote, 'Has not seen my sweethearts for three days'. Char was, actually pretty chill, due to changes in the curriculum school would not be starting for him for a month or so.

Point being, Indigo thought it was a good idea to hang out and chill like this before any monsters decide to show up and ruin our week again. For some reason, monsters have been rare in our area lately, whether some stroke of luck or perhaps the work of other hunting groups, we were more than happy to catch a break. Except Char, since he needs more 'hunting income' for his plastic model action figures or whatever.

"Got us some taho," Indigo came with cups of the said food in his hand. It's basically soy milk(sort of) with syrup and tapioca. How he held four cups in two hands I will never understand, nor actually care about, as I sip and enjoy the warm and sweet flavor of the soy. That's good shit.

"How come you didn't invite the others?" Char asked.

"Everyone else are in school, you guys are the only ones with free time," Indigo replied. As he finished talking a group of children in uniformed passed us, which of course, caught my brother's attention. "Huh, are there nearby schools here or something?"

"This place is surrounded with schools and universities," Charlie replied, "Although it looks like those little pumpkins are in a field trip, must be headed to that science museum nearby."

"Aww," I frowned, the word museum got my attention but, "I thought it would be an art or history museum." Being an art major and a history buff, this came as no surprise to everyone except Charlie.

"Oh come on, mate," Charlie said, his accent sounding more british than usual. Come to think of it, are we even actually sure he's actually part british? I can't remember when this was established, but everyone just seems to take it for granted. "Science is pretty cool,too! Ah bet they got things in there that will amaze you! Like mutated giant vegetables or something like that."

"No thanks…mate," I replied, not that I have anything against science or people who say mate, I just simply wasn't in the mood for it. "I'd rather just chill around here doing absolutely nothing right now. Of course, as soon as I remember all the work I had piled up, I'd probably have a panic attack."

All of a sudden, Indigo stood up, stretching and acting like he just had some kind of light bulb above his head.

"I think we should go for it," Indigo said, pointing towards where the children went. "A little field trip of our own should be a good way to spend the day. Get your mind off the stress and all that."

"You just wanna follow those kids, don't you?" Char butted in with a condescending grin.

"And you're just afraid of the entrance fee, aren't you?" Indigo countered, dodging the question, but smiling as if his answer would be yes.

"Touché." Char replied.

"Toupee." Indigo answered, for no apparent reason.


Everytime I hang out with this family, they seem to get weirder. From a pedophile, to some kind of nervous wreck, and to some absolute cheapskate, these people never fail to make me question my own sanity.

I mean, take that Char bloke for example, he already has enough savings from the hunting jobs we've done but still prefers to take the train than a taxi simply because it costs way less. And trust me, if you've been in our country before, then you probably know that saving money by riding a jam packed train car is always a desperate measure. Or if you live in Japan, then you probably get what I mean, except our trains are fucking slow. Imagine that. And yet he still chooses to ride one instead of a cab, which we totally have the budget for!

Indigo's sister, Frank, is a pretty okay girl. She's the most normal I've seen, but she also understands a lot of pop culture references, as well as otaku-related references, and also seems to have a vast knowledge of internet memes. If she didn't have a tendency to suddenly act like a downer she'd be pretty fun to hang out with all the time. Pretty sure I heard her arguing with Indigo about how she could've enjoyed that Marvel Civil War movie, if they didn't make the story too focused on the 'hot guy with a metal arm'. Watching Indigo turn from a greatly satisfied fanboy to a mellow guy that agrees with his sister, was like some kind of fever dream.

And speaking of Indigo himself, I will never understand how he even became the leader of this group besides being the eldest. The way he acts so proud of his abnormality makes me feel so weird, it was like if Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones was a pedophile instead of a half-man or something like that. I'm pretty sure I saw him flirting with Amy's classmate the other day, like straight up textbook flirting.

While I'm at it, I might as well review my thoughts on the other Raptor Brothers members.

There's Amy, who I'm sure is some immortal witch or vampire stuck inside the body of a child. Not only does she act superior to all of us, she's disturbingly more mature and can honestly keep up with whatever humor Indigo or I would put up, be it witty humor or toilet humor. I don't understand how someone like her could end up mingling with people like us. I have a considerably high regard of myself, but man does she make me feel so inadequate.

Even though he's within the same height as the other kids, Xavier is a teenager, one of the original three Raptor Brothers. Just like the small monsters in every MH game, he boasts a higher fervor and ferocity than the other members and seems to have a high combat experience despite never playing the older MH games besides Freedom Unite and Portable 3rd. This tells me that he's either very skilled or talented, or he has no social life and has wasted all of his time on the game. It's probably both.

Lastly we have the twins, Yuri and Yuel, whose only similarity is the fact that they look alike. Just like their hunter names, they are literally Yin and Yang. How two people can hang out with each other despite being polar opposites is beyond me. That's the power of siblings, I guess. Pretty sure they can read each other's minds too. I remember chilling in the HQ, with Yuri on the sofa next to me and Yuel outside helping Indigo and Char out in spray painting some toy model kits. Then Yuri nonchalantly goes to the cabinet and takes out a bottle of alcohol, and lo and behold a minute later Yuel and Char come in and asking for one so they can thin the paint on the toy. It was pretty surreal but nobody seems to mind.

All things considered, it kinda makes one wonder why the fuck I was even hanging out with this people. Honestly, despite all that I've said about them, I've never felt so accepted and belonged before. That probably goes to show how equally weird I maybe, but still, this must be what a surrogate family feels like. It was like they didn't just befriend me, they adopted me. That was the most fun part of being a Raptor Brother.

"Oy, Charlie lad, what'ye bloody day-dreaming about, you wanker?" Char shouted at me, getting rid of whatever cheesy feelings I had for them a moment ago.

"I hope you hunt better than you imitate my slang and accent, you unripe fuckwad of a mango." I answered.

Everyone laughed at that, and we were all happy-go-lucky as we entered the museum. Char was even happier 'cause they had a promo for the day and all fees were free of charge.

And everything was peaceful. As if monsters didn't inexplicably exist and our day would never get ruined by one.

Huh, I wish.


"Guys, I just realized," Indigo said as we walked by the different exhibits. We were in the space exhibit and was walking next to a tiny rendition of the moon. "If I play Pokemon Go, I'll finally be able to hang out near playgrounds legally!"

"Assuming they're Pokestops of course," I replied, still happy that we were able to enter for free. The best things in life are free after all. "Wait! That's not the issue at all!"

"Hehe, you're still in trouble if they found out you're not trying to capture Pokemon," Frank grinned, then went back to gazing around at the different spaceships and shit. "Hmm, I wonder if they got Astro Switches here, or maybe a link to the Rabbit Hatch."

"No one has any idea what you're talking about, Frank," Indigo said and gestured at us, "She's actually making Kamen Rider Fourze references."

"Calm down Frank," I elbowed her lightly, "Your inner weeb is showing."

"Wow, guess this group's full of weebs and otakus, innit?" Charlie said with a smile and looked at Indigo, "By the way bruv, I'm surprised you understand a lot of Frank's and Char's references."

Indigo shrugged and grinned, "I try to keep up to date with my siblings' interests. Though I do get swallowed by them as well. I mean, have you seen how many Gunplas and Kamen rider action figures I have at home?" He shivers, as if realizing how much he's fucked his life up.

"No wonder you never seem to have any savings, even with all our hunting jobs." I replied with a smirk, "Then again it's not like we get paid much."

We all nodded and agreed, then went with the gaggle of children going towards the dinosaur exhibit.

Huh, As if we haven't seen enough towering beasts lately.


I had to punch my brother on the arm to get him to stop humming the Jurassic Park theme song. Then I had to punch Char and Charlie as well since they started humming too. Indigo was right though, the names Char and Charlie are a bit confusing and would make for a good tongue twister. Maybe I should change my name to Charlotte while we're at it.

Meanwhile the three dumb boys gawked at every skeletal model, every diorama, of every stereotypical dinosaur you can think of. You got a brontosaurus wax figure, which was NOT life sized but was at the height of a regular adult, and Indigo was calling it 'Little Foot'. There's picture galleries of different herbivore and carnivore dinosaurs, and we had to stop Char from fighting a kid because the kid called a 'triceratops' a 'rhinoceros'. Charlie, on the other hand, kept insisting that these things are fake because they lack feathers, which of course almost started an argument with both some other adult and another kid.

"Guys, are you trying to get us kicked out?" I asked them after taking them aside. "You're the ones that insisted on this tour, stop going full aggro-nerd and let's just have fun."

Indigo put a hand on my shoulder and smiled, "Good to know you're having fun."

"Well, technically I'm just trying to have fun." I replied. It's not that I don't appreciate any of this, I just find it harder to enjoy life when you've got tons of work to worry about when you get home. I'm not like my brother who always has a strategy that allows him to chill and play around while not having work pile up all over him.

Come on Frank, relax, just try and chill. I close my eyes for a second and breathe slowly. I'll have no problem doing all my homework and projects when we get home, right? It's not that much I guess. I'll be able to hunt alongside my brothers and friends eventually, right? I mean it can't be that hard to transform into a hunter you've been playing as for months and risk your life. There's nothing difficult about fighting monsters where a single misstep can get you killed…right?

Ah, goddamnit.

"We should probably head back now," I tell the three idiots in front of me, "The next exhibits are more inclined towards children anyway. It's just some sciency playground."

Indigo looked at me and my face must have been turning sour, cause he nodded as if he understood.

"Alright," He said without saying much else, "You wanna get some ice cream on the way home?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"Us too," Char and Charlie butted in. "You can never go wrong with some ice cream."

That's true, but there's just something about that type of desert that always calms me down. My brother may be a complete idiot and a borderline psychopath, but at least he knows how to cheer me up every once in a while.

We were about to exit the exhibit when we hear a child scream. Not scared or dying scream, more like excited and regular child scream.

"WOOOOOOOW!" The rambunctious kid pointed up. We all looked to at the ceiling and saw what looked like a large dinosaur skull dangling around. "It's a rhinoceros skeleton!"

"TRICERATOPS!" Char shouted at him, "And that's a skull!"

The kid gave him the finger, something that amused Indigo, but my brother looked more worriedly at the skull.

"I don't think that's a triceratops skull," He said while stroking his chin like some detective, "Doesn't that look more like a Gravios to you?"

We all squinted, trying to get a clearer and more detailed look at the dangling skull. Meanwhile, I tried to think what a Gravios is. Was that a monster hunter reference or another video game or anime reference? Wait, I think I remember fighting a Gravios in MH4U, or was it a Diablos?

"Well," Charlie answered, "That does kinda look like a Gravios skull. But what's it doing there?"

"Maybe they found a dead Gravios that's been slain and took its skull for display?" I contributed to the topic.

"Feels like they'd waste too much effort trying to do that." Char replied.

Meanwhile Indigo looked deep in thought, staring at the dangling Gravios skull while stroking his chin. All of a sudden he stopped and tensed, and without warning he ran towards the children.

"Dude, what the fuck?!" I shouted, worried that my brother finally snapped and was going full pedo on us.

"Ma'am," He said as he got to the kids and the tour guide, and pointed at the Gravios skull, "Is that part of the exhibit?!"

"Um, I wasn't told about this," was all the lady could reply.

"Then you need to get the children out," Indigo talked like he was some police authority or something. It honestly scared me, "It's dangerous to be here, please get the children out."

"But-"

"GET THEM OUT!"

The tour guide looked frightened and shaken, but seemed to believe him. She started ushering the kids who, of course, were bummed that they had to leave so quickly.

They were just beginning to make their way out from when the walls started trembling and a noisy rumbling began echoing around the large room.

"SHIT!" Indigo said as he ran to us. "There's only one reason for a skull like that to be on a ceiling!"

"Huh?" I replied, but the two behind seemed to get it.

"When a skull is stuck on a ceiling or wall like that," He continued, "There's usually a Shogun Ceanataur inside."

As if waiting for some dramatic moment, the skull started moving just as the words left Indigo's mouth. Specks of blue skin(?) moved out from underneath and inside it as the creature awakens. Bony legs appear and extend as the Shogun Ceanataur springs out and jumps off the ceiling.

Everyone looked to the ground as the monster's shadow grows bigger as it falls closer. In a split-second of clarity, all of us must've realized that the Shogun was falling down on us and we all spread out in a running panic.

Without looking back we ran as far away from the looming shadow. The ground shook and I tried my best to stay balanced through the tremor. My heart was beating faster than what I consider as healthily necessary, but I tried my best to calm down and take a look around.

All three of the guys I'm with had already donned their hunter avatar form, making me assume that they never ran from the falling monster a while ago. Dirge(Indigo) was near the children, telling the tourguide and teacher where to go and what to do to stay safe, while at the same time playing songs on his Hunting Horn and buffing up the other two. Relena(Char) and Rezamesu(Charlie) was keeping the monster busy, making sure that it focuses attacks on him and away from the civilians.

"You know Relena," Rez said as he deflects the right claw, while Relena shields herself from the other one. "I just realized our hunter names both start with RE, while our real names both have CHAR in them. How positively odd, don'tcha think?"

"Both of my names were inspired by characters from the Mobile Suit Gundam animes," Relena replied, rolling under a claw swipe and countering with slashing combos to charge up her phials. "At least I have a theme of sorts."

While they were bickering, Dirge was helping the children and the adults with them look for an exit. A large dinosaur skeleton along with some display cabinets had fallen over and blocked the main door, correction, the only door. There were windows around that were large enough, and by some miracle their glass didn't shatter, but the tour guide was too worried about getting fired to allow them to break it.

"Ma'am, this is an emergency," Dirge said sounding real pissed (he tries to sound like Batman when he's angry, lowering and increasing the bass in his voice). "Would you really get fired for saving people's lives?"

The tour guide, and the teacher, looked very conflicted and probably in a bigger state of panic than the kids. The kids were more than happy to be able to watch a monster fight this close.

"Ah, dammit!" My brother groaned as he left the worthless adults he was bickering with and went back in the fight with the other two hunters. "We need to finish this up quickly and efficiently, there are way too many people at risk."

"How?" Relena replied, "It may just be a Shogun Ceanataur but goddamn its durable. It probably knows that it can't dig around and there's too much obstacles around it to move. It's been spamming its claws at us!"

"Alright, let's try this," Dirge continued as he fights alongside Relena and Rezamesu, "You two each block or deflect a claw while I get all horny all over his face."

"Huh?" Rez replied.

"Get used to it," Relena answered him, "He means we keep both claws busy while he spams hunting horn attacks on the enemy's face. If we're lucky, it will get stunned and should help us kill it faster."

"Ryokai!"

"Alright then, let's not fuck this up!" Rez and Relena answered. On some instinctive signal, they both rushed the enemy. Rez slammed his knife looking greatsword down on the left claw, pinning it to the ground. Relena morphed her charge blade into axe mode and did the same. Meanwhile, here I was, doing absolutely nothing and cowering far from the fight.

Involuntarily I felt my hand grab something from inside my bag. It was the 3DS that Oscar Chase gave me.

Can I really do it? I've played the game enough, and seen my brothers in action. All I had to do was focus, and my hunter and I will be one.

But that's the problem, isn't it? I become one with the hunter, her pain becomes mine, her flaws and my flaws merged into one. I can't just opt out and let the hunter do all the dirty work. It's still all me.

Will it even work? Who am I kidding, chances are it will. I mean the twins did it, but then again they had more experience than I did. Dammit, my brother's charging at a gigantic crab and here I am arguing with myself without actually doing anything else.

"How'd you even get in here?" Dirge asked as he charged at the shogun, his hunting horn ready to smash the enemy to pieces. He had a grin on his face as he ran, it was like the equivalent of a cat shaking its butt before pouncing.

But as he got closer he suddenly stopped, saying a barely audible "Ah, shit". I wondered what the matter was until I saw the Shogun Ceanataur foaming at the mouth. A split second afterwards a strong torrent of water burst out of its mouth and sent Dirge flying. My brother landed with a painful thud on 'Little Foot', causing it to fall over. Poor thing.

"Konoyaro!" Rez growled and went for a counter attack to avenge Dirge. He kicked the enemy's claw away and went straight for the head. With its other claw unbound, the Shogun Ceanataur found an opportunity and drove its claw toward Rezamesu. With Rez wide open, he has no choice but to press on his attack and hope that the claw doesn't hit him before he can hit the Shogun's head.

But Rez didn't get hit, Relena had shoved his Charge blade on the shield and used a phial's burst to launch his shield like a charged boomerang. The shield made it in time to deflect and damage the claw before it could hit Rez, while Rez slammed his knife-looking Greatsword on the monster's face with what looked like a level 2 charge attack, causing it to flinch. Rez gave Relena a thumbs up and smiled, "sankyu!"

"No prob," Relena answered, "As one of our tanks, keeping my teammates safe is top priority."

"That was close," Dirge said as he stood up, "But let's face it, we can't go all out as long as we have civilians trapped here with us."

"Yeah," Relena nodded, "Any attack the Ceanataur makes could endanger them, so we can't focus on killing the monster willy-nilly."

Dirge started looking around intently, and in less than five seconds he nodded as if he thought of a plan. He pointed at Rezamesu, "Think you can cut those dino bones to pieces? Or even burn them to ash? They're honestly the only reason the door's blocked."

"I dunno about burning 'em, but I reckon I could mince 'em well enough to unblock the exit." Rez answered, but looked my brother worryingly, "You guys sure you can keep it busy without me?"

"Don't underestimate me and Dirge," Relena grinned, "We've fought together more often than the other Raptors, our synergy is unquestionable!"

Dirge carried his hunting horn by his shoulder, "We'll keep it busy as best we can, and when you finish we'll slay it relentlessly."

"Wakatta," Rez replied and headed towards the rubble blocking the door.

None of them would admit it, but I know what they're thinking. If I just transformed, they wouldn't be too overpowered. My weapon style is that of a gunner (since a mage isn't available in MH), so I really shouldn't worry about being on the frontlines. And yet…

I opened my 3DS with trembling hands, it's so simple, even the twins could do it. How do they make it look so easy?!

"Hey!" I heard Dirge call out. "You don't have to push yourself."

Look at you, worrying about me while going toe-to-toe with a giant hermit crab. As my brother, shouldn't you be pressuring me to help you? As our leader, shouldn't you force me to contribute to the team?

"I want to help!" I shouted, wincing as I watch my brother barely block an attack, his arms shaking from the force of the blow, his feet trying their best to stay stable.

"Stop being crabby, Shogun!" He shouted as if he wasn't even injured, "Just let me kill you!"

How?! How do you just joke around when any wrong move could get you killed?!

Relena sidestepped and blocked another attack from hitting my brother.

"I'll take care of this for now," She says, "If you need to give her some kind of peptalk, do it and do it fast!"

Dirge nodded, played what I assume was another HH buff-song, and sheathed his weapon as he ran to me.

"Hey."

"Are you hurt?" I asked, "What the hell,dude?! For a leader you sure seem to have your ass kicked more often than the others. Aren't you afraid to die or something?"

"Afraid?" He chuckles, "Franky, I am so scared right now I thought I'd shit my pants. My whole body is aching, begging me to stop fighting and just run away and rest."

"Then how-"

"In my opinion, being scared is good. It keeps you in check, lets you know your limit." He pats my back, I wince from the rough feel of his Brute Tigrex armor. "Sorry. Anyways, I think embracing fear is the first step to being brave."

"But a lot of things could go wrong, it's not like I'm capable enough to do anything about it."

"Let me tell you right now, a lot of things WILL go wrong, a lot of things already have. Maybe you do something about it, maybe you don't. You can either run away from it, or you can stand your ground and say 'Fuck you God! You'll have to do better than that!'"

That part made me laugh, despite the deep shit we were in. Must be nice, to be able to easily tempt fate like that.

"What happened to you?" I asked with a smile, "Not so long ago, when we were younger you used to snap so easily. Always throwing tantrums and hurting yourself everytime something goes wrong."

"This may sound cliché, but I found something worth standing up for. A motivation to improve myself."

"Let me guess-"

"Kids, I know. Call me full of shit but that's just how I feel."

He shrugged and so did I.

"Um guys," Relena butted in, and we looked to see her pinned down on the ground by the Ceanataur's claws. "I said little pep talk, not a lifetime's worth of heart-to-heart!"

The Shogun raised its claws and slammed them down, rendering anything in its path to pieces. Thankfully, Relena rolled away just in time and was not in its path.

"Holy shit!" She shouted with bated breath, "Did you guys see that!"

"Nice dodge, keep it up and buy me some more time!" Dirge said approvingly.

"Fuck you! Hurry up!"

Dirge faced me again, his helmet covering his face but I could feel he was grinning, "See that? I bet she was scared as hell the whole time. But instead of stopping her, she used fear to fuel herself. That's kind of how adrenaline works, though, right?"

He started walking towards the monster again, readying his Hunting Horn for another round. "Sorry If I couldn't have good enough words of wisdom to impart. If it helps, I usually play a song in my head to calm me down. Trust me though, nothing feels better than being able to stand up to fear and anxiety. Just remember, they're your fears, your paranoia, not the other way around."

I didn't quite get it, but I sort of did, I guess…

"OWN THEM!" Dirge shouts as he ran straight the monster, using his Hunting Horn's bursts of sonic-shock waves to propel him faster, like some kind of giant semi-automatic thruster.

To be honest that wasn't very helpful, but I guess he has a point. So I guess the first step would be to accept the fact that you're afraid? Is that it? Then the end goal would be to use them to your advantage, I guess.

I stare at my character in the 3DS, her Hyperion bow looking slim and simple equipped on her back. It's shade of blue and sleek design made me want it, despite being less viable than other bows. And hey, it blends well with my hunter's Lagiacrus Armor. All in all, my hunter looked like a blue and orange colored knight-ranger cross breed. Not very fitting of the name Artemis, but I'll take what I can get.

I take a deep breath as I stare at my character. This is it, am I really prepared for this?

No I'm not… and that should be okay. Now let's see, my brother said to play a song in my head…

How about Migraine by Twenty One Pilots? It's angsty enough and is kind of about anxiety and having to deal with an unstable mind. That'll do I guess.

Am I the only one I know,

Waging my wars behind my face and above my throat?

Here we go, focus on your hunter, feel the bond you've developed from all those hours of gaming. Allow your souls to become one.

Shadows will scream that I'm alone

My heart won't slow down, beating faster than I've ever felt it before. My hands were getting sweaty, my eyes felt blinded by the light coming from my DS screen. It was like being in a completely different body, and yet… I've never felt so comfortable.

But I know we've made it this far,

Kid


It's not everyday you get to hear an arrow whizz past your ear, and then after that you realize that your sister finally achieved what she wanted to do since day one and you just can't help but smile. Huh, looks like my words of wisdom finally did her some good.

I watched as three sparkling hits flash up from one arrow hit, must have been a piercing shot. I look back and see her grinning in that blue and orange Lagiacrus armor set, her bow resembling the Azure Rathalos with its dark and shiny blue scales.

"HOLY SHIIIIT!" Her Hunter screamed in surprise, eyes wide open like a miracle just happened. "I hit it on the face! The face!" Her hunter started jumping like a giddy little kid, looking very un-hunter-y. "I wasn't even aiming that well, damn!"

"Alright, keep it up!" I say with a tone of endearment. "Um, What's your hunter name by the way?"

"Artemis," She replied, nocking back another arrow.

"Ok, Artemis," I answer, thinking up a strategy on the fly. "Just hang back and support us from afar. Focus on dealing critical damage on the head, that might stagger it often enough to buy us more time. Relena and I will focus on preventing it from making any big attacks until Rezamesu can get the children out. Once the area is clear of civilians, only then can we go all out."

"Cool," Artemis replied, "Deal critical damage on a weak point that requires good aim to hit. No pressure here."

"You can do it," Relena said with a thumbs up, all while blocking and dodging attacks from the Shogun, "Don't forget to say 'Ryuu ga waga teki wo kurau' when shooting an arrow."

"What?" Artemis asked, almost losing her focus.

"Ignore her," I say as I get back in the fight. "We may have been playing too much Overwatch lately."

All manner of joking aside, we all resumed fighting again. It's a surprise that the Shogun Ceanataur didn't get pissed off that we were ignoring him a while ago while Relena just nonchalantly held it off.

Artemis fired another piercing arrow at its head, but only managed to hit the skull-shell on its back. She cursed under her breath and I reminded her to calm down and not to be hasty with her shots. I took a mental note of having Amy and/or Simon help her get used to shooting and generally being a real life gunner-type hunter.

Meanwhile, Relena and I kept the monster at bay. Small but staggering attacks were our goal, and we had to deflect if not cancel each and every attack the enemy makes. Minimizing the damage was top priority, while slowly whittling down the monster's health pool.

Rezamesu was still chipping away at the debris, the spacings he made are not yet enough even for a child to fit through. Who knew that we'd end up wasting more time and effort than necessary against a Shogun Ceanataur?

But then again, in real life even the simplest monsters can be a challenge.

The Shogun readied its claws again, this time looking like it's about to do its signature spinning slash attack, or whatever it's called. It's a pretty wide and quite destructive, so I told Artemis to spam any paralyze-coated arrows if she had any, as well as for Relena and I to pin down its claws.

"I think I can use any coating, hold on," Artemis said, noting something about her possible personal skill. "Cool, call me Hawkeye or Green Arrow or whatever 'cause I got a bag full of trick arrows. Paralysis arrows incoming!"

"Nice!"Relena shouted as she used the axe form of her Charge-Blade to pin down a claw while I pressed my whole weight on my hunting horn to pin down the other claw. A flurry of hits flashed on the enemy's face, and tiny little sparks started surrounding its body. Its body went limp and suddenly started shivering as if it was on the verge of having to take a shit but needed to hold it in.

"What are you snickering at?" Artemis asked as we started attacking relentlessly.

"Sorry," I replied, "I just thought of a shitty analogy. Pay it no mind."

While we were busy but cautiously destroying the Shogun Ceanataur, we heard the rumble of cement and other solid things and noticed that Rez had cleared a decent amount of rubble. The adult civilians were carefully but hurriedly guiding the children through the exit. In a few minutes, they'll be out of the room and into a presumably safer environment, whereas we can finally go all out against our enemy.

"Everyone back off and heal if you need to," I ordered, selecting a Mega Potion and Nulberry to take off the waterblight from getting hit with a water blast attack earlier. I realized that a lifepowder would have been a better option, but I forgot to bring some like the idiot that I am.

"Wow," I heard Artemis say, "The game doesn't allow me to equip all coatings, but now I can! How about that."

"Could be your special personal skill," Relena noted as she finished sharpening her charge blade. The Shogun was almost shrugging off the paralysis, and our respite was about to get cut short. "Either way, looks like break time's over."

"IT'S OK, FOR I AM HERE!" Rezamesu shouted, and since we were all in comms, making us all cringe from the loud piercing noise in our ears. We all swore at him before grouping together and posing as if we were superheroes about to fight a big bad villain.

I stood straight, a basic stance with my hunting horn planted on the floor, as if I was a knight standing with his blade pointed down. Relena readied both sword and shield of her charge blade, prepared to take a blow and counterattack. Artemis took a knee and readied her bow, taking aim at the enemy. Rezamesu stood with an arm at his waist and the other holding his greatsword over his shoulder.

"Why are we doing this?" Artemis asked.

"To look cool," I answered.

"But there's no one else around except the monster," Relena said.

"Well, maybe he's intimidated, yeah?" Rez answered.

We never got to continue debating, as the Shogun started crawling toward us with claws at the ready.

"Let's finish this quickly," I said with a grin, "Raptors, deploy!"

"That's lame," Artemis said as she fired a weird looking arrow on the ground, "But this isn't."

Wait what the hell is that? The arrow she fired planted itself on the ground and started transforming to what looked like some kind of small, pulsating device. Kind of like…

"Is that a shock trap?!" Relena shouted as she took a step back and waited for the Shogun to walk closer. True enough, as soon as the monster got within the arrow's radius, it started getting stunned and stopped moving as bolts of electricity kept it trapped.

"How-"

"Hunt now, questions later!" I cut Rez off as we ran at the enemy with reckless abandon.

We all attacked like a bunch of anime characters who finally got whatever power up they needed. Artemis fired power shot after power shot, somehow hitting more often than missing. Relena crushed the Shogun's claws with her signature 'Mjolnir Smash'. And as I buffed all of their stats up with my special HH song, Rez used his move called 'Zuwanagi Nabe' to cut the monster to pieces with quick steaming slashes from his giant knife.

With all the limbs cut off, all it took was a swift blow to the head with my Hunting Horn to end the fight. Before we knew it, the Shogun Ceanataur was reduced to a gory mess.

"That was a little anti-climactic," Relena said as she sheathed her weapon. "Oh well, at least everyone's safe and everything's fine."

"Whaddya mean everything's fine?" Rez asked, gesturing around us, showing that the room was full of blood and gore from the monster we cut up. The displays were either fallen down or ruined altogether from the chaos. "This looks like a big, literally bloody mess. And probly an expensive one too."

"We're not getting paid for this aren't we?" Artemis asked as we made our way toward the exit. "What do you say, leader? What do we do next?"

"To put simply," I reply as I broke to a sprint, "We run!"


How we managed to escape without being seen was beyond me. There was a fire exit that was unlocked and somehow we just snuck out without the police (who only just arrived) seeing us. We didn't bother talking to the police since Simon wasn't with them and we feared that they might arrest us for damaging property. Who knows, maybe they would understand that it wasn't exactly our fault, but we didn't want to take that risk.

"Good job everyone," Indigo spoke up as we rested in the park we were at this morning. My brother had already bought some street-vendor's ice cream and we were having a small party to celebrate my first successful hunt as Artemis.

"My god, my hands are still shaking," I say with a smile as I show them my hands. They are shaking. "That was fucking terrifying and awesome at the same time."

"We should review your skills at the next group meeting," Indigo nodded at me, and then at Charlie, "You too, we haven't checked your skills yet."

"Aye," Charlie replied, "But they ain't no big deal, mate."

"How are you talking in so many accents at the same time?" Indigo asked, but before we could continue his phone rang. "Claire! Holy shit you actually called me."

We all looked at him with questionable intent.

"What was-wait, seriously?" Indigo looked worried then smiled again, "Cool, sorry we couldn't come. We were busy as well. Alright, I'm just glad you guys are safe. Tell Amy to schedule a meeting as soon as possible. Nice, thanks, love you bye."

Char raised an eyebrow, and so did I (runs in the family I guess), "Was that last part necessary?"

Indigo shrugged, "Looks like they were busy with a monster when we were. Amy said they may have found a new potential recruit."

"Awesome, who is it?" I asked.

"Claire didn't say," Indigo replied with a grin, "But if Amy thinks they're worthy… Oh well, guess we'll just have to wait and hear her side of the story."

And with just that, we went home more enthusiastic than usual. Felt like it was just yesterday where there just three morons fighting monsters as a group/brotherhood called Raptor Brothers. The name might sound a bit lame, but I'm frankly happy to watch it grow big like this, especially now that I'm truly a part of it.

I don't know if the rumors about a hunting tournament actually turn out to be true, but if it does and we end up in some competition for Hunters, I'm confident that we'll face it together, as a team.

Or even better, as a family.