Derek inspected the ground, there was a huge crater as if someone placed dozens of large barrel bombs and exploded them at the same time.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" Derek looked around, the fragments weren´t spread around the area, they were more focused in one direction.
"What do you mean?" Wai asked and the hunter threw a fragment of stone for the felyne to catch.
""What do you see?" he asked standing up.
"Just a stone fragment, what special about it?" the felyne asked.
The hunter took off his helm. "Exactly, it is not burnt. This wasn´t caused by an explosion. Also there aren´t any monsters around capable of doing this kind of crater. It is not a Gypceros, Khezu, Yian Kut Ku, Rathian, Rathalos or Naruga. A Basarios can´t create a hole of this size and it is too small for an adult Gravios. It could be a member of the carapeceon family but…" Derek paused to look around one more time. "…the fragments are too far away. Even when a Shogun Ceanataur burst through the ground it doesn´t create such destruction." Derek rubbed his head.
"You think it is the Black Rathian, meow?" Wai asked.
"I see no other explanation. Ever since they entered the swamp it became harder to track them. There aren´t any scorched trees and the burning marks on the ground are few and mostly hidden by water. This is the last clue we have." the hunter took off his helm.
"So you´re going to give up? We can´t…" Wai started but received a dark glare from Derek.
The red armored hunter closed his eyes and then opened again with a much more calm expression. "You don´t know me, do you?" he smiled searching his backpack, he grabbed a map and extended it with both hands.
"Yoru may be the hot headed and Rick the type that uses his head to do things but I use my brain." Derek said looking at the paper. "I traced the path from time to time in this spare map. See? They went straight to the North for many miles and then quickly changed to West. They changed directions some times but the direction is always consistent." Derek showed the paper.
"So they´re going to the desert?" Wai asked.
"Yes, that´s why you´re here." the hunter said
"Me?! But how did….?!" the felyne was speechless.
"Like I said, I use my brain to do things. I was thinking about this a while ago, I wasn´t certain but you know, why not? Besides, when people and felyne are really determined to do something they go to the boundaries of hell to get it. You would still follow me even if I said no, wouldn´t you?" Derek asked.
Wai hesitated and Derek noticed it. He frowned as he placed his helm back on his head and then pointed to the way they came from.
"Go back." he said emotionless.
"But we still have to…" Wai protested.
"If you are not committed to do this then you should leave. I´m not going to tell anyone or hold a grudge, you can go." Derek said firmly.
Wai turned her face to the way they came from, "But it is a Black Rathian! The bringer of darkness!" the felyne shouted.
"Uh?" Derek said confused. "What are you saying?" he asked taking a step forward.
Wai took a step back and covered her head with both paws, "Meow! I heard from the chief, nyah! He-he said something about dark sky and bad omen, bad things happens when the sky turns black, nyah! Hunters disappear when the sky gets shinny again .Nyah!" Wai said in a fast pace.
Derek stared at the felyne as he rubbed his chin. "Are you saying that every time the sky gets dark a hunter dies?" he asked more to himself than to the cat.
"The Black Rathian killed our heroes, nyah! I know it!" Wai said.
"It could be…but where is the proof?" Derek asked.
"Black Rathian, nyah! It is black as night! Coming for our current Nightfury! It must be the one that killed our last Nightfury! He was hunting a Rathian, meow! Gray always tells that Nightfury went to hunt a Rathian and never came back! " Wai said eagerly.
Derek looked at the sky then to the ground and finally to his own armor. "The corrosive gas, the deaths of the hunters…rusted sword…This is not good." Derek thought looking at the felyne. "Why are you still here?" he asked bitterly.
Wai lowered her head, " I lied, ok? I´m not here to ask Nightfury to forgive me…she did that before departing…"the felyne murmured. "I´m here because Pasir begged me to do it." the felyne raised her head, revealing tearful eyes. "But I´m scared! Meow! I don´t want to die! I thought I could do it, in his honor bu-but! Nyyyaaaahhh! It is too hard for me! I don´t stand a chance against that demon! Nyaaahh!" Wai cried.
Derek crouched and put his hand over the Wai´s head, "You know what we do against "demons?" he asked and Wai shook her head to the sides. "We do a single, focused, powerful and precise strike at their weakest spot to end the battle as quickly as possible. That´s why we developed "Heavenly Impact", to put an end to fast moving rampaging monsters like Rajangs and Tigrex." he said pointing to his sword.
"But will that be enough?" Wai asked rubbing her eyes.
"She resisted two "half baked" Heavenly Impact from two hunters. But if I am left alone for five seconds I think I can gather enough strength to at least incapacitate her." Derek answered as he stood up. "Do you wish to continue with me or not? Every minute counts and if I´m correct Yoru don´t have any cool drinks with her." the hunter said walking away. After a few steps he heard splashes of water, when he turned he saw Wai following him.
(Desert)
Yoru heard something but she didn´t care to open her eyes, "I´m not sleeping mom, I´m just resting my eyes." she mumbled.
The wyverian laughed at the scene, "I guess I was worried for nothing in the end." he smiled taking a sip of his cold drink.
Yoru slowly opened her eyes when she heard another voice, "Haikan, what are you doing here?" she asked with her vision blurred.
"Oh? No, no no no no! You must be mistaken, I am Kong." the wyverian said moving his hands to the sides.
Yoru blinked, her mind registering the words one by one. "Sorry, my vision used to be better. Like, you know..." she pointed to her blind eye. The huntress stood up and bowed respectfully. "Nice to meet you, I´m Yoru Aruna Yukuna, the Nightfury of Kokoto." she said as a bit of sand fell from her clothes.
Kong rubbed his head, "Why you have a wyverian name? I thought only traditional families named their children with those names these days" the wyverian asked.
"Don´t know, never asked." the huntress shrugged.
Kong looked at the huntress with a brow raised, her armor was almost completely destroyed and there were many purple marks on her legs, arms and belly yet she acted if it was nothing. "Did you hit your head or something?" he asked pointing to the huntress.
"No, why?" Yoru asked confused.
"You have injuries all over your body, your armor is nothing but scraps and there is a dead Black Rathian just a few meters away. How can you be so laid back?!" Kong pointed to the right.
"Black…Rathian?" Yoru looked to where the wyverian was pointing. A trigger snapped inside her head like a gunlance firing a Wyvern Fire. She gritted her teeth and clenched her hands. "Dam you….you little Gypceros spawn!" she walked towards the corpse of the fallen wyvern with her swords drawn.
"Wait! Wait! That thing is already dead!" Kong told following the huntress.
"No! She´s not! She faking like a Gypceros!" Yoru said as she approached cautiously. The huntress leaned forward to stare at the monster´s head. "Since you didn´t kill me when I was trapped in your flames…I won´t kill you like this. Stand up and fight me!" Yoru pointed the sword at the monster´s mouth.
Kong sweat dropped, "Are you nuts?! There´s no way this Rathian is still alive!" the wyverian said walking closer.
"Don´t you test me! Aku no kido!" Yoru shouted.
"Demon of rage?" Kong raised a brow.
Yoru punched the wyvern´s nose and surprisingly enough the beast´s jaw jerked open. A blue light started to form inside the mouth as the eyes became a vibrant red. Noticing the awakening of the monster the huntress moved her head away as quickly as possible just in time to avoid a blue fireball. The projectile went far into the sky before exploding in dozens of sparks.
Yoru spun her swords and then made an "X" slash on the monster´s neck making a deep cut on it. The Rathian groaned as the eyes faded to black again.
Kong´s mouth was wide open, this huntress was actually right! "How did you know?!" he asked surprised.
Yoru looked at the Rathian expecting any sudden move or attack but nothing came. "I´m surprised you could do this after all! Your will is stronger than mine." Yoru clapped her hands.
"I left her a good distance from where we are. There was NO way she could be this close!" Yoru said putting the swords on her back. "Your name is Kong, right?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah! I was on a research when I spotted you and that thing over there." the elder pointed to the now (certainly dead) wyvern.
"I would love to hear your research but I need to go back to Kokoto. There are people waiting for me. I have to find a safe spot before night or the I will die." Yoru turned her back to the wyverian.
"Hey! My research is important! I´m part of the Elder Dragon research party!" Kong fumed.
Yoru stopped walking. "How convenient…because Kushala is coming." she pointed towards the sky.
"What?!" Kong ran towards his balloon and searched for a brass telescope, when he found it he quickly ran back to the huntress.
Far away there was a small dot approaching with a bunch of clouds around.
"By the Gods…It really is Kushala!" Kong exclaimed.
"Why every %*&¨& monster decides to attack me when I´m not prepared or in my prime?! This is ridicules!" Yoru cursed walking back to her resting spot to grab her equipment.
The huntress put the twin swords on the ground and then strapped the pink greatshield on her back like she did earlier. Finally she grabbed the hilt of her longsword but didn´t manage to lift it, she was too exhausted to do so.
"I will have to go with the swords then…" Yoru sighed grabbing the twin swords.
Meanwhile Kong was dying from excitement, he could barely contain himself from this golden opportunity. "Oh my! Oh my! I have to record this!" he exclaimed going back to his balloon.
"And I thought Haikan was obsessed." Yoru stared at the incoming dragon.
When the huntress judged the dragon was close enough she took a deep breath and held it. She expelled the air in a short but powerful shout but this time it was a bit more lower pitched because of her sore throat. Kong was so surprised by the roar that he released all the items he was carrying.
"What?! It is already here?!" Kong said grabbing all the papers and annotations on the ground while looking for the elder dragon.
The elder dragon of storms got dangerously close but then stopped and hovered in the air. His scales were brownish and rusted but this was the only difference Yoru noticed.
"Came for a rematch?! I may be tired but I won´t go down without a fight!" Yoru shouted as she entered the classic dual swords battle stance.
Kushala groaned but turned his head to the side, Yoru noticed the movement and so moved her eye to see what caught the dragon´s attention.
"Incredible! Fantastic! To be able to see Kushala from so close!" Kong said excited as he wrote down on his book. "His scales DO rust over time and it seems they are about to fall apart. By the Gods I may have the chance to see him shedding his old scales!" Kong´s words were almost unrecognizable by now.
As if annoyed by the talkative wyverian Kushala raised his head and then fired a gust of air at the little man. Yoru saw the breath coming and so moved to grab the wyverian, the gust of air hit the greatshield on her back with the power of a storm sending both flying away.
Yoru´s face was planted on the ground and once again sand entered her mouth. "I´m getting really sick of this!" Yoru thought spitting on the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked the wyverian.
Kong was paralyzed with his arms and legs bent. His whole body was shivering and his eyes were wide open.
"I guess he´s broken…" Yoru mumbled standing up.
"Alright! That´s…what?" Yoru stopped when she looked at the dragon.
Kushala was standing very close to the Black Rathian´s body. He lowered his head, sniffed the blood a few times and then roared at the corpse. He proceeded to walk towards the neck and sniffed the blood again. With a trust of his head he bitted the corpse´s damaged neck and made vigorous moves to the side to cause as much damage as possible.
"Is he…" Yoru said as she lowered her weapons.
Kushala left the corpse and turned to face the huntress, blood was dripping from his mouth. Yoru entered her battle stance and gave a quick look behind to see if Kong was okay. The wyverian was still paralyzed in the same position she left him.
Kushala stood up in his hind legs and gave a powerful roar before landing on four legs again. Clouds started to gather in the sky as if summoned by the storm dragon. Soon rain fell down on the arid ground and thunders and lighting erupted from the sky bringing sudden sparks of light with them. It wasn´t hot anymore and the color of the ground soon changed to almost match the dragon´s skin.
"Whoa…you really are dramatic, aren´t you?" Yoru chuckled.
Kushala groaned something just as a lighting struck the ground between him and the huntress. The dragon of storms jumped into the air and flapped his wings to hover in the air.
"Don´t you dare!" Yoru threatened.
Kushala made a quick turn and flew away but the storm didn´t stop. Yoru fell backwards as she shouted in frustration. Rain drops landed on her face as she took heavy breaths to ease her anger.
The rain grew stronger awakening the wyverian from his shock. "What happened?" he asked as he stood up.
"You just froze in fear and Kushala escaped. It is the second time this happens!" Yoru punched the ground. "And now it is raining…Wait! IT IS RAINING!" Yoru quickly got on her feet and took off the greatshield from her back.
The huntress´s legs faltered and she kneeled on the ground exhausted. Despite this she found the strength to place the shield on the ground with the scales faced to the ground.
Kong found his book lying on the ground, it was already wet and the cover as flexible as a Gypcero´s tail.. He grabbed the book with tears in his eyes, "My annotations…my research…Noooooooo!" he yelled kneeling on the ground.
"YES! WATER!" Yoru shouted triumphantly as she raised her hands towards the sky.
(Swamp)
Derek looked at Wai as they walked towards West, "Wai, do not stop walking." the hunter said firmly.
"Why?" the felyne asked.
"Whatever you do, do NOT stop walking." Derek said looking forward.
"I know, we need to get there as fast…" Wai said as she walked on two legs.
"We are being followed." the hunter said in a carefree tone as if he had said a joke.
Wai, being the curious felyne hybrid she was, stopped and looked back. "But there is no one there, meow!" she said confused.
"Oh by the Gods! Now it knows we are aware of its presence!" Derek put a hand over his face.
"But there is not-…NYAH!" something grabbed Wai and threw her aside.
Derek jumped back and grabbed his greatsword but didn´t see the monster. He looked around and then caught a movement on the right, the scenario had moved slightly as if there was a small distortion in the proportions of the rocks. The hunter spun and made a horizontal slash with his sword to cover as much area as possible but didn´t hit anything. When he was about to raise his greatsword to work as a shield something akin to a whip stroke him in the chest sending him to the ground.
Derek struggled to raise his head, he couldn´t see any monster around but he knew it was close. The raindrops stopped falling on his head and so he looked upwards, he saw the white shade of the monster for a split second.
"I´m done…" the hunter murmured.