*Starting chapter 4*

(Bartholemeow) Howdy Y'all, hope I didn't take too long with this one. It sure feels long, at least for one of my chapters.

(D-bot) We do not own FFXV or Destiny; they are owned by Square Enix and Bungie, respectively.

*Chapter staring in 5…4…3…2.1 Hope you enjoy.0*


Trials and Tribulations/ legendary pulse rifle.

Description/"Nothin' more deadly than the daily grind"- David Auburbrie

Weapon perks/ Rampage, kill clip, firmly planted

Lore/ audio log 2641S, subfolder /scrap/

S: The date is Monday, June 6th, I honestly don't know what year. We're standing at the precipice of a Vex Pillar, ready to explore another dozen or so Mind-bending realities.

D: Noire, really?

S: Cowboy, really? Now let me tell my story. Now-

D: Why start your account outside the new reality instead of right in the middle?

S: And ignore the Setup? Please, I'm not some dumb shmoe writer like Brother Vance!

D: I didn't say you were as bad as that dang Fanatic, I'm just curious as to why you're starting there unless you really want to get into detail about good Ol' Oz the overgrown lampshade and his reasons for doing what he would, otherwise, normally do.

*Synthetic laughter followed by a crude[redacted by user /Sagira/]*

S: You just don't have a taste for fine literature.

D: I'm a gun-freak who has a taste for Tex-Mex, a love of Country Music, Plays Games on weekends, and all-around a straight-up Hunter. I'm not exactly a bookworm.

S: Says the guy who once wrote a twenty-two-page report in under two hours and only three spelling errors.

D: I was in a rush, sue me.

*sigh*

S: end recording.


It was mid-day at Meldacio Hunter HQ as Dave pulled in. The Headquarters of the Hunters lay on either side of the road, in a small natural tunnel. Sun poured through openings in the rocky ceiling of the passageway. Hunters could be seen having lunch or discussing with the tipster of new hunts, on the porch of one of the buildings an elderly woman rocked back and forth in her chair, with bones and shells piled around in various locations around the cavern.

It was clear to Dodge that this was the home of the hunters, not just because it was canonically the home, but it felt like it too. Plus, it looked just like it had in the game, only with better resolution.

'And here I thought this world's hunters were different than ours, apparently not so much.' Sagira quipped.

Pulling in next to the gas pumps, both Dave and Dodge hopped out.

'So, this is the place. You think they ever get sick of falling rocks?' Dodge asked Sagira.

"Let me head in and grab something, I'll be right back," Dave called from across the hood over to Dodge, who was standing and staring at his surroundings. "Feel free to grab something to eat over at those tables. Best damn food north of Lastallum."

Dodge didn't reply as he was marveling at the unique look of Meldacio. Dave, just chuckled at the young man ignoring him then turned around and headed up the steps.

'Dave told us to go grab a bite to eat, I know we don't need to eat, but we do need to keep up appearances...are you listening?' Sagira asked, slightly amused.

"Yeah-yeah," Dodge replied distractedly as he kept staring at everything.

'Wow, I've never seen you turn your head like this before...are you seriously fanboying?' Sagira teased, which earned an annoyed eye-roll.

'you just have to read my feelings, don't you?' Dodge thought bitterly.

'Well, it's not like its particularly hard to do.' Sagira chuckled inside his head much to his chagrin.

Dodge found himself staring over at a shooting range, where a group of Hunters were testing their guns on bottles; and missing.

Dodge was tempted to go over there and instruct them on how it's done. 'Then again,' he thought,' I haven't used any of their guns before. Maybe the barrels aren't manufactured adequately.'

'Please don't geek out about guns right now. I think Dave will be getting back soon.'

If Dodge could've turned to Sagira right then, he would raise an eyebrow at her. She was phased into his light so that she wouldn't be seen by anybody he didn't want to know about her.

'Dave left earlier; he said he'd be right back. Which, I told you earlier if you had been paying attention.'

'And what does, I geeking out about guns internally have anything to do with him coming back.' Dodge turned his gaze over to the window of the store behind him—before quickly turning away, mouth hanging slightly open.

'Did-did I just see that?'

'yep.' Sagira chirped.

'I don't think he will be here for a couple of minutes. Hopefully not an hour.' Dodge thought as looked over in the direction of the white tables.

Forty-five minutes later, Dodge was sitting enjoying a meal at one of the tables while he discussed things with Sagira and watched as people walked by. Some of them carried massive swords that looked almost as tall as they were, others carried daggers, some even carried pistols at their hip. What each Hunter brought as a weapon clearly spoke to their strengths and weaknesses.

As he was sitting there watching people, he almost didn't notice Dave walk up and pull out a chair next to him till he spoke up to the server.

"I'll have a slice of Meat Pie, and an Iced Tea thank you." a southern accented voice spoke from behind Dodge.

Turning his head to the side, Dodge took in the appearance of the famous Hunter and the fact that he had changed clothes.

'have a nice "chat" with your girlfriend?' Sagira bitterly said in Dodges head.

"'be right back,' huh? Got a free discount or something?" Doge asked sarcastically only to get a glare from the man across from him.

"That's an interesting way you have to thank someone for the ride over. I guess I'll hang on to this offer of a tier two hunting license and 12,000 Gil." Dave said, sitting back in his seat and putting something in his pocket.

Dodge Immediately knew then he messed up if the look on his face was anything to go by.

'You can be a jerk; you know that, right?' Sagira spoke up in Dodges head.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. "Dodge sighed as he adopted his most apologetic look. "what do I have to do?"

Dave leaned back in his chair and took out a piece of paper and placed it on the table; then he pushed it towards Dodge. "Just a simple clearing out of critters, no big deal."

Flipping the slip over Dodge nearly gasped as he stared down at the piece of paper.

The Myrlwood

clear out the Treant at heart off the forest.

Reward: 12,000 Gil

and a tier two Hunting license-Dave

'Myrlwood, if I remember correctly, it's next to the lake... through the tunnel behind us.' Dodge

thought as he read the note.

'Who came up with that name anyway? Myrl-wood, sounds like the name of a famous actress or something.' Sagira joked 'Anyways, is it possible that it's somewhere else?'

'I'll ask anyway, seeing as I may be thinking of something different.'

"Myrlwood, where is that?" Dodge asked, looking up from the slip of paper.

Dave pointed at the tunnel entrance down at the end of the street.

"Down the road a-ways, It's a forested area, home to some of the tougher woodland critters out there. It should be a good trial hunt for you." Dave explained to Dodge.

'Think we can handle a dungeon? This seems like a little bit above a new Hunters paygrade, what's he up to.'

'Could be worse, could be falling from a rocket in space to prove you have the agility of a Hunter.' Sagira oddly specified, earning a slight wince from Dodge.

"I'll take that as a yes," Dave said, looking at the expression Dodges face.

Faced with the chance of him earning a hunting license, there really was only one good option for Dodge to choose.

"Well, how could I refuse?" Doge said with a shrug of his shoulders, pushing aside any doubts he had.

Three hours later, Dodge regretted his decision.


'Wasps, it had to be giant freakin' WASPS' Dodge yelled into his head as he dodged an aerial attack from a ghastly large yellow wasp-like creature, tagged as a 'Killer-Wasp.'

The only way the name of the foul creature could have been more obvious was if there was a large Neon sign warning tourists of the dangers of Giant Killer Wasps, and to look out for sightings of the rare and illusive Cactuar.

'Well, to be fair there were Giant chickens back down the trail.' Sagira pointed out, while Dodge rolled his eyes and aimed his hand cannon at the advancing swarm of Wasps.

Taking a few breaths to steady himself, Dodge shot two rapid bursts of bullets. *Brang-Braaanng* The trio of 'Killer-Wasps' disintegrated into blue shimmers of glimmer as they were stored in his inventory.

Dodge sighed as he holstered his hand cannon. "I do not look forward to the next time I meet one of those things. I do not look forward one cotton 'pickin' bit."

Sagira fizzled into existence next to him, processing what just happened.

"Giant frogs, Giant rhinos, Giant chickens, Now Giant Wasps; Whats next, Giant spiders?" Upon hearing Giant spiders, Dodge visibly shuddered.

"Yes, sadly." He said, looking down slightly and mutter ing to himself, "I miss Texas."

Sagira's shell spiraled somewhat at the news of such a creature, completely ignorant of Dodge's last comment.

"Wow, that must mean either, they have a crazy rate of evolution on this planet, or the Gods of this universe are just Giant A-*blip*." She paused, ignoring her unintentional pun, to consider her observations and what she already knew of the world of Eos. "Both of which are probably true."

Focusing back on reality, Sagira noticed that Dodge had begun walking down the hill they were on, and towards Myrlwood. Quickly she phased out of existence and reentered Dodges light.

'Were you even listening to me? Look I know-'

'The suns getting pretty low in the sky if we want to get to camp by sundown, I don't know about you, but fighting a giant walking tree at night is not exactly my cup of tea. We should hurry if you we want to make camp by sundown.'

'Osiris once fought a Vex that looked like a walking tree. We think it was one of the first vex to have ever-I've told you this before havent I?' Sagira paused.

Dodge nodded, while he turned around a corner made up of mossy boulders and reached a wooded path leading up to a rocky entrance to the Dungeon. 'yep, that's the place.'

'Doesn't look much like a Dungeon, you sure the directions were correct?'

Dodge only sighed as he made his way over to get a closer look at what lay ahead. 'It's a fantasy Dungeon, not exactly a traditional video game dungeon.' Dodge only paused a moment before moving on.

Walking through the entrance, Dodge was met with a couple of 'Mushussu' blocking the narrow path before him. Mushussu were long green reptilian creatures that reminded Dodge of an ear parasite he had once seen on the internet. Seeing him; the scaly green creatures charged while baring their fangs.

Dodge opened up his palm, void light coursing through his arm as a purple sphere formed in his hand. Tossing it in front of him, a wall of purple fire exploded in front of him. The Mushussu could only skid sideways before the purple inferno consumed them.

However, those creatures were not the thing Dodge was most worried about.

'Do we still have a tail?'

Sagira calculated for a second before responding, '26 yards away, Climbing up the rocks. He did not notice that.'

'If he catches up, he will eventually see my abilities. I'm not sure if I want, whoever it is tailings us to know about it.' Dodge thought soberly, before moving on down the path.

'Well, it's not like we've been particularly good at hiding it. Much less lying.' Sagira replied casually, to which Dodge reluctantly agreed.

Coming to an open area, Dodge was greeted by the more 'Mushussu' and something called a 'Mandrake,' which was something like a large gorilla that was made out of a tree sapling, with a nice flower bow on top.

Unholstering his hand cannon, Dodge rolled to the side before unloading his bullets into his enemies *Brang-Vrang-Brang*, killing all three Mushussu, and knocking the health down to half, for the Mandrake. The Mandrake charged at him, but Dodge sidestepped him and stabbed him in the back. The Bodies all turning into blue glimmer in a matter of seconds.

"Funny, I remember these encounters being harder," Dodge spoke aloud deliberately.

Glancing through the left corner of his visor, he could barely make out the shadow of a figure on a ledge, watching his fight. He'd been there the whole time.

'We must have given him quite the light show; anyways, I managed to save the little flower that was on that mandrakes head.' Sagira chirped.

'Why?' to which Sagira only chuckled, the antics of Dodges ghost, he would never truly understand.

Eventually, after hours of cutting through underbrush and monsters alike, Dodge found himself fighting through to the edge of a small pond. The sun was getting really low in the sky and was making a waterfall glitter with the pond below it turning orange.

Off to the side, was an area with strange glowing blue marks and what appeared to be embers, with smoke rising out in a thin wispy vapor that went straight up into the sky. Towards the edge of the pond was a small fishing pier, like the one that Dodge had seen back at the forgotten lake.

Taking a closer look at the strange sight, Dodge slowly walked over and knelt next to one of the symbols, 'what is this?'

'I could scan it for you if you'd like.' Sagira supplied.

"Is our tail still there?" Doges whispered to Sagira, as he ran his fingers over the glowing blue runes.

'Yes, You can obscure me by staying crouched like that. If he attacks you, I should be able to revive you.' Sagira suggested pointedly.

'Alright, okay.' Dodge nodded as Sagira fizzled into existence in front of him.

Sagira scanned the runes below her, by shooting out a small ray of blue light, after a few seconds she turned up to look at dodges helmeted face.

"I'm going to need to scan the whole place if you could distract the creep whos been following us, I could possibly be able to get away with it unnoticed," Sagira informed Dodge.

"How do you suggest I do that?" Dodge muttered sarcastically.

Turner her shell, Sagira motioned towards the pond, specifically at the fishing pier.

"Fish for their attention. The old fashioned way." If Sagira could smirk, she would right then and there.

Grunting in approval, Dodge stood up and walked to a spot a couple of yards away from the beginning of the small fishing pier. Squatting in a runners position dodge muttered to himself as he stared at the pond before him, "Thank God, this suit is waterproof and self-healing."

With a sudden start, he dashed forward towards the pier. Glancing to his left, Dodge confirmed that Sagira was busy scanning the Runes surrounding the campsite. With a leap into the air, Dodge curved in an uneven arc into the pond with a loud *SPLASH*.

Whipping out his knife, Dodge sliced the water ahead of him quickly, it wasn't long before blood covered his vision, reaching out he caught the body of a fish, swimming back to the surface, Dodge looked over to see Sagira was finished and was hovering behind a small rock.

Dragging the fish out, Dodge noted how big it was. 'This would easily pass for the largest fish I've ever caught if I did it normally.'

Slowly, dodged walked over to the rock Sagira was hiding behind and sat down on it. She quickly fizzled back into his light after a few seconds.

'What's the situation with the glowing blue rocks? Any relation to glimmer?' Dodge humorously asked.

'Well, it appears that the runes are emitting background a certain frequency of background radiation, why though, I do not know. Also, It appears that the embers are being kept burning at 250 degrees by some smaller rune underneath them.' Sagira explained, 'My best guess is that this is some sort of protection that was created by early scientists to protect wary travelers.'

Dodge nodded along, listening very carefully to what she was saying, glancing around for any signs of the person who was following them.

'I think we should rest here tonight, and fight the Treant tomorrow morning, or fight it tonight. Either way, we should be able to cook that fish with the embers, and maybe a little glimmer to fuel it.'

Dodge nodded his head before getting up and kneeling next to the embers and lying the fish neatly next to it. Summoning a few glimmer cubes, he placed them in the embers to fuel the fire. Turning to the fish, he began skinning and dressing it for cooking. Summoning a cast iron plate, Dodge placed the fish in it, then placed it against the small fire that had started.

As he cooked, he considered what Sagira had told him and weighed the pros, and cons of each decision, once he was done, he came to his decision.

Walking over to the edge of the pond, Dodge knelt down and washed his gloves in the water. Standing back up, he shook his hands to rid them of water.

'We kill the Treant tonight.' Dodge thought seriously.

'Okay, do you want the rocket launcher?' Sagira asked, simulating the scenarios that could occur to him in her CPU.

'Sure, Solar should prove useful in defeating a giant walking tree.' Dodge said agreeing. On his back, the Grenade launcher was replaced by a long-barreled rocket launcher. In his head, he subtly prepared for his attack plan, drawing on his past experiences.

'Good luck, partner.'

Walking around the corner, Dodge walked down a stretch of the path and onto an overlook of a small hidden basin, large trees grew everywhere. Glancing upwards, he spotted the Treant resting on one of the larger branches. Towards the back, he spotted an ovular white tomb emblazoned with regal decoration.

Reaching behind, Dodge grasped onto the rocket launcher and settled it into his arms. Aiming at the sleeping Treant, Dodge slowed his breathing be careful to avoid hitting any branches. The sky grew darker, making it harder for him to see his target.

*Proom-whoosh-boom*

The Rocket hit its mark; The Treant was knocked out of his perch and fell onto another branch. Only to roll over and fall to the ground in a heap. Pushing itself up with its legs, it bellowed out "RAAAAUURR!" only to be caught in the side again with another rocket.

Dodge had reloaded his weapon quickly, firing once he heard the beast roar. By then the Treants yellow health bar was at halfway, quickly reloading Dodge could only roll to the side as the Treant swiped at him with its tail. Quickly aiming again, he fired, only to hit the rocky cliffside behind the giant walking tree.

Sighing, he put away his Rocket Launcher, and switched to his auto rifle, before double jumping away from an attack by the Treant. Standing at the edge of the overlook, Dodge unloaded his magazine into the creature, knocking it down to a third of its health. However, since he was aiming down sights, he didn't have enough time to dodge the swipe of the Treants Tail.

Dodge was knocked off his feet, and into the tree just next to the overlook. Sliding down to the ground, Dodge saw his shield was in the red as the corners of his vision flashed red.

"Only a little more health to go," Dodge spoke to himself warily, Void energy coursed through his right hand as a small purple orb formed in his palm.

*poof* He disappeared from his spot at the bottom of the tall tree.

The Treant peered over the edge, looking to see if its attacker was dead. To its surprise, the dead thing was nowhere to bee seen. Curiously it leaned forward to see if it was at the bottom of the cliff. It wasn't. Sitting back on its haunches, the Treant took this as a small victory; this thing must have run away. Or it disassembled itself like the dark things did when they intruded on his territory. Yeah, that must be it. There was no other explanation.

"You really think it's that easy to kill me?" a voice spoke up behind it, though the Treant could not understand. Turning on its haunches, it saw the dead thing it had killed, coated in a dark purple aura standing ready.

Dodge let the void energy engulf his senses as he leaped straight into the air, bow, and arrow forming in his hands, He released the dark purple arrow almost instantly. It pierced through the Treant's head, killing it, and forming a void bubble that sucked the darkness in.

The body of the Treant was slowly dissolved in purple light.

Whooping triumphantly at his victory, Dodge ignored the strange person who had been following him and began walking back to camp.


The figure stayed put in her spot for a couple of moments. The shock of what had just happened still in her thoughts, reaching into her pocket, she grasped her phone and dialed in a number. A couple of seconds later it picked up.

"Hey Dave, It's me. I think you might want to hear this." She spoke hurriedly.


(Bartholemeow) Well, that was a long ride. Sorry about the pretty obvious cliff-hanger, I had already planned for him to do something after the last scene, but eventually went with putting that in the next chapter.

(D-Bot) The next chapter should be out soon; we can hope and pray.

(Bartholemeow) There is a bright side to this though; We are officially longer than the USS Juniper!

(D-Bot) How is that a good thing?

(Bartholemeow) Reasons! Anyways, big thank you to A.D. Williams for helping me out with editing this; she does excellent work on Final Fantasy fanfictions, in fact, you can find her in my favorite Authors list on my profile.

(Bartholemeow) As always have a great time and see you in the next chapter.

*End Chapter 4*