Thank you all for your reviews! I wanted to do some less used monsters for the first used chapters, but chances are there will be some more... cool ones I suppose. I already have a list of prompts I'm using and I could share them- but I am also open to reviews for ideas from you all!
Extra brownie points if you can tell me what all the eggs are in this story!
Hyden clutched his kinship stone in his palm, the metal and stone cool against his palm. Around him the other children of the village chattered loudly, pleasantries all swirling together into wordless blabbering in his stress.
All the children in the nearby rider villages who had recently reached the age of fourteen years had been gathered just outside the largest and oldest village, at a small field. Every year some of the most experienced riders would travel as far as they could to find as many interesting and promising monster eggs as they could. And when spring came, the newest riders would gather- ready to hatch an egg and get their first monstie.
The soft creaking of a cart drew everyone's attention, Hyden almost falling over from the quick silence. From the stone path that led to the village came a creaky, wooden cart pulled by an apceros. The back of the cart was covered in soft, thick hay and had a tarp covering the precious cargo. Driving the cart was an old, ancient wyverian and a middle aged rider wearing Azure Rathalos armor. No monstie was in sight until Hyden looked up- a blue shadow was flying high in the sky, keeping an eye out for any threats that could approach.
"Hello future riders!" The wyverian squeaked as he jumped down from the cart. "I'm the Chief of this here village, and I'm here to present you all with your first partners! Helping me out is our head rider, Davad." The azure-clad rider raised a hand in a greeting as he jumped off the cart, peeling the tarp off the cart and revealing the treasured monster eggs.
The eggs were of all color and patterns, ranging from white dotted eggs to red striped ones and everything in between. There were so many eggs… in fact, too many. Hyden felt a confused scowl cover his face as he looked between the crowd of teenagers and the eggs. There were only eight teenagers, counting himself, but there had to be at least twenty eggs.
"Chief, why are there so many eggs?" Evidently the other soon to be riders had noticed as well, as one of them piped up from the crowd.
"Ah, the reason behind that is simple!" The Chief clapped his hands as he paced in front of them. "We can't just shove you at an egg and expect everything to work out, can we? No no no! The monstie must choose you! Otherwise no force known to riders can make the egg hatch! Now…" The Chief stepped back and waved his hand at the cart. "One at a time, come up here and try to find an egg that feels right for you. Who wants to go first?"
Immediately hands and voices rose, all clamoring to be chosen first, to get a chance to get the best egg before anyone else. Hyden hesitated, his hand half raised. This was it. Was he really ready?
"Hmmmm… you!" The Chief pointed at a tall girl in the crowd, who grinned and ran forwards. There was an anxious silence as she ran up, the other children observing the best they could for when their turn came. Stopping in front of the cart Hyden could barely make out her gently reaching out to the eggs. After a few minutes the girl gathered one of the eggs into her arms, and turned around to face the crowd. Held snugly in her arms was an amber and brown striped egg. "Ooo, you picked out a nice healthy egg! I won't spoil what it is- that's half the fun!" The Chief smiled at her. "Now go sit over there- you can hatch the egg once you arrive back in your own village!" The girl did as she was told, a happy smile on her face, and the clamor of the crowd started back up again.
The next to be chosen was an older boy from Hyden's village named Ato. He quickly found his egg in less than a minute, proudly claiming a dark blue egg with ragged red stripes. After Ato was a girl who took two minutes to find a pale brown egg with darker stripes.
"You. Nervous looking boy." Hyden blinked in shock as the Chief pointed at him, the hand he had absentmindedly raised falling back down at his side. "Your turn to pick your egg! Hurry, hurry!" Hyden swallowed the lump in his throat as he clumsily ran up, almost slipping over a loose bit of rock. Finally he stood in front of the cart… and he just stood there, mouth half open in a gasp. This was real. His first monstie, his partner, was somewhere here in front of him.
Hesitantly, Hyden roamed his hands over the eggs- barely touching them, scared of hurting them. He knew it was ridiculous, but that didn't stop the fear that he was doing something wrong. The longer the silence went on, the worse Hyden felt. He could feel the stares off all the other rides drilling into his back- impatient, curious, demanding. Would be be the only one to walk away without a monster egg today?
Then Hyden felt it- a warmth as he brushed the surface of an egg. Hesitantly he brought his hand back, placing his palm fully against the egg. A burst of pure, warm love shook him to his core. The egg was nothing flashy, a warm white with horizontal red-pink stripes running across the surface. Quickly, Hyden scooped the egg into his arms. The egg was heavier than he expected, and he turned around to show it to the Chief anxiously- would there be something wrong with the only egg he felt connected to?
"Hm… a perfectly good egg! Nice weight, size, and color! I'm sure you will get a lovely little monstie from this egg! Now, hurry over to the others!" The Chief chirped after examining the egg, before pushing him away and calling forth a young wyverain boy to claim his egg.
Hyden walked as carefully as he could with the egg in his arms, sitting down as he reached the other young riders who had gotten their eggs. The feeling of the egg in his hands made him feel content, and he couldn't help but sigh a bit in relief. Finally that was over.
"Got your egg finally, huh Hyden." A voice startled Hyden as he flailed around, almost dislodging the egg from its place in his lap. Behind him stopp Ato, holding his egg in his arm with a smug expression on his face. "Not too shabby for a wimp like you- but mine's obviously going to be the cooler monstie!"
"Oh yeah? Well, mine will be the strongest then!" Hyden stated proudly back. He and Ato had a kind of rivalry since they were young children, with Ato always being one step ahead. It frustrated Hyden to no end- he couldn't help but hope his monstie ended up being something really awesome like a molten tigrex, while Ato got an aptanoth egg- even thought he knew it would never happen.
"Oh yeah?" Ato snorted. "Your egg pink- I bet you're gonna get some girly monster- like a Yian Kut Ku!"
"What! No!" Hyden called out in dismay. Sure his egg was a bit pink but that didn't mean his monster was going to be pink, right?
"Well, we can prove who's right when we get back to the village and hatch these eggs. Of course I already know that I'm right." With that closing statement the teenager wandered off, still snickering.
The sound of footsteps approaching had Hyden swinging his head back towards the cart. Was everyone done getting their eggs already? But no, it was just the girl from before approaching with a green striped egg in her hands and a happy smile on her face. Now that he was getting a closer look at her, was that… "Ivy?"
The brown haired girl startled at the mention of her name, green eyes meeting Hydens. "Hyden?" She ran forward with a wide grin. "Its so good to see you again! After we moved to Vokun village I thought I would never see you again! So, how are things going back at the old home? Is Atol still being a bulldrome to you?"
Hyden smiled a bit. He and Ivy had been childhood friends- their village was a small one, and not only was just about everyone related to each other in some way, shape, or form. Ivy was his second cousin, and her parents had decided to move to a new village not just to try and get jobs as smiths but so that Ivy and her little sister had less… problematic options when they became of age.
"Yeah, its great to finally meet you again! Things are the same as they always are back at home- the hunters hunt, the gatherers gather, the crafters craft. And yeah, Ato is still acting like one." Hyden grimaced, before an idea popped into his head. "Hey Ivy, do you still know just about every monster's egg pattern?"
"Heck yeah! You know I've been studying for years for this day, Hyden!" Ivy snorted at him, flicking her hair back.
"Then… by any chance can you tell me what my monstie is? And if it's pink and embarrassing?" Hyden held out his egg to Ivy.
"Wait… what's wrong with pink?" Ivy asked lightly. "Pink is a great color! Sure it's not my favorite but it's still nice!"
"Yeah but it's just so…" Hyden fidgeted. "Girly."
Ivy laughed. "Did Ato put this in your head?" At his soft nod she continued. "Don't worry about what that brute says- he's only trying to get under your skin. Even if you do hatch a monster who happens to be pink, nothing is wrong with that! I'm sure you realize that once your monstie hatches and you truly get to bond with them."
By the time Ivy was finishing up her speech the rest of the teenagers had gotten their eggs. The cart had been taken back to the village with the remaining eggs, and the young riders to be were placed onto a cart that would take them back to their village. But it wasn't until they were half way back to the village, Ato snoring loudly beside him, that Hyden realized Ivy hadn't actually answered his question- and the storm of anxiety started all up again.
All too soon they arrived back at the village- and it was time to hatch the eggs.
"Here, here young ones." The Chief of Hydens village, a tall, middle aged man, guided Ato and Hyden to the shrine that was located in the middle of the village- the oldest structure in the village and the place where all monsties were hatched. The old and worn stone walls were covered in all kinds of carvings- of monsters, of riders, of elder dragons, and more. It was tradition that the eggs would be hatched in this shrine, and Hyden dared not break away.
In the middle of the surprisingly spacious area were several stone pillars. The two monster eggs rested on a pillar, each a fair distance away from each other. On two of the pillas were the eggs- a fair distance away from each other, likely for the safety of the monsties. "Now boys, approach your egg and hold up your kinship stone. You will know what to do from there." The Chief backed away from them, leaning against the stone wall, pulling out a bit off wood and a knife and starting to carve something.
Hyden gulped as he approached the pillar where the innocent looking white and pink- red, not pink, he reminded himself- sat. Risking a look over his shoulder Hyden saw Ato already having reached his egg, kinship stone raised and the egg rocking softly. Nervously Hyden mimicked his actions, raising the kinship stone slotted on a bracelet around his wrist. A soft glow came from the blue stone, reaching the egg. Hyden found himself willing the egg to hatch, calling out for the unborn monster to tie its soul with his. And the egg responded.
The smooth surface of the egg began to shake, soft cracks covering the surface. A narrow white snout poked out of a hole in the egg, two white paws quickly punching through as well and grasping the side of the egg. Finally the head poked out, two sapphire blue eyes blinking up at Hyden, the baby monstie soon squirming out of the rest of the egg. A long white body, with a dark purple furred underbelly. Short whiskers on the face. And several pink fins around the face and the body, uncurling like blooming flowers as they dried off from the egg fluids. A mizutsune monstie.
Hyden stared in disbelief. His monstie… it was so pink. Ato was right. But the little monstie didn't let him sulk on that for long as it let out a loud yowl of displeasure before jumping at Hyden. With a gasp Hyden opened his arms for the monstie, letting out a soft grunt as razor sharp claws dug into his shirt. Blue eyes blinked at adoration up at him, letting out a soft coo. Hyden couldn't help but smile back as he held his monstie close.
"Ha! I knew it!" A crowing voice brought Hyden out of his thoughts as he turned to see Ato. At his feet was a red brute wyvern with a long, sword-like tail. A glavenus- the cool monster Ato said he would get. Hyden couldn't help but feel jealousy stir inside him. Of course Ato got the cool monster, while he got a monster that looks like a pink flower. As if on cue, the monstie in his lap spit up a bunch of bubbles with a happy scree. "What did I tell you? I got the cool fire sword brute wyvern and you got… a bubble fox." Ato laughed. "And even better? It's pink! Ha! I'm the winner once again!" The glavenus at his feet growled smugly at the monstie Hyden was holding, who hissed and shot a few more harmless bubbles. Hyden sighed, dislodging his monstie from his lap as he turned to face the wall. Why couldn't he win, just for once?
"AHHH!" Hyden let out a yell as he went flying from the saddle, thrown off by the wild motions his monstie had made in combination with the slippery bubble-foam that clung to everything. Thankfully Hyden did not have far to fall. However, he did end up falling into one of the many puddles made by an off target aqua blast. Spitting out the water from his mouth, Hyden groaned as he sat up. A muzzle pushed against his shoulders with a whine, Hana doing his best to support his rider as he sagged in defeat.
A few days had passed since Hana had hatched. He had quickly quadrupled in size, growing from small enough to hold to big enough to ride. To Hyden's dismay however the bright pink fins on his body had just become more bright and noticeable. On top of that, Hyden was an absolute failure at being a rider. Whenever he mounted Hana he usually fell off within the first minute- and the Mizutsune was often distracted by the smallest things, breaking away from him mid command to bat at a shiny leaf. This just made the teasing from Ato worse- his monstie Glaves was obeying him perfectly well, and there was talk around the village of them being prodigies, who would go on to do great things.
A coo caught Hydens attention again, as he felt the soft feeling of Hana's fins tickling his head as the monstie poked him with his nose. They had come out to this clearing to train, to try and get away from all the gossip in the village. But even in this place of peace and quiet, Hyden couldn't stop the rage, the frustration that had been building up inside him for the past few days.
"No!" Hyden shoved Hana's head away, angrily. He pulled himself up to his feet, glaring at Hana as the wyvern whimpered at him. "No! This is your fault!" He found himself saying. The rational part of his mind told him to shut up before he said something he would regret- but Hyden was done being calm. "I've always wanted a monstie but- now this! Not you! Why the heck did you choose me?" Something was burning now, something wet sliding down his face, but he ignored it. Hana's fins were starting to take on a blue tinge at the end, drooping while the monstie let out another whimper. "You made the wrong choice. I- I can't…" Hyden turned and ran as fast as he could away, into the forest. The cries of the monstie behind him faded away as he traveled deeper into the forest. Eventually he fell- tripping over a root or maybe just collapsing. Then, and only then, did he let his tears fall.
Why did he do that? Why did he yell at his monstie, who was supposed to be his friend? So what if he was pink? That didn't matter. Hana had tried so hard to please him… and he had yelled at him, blamed him for something that was the rider's own fault. Hyden curled into a ball, sobbing and clutching his kinship stone. When before he would have gotten a spark of warmth, a feeling of love, the only thing that greeted him was the cold, lonely surface of the stone.
Hyden used the time in his own self isolation to reflect on what had gone so wrong- why everything had turned out so awful. It was clearly his fault. Some part of Hyden had been jealous of Ato, how he had such an amazing monstie and how well the two of them worked together. And, some part of him had been shaken deeply by Ato's bullying so deeply he hadn't been trying to bond with his monstie the way he should have been. And Hyden had taken it out on Hana- who had been nothing but sweet and loyal and amazing. Hyden knew it was his fault… and he had to fix it.
Decision made Hyden stood up, wiping away the dried tears off his cheeks. He wasn't actually that far from the clearing, he quickly found out as he wandered back in. But the clearing was empty- Hana was gone. Dread filled Hyden once again. Had the monstie left him? It was what he deserved of course, but he hadn't even gotten a chance to apologize! And who knew if his monstie had been hurt!
Hyden frantically looked around for any clue of where the mizutsune had gone. A fresh trail of bubble foam caught his eye, leading into the dangerous, off area limits of the forest where the strongest monsters were known to roam. Hana knew this- it was the first thing they had been told after being bonded together. So why had Hana gone there? With a growing feeling of dread inside of him, Hyden grabbed a hold of the bone sword on his back. There was no time to get help- the bubble foam trail would be gone by then. He had to find Hana. Taking one deep breath to steel himself, Hyden charged into the forest, following the bubble trail as fast as he could run.
This part of the forest was thick and crowded, full of dark leaves and sharp thorns and roots that caused Hyden to stumble. But he pressed on- Hana couldn't be too far in, right? Hyden stopped and sniffed the air. The soap smell was stronger than before- that meant he was close, right? "Hana?" Hyden let out a yell. No response except the usual forest sound. Hyden started running again, somehow even faster than before. He was so close-
The sound of wild screeching paused Hydens in his tracks. The sound was one of a pack-hunting bird wyvern, such as Ioprey or Velociprey who were quite common in the area. But it was the sound of the second, more musical cry that made Hydens blood run cold. The pain- filled scream was one from a mizsitune.
Hyden pushed his way through the bushes, ignoring the pain as thorns scraped through his thin leather armor. Branches smacked him in the face and he tasted blood but he kept going, fear pushing away the pain.
Finally he reached the small, cramped clearing. Hana was cornered against the back of a stone cliff, bleeding from small slash wounds all over his body. His lips were curled in a snarl, but Hyden could taste the desperation even from across the clearing. Cornering Hana against the cliff was a pack of five ioprey. One had a slash mark on its back, one was favoring its leg, and still another was covered in bubble foam and sliding around. But regardless they advanced, clicking back and forth as they slowly closed in.
"No!" Hyden yelled, grabbing his shield and running forward. The ioprey all turned towards him in surprise, only for the one covered in bubble foam to be rammed with a bone shield with all of Hyden's force. The ioprey let out a squawk of pain as it was thrown off its feet and unable to regain its footing, rolling around in the grass screeching. Hyden's victory didn't last long however- the other four ioprey in the pack started to surround him, angered by the rider's attack on their pack member.
Hyden was forced to dodge hissing jaws and blobs of poison, dancing around in an ungraceful and frantic dance. Each rider was given the basics of self defense, but this was not something he was prepared for. Hyden managed to hit a few with his sword but they were shallow hits, not worth much.
Hyden made a huge mistake however- leaving his back open. Suddenly he felt pain in his shoulders as an ioprey jumped onto his back, pushing him down and pinning him. Hyden shuddered as he felt drool drop down onto his shoulders. This was it then. Craning his head for any sign of Hana, Hyden wasn't able to tell if he was still there or not. He closed his eyes, each second the ioprey didn't strike as long as a decade.
Then there was the high pitched sssss of a stream of water being pushed out at a high speed. The weight off his back was gone suddenly, the iopreys claws being forcefully wrenched from his shoulders. But Hyden wasted no time. Rolling over, he watched as the beam of water swept the rest of the ioprey in the clearing off their feet before finding the source. Hana. He had stayed. The monstie slithered up to Hyden, nudging at him in a clear message. Hyden pulled himself into the saddle, hanging on for dear life as Hana suddenly zoomed off back the way they had come from. The furious swacks of the ioprey in the distance faded but Hyden didn't let himself relax until they were back in the clearing where they had been training.
Hyden turned to Hana as he all but fell out of the saddle. Still a better attempt then last time. "Hana… Hana! I'm so sorry! Thank you for saving me- I've been so awful to you when you've been nothing but loyal. I've been an awful rider- you deserve better. I still don't know why you picked me." Hyden felt tears prick at the corner of his eyes again as he put his head in his hands.
After a moment of tense silence Hyden felt something damp and warm run across his face, wiping away his tears. Hyden looked up to find Hana licking his face gently, whiskers and fins tickling as they touched his cheeks. "Hana- do you- do you really forgive me?" Hyden felt tears bubble up again- but from relief this time. In response Hana blew a few bubbles at him, causing Hyden to laugh.
"There's just one thing I don't understand." Hyden finally spoke after a moment of calm silence. "Why were you fighting an ioprey pack? You could have easily escaped them, or just avoided that area!" A pang of guilt overcame Hyden as he took in the guilty and embarrassed expression on the monsties face.
"...You wanted to prove you were strong, didn't you." It wasn't really a question but Hana nodded anyway. "Oh Hana…" Hyden sniffled, wrapping his arms around the smooth yet slimy scales of his monstie. "I'm sorry for making you feel like you have to prove yourself to me. I don't care if your strong, and I'm sorry that I believed Ato that having a monstie like you is bad. I'm so happy you chose me." The monstie sniffed in Hydens hair, letting out a low churr. "And one day, we will surpass Ato. I promise you that." Hana let out a soft roar in agreement, curling his tail around Hyden as it cuddled into him. Hyden knew they should return to the village to get Hana's wounds treated but… soon. He let himself enjoy the moment for just a bit longer. The kinship stone was warm in Hydens grasp once more.