May 17th, 1349

Joseph woke up in his hut, then rolled out of bed slowly.

He hit the ground, before crawling to the light of day.

Outside, he could see the city of Riveru.

It was a fair bit smaller than it had been in its prime, due to monster attacks, though Joseph had never seen it in its prime as he never been up to Schrade before, so it didn't matter to him.

He walked around, before finding Terrence, and they set off on a hunt to the mountains.

When they left Pokke, they flew south-east, until they reached the region of Schrade, and they'd been travelling through it ever since, until they reached here.

Riveru was the former capital of Eastern Schrade, a trade city surrounded by the mountains. These made for longer winters, but since it was May that was hardly a problem.

Currently, they were hunting for a Stygian Zinogre which had been sighted around there. While dragon element was going to be a pain to deal with, they were hardly unable to deal with it, there being four of them.

They soared between the mountains, surveying them, when Joseph spotted a red and white shape below them, and signalled Nargy to go for it.

The Zinogre heard a noise to its right, so it jumped backwards to avoid the hit.

Joseph just about managed to cling on to Nargy's back, and the two

wyverns were now staring each other down.

Nargy as the first to move, but was blocked by crimson lightning. The Zinogre used this to attack, pushing him back. There didn't appear to be an opening, but there was one made by Demi shooting down fire from above.

It's not that this badly injured the Zinogre, but it hadn't seen it coming. The fire rained down, before the Zinogre turned itself around and shot off some projectiles, aiming at them.

Demi barely avoided the first wave, but was taken off guard by one of the second. It exploded upon contact, knocking him out of the air. While he was falling, Demi shot off a blast of mucus, which connected, slowing the Zinogre down. This didn't really make much of a difference in this situation though, as Nargy outsped it either way, though now he outsped it more.

The swift wyvern took off the ground, darting around the opponent, trying to catch it off ground, while Joseph remained clinging on for dear life. After about thirty seconds, Nargy pounced forwards and slammed his tail down on the monster's head.

The Zinogre flinched from the impact, but quickly snapped its head upwards and fired off a blast of dark red lightning, which was narrowly dodged. Joseph took advantage of this opening to swing downwards and slashed at the Zinogre's leg.

Nargy then broke off again and tried to go for the same attack, but by now the effects of the water blight had worn off and it could try to keep up with his movements. Nargy went for another attack, but the Zinogre slammed down on his head, crushing him into the ground.

Nargy couldn't move, but Joseph was able to attack, swinging at the Zinogre's head. He slashed at its eye, causing it to howl with pain and it jumped backwards. The two stared at each other, not moving, until the Zinogre turned and ran off. Joseph then got off of Nargy's back, as he tried to pick himself up and recover. Terrence and Demi finally showed up, Demi still injured.

The Stygian had been a lot stronger than they had expected, so they were already injured even if they had beaten it back. After about an hour, they seemed recovered, so they took to the sky again. They were flying around, when in the distance Terrence saw something flying at them. He figured it was just a bird, but as it got closer it was clearly some kind of wyvern.

He pointed it out to Joseph, who took one look at it and recognised it. "Oh yeah, that's just a Seregios. Nasty, but it shouldn't have any reason to bug us." Joseph then went back to scanning the landscape, but while he was doing that he remembered how aggressive Seregios normally are. He looked back and saw it flying straight at them, specifically him.

"Demi! Dodge around it!" Joseph yelled. Both of them were confused, until the looked over and saw it flying at them. Demi quickly dropped out of the sky to dodge it.

Nargy followed, but when he dropped the Seregios swung around and continued the pursuit. Realising there wasn't going to be an easy way of escape, Nargy aimed for the ground and landed, running.

The Seregios pursued from above, but found itself having spikes flung at it. They weren't much, but if this kept up it would be difficult to deal with, so it closed in. The Seregios tried to claw at him, but Nargy dodged around. Nargy had never faced a Seregios before, but Joseph knew that if he was hit he would begin to bleed, which would majorly reduce their speed, which Joseph assumed was its attention.

As the Seregios drew close, Joseph noticed a person on its back. The Seregios struck out, narrowly missing, but at that moment the rider moved to attack. They struck out with their weapon, which appeared to be gauntlets. Joseph quickly moved to block the attack, but since the long sword wasn't built for this, it wasn't very effective, though it still got the job done.

The rider now noticed him, and appeared to be planning another attack. They then leapt off of their own monster's back, taking Joseph by surprise, and managed to land on Nargy's back.

Joseph was busy trying to work out what the hell was going on, but this was cut off by the opponent swinging for his head. He was able to dodge because of his aura, taking them off guard for once. Joseph then used his sword to strike at them, pushing them back slightly.

While this was occurring, Nargy was still running, but he had noticed the extra weight. Joseph was currently facing the direction they were headed, the opponent, the opposite direction. This was fine, but then suddenly Nargy leapt off the ground, taking to the air at a greater speed than he was at before. Joseph had seen this coming, and was able to hold on, but the other was less fortunate, being knocked off by the change in speed.

The Seregios had been about to go for another attack, but had to instead stop to pick up its rider. Once this was done, it charged forwards again. While it seemed like not much had changed, their speed was now about equal, so until Nargy could begin to run again it had a better chance of hitting him.

The Seregios closed in for a strike, only to be blocked by a tail strike. Nargy hit the ground once again and he continued to sprint forwards, deflecting or dodging everything that came at him.

After a few minutes, the situation hadn't changed. Nargy had begun to run downhill, hoping that the pursuers would lose sight of them. There was a few minutes of silence, and finally Nargy stopped completely, trying to recover. Nargacuga were fast, but they were hardly durable, he wouldn't have been able to last much longer than he did.

It all seemed like it was going to work out, when suddenly the Seregios came crashing down from above, ready to strike. Nargy narrowly dodged, jumping backwards, where he waited. The two monsters stared each other down, when suddenly they were disrupted by the rider jumping off the Seregios and walking up to Nargy.

Nargy and Joseph were both ready to attack, but they did nothing but just inspect him. After a full minute, they lowered their head in some form of shame.

In a surprising yet in hindsight somewhat predictable female voice, the rider spoke "Sorry, I think we got the wrong Nargacuga."

"Wait, what?"

"Well you see, we're searching for this Nargacuga that's been causing the city trouble, and when I saw yours I figured it was the one. Though, the one we're looking for has a scar over his eye, but yours doesn't. So uh, unless you can heal eyes, it looks like we've got the wrong one, sorry."

"Don't just gimme that! Why the hell didn't ya figure that out before you attacked us!"

"Well that Narga's pretty scarred already, we just couldn't see the eye from the distance we were at, and once we got close you started running so fast we couldn't see in front of you!"

"Don't try to pin this on us, only reason we ran is cause ya started tryna attack us!"

"Still, we somehow ended up taking more damage than you, so it's fine!"

"How the hell's that fine!?"

"Listen, it's fine, so I'm leaving."

The woman turned around, but Joseph interrupted her with "Wait a minute, do I know ya from somewhere?"

"Seriously?"

"No, like seriously. I'm tryna think of from where but I can't work it out. Can ya just take yer helmet off a sec?"

"Yeah, sure."

She sheathed her tonfas, before taking her helmet off, revealing shortish blonde hair and green eyes. Joseph thought for a second, before suddenly working out who it was.

"So ya really are here to kill me!" The woman reacted with shock, and unsheathed her tonfas again "Yer that assassin from back at Tanzia three years back, Viridis or somethin'!"

"Wait, you're one of those hunters that tamed monsters, aren't you? I don't recognise that Nargacuga…" She thought for a while, before figuring it out "Ah, must be…" She muttered, before finally looking up "Listen, I'm not here to kill you, if not I'd have done it by now."

"Oh, guess that makes sense…" Joseph still wasn't sure, but figured just leaving wasn't that good of an option "So uh… how's the killing people doing?"

"I'm not doing that anymore, I managed to escape with a few others… now I'm just a hunter, trying to live my own life…"

Joseph took this in, as Demi landed. Terrence hopped off his back and started running forward. "You two!" he began "Are you alright, I mean we've been seperated like twenty minutes now!"

"Yeah, don't worry, just mistaken identity or somethin'." Joseph responded.

Terrence was confused, until he noticed the other hunter and the Seregios standing behind her.

"Ah, Vert. What are you doing here… and why do you have a monster behind you?" He asked.

"Could ask the same thing." She responded.

The conversation was going to continue further, but Joseph "Hold it right there, I'm definitely missing somethin' here, ain't I!?" They both looked confused now "How the hell'd the two of ya get to know each other!"

Terrence finally responded "All of the hunters here talk, you're the only one who seems to be out of the loop. She's pretty well known."

"How'd ya get the hunters to talk to ya? Everyone here seems to look at me with disgust at the time and like, never gives me the time of day. Even the dudes in shops try to charge me extra."

"Isn't it obvious?" She questioned "It's because you have a monster, they hate people like that, so they exclude them."

"So ya just hid them all the time?"

"Well yeah," Terrence replied "that's what I did. I thought you already worked out that was how it worked."

"Of course I didn't, else I woulda been able to blend in easier! Hell made ya think that!"

"I guess that makes sense, but for some reason I figured you had and were thinking 'If I can't be accepted by these people for hunting alongside Nargy, then it'll just have to be that way!' or something like that."

"THAT AIN'T EVEN HOW I TALK, WHERE'D THIS FUCKIN' PERFECT IMAGE FROM ME COME OUTTA!"

Terrence gave a look that read something like "You've got me there."

"I MEAN, I'M FLATTERED, BUT YA GOTTA SEPERATE REALITY FROM FICTION, DAMNIT!"

There was then a silence while Joseph caught his breath, and she started to walk off, before finally getting on her Seregios' back and flying off. The other two then got on their monster's backs and took off as well.

They ended up searching for a while, when they finally saw the Stygian Zinogre. A short distance away from it was a silver Nargacuga. There was a hunter fighting them both, with a Seregios right behind them.

Both of them reacted with pretty much nothing, taking in this situation. "We should probably help…" Terrence muttered, as Demi dove forwards, Nargy followed.

The hunter dodged the Zinogre slamming its leg into the ground, while her Seregios dodged around a wind blade flung at them by the Nargacuga. Both of them then noticed the two monsters dropping in and quickly backed off, before the hunters jumped off to face them briefly.

"Hey, mind if we drop in?" Joseph asked jokingly.

"The Silverwind's our target…" She responded.

"Yeah, yeah, but the hellhound over there's ours, so we're just finishin' what we started."

"Well, can't complain about things being more simple…" She muttered, before they resumed fighting.

Nargy circled around the Zinogre, same as before, but by now it seemed to be able to read his movements. It fired a projectile of dragonblight, which was narrowly dodged. At this moment, Terrence fired off an arrow, catching it in the front left leg, but to not much effect. While the Zinogre looked over, Demi once again used fire, which hit it straight in the face, but the Zinogre still refused to go down.

It still froze for a moment, which the four opponents saw to charge in. As they drew near, the Zinogre tensed its body up. Both of the monsters read this, but while Nargy was able to swing himself around and back off, Demi was in the middle of gliding, so while he was able to pull back he still found himself in the range of the attack. The bolts of dragon element rose out of the ground, taking the wind out of him and knocking him sprawling backwards. Joseph looked over briefly but didn't have time to be concerned, the Zinogre already returning to the fight. Nargy got himself ready, Joseph still on his back. The two wyverns tried to fight, to an apparent stalemate.

Meanwhile, the fight against the Silverwind was getting similar results. The hunter and her Seregios were trying to get the deviant to bleed, but due to the great difference in speed, this seemed impossible. Not only that, but there didn't appear to be another option of attack. The main problem with the Silverwind was its range through the blades of wind it could create using its tail. If they got too far away, that'd be flung at them, and due to their lack of range they'd have no means of countering, so they'd lose if nothing changed. This meant they couldn't keep their distance and wait for it to come to them, nor could they fall behind it as it moved. Its speed meant that it'd be near impossible to hit even at close range, so their only option was to reduce that speed, though this still held the same problem.

The Silverwind took them off guard by using a blade of wind, which narrowly missed, slicing into the landscape behind them. At the same time, the Zinogre shot off a volley of dragon element projectiles, causing Nargy to temporarily retreat.

The two pairs tried to recover, when suddenly Joseph thought of something. He looked over to the hunter and Seregios.

"Hey, ya wanna trade?" He yelled.

"What's that mean!?" She responded.

"Well, dunno for sure about yerself, but for me and Nargy this is getting to be a pain. So I figured that ya can deal with the Stygian and we'll handle that deviant. Besides, Nargy can keep up with it, so it'll be easier, yeah?"

She contemplated for a while, before finally looking defeated "Well, guess there's no choice…" she muttered, before the two of them switched targets.

Nargy charged at the Silverwind, who seemed to recognise these two as more of a threat than the others, likely due to being of the same species. The two started to run off, trying to see who would be tired out first, presumably.

Even if it had dragon, against a slower target they would be able to hunt better. The Seregios charged straight for the Zinogre, before pulling back before reaching it, dodging dragon element. The Zinogre was so focused on the monster that it didn't notice the hunter jump off its back. She was still falling through the air, and aimed a right hook straight for the Zinogre's face, knocking it back. She landed, then propelled herself upwards for an uppercut, stunning it. Finally, while in the air, she slammed down on the Zinogre, causing it to crash into the ground. The Seregios then flew in and cut the side of the Zinogre, getting scales lodged. Since it was downed, this gave it more time to land more than one hit, so the Seregios slashed as many times as it could, getting scales lodged on nearly each one.

The Zinogre snapped back into life and got up, roaring. It tried to move forwards, but couldn't, due to the scales causing it to bleed. The Zinogre was now immobile, something the hunter took note of. She ran around its body, landing hits on every part she could. After about a minute, there was a red aura emanating from just about every part of the Zinogre. It was still bleeding, but forced itself to move anyways out of desperation. It charged for the hunter, roaring.

She calmed herself down and pulled both her fists back. The Zinogre drew close, so she thrusted both her weapons forwards, connecting with its head.

The fanged wyvern was knocked back, but was still able to stand. It went to move forwards, but couldn't for some reason. Then, it felt the aura began to grow thicker, surrounding it, before it finally exploded.

DRAGON SPIRIT PIERCING ATTACK

The Zinogre was caught in the blast, covering the ground around it with its own blood, before finally it stopped. It stared at its final opponents for a few moments more, before finally dropping to the ground, dead on the spot.

The two who had just one recovered, and tried to help Terrence and Demi up. They had the intention of helping out with the remaining monster, but right now they just had to recover.

Meanwhile, the two Nargacuga had been racing alongside each other for a while. The Silverwind had the advantage of range, but that didn't have much of an effect here. Unfortunately, Nargy still had weaker physical strength, so if he was hit by one of its tail strikes it would be difficult to recover.

Finally, they reached a clearing, which looked like a good enough arena. The Silverwind took the lead and ran into it first, taking its own corner. It took advantage of the distance to use blades of wind. These were dodged, but they were still something to look out for, which only put more stress on Nargy and Joseph.

They closed in on it, before both of the swift wyverns clashed with a tail strike, Nargy being pushed back. To make up for this, he pounced at the Silverwind, catching it with his body and knocking it into the air. It caught itself in the air and hovered slightly, sending out more blades of wind.

Nargy realised his mistake, but it was too late. If he jumped now, he'd be knocked out of the air by it, so he needed to think of a different strategy. He looked back to Joseph, who grinned, and just then one was thought of.

Nargy ran forwards, just as predicted. He narrowly dodged a blade, then ran straight beneath it. There was confusion from the other two, until Nargy launched Joseph off, into the Silverwind.

Joseph wasn't sure of what was happening, but managed to stay clinging on, and stabbed at the Silverwind's tail. While this wasn't much, it wasn't able to shake him off, so it resorted to slamming its tail on the ground.

Just as it descended, Nargy span around and pounced again, catching it off guard and knocking Joseph off. Joseph crashed a short distance away, and the two flying wyverns began to fight.

This continued a short while, before finally it reached the result of heavy damage for both. But, Nargy was already tired out, while the Silverwind appeared to be able to still go.

Both pounced forwards, but then the Silverwind suddenly stopped and dropped to the ground. Nargy was now above it, so it flung a blade of wind at him.

Unable to dodge, Nargy's front leg was slashed, causing him to drop to the ground and spin across it. Joseph yelled out and was now getting closer, as he had been launched a great distance away, but still wasn't close enough.

The Silverwind repeatedly slashed at Nargy, hitting him with everything it had. Joseph finally made it close and slashed at its side, causing to react with pain and back off.

Joseph wasn't done and pursued it. It then sped up, trying to leave his line of sight entirely. A blade of wind was shot out, but Joseph aura picked up on it, allowing him to dodge around. As he did, the Silverwind closed in for a strike, but it missed and was countered.

This continued for a few more attacks, until finally the Silverwind's eyes went red. It then appeared to disappear to completely, the only thing Joseph could follow was a trail of red. Then, many blades of wind appeared almost at once, all coming at Joseph.

This was dodgeable just about, but Joseph realised something else about the attack. If it missed him, at least a few were bound to hit Nargy. In his weakened state, he wouldn't be able to dodge. It'd also likely finish him, even if it didn't the Silverwind probably could with a single strike at that point. He could take the strike himself, but then he'd be heavily weakened and probably missing a few limbs, even then he couldn't guarantee the strikes wouldn't go through him after he had been hit.

"So… it's like this again…" He thought "Someone else is gonna die… someone I coulda protected, but failed because I didn't finish the monster before this… it's the exact same, ain't it? The one I'm huntin' with takes the hits, I get off just fine, then I'm the one who lives. Even if I take 'em now, it'll be just for nothin'..."

He thought back to before, everything that had happened until this time. The pain it created, the regret. Even now, that he had risen out of that, he was going to be pulled back again. He wondered if he had ever escaped it to begin with. Everything about that pain raced through his mind, over and over, forming his own memories.

"No…"

The memories started to shift slightly, changing shape.

"I ain't gonna experience that again. I ain't going back to that, so I can't lose anything."

His aura flared to life, but this time it moved. It slithered along his arm, going up his weapon and surrounding it, now radiating.

"Even if I gotta cut through the wind itself, I'll cut down whatever tries to get in my way."

The memories formed a blade.

Joseph swung his blade. Normally, the wind should've cut through the metal and broken it. But instead, it was the wind that fell, being cleared.

The Silverwind and Nargy were both shocked, but Joseph didn't react. He sprinted forwards, straight for his opponent. Before it realised, he was there. He slashed, catching its side, cutting its right leg off completely. The Silverwind screamed with pain, but Joseph didn't even flinch, apparently not hearing it. It swung its tail around and connected with his side, but he barely reacted. He didn't dodge, nor did he fall. The Silverwind couldn't move its body apart from that, so Joseph pulled his sword back and slashed horizontally, finishing it for good and sending blood flying into the air.

The aura drifted off of Joseph's sword and entered the air, burning away before it finally disappeared completely.

There was a long silence, until the others landed, so Joseph turned around, seemingly being wiped of his previous facial expression.

"So, how'd it go?" Joseph asked.

"Pretty good." The tonfa wielding hunter responded.

"I didn't do much though…" Terrence lamented.

"Well, whatever, it's probably fine or somethin'. Anyways I gotta get Nargy healed up, so Terrence, can ya just go carve for the both of us?"

So, Terrence headed back to the corpse, while the other two stayed there. A few minutes passed, before Joseph had finally bandaged Nargy's wounds. The only thing left to do now was wait. Nargy went to sleep, as that'd probably help with the recovery.

The hunter and her Seregios were still there, carving the Silverwind.

Joseph turned around, having nothing left to really do. He thought for a second before speaking.

"Ya know, still don't get what's going on with ya being a hunter and all."

"Well, it's not really that much. A few others and I managed to escape, so we all decided to start new lives as hunters. This also meant we changed our names, in case you're wondering. I guess I shouldn't have chosen something so similar, but it doesn't really matter much, I don't think the Guild would even check someone if they could have information on them, long as they're willing to be a hunter."

"Huh… don't really know how ta respond…"

"Aren't you going to ask about my work as an assassin?"

"Not really, but if ya wanna talk bout it that much then yeah sure, don't mind."

"Well, no, that's not what I mean… usually if someone learnt the Guild had assassins they'd ask about what they do…"

"Don't really give a shit."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean, yeah sure, it's some secret shit or whatever, I get that. But, way I see it, don't got anything to do with me, so I got no reason to get involved with it. So I don't really wanna hear it. Besides, it's probably just something like killing people who know about stuff they're not meant to or somethin'..."

"Actually, it's-"

"Hold it, don't wanna hear it! Already said, don't wanna get killed!"

There was a silence.

"Well, changing the subject, exactly how did you get strong enough to go from running the moment you see a Deviljho to taking on a Stygian and a Silverwind in the same day? I know you've got new gear and a Nargacuga, but that shouldn't make much of a difference."

"Well, y'know, just been training a bunch, really made me good. By the way, don't go slanderin' Daimyo like that…"

"Sure, I guess. Still, I doubt it's just training, especially as there isn't a wound on you, and this thing's been almost cleaved in two."

Joseph seemed to think for a second.

"Well, was gonna try and play it off, but guess that ain't gonna work. Besides, ya probably recognise it anyway."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, got no official name for it, but I call it aura."

"Huh?"

"Well, it's like this thing that helps me out in fights. Like, I'll be about to get hit, then it'll like, show me how to dodge and counter, then I'll do it."

"...I've never heard of something like that…"

"It'll be easier if I just show it… So uh, try hittin' me."

"You're sure about this?"

"Yeah, no holdin' back and all, gotta show it off properly."

"Okay then…"

She stepped forwards, then drew her tonfas, before charging forwards to open with a right hook. Joseph's aura flared, he stepped out of the way of this and reached back to draw his weapon, but was cut off and had to jump back again to dodge a sweeping kick. His opponent closed the distance by propelling herself at him. He hopped out of the way of this and finally drew his weapon, but missed. She then stopped herself by digging into the ground and turned around to swing at him. However, this was dodged around just barely, and Joseph swung his sword upwards, stopping just barely before it made contact.

Because of the sudden stop, he lost his footing slightly and stumbled over, but he had still proven his point.

"Sorry, I never seen anything like that before…"

"Well, shame. Figured someone from the Guild'd know somethin', but guess that was wrong…"

"Why did you think that?"

"Well, it was almost three years ago now I guess, when we were on trial for a technically illegal hunt. It wasn't going well, but when I mentioned the aura, it was like everything changed for the better. I mean, then I was pretty happy to get out of it, but thinkin' back, it was kinda suspicious. I know there's at least one other person who can use it out there, so I wonder if the Guild's keeping eyes on us or somethin'..."

"...That is strange. Here I was thinking I could at least understand most of the Guild's actions, but I guess that's just more to it."

"Whaddya sayin'?"

"Well, I was born into a life that made me know a lot more about the world than most people will ever know, but there was still a lot I didn't know, and I was just kinda convinced to turn a blind eye to it. I was always taught that monsters were the cause of the world's problems, so I never understood those who sympathised with them, though I just assumed they were evil too, instead of questioning it too hard. Then for some reason, I ended up questioning that one day, so that must've been what made me want to get out. So, once I did, I found myself here, with nowhere to go."

Joseph couldn't really respond.

"I feel like there's a lot I know, but there's also a lot I don't at the same time. I don't really get people at all and just, when I think about it, this world makes no sense at all. In the first place, there's no history past a thousand years back, but there's clearly something beyond that, as there's nothing written about the ruins you see pop up from place to place in it. That's clearly not from Schrade, so there must've been something before… In the first place, what even is a monster? I mean, yeah sure, they're animals, but they seem above normal ones, don't they? And they're usually drawn to those types of places… Plus, how is it that some of us are able to get along with them? I mean, sure you all have your own circumstances, but here I am, being raised to hate them all, getting along with Vrai, when she's a species that naturally hates everything…"

Joseph still didn't say a thing.

"Well, I just want to understand more things, including what the Guild's trying to do now… that's my motives summarised, I suppose."

Joseph remained silent, before finally speaking "Well, I figure yer overthinkin' a bit, but ya lived yer own life, so I ain't in a position to say what's right and wrong for ya, since I can't really relate to half of it."

"Yeah, I figured as much…"

"Eh, still, ya wanna live based on your past, right? I don't get half of what yer saying, but even so, that's a pretty good way to live, yeah?"

"I didn't expect that out of you."

"Hey, I ain't dumb or somethin'. I dunno, since before a few years ago, I guess I was tryna do the same, but like, I wasn't really using it for anything. I was just being a hunter cause I didn't have another choice. But, about three years back, I realised there was no way I'd be able ta run anymore, so I decided to turn around and face it, and try to make it my motive. I ain't gonna claim to have everything covered, but that's what I'm tryna to do."

"Cool."

"Shaddup, if ya get to spout yer motive like that, then I'm allowed to do the same."

"Anyways, I suppose I'll be taking my leave now. It's starting to get dark…" With that, Vert turned, climbed onto Vrai's back and flew off.

Joseph watched them and once they were gone he just waited a while, before finally, Terrence landed.

"Damn," Joseph muttered "You took a longass time."

"Sorry, anyways I got it sorted, so can we head back now?" He responded.

"Yeah, just help me out with Nargy here."

So they headed back into Riveru, and a while passed without much happening due to recovery.

May 28th, 1349

Joseph rolled out of bed and went outside to go check on Nargy, who was now standing. He seemed to be healed, which meant they could finally leave the city and head to wherever they were headed next.

Joseph told Terrence about it, and a few hours later they were at the gates of the town, ready to leave.

They were just about to, when they heard someone coming up behind them. Surprisingly yet also unsurprising, it was Vert.

"Hey, where are you guys going now?" She asked.

"Minegarde. Why, ya wanna come with us or somethin'?" Joseph asked jokingly.

"Yeah, sure, why not."

"It was a joke."

"Well yeah, I realised, but I might as well. I mean, it's not like I'm doing much by staying here. Besides, whatever your aura is, I figure following you'd be a good way to figure it out."

"Well, yeah sure, that works I guess." Joseph responded.

Vert then walked off to get ready, then Terrence expressed his confusion. "How does she know about the aura?"

"Well, couldn't really hide it, so uh yeah, just sorta happened."

"I thought aura was meant to be some secret thing…"

"Not really, I just don't bring it up that much cause it'd be a pain to hafta explain it all the time."

"Yet you explained it there…"

"Shaddup, it just happened, got it?"

They talked for a little while longer, before they saw a Seregios flying away.

"That'd probably be our cue…" Joseph muttered, climbing onto Nargy's back.

They took off, followed by Terrence on Demi's back.

The four of them quickly caught up the other two, and then headed west at a steady speed.

November 16th, 1349

Joseph sat up in bed, and then asked one question to himself. "What day is it?"

He thought for a second, trying to work it out, until finally he reached the answer. It was November 16th, the day his ban was lifted and the day he said he would return to Dundorma and meet up with the others.

Yet here he was, in Kotoko Village, nearly half the world away. He started sprinting around, gathered the others, and yelled "We're heading to Dundorma right now!"

"But why?" Terrence asked.

"Cause we gotta be there today. C'mon, if we go now we'll make it by noon!"

"It's ten now…" Vert muttered.

"I know what I said!" Joseph yelled, before running off.

They saw a Nargacuga quickly fly off in the distance.

"Well, guess we need to follow him…" Terrence lamented, before looking up slightly "Still, never been there, so it should be interesting I guess."

"It's not that great…" Vert enthusiastically responded, before both of them set off to follow him.

From this experience, Joseph learnt that another thing he needed to improve was keeping track of time.

TO BE CONTINUED

It's finally finished, sorry it took so long. I guess I just needed to write a lot, since this is the penultimate chapter of the arc and the last chance I'll get to write a big fight for a while. I mean, Terrence was kinda screwed over it, but everyone else got to show cool stuff, so he'll just to have deal with it. Though he can hardly complain, I mean he got three chapters on the first stage of his character arc, so he'll just have to put up with it while every other arc gets to the point his is at.

That's about it, I watched Yugioh ARC V recently, and it was great followed by disappointment.
I'm not interesting enough to fill this with my own life, but I've still got to pad that word count somehow...