Part of the current incident began eleven years ago.
Back in Loc Lac, the four of them were managing to get by, sticking with the two hunters David and Maria Gilmore.
One day, the two of them had to go off to fight, for a reason the four didn't particularly understand.
Several weeks passed, with no news, other than overhearing some mention of how fierce the fighting was.
The only memory they had to go off was the easygoing smiles the two had given before leaving, seeming like they could break at any minute.
Eventually, one night, at random, a disturbance began.
Joseph woke up to the feeling of something around his neck and barely had time to respond before being lifted off the ground, being strangled.
In this moment of confusion, he was unable to even think. It was true that he had experienced fear of death before, but watching destruction was a different feeling to having the intent directed straight at you, from such a close distance.
The figure whose appearance he couldn't see properly was suddenly interrupted by an attack from the sides by Ben, who had also just woken up and instantly gone to this.
The attack didn't connect, but the figure backed off and threw Joseph aside, now getting ready to attack Ben.
The other two also quickly showed up, getting a quick grasp of the situation despite their fear.
Zach rushed forwards, only to be kicked out of the way just as fast.
Ben then tried to charge in, only to have his attack be dodged and then get kicked himself.
Callum quickly rushed in, having grabbed a knife as fast as possible, but was grabbed and quickly dropped it before he could even get close.
Joseph, still recovering, watched the knife fly through the air in his direction. As if pulled by instinct, he managed to grab it and then charged forwards, the intruder facing away from him. Despite being noticed and almost being stopped, he somehow dodged a kick he could barely see and stabbed forwards, managing to definitely hit something.
But, there was no reaction. The figure simply, completely silently turned to him, throwing Callum away.
The knife still in their back, they moved forwards, without seeming affected.
Joseph tried to back off, but there was nowhere for him to go.
As the opponent moved closer, Zach suddenly appeared from behind and started swinging wildly, but this easily avoided.
The figure now stopped and turned towards Zach, their movements getting slower by the second. They still managed to pick him up despite Zach swinging wildly, and while holding him in the air with one hand, the figure began to reach around their back.
Finally finding what they wanted, they reached back, and after getting a good grip on it ripped the knife straight out of their back and raising it towards Zach.
Zach flailed more wildly, but to no effect.
At that moment, Ben finally managed to recover and tackled the intruder's arm, just barely knocking the knife out of it.
Ben dropped to the ground and hurriedly tried to find it, but was kicked aside before he could make sense of anything.
No longer caring about the knife, still bleeding, the figure raised both hands to strangle Zach.
Joseph managed to finally reach the knife and this time plunged it into the figure's side, but didn't stop there, repeatedly stabbing at them, unrelenting.
Finally, any movements stopped, and the figure fell to the ground. Finally, for the first time, Joseph could clearly see their face.
In front of him, the man he'd just stabbed repeatedly… was David.
Inexplicably, without any reason as to why he was here, David was surely in front of him.
He still drew breath, just barely and the entire time looked at the four with silent eyes, as if wishing that his gaze could finish any of them off.
Finally, he barely managed to say something "If ya just… weren't here, then there wouldn't have been any… problems. Why did... ya have to be alive?"
He crawled forwards, trying to reach for anything, even in his last few seconds trying to take down others.
Joseph raised the knife one last time and swung it down, finally finishing him off.
A moment of silence was caused by no one knowing how to respond, this repeated indefinitely, until finally at what seemed to be the end of time Joseph finally spoke.
"We… need to leave now, don't we."
More silence, with the others eventually quietly agreeing.
While they still didn't understand why and knew they probably never would, there was no doubting it, that they had killed the one who was lying there.
So, on that night, the four boys disappeared completely.
A corpse was discovered, identified as that of David Gilmore's, who had mysteriously vanished from the frontlines, after being thought to have been killed alongside the rest of his squad when they were annihilated.
As he was found where the boys were staying, they were suspects, but they were unable to be located, having vanished just as mysteriously as he had from the fighting, never to be found again.
Four years later, four hunters sharing the surname of Gilmore registered in Tanzia, bringing monsters with them as they hunted.
"Scope," Judge began asking the one next to him "Can you check their positions? We need to make sure that none of them escape."
"Sure." Scope replied, pausing for a single second.
"Three of them and their monsters are still over there fighting, but one pair's currently taking the road back to Dundorma, they're currently about 70 metres away."
"Thanks." Judge then turned around to face another "Boost. Pursue that one, make sure he doesn't get away."
"Got it." With that, the one he had addressed took off running, heading straight down the road.
On Sanchez' back, Callum was focused on getting back to Dundorma as fast as possible.
He figured that this distance was good enough to be safe for a while, but the sound of footsteps rapidly approaching proved otherwise.
Boost continued to close in on the Great Jaggi's footsteps headed down the path, his blades already raised.
Neither side could see the other, but they understood each other's presences as a threat.
As Boost finally drew close enough to the sound he brought the blades down, but as he did he felt something press against his neck.
"Whoever's doing this'll probably come for us when we're leaving." Joseph speculated to the rest of the group, as they were about to leave Dundorma.
"Then, if they corner us, we should try to fight back, right?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, that's my plan. The problem is that they've probably got at least a few aura users. One of which kicked my shit in the other day. Also they've all probably got some gimmick."
"Then, how are we meant to fight that?" Callum asked.
"Hit them really hard." Ben answered.
"Well that I guess, but if ya wanna hit them, then ya just gotta let them get close enough so that they can't dodge, even with the heightened senses or whatever."
Zach thought for a second "We should also probably have someone run back, the case that there's too many for us to take on."
"Wait, are ya really plannin' on draggin' the others into this?" Joseph questioned him, clearly disapproving.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"That's just pointless, ain't it!?"
"Not really. If we can outnumber them, we've got the advantage. Think about it this way, how many aura users do ya know, other than yerself."
"Just that bastard, apart from one I've just heard of."
"So yeah, ya seem ta be pretty rare, right? So I doubt they could have more than like… ten? If we come at them with our group of thirty two we can easily outnumber 'em."
"I wanna avoid puttin' the others at risk."
"It's better than all eight of us dyin' for sure."
Joseph felt like there wasn't much point in arguing, since while he wanted to do everything himself he knew Zach would carry this out regardless of what he thought.
"Anyways, Callum," Zach told him "If everything goes wrong, Sanchez would be the fastest to get back, so ya should be the one ta go."
Boost had absolutely no time to react, but still had the support of his basically cheating abilites on his side, managing to move himself around ever so slightly in the air, to avoid the damage being fatal. It still caught him in the chest, but he managed to back off by the time Callum swung his other blade around.
"Shit… what's his deal?" Boost thought "I never expected that he'd try and fight back like that."
The bleeding from his neck had already stopped, so he started to charge forwards again, following the sound of Sanchez' footsteps.
Callum heard him coming again.
"The same tactic?" He briefly thought "Then I'll just counter in the same way."
But as he moved to counter, he found himself getting slashed at way faster than expected. He still managed to continue his attack, slashing at Boost's side but not managing to injure him greatly.
"Sure is lucky for me that my acceleration doesn't just increase how fast I can run." Boost thought as he backed off again "Well, losing the ability to use it to dodge when I use it is kind of a pain, but what can you do. Anyways… I should get going again, this should finish him off. Ah, right, Judge probably wants me to bring him back alive, right? Then I'll try that, though there shouldn't be much of a problem if I kill the monster."
Boost started running again, following the sound of footsteps, still headed to Dundorma even in this situation.
With the same tactic he'd used twice before, he jumped forwards into a slash, only to find nothing.
As Sanchez acknowledged Boost's above him, he called out.
Boost felt confusion, until a burning pain entered his back. He screamed out from this sudden pain, before trying to bring his thoughts back under control, so he could work out what was going on.
"Where… did he-?" Boost kept glancing around, finding nowhere Callum could've attacked from.
It was at this moment, that a grappling hook also buried into him. Boost could see nothing from that direction. "How-?" Was all he had time to process, before being dragged across the ground. Boost tried to raise weapons to cut himself free, but couldn't reach the wire as he was flailed around.
Finally Boost pulled to stop, struggling to get back up. Unseen to him, Callum pulled his remaining weapon back and tried to finish him off with one final stab.
"You can't."
Boost's senses quickly reacted, allowing him to just barely roll out of the way. Then, despite how impossible it seemed, he managed to ever so slowly rise to his feet, almost stumbling along the way but still managing to get up.
"I won't die. Not until you're wiped out. That's my mission, y'know. I'm the fastest. After all, it's my manifestation, y'know, acceleration. So it's what I'm good for. That's my value. I won't let you take it away from me. I must be the fastest."
By now Callum was barely even listening to Boost's words.
His plan was to use the grappling hook to escape, grabbing onto some nearby trees. This had worked perfectly, Boost not even noticing. Then, when Sanchez alerted him he'd throw one of his weapons, with the hope of at least distracting Boost so he could reel him in with the grappling hook. The strike to back was better than expected, everything had gone well up to now, where he had inexplicably dodged the final attack.
"I figured that going fast was his gimmick, but he couldn't dodge while that was active. So either he switched back to normal while I was dragging him back, or I was just completely wrong.
While he wasn't listening to what Boost was saying, it was still pretty easy to tell where he was with the rambling, so Callum at least had that on his side. Boost's hood had been thrown off, so he was able to at least make out the outline of his opponent, his messy hair and dark blue eyes being barely visible to him. Of course, this meant the opposite still applied, once Boost snapped back into making sense he'd probably be able to see him too.
Since he was on the defensive, Callum recognised it'd be best to just wait and see what his opponent did next.
Finally, the talking stopped and Callum raised his guard again. He heard him kick off the ground and raised his weapon. One blade was blocked, but the other wedged itself straight into his stomach.
Callum winced from the pain, making himself unable to move. This could've been a perfect chance for Boost to finish him off, but instead he was distracted.
"That's it, I've done it. I proved it. I was faster. That means I have value. It's your loss, I've completely won. I've won!" Boost began to laugh uncontrollably.
"The hell's up with this guy?" Callum thought, surprisingly unfocused in what could be his last moments. Suddenly, Sanchez appeared from behind, biting into Boost's back.
Yet, he didn't react to this, only looking straight towards Callum as his laughter ceased.
"But I'm not done yet. I can still go further."
Callum didn't waste any time, attempt his weapon into his skull as fast as possible. Boost made one final stab, striking Callum in the chest this time, luckily his weapon had already stopped before the wound could be too deep. The victor took a second just to make sure it was over, before quickly withdrawing his blade, causing Boost to collapse onto the ground. He tried to catch his breath, before climbing back onto Sanchez, not having any time to deal with his injuries.
Finally he arrived back at Dundorma, before seeing the others.
They were obviously alarmed by this, but he just decided to explain things rather than waste time with their surprise.
After being told what was going on, no one particularly knew how to react.
"But yeah, I need ya ta come help, they're still fightin'. We don't have time to wait, decide now. Step forward if yer comin', stay there if yer not."
Everyone quickly stepped forward, except for the gunner trio, mostly Sean stopping them.
"I thought ya were goin'?" Sean asked as Callum turned to face him.
"We'll pay whatever ya want if ya come, only condition is we all return safely." Callum quickly responded.
"Got it, I'm sold. Also, I got a better idea than just running back, if ya wanna spend a minute to save a lot more."
Joseph struck out into the darkness once again, still unable to see where any of the attacks were coming from.
"Seriously… how long have we been fightin' for?"
Joseph waited some more, before dodging a knife that got thrown at him.
A scythe came from behind him, which was also dodged.
Nargy seemed to be doing fine, he clearly wasn't their focus and his ability to see in the dark was giving him an advantage in dodging attacks. Joseph then noticed Nargy turn around to face someone. While Joseph couldn't see who was approaching he definitely sensed danger.
He dodged around the first attack, but upon trying to strike back found himself being pushed back by flames.
"The hell?" He thought "Did he set himself on fire or something?"
The axe was brought down again, with Joseph not having any ability to counterattack due to the flames.
He continued to not have a way out, until eventually finding himself with his back to a metal wall.
"How?" Was all he had time to think before he had an axe swung at his chest. He jumped to the side and managed to avoid it, but while unable to dodge the back of a scythe came down on his head, knocking him into the ground.
Judge sheathed his axe again "That makes all of them, except the one Boost was pursuing. We should check on him, I doubt he's failed but we can't take risks."
Suddenly he heard Scope announce something "There's an airship approaching us. Currently about 100 metres away."
"...Could it just be one passing through?" Another voice asked.
"It's headed straight for us. I doubt it. Judge?"
"Boost must've failed… Get the three onto the ship, we don't have time to finish the monsters so just leave them!"
He quickly dodged a strike from Nargy, picked up Joseph and ran back to the airship. The others rejoined and it took off.
"Shouldn't we try to work out some way of finishing the others?" The same one from before asked.
"We don't have to worry about them escaping anymore, Reaper." Judge answered "They've pursued us out here, I doubt they'd stop just cause we're in the sky now. This is perfect, so long as we've got the hostages they'll keep chasing us."
He then turned to the other five with him.
"The crime of everyone on the ship pursuing us is assisting criminals! Don't let a single one escape!" He then turned again "Pilot, keep piloting until Scope finds a good place to deal with them. We'll settle the fight there."
"That's definitely them!" Callum yelled at Sean, piloting the airship that the others had no idea how he obtained outside of "Connections."
"Wait, there's still some monsters down there." Matt pointed out.
The airship briefly flew near the ground, giving the three enough time to jump on.
"No sign of the others, huh?" Callum lamented "They must be on the airship. We gotta chase them."
"That's great and all, but shouldn't you rest a little?" Riko asked "You got pretty injured back there, right?"
"Yeah, got it." Callum replied "Just kinda restless. We'll definitely get them back."
Fallon stood in her room again, thinking about the current situation.
"Well, it looks like the fight has begun. I wonder who will come out on top?"
Another voice spoke "Well, regardless of the result, one thing's for sure, right?"
"Yeah."
Then in unison they spoke "The survivors shall surely grow stronger from this fight."
Another part of this incident began seven years ago
The sun rose on Kotoko Village, four hunters walked outside.
The tallest one spoke in a laid back fashion "We should go hunt something today, right?"
"Yeah, I'm down." The curly haired one answered back. "What about you, Josh?"
"Dunno…" The shortest one answered "You up, Isaac?"
"Yeah," The one who seemed to be the leader replied enthusiastically "Let's go for it."
They made their way into the hall and got a quest to hunt down a few Velocidrome.
Another laid back day seemed to be beginning.
TO BE CONTINUED