Disclaimer!

MonsterHunterLuna: Take it away Lion-o!

Lion-o: Do I have to?

Tygra: Just do it.

Lion-o: Fine, MonsterHunterLuna doesn't own the right to Thundercats or Monster Hunter World who are owned by Warner Bros. and Capcom respectively. If you have any questions, please message MonsterHunterLuna and she'll get back to you as soon as she can.

Tygra: Enough talking. On with the story!

MonsterHunterLuna: Onward!

Lion-o: Why am I the one that has to act grown up this time?

Alpha: Enjoy the story!

Chapter 3: The 'Great' Jagras problem and learning new tricks

1 day after the hunt with Lion-o…

Luna pov

I woke up in my room and darted up to put on my gear. I woke up Alpha with a launched pillow to the face. Our ritual of cussing each other out took place with so many words being flung at each other that neither of us could really keep track of it. As soon as the boots were on and my glaive was on my back, I was darting outside before the sun was up. I breathed slowly the air from the sea and forest. It smelled like a new day for hunting.

I heard a lot of shouting from behind me. I think I even heard Lion-o shouting, but I didn't really pay attention. It wasn't my business. I walked over to the canteen to meet with Fudoka in case the commander had a new hunting request for her. Alpha as going to stay in the room until I decided if we were heading out on a hunt or not. Some news from fellow hunters, however, had me concerned.

"Did a Jagras interrupt your hunt too?"

"I hate those things. I was trying to catch a few Aptonoth and they made my life difficult."

"Those things are getting out of control."

All these things were what I heard. I could honestly say that it was making me aggravated hearing all about the Jagras. It was bad enough that I had just fought them yesterday, but for their population to have accelerated to be a problem this bad was unnatural. Or at the very least unbalanced. It was like dealing with the Jaggi back in the Old World. If the lower monsters were that problematic with pack mentalities, then that meant there had to be a boss that was ordering them around. It sounded systematic like the Jaggi behavior.

I walked over to Fudoka and gave a slight nod for her to get started. "All right, I'm sure your aware that the Jagras problem you took care of with Lion-o didn't stop the problem now. I talked to those in the Ecological Research group, and the news about Jagras has changed. Much like in the Old World there is a Great Jaggi there is a Great Jagras here. The problem is that with the Great Jagras here the Jagras population has spike drastically. It's only a matter of time before we get overrun. The commander thinks now would be a good time to strut your stuff and provide a meaningful amount of research for the Research Commission. The mission is to hunt a Great Jagras. The commander also said that if you actually capture it then the mission would still count as complete." Fudoka explained to me.

Nodding, I left to prepare. I left to my room and took at look at the potions that I had acquired. I also checked my armor and weapons. The glave seemed fine since it was a black steel commissioned weapon of the Guild and Research Commission. However, I was unsure of the Guardian armor that I had been gifted with from the Research Commission. It did certainly seem sturdier than my previous beginning armors that I had received in other villages in the Old World when I started my journeys in the different regions there, but I didn't know much about these monsters or their strength. It was difficult to think about, but practical. I shook my head and smacked myself in the face.

I could not be thinking this right now. I hardly had any materials to fix these problems that I saw so I was just going to have to adjust. Which meant using potentially shitty equipment and hoping that it kept her alive.

"Hey, Luna!" Lion-o's voice floated from the door way. It sounded this go around like he was both pouting and happy at the same time.

I rolled my eyes at the tone. "Come on it kid. I don't need you blocking the other hunters when they have important stuff to do in their rooms." I said while checking my trap materials. I had went out a few times before I had worked with Lion-o took get a better lay of the environment and was currently messing with some thunderbugs. I would have to get a trap tool though. Guess a quick purchase was in order.

I could hear the footsteps from Lion-o and a few others. Probably his friends that came with him. Definitely made me quite surprised. "Hey, whatcha doing? I haven't seen anyone doing anything like this. At least, for all the basic stuff." Lion-o said.

I sighed. I grabbed an antidote or two to ensure that I had an adequate defense to deal with the monsters. Then I turned around to see the guests in my area. There were at least one adult and three teenagers including Lion-o that seemed to be the most mature of the group with two kids and a pet that I hadn't noticed from before. Of course, they were all looking into my room in curiosity. I smiled in greeting at Lion-o before gesturing around. "I'm preparing to hunt a monster that's caused a lot of commotion among the other hunters. It's making intelligence gathering slower. I'm going to make this a capture mission after I get what I need to make a trap." I stated starting towards them before pausing in front of the group. I gave a slight gesture for them to move out of the way and Lion-o scrambled away as I predicted. His friends gave him a look. "Don't fault him, I did take him hunting not that long ago." I stated matter-of-factly.

The biggest and by far most badass looking one of them gave me a skeptical look. "You took Lion-o with you on an important errand? While I have no problem with that, why would you even think taking him hunting here?" the guy question while crossing his arms. Obviously he expected a response.

I scoffed. "Are you kidding me? The kid is actually pretty good at it. At least, he listened when I taught the basics otherwise he'd probably screw himself over. And it was so he could teach you all as well. I'm starting to think that I'll have to talk to the commander about getting you kids lessons." I said with a hiss at the end. Lion-o had respectable skills that shouldn't be squandered or ignored in my opinion. Then again, I was responsible for quite a bit when one took into account my Palico and my new charge of a handler. That spelled daily disaster.

"Kids?!" the male with stripes stated looking at me incredulously.

"Why of course. You're but a teenager dear. At least from my perspective. Besides if you guys have to look for something, might as well not get killed doing it right. It's a pain enough to keep the idiots that don't actually listen to those with experience." I stated looking at the oldest in the group. I was mildly glad to see his nod of approval at that one. "Now if you don't mind. Can you please move? I have a purchase to make in the market place." I stated. I raised an eyebrow at their stubbornness. The oldest of the group certainly made sure that the teenagers and little kids got out of my way. I quickly got passed them with Lion-o coming straight behind me. I frowned at the fact that everyone didn't have shoes on except for Lion-o which was frustrating for me. It got on my nerves more than I verbalized (which was zero).

I was out the door to the barracks before anyone following me could seem to blink and made my way to the supply master. I was purchasing my trap tools when I felt a tug on my pants and saw the two kids looking at me funny. Rolling my eyes, I asked for him to give me some candy and then gave them to the kids. Their smiles made me give them a small smile as well before literally bumping into that jerk of a stripped kid. "Might want to watch yourself there." I said with a light growl.

"I could say the same to you." The kid said arrogantly.

Lion-o who had caught up with me rolled his eyes at the stripped kids comment. "That's Tygra. He's my brother. I'm sure you've already met the kids Wilykit and Wilykat." Lion-o introduced pointing to his asshole of a brother first and the two kids second. "Those two are Panthro and Cheetara. Panthro's from the army when my dad was alive and Cheetara is part of the Clerics." Lion-o finished the introductions. He looked a mix of proud and exasperated.

I nodded. "Cute. However, what are you giving me introductions for?" I snapped while putting the first electric trap together in front of them. Luckily, Lion-o was paying attention as was Panthro. Sadly, I didn't attract the other two teens or the kids. Eh, ya win some and lose some, right? I thought.

Lion-o nodded a tad embarrassed. He held out the sword and shield from the day I took him hunting. "I was going to return this to you. I didn't return them the other day and it kinda seems rude to hold onto them when their yours." He explained. His shame at forgetting such a trivial fact was noted, but I was a tad surprised at how well kept they still looked. Not a single nick in the blade or shield and both were cleaned to look as if they had just gotten made by the blacksmith. That was some dedication right there.

I shoved the borrowed weapons back to him. "Take 'em. I don't have any need for a sword and shield. They aren't my preferred weapon or fighting style. At least, not those two. Just take them off my hands and it'll be just fine. Now that I do have your attention though, it would be worth noting that those three." I said while pointing to Panthro, Tygra and Cheetara. "Get some proper equipment and weapons. If they need help acquiring some, talk to the commander. I don't have very much myself since I got it all from the commission. Ain't been here long myself." I finished. I checked the trap I made one last time and the spare tools I bought before making my way up to the canteen.

"Um, I was actually wondering if you'd take me with you on another hunt. If that's okay with you? I mean you don't have to-" Lion-o started to blather.

I turned around so fast that he ran into me and despite me being only slightly taller than him if it wasn't for the armor making my chest a tad larger (more outward) then I'm pretty sure we would be kissing. I can only be thankful that didn't happen. I raised a brow at his flustered look. It would've been cute had I not registered the question he asked me. "Come again?" I asked in a playful mocking tone.

Lion-o rolled his eyes. "I asked if you would take me hunting with you again." He asked me in exasperation.

I took a quick look at his other friends. They were looking at him like he was an elder dragon terrorizing a town. "I normally wouldn't mind kid, but you can't come this time. Bigger monster and you got less experience than I do in hunting." I said gently knowing that he was both excited and very confident in his ability. I knew that I taught him the basics not that long ago, but I doubt that he would actually be able to do this kind of hunting yet. At least, not with how little of an experience he actually had.

Lion-o pouted. "But I won't learn if you don't teach me. And if I don't go out and hunt." He said trying to use the 'puppy dog eyes.' They were about as big and cute as Alpha when he was trying to get an extra ration of fish or meat in the canteen. He frowned even more when I shook my head again.

"Kid, I'm serious. You just started hunting not even a day ago. And this is the lowest tier kind of monster. It's going to be a pain to take down even with my experience, and I can't focus on teaching you when I haven't even fought it myself. Maybe next time, alright?" I said preparing to leave it at that and move on. I had even turned around and everything. Then I twitched when he brother made the worst comment on this side of Astera.

"See bro. I told you she wouldn't teach us anything, and we don't need it either. Now can we please go and leave already. We got a lot of ground to cover and I'm sure we'll be perfectly fine out there on our own." Tygra stated in the most arrogant tone that I had ever heard of.

Maybe teaching that little asshole how it's done would shut his mouth. "You know what?" I stated whirling around and startling their little gathering. "I changed my mind. Lion-o your coming with me, and so is your asshole of a brother. Meet me at the canteen in half an hour. And make sure your brother wears some shoes too." I stated before leaving to the canteen in a flurry of movement. I huffed at the scene I made, but I didn't want a group to get killed on my watch. Especially, when they don't even know what's out there.

I made my way to Fudoka and told her I was taking Lion-o and Tygra with me. She nodded and wrote down how many were going to the hunting grounds. I then made my way to a seat at the chef's table and waited on them while triple checking my equipment.

Insect glaive, check.

Potions, check.

Mega potions, check.

Electric trap, check.

Extra trap tool to make a backup, check.

Antidote in case of poisoning, check.

Herbs to make extra potions, check.

Everything seemed good to go. I looked over in time to see the duo accompanying me on the hunt. Lion-o seemed to have dropped by the forge, and got himself some decent armor. He must've gone out with someone else and learned how to mine cause he had some chainmail armor on his chest and legs. Not very decent for defense, but it would do. I look to his brother and found him wearing a pair of leather shoes. No armor on whatsoever, but at least he had a sword and shield like his brother. That would be good.

I nodded at the two to take a seat and payed for our meals. Again, it was a chef special, but we needed every even advantage we could get. I sent Lion-o ahead of me and taught Tygra how to get a windrake before hooking one myself and flying to the campground. I was relieved that Lion-o made it there safely, and this time he wasn't even scuffed! Guess he got a tad bit better on his landings. Too bad his brother had already made an indention in the forest floor.

"All boys, let's get started."

Lion-o pov

I nodded and gently pushed Tygra forward. It wasn't as if Luna would steer us wrong, but I knew my brother was already going to be a handful. I was so glad that the second fleet master had decided to outfit us both with what we needed. My brother with a decent weapon and a carving knife and me with some extra armor. It was even better when he told us he wouldn't charge us this time either.

I walked close behind Luna as she took us out to the field. It still looked as majestic as the first time I saw it. I took a quick glance behind me and smirked at my brothers dropped jaw. "Careful Tygra, you're gonna start catching flies with that mouth." I giggled. He gave me a pout and a glare before pushing past me…only to trip on the drop and land on his face. I started laughing as I dropped down to give him a hand.

While he thanked me, Luna had gone ahead and was already way ahead of us in terms of distance. I didn't see what she was crouching over, but I did see her pull out the carving knife and a container to scrape at the ground. I dragged Tygra over as she got up from her crouch. "Whatcha doing?" I asked peeking at the ground to see a decently large skid mark.

"Gathering tracks. It'll help us track down the monster we need to hunt." Luna stated walking off in the direction towards the woods. We followed her closely and after a few seconds something happened. A bunch of green bugs came out of a little container on her waist and flew to a place on the ground were a large footprint was. Once she reached the footprint the bugs retreated again into the container.

"What are those bugs?" Tygra asked with a curious gaze at the container as a flared a bright green for a second. I was intrigued at their glow.

Luna laughed. "Something I'm still learning to utilize in the field. Their called scoutflies. They have to be introduced to the scents of monsters to memorize them and then lead the hunters to their quarry. At least, that's what I've heard the other hunters say. Since I'm a little knew pardon my uncertainty." Luna explained amusedly. She had her brows quirked like something was just barely keeping her from laugh outright at us.

I nodded to that. It made sense. These guys didn't use technology to the same extent that we and Mumm-ra had, so utilizing the natural animals in what they did best made sense. "Then why didn't you guys make a tracking device. Y'know like a radar or something?" Tygra voiced. Then again it was valid. What was holding them back from doing that?

Luna sighed. She gave a look that made us look like she was insulted. "Humans on this part of the continent did some pretty terrible things from what the elders and the first Wyvernians say. You'd have to ask them though for the details. All I know is that they made a pretty big deal out if like it was really bad back then. Other than that, no one here really does that nor wants to do that. I'm actually surprised that they managed to do this with the scoutflies. I thought I was going to have to chase monster around with a paintball on them that could give out at any time. At least the scoutflies are reliable." Luna said exasperated. She gave us both a look as if challenging us to laugh, and she looked relieved when we didn't.

It didn't take a genius to realize that her turning away and leaving meant the conversation was over. Luna led us around all over the place, but she obviously made good guess of where to go next so the scoutflies could get enough to memorize the scent. Tygra just walked like it was a regular day back in Thundera. I was cautious much like Luna and observed how she worked with the scoutflies. It would be important to learn this if I needed to do this and she wasn't around.

"Why are you paying attention to this? I mean, normally I wouldn't care about you paying attention to stuff like this. But this is weird even for me." Tygra asked while walking next to me upright without a care in the world.

I rolled my eyes. "Dude, this is good information to learn. I know normally I don't pay attention to stuff like this, but these guys have a ton of stuff that we DON'T know. Most of that is different from back home. One, we didn't have giant monsters like they deal with. Two, there is no advanced technology that we're used to dealing with. And three, we have to find the last of the stones for the Sword and Armor of Omens that we can't find with the Book of Omens. So while this is out of character for me, this is important to our immediate survival. I've started making more informed decisions, and while I admit my temper gets the better of me. I really don't want anyone hurt when we know next to nothing about this stuff." I said honestly. I knew that I couldn't do all this on my own. I needed Tygra to be on board with this.

Sadly, it didn't seem like it as he just scoffed and ignored my warnings. I growled under my breath and ignored Tygra. Luna growled under her breath as Tygra kicked dust into some of the tracks. She glared at Tygra before getting a good amount of the scuffmark and then following the trail of scoutflies which had now become significantly longer. The glowing green trail reminded me of the magic that Jaga was capable of doing before his passing and of some of the other species back home. I shook my head and followed as Luna began to leave us behind.

We continued down the trail to where the Jagras were last time when it suddenly turned red and the scoutflies retreated. I got my sword and shield out as Luna quickly took a looked around, and she began to prep for the fight ahead of us. "Uh, is anyone else feeling the weird and ominous atmosphere with the scoutflies gone?" Tygra said aloud. He winced as me and Luna whipped our heads to give him a glare. "What?" Tygra said in a whisper. Luna's response was to point at the field.

The monster was a bright yellow and dark green with a mane of soft looking spikes in variant orange and yellow colors. It was swallowing an Aptonoth whole inflating its stomach and making it look like a balloon. Tygra's response was a face of disgust, but after facing the smaller Jagras I didn't feel so disgusted. More surprised than anything else. Luna started to sneak forward slowly and steadily behind the monster. I took a proactive approach with Tygra following right behind me to an area right in front of the monster, but in the bushes and out of sight. It made sense. Then Tygra had to say, "Charge!" before bolting forward. Luna whipped out and mounted the monster faster than I had seen Cheetara move and began to ride the panicking monster around. I watched her take the carving knife and begin stabbing the monster in a variety of places. Blood was splatting up from its back and was starting to coat Luna herself before taking out her weapon and smashing the blades of the glave on the monsters sides. Luna was then flung off the monster as it tripped and fell onto it's back from the assault, and she was again viciously attacking the monster.

I wasn't idle either. As soon as the monster was down, I started attacking it's stomach. Unlike the smaller Jagras, this monster's skin was tough and while the sword still bit into the monster's skin it wasn't quite as deep as before. Tygra was swinging his sword just like I was, but he wasn't swinging it faster than me and he backed up when the blood from the monster started to splash on him.

"This is disgusting." Tygra complained.

"Less talking, more attacking." Luna grunted as the monster righted itself and she leaped over to slashing again at the monster's back.

I didn't waste any time talking and backpedaled with my shield in front of me as the monster decided to headbutt at me. I grunted from the force of the blow, but I was okay and quickly slashed at the monster's face. Luna then did something strange. She shot something at the monster leaving behind a yellow like mist, and the bug than always adorned her right arm flew and started to attack it. It also left behind smaller dark orange dust where the monster was attacked at.

When three of these dark orange dust clouds were in the air, Luna attacked them while simultaneously taking another swipe at the monster and my eyes widened at the chain reaction. Explosions started to rock the air and slammed even more into the monster and its newly exposed wound. The monster looked around at the three of us and then begun to run in the direction of the meadow. I was ready to chase after it, but was held back abruptly enough to literally fall on my ass. The same happened to Tygra…except he landed on his back.

"Let it go. We can't hit it like we did when it moved areas. We'll move out in a sec and keep it in our sight, but you can't recklessly chase it like that when it's moving areas. Besides, do you want to keep fighting in this tight forest arena or the spacious meadow?" Luna stated determinedly. She squeezed my shoulder gently before moving on to my brother and helping him up.

I got up and started to walk over to her slowly the rapid fighting catching up to me. I walked over to Luna and was very quiet as she got out a book with an unfinished map and laid out a plan in front of us. "We are going to be attacking this thing before letting it go. I want you guys to keep an eye on this thing, and then I want you to let me know the minute this thing starts limping. We're going to catch it." Luna declared in a 'no nonsense' tone.

Tygra snorted. "Shouldn't we just kill it? I mean, it would be easier." Tygra asked mildly annoyed.

Luna sighed. "I understand that. But if we catch this monster then it would provide the research teams more information for hunters to fight against it effectively. This also gives you a chance to study and learn about a monster's behavior and how to watch for when the fight is almost over. Most monsters give physical signs they are close to death's door. Limping is just a step above sleeping. Which means if it limps or sleeps, then we can catch it. Or we can kill it easily. This would certainly be something that you should know if you encounter another monster. It would at least give you the knowledge to know that the fight is almost over." Luna said with a determined tone. It made sense.

I nodded in agreement. It would be good for us to see this in person and know the signs of hunting a larger monster. I figured that would be helpful for when we were searching for the final stone. It definitely made sense with how hard everything seemed here.

"Fine," sighed Tygra reluctantly. It seemed like he didn't want to agree, but did due to how serious everything was getting.

I rolled my eyes and could only hope that this didn't take too long.

Luna pov

5hrs later…

Lion-o's brother was seriously getting on my nerves. I have never felt more tempted to abandon someone to a monster to fight on their own than right now. I glared at the tiger who looked a bit worse for wear. I wasn't sure when he looked like a tired old man. I wasn't sure if it was when he was electrocuted by my electric trap or if it was when the Great Jagras decided to attack him during that electrocution. I had to make a second trap which I made him help with from finding a thunderbug to actually putting the trap together. And I felt like I finally got through to him on how hard this really was.

I had Lion-o and his brother taking care of the smaller Jagras while I faced the Great Jagras. Speaking of which…

"Ggggrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh," the monster in question roared in pain as I slashed at it once again.

I propelled myself back up into the air with my glave and came back down stabbing my blade as deep into the back as it would go before pushing back off again. The Great Jagras hissed at me before anything else and began to run away with an obvious limp. I grinned not at it's pain, but at the fact that I was almost done with my hunt.

"Tygra, trap it now!" I yelled loud enough for a few Jagras to look at me for a moment giving the boys enough time to do what we went over before this.

"On it!" Tygra shouted back running a few meters ahead of the Great Jagras. He set the trap down and pressed it with a quick twist to the side. The prongs on the sides dug into the earth with a clank sound before letting a few sparks of electricity loose. Lion-o finished up with the smaller Jagras and ran to his brother carrying a few little hand held pink bombs.

The Great Jagras ran straight into the trap already starting to twitch from the electricity pulsing in it's veins. I ran towards the boys pulling the my own tranq bombs. Lion-o tossed one to Tygra and together we all threw ours at the Great Jagras's head. For a moment nothing happened, and then the monster let out a great bellow before falling to it's side snoring lightly for the world to know it was no longer awake. I sighed in relief as it slept and decided to be nice enough to Tygra and gave him a thumbs up. The young tiger gave me a nod with a light smile before Lion-o tackled his brother in a hug. It wasn't long before the research commission came and helped us load the sleeping predator into the cart. We oversaw the process and helped them keep it sedated all the way back to Astera.

From there, we each received equal payments for the hard work we did. I watched as the boys came up to me sheepishly.

"You didn't have to share the money. We would've found a way to make some." Tygra said shyly. His cheeks even turned a light pink as he looked down towards his feet.

I giggled. "Unless you kids were planning on helping the chef, you guys weren't going to make much. And I don't take you guys as the kind that wants to take hunters along on all your endeavors. The least I could do is teach you what you should probably be looking forward to." I explained with a smile.

"I feel like now we can take on any monster!" Lion-o shouted joyously.

I grimaced at the declaration as Tygra agreed. "I wouldn't say that boys. That was just a preview. If I had to classify that monster out of the top predators, that guy would be at the bottom. I hate to say it, but you kids would need to up your game if you plan on taking the bigger and tougher monsters. I'll help ya as much as I can, but I can only do so much unless you ask me." I stated calmly. It broke my heart to see their downtrodden faces, but it raised my spirits when they gained a new determined look in their eyes. I smiled greatly as they turned to me with a presence as warm and ominous as fire.

"So what monster do we hunt next?"