"I can't believe it." Cheval said, looking at the paper that katsuki, the sometimes insufferable ball of hunting instincts and energy, was holding in front of his face. The golden eyed, red haired teen seemed to be a mix of incredulous and stunned. "Their letting you go off continent? Are they trying to make an incident?" He muttered, looking at the snaggletooth grin on his rival's face. Rathi, his partner and closest ally, huffed and casually nudged him with her tail. The Rathian always tried to make sure he didn't get himself into awkward situations with his wording, so he immediately backed up. "Your great at hunting and all, but shipping you to an island full of Hunters?"
"Not just me!" Katsuki, the Wild Child of Pondry Hills, announced happily. "This is a summons to all four riders!"
"I still can't believe they counted Debii as a rider." Navirou, Katsuki's partner and resident egg checker, muttered obstinately. "He got his Monstie by jumping on its back and saying it was his!"
"No matter what anyone says about the two of them, Hamshank loves his rider. He just doesn't think Debii is the best commander on a battlefield." Katsuki said, shrugging.
"How do you know all this?" Navirou muttered, before sighing and shaking his head. "No, wait, let meow guess. Ratha told you."
"Nope!" Katsuki said, grinning. "I got that from Hamshank himself!"
"... Why do i even bother." Navirou sighed.
"If we can get back to the conversation?" cheval sighed, looking at them. "All four of us are going?"
"And Lilia!" Katsuki informed him, smile wide. "Captain Simone wants us to have a representative, someone to talk to the people there about us, our habits, and how to avoid tripping over each other!" she said, grinning as she leaned back, enjoying the sun on her face. Most would find Albarax, the city almost dead center of a mountain range that led to not only a volcano, but a desert, unbearably hot. Katsuki just smiled and froliced in the sand with the wild monsters, just like she did in the unbearable cold of Mt. Celion. Most called her a survivalist.
Navirou, her constant partner who had traveled through every temperature imaginable with her, called her insane.
"So, have they agreed to come yet?" Cheval asked, trying to think of how this was going to work. between Avina's Barioth, one of the predators of the icy north, Dabii, with his massive poogie, and himself, with Rathi, they had a snow predator, a plains predator, and a massive thing that no one in their right mind would call prey with how it could send full grown monsters flying. Not to mention Katsuki's menagerie.
"We've been given one of the biggest ships in the harbor, The Zorah's Child." Katsuki said, grinning as Cheval looked at her wide eyed.
The Zorah's Child was one of the guilds best shipping vessels, mostly due to the sheer size of the boat itself. 1181 feet long, and a whopping 154 foot breadth, it could transport more supplies than anything!
"Why are we being given the Elders damn Zorah's Child?!" Cheval hissed, wide eyed.
"My menagerie, a multitude of monster parts and supplies that the four of us have gathered and sold for coin, a cooking area, a live in stable paw, more room for when i inevitably expand said menagerie, rooms for the five of us plus any hunters they send to watch us, an escape vessel for if things go to shit, and all in all general notoriety." Katsuki said, grinning. "If we show up in the Zorah's Child, that means that yes, we did get sent by captain Simone, yes she trusts us enough to send us with it, yes the four of us ran it entirely with the help of our monsters and Felyne, and yes, this is actually happening." Katsuki said, a wicked grin growing on her face as cheval grew paler with every word from her mouth, soon a stark white to his red hair.
"... your insane." Cheval said calmly.
"Nope~ im just excited. I might even get the numbers to come aboard with us!" Katsuki said, smiling at the thoughts of the modified palico that lived in Konapi with Dabii and Avina.
"Oh and that just makes things LOTS better." Cheval grumped. The numbers were a series of six, counting Navirou, genetically modified palico. Each one had their own ability, from elemental manipulation, to enhanced smarts, to being able to put things to sleep, including herself, at a yawn. "Your going to cause a panic the moment you step off the ship, i know it." Cheval moaned, hands to his face. "Please tell me we have some kind of escort?"
"I think Simone is in a mood, because she said we're going by ourselves." Katsuragi said, shrugging, as Cheval groaned harder.
This was going to end in disaster, he just knew it.
(Timeskip, said in words because it refuses to let me use symbols)
Cheval was severely mistaken. it wasn't going to end in disaster.
The disaster started before they even left!
"I'm not the only one seeing this, right?" Dabii whispered, getting shaking heads from the other four humans of the group, the six Felynes having high tailed to behind the supply crates where it was safe while this…. display was going on.
Now normally, Katsuki was one of the kindest people in the world. She spent time with wild monsters, healing the injured and guarding the weak. She spent her times in cities the same ways.
This was not that Katsuki.
"KING! QUEEN! I know you two see this as a honeymoon, and i give literally NO shits! if you try to make a nest on TOP of the boat again i'm going to skin you both! you have a designated stable that's big enough for both of you, MAKE IT THERE!" Katsuki roared, the golden and silver dragons cowering before her. The mated pair sufficiently cowed, katsuki turned on her heel.
"Sleeper!" she called, the Great Baggi standing tall at the immediate address. "The raptor pack is yours to watch, if they get out of line knock them out and drag them back to their stables! if they mess something up its on YOUR head." she growled, getting a wince from the blue scaled raptor as it nodded, moving with its own little pack of Baggi that came with it everywhere it went to go round up the other flightless Bird Wyverns. "Amethyst your on the other side of that coin, if ii see Ruby and Saph take to the air i'm going to shave your mane with a rusty razor!" she growled, making the Yian Garuga rapidly nod as it covered its mane with its wings, trying to hide it. another flash of movement, another quick spin.
"Cipactli." she said calmly, the Deviljho freezing in its tracks at her cold tone. "Do i need to muzzle you? I feel like i need to muzzle you. For the THIRD! AND FINAL! TIME! YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED NEAR OUT SUPPLIES! The stablepaw will feed you, and feed you well. It's even going to be Mittens. You like Mittens, remember? She's the stablepaw that gives you extra portions if you behave. So step back from the supply crates, get back to the Brute Wyverns, and stay there." she growled, hand to her forehead as the dragon began moving back to his group, rubbing her aching head with a thumb and forefinger.
"Yin, Yang, please tell me that Inferno and Blizzard are just fine with their accommodations?" she moaned, getting a pair of happy neighs from her Kirin and Oroshi Kirin, the two Elder Dragons never far part. "Good. Inferno is with the steam engine to keep it going without the need for coal, and Blizzard is nesting at the back of the ship, same as planned, right?" Another pair of neighs. "Good. Keep them where their supposed to be, and make sure they don't' start fighting. The last thing we need is a turf war in the middle of the ocean." she groused, moving to sit on a crate as she watched her Menagerie be moved onto the boat by species type.
"I'm going to need a vacation after this. Which is bad because this IS a vacation, or at least as close as we're ever going to get!" she huffed, shaking her head as she looked at the stunned hunters. "You guy's monsties all loaded up? Frostfang, Rathi, Hamshank, all good?" She asked, getting a trio of hesitant nods as she smiled. "Good! i made sure their stables were near your rooms, just in case anything happened. One, Two, Three, Four, Six, you guys all good?" he asked, looking at the cowering Felyne as they poked their heads out, nodding slowly as she smiled. "Excellent! now i just need to make sure my menagerie gets loaded up and i'll be good!" she said, smiling as she stood, stretching and popping her back before, with an annoyed sigh, walking over to the loading ramp to begin marking the appropriate monsties off the list as they walked in.
"She's like an entirely different person." Avinia muttered, eyes tracking Katsuki nervously. "Do you think she realizes it?"
"I think she's stressed to hell about making sure their all ok on the ship." Dabii aid back, watching her actually grab her Raijang's tail, he thought it was named Thunderhead? Anyways, Katsuki grabbed its tail and DRAGGED it over to her other Fanged Beasts to begin lecturing them about behavior on the seas, earning several nodding creatures as she smiled, patting them on their heads before moving to help her herbivores onto the ship, slowly helping the skittish creatures inside as she smiled at them, assuring them that no, they weren't going to be food for these other monsters, they had rations for that, and fish besides. "I can't understand how she, well, understands them. I can get general emotions from Hamshank now, but she flat out understands them."
"It's because she's soulbound to Ratha." Cheval said, nodding over to the Rathalos that was currently making sure the other flying wyverns didn't get uppity as he led them inside, watching each carefully as they walked into their designated dens. "The rest of us are bound to our monsters, but hers is deeper. Stronger. Their two halves of a whole, and that means some things travel over. She can understand monster body language, and he can understand speech as well as any elder dragon."
"So, a smart Rathalos and his energetic Rider go to the new world. Sounds like a Canteen joke." Alvinia muttered, getting confused looks from the other two. "Just because i come from rich blood doesn't mean i don't know things about the rest of the world. the Canteen is where Hunters gather to eat, drink, and share stories." she explained, getting slow nods from the other two. they didn't have one in Gildergarm, so they didn't really know.
"Alright guys, Humans and Felynes next!" Katsuki called, getting everyone's attention as they turned to see her waving them in, Thunderhead and the rest of the Fanged Beasts helping the dockworkers load the many, MANY crates they were taking with them to the new world.
"Felynes first!" Dabii said instantly, getting looks from Navirou and the other Felyne.
"Right!" Katsuki said, grinning at them. "Out of the six of you, Navirou is bunking with me, meaning you can choose to be together or apart." she explained, making the group of Felynes blink before starting to talk amongst themselves.
"While their sorting that, Dabii!" she called, the rotund boy flinching as she looked at him. "Your room is next to Hamshank's in the Konopi Island section, where the tropical monsters will be residing. it feels just like Konopi Village in terms of temperature so you should be used to it. Eye Eye will take you there when he's done helping the others load." She said, pointing to the Ketcha Watcha with a grin as Dabii sighed, nodding. "Next, Avinia!" she said, grinning. "Your room is about two doors down from Frostfang's, as his is in the snowplains section. As it's colder than normal there and you've been living on an island for a few months, i moved you a bit away as to make sure you could adjust before moving closer to him." She said, getting a grateful nod from her. "Cheval, Rathi is in the Konopi Island section like Hamshank for the sole reason it's like a warmer Monsoon Plains, her home territory, and she's been living in a desert with you meaning she's used to the het, though i did give her a bathing pool to help her moisten her scales up again." She mused, looking at Cheval as he winced.
"I tried to give her oil rubs once a week, it's hard to get out in Alberax." He muttered.
"And she appreciates it, but sometimes water is better." Katsuki said, grinning as she waved them onto the Zorah's Child, letting them move towards the ship as she spoke to the genetically altered Felynes to hear their answers, directing them to where they would be sleeping soon after.
And like that, their journey began.