Monstie Mixups
alright everyone, as traveling chapters are boring and tend to take too long, I'm instead offering the first interlude, Monstie Mixups! Basically these little side stories are to help you get to know the monsters better, for their personalities, to their elements, to their general likes and dislikes.
Honey Hoarding
"so," Baloo said, leaning back on the ship's bar, watching the canteen with impassive eyes as he held his mug, a barrel about the size of a felyne, in one paw, the sloshing honey mead inside tickling his nose. "We have a problem. There's not enough honey on this tub for all of us, at least not if we want to have a good time AND have it last to the new world." the Azuros muttered, looking at his fellow drinkers. Despite being one of the weakest, he was also one of Katsuki's first monsters, making him a source of wisdom for the ones who came after. "Any suggestions on what to do?"
"Well," Bluefin, the Cephadrome leader, started. "There's only a few of us that have the craving, thanks to our Honey Power gene. Maybe keep it just to us? I get we need to save some for Boss, Mega Potions are important after all, and taste good besides." he stated, getting grunts of agreement from the other patrons at the bar. He paused, taking a sip of honey mead from the bowl Baloo had gotten for him, before continuing. "Set a barrel or two aside, make sure that we have enough for emergency crafting, and horde the others away like a Yian Guarga?"
"Don't let Amethyst hear you say that," Kitten muttered, the Nargakuga lapping from her own bowl. "Stereotype or not, we're never going to hear the end of it if she starts screaming at us."
"Your right we won't," Ares, the magma tigrex, chuffed. "Because we'll be driven deaf by her screeches before she's done!" he grinned, sharp teeth glinting in the light as he clicked his bowl with Baloo's mug, a chuckle on the bear's lips.
"Fair enough," Bluefin nodded. "Stereotypes aside, I think my idea is the best we're going to get here. the only question is which of us is going to be the one hiding it."
"Not it," Baloo muttered, shaking his head. "When you're looking for honey, everyone always looks at the Arzuros."
"Well I can't keep it in my den, the others will get it." Bluefin shot back, making the others nod. despite being the only Cephadrome with honey power of his pack, the others were notorious snoopers.
"My den is too hot." Ares muttered. "It would boil away."
"I guess that leaves it to me." Kitten sighed, shaking her head. "Oh Emerald is never going to let me hear the end of this if it gets out." she muttered, taking her bowl in a claw before downing the Honey Mead in a single go, leaving the bowl on the counter as she stalked off, her shape dimming too be almost invisible in the dim lighting of the ship as her Stealth skill activated.
"... Do you think we should have brought some hives to keep this from happening?" Ares muttered, looking at Baloo.
"Nah," Baloo grinned, wiping his face with the back of his paw. "Then Katsuki would have asked me to bring my horde of beekeeping boxes onboard! If I did that, how could I have hidden them in my room?" he asked, startling his other two drinking friends into spontaneous laughter as Baloo grinned, leaning back as he drained his mug before walking over to the barrel for a refill.
Pest Control
"Why do I have to have a flea bath? This is humiliating!" Bolt whined, the massive Ziongre sitting in a pool of electrically charged water as Thunderhead watched carefully, eyes narrowing.
"You brought Thunderbugs on the ship. the summarily invaded every electrical monster's dens and buried themselves in our fur, scales, or feathers." The Raijaing said casually, meaty arms crossed as he leaned against a nearby wall, horns scraping the ceiling. "Moby and Leviathan both wanted to rip you apart for that. Their scales have been itching since we left port and no amount of bathing would get them out. it took getting sandblasted by the Sand Rangers," he muttered, face turning to distaste at the group name the Cephadromes, besides the sane and suffering Bluefin, had named themselves. "to get them all out. They were more humiliated and uncomfortable then you are now. We're also checking Draco for the same thing, to make sure he didn't bring any Dracobugs with him."
"That… makes me feel a little better." Bolt muttered, sighing as the water moved over his sides, the freezing liquid making him shiver as his Thunderbugs all but exploded, the salt water from the ocean taking all of their charge and spreading it out, leaving them chargeless and dead as they fell into the water. "I just wish it wasn't so cold!"
"Oh, that was thanks to the Khezu. Vamp was especially unhappy with you, so he asked Iceburg to get the water for the bath." Thunderhead said calmly, earning a yelp from Bolt.
"The Zamitros?! No wonder im freezing my fur off in here!" He barked, fangs bared in anger.
"None of that." Thunderhead said, looking at the fanged wyvern who sighed. "until you get more members you and Drago are under my command. you know the rules."
"Yeah yeah, unless you have three members of your genus in the menagerie permanently, you fall under the most alike creatures in the hierarchy." Bold muttered. "Hopefully she gets some new fanged wyverns in the new world."
"We can only hope." Thunderhead nodded, just as tired of being in charge of the dragon as he was being under his rule.
"So, is anyone going to do anything about the fucking packs?" Bolt asked, referring to the Raptor Bird Wyvern's packs of their lesser species, which they kept around to hunt for supplies for them whenever they went out. While on the boat, this amounted to the smaller, stupider raptors getting into trouble as the big ones tried to wrangle them in.
"There is no exterminating those pests, unfortunately." Thunderhead sighed. "Just grin and bear it, and hope their dumb enough to snatch scraps from Cipactli." the Rajang uttered, smirking as bolt let out a bark of laughter.
"We can only hope."
Hunting for sport and fun
slowly, ever so slowly the hunter stalks his prey. gently moving over the soft snow, making sure to never let a peep out of his body as he approached closer and closer to his chosen meal. The large prey beast was ignorant of his approach, casually grazing on the frozen stipp plants as he prepared himself, tensing his muscles before he lunged, roaring out of the bushes as his target turned, panic in its eye-
Chaser's internal monologue cut itself off as, with a roar of anger and annoyance, his 'prey' flipped high into the air with a pair of electrically charged tusks, the Tigrex screaming in pain as Wooly, the electric element popo, huffed and turned back around, continuing his grazing as the observers, a pair of Khezu, laughed uproariously.
"Nearly had him this time Chaser!" the Crimson Khezu, Vamp, laughed uproariously. "at least until he slammed his horns into your gut, again!"
"Stuff it you leeches." Chaser muttered, pulling his head from the snowbank he had landed in. "I am a ferocious hunter damnit!"
"Not ferocious enough to deal with a Popo apparently!" the normal Khezu, Wraith, cackled. "Isn't that supposed to be your species' thing, man?"
"I swear I will clamber up that wall and beat both of your skulls in!" chaser growled, anger filling hsi veins as he began circling under them in the snow, a predatory grace and anger letting him move almost as smoothly as a nargacuga. "And don't think i won't either!"
"Well we don't need to worry about that then!" Vamp said, smirking. "All it takes is one good shock to send you flying!"
As the crimson leech laughed, Chaser noticed something behind them, smirking as he saw a flicker of fire.
"Well, I don't really have to do anything." he mused, catching both of their attentions as they looked at him.
"What are you talking about." wraith scoffed. "Not even you can throw a stone from down there up here."
"No, i just have to distract the two of you from the fact your sitting on Harley's feeding trough." Chaser said, amused, as both Khezu froze and slowly turned their heads to look behind them.
There, a Bullfango grunted, her eyes alight with flame as fire licked her tusks, her body already in charging position as both of the terrifying dragons screamed like little girls, wrapping each other in their wing arms as she charged, a blast of fire impacting both of them like a missile as they were sent flying into a distant snowbank, leaving Chaser cackling from where he had watched as Harley simply settled in and began digging for her truffles and grubs.
Mittens Mysteries
Many things could be called mysterious on the Zhora's child as of late. Why the honey had disappeared their third day at sea, making Katsuki all but pull her hair out at the resource vanishing as she crafted a supersize mega potion after a Lagiacrus attack, easily routed, that had injured more monsters then she had potions for. Kitten had fessed up to it later, with Balloo backing her. they hadn't thought such an old monster would attack them and had taken it for themselves. Another one was the smaller bird wyverns nearly getting themselves eaten after someone had told them Cipactli had been willing to share with them, the dumb things almost going through with it before their wiser counterparts reeled them in. A particularly curious one had the Khezu brothers with scorched tails so bad they couldn't hang upside down for a week, and Chaser laughing at them every time. but no, none of these were the true mystery.
The real mystery was how the stable paw, Mittens, had not died yet.
It was true rider monsters were more gentle and thoughtful then their wild counterparts, as shown by the multiple species getting along in at least semi-harmony on the ship, but a Feyline being able to maneuver around the ship, talk down to incredibly strong monsters, and come out on top? it was almost unheard of.
"Cipactli," mittens said, paws on her hips as she LOOKED at the deviljho, making the hungry monster whine at her. "one serving is enough. I made sure it was packed with everything you need for a day, and even made it tasty. Don't test me on this." she said, a paw waving at his nose as he huffed, pouting. "now, back to your room. you have breathing exercises to work through." she said, smiling as the massive pickle wandered off down the hall towards his room, sighing as he left her vision. "there's one problem child dealt with. now to check on the other two." she muttered.
Mittens loved her job, seeing the different side to these creatures astounded her, and made her grateful for the chance to go to the New World with them. But sometimes, like now, she got exhausted with it. She was currently taking care of three problem children. Cipactli, who she had already dealt with, Inferno, her most temperamental charge, and Blizzard. her most stubborn. With another sigh she went through the ship, passing monsters multiple times her size with a smile and cheerful greeting that they ended to wave to, some bowing their heads and others just smiling at her even as she made her way to the hottest part of the ship. it was made to simulate a volcano, without the lava flows thankfully. it was hot enough that she was sweating within seconds, but it ultimately helped keep the ship running.
The monsters that lived here needed the heat to thrive, and the fact dead center of it was the boiler room severely cut down the need for coal to turn the ship's steam engine. all it needed was fresh seawater, which was poured in every morning from the lagiacrus feeding with barrels on their backs, and the steam would then rush through the engine, giving them a few hours worth of movement before the next monster feeding/ Cipactli, surprisingly, swam just as well as the leviathans in its hunt for food, and the extra barrels it filled tended to last them through the night.
And, no matter the time of day, her charge could be found here either pacing or sulking.
"Inferno?" she meowed, walking into the room as she looked at the sight of her charge and sighed.
Inferno was a large-for-his-species Teostra, a master of fire and blastblight that had no eaquel besides their mates, the mysterious Lunastra. So mysterious in fact, that Inferno was never able to find one on the island that wasn't taken out outside of his age group. Being hatched out of season by Katsuki didn't help that, but he didn't blame her for it. His life partner just wasn't there. His size, while proof of his power, made him a bit of an outcast for his strength. The fact he smelled of human hadn't helped at all. In time, it had just seemed like he wouldn't get a mate unless Katsuki found a Lunastra egg.
Which did not appear anywhere she looked.
Now thoroughly depressed, Inferno had resigned himself to spending his life alone. This trip was his last hope. If Katsuki couldn't find a Lunastra egg then he would entirely give up hope and probably refuse to eat. Nobody wanted that, not even the big cat's self proclaimed rival Blizzard. Unfortunately Inferno was a prideful beast, and any attempt by anyone not mittens to get closer to him to care for him was met with fire and anger. That left it as her duty to feed him and make sure he ate. and that was what she was here to do.
Looking at his dinner plate, she scowled. "Inferno, thats barely halfway finished. if your going to start eating at least have the decency to finish it." she said, looking at the Elder Dragon as he huffed and turned his head, ignoring her completely as she scowled. "Inferno. you know it's for your own good. Either you eat or i have to force feed you again." she said, pointing a claw at the big cat dragon who growled, but relented, moving to his plate of spiced meats to finish his meal as she nodded. Good. now for the hard part. "We're still a few weeks from landfall, meaning you won't be out to explore the skies after another two." she said, getting a groan from him as she shook her own head. "All monsters are recalled inside the ship until introduction can be made before we make port. if they see dragons flying around and landing they'll think we're under attack and come armed to bare." she said, getting another long suffering groan from the Elder as she sighed. "I know you don't really care about humans but Katsuki thinks its important." she said, earning a huff before he turned his tail, flicking it at her as a sign to leave as she nodded, giving him a farewell as she began moving towards the most northward part of the ship.
Soon, she found herself at the bow of the ship, her fur fluffing as she felt herself shiver in the cold, looking at the cave in the ice she was going to enter with a shake of her head as she slipped inside, her last charge putting on a great show of annoyance as winds whipped past her at high speed.
Blizzard, a Kushala Daora, was isolationist by nature. He didn't enjoy anyone coming to his territory besides Katsuki, and he to;;erated Mittens. He let her know just how much tolerance he had for her a day by the strength of his winds.
Today it was a gust that made her fur go strait behind her and barely made her feet move. A weak wind. He was having a good day.
"Blizzard!" she called, watching his head look at her as she noticed his plate picked clean. good. "I'm glad to see your well! Katsuki told me to tell you to get any flying done in two weeks before packing it in! we have a lot of hunters in the town we're going to, and more than a few have killed elder dragons before. don't get them worked into a fight.`` she said, hands on her hips as her charge grunted, relenting as she continued looking. with a smile, her paws left her hips. "Good! i'l be sure to tell her your cooperating. I have to say your the best behaved of my three charges." she said, smiling widely as he puffed up in pride, the cold dragon enjoying her praise just a bit before she walked out of the cave, a sigh of relief on her lips.
"Three for three. not to go make sure Capactil has been meditating." She said, smiling a bit to herself.
A Stablepaw's work was never done.