As Ratha took to the skies, Katsuki's grin widened, steering her partner towards the front gate around the city. She knew that no matter how accepted they were, monsters flying over the city started survival instinct in any true hunter. it never ended well, bringing monsters through the streets of a city that wasn't her home. Konopi Felynes normally scrambled to run, and anywhere NOT Alberax tended to get up in arms at the first sight of a monster, at least until they saw her. Alberax just kindly asked her not to, especially as they eyed Tyrant. The city had history with Diabolos, she knew, so she didn''t blame them.
Shaking her head, she turned her thought process back to their current job, being joined in the air by Cheval and Avinia, the trio swooping low so that they could meet Daabi as he rushed out the front gates, Hamshank pawing the ground as they stopped, nose sniffing the ground even as Daabi's eyes watched the skies and the trees.
"All right everyone, job duty." Katsuki said, looking at the group. "Cheval, treetops. Rathalos may be king of the skies but their maneuverability is outmatched by a Rathian. Avinia, the trees. Barioth tend to leap around cliffs and stone, trees this big aren't that different." she listed, wincing as she turned to look at Daabi. "Daabi…"
"I know, I know, monster bait." Daabi said, waving his hand as Katsuki winced harder. "Most monsters don't know what a Great Poogie is, or how fast it can move. they'll chase me, not any hunters they have in their sights. I lead them on for a bit then we book it. same as every SnR mission we've done."
"Im sorry," Katsuki started, Daabi shaking his head as he held up his hand.
"No apologies. We all have our jobs. You have one I wouldn't want at all, flying over open areas. Lots of chances for you to get knocked out of the skies. The rest of us can at least find hiding places." Daabi said, the other two nodding and looking at Katsuki who just smiled weakly.
"You know not to worry. Just feel sorry for any monster that tries to outmatch Ratha in combat." Katsuki said, Cheval just chuckling and shaking his head as he patted Rathi's head.
"We can remember that much." he said, earning a wince from Avinia and Daabi.
"Right." Katsuki said, shaking her head. "Wasting daylight people, remember, rider rule 1." she said, the rest of the joining in. "Take what you need, nothing more."
"We get this every mission." Daabi said, smirking. "It's why I don't just rip through the monsters chasing Hamshank and me. Life is precious, so you only hunt what you need, nothing more, nothing less." He lectured, in a passable mimic of Lilia's own lecturing tone of voice as the others grinned like the young adults they were, before Avinia shook her head has snapped her fingers, gathering their attention.
"Right. That's enough talking." Avinia said, Frostfang taking to the air. "We come back here in three hours, bringing any we find with us. after that, the sun starts going down. Rule 5." She said, looking pointedly at Katsuki who pouted.
"Never Stay in the Unknown overnight." the others said, Katsuki a bit saddened, the other two nodding sagely.
"Once we explore more, we can stay out later. but we don't stay out after dark just in case this place has anything like the stronger monsters of the harsher lands." Cheval said, Katsuki looking at him with narrowed eyes.
"I do it one time," Katsuki muttered. "and you guys never let me live it down. It's not like I actively seek danger, it just finds me."
"Says the girl known for finding eggs no one else has even hatched before. Which included you diving into lava with an experimental suit, and doing the same with a pool of almost frozen water." Cheval said, making Katsuki blush. "Just as long as you didn't bring anything worse than Ratha, you shouldn't get too much attention."
"I have Ares for emergencies." Katsuki muttered, tapping her fingers together as the others looked at her, incredulous.
"And just like that, im avoiding the plains like the plague." Cheval said, taking to the air. "at least it wasn't Magma or Frostbite."
"Don't joke, I would rather NOT deal with those beasts." Avidia shot back, taking towards the trees as Daabi, realizing he was alone and in Ares range, slapped Hamshank on the back as it took off with a squeal like strained rubber, taking off into the forest as Katsuki pouted.
"Their not that bad." she muttered, leaping onto Ratha's back as they took to the air. "their just… Collateral Damage challenged."
"Those two couldnt fight an Apanoth without setting a field on fire, or freezing it." Navirou muttered, earning a grunt of agreement from Ratha as Katsuki pouted harder.
"I'll have you know they've gotten much better!" Katsuki proclaimed, even as she watched the ground pass below them. "Now they only destroy the area around their target instead of the general area." she said, looking down as she noticed odd hard headed creatures below her. "hey, what do you think those are?"
"Smell like Herbivores to meow." Navirou said, taking a whiff. "Males and Females… built bulky, but they would be rideable… maybe…. though from the looks of it, I don't think they would work with a saddle. Might be a good idea to grab an egg later? When we're not on a rescue operation?" the cat muttered, before taking another wiff. "Eyes up! I smell bile and rotting meat."
"A Deviljho? Here?!" Katsuki asked, wide eyed. "Did Capictil follow us?"
"No, and it doesn't have the same stench as a Deviljho. It just has the same type meaning its a messy eater." The Felyne muttered, looking down just in time to go stiff, whiskers out. "And i just found it." he said, voice shaking a bit as Katsuki looked down, body almost siezing in shock.
It was bright yellow, with stripes across its body and a blue stomach, dreadlocks falling round its head as it swallowed an Apanoth whole, jaw stretched wide as it swallowed up its prey.
"What in the world….." Katsuki muttered, feeling Ratha tense under her. "No, never mind. Send up a yellow flare, but keep moving. It'll keep Daabi out of here." she muttered, as Navirou took the flare gun from Ratha's saddle, firing a yellow flare in the air that the other Riders would see. Yellow meant 'Air Only', meaning there was something on the ground dangerous or to be avoided. Daabi had already said he would avoid the plains, but this…. if it thought it could get a Great Poogie down, it would be dangerous. Of course, Hamshank would trample it if it tried, but it could still be more dangerous for ground bound monsters then airbound.
"Making a note of it." Navirou muttered, bringing out a book as he opened a new entry, a blank page, where he began sketching an image of the beast in it as well as what it did. "Probably has monster sense, meaning it would replace Balloo for training purposes. What do you think the other would be?"
"You know I don't like trying to estimate what the ability is. it could be an entirely new one for all we know." Katsuragi said, before pausing as she saw the engorged being waddle off, shaking her head at the ridiculousness. "What is that things metabolism if that's what it eats when it's hungry?" She muttered, continuing her flight as she watched the ground. "I don't even want to think what would happen if it weren't for the Felyne around." she scowled, motioning with a hand to the cat-like beings hiding and watching, some with spears and bows, but others who looked like they belonged with the Commission.
"Good eye, pawtner. didn't even see them." Navirou said, looking at the ground before pausing. "Look, it's another of those big yellow things!" He said, motioning to one that was charging… a human?!
"Oh dung! Dive Ratha, Dive!" she ordered, Ratha immediately flipping around to start descending beak first, streamlining themselves as they dove.
Only to notice a bright Red smoke trail heading right towards the charging monster.
Red smoke, 'Hostile Monster, Fleeing.'
Right as she noticed that, Daabi appeared, snatching the woman from the side of the path and continuing towards the front gate, Hamshank squealing like it was possessed as a Brute Wyvern rushed from the foliage, snatching up the yellow creature and starting to throw it around like a ragdoll.
"Holy mother of- climb Ratha! Climb!" Katsuki said, eyes wide as Ratha began rapidly gaining air, Katsuki watching behind them as she noticed another person watching the fight, trying to find an opening to get into Asteria. "Dung dung dung dung!" she growed, whipping Ratha around to aim at the massive monster brawl. "Boot to the head!" she ordered, Ratha immediately starting to dive as the person made their move, diving under the sweeping tail for the door and locking it behind them.
Right as Ratha impacted the Brute's head, blasting it onto its side as it's thoroughly thrashed prey scrambled away, Ratha immediately moving back towards the sky as the hit and run maneuver ended.
"Come on then!" Katsuki roared, the staggered creature looking up to see her and Ratha in the air, eyes narrowing as it coiled to leap. "Let's see how strong you ar- DUNG!" she roared, panic in her voice as Ratha performed an aerial maneuver, dodging to the side as the Brute launched itself a good two stories into the air, just missing its bite as it roared in anger. "Got some legs on you, don't cha?" she called, grinning as it started chasing after them. "Lets see how long until we can wear you out! Ratha, evasive maneuvers!" she ordered, Ratha immediately starting to strafe and spin as they continued out over the plains, pulling into a nearby tree to break line of sight before blasting out the other side, the two ignoring how the Brute blasted through said tree like it was kept together by sap alone.
"This isn't gonna work, pawtner!" Navirou said, looking down before screaming as Rahta dodged another leap, his time nearly losing his whiskers as fire shot from the Brute's nose. "It knows the area better. and we can't dodge all its attacks! Ratha would get too tired!"
"Well, what do you suggest!" Katsuki shot back, eyes darting around before she saw something. "Is that the yellow lizard? Did we ever decide what type it was?"
"Could be a Leviathan with that body type, but it seems unlikel- DON'T DISTRACT ME!" Navirou almost screamed, looking back just in time to see the Brute with wings spreading from its hips. "It seems like cat and meowse is over! Its prepping for this next jump!"
"Is that…? Ratha, Dive!" she ordered, pointing to a hole where the yellow monster had just dug its way into, the stones around it in a circle marking it as, even if hidden, a Den. "It can't follow us in there, its too big!"
"I don't think it needs to, it breathes fire!" Navirou shot back.
"It's a Den, Navirou!" Katsuki said, grinning as hope entered the felynes eyes. Monsters seemed to have a co-habilitation agreement with Dens, albeit with a few rules. Inside, fighting amongst wild monsters was not only forbidden, but punished. and if a monster with murder in its mind tried to enter….
"HURRY UP RATHA!" Navirou almost shouted, the wyvern immediately diving towards the now forming doorway even as the Brute lunged, passing right through the door just as it hit.
and stopped.
Navirou noted that it had just enough time to go wide eyed in instinctual terror before finding itself LAUNCHED backwards into a nearby tree and going THROUGH it, ending up on its side and groaning before they turned a corner, and they found themselves in a deep, lush jungle.
"Yup, definitely a Den." Kasuki said, ginning as she got off Ratha's back, popping her arms and flexing her fingers after the long flight.
The Rider Manual noted that Dens tended to be copycats, of sorts. They took copies of areas nearby, and filled themselves with what would be most natural for the Den's first maker, followed by generating eggs for the most likely creatures from said general area. That was why, in the areas around Gildergarm, the Dens seemed so…. disjointed. It could choose from two different areas what would be there, and tried to make it as best it could for the digger.
This, was something else. a Den made for a fleeing monster. A Personal Den. Whatever this odd yellow dragon was, this place was made for it, and it would have eggs of its species for it to guard. Noone knew why this was, perhaps it was to make them want to stay, perhaps it was to ensure the species lived on even if the injured one was to pass.
Either way, Riders had found out about these phenomenon, and had been exploiting them ever since.
"Allright, Ratha. head up, body low. We dont know whats in here, so we need to be prepared for anything." Katsuki muttered, starting forward towards the open pathways nearby, looking over the area for anything that might be good looting.
"Katsuki, we have a job!" Navirou muttered to her. "We can't waste time Den crawling!"
"It's not like we can go out there with the Brute breathing down our necks. We'll explore the Den waiting for it to leave, and once its gone so are we." she said, looking at Navirou as he sighed, nodding.
"Fine, but nothing too risky!" the Felyne shot back, getting a nod from Katsuki as they crept deeper into the depths.
The Den itself was impressive, even if it was a smaller than normal one. In a few moments Katsuki had scouted it out.
"Right," she muttered, making notes. "Something that looked like Banabras the manual identified as Vespoid." she muttered, kicking one of the semi-crushed bug carapaces as she finished harvesting from it, twirling her knife before putting it on her belt. "About three of them, with a small amount of parts because Ratha got too excited and blew one up." she muttered, looking at the sheepish Wyvern before sighing, looking over the main body of the nest.
It was beautiful, even if a bit different from normal. Massive trees spanned the entire room, their stumps taking up the ceiling and their roots reaching out like a mangrove in the rich, brown spil. Pools of rainwater gathered under them, making small puddles that had green, soft to the touch moss growing over the entire floor like grass. Empty hornet-like nests hung in a few places under said roots, the nests that the Den had copied into existence based off what it had found when finding this place. An underground forest, just as impressive as the aboveground for the sheer complexity of its path.
"There is also an odd poogie-like monster im considering slaughtering, as i could use some raw meat for grilling and it seems to collect mushrooms." Katsuragi continued narrating, ng as she wrote. It was a bad habit, one she had gotten into around the children of Alberax as they asked her for stories of her latest adventure. Ever since she got into the habit, almost every note was spoken aloud, even ones that probably shouldn't have been. He didn't know who was more mortified about her absentmindedly talking about when she had found a pair of diabolos mating in the sands, Him, Ratha, or the patents hearing her talk about it with children nearby. It certainly wasn't Katsuki, who just shelved it with her other memories and shrugged, claiming seeing it had been enlightening, if not a bit odd that they were doing it aboveground.
"Don't slaughter the pig, Katsuki." Navirou said, sighing. "It might find us some better mushrooms around here."
"But then where would i get the meat?" Katsuki asked looking up from her book as navirou sighed.
"Apanoth outside, Katsuki." he muttered, making her nod and smile as she remembered cooking it up under the open sky during their first days of freedom.
"Fair point, the pig lives for another day." Katsuki said, writing down their conversation before snapping the book closed, pocketing it, and striding towards the Nest room with purpose, making Navirou hiss.
"Katsuki!" he grunted. "We should go now!"
"It hasn't been nearly enough time for the Brute to have lost interest." Katsuragi said, casually reaching into her bag to pull out her trusty Princess Rapier, the Rathian weapon tracing a line of purple through the air as she gave it a test swing before equipping her shield to her left arm, opposite of her Kinship Stone.
"You planned this." Navirou accused. "You were going to go into this nest and get an egg even if that Brute hadn't been on our tail."
"it was a valid excuse." Katsuki neither confirmed nor denied as Ratha followed along right behind her, eyes sharpening at the idea of a fight as his rider started to show her true colors.
Navirou sighed, knowing that posture, knowing even better that look in Katsuki's eyes. His pawtner was an actor, an incredible one at that. While she had more than a few truths in how she acted, like her care of her monsters and allies, and even her love of egg hunting, her carefree childish act was just that.
An act.
Not many ever got to see this side of her, besides her monsters and Navirou himself, but he knew better than to try and talk her out of the fight now.
"Come on, Ratha," Katsuki said, a savage look in her eyes as her face twisted into a sickening grin, licking one of the thorns of her sword in a state of almost bliss. "Why don't we introduce the New World, to the true Wild Child." she purred, eyes sharpening as she spied their prey.
The yellow lizard, passed out and covered in fang scars from its encounter with the Brute.
"Hmm… it's going to be hard to salvage that skin. all of the fang marks are going to make it almost unusable." Katsuki pouted, looking at the nest as she blinked. Thunderbolts, sliding down the sides in multiple different colors, all on a backdrop of different shades of yellow. "Fanged Wyvern? My my, it looks like Bolt and Draco can finally have their own group." Katsuki purred, sharp eyes moving back to her prey as she slowly took a rock from her pouch, a wicked grin crossing her face as she threw it as hard as she could, smacking the sleeping creature in the eyelid as it sat up with a roar, looking around for its assaulter and spotting them almost instantly, rushing towards them with speed Katsuki normally wouldn't have expected, if she didn't know it was a Fanged.
"Fanged," Lilia lectured in her mind, even as she dodged to the side, eyes tracking the lizard as it all but slammed into the wall of the Den. "Are wyverns built to run across the ground. When angered, their some of the fastest wyverns, almost as fast as a Tigrex at full run. They enjoy using their speed to their advantage, but they tend to have tricks up their sleeves. Watch out for unexpected angles of attack."
"Elders, Lilia lectures me so much that she's in my head now." Katsuki said, wide grin still on her face as she lunged at the recovering Fanged, her sword piercing its hide as she traced a line along its side, trying to get as much contact with its noxious thorns as possible, even as she leapt away for Ratha to charge in and slam into the wyvern like a truck, sending it skidding across the Den clearing. "Right, it attacked with speed first. if it attacks like that again we can assume that its speed focused, that'll let us dance around it." Katsuki muttered, watching the wyvern right itself and glare at the, casually checking her kinship stone to see about half of it lit up. "Ratha, i'm going to order a Thousand Blades." she muttered, slipping into a technical stance as the monster ran forward, jaws agape as Ratha rushed to meet it, scales taking a dull yellow sheen for a few moments before he lept over its head and slashed at its back, multiple cuts appearing over its spine as it roared in pain right before Katsuki slammed her shield into its face, snapping its jaws shut painfully.
"Yup, your a speed based little shit." Katsuki said, smirking as she leapt back, Ratha flying over next to her as they entered their ready stances, her eyes narrowing as she saw its focus wasn't on… either of them? "Right, no orders, do what you will." she muttered, Ratha instantly starting to limber himself up and shake out, getting into an Evasive Stance as she rushed forward, jumping over the Fanged to make a slice at its back as she landed on its other side, watching in a mix of fascination and a bit of disgust as it snapped up a few plants and rocks, actually filling its stomach with indigestible debris in order to make itself bigger, its stomach expanding like when the first one had eaten that Aptonoth.
"What in the world?" she muttered, moving in for another overhead strike before she came face to skill with the back of its head, being sent skidding back as Ratha launched a Fireball at its face, making the Fanged groan in pain and anger. "Augh, sonnova-! you cut down your own speed in order to make yourself a harder hitter?!" she muttered, grabbing her bloody nose and making sure it wasn't broken even as she bounced backwards, looking at her kinship stone as she noticed the glow was about three fourths full. "Right. no more fucking around then." She muttered, grinning as she stood, back straight and eyes sharp as she rolled her neck. Time to kick it up.
"COME ON THEN!" she roared, slamming her rapier's hilt into her shield once, twice, thrice! the echoing sound of scale on metal resounding through the room like a hammer on stone as the monster's attention locked onto her, ignoring her partner for the moment as she settled into a ready stance, eyes locked on its as it began rushing forward, jaws gaping wide.
A powerful strike.
easy pickings.
In a flash, she moved to the side, abandoning her guard in order to stand right next to its lunging position, rapier dragging a line across its side as she counterattacked, letting its own momentum dig her sword in as she saw the blood in the wound tinge purple. With a smirk she leapt back, watching as its eyes began to glow. Enraged.
In an instant, its swollen stomach contracted, sending a ball of half digested... material flying at her as she put up her shield. With a grunt of effort, she took the impact and skidded back, gagging as a fireball lanced into her attacker's side as she glared at its once again thin form. Flexing her shield arm, she winced. Not broken, but she would definitely be feeling it for the rest of the day.
"So…" Katsuki purred, her grin coming back in full force. "you change between speed and power at the flip of a switch, and with how tough it was to pierce your scales when you were inflated like that," she mused, putting all her power into her legs as she jumped over the speeding bullet that was the Fanged rushing at her, making a full body slash at its spine as she rolled down its tail before landing on her feet and turning to face her opponent. "you have slashing resistance there, and blunt resistance here. you don't have poison resistance though, or noxious poison either!" Katsuki said, her wild smile showing her pure joy in the fight as her kinship stone glowed brightly. It was time. "Well then, lets see how you do against fire." she smirked, taking a running leap and landing on Ratha's back as the dragon all but read her mind, sweeping under her leaping form so as they stood as one, their minds in sync as three eyes locked onto their prey, their target.
They couldn't hurt it too much, no no. they didn't want to damage the skin any more than it already had been. they should aim for the skull. Knock it around a few times, make it harder to think.
Knock it to the ground, then swoop in from above.
With a twin smile, the two lunged, their movements in sync as the Fanged took a lunge at them, slipping to the side as their bladed tail and sword dug across its skin, leaving spines and poison as they saw their stone glow brighter.
Of course, this didn't matter as much to them as their opponent's stumble to the ground, their combined attacking force knocking it on its side as they grinned wide, sharp teeth filling two hellish smiles as the stone on their wrist clicked.
In an instant the Den had shifted, a mirror of the open sky appearing as they took to the air, blasting across the ground like a missile before turning at a perfect 90 degrees, blowing a hole through the cloud bank as they flipped over, lining up their target in seconds.
Then, they descended, one talon catching fire as they fell like a meteor from the heavens, slamming into their target's flailing skull, and knocking a few teeth loose to their trained eyes, as the fire EXPLODED from the on contact, their form launching our as they landed, unscathed, nearby, using the momentum from their kick to spin on the opposite leg to face their opponent once more after their Sky-High Dive, the Den rippling and returning to normal even as their opponent seized up, twitching as it stayed on its side and, after a few moments of Katsuki wondering if she would have to put it out of its misery, finally expiring.
with a grin, Katsuki rushed forward, hunting knife out as she worked like a machine, managing to get a total of four scales, three pieces of hide, and, to her surprise, two portions of its mane before the rest had become unsalvageable.
"Oh the blacksmith is going to be so impressed with me! with all these parts, I'll be getting a new weapon for sure!" Katsuki squealed, imagining what could be made by the felyne on their ship. "It's going to be amazing, the first rider weapon in the new world." she breathed, before the sound of something shifting caught her attention.
In an instant she whipped around, sword at the ready, only to pause and relax as she saw Navirou starting to dig through the nest.
"Only the best partner!" Katsuki said, getting a muffled reply as he dug deeper and deeper into the loam, finally producing three eggs to look over as he started testing weight and sniffing.
"Well, I can definitely see why this monster was bottom of the hierarchy around here, little to no diversity, and not much room for mutation." Navirou muttered, his well trained nose looking for what he could as he chose the smelliest and heaviest of the three.
It was light, lighter than he would have liked, and only smelled like a far off, tempting meal. Better than having no true smell at all, but not the best.
With a sigh, he brought it over to Katsuki who put it in her egg box, before slowly putting said egg box back into her Bag. "The best of the best, that I could find anyways." Navirou said, frowning. "I hope that you can do SOMETHING with them. Their so…. bland. I can't smell anything interesting from them!" Navirou said, shaking his head.
Mad Science was something he hated, that all the numbers hated. But being around Katsuki….
He hated Bland even more.
"Don't worry Navi!" Katsuki said, smiling as she flipped open her book, looking at the new entry as she looked at the name of the creature she had just slain, and the one she would be riding soon. "Great Jagras…. I think that im going to be able to make you shine." Katsui said, gently patting her bag as she stretched, hopping onto Ratha's back as they went for the front of the room.
And instantly found themselves outside the Den again.
"So, new world Dens are just as stingy as the ones back home." Katsuki muttered, looking at where the pile of stones had been. Des respected those with kinship stones, they were agents of balance. But even they had rules. Once they had plundered its depths, and taken one egg, and one egg alone, they would never be allowed back in. The creatures inside would be allowed to hatch, grow, and go back to their natural habitats WITHOUT rider interference.
"At least that Brute is gone." Navirou muttered, even as Ratha took to the burning orange sky. "We should be good now. Back to the camp?"
"Back to Asteria." Katsuki nodded, smiling as Ratha began flying that way. As they did, Katsuki noticed the trees rustling nearby, and saw the Brute watching them, nose flared and eyes narrowed even as it tracked them towards the walls of their new home.
Katsuki shot it a feral grin, matching it tooth for tooth as they started descending.
It seemed she had a new rival.
How wonderful!