A./N: Most of the characters listed other than Ais Wallenstein are borrowed from A Palico's Tale, by Tidbit03 with their permission and information is mainly from the Monster Hunter World wiki or made up by me when there is not enough detail in the Monster Hunter World wiki. There is one new Oc, a mix of a stereotypical drill sergeant and a character from the Naruto series.
Ch 3: Introductions and Training Montage
Ais had only managed to read a few pages in one of the books given to her when Elaine and Eleanor came back, so Ais must have been meditating and planning for a long time. Elaine dropped off her bag with a satisfied expression on her face and exclaimed.
"Meow, I hunted 6 normal Jagras and 1 Great Jagras almost all by myself, Meow, Eleanor pretended she was a Palico and stuck to supporting me."
Eleanor laughed and said
"It was quite the different experience acting solely to support Elaine, though I had fun trying to throw vigor-wasps at Elaine. She might be small enough to ride a giant vigor-wasp but I am certainly not, nor do the vigor-wasps obey me. This makes me appreciate all that Elaine does to support me even more, especially carrying that bag around and retrieving items from it in a timely manner. Anyway lets head to the canteen to eat."
Ais nodded, and the three headed to the canteen. This time Eleanor asked Ais to come with her while sending Elaine to find a table.
" Come with me Ais, I want to introduce you to the Meowscular Chef, so he knows to give you food on my tab and you don't have to wait for Elaine and I to come back in order to eat here. We will be ordering our food at the same time, if you can help me carry it that would be appreciated" Eleanor said.
Ais nodded, and followed Eleanor. When they approached Ais realized that the Meowscular Chef was a Palico, with cream colored fur for most of his body but brown around his face, ears, and paws. The Meowscular Chef was as tall as a human, and had a lot of muscles. He was wearing a red and white Chef's hat, a pale grey shirt with a red cloth border-scarf thing and wielding a massive cleaver with one paw. There were all sorts of meat and vegetables surrounding him that he was cutting, grilling, and plating at a very fast pace. The smell of all the food was mouthwatering good for Ais, who had not thought she would be very hungry with how little she actually did this day but suddenly became quite hungry at those delicious smells.
"Good evening Meowscular, 3 fresh fish and vegetable plates with a small bowl of fruit please, and I want you to meet Ais, she is going to be staying with Elaine and I for a while training to support us, then potentially training to become a Monster Hunter herself if she has not found a new family or calling before then, you can place what she orders on my tab" Elaine stated to the Meowscular Chef"
" Good Evening to you too Eleanor, what a special day it must have been for you to order fresh fish. And hello little one, Ais is it, you are very welcome to come here for food anytime. Meow" the Meowscular Chef said after grabbing 3 fish out of a refrigerated case behind him then starting to cook them, peering down at Ais when he greeted her.
Ais nodded and said "hi" quietly after he had greeted her, feeling slightly intimidated. Fortunately the food was done very quickly, so Eleanor grabbed two plates and asked Ais to grab the third. Then they headed back to the seating area and searched until they found Elaine.
"Meow! I can smell the fish, my favorite! Thank you Eleanor, meow" Elaine cheered as they set the plates down. Eleanor nodded and said with a smile
"Your welcome, this is a celebration of your first real hunt and a welcome meal for Ais joining us. I'm going to grab us drinks next, but feel free to dig in"
Ais sat down next to Elaine and both started eating. A minute later Eleanor came back with two cups of milk for Ais and Elaine and some alcoholic drink for herself. Both Elaine and Ais finished eating much faster than Eleanor due to the head start they got, so Elaine started talking.
" Meow, I'm so glad to start being a true hunter myself even if only for minor monsters, but I think you will enjoy learning supporting skills, and after all everyone has to start somewhere. Meow, Hiro,Tiger, and Zeus are my best Palico friends though Tiger laughed when I first mentioned becoming a Monster Hunter myself. He still tried to help Hiro and I learn the plunderblade though, which is the only Palico gadget weapon that does decent damage, though more as a byproduct of collecting scales. Meow, all of them seem content to remain as they are for neow, though they do go on their own safaris to collect ingredients and have hunted a few small monsters before, while I previously focused on using vigor-wasps, flash cages, and my staff called kitty of the valley that can stun monsters for a few seconds, Meow" Elaine chattered.
Ais decided to speak up for once, the name Zeus gave Ais an opportunity to sound out Elaine on her opinion of the gods, which would hopefully lead into a discussion of their falna.
"Zeus, was he named after the god as a sign of respect or mocking?" Ais asked.
"Meow, Sort of both really, that Palico decided to specialize in everything lightning related, so he can not only use shock cages, the kitty of the valley shock staff, but also blades with the thunder element, and any weapon related to lightning. Meow. It is sort of mocking Zeus the god to compare the Palico Zeus to him, but since he is far away in Orario city like most of the other gods its not like the god will hear it to take offense. Meow, the name Zeus was chosen because he is a god of lightning, and my Palico friend Zeus is fascinated by lightning and the possibilities it presents, so it is also a sign of respect"
"Why are most of the gods in Orario?" Ais asked.
"Meow, because the gods are frail when alone, so they all gathered together with the people they granted their blessing, their Falna too in a place where the monsters are limited to only being in a dungeon so the gods can be safe, meow, but still have an excuse to stick around and claim they are helping because the gods and their adventurer familla with their falna are suppressing the monsters in the dungeon and preventing the massive hordes of monsters from completely overrunning this continent. Meow." Elaine replied.
"What does a blessing or Falna do that enables the gods to claim they are suppressing a horde of monsters?" Ais asked with a bit of suppressed excitement. She thought she knew the answer already, but had not known anything about gods, falna or any of this until she sorted through the woman Feline's memories since neither her Papa or Momma had talked about gods. And she was not certain those memories were right about anything, since Ais had not seen any evidence to prove most of what was in them yet.
"Meow, you must have been very sheltered growing up, Meow. A blessing or Falna from a god gives humans and demi-humans alike the possibility to grow stronger, tougher, and faster, while giving some people magic and special abilities. Meow, It enables normal or weak people to slay monsters without needing the weapons and armor made from from other monsters or all the other equipment and aid from endemic life, tamed monsters and so forth that us Monster Hunter's use. Meow, People with falna can just use regular weapons, and don't have to constantly keep upgrading the quality, target weak points, or use an element a monster is weak to. Meow, instead people with falna 'level up" and can hit harder, dodge faster, and so on, and thus handle stronger or more deadly monsters. Meow."
"Why not use both? Why not use a falna and the equipment of a monster hunter, surely that would make hunting monsters easier?" Ais asked again.
"Meow, you are very interested in this aren't you, this might be the most you have spoken to me ever, Meow. Some do use both, but it is rare. Monsters in the dungeon of Orario are different, their bodies mostly dissolve when they are killed, leaving behind only a magic stone and occasionally part of their body. So the adventurers would have to either buy extra equipment from Monster Hunters outside Orario or try to learn how to hunt monsters here on the surface and harvest their own. However Adventurers are dependent on their falna status, which needs to be updated often by a god for the increases to take effect, and apparently also needs excellia which is energy given out by dying monsters. Meow. Their dungeon is the most convenient way since the gods mostly stay in Orario.
As for the reverse, why Monster Hunters don't use a falna, well, some do, meow, but we have gotten by without one and been successful so far, and most don't want to become dependent on a god, since the gods expect loyalty and other things to live on in exchange for constantly updating the falna status. Plus, a Monster Hunter would have to make constant trips to Orario which is not all that close to here. Again, without a god regularly updating the status of a falna, it is pretty useless. Meow."
"Ahh, when I heard of this falna granted by gods I hoped it could help me become a better Monster hunter more safely and faster, or at least better aid to you and Eleanor faster, since I doubt I am strong enough to carry a giant bag filled with things the way you are Elaine. I hoped a falna could act as a shortcut to gaining that strength." Ais said in disappointment.
"It is still possible, there are a few gods that live outside Orario or are willing to travel here to recruit potential famillia members, and actually, if you are able to join a god's famillia they will take care of you to a certain extent. Orario is also much safer than here, adventurers do learn how to defend themselves, but in a slower more controlled manner. So you could spend a few years growing up in Orario and if you are still determined to become a Monster hunter just come here to learn our ways"
Eleanor interjected. She had listened to the conversation with growing thought-fullness as she ate, and saw an opportunity to potentially defer the danger that Ais would be placed in even as a substitute Palico, and possibly extend what little care free child-hood Ais had left.
"I want to train to support you two in return for all you have done to help me, and because I have already committed to it. I also want to become a Monster Hunter to eventually hunt the Black Dragon that took away my family and home when it attacked. So I will wait for one of those traveling gods or a god that lives near here, and only get a falna if it will not get in the way of that." Ais said in determination.
Eleanor sighed, then said
"A falna is still a good idea, when I agreed to the idea of you training in the ways of the Palico I forgot that they are naturally more sturdy and agile than humans. You may not be all human, and can probably become pretty agile, but you do not look all that sturdy, and you will grow stonger much slower than Palico's do, so carrying a heavy bag might be beyond you until you are an adult. You are too impatient and eager to wait that long though, so you would try anyway and risk getting injured by trying to carry a too heavy weight.
If you can manage to convince him, there is one traveling god who actually helps rookie Monster Hunters and has a good reputation. He treats his falna as a business deal, and has a contract written up detailing what he will ask in return for regularly making the trip and updating a Monster Hunter's status. Hermes, that is the god I am talking about, has magical artifacts or skills that lets him and some of his famillia travel very fast, so he can afford to make the trip here about every 3 to 6 weeks, stay a week to update the falna of any Monster Hunters, then return. His famillia specialize in exploring not just Orario's dungeon, but this entire continent, in trade, and sending and delivering messages or packages, with hunting monsters being more of a side effect when they are hostile and attack. So he asks that the Monster Hunters he has granted his falna either provide an escort through dangerous areas or provide material goods from the hunting of monsters in exchange for updating the falna status. He tries to be fair in his requests though, and never withholds the falna updates if a Monster Hunter has a run of bad luck and can't provide valuable goods in return."
"That sounds good, I'll try to convince this Hermes god, though maybe Elaine should try to get a falna too. After all, the main reason that Palico's have not been hunters is lack of trying and that they are smaller and it is even more dangerous for them to face monsters directly than a human. If a falna grants special abilities that could help Elaine become strong or skilled enough to overcome that extra danger." Ais said.
"Meow, I don't know if a falna would even work on a Palico, the gods have only granted them to humans and demi-humans that are similar to humans such as renart, elves, dwarfs, chienthrope, and so called cat-people, meow, who are all really just humans with a few different features, meow, they can all have children with each other so they are all really the same species. Palicos are not remotely human, even if we wanted to we could not have half-Palico half Human children, we are a different species. Meow. Still I guess I can at least ask to see if it is possible, Meow." Elaine said.
"As interesting and informative as this has been, we have lingered here taking up a table and talking for far too long, lets head back to our rooms and go to sleep, we can talk more about all this in the morning if there is anything else to talk about. Though most of this is dependent on Hermes agreeing, and he has granted less falnas recently since the more he grants the longer he has to stay here when he updates the status of Monster Hunters" Eleanor said.
"Meow! You're right. I got so interested in talking I forgot where we are. Meow, lets go so someone else can use this table." Elaine responded.
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This time when Ais woke up she was not in a panic about something, she was actually relaxed compared to previous awakenings. Though Ais was unhappy about yet more memories not her own being shoved in her head, she did enjoy most of the stories that Feline read so many of for themselves, she just did not like the idea that maybe she had more in common with that perverted woman than she wanted to be. Ais also felt that the stories were useless for achieving her goals since none of them applied to here.
Ais wanted to train first to support Eleanor and Elaine, then as a Monster Hunter. She wanted a falna for the very useful skills she could gain. Aiz wanted to at least contribute in some way to killing the Black Dragon that had caused her so much suffering, to avenge her Papa's death, and because it was the only clue she had of where her Momma could be. Aiz wanted to learn awesome magic to help her Momma and because it was awesome. Aiz wanted to kill monsters in general because they were a threat to anyone who was traveling or unwary, with some being possible threats to everyone in the case of really strong monsters.
With yet another shake of her head, Ais decided to stop relaxing in her cot bed and start getting ready for the day, after all she would be introduced to a lot of people and start training in Palico-style support skills today. Ais was determined to prove she could learn even faster than most Palicos.
Ais was surprised to find that Elaine was still asleep, and upon paying attention to the sounds around her it seemed that most people were also still asleep, she felt refreshed and relaxed, yet it seemed she had woken up early. Then Ais recalled the words that explained the ability Resilient body that would still exist even before Ais gained a falna. She felt excitement at the idea of it, since she could accomplish so much more if she did not need to sleep for 8 hours like most others. Maybe the first night she had slept so long due to the stress of the day and all those dreams.
With everyone still asleep though Ais could only chose some quiet activity to do while she waited. Ais decided to start reading more of the books she was supposed to read the day before but had not due to spending so much time trying to meditate and planning based on the revealed memories instead.
As Ais read, some of the way things were phrased regarding a Palico's job triggered more of the woman Feline's memories and knowledge. The books seemed to be full of not just instructions and descriptions of weapons and other gear but also propaganda. Phrases like "a Palico should always look after their Meowster 1st, they are a Palico's best defense against monsters" and "ask your Meowster what to focus on if you are uncertain because your Meowster is more experienced and will have a better idea of what is most needed" were very common and repeated frequently throughout what should have been simple instructions regarding the theory behind using the various weapons and gadgets that the Guild and Palico's had developed over the decades as Palico weapons and gear.
At least the list of potential weapons was interesting, though most seemed designed more to distract, weaken, or harvest parts from the monster rather than do serious damage, most of them also had cutesy names and appearances. The Kitty of the valley rod that Elaine mentioned using for example, was listed as having a 55% chance of inflicting paralysis, doing blunt damage, and causing 10 damage. Although Ais had no idea what those numbers actually meant, and had nothing to compare it to other than the rarer high grade weapons, that seemed very low to Ais.
Ais was also confused that musical instruments were also listed as weapons. The damage was even lower but the possibility of special magic effects seemingly made up for that. Did that mean Palico's were natural mages? Or were those enchanted magical artifacts somehow? Ais wondered.
Regardless Ais made a tentative list of what weapons she most wanted to learn how to wield when Eleanor and Elaine deemed her good enough at the basics to start using them. She mostly decided based on what her Papa had said he would teach her, so swords, a bow, and a dagger appealed the most to her, to honor his memory. Ais was not sure which of the various sword type weapons would be the best or available, but knew she wanted one with an element and maybe a 2nd of a different element so she could be effective versus multiple types of monsters. Since Eleanor used 2 swords she might be able to teach Ais how to do the same Ais hoped.
The swords were: Felyne iron sword, Jyura sword, Rathian rapier, Legiana sword, or Rathalos blade. Ais was leaning toward the Rathalos blade already though due to it doing more damage than the other swords and having a fire element, since if Ais gained wind magic she could make the fire even stronger. However the Jyura sword had a water element which could weaken monsters who used fire, and in the back of Ais mind she always considered what would help her the most against the Black Dragon, so that appealed as well.
Ais also wanted to learn the Felyne Pukei bow and maybe the Acorn spade, though if Eleanor would let Ais use one of her daggers instead of the Palico approved one that might be better, since the acorn spade was the most pathetic of the weapons.
Also, though it was not a sword Ais thought the Deathgear Scythe looked very cool, and it caused Dragon damage, which might mean it was best at damaging dragon-type monsters.
Ais knew that was a lot of potential weapons and it would be hard to learn all of them, so hoped that she would have natural talent at some of them or be able to abuse the fact that she needed less sleep than others to learn them all.
All of that reading meant that finally Elaine woke up without Ais having to wake her up, which was very good since Ais was getting hungry but did not want to try to sneak past Eleanor to reach outside their rooms and the canteen.
Elaine stretched and yawned, then noticed that Ais was already up, reading to the glow of the vigor-wasps in their terrarium.
"Meow, you're up already, good. Meow, good morning to you and why are you reading?Meow" Elaine commented, greeted and asked all at once.
"Good morning to you too, I woke up early but did not want to wake you up so decided to read more than the tiny bit I managed yesterday" Ais responded.
"Meow, do you know what you want to specialize in yet?" Elaine asked eagerly.
"I have not read much about the gadgets yet, and I like a lot of the weapons, its too hard to choose just one. I know I want to learn to use both the Pukei bow, and a sword for sure. Though he had not given me any lessons Papa was planning on teaching me to use a bow, daggers, and a sword, he said he would teach me all three so I could see what I liked best. I want to honor Papa's memory by learning the weapons he was going to teach me to use." Ais replied.
"Meow, I will not be able to help you much with those just yet, though I am learning to use daggers and swords that are small for Eleanor but normal sized for me so we could learn together! Meow!" Elaine said with minor disappointment at the start, becoming more excited when speaking of learning together.
"Can we go eat breakfast soon?" Ais asked.
"Meow, sure! Eleanor usually wakes up near the same time as I do, meow. She's probably getting dressed right neow. As soon as I am dressed we can knock on her door to see if she is ready yet, meow." Elaine answered.
Eleanor was awake and dressed already, just sorting through and examining her equipment to see which should go into the great Jaggas bag that was being made from Elaine's hunt, and whether she should discard any of it due to too much damage to be worth repairing.
So the three headed to the canteen very quickly. At the canteen, instead of sending Elaine to look for an empty table Eleanor asked if Elaine could find any of their friends and ask if they did not mind sharing a table, as a start on the promised introductions for Ais. Then Ais and Eleanor headed to the buffet style food to make plates for themselves, with Eleanor making up one for Elaine as well.
Luckily Elaine found Tiger, Brandon, Hiro, and Louis all sitting at one of the bigger tables so Ais could be introduced to two sets of the very good friends Eleanor and Elaine had, though most Monster Hunters knew Eleanor and might help watch over and train Ais as a favor to her.
Though they could not all sit at that one table, Elaine managed to snag a table that some hunters had just left from that was right next to the table that the other four were sitting at.
Once Eleanor and Ais arrived Eleanor introduced Ais
"Its a bit of a long story as to how it happened, but basically Elaine and I rescued this child, named Ais Wallenstein from a great Jagras 2 days ago, and she chose to stay with us, to try to train to support us like a Palico does, with hopes of eventually becoming a Monster Hunter. The Commander is looking into alternatives for her, but since she is recently orphaned from a monster attack and we don't know of any close relatives willing to take her in it might take a long time if ever to find something better.
Elaine and I plan on teaching and training her, but can't afford to stay here in Asteria all the time, we need to go on hunts too. So I was hoping that when either of you are in Asteria you could help with teaching and training Ais while we are gone on our hunts." Eleanor gave a quick introduction then launched right into her request.
"We will want to hear that story soon, it sounds too interesting to just leave it at that, but I don't see any reason why the Palico's can't help teach and train this Ais child, though I don't think a human child has ever trained in the Palico way before." Brandon spoke up after a glance at the others to see their opinions.
"Meow, yet another student to study the ways of the great Tiger and his paw-some skills with the plunder-blade, Meow I'll teach you to be almost as good as me-ow, although hopefully you will learn fast and not give up like these two clumsy paws" Tiger the orange and black striped Palico boasted proudly while looking at Ais for the first part, with a slightly scornful glance at Hiro and Elaine when he spoke the last part.
"Mow-wow, I'll try my best, but I focus on the Shield-spire and Meowlotov cocktails. I don't know if you will be interested in learning those. Mow-wow" Hiro spoke up. Hiro was a dark violet Palico.
"I don't know what gadgets I want to specialize in yet, I focused more on weapons. But it seems I can try out most of the gadgets of Palicos with the wide variety you three and this Zeus Palico, if he agrees, specialize in. According to Elaine he uses shock cages, the upgraded version of flash-fly cages. And of course Elaine uses vigor-wasps. Thank you very much for agreeing, I look forward to learning from you all." Ais felt the need to make a good impression so spoke up in response to the outpouring of agreement Eleanor's request had invoked.
"After we finish eating Elaine and I plan to take Ais out to the training yard, we already have a plunder-blade, cheerbongo, and vigor-wasps for her to try out. But If you are not planning on anything else today you could come help. Tiger, if you can help show Ais the basics of the plunder-blade that would help, and maybe Hiro can demonstrate the use of the Shield-spire and Meowlotov cocktails so Ais can see whether that is something that interests her instead. I'll tell the story of how we rescued Ais and how that even happened while we watch in between demonstrations and Ais trying to learn." Eleanor said.
"I'll stay long enough to hear the story, and if Tiger wants he can stay to teach Ais, but I have better things to do than wait around watching a child try to learn how to do a Palico's job." Brandon said.
Louis simply nodded in agreement, whether of Eleanor's implied request or Brandon's comment was unknown.
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The training yard was a wide mostly clear space of hard packed dirt with some areas of mud, sand, or gravel. There were posts with straw dummies of varying size and shape covered in a mix of cloth and monster hide and painted to look like different monsters. There were also piles of sandbags also painted to look like monsters, and a big pole near the center of the yard with three overhanging wooden boards attached to the top and with thick ropes tied to ends sticking out.
Elaine cheerfully explained the purpose of these items.
"Meow, the dummies are to practice accurately attacking specific spots on a monster, like a weak point or good harvest-able spot. Meow. The sandbags are to practice hitting a monster in the first place, and can also be tied to the ropes hanging from the pole which can be spun so we can practice hitting moving targets in the air. Although usually a Palico will tie on some of the sandbags, sometimes something else can be attached like flash cages, wooden targets, or even rocks if a Palico wants to practice dodging moving objects. Meow. The different types of ground are supposed to give a Palico an idea of how different areas can be tough to move around in. Meow"
Ais nodded to acknowledge Elaine's speech.
"Meow, lets not wait around, the great Tiger will demonstrate his paw-some skills with the plunder-blade on a dummy, then watch and direct your efforts to do the same. Meow" Tiger spoke up.
Tiger then reached into a pouch and pulled out two plunder-blades, gripping their center with his paws and ran at the nearest dummy, leaping up to slash at the head, dragging the plunder-blades along the body as he fell. After landing on the ground he reached up to slash open the straw belly, then dodged the straw that came out to leap behind the dummy and attack and sever the tail. After that he returned to the waiting group and looked at Ais.
"Meow, you won't manage that paw-some speed and accuracy right away! Meow, but that is an example of how good you need to be before trying to use the plunder-blade on an actual monster, though using one on both paws is just my preference and not a good idea for a newbie like you. Neow you should try! Just try to reach the head and drag the plunder-blade down as you fall for neow. " Tiger exclaimed.
"I'll start telling the story as you practice Ais, there is no use in all of us just standing around for too long." Eleanor said.
Ais nodded again as Elaine handed her a plunder-blade pulled from the big bag that she seemed to carry everywhere.
Then Ais carefully tried to mimic the grip Tiger had used and jogged to the already torn up dummy, since she was not sure how often they were replaced and she felt she might miss very often at first. As she approached she tried to jump forward and as high as she could, but found herself only reaching the chest due to misjudging the distance and leaping too early, though she felt she would have only reached a little higher anyway even at the peak of her jump. This was hard, but also fun in a way. So Ais backed away a little and tried again, doing slightly better since she almost reached what would be the neck this time, but forgetting to try dragging her plunder-blade along the body as she fell. So she tried again.
This time Ais jumped way too hard forward and found herself hitting the dummy and bouncing off with the plunder-blade stuck on the side of the neck. So Ais aimed to retrieve her plunder-blade with the next jump, and succeeded, even dragging the blade parts along the body as she fell.
The bouncing part would probably be a good way to get away from a monster if Ais used her feet to partially jump away so Ais tried that next.
Ais might have continued trying new things for hours if Tiger did not interrupt.
"Meow, you have the right idea, you are making great progress! all you need to do is practice. But you might as well watch the great and paw-some Tiger pretend to attack Hiro behind his Shield-spire so you can see how that works. Meow. This will also give you an idea of how much more difficult moving targets are."
Hiro somehow brought out an enormous shield painted to look like a monster and with the sides curving a bit backward that had eye-holes cut out near the middle from a bag that had been strapped to his back. The bag was near flat and dyed the same violet of his fur so Ais had not seen it before. Then Tiger and Hiro moved to one of the more open dirt areas faced each other 10 feet apart. Hiro then started taunting Tiger.
"Mow-ow, bet you can't even touch my Shield-Spire much less try to carve bits of wood and paint from it unless I let you. Mow-wow." Hiro's manner and voice seemed to transform once he was behind his Shield-spire, becoming bolder and louder.
"Meow!The great and paw-some Tiger will prove you wrong! Meow!" Tiger yelled back then began running toward the Shield-spire covered Hiro.
Hiro began running in a ziz-zag pattern to the side and back. Tiger sped up suddenly and made a large leap for the Shield-spire, only for Hiro to tilt it forward and jerk slightly so that the top hit Tiger's back paws, forcing him higher in the air, but in an uncontrolled unbalanced manner so Tiger had to focus solely twisting to land safely. In that time Hiro had continued to run forward beneath Tiger then a few steps more. Only to turn in place and begin running toward Tiger's back, lobbing a bottle at him at the same time. The bottle hit the back of Tiger's head and shattered, drenching him in water.
"Mow-ow, Burn! if that had been a real Meowlotov cocktail you would be drenched in alcohol and on fire right neow. Mow-ow" Hiro taunted.
"Meow, that was a cheap shot! The great and paw-some Tiger held back his real speed and skills to let you show off and this is what you do! Meow, next time will be different, I will not hold back as much! Meow!" Tiger exclaimed angrily.
"Mow-ow, it still counts, I beat the not-so-great Tiger once! I have been improving with my specialty, I don't need a plunder-blade to beat you Tiger!" Hiro shouted back in joy.
"Meow! Meow! Here I come, Meow!" Tiget shouted in rage as he ran toward Hiro in his Shield-spire again.
Hiro rapidly moved and ran to the side and forward, aiming to circle around Tiger again. Tiger did not let that happen, running to meet the Shield-spire, both paws gripping his Plunder-blades and raised up. Then Hiro leaped high in the air, angling his Shield-spire downwards to keep protecting him. Tiger reacting fast raised his plunder-blades above his head and leaping to meet the Shield-spire, hitting it and starting to slash wildly, carving out chips of paint and wood at a fast pace.
The upward impact of Tiger had slowed the fall down slightly, but both started to fall to the ground with Tiger still beneath the Shield-spire looking like he would be crushed under the weight. Only for Hiro to somehow spin in place in mid-air, jerking the Shield-spire upward and actually kick Tiger with his back paws to send him to the ground faster, while using that to change position so he could safely land on his feet, Shield-spire facing forwards forwards again. Tiger hit the ground on his back with a thud sound, staying there gasping for breath a few seconds, then leaped to his feet and charged Hiro and the Shield-spire yet again.
Although Hiro had kept a ready position, he had not expected Tiger to recover so fast or attack again without shouting something so barely managed to dodge. Tiger kept attacking relentlessly, with Hiro's dodging becoming less graceful and more desperate. Eventually Hiro did not dodge quickly enough and Tiger's plunder-blades hit and started carving out great chunks and chips of the wood.
Hiro then shouted
"Mow-ow! Stop already! You won our bet alright! I'll need to make lots of repairs to my Shield-spire to get it back in working condition, no need to make the damage even worse! Mow-ow."
Tiger stopped and laughed sheepishly
"Meow, I forgot all about that bet, I just refused to lose to you! Meow, admit that the great and paw-some Tiger is still better than you and agree to keep working on learning the plunder-blade once a week, Meow even if just to harvest parts from a monster's corpse after they are dead. Meow."
"Mow-ow, the great paw-some Tiger is still better, and fine I'll keep trying to learn for a bit longer. Mow-ow." Hiro muttered out sullenly.
Ais had watched all this with rapt attention. Now though she pouted thoughtfully, that Shield-spire was cool too, this had not helped Ais narrow things down at all as for what she wanted to learn! Though Ais decided to wait until she gained a falna before seriously trying to learn, that looked like it took a lot of strength, agility, and endurance to use, so she could use Shield-spire training to improve all three stats at once.
Ais decided that she would not specialize unless she really disliked a weapon or gadget or was very bad at using it. After all, once she gained her Inventory skill she could carry all the equipment and gear she needed. It might take longer to master multiple weapons and gadgets, but that way she could be ready for almost any situation rather than caught off guard and wishing she had something that was not there.
While Hiro and Tiger were having their mock fight Brandon, Louis, and even Eleanor had left. Now that the battle was over Elaine stepped forward and said
" Meow, vigor-wasp spray might not seem as cool as those two gadgets, but they can save lives by healing and rejuvenating someone who is injured. They are also simple to use to learn, they just take time and preparation before-paw. Meow. You just have to either get up close and pop or puncture the sac near the injury or toss the vigor-wasp sac that has been carefully removed from the vigor-wasp to the injury. Meow. The vitality nectar is less potent when it is not attached to a vigor-wasp though, so it is better to train vigor-wasps to fly to an injury. As long as the vigor-wasp sac full of vitality nectar splatters near an injury and there is enough of it, it will heal any injury. Meow."Elaine said.
Ais nodded to show she was listening, mildly interested and hoping to learn how to ride a giant vigor-wasp.
"Meow, I usually keep a bunch of normal vigor-wasps in a woven basket shaped like a Palico head with a small opening near the eyes that is covered until I need them for the field, then I direct them to fly to Eleanor. Meow, I also keep a larger basket that contains a giant vigor-wasp that I release and ride to Eleanor, puncturing the sack just before hand to slowly spray vitality nectar on her. Meow" Elaine explained
Ais nodded again, eagerly hoping Elaine would explain the only part that really interested her soon.
" Meow, one has to train the vigor-wasps to follow your directions by leading them to food such as sugar water or a bunch of flowers. Meow. As they are trained to follow either vocal commands or slight movements of the paws along their backs that leads to the giant vigor wasp continuing to obey the same commands even when you are riding them, Meow."
Ais sighed, slightly disappointed that she would not be practicing riding a giant vigor-wasp today, it sounded like this took a lot of preparation. Since the giant vigor-wasp would not obey any but the one who had been raising it that meant the best she could hope for was watching Elaine until her own set of vigor-wasps grew up.
"Mow-ow, is there anything else you want us to work on today Elaine? or should we just leave you to teaching Ais how to tend to and train vigor-wasps?" Hiro stated, "Mow-ow thanks to Tiger I need to repair my Shield-spire neow." Hiro continued.
"Meow, I think you are good for neow. We should alternate between Ais training to use the plunder-blade and training her vigor-wasps for today. Meow, after a while I will show her what I do to quickly puncture a sac and send a vigor-wasp to rejuvenate her after all the training. Right neow her skills are so basic all she needs is someone watching her so she does not overdo the training and hurt herself. Meow. In a few weeks or months depending on how fast she learns she might need help against a moving target other than a spinning sand bag meow, but for neow I'll just let you know when Eleanor and I are leaving so she has some-paw to watch her. Meow."
"Meow, see you later sometime Ais and Elaine, I expect to see you in a week or less Hiro to work more on your plunder-blade skills, meow maybe you should train alongside Ais instead of just watching her when it is your turn, Hiro. Meow" Tiger said in farewell, then left.
"Mow-ow, Goodbye an good-luck for neow Ais and Elaine. Mow-ow" Hiro said as he left as well.
"Meow go ahead and start training with the plunder-blade while I set up a course for your vigor-wasps to train in using fake-flowers with bulbs of sugar water and gradually changing to other things than just sugar water, including monster hide smeared with null-berry jelly. Meow, I 'll show you how to set up the course next time, meow" Elaine said.
Ais said "Ok" instead of nodding yet again since she realized she was falling into the bad habit of not speaking much, she did not want to become like that Louis fellow who had not spoken a single word the entire time she was in his presence.
Ais practiced her leaps, practiced her slashes, practiced moving fast and bouncing off the dummy after a quick slash. She also just played around with anything she could think up that might be useful against an actual monster, taking inspiration from Tiger's mock battle against Hiro, like running in zig-zags with her plunder-blade held high, or running, leaping, and slashing the air above her head as if attacking a flying opponent.
After a while Elaine called Ais over to the area she had set up the training course and asked Ais to grab her vigor-wasps from her personal bag. Ais had left the bag near the start of the training rounds, so retrieved it and looked for her vigor-wasps in their terrarium, finding a basket shaped like a palico's head in the bag as well.
"Meow, at the end of the course we will place a bunch of honey inside the basket and have some of your vigor-wasps move to inside there while the rest stay in the terrarium. Meow, you should also practice moving about while carrying the bag since most of the time you will need it with you. Meow." Elaine commented.
"Ok" Ais agreed.
Elaine then led Ais to the start of the course and said "Meow, try to only let 1 or two vigor-wasps out at a time and direct them with gestures and simple words, to the 2nd fake flower in the line. They will ignore you the first time, meow, so I will capture them and put them back in while they are drinking from the 1st fake flower. We will repeat that until they start following your commands. Meow.
Vigor-wasps learn fast when it comes to their food, and also watching and following their fellow vigor-wasps. Meow. They need to see you as a source of food and protection. Meow. Fortunately they do not truly care about each other or have a strong sense of self-preservation once they have mated at least once so will not suddenly fear you once you start practicing puncturing their sacs to get their vitality nectar. Meow, though if you make a very tiny puncture and immediately give them lots of food, they can survive and heal the puncture wound in their sac. Meow.
Vigor-wasps also breed and grow fast as long as there is a plentiful source of food, and enough space, so although you should always keep an eye out to replenish your stock, you do not have to worry too much about preserving them. Meow. We should rent some space for them to breed in one of the garden's of the botanist keepers, meow, while keeping some in a basket and terrarium in your bag as well. Meow." Elaine lectured.
Ais nodded, slightly overwhelmed by all the information but understanding the basics, to let them out 1 or 2 at a time and direct them to a fake flower until they did not head to the flower until her directions were given.
After finally getting the vigor-wasps to follow the course at least once Ais resumed training this time carrying her bag strapped to her back. She swiftly realized it changed her balance quite a bit even though Ais had very little in it compared to what she knew Elaine carried around in her bag.
So Ais set to relearning how to leap, run, and slash her plunder-blade at a target. The first one had torn up beyond any hope of using, so Ais had moved on to another. She found herself getting tired and also found it hard to concentrate on simply repeating actions she had already taken after an hour though. She got distracted imagining up how she would hunt a real monster and trying new moves until she actually injured herself when trying a fancy move of tossing the plunder-blade at the wooden post beneath the target and trying to catch it as it bounced back, cutting herself on the wooden blades.
Elaine immediately came over, grabbed the basket of vigor-wasps from her own bag, and ordered two vigor-wasps to land on Ais' bloody hands, then punctured their sacs with a claw shaped bone needle. The vitality nectar healed Ais' hands in seconds.
Elaine then said
"Meow, we should stop for a while, it is almost lunch time anyway. Meow, please don't try that move again until Tiger says you are advanced enough to try throwing the plunder-blade, meow, which will probably be a long time from neow, throwing the plunder-blade and catching it is an advanced skill. Meow. Even Tiger only mastered it good enough to use in hunts relatively recently, Meow"
Slightly shaken, Ais agreed saying
"I'll definitely avoid that until I'm better with the plunder-blade, though I don't know how to get better without trying new things, so I guess I'll have to ask you or Tiger before trying too many new things with the plunder-blade."
"Meow, before leaving we should remove the the torn dummies from their posts, and take the remains to the Palico in charge of this training ground, Serge I believe he is called. Meow, he might also oversee your training and help you with learning new things if he is not busy and you are willing to endure all his yelling, Meow." Elaine said reluctantly.
Ais gathered up all the torn cloth, monster hide, and straw and placed it in her bag, then the two walked across the training ground to a building near it. There Elaine walked up to an desk and rung a small bell while calling out, "Meow! Serge we are done with the training ground for neow and have the remains of the dummies we used. Meow."
" ME-OW! I'll be right there! Meow!" a voice shouted out from another room in the building. Then a Palico that was mostly pale brown with black paws, black ears, and a few scattered bits of black fur above his eyes that made it look like he had eyebrows jogged in. He was almost as muscular as the Meowscular Chef, but the size of a normal Palico. He was wearing strange multi-patched green and dark green monster hide armor and a large bag similar to Elaine's on his back, dyed green as well..
"Me-OW! Its good that you actually remembered to bring the remains of the dummies in for recycling this time Elaine! Me-ow, and who is the child with you?!" Serge still shouted even though he was right next to the two.
"Meow, this is Ais Wallenstrein, an orphaned half-elf child that is staying with Eleanor and I, she wants to be a monster hunter herself eventually, but agreed to train in the Palico way of supporting Hunters first. Meow, Tiger, Hiro, and hopefully Zeus will try to oversee her training when I am on a hunt, but if none of us is available will you oversee her training? Meow." Elaine introduced and requested, then pulled her ears down against her head quickly.
"ME-OW! I would be glad to train the next generation of YOUTH in Palico skills! Me-OW. I am especially glad that a demi-human, Me-OW! And hopefully humans in the future, Me-OW, are showing interest and acknowledging the worth of Palico teachings! Me-OW! I expect you to take this seriously and give it your all! Me-OW! Supporting a Monster Hunter is a tough, dangerous job! Me-OW!" Serge enthusiastically agreed, still shouting in varying tones of loud for most of his speech.
Aid winced at the loud sounds, understanding Elaine's reluctance to speak with this Serge now, but resolved to endure the shouting if it would help her learn from another experienced Palico, though she did wonder why he shouted all the time, was he partially deaf or did he just enjoy shouting for some reason?
She did nod and say quietly "I intend to do my best, this is important to me, though I am unfortunately easily distracted from repetitive things. I hope that switching between what I am learning frequently will help, so I want to learn many different weapons and gadgets."
"Me-OW, I know the basics of all Palico weapons and gadgets! Me-OW! I will help you try many weapons until you find your focus! Me-OW! Repetition is a major part of learning though! Me-OW, you need to train your muscles to remember your movements! Me-OW!" Serge replied.
Ais nodded weakly then said "I'll try my best as I said I would even if it means repetition. I'll manage somehow. We need to leave now so where should I put the remains of the dummies?"
"Me-Ow, follow me through the door to the other room! Me-Ow!" Serge said with an approving nod.
Through the door led to a large room full of racks or shelves of wooden versions of all the Palico weapons along the middle of the walls, with piles of monster hides in the right front corner, a giant pile of straw in the back right corner, piles of clothing in the front left corner, and more sandbags in the left back corner. There was also a low table with paint and brushes on one half, and sewing equipment on the other in the center of the room. Surrounding the table were bins with torn cloth, monster hide, and empty sacks with holes in them.
"Me-Ow! Place straw with the other straw, Me-OW, and the rest in their appropriate bins or piles depending on the damage. Me-Ow!" Serge said, even speaking in a semi-normal voice in between his shouts of me-ow.
Ais followed Serge's instructions, then with a quiet "bye" left.
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After eating lunch Ais was prepared to resume training, though wanted to try switching between the plunder-blade and the wooden-equivalents of the Palico sword weapons she had seen along Serge's walls in his workshop. Elaine came along long enough to make sure Ais knew how to set up a training course for the vigor-wasps and to puncture the sac of a vigor-wasp properly in case of any injury, giving her the bone needle Elaine had used previously, and left, though not without an admonishment
"Meow, make sure to take a break from the physical stuff to train and feed your vigor-wasps at least every two hours, maybe even every hour. Meow, normally they do not need that much but since we need to increase their numbers and get a start on one or two growing to giant vigor-wasp size that is best for neow. Meow." Elaine reminded Ais.
Ais walked to the building Serge was in and bypassed the desk to knock on his workshop door.
"Me-OW! Who is there!?Me-OW What do you need!? Me-OW" She heard Serge's voice bellow.
"This is Ais Wallenstein. I want to borrow the wooden equivalents of the Palico swords to practice with if that is ok," Ais spoke up slightly louder than her usual quiet barely hear-able tones.
"Me-Ow, Come in! Me-Ow." the Serge said.
Once Ais entered Serge moved from behind the table, where he had been sewing up various patches of clothes and monster hide to create new garments for a new dummy then asked, in a quiet but still firm voice for him, though quite loud in Ais ears.
"Me-OW, Do you have any previous experience with swords or some other Palico helping you right neow Me-Ow?"
"No, Elaine uses a kitty of the valley rod and I don't know what weapons the others use but they are not here now." Ais replied
"Me-OW then I will start teaching you. Me-Ow, but we will not start out against the training dummies. Me-ow. You need to know how to stand, Me-Ow. How to safely walk, jog, or run with a sword, Me-OW unsheathed or sheathed. Me-OW. How to hold each sword, Me-OW, and the basic swings, blocks, slashes, or stabs most useful, Me-Ow, then practice them many times. Me-Ow." Serge said.
Ais nodded, surprised at everything that was considered necessary before even practicing against a target, but pleased someone was actually willing to teach her. This was more like how Ais thought her Papa would have taught her. Tiger's basic idea was to demonstrate and watch someone attempt to do what he had, and fail. Then he would laugh and give a tip and encouragement, maybe demonstrating again, then watch the next attempt of the person learning.
"Me-Ow, any idea of what you want to start with? Me-Ow. Or should we just go from the most basic, Me-ow, and move though them one at a time. Me-Ow, it will take a week at least to teach you the basics of every sword. Me-OW, longer if some days you are learning gadgets from the other Palico's. Me-OW."
"I'd like to try the Jyura sword replica and the Rathalos blade replica first." Ais said.
"Me-OW, lets get started neow! Me-OW!" Serge said as he quickly walked to two different racks and grabbed two each of the swords, and a sheath from beneath the racks that looked like the pictures Ais had seen of them, but carved out of wood in detail.
The Rathalos blade had a point, and one sharp side with spikes along the bottom edge. The dull side also had a small spike that stuck out and curved to face the point.
The Jyura sword had a point, widened along two edges, narrowed slightly, then widened again to have two small points near the handle. It was slightly serrated, and looked like the fin of a fish with a paw print on the center core that seemed to be thicker and almost round. The swords were quite different from each other, but since they were supposed to have opposing elements that made sense to Ais.
Serge then walked out to the training ground, with Ais following him. First he handed one sword and a sheath to Ais, the replica of the Jyura sword.
"Me-OW, first, you need to know how to carry the sword while walking, Me-Ow and unsheathe the sword. Me-OW." Serge stated.
What followed was a long lesson to Ais, especially since she had to stop to set up a course to train and feed her vigor-wasps 3 times, though by that point it was a welcome break.
The swords were heavier than she would expect wood to be, and when she asked Serge said he had done his best to mimic the natural weight of the swords using bone or metal underneath the wood as a core.
When the sun started to set Ais and Serge walked back to his workshop to return the wooden swords, with Ais feeling tired but satisfied. She now knew a lot more about using swords and felt that breaking up the training between two types of sword and the vigor-wasps meant that she got distracted less often and made fewer mistakes caused by distraction. A few memories from the woman Feline had surfaced, regarding movies and boot camp scenes about armies, as well as memories of a colorful man in green with a terrible hair-cut, giant eyebrows, and that shouted about youth, but sword training was apparently different enough from anything the woman had experienced or read that there were not many memories to overwhelm Ais and cause her to space out.
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For two weeks Ais followed a routine. She would wake up, eat with Eleanor and Elaine, then head to the training grounds either with Elaine, Tiger, Hiro, or Zeus in the morning.
Zeus was quickly introduced at dinner one time, aid requested and given. He was a blue Palico with white stripes that zig zagged somewhat like lightning.
Zeus showed up at the training ground two days after being introduced and asked for aid, with a bunch of flash-fly cages and shock cages. Zeus had Ais practice tossing them near the head's of training dummies while he was leaping up to attack them with his Kitty of the valley rod or Watcher grinder mace.
Ais swiftly decided that although the throwing practice was good, waiting for someone else to hit the flash-fly cages was a waste of time when the bugs were so easily startled that she could just throw the cages directly at a target. She decided to treat flash-fly cages as practice for the more dangerous Meowlotov Cocktails that she was not allowed to try using yet.
Zeus agreed with Ais, but said that "Mew-uw. Officially we need to throw them for our Hunters to hit so the Hunters know when to shut their eyes to avoid being blinded along with the monster. Mew-uw. I cheat a bit with Josiah, my meowster's permission. I'll instead just call out a warning and throw the shock cage within Josiah's line of sight before hitting the monster I want to blind and shock. Mew-uw. But not all meowsters can react that fast, so practice both ways just in case. Mew-uw."
After Lunch Ais would train with the replica swords.
At sunset Ais would leave, eat dinner, sleep for a while, wake up and meditate, read about the many types of monsters in the many locations from Eleanor's guidebooks, meditate again, tend to her vigor-wasps, then sleep again if she could, if not then Ais would read until Elaine woke up.
Ais continued to feed and train the vigor-wasps every two hours, although she did not really see the appeal of focusing on vigor-wasp spray healing so much when damaging or at least distracting a monster could prevent injuries from happening in the first place. Ais did end up using some vigor-wasp spray on herself when she pushed too far and became too sore to move or injured herself in training.
After a few days of this Ais made the request for a Pukei bow as well, "to have a ranged option better than flash-fly cages."
Since the bow was not very dangerous to use other than the possibility of poison, as long as there was supervision. And gloves easily handled that possibility of being poisoned, Eleanor agreed to get Ais an actual Pukei bow rather than her having to use a replica of that as well.
Once Eleanor and Elaine came back with her Pukei bow and blunted arrows Ais added that to the rotation of weapons she practiced under the watchful and helpful if loud Serge.
Training with the bow and arrows was very frustrating at first, because despite seeing the targets clearly, and even being able to sense the wind a little, so being able to adjust for that, Ais still misjudged the depth of how far she needed to pull back the string or fumbled when releasing it and her arrows either fell short or ended up hitting the wrong target sometimes.
Ais needed to practice with the bow and her swords a lot before she finally started getting better.
Ais' vigor-wasps swiftly bred and grew beyond the size a terrarium and basket could contain, so Ais rented space from a Botanist's garden, a half-renart half human named Amber. Amber had amber eyes, fox ears and a small bushy fox tail, but was slightly taller than most renarts, and had no ability with magic.
Since Ais did not want to use Eleanor's money needlessly, Ais struck a bargain with Amber. Ais would aid Amber with tending to the plants and endemic life early morning, after dark or on her single day off training as well as allowing Amber to use or sell some of the excess vigor-wasps in exchange for housing the vigor-wasps and letting them feed on the flowers when they were not in Ais basket or terrarium. Although Ais also set up feeders so the vigor-wasps did not starve with only the food from those flowers.
A week after getting space in Amber's garden, or at 1 and a half weeks in of Ais' training seriously Elaine said that two of the vigor-wasps had grown enough for Ais to train in riding them. That was a lot of fun, although the giant vigor-wasps ate/drank a lot more than the normal sized vigor-wasps so Ais could see why Elaine had suggested either selling or using up the vitality nectar of one of the two immediately afterward.
Still the joy of flying, being in the air made Ais all the more determined to learn how to fly herself someday, since even the great vigor-wasps could only fly slowly with such a large passenger riding on them.
At two weeks in Elaine decided to go on the solo observation hunt she had been practicing for. The observation might turn into a true hunt if conditions were right. So Elaine set out to Hoarfrost Reach to observe a Barioth in preparation for hunting one.
Ais had still tried to train during the two days that Elaine was gone, but was too worried about Elaine to focus much.
That hunt had nearly ended in disaster since a Tigrex came along and got into a turf war with the Barioth, but Elaine had noticed it approaching in time and ran. She ended up dropping the knife Eleanor had let her borrow in her hurry. Elaine also almost got pulled under the water when a thin piece of the glacier gave way, but just barely managed to leap to relative stability due to all her practice moving in rough terrain when she had been hunting Jagras and Great Jagras. Elaine found shelter and tried to recover and wait out the turf war there, but without a weapon was forced to recognize she was in danger. So once far enough away Elaine had reluctantly used her flare to get help.
Elaine was ashamed and upset that she was forced to retreat, had lost Eleanor's weapon, and forced to send out a rescue flare. Although another hunter found the weapon later. Elaine moped for a bit, wondering if she would ever manage to become a monster hunter in her own right. But Eleanor was just relieved that Elaine was safe and said
"it took time to get experienced enough to deal with such events, even I would not have wanted to take on a Barioth and Tigrex at the same time if I was alone. The important thing is you manged to see and escape the dangers in time."
Ais was relieved as well, but tried to support Elaine by saying
"It was bad luck about that turf war, you will do better next time, and you are still much better than me."
Ais added the replicas of the Death-gear Scythe, Rathas Rapier, Kitty of the valley rod, and Watcher Grinder mace-thing Zeus used, to the list of weapons she occasionally practiced with after that expedition at two weeks, 2 days in to Ais training.
Ais wanted more variety in her training to keep her interest, and felt that choosing a unique weapon such as a scythe, as well as two weapons that two of the Palicos already knew how to use would help keep her interest and help her learn faster due to tips from the other Palicos.
Serge had also declared that Ais finally had the basics of the Rathalos blade and Jyura sword well enough to practice against targets. It was nice to see actual results for all the training Ais had done in the form of torn up dummies, although out of guilt at the extra work she was making for Serge Ais took to trying to help him in repairing the straw dummies she had torn up when she needed a break from training.
Ais also got an actual Acorn spade dagger, and practiced a bit with it, although it was very simple to use compared to the swords so other than practicing how it changed her reach Ais focused on other things more.
Ais still preferred the Rathalos blade and Jyura sword, so still spent most of her time practicing with those two swords, just alternating with the basics of the other weapons,continuing to practice with her Pukei bow and arrows, tending to the vigor-wasps, and helping repair straw dummies when she needed a break from drills with her plunder-blade and her replica Rathalos blade and Jyura sword.
Ais started trying to learn how to wield both swords at once, or one of the swords with her dagger to continue challenging herself. Coordinating such different weapons was very hard.
Two weeks and a half in to Ais's training, or 4 days after Elaine got back from her failed solo observation hunting trip, the first ship of the Fifth Fleet arrived.
There was a big fuss as all the new recruits were settled in, and a pair of Meowster and Palico were assigned to learn from all the experienced hunters.
Brandon and Tiger were assigned Sophie, a female human monster hunter and Sorrow, a dark blue female Palico that looked black in certain lights.
Louis and Hiro were assigned Keith, a young male human monster hunter and Waddles, a large male fat cream colored Palico.
Eleanor and Elaine were assigned Jacob, another young male monster hunter and Joan, a young but determined orange tabby, who upon hearing of Elaine training to become a Monster hunter in her own right was immediately star-struck, and wanted to do the same after she had mastered her Palico lessons. Joan did not want to focus on the same things Elaine had learned though, she wanted to learn in the things that interested her.
Sorrow, Waddles, and Joan swiftly joined in with Ais training, which slightly irritated her at first, since she was expected to help them learn the basics she had already moved past. But they also knew some of those basics already, so learned fast. Once Ais realized that they could help her practice against actual opponents, since all of the other Palico's had refused to spar with her, and that Ais was actually learning things that she had missed the first time she swiftly became more welcoming in her own quiet way.
Training alongside Sorrow and Joan quickly became fun and productive.
Sorrow chose a Shield-spire and a Plunder-blade as her main gadgets. With a Pukei bow and water element weapons such as the Jyura sword and Azure Star Baton as weapons. That meant they shared some weapons in common, Ais could both help teach Sorrow and practice against her.
Joan chose the Plunder-blade and flash-fly cages as her gadgets. She also chose the Rathas Rapier, which had a poison element, Felyine Iron Sword, and Jag Gunhammer as her weapons, deciding that all the bother with elements just added extra complications. Poison usually worked to weaken most monsters, and normal steel weapons worked just fine on all monsters, even if they did not have a weakness to it.
Though Waddles decided to specialize in a gadget that Ais had never been able to learn, the Coral Orchestra, as well as the musical based weapons Kulu lute and Baan Ball.
It was nice to listen to him, but apparently Palicos had a natural type of magic that Ais was not suited to use. She wanted to since it was magic and might help Ais become a mage, but it just did not work for her at all when she had tried.
Waddles mostly spent his time playing his Coral Orchestra, Cheerbongo to buff Ais, Sorrow, Joan and whoever was training with them. Or switching between playing his Kulu lute and using it as a club. The Baan Ball would put everyone to sleep and was very easy to use anyway so he did not practice with it.
Ais routine changed only slightly with the addition of the new Palicos. Now after breakfast they would all head to the Palico training yard and work on their gadgets, alternating with their weapons or breaks to read about monsters or listen to lectures from Serge or Elaine about various things.
Elaine was the most enthusiastic about helping train the new Palico's since it distracted her from her failure of a solo hunt, but Tiger, Hiro and Zeus helped as well.
After lunch it would be the similar, just with more focus on weapons since Elaine, Tiger, Hiro, and Zeus would all leave to help their Hunters on minor hunts to train up the rookie human Monster Hunters. There was apparently a larger training yard for Monster Hunters that the humans used to train the rookies during the mornings.
Under Serge's supervision Ais and the others would spar or help each other with hitting moving targets by spinning the pole with sandbags attached while the other aimed and tried to hit those sandbags.
Ais found that hitting a moving sandbag was much more difficult with her pukei bow and arrows, but eventually adjusted and learned to read how fast they were spinning and how to draw, knock, and loose her arrows a bit faster so she could manage to hit the sandbag all the time.
Ais was also jealous that the human Monster Hunters already got to go on hunts, but assumed that maybe they had been training longer than she was and as adults they were allowed to take more risks.
When Ais asked when she and the other rookie Palico's would be allowed to at least help with minor hunts Eleanor claimed
"it will be soon, just a few more weeks, I wanted to be sure the rookie Monster Hunter meowster's know how to coordinate with and protect those who are supporting them by having the experienced Palico act as their support first. And I want you to have time to really get used to your weapons, as well as give you actual blades after Elaine and I hunt for the monsters they are made from."
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A./N: More set-up and exposition, but I am detailing things I doubt the games bother to address, making this a realistic world, and having Ais learn new things, this story will start out slow since I want my readers to understand that Ais will be learning and training hard so it does not seem like she is suddenly OP, but she does have a lot of advantages that give her the potential to become very strong at a fast rate.
A./N 2: Also I am aware that in the original Danmachi only Humans and Amazoness could breed with the other races for some reason, but in my story although that is still the most common, due to Feline wanting her Ais to be half-elf, half-wind spirit and maybe interference from the ROB who figured more half breeds would be entertaining now all the races are sub-species, called demi-humans. So although it is very rare due to personality conflicts and social pressure disapproving of it there could be such a thing as half-dwarf, half-elf or any variation.
Lol many trashy romance stories would now include the forbidden love between two demi-humans who have a reputation for not getting along, like cat people and chienthrope as well as from different famillias as their version of Romeo and Juliet.