Danger in the Jungle

"Why the hell did I let her go off on her own?!" Takuya cursed to himself as he rushed to find Nikiri with the help of Tenji and Hyobe, running a few steps ahead of them.

"It was only natural!" Tenji said as they ran. "Most of these quests don't have any superior monsters, and are double-checked by the Monster Hunting HQ, but once in a while, one slips off the radar, particularly ones of low merit like mushroom hunts!"

"It's fishy if ye ask me!" Hyobe huffed as he ran despite his physique. "Rookie hunters like a wee quest like this wan, why'd the higher-ups let these wans slide?"

"That doesn't matter now!" Takuya said. "What's important is making sure Nikiri is safe!" They pressed on, heading for the zone where Velocidromes are most common: the cave covered with moss and shrubbery.

Their hunch was correct as Nikiri arrived there, lost and had no idea where she was.

"Hmmm...If only I had brought a map!" She sighed in frustration, but then quickly shot a Velociprey with her bow, which made a valiant dash for her. "And where do these beasts spawn from? The more I kill, the more come to avenge the fallen!"

But it was then that Nikiri heard the growl of a much more fearsome monster, which sent alarm bells ringing in her head. She turned to her right to see a monster that was identical to the Velociprey, but was twice as big and adorned a bright orange horn to distinguish its rank among its followers: one of the Velocidrome.

Nikiri, frozen in fear at this new monster, began to back away slowly, but the beast gave a loud howl as it charged at Nikiri.

"Back, beast!" She cried, reacting immediately and tried to fire an arrow at it, but the fear struck in her caused her to miss, and now the Velocidrome had pounced on top of her.

"Kyaaa!" She screamed as loud as she could. This was picked up by Takuya and his friends.

"It's Nikiri, she's in danger!" Takuya gasped as he charged with all his speed towards the source of the noise.

Nikiri was now trying to break free of the Velocidrome's grip while at the same time defending the mushrooms and dodging the monster's bites.

"R-Release me, you foul creature!" She cried, but the Velocidrome kept up the pressure, wanting to gnaw on Nikiri's face out of instinct. But then, the beast made its mark as one of its razor sharp fangs grazed Nikiri's shoulder badly; letting out a pain filled shriek, she began to get light headed from blood loss. The Velocidrome, now seeing the weakness in its prey, got off from Nikiri as it prepared to make a meal out of her.

"If I cannot…defeat…one monster…" Nikiri grimaced, sitting up, but to her horror, another Velocidrome came, briefly greeted the other Velocidrome with a few growls, and the two began approaching Nikiri, ready to feast on her tender flesh.

"N-No! Stay back!" Nikiri begged, backing away.

With the three hunters who were making their way through the dense jungle, they began to notice a storm was brewing, dark rain clouds formed overhead with rumbles of thunder being heard in the distance.

"A storm?!" Tenji pondered. "Impossible! The weather balloon stated there would be no storms for weeks to come!"

"It might be a monster's doin'!" Hyobe guessed. "Might be a Kushala! Where they are, storms follow!"

"Hang on, Nikiri! We're coming!" Takuya growled as they continued the charge.

Back with Nikiri, the Velocidromes kept up their advance, cornering her to the back of a wall, the young girl all but given up.

"I…I could not even complete a low rank mission…" Nikiri cried, unable to control her emotions. "I…cannot protect myself, even with weapons and armour…" She held her wounded shoulder, unable to contain the pain. "I'm nothing…I'm…"

The Velocidromes pounced for her.

"I'M USELESS!"

Suddenly, a strong bolt of lightning struck the battlefield, destroying everything around the area, the view was perfect with Takuya and his companions as they saw the bolt hit the small hill and was blasted back by the shockwave.

"Whoa!" Cried Tenji, being thrown back due to his light armour.

"The hell is happenin'?!" Hyobe cursed. But this didn't stop Takuya, as he continued to run to the struck hill. "Are you daft, Takuya?! What if it strikes again?!"

"Actually, it's known lightning doesn't strike twice in the same spot, Hyobe." Tenji explained. "If anything, we're in more danger by staying here." With those words, Hyobe jolted behind Takuya.

The three arrived in the smoldering ruins of the cave and what a sight they saw. Everything from the grass, moss and plants were burned to a crisp, the two Velocidrome were scattered far apart from each other, dead, their hide's blackened, and in the far corner, was an unconscious Nikiri, huddled against the wall, her armour and bow destroyed, leaving her completely naked for the world to see. Tenji, seeing Nikiri, blushed and turned away, Hyobe, was angling to see more, while Takuya rushed to her, using his standard clothes to cover a majority of her body.

"Nikiri! Nikiri!" Takuya called to her. "Please wake up, please say you're not dead!" Hyobe, now knowing Takuya wasn't going to give him a good look at Nikiri, began to look around for more clues to what happened, while Tenji, now sure Nikiri was safe to look at, noticed something.

"Hold on…" Tenji pointed out. "Why is it everything in a 50 foot radius is burned to a cinder, while Miss Nikiri is just fine?" Tenji pointed to her bare leg, which had no burns of any kind.

"That doesn't matter now!" Takuya ordered, trying to wake Nikiri, but no matter how hard he called her name or shook her, she wouldn't wake. "Sh-She's not breathing!"

"Try CPR, Takuya! The shock of the lightning must have stopped her heart!" Tenji suggested.

"R-Right…" Takuya gulped nervously, then began beating Nikiri's heart with his hands, trying to get a pulse. There was still no sign of her waking, so Takuya opened Nikiri's mouth and went in to give her the kiss of life. But before the kiss could be made, Nikiri awoke to see Takuya edging closer.

"Eeeeeek!" She screamed with a mighty blush. "T-Takuya is trying to kiss me!"

"N-Nikiri! You're alive!" Takuya sighed in relief.

"Th-That's not important! Why were you trying to k-kiss me?!" Nikiri stuttered in embarrassment. "A-And where's my armour?"

"Takuya was trying to save you by giving you CPR, Miss Nikiri." Explained Tenji, then moved beside Nikiri to see a smoldering pile of molten steel burned to the ground. "And I believe this is what's become of your armour."

"T-Takuya was…trying to save me…?" Asked Nikiri.

"Oi, guys!" Called Hyobe. "We got something new here!" Tenji went over immediately, while Takuya lifted Nikiri, trying not to touch her naked flesh while she held the only piece of clothing on her to cover herself as the two went over to what Hyobe found.

In the rock hallway leading to the next section of caves, there was the team of four Felynes that was tasked with saving hunters from death and bringing them back to base camp for a cut of the prize money. The team of Felynes were blown back from the force of the lightning bolt, they were unconscious but didn't suffer any burns.

"Poor things must have been near the blast radius." Tenji theorized. "Maybe that's why Miss. Nikiri didn't have any burns?" Just then, Nikiri's natural instincts kicked in, dashed over and hugged one of the unconscious cat-like creatures.

"Oh my gosh, they are so adorable!" Nikiri announced lovingly. "Can we keep one, Takuya?! Can we?!"

"Th-That can be discussed later!" Takuya said trying to calm her down. Just then, the Felynes began to awake.

"Ohh, my head…Nya…" One grunted.

"We got lucky, nya!" Another said. "If we arrived sooner, we'd have been cooked Felyne, nya!"

"You guys aw'rite?" Asked Hyobe.

"We're quite alright, hunter." Said the leader, who wore small blue armour to stand out from the others. "And who might you all be?"

"I'm Takuya." Spoke he. "These are my friends, Nikiri, Tenji and Hyobe."

"We're the Felyne Rescue Squad!" Said one of the Felynes and signalled to the leader of the pack. "This is our leader, Alpha!"

"Excuse me, private Delta! That is but my codename! If you humans wish to know my name, I am Alexandro DuCang the Fourth, nya! Leader of the Felyne Rescue Squad you see before you, nya!"

"I want to keep him!" Giggled Nikiri cutely.

"What happened here, Alpha?" Asked Takuya, using his more basic code name.

"We heard from the weather balloon that the newest hunter, Nikiri, was under attack by two Velocidrome, nya! So we headed to the area to save her if she needed saving, nya!" Alpha spoke. "When we were certain her life was in danger, the area was struck by lightning! I've never seen anything like it in my life, nya!"

"You poor things…" Said a saddened Nikiri.

"W-We are not creatures for pity!" Yelled the leader. "We are Felynes! Proud and strong!"

"Anythin' happen aftah that?" Asked Hyobe.

"No, we were knocked back from the force of the blast and we awoke to find you." Alpha continued.

"Aside from being blown back, we'll be fine, nya!" Said one of the other Felynes as it and the other two began repairs on the wheeled stretcher that was damaged from the blast.

"Well, the lightning did have one good outcome." Spoke Tenji. "It killed the two Velocidrome for us, and managed to save Nikiri from any harm."

"I think not, nya!" Bellowed Alpha and eyed Nikiri down. "You should take better care of yourself, rookie hunter, nya! If you couldn't even defeat a Velocidrome with good weapons and armour, you better give up now and save us the bother, nya!" Once the wheeled stretcher was repaired, Alpha and his companions raced off, back to wherever they came from.

"Felynes sure have an honest and stubborn attitude, eh?" Tenji commented. Takuya looked to Nikiri, only to see that she was gone from sight; looking around, he spotted Nikiri searching frantically for something at the spot where she was found.

"Nikiri? What's wrong?" Takuya asked, racing towards her.

"Th-The mushrooms! I-I had them with me! But…" Her words dropped when she came across the ashes of her item bag and inside was a pile of ashes that was the mushrooms she collected. Without rhyme or reason, Nikiri broke down, crying that the mushrooms she collected were gone.

"Wh-Whoa, Nikiri, calm down." Takuya said in pity for the girl.

"B-B-But I really had them!" Nikiri snivelled. "I-I-I h-had them a-and those m-mean bullies came a-and..." She resumed her sobbing.

"It's nothing to fret over, Miss. Nikiri." Said Tenji. "We can always look for more . Special Mushrooms are very common in this jungle, and with the four of us, we…" But as Tenji talked, Nikiri's sobbing died down, until a smile formed on her face.

"Tenji, you're a genius!" She cried, hugging the young boy, so his head was pressed against her chest.

"N-No problem, j-just being helpful…" Tenji muttered in embarrassment.

"Aye, wee Tenji's right, lass." Hyobe grinned. "Noo that mother nature's delt wae oor targets, we cin help oot with your wee mushroom quest!"

"Th-Thank you, everyone!" Nikiri smiled happily. After putting on Takuya's shirt, which was big enough to cover her, Nikiri and the others searched the neighbouring areas for more mushrooms and sure enough, there were plenty to be found. Soon, the four made it back to base camp with five more mushrooms.

"And one more makes ten." Said Takuya, putting an end to the mushroom hunting quest.

"Yay!" Nikiri cheered. "We completed our first quest, Takuya!"

"Might need to git ye some new armour tae!" Hyobe chuckled, making Nikiri blush as the three laughed merrily, now that they completed the two missions.

After the four had collected their reward and once night began to roll in, Takuya and Nikiri arrived back at their lodgings.

"Here you go." Takuya said, giving Nikiri some basic leather armour that could be worn by girls as well as men, along with this armour she was given a hunter's bow.

"Hmmm…My last armour that Chikko made me was much better!" Nikiri said bluntly.

"It might not be your taste, but it's the common clothes for rookies to wear." Takuya explained. This however made Nikiri pout, prompting Takuya to explain himself. "My methods up 'til now were kind of rushed, I was hoping you'd get good armour, a good weapon and be on your merry way. But I was wrong. If we're gonna make you a monster hunting pro, we're gonna take it from the start. We'll learn the basics first before we get onto missions, so that way you can protect yourself when you do fight monsters." Nikiri listened and nodded her head.

"Yes! I'll make you proud, Takuya!"