The Everwood...

Normally a great place for sightseeing or simple gathering, the lush green jungle was amassed with mystery. but on the more serious side of the coin. a most dangerous beast had made it's nest there. and it was his job to tear it down, inhabitant and all. with the entire Team of Aces, he doubted the notion of them being unprepared, and advanced with an alert stride. not knowing of the sheer peril that lay less than a few feet ahead.

The Ace commanders cut simply refused to close, and he couldn't slip away for the gunner to load up some healing shot. running, diving and rolling for two whole minutes as a cut on his upper forehead started to bleed, causing him to be unable to see, now running blindly he felt something grab his shoulders and pull him away, the sounds of combat fading quickly as he was pulled further and further away, suddenly feeling himself being pushed down onto a solid surface. he promptly felt his wounds close, as if they were healing the whole time, standing above him being the Ace gunner, not armed, but wrapping the several severe wounds, before he could ask a question he realised they were in the back of a moving caravan, just the two of them in silence.

"Gunner, speak! what happened?! where are the Lancer and Cadet?"

She curled up on the small bench they used for seats, looking back at the fading everwood.

"We lost..."

The Commander felt hopeless as he realized the severity of their situation. four went in to defeat a monster, two came out wounded, the other two missing. and the monster left relatively unscathed. all he had to show for this was a failure... yet now that his head was wandering it always came back to the Caravan... more specifically, their new hunter... She had been able to hold her own against this monstrosity while protecting her comrades for twenty minutes before she so much as showed signs of injury... according to their small Decorative smith, he didn't know how much of what she could recall was true.

"I can read you like a book y'know... and your right."

He scowled as he looked away, thinking back to his most recent meeting with the huntress... how Ironic that She had fared better in a horrible condition than they had in ideal ones. yet his arrogance had caused him to mock her and ridicule her, when in the end his actions reflected his scolding, closing his eyes he could still see her face, tense and nervous as she worked through a wound just to apologize to him... whereas on his end. he had assumed that the hunter was a man... something he was not going to admit anytime soon though. Oh how Irony works alongside karma, he had wronged her and so the world wronged him.


As soon as they reached the guilds halls once again, the Gunner immediately collapsed, checking her quickly the Ace Commander saw no blood, but several areas that would be bruised for a while. several guild employed medics came back and forth, tending to them and giving them some of their better rations. time flew for a while until the caravaneer entered, along with the immediately recognizable figure of the huntress. now wearing an improved armor set that made her gender much more clear than before. she locked eyes with him for a split second before looking towards the gunner, then approaching the guild master swiftly.

"what happened?"

The Commander blacked out for a short while as his head started throbbing, their words not catching his ears for a while.

"Shoot, where'd your main Palico go? dang he must have ran off to help them."

The commanders eyes shot open. "You mustn't get involved, this is too dangerous for a hunter such as yourself. we'll have it taken care of shortly."

The Huntress turned on her heel and stepped out from behind the Caravaneer. using the quick comparison to judge her height she stood a measly five foot eight. She stood square in front of the Commander, as tempted as he was to look her up and down. considering the slight gap in her chest plate as well,but he stared right into her eyes unflinching.

"...You're an Arse, you know that?"

With the simple words she turned and picked up her insect glaive, her accent more noticeable now then before, before tapping the Caravaneers shoulder and walking out, causing the elderly man to smirk and as he clasped the Commanders shoulder, shaking it lightly with a knowing wink. before he could say another word the gunner spoke from behind him

"Let her go... you need to rest..."

growling to himself he stopped, going to finish the light meal he had left on the table, no sense letting it go to waste after all...


The whole day passed in a blur of motion, random hunters coming and going, cleaning, questing, and eating. a buzz of motion and not a moment spent on the field, the whole ordeal bored him to no end, he craved to be out on the field. and he just could not understand how hunters could ever retire. the sheer boredom of day to day life would kill him, his thoughts were interrupted when an energetic redhead and an elderly man approached him, the Cadet and Lancer, in one piece, however the Lancer seemed to have been crushed in some way, not the best for ware, unable to talk to him for long he had to default to talking to the cadet.

"You should have seen it! my kinsect was like pshew! and the Magala was all bwargh! and the cat was all Nyanng!"

Immediate regret in his choice. that was all he could feel for every word he heard, cutting him off by asking him to check in with the gunner while he went over to the Lancer for some hopefully understandable conversation.

"I must admit. it was quite impressive, she cleared the way for us and drove of the Magala. TWICE. I must say you underestimated her by quite a bit!" he let out a hearty laugh, clearly feeling better than usual. however he wasn't well enough to hunt. but well enough to walk around.

"now then, I think you know what your going to have to do now, right?"

"fine... I'll go tell the guildmaster."


As he entered the guild hall he arrived just as the guildmaster finished conversing with the huntress, not taking a chance he immediately spoke.

"I believe the choice is obvious. You, kindred hunter, will have to do what we can't and face this threat, You must be the one to get it done."

That was embarrassing... accidentally using the caravaneers words in front of his huntress, bah, how immature...

"hehe! thats right champ! your the one to get it done! now go get ready sweetheart!"

The huntress briefly smiled and walked out of the guild hall with a spring in her step, seemingly more confident after standing up to the commander, but the commander did not feel insulted,in fact, he felt overjoyed by the fellow hunters excitement. an odd feeling that he was unfamiliar with, and then as soon as she left it was replaced by a new feeling, despair and worry, not sure whether or not to take back the choice and throw himself at the monster again and again to make sure she didn't put herself in harms way against the ferocious demon of a monster... will these feelings ever make sense?