Chapter 8: Monster Hunter

A/N – Don't forget to read the summary at the end if you've never played! Also, try to catch a reference to my favorite show in here. Finally, if you're not sure what the monster looks like, just Google image search the name. Enjoy!

"No, what do you mean it was bound to happen? You're trying to get with him, aren't you? I knew it!" by now, Shinji was in his corner as the two girls fought – or, rather, Asuka yelled at Rei.

"You stated that we would end up in a room nude. That is what happened. It was bound to happen."

"Don't give me a grammar lesson, Wondergirl! I know exactly what you meant! Listen here, Shinji has tried to ask me out twice in the last half hour. The first time you freaked him out by singing, and I don't blame him, and the second time you tried to seduce him. So stay out of it!" the boy wasn't quite sure who's side to take; the logical side of Rei, or the girlfriend side of Asuka. Any sane man would have chosen the latter, but he was far from sane – he was aware of this, and just sat this one out, "Listen here, if you're just trying to get a boyfriend, find someone else!"

"I am not trying to court Ikari. Regardless, that is the male's obligation."

"So you are trying to get a guy! Fine, if it keeps you out of our way, I'll help you with that. Who do you have your eyes on? Kensuke? Toji? Or do you play for the other team?" Rei's eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, "It doesn't matter, I know enough people to try and hook you up. What do you like in a guy?" no answer, "A girl?" still nothing, "You're making this difficult… fine, fine, I can work with this. I don't know a damn thing about you, so tell me about yourself. What's your favorite food?"

"Cow tongue."

"Come again? Did you just say cow tongue? Where in the world have you even had that?"

"Next question."

"Freak…" though they'd never admit it, both Shinji and Asuka silently wondered just how such a thing would taste. Logically, it should be pretty good – being a strong muscle and all – but… some things are better left in the garbage, "Fine, moving on. What's your favorite hobby?"

"Magnets."

"… magnets? Like, what, making magnets? Collecting magnets? Playing with magnets? You gave me a noun, that's not a hobby," Shinji really shouldn't have laughed, because the sad part is he knew exactly what Rei was talking about.

"Just magnets."

"I'll say you like snowboarding… likes?"

"Glasses."

"Like, a guy that wears glasses? Or nice sunglasses? What does that even mean?" by now, Shinji was turning blue from holding back the laughter.

"Just glasses."

"This girl is going to be the death of me…" she rubbed her eyes as she spoke to herself, "I'm afraid to ask, but what about dislikes?"

"People's knees."

"For Christ sake! You know what, thank God you're good looking, because you're a freak!" she stormed off to the other side of the room as Rei mumbled something about covering yourself up if you're going to be walking around, "Of all the people they sent in to save us, they send the freak of Nerv! Magnets? Glasses? Is that some weird fetish I've never heard of? God!" Shinji just couldn't hold it back any longer, "And what are you laughing at? Is this some kind of joke for you two? Give it a rest already!" and with a stomp of her foot, the entire room flashed and, in an instant, they found themselves standing in a hut with a single bed.

"You really need to watch your temper. This is the third time you've done this," the massive weight of whatever he was wearing was bearing heavy on his shoulders. He looked down to see something quite terrifying – a solid, jet black suit of armor that appeared to be made out of scales, claws, and fangs. On either one of his shoulders rested a massive, blood red horn of some God awful creature, and two, smaller, similar horns rested on his helmet of steel that covered his entire face. On the bed laid a massive sword of similar design.

"How will this defend me?" Rei looks down at herself and was much less amused than Shinji. Her entire outfit was aqua blue, made out of a much finer scale material than Shinji's, and essentially had the coverage of a sports bra and a skirt. She held two small daggers in her hands that, like Shinji's, matched her outfit.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Asuka was about the only one thrilled with her chosen armor. Thick, mounting red scales and black spikes covered her body with the occasional peaking of metal in certain areas such as the chest, thighs, and upper arms. An almost samurai-esque hood shielded her head, and the massive sword, barely smaller than her entire body, that was clearly hers – as it matched her outfit – rested on the bed on top of Shinji's massive hammer made out of the same material as his armor, "I know this game! It's Monster Hunter! I was just playing this in Germany right before I came here! This is so awesome…" she looked at herself from all angles and, in an action very un-Asuka-like, had absolutely no complaints.

"I, too, have played this game recently. Online, I go by the name of Azure," Asuka's heart sank.

"Wow, I didn't know you played too. Am I the only one who doesn't?"

"Rei… what server did you play on?" Asuka hasn't asked God for much in her life – maybe for a dress to go on sale, but not much beyond that. This she was willing to sell her soul for.

"Two. And yourself?" Asuka rubbed her eyes in annoyance.

"I'm DeutschBlut," even Rei's eyes widened at her response, but not enough for anyone to notice, "And yes, you heard me right. I can't believe this…"

"So… you two played together?"

"Quite a bit, yes, though I didn't know it was Soryu. We have over five hundred quests logged together, and we're actually one of the top parties in the server along with another player. The game must recognize us, because these are the exact armors and weapons we had in-game. In retrospect, I can see why my defense is lacking," Asuka moaned in annoyance as Rei looked over herself again, "I was curious as to why you quit the game without saying anything. Now I know."

"We are never playing together again, you hear me? I can't believe I spent all those hours with you! God! You were so much cooler online, but look at you! Ah!" cursing in a language foreign to the other two children, she stormed out of the hut.

"Well… I think you look good, Rei."

"It is a low-level armor. I wore it as a challenge to see if I could survive. I did, and I liked the look of it, so I kept it. Asuka's is one of the best in the game, and yours is quite useless for people like Asuka and myself – our weapons require too much movement. Your defense is massive, and you're known as a tank. You essentially stand there and take damage while other people – that is, Asuka and I – work on damaging the monster quickly. Your hammer does a lot of damage, but just very, very slowly. It's better used as a shield, really," he's never heard her speak so… human. Her topics of conversation always include topics along the lines of basic survival, but talking about video games seemed like something he'd never do with her.

"So… I have to just stand there and take it?"

"Quite," she walked outside and followed Asuka down the path they the traversed countless times. Rei immediately knew where she was going – an extremely low level environment made specifically for the introductory players. The game, in Shinji's eyes, clearly allowed Asuka to carry her sword easier than she should be able to; she propped it over her shoulders as if it was a light piece of luggage. Though, his theory didn't exactly accommodate for his excessively heavy hammer, which drug several feet behind him as he struggled to keep up with the girls, all the while whining, "Soryu?"

"What?" her tone was piercing… apparently she was still upset about her new revelation that her best friend online was her worst enemy in real life. Funny how things work out, no?

"None of the typical gates are up in this area. Rathalos is most likely about," Asuka rolled her eyes as they walked past massive, herbivorous creatures in the first area.

"Of course he is, that's the mission I selected. He should go down pretty quickly between the three of us. Hell, I could probably take him by myself," Rei chose not to mention how she's essentially wearing the corpses of no less than five of the wyverns, "While we're here, Shinji might as well see why this game is so great. Rathalos is the signature monster, after all."

"True, but-"

"I'm not about to debate with you."

"Yes, but-"

"Zip it, Ayanami!" she did, indeed, zip it, "So Shinji, here's the plan – you're going to draw the monster's attention, got it? That thing can kill Rei and I in a few hits, but you should be able to just stand there and take it for us while we do the real damage. Just try not to run away, okay?" no reply, "Answer me when I'm talking to you, damn it!" she turned around to see why Rei was trying to get her attention. Shinji, frozen by fear, stared up at the large wyvern as it casually ate another monster, now beyond recognition, "Would ya look at that? Let's do this!"

"Soryu?"

"What? What is it? What's so important that it can't wait?"

There's a signature feature about the Rathalos that few inexperienced players know; it has a very keen sense of hearing. It mainly uses this to hunt its prey, which they do quite well. Specifically, the majority of its prey use high-pitched squeals for communication, so through the wonders of Darwinism, their sense of hearing is tuned specifically to high pitched noises. Asuka's voice, when angry, can shatter glass. She was angry. Within seconds, the wyvern was hauling towards the three with a monstrous roar, and Shinji aptly screamed, turned around, and ran as quickly as he could. The two girls followed suit, though their retreat was much, much faster. He didn't stand a chance, really.

"There, just like that, Shinji!" Rei and Asuka stared at Shinji as he lay on the ground, screaming bloody murder, while the Rathalos batted him around like an old cat toy. That is, until it once again heard Asuka's voice.

"Hey Rei?" Shinji walks up next to her, still panting from the previous ordeal.

"Yes?" that incessant screaming began to give her a headache.

"Should we help her? I mean, she's bound to trip eventually," as if the Rathalos recognized her chest piece as his long lost wife, it chased her in a massive circle in the middle of the field, all while she screamed foreign curses most likely having to do with murdering the two children when they get back.

"I tried telling her before – we were ambush hunters. We'd set up a trap, wait for the monster to step on it, and then go in for the kill. We've never practiced with a tank before," he nodded as if he understood anything. He didn't, "But I suppose we should help Soryu, yes," she glances over at the wyvern chasing Asuka, "But you first."

"W-Why me? You're the one who's experienced in this game! You go first!"

"It is because I'm experienced that I know I should not go first. You may want to duck," he takes the breath to ask why, only to be blown to the side by a massive fire ball thrown by Rathalos, "I told you to duck."

"That's what you get for not helping me!" the screaming girl ran over Shinji – quite literally, he still has the bruise to prove it – while still being chased by Rathalos, "Our date is so off!"

"Ikari?"

"What?" face still down in the dirt and smoke rising from his back, he mumbled through the armor.

"The weak spot on the Rathalos is on its tail. If you were to hit it, the wyvern would be paralyzed for a time," at this point, he gave up an asking questions. Shinji struggled to his feet and held the massive hammer up with much effort. Instead of chasing after the dragon – which he realized would never work – he opted to just wait for Asuka to run by again. She did not disappoint. His hammer came down like the fist of an angry god onto the tail, and while he expected a roar of pain, he instead got more of an annoyed glance from the wyvern, "You missed it. The weak spot is further down," he'd never seen Rei run before. He had now. Rathalos let out an earth-shattering roar at the boy, who now clearly needed new pants (or whatever in the world he was wearing, he wasn't sure).

The roar was cut off prematurely, though, as what looked like an extension of the wyvern shot out the top of its. Blood pours from the forehead and chin, completely soaking an absolutely fuming Asuka. She held her sword above her head and through the wyvern's skull with now dead eyes. She stared at Shinji with a look that could melt glass, and it sent shivers up his spine that she didn't move out of the way from the blood. Or blink, for that matter. She huffed like a boar at the boy, and he could have sworn he saw little puffs of smoke coming from her nostrils. By now, her entire body was crimson red with the blood, and the only deviations of this were the white glimmer of teeth as she bared them like a pit bull and piercing blue devil-jewels she calls eyes. Even those portions of colors were slowly being filled with red.

"That's what nightmares are made of, right there," he tried to play it off as a joke. She wasn't laughing. And still not blinking, "Add another one to your collection, right?" he nervously laughed as she grunted, "You're mad at me, aren't you?"

"You don't… know the definition… of mad," she spoke in between angered pants as she let her sword and the wyvern fall behind her.

"Is it gone?" Rei peaked out from a tree roughly fifty yards away as she spoke. Asuka shot her a horrid glare, and the girl went back to her place behind the foliage.

"Oh come on! I helped you!" she walked towards him in a Frankenstein manner as he backed up, still sitting on the floor, "I-I didn't know what to do! I've never played this game before!" she stopped right over him, now dripping blood onto his armor, "Please don't hurt me…"

"I'm not going to lay a finger on you," in retrospect, maybe wishing for her to smile was a bad choice on his part. He'd never seen something to terrifying in his life. She pulled out a large black object from behind her that resembled a ram's horn and blew into it, sending an echo through the mountains. Still smiling, she dropped the horn and walked away, "Asuka? Um… Asuka? What was that?" he heard countless roars through the air, "Asuka? This isn't funny! Come on! What did you do?" a large thud rocked the ground behind him. And then another. And another. Struggling through his shaking body, he turned his head to see three wyverns similar to the dead one at his feet, all in a different color; one silver, one pink, and one green Rathalos all stood behind him, staring down at the boy as if they hadn't eaten in months.

They hadn't.

A/N – Hey all, sorry that it took so long for me to update. I had serious writer's block on this. Like, crippling. But here it is, finally. The next chapter will most likely be Bloodrayne, but I'm not sure yet. We'll all just have to wait and see. Keep on keepin' on!

Summary – This is a hard game to explain… it's an RPG where you basically go around killing monsters (which look like dinosaurs with more spikes). From those, you carve their bodies for meat and, more importantly, parts for new weapons. If you Google image search "Monster Hunter weapons", you'll notice that they all look very organic. That's because they are. Same goes for all of the armor and supplies. It's actually a very neat game, and I'm waiting for the English version of the new game to come out.