CHAPTER 3: Natural Medicines

Just when Joanne had thought things couldn't get worse.

They were in an unknown place, far from home, with no idea what to do, no supplies, nowhere to go. And here was something out of a game that couldn't possibly exist looking at her menacingly, planning to kill her. If she hadn't been so scared, she would have laughed. If she had to die, this would be a cool way to go about it. She couldn't see how they were going to escape this.

It was Freddy's quick thinking that saved them. He suddenly gave a piercing scream. It was nowhere as loud as the Narga's roar, but for some reason, instead of pouncing, it staggered. Freddy motioned to them. He had bought them barely two seconds, and they got up and began running as fast as they could.

Joanne wondered why the Narga had staggered. Then she remembered something about being able to sonic bomb Nargas when they entered the prowler stance. Freddy's scream couldn't have been as loud as the sonic bomb, but it had worked nevertheless. She heard another roar behind them. Unfortunately, she also remembered something about Nargas getting angrier when they were soniced. She ran even faster.

They weaved in and out of trees with no idea where they were going. She could hear the Narga behind them, but she couldn't risk a glance behind her. She wondered how the huge thing could possibly be chasing them through this thick jungle. But the Nargacuga was called 'The Assasin of the Jungle' after all. It probably had its own ways.

About a minute later, Joanne realized that the rustling of leaves and the rattlesnake-like noise of the Narga's tail had stopped. She fell to her knees, panting. The others slowed down, looking around them. The Narga seemed to have gone. They collapsed, but still keeping an eye on the way they had come from.

"It's not like the Narga to just leave its prey," Rick said in a tense voice, looking around. Then his face contorted with fear. "Unless, of course…"

He twisted around. Joanne and Freddy followed suit, but it was too late. The Nargacuga was only a few metres away. The sneaky thing must have flown ahead of them to block their way. The Nargacuga seemed to smirk as it did a flip and brought its tail smashing down on them. Joanne tried to roll away, but the tail hit the right side of her body.

It was like getting hit by a falling elephant. Her body was on fire. She was sure that all the bones in the right side of her body must have crumbled. She just had time to think what a terrible shame this was before she blacked out.

Joanne opened her eyes to see Freddy's concerned face bearing down on her. As soon as he saw that she was conscious, he gave a wan smile. She tried to sit up, but her right side was still on fire. So she resorted to croaking, "Where are we?"

"In a village in the mountains. Don't worry, you're safe. Well, maybe a bit worse for the wear, but pretty normal otherwise."

"You kidding? I just had half of my body shattered. I don't think that's a bit."

"Ah, believe me, it's not that bad. The physician says that you were lucky, it was a small Narga. You'll be better in a few days."

"Has he ever lost half of his body?"

"She has lost her entire body twice, apparently. But I don't really buy that. Can you sit up?"

"I don't think so…" Joanne tried lifting herself up again. "A little help?"

Freddy helped her sit up and lean against the wall of what looked like a one-roomed house. The walls were painted a light brown. Beside the bed on which she lay was a big stand filled with books and magazines. There was a huge brown chest on the other side of the room. Beside it was another chest, but this one had no lid. Joanne could see a few weapons inside it. Startled, she realized that this looked very much like a village hunter's house.

"How did you guys escape? Where's Rick?" She asked as Freddy handed her a cup with a bubbling, steaming orange drink in it.

"Drink," ordered Freddy. Joanne screwed her face up, and drained the cup in one gulp. Surprisingly, it didn't taste bitter. It tasted hot and spicy and burned her tongue.

"Mmm, not bad. What was that?"

"You don't want to know."

"Come on, you can tell me. And I want some more," she added, as the pain in her right side seemed to dim,

"Ah ok, It was juice squeezed out of a Brachydios' intestines. Highly energizing, they tell me, but also highly toxic. They mixed a lot of blue mushrooms in it. It probably won't vaporize your insides now." Freddy gave a wicked grin and turned around, "You want more? There's a lot here somewhere…"

Joanne didn't really feel like having water after this news. "No, I guess I'm good," she said as Freddy walked back with a glass for himself. "I don't recall Brachydios Juices anywhere in MH4U."

"Nah, this is off the charts stuff apparently. Top-secret recipe," said Freddy, sipping some of the juice.

"Are we really in the Monster Hunter universe?" asked Joanne in wonder.

Freddy wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "It sure seems so," he said. "There is a blacksmith, a farm, a guild hall, a village chief, a hunter's cabin, talking cats, everything. There are about half a dozen hunters frolicking around, waiting to go on quests."

Joanne took all this in. She should have been frightened, but she felt more excited. She was actually inside her favourite game! This was like a dream come true. She'd always felt like being a hunter. But instead of exploring the village, she was stuck here, because she couldn't escape a stupid Nargacuga's tail smash. This thought reminded her of a question she'd asked earlier; "How did you guys escape?"

"We were really lucky. As the monster busied himself in getting is tail unstuck from the ground, we picked you up and took off. Then we saw this lady who was picking some mushrooms and stuff. She chucked some flash bombs at the Narga, and we ran off while he was dazed. By the time he caught up with us, we were at the border of the village. The guards drove him away with some well placed shelling from a huge mounted bowgun. And Rick's trying to give the hunters some useful tips about fighting Teostras, but I don't think they're really paying attention. Even I wouldn't take advice about fighting fire dragons from someone who ran away from a ninja-cat."

"But he was unarmed!"

"Irrelevant. He should have some experience fighting unarmed too, apparently, if he knows how to kill Teostras."

Just then, a woman walked into the house. She was a little shorter than Freddy, wearing what looked like a single piece of cloth wound in a complicated manner round her body, covering her completely. She smiled at Joanne, "Feeling better, dear?"

"Say hello to the physician. And the woman who saved us."

"Hey," said Joanne with a smile. "I can't thank you enough for saving us."

But the woman was looking at her strangely. "H-hey?"

Freddy rolled his eyes. "They don't get slang. This is old timey stuff, remember?"

But the physician was clearly not interested anymore. She was poking Joanne in various places along her right side, causing her to give "Ow!"s of pain. Finally she straightened up. She applied some kind of purple paste to the side of her stomach, her shoulder and the back of her waist.

Joanne eyed the paste nervously, as if it would burn a hole in her body. "Is that made from Brachydios' intestinal juices too?"

"Of course not," said the physician, closing the bottle from which the paste had come. "This is juice from a Gobul's brain, mixed with parashrooms."

"P-parashrooms?"

"Yes, they will paralyse the nerves which transport the pain messages. I think you will find that you can walk now. Follow me. You must meet the village chief."

As she walked out of the house, Joanne eyed the paste on her body. "What is it with juices from the monsters' organs?"