CHAPTER 5: The Fruit of Labour

Rick hated himself.

He couldn't bear to see Joanne unconscious in the hunter's cabin, so he had decided to take a stroll. Overhearing some hunters talking about hunting a Teostra, he had inched closer. He had heard one of them saying that a Teostra was weak to thunder and had had a good silent laugh. But he had been quite horrified when they all actually agreed with him. He'd jumped out at them and started explaining that a Teostra was weak to dragon and water, but they wouldn't buy it. They'd treated him like a joke. Rick didn't like to be treated like a joke.

Perhaps it was this little incident that had made him propose that they would get rid of The Annihilator. He was already regretting his little outburst. How could he, Joanne and Freddy kill something that might well be a Dalamadur? They might be pros at a video game, but they had no real experience in combat. But he couldn't do anything about it as he followed Minerva to the hot spring. A bath would do him good. And what had she said about them having… a brushing goo?

Unfortunately, they were not taking a bath. They moved away from the hot spring as soon as they had reached it, heading behing the gathering hall. A man was sitting on a stone bench, tearing at a piece of meat on a bone. He had long disheveled hair. His piece of cloth was wound around his body, but most of it could be seen through the enormous holes and tears in it anyway. He waved a thin hand at them, "Aye, yall come from th' grin ligh'ning, nya?"

They all froze. Minerva's eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about, Grat?" she asked.

Grat tore another piece off the meat with his yellow teeth, which looked like they had been hammered very badly into his mouth all at different angles. "Why, th' grin ligh'ning, o'curs! Las' nigh', when i' was rainin'!" he croaked in a voice that sounded literally broken into pieces.

Minerva turned to them. "I knew you were not from our world. Where are you from? What is he saying about this green lightning?"

Rick recounted the last night, and told her that they were indeed from another world. He did not, however, mention Monster Hunter the video game.

"So, you say that you were transported here through this lightning?" she said broodingly, not really asking them. She turned back to Grat, who had finished the meat and was now chewing the bone. "How many lightning strikes did you count, Grat?"

"Um… can he count?" asked Joanne, eyeing Grat cautiously.

"Of course he can count."

Grat seemed to realize that his meat was over and chucked the bone into the hot spring. Just before it hit the water, the chief's cat jumped up and caught the bone in its mouth. It ran away into the woods.

"Dang tha' ca'!" said Grat, "well, as for th' ligh'ning, Minerva, I coun'ed six'y eigh'."

Rick felt his heart stop pumping. There were sixty-eight people from their world here?

"Don't be stupid, Grat," scoffed Minerva. "How many green lightning strikes did you count?"

"Ah, those, I coun'ed five."

Rick felt his heart get going again. Five people was not a big deal. Although someone was bound to discover them missing in their world, it would not cause too much chaos. "So, where are the other two?" he wondered out loud.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Minerva. "But we can see to that later. First, important matters."

They walked to the very back of the guild hall. There was a stone wall on the right, which curved and met the wall of the hall, creating a large closed area like a small playground. Plants with colourful flowers were planted along the edge, making it look very pleasant. In the centre, in a small pit ringed with marble stones was a thin but very tall tree. The trunk grew upwards in a wavy pattern, with very thin branches sprouting out of it, all the leaves directly attached to them. On the top, something glowed red.

"This is the Hanta Tsuri," said Minerva. "The Hunters' Tree. It grants the Burreshingu, an ancient Japanese blessing. Only those born with the blood of a hunter are able to climb to the top, and eat the sacred fruit. After, and if, you pass this test, you may pursue the path of a hunter."

Rick tried to see the fruit clearly, but the leaves hid it well. He could only see the red glow. If he tried to move backwards, the tree seemed to bend in the opposite direction, obscuring his vision again.

"What does the blessing… um… do?" asked Freddy uncertainly.

"You say you know certain things we do not," said Minerva suspiciously. "Surely you know what special powers hunters have?"

Rick racked his brains, his mind going back to the video game. What special powers did he have in it?

"Er… You can jump off great heights?" he asked?

"Yes, that is one side effect," said Minerva unhelpfully.

"I know, it makes your legs stronger!" exclaimed Joanne.

Minerva smiled, her skin stretching so much that it looked as if it might rip at any moment. "That is one part," she said.

"It basically makes your whole body stronger, doesn't it?" asked Freddy confidently.

"It does, yes, very good. What else does it do?"

"Um… increase your natural healing speed?" asked Rick

"Natural and medicinal, yes. The last effect?"

Joanne gave a large grin and said, "I know! You can't die!"

Minerva frowned. "What's that? Of course you can die!" she said. "Didn't Bontus just tell you how many hunters the Annihilator had killed? And what's the point if you can't even die?"

"Oh yeah…" said Joanne, her face falling.

"The last effect is that it makes your senses sharper and your body agile, thus allowing – or assisting – you to survive your hunts," explained Minerva, apparently losing her patience.

"What if you become a hunter without having this… er… blessing?"

"A Kut-Ku would probably kill you."

There was silence, punctuated by Grat's loud guffaws. Minerva broke it, "So, would you like to go first?" she asked Freddy, beckoning towards the tree.

Freddy gulped, but seeing that both Rick and Joanne were kids, he seemed to think that it was his responsibility to set an example. He jumped a little, grabbing a branch with one hand and the trunk with the other. The branch bent easily. Freddy seemed to be surprised at this, for he let go and hit the ground. Rick winced.

Dusting himself and looking thoroughly disgruntled and embarrassed, Freddy jumped again and grabbed the same branch much harder. Pushing his feet against the trunk, he managed to pull himself up and finally rest them on a branch, being careful to keep them as close to the trunk as possible. After that, it was cake, and he was at the top in minutes.

"Very good," said Minerva. "Your friend has the Blessing. He is fit to become a hunter." She then said to Freddy, "Go on, take a bite!" Rick wondered how Freddy could hear her, the tree was quite tall and her voice was just loud enough that they could hear her standing at her side.

Freddy had been looking strangely at them for a few seconds, as if surprised. He then lowered his head. The red glow disappeared immediately. Minerva nodded, and said, "You may come down now!"

But instead of climbing down, Freddy jumped. Rick gasped. Joanne's eyes widened. Minerva yawned. Freddy hit the ground and just bent his knees, absorbing all the pressure without even rolling The ground actually cracked at his feet.

Minerva yawned wider, and waved Rick towards the tree. Rick began to climb just as Freddy had done, thinking that this was a really stupid test, that anyone could do it. He kept climbing, seeing the red glow at the top which had immediately reappeared after Freddy had jumped. After climbing a bit more, keeping his eyes on the branches, he looked up again. The top seemed as far away as ever. He climbed unhaltingly for about a minute more.

He looked up again and was astonished to see that the top seemed as far away as ever. Surely it ought to be getting closer? He couldn't be that bad at climbing. He looked down to get a glimpse at the ground. It seemed much closer than it ought to be. Angry at himself for making a fool of himself, he climbed faster for about five minutes without stopping. Again he looked at the ground. Was he climbing at all? The ground seemed just a bit further than it was five minutes ago. The top was as far as ever. This was impossible. How had Freddy done it in just a few minutes? Rick was already tiring. But he kept climbing, not wanting to fail a hunter's test. He would become a hunter. He would. He would.

After more than an hour of climbing, he finally reached the top.

The fruit looked like an oversized pomegranate, emitting a fierce red glow. He plucked it from the branch. It was strangely light. He looked down at the others and almost fell off the tree. He wasn't more than five feet above them! Had he just climbed five feet in an hour? But the tree had seemed so tall!

"Good, you have the Blessing too. Come down now," said Minerva in her abnormally low voice.

"Don't I get to eat it?" asked Rick in surprise.

"You are underage. You wouldn't be able to even if you tried," said Minerva. "But I wont stop you from trying."

Rick was confused. "How will I get the hunter's powers, then?"

"You won't, obviously."

"Then what about becoming a hunter?" this was not going as Rick had thought.

"You can't eat the fruit unless you are of age, though you can climb the tree. So, you will have to wait until you are eighteen. That will be what, three years?"

Rick was becoming angry now. "Three years? I can't wait three freaking years! I'll do it now, and you can't stop me!"

Minerva yawned yet again. "By all means, give it your best bite."

Rick looked at the fruit. It looked quite edible. He bit into the side.

The fruit vanished along with the red glow at once, not into thin air, but into Rick's body. He suddenly felt incredible. He could do anything. He could, for instance, strangle a Tigrex with his bare hands. He could run the length of the Sahara desert. And he could definitely jump down this tree. Rick jumped. The tree suddenly seemed to grow back to its old forty-foot high state, and Rick was hurtling towards the ground at top speed. But the idea that he would break any of his bones was so hilarious that he laughed aloud. He hit the ground with shattering impact, although it was the ground that cracked, not his bones. He stood up, grinning. "That was incredible!"

But Minerva was looking anything but incredible. The little colour in her seemed to have drained out. She gawped at Rick, then at the tree, which was as tall as ever, the fruit restored at the top. She sat down in a heap on a bench, and motioned vaguely. Joanne began to climb.

Just then Bontus came around the guild hall with another scroll. He shrieked when he saw Minerva, dropped the scroll and ran to her, "What is the matter? What happened? Is anything the matter? What's wrong?"

Minerva pointed vaguely towards Rick. "The child," she said in a whisper, "He ate it."

Bontus turned to Rick. "You did not," he whispered.

"'Course I did," said Rick. He looked at the top of the tree and saw the red glow vanish yet again. "And she did too," he said pointing at the figure hurtling down. Joanne crashed onto the ground on her knees, cracking the ground. "Isn't this normal?"

"This most definitely is not normal," said Bontus. He removed a conch horn from nowhere and blew into it. The sound was like the trumpeting of a million elephants at once. "A meeting has just been called. Let's see what to do with you."