CHAPTER 7: A Sickening Chicken

"You ready?"

"As ever."

Joanne gave her blades one more sharpen with her whetstone. They were ugly things, made from Bulldrome tusks, but they were sharp and light. Beside her, Rick sharpened his longsword. It was unfair, she thought, that he got one made out of iron. Freddy swung his bone hammer in front of them, practicing the golf swing. All of them were clad in armor made from iron and Bullfango hides. Joanne looked at the arena doors, contemplating the task that lay ahead.

It had been fifteen days since they had begun training. Their trainer, whom they knew only as Sir, had kept their nose to the grindstone, or the whetstone, seeing as they were expected to sharpen their weapons every moment there wasn't a monster in front of them.

"There's no harm in keeping your weapons sharp," he'd said after he'd scolded Joanne for turning up for training with a blade which needed to be pushed a millimetre more to pierce the human. "It's not as if your whetstone is going to burn out!"

Now, after fifteen days of sharpening, running, rolling, combining, weapon swinging, meat cooking, armor wearing, bomb throwing and planting, trap setting, potion drinking, getting shouted at, they were ready for their final task.

"You will kill your first monsters in this task," said Sir. Joanne had found it weird that they hadn't had to touch a single monster during their fifteen days of training. "I hope that you don't cringe at the sight of blood, or get scared of slashing at a monster. Remember, these are ferocious beasts who will tear you apart the first chance they get. Attempts have been made to capture and train these things many times. Each and every one of those three hundred and twenty-three people died. One actually succeeded in getting a Rathalos to follow his command and lie on the ground. Unfortunately, the Rathalos was just playing a cruel game. When the hunter gathered all the people around to show them his achievement, he blasted everything and everyone and tore the hunter apart. What I mean to say is," he smiled at the looks on their faces, "The only way to get rid of these beasts is to slay it. They cannot be captured or trained. It's them or us. And if you do manage to kill a ferocious beast, why not reap the spoils of war?"

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Joanne as she recalled this conversation. They cannot be captured, he had said. But they could definitely be captured! Sir had taught them to set traps. He had also shown them tranquilizer bombs, although they had not thrown any. And what use were tranq bombs, if not for capturing?

But Joanne had no time to contemplate this thought. The arena doors were swinging upward. With bated breath, the three of them stepped into the arena.

It was the second thing Joanne had seen till now that looked almost exactly like it was in the video game. It was the great arena from the older games. There was no other way to describe it. The curvy walls looked like they were made of sand, but it was hard to the touch. The only thing that looked different was that there were three doors instead of the two in the game.

As they stepped forward, the door slammed to the ground behind them. The three of them readied their weapons, looking tensely at the doors. "Any idea how many?" asked Rick.

"There are three of us, so two easy and one hard," said Freddy. "Two come together."

"What goes into which category?"

"No idea."

They waited.

About a minute later, the door to their left rose. A muffled and unrecognizable cry came from the inside. A blue and red monster burst out of the door, screaming. It looked like an oversized chicken. Its body was dark blue with reddish scales. Its deep red tail looked like a piece of rubber. It had an ugly brown nose that curved sharply upwards. On the top of its head sat a crest that looked like a conch horn, glowing yellow.

The Gypceros jumped around and flapped its wings, enjoying its freedom. Then it noticed the three of them. It gave a guttural shriek. Its crest glowed brighter.

"Okay, scatter as usual," said Freddy. "Get its legs and make it fall. I'll smash the crest off." The kids nodded. Freddy took left flank, Rick took right flank. Joanne was left in the middle, as she had the lightest weapon. She walked slowly towards the Gypceros, her blades raised. Freddy and Rick would take it from behind.

The Gypceros sensed something wrong. It eyed the three of them, then backed off, swishing its rubbery tail. Freddy and rick could not get past him. They waited at the sides while Joanne advanced.

Then all hell broke loose.

The Gypceros shrieked, and ran towards Rick, flapping his wings wildly. He rolled out of the way, and slashed upwards. It tore the monster's wing. It appeared not to notice. It turned around and spat a ball of poison. Rick rolled away as the poison splashed inches away. Some of it splattered on his armor, which sizzled and blackened in those spots.

As Joanne ran in from its left, it swung its tail in a great arc. She ducked under it and slashed at the legs. The blade bounced off, but a small cut appeared. The Gypceros kicked her and prepared to splash her with his poison. Rick slashed again at its left wing. He was rewarded. He cut a big gash in the arm. The Gypceros staggered. Freddy swung at its legs. The force knocked it off its feet. It flailed and tried to fly, but its left wing was torn and maimed. The effect was quite comical. Freddy was just taking another swing when the crest glowed and crackled. A blinding flash of light emanated from it. Joanne could not see or even hear anything. She staggered and fell. When the world started returning to its normal colour, she saw that the Gypceros had jumped onto Rick. She staggered over and stabbed it in the belly. It did not hurt it, but it angered it. It let go of Rick who stood shakily. The Gypceros brought its head down like a hammer, but Joanne rolled under its legs. She slashed its underside with both her blades. One bounced off, the other cut straight through its rubbery hide.

Freddy brought his hammer swinging in a great arc and bashed the Gypceros' belly. It staggered from the great impact. Rick was back on his feet. He slashed at the right wing. Joanne kept stabbing and slashing its underside. The crest glowed, but this time they were ready for it. They looked away and clamped their eyes shut as he flashed them. Everything still looked much brighter as Joanne opened her eyes, but she was not stunned like last time. She kept cutting at its underside. The Gypceros finally fell down, but not before burping out a great splash of poison. A large portion of the liquid got onto Freddy's left arm and melted his vambraces right off his hand. Freddy cursed and Joanne looked at his hand. The iron had melted right off, leaving a thin holey layer of Bullfango skin. Freddy glared at the Gypceros. "You didn't," he said. He brought his great hammer smashing down on its head. The Gypceros burped out a splatter of blood and poison. The crest broke off. The part where it had broken off emitted a last deadly flash.

None of them were ready for that. All of them got hit by the full force of it.. Joanne's blades fell out of her hand. This flash had been too strong. She tried to shake it off. From when did a broken crest emit a flash?

When she finally gained control of her senses, the Gypceros lay unmoving. She moved over and laid a hand on his stomach. Her fingers found a pulse. She looked around at Rick and Freddy. Rick nodded Freddy gave her a thumbs up. She plunged the daggers into the place where the pulse was the strongest. The Gypceros gave a final moan. The pulse died as the beast did too.

"What do you feel?" said a voice. She turned to find two men plus Sir striding towards them with ropes. The two other men began to tie them around the Gypceros, preparing to haul it away.

"Nothing. Excited, I guess," it was true. Joanne had thought that she would feel sorry for mercilessly killing a beast, but she felt thrilled and exhilarated. Hunting a million of these things in a video game did stuff to you, made you emotionally stronger or whatnot, she thought. She had actually killed a monster! In real life! It was too good to be true.

Sir nodded. A muffled roar echoed from one of the other caves. "Your challenge is not over. Do well," he said. Sir did not believe in luck.

The three of them faced the two other doors after the men had left. Two would come together now.

"Was that the easy one?" asked Rick, sharpening his longsword.

"Eh, must have been," said Freddy. "What's easier than a Gypceros?"

"I don't know, a Kut-ku? An Arzuros?"

"Great Jaggi?" said Joanne hopefully.

"Don't think so. The day Sir gives us an easy monster will be the day the sun blows up."

Suddenly, Sir's voice boomed across the arena, "There has been a change of plan. You will face a different single monster instead of the two planned ones. Do well."

"Don't tell me, something harder than both of them?" muttered Rick darkly.

"Hope not. I really don't feel up to taking on a Rajang or a Deviljho."

"Well, we don't have any choice, do we?"

They looked at the doors, wondering which one would open and which horror would emerge.