One week passes as Phoenix and his party of hunters travel towards the volcanic region to meet up with a old friend Maccabeus and take down a Basarios, as part of Orpheus' training.
"Almost there guys." Phoenix says taking a drink of water from his can tine.
"Man it's getting hot." Orpheus replies taking off his helmet and wiping the sweat from his face.
"It's a area covered in volcanoes and fissures of magma running everywhere, what did you expect Orpheus?" Phoenix laughs.
"We better be cautious. People back in the dessert outpost told me they've been having Ioprey problems lately."
"Yea, I heard the same thing, Dragoon. Every one be ready for a fight." Phoenix says as he pulls his shield out and puts it on.
They continue for another day before they reach the volcanic region's outpost. They report in and Immediately head out.
"Why couldn't we rest guys?" Orpheus exhaustingly pants trying to regain his breath.
"We can't waste any time, Orpheus. Maccabeus has been missing for a while and we need to down a Basarios while their population is still up and are legal to hunt."
"Don't worry newbie, there will be plenty of time to rest when you die on your training hunt." Dragoon says loudly.
"Oh shut it, Dragoon. I owned that Diablos a few days back and you still call me a newbie?"
"You definitely showed you can lose control in a fight, you need to learn to harness that rage and you'll be even better."
"Yea, I guess so. I think that will just come with more time out hunting."
"You're exactly right Orpheus. Stuff like that is only honed with experience, sure there is a factor of luck involved but mostly it's just not taking on things higher than your skill level."
"Yea, some times you just have bad luck."
Right as Dragoon finished a Ioprey jumped out of no where and tried to bite him.
"Don't think so!" Dragoon grabbed his sword, unlatched it from his back and swung it at the Ioprey. The blade gouged it's stomach spilling it's organs and you could hear it crushing the thing's ribs.
"Stay close!" Phoenix shouted and every one stood back to back, facing a different direction.
"Let's try out my bow this time." Orpheus grabbed for his bow and readied a shot. Another Ioprey leaped out from the side, lunging at Phoenix this time. Orpheus pulled the bow back and fired off a arrow, piercing the prey's chest. The Ioprey stumbled as if falling asleep and fell down in front of Phoenix's feet.
Phoenix stabbed the beast in its head to finish it off. "Nice shot, Orpheus!"
"Thanks. So that's what Erald meant by stunning effects." Suddenly a dozen Ioprey came out from the rocks and crevices.
"Down!" Dragoon shouted as he raised his sword up ready to swing. Every one ducked down and Dragoon swung his sword in a circle around him causing most of the Ioprey to leap back. But, one of the Ioprey got hit in the head by Dragoon's weapon and you could hear it's skull being crushed and it's neck snapping at the same time.
"Man I love this thing!" Dragoon roared in excitement.
Phoenix leaped forward towards one of the Ioprey and slit it's throat. One of the Ioprey tried to bite at him but he slammed his shield into it's face. He sliced at its legs cutting its tendons, the beast fell to the ground and he crushed its throat with his shield. He back peddled towards Dragoon and Orpheus.
"Nice one, Phoenix!" Orpheus shouted firing arrows out at the Ioprey. But, they quickly learned what he was doing and dodged all of his attacks.
"They don't seem to want to get hit any more, Orpheus." Dragoon chuckles holding two Ioprey back with his great sword. He pushed them back, both stumbling trying regain their balance. Dragoon took a swing at them, one of them got out of the way in time, but the other got caught in the ribs by Dragoons sword and fell to the ground in pain. Dragoon raised his blade and slammed it down, shaking the ground and splitting the unlucky Ioprey in half.
"There's so many of them!" Orpheus said holstering his bow and pulling out his dual swords.
"This is how they hunt." Dragoon growled.
"I know, but still!"
"Calm down, Orpheus. We can beat them as long as we keep our concentration and work together."
"Yes, Sir!" Orpheus readies his dual swords.
"Get ready for your chance, Orpheus." Phoenix whispers as he holsters his sword and shield and pulls out his bowgun.
"Now!" Phoenix shouts firing off a shot. A loud bang disorients the Ioprey as a very large round flies at a them. It hits one of them digging into it scaly hide, but nothing happens for a moment. Suddenly the Ioprey explodes and Orpheus charges through the explosion.
Orpheus slices at one of the Ioprey's legs and it falls to the ground. He rolls away not finishing it off and stabs another Ioprey's throat and stomach. He leaps backward as two Ioprey lunge at him, then he leaps in and stabs both in the skull at once.
"Get out of there, Orpheus!" Phoenix yells loading a round into his bowgun.
Orpheus runs as quickly as he can towards Dragoon and Phoenix, but he had gotten carried away and is a good fifty feet away.
"Just get down!" Phoenix yells. Orpheus falls to the ground as Phoenix fires off a shot. It wasn't as loud as the other shot, the Ioprey begin to leap at Orpheus while he's on the ground. The round that Phoenix fired flies through the air, it opens up and releases hundreds of small round metal pellets. The Ioprey go flying back as they get hit by the wall of high speed metal.
Orpheus takes a deep breath as he stands back up. "Phoenix, what the hell was that?!"
"It was a pellet shot. Not very safe with others around but I had to use it to take down that many Ioprey all at once. I was just lucky they jumped into the air like that." Phoenix chuckles.
Every one begins to relax after that heated battle, but suddenly they hear something running around the corner of the valley.
"It's the guy!" They hear someone scream and a man comes running full tilt around the corner.
"What the hell?" Dragoon asks confused.
"Maccabeus! Good to see you!"
"Run! It's the guy!" Maccabeus yells sprinting at the group.
"The who?!" Orpheus yelled back.
A giant Ioprey skids around the corner and charges after Maccabeus. The thing stood ten feet tall and fifteen feet long. It had a large purple crest on its face.
"Holy shit, it's an Iodrome!" Dragoon yelled
"A what?!" Orpheus yelled back.
"It's a giant Ioprey that is larger and stronger than the rest of them, it's pretty much their leader."
"That can't be good."
The Iodrome catches up to Maccabeus. "Not again." Maccabeus mumbles as he pulls out his great sword. The center of the blade, a huge and thick disk of metal, expands to form a shield. The Iodrome slams it's head into Maccabeus and he goes flying into a pile of rocks.
The Iodrome roars and charges the rest of the party. He leaps at the party from thirty feet away and slams into Dragoon. Caught off guard, he is barely able to hold it back as the Iodrome bites at his head. They could hear it's jaw slam shut with every bite. The Iodrome, giving up on trying to bite, leans back and spits in Dragoon's face. Dragoon stumbles back and the Iodrome spins, slamming it's huge tail into his chest sending him flying back into some rocks, knocking him out.
"Dragoon!" Orpheus yells as he charges at the Iodrome.
"No, don't charge in like that, Orpheus!" Phoenix yells trying to calm Orpheus down.
"Aahhh!" Orpheus yells as he charges at the beast. The Iodrome looks at Orpheus and charges at him too. The Iodrome bites at Orpheus but Orpheus dodges it rolling to the side. He lunges back up at it's throat but the Iodrome dodges the stab. The Iodrome bites and claws at Orpheus but he manges to dodge all of it's attacks, attacking it back when the Iodrome gives him a chance to. It's quick movements insure that it dodges the majority of the attacks.
Phoenix charges in and begins to attacks it as well. The Iodrome is still able to claw and bite, even though it's out numbered. But, with Phoenix and Orpheus on it at the same time it acts in a much more defensive manner. Jumping back at random making Phoenix and Orpheus run after it. Suddenly a metal object hits the Iodrome in the back of it's leg, making it stumble.
"You're not getting away again, guy!" Maccabeus slams his great sword into it's leg, cutting it off. The Iodrome falls to the ground and Maccabeus slams his sword into the beast's neck cutting it's head off.
"Nice seeing you again, Maccabeus." Phoenix pats him on the shoulder.
"I've been hunting and been being hunted by that guy for a week now."
"It's called an Iodrome." Dragoon mumbles.
"Whatever. That guy sucks!"
"Are you okay?"
"Yea, I'm fine. What are you guys doing here?"
"We were sent here to to hunt a Basarios as part of a training assignment for Orpheus here."
"Hey Maccabeus, nice to meet you." Orpheus walks over to Maccabeus and shakes his hand.
"I also requested your help since you were in this area."
"Yea, I was on population control when I ran into this guy." Maccabeus kicks the Iodrome corpse.
"Easy now, we should rest for a while after that. Then we'll track down a Basarios."
"Sounds good to me." Maccabeus says picking up the metal object he threw at the Iodrome.
"What the heck is that thing?" Orpheus says looking at Maccabeus' weird weapon.
"This? It's my shield, it can detach from my great sword if I need to."
"That's so cool."
"Let's set up camp guys and get something to eat and relax for a bit."
The party gathers their equipment and sets up camp.
"That was one heck of a fight." Orpheus say stretching out.
"Yea, it's always fun to fight a pack of Ioprey and their leader." Phoenix replies.
"So you heard of any Basarios in the area, Maccabeus?" Dragoon asks.
"Yea, theres plenty here at the moment. I ran away from I think two today."
"Hopefully we don't run into more than one at a time."
"Yea no kidding, those things are hard as rock." Maccabeus laughs.
"Speaking of 'Hard as rock', what's up with your armor Maccabeus?" Dragoon punches him on the shoulder.
"I killed one a while back that caught me by surprise. I commissioned a blacksmith to make a set for me."
"It fits your style well." Phoenix smiles.
"What's up with your armor, Phoenix. Last time I saw you, you were still wearing Hi-Metal."
"Oh yea, I downed a Rathalos a while back. I guess it has been a while since I've seen you. Looks like you've been doing good, you got a tassel too."
Maccabeus takes off his helmet. "Thanks. Seems like you got one too."
Orpheus whispers to Dragoon. "What, do those those things stand for something?"
"Yea, white tassel's are given to those who show experience and leadership when in a hunting party."
"I didn't know Phoenix was so good."
"It's not that he's a great hunter, not that he isn't, it's just a commendation for those who know what they're doing and are good at leading a party."
"What you talking about over there guys?" Phoenix says.
"Nothing you need to know about." Dragoon growls.
"Oh, fine then." Phoenix laughs. "Let's just get some sleep and then we will head out later to track down that Basarios."
The party sleeps and relaxes for a day then they head out to track down a Basarios.
"Did we really need to take this long of a break, Phoenix?" Orpheus says while yawning.
"To hunt a Basarios you need endurance and patience. Being well rested is just a good idea. There's no easy way of taking one of those things down."
"Why is that?"
"Well, Basarios are an adolescent Gravios. Both are known to absorb what ever minerals are around them and it becomes their hide. We just better hope for a nice soft Basarios."
"Yea, I saw one made out of Carbalite the other day."
"That's just wrong. How are you suppose to bring something like that down?" Complains Dragoon.
"You either bring a lot of hunters with a lot of firepower or you just leave it be. Sometimes you just can't kill something."
"Bah, so says you with your little toothpick of a weapon."
Everyone laughs, but Dragoon and them keep walking.
"Hey I heard someone talking about something called a Crimson Fatalis back in the outpost, what is that?"
Everyone stops dead in their tracks.
"Please don't say that name, newbie."
"What? Is it a bad thing?"
Everyone stays quiet for a second, then Phoenix speaks up. "It's an ancient dragon that wreathes itself in fire and destruction. Let's keep moving!"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay, Orpheus." Phoenix says in melancholy.
Orpheus frowns.
Dragoon walks closer to Orpheus and whispers to him. "Last time that thing showed itself we lost the old Volcanic outpost; hunters, guards, civilians, everyone... which included Phoenix's parents."
Orpheus doesn't reply he just thought silently about what Dragoon said.
"Next time that thing shows up he's mine and I'll wear his hide for what he did." Phoenix growls.
"Keep moving." Dragoon insists.
The party travels for a while until they come to look over a cliff at a small valley beneath them.
"It's so beautiful." Phoenix says as he looks down at the valley, the walls glow beautiful shades of nearly every color.
"What's making those colors?" Orpheus whispers, astonished by what he sees.
"Probably crystal formations, let's go have a look." Phoenix replies as he descends into the valley. Sure enough large crystals project the light in hauntingly beautiful colors and shapes.
"Wow, these crystals are so big." Maccabeus says walking over to one of them.
"I got a bad feeling about this." Phoenix mumbles.
Right before Maccabeus goes to touch one of the formations it begins to move and Maccabeus runs back.
"What the?" Maccabeus unlatches his great sword and prepares for combat.
Phoenix pulls out his bowgun and loads a normal round into it. The others pull out their weapons.
A Basarios erupts out of the ground at the party and lets out a great roar. Everyone covers their ears and stumble back.
"Is that a Basarios?" Orpheus yells over the noise.
"Yes it is, but this one is odd. It's solid white... kinda looks like diamond." Dragoon growls.
"That's just wrong." Maccabeus sighs.
"How the heck do you fight something that's made out of diamond?!"
"Calm down Orpheus, it's just covered in it. It's not made out of diamond, so it has to have a flaw in the hide some where. They are really tough when they are young but as they get older and grow, their hide gets flaws because of them getting larger. We just have to find one of those and exploit it."
The Basarios begins to charge at the party. "Spread out! Attack it after it runs at you, it's too young to use it's breath attacks yet. So all it has is it's charge and a few other attacks."
The Basarios gets closer to the party.
"It's so slow." Orpheus laughs.
"Get out of the way newbie!" Dragoon yells.
Orpheus jumps out of the way right as the Basarios is about to hit him. It slams into a crystal formation and shatters it like it was glass.
"How much does that thing weigh?!" Orpheus stares in amazement at the shattered crystals.
"A lot, it's slow alright, but very strong. Do not get hit by it's attacks." Phoenix fires off a round from his bowgun. It bounces right off its thigh.
"Okay guys, move in! But be careful, if it's old enough it can emit various gases from it's body."
"You got to be kidding me." Orpheus says as he charges at it with Dragoon and Maccabeus right behind him.
"Let's try to beat on the obvious spots and see what happens!" Dragoon yells as he slams his great sword into it's chest, nothing happens. Maccabeus slams his great sword into it's side, it also bounces off. Orpheus slides under it tail and hacks away at its inner legs.
Suddenly a crack begins to form and starts going from its left leg and towards it's chest.
"Ha, found it guys!" Orpheus yells right as it swipes it's tail at him, he dodges towards the outside, away from it's tail. But then it hip slams Orpheus and sends him flying into a crystal formation.
"I told him this was a test of endurance and patience!" Phoenix loads a crag shot into his bowgun and looks for a opening. "Dragoon, Maccabeus try and wail on that crack to make it bigger!"
"You got it!" Maccabeus replies, Dragoon just nods.
Maccabeus detaches his shield puts it on his left arm and hold his great sword with his right hand, leaning it against his shoulder. He charges in slamming his great sword into it's chest and it cracks a little bit more, but the Basarios counters by trying to hip check him. Maccabeus rolls out of the way.
"My turn!" Dragoon charges in and slides under a tail swipe. He stands up and slams his great sword into it's thigh, a huge hunk on crystal falls off the Basarios and it flails in pain. "Now, Phoenix!"
"Already on it!" Phoenix runs towards the Basarios as it flinches. He jabs his bowguns barrel into the open part of it's skin and shoots the crag shot into the Basarios point blank. "Get to cover!" He yells as he runs as fast as he can and dives to the ground.
Everyone hits the ground when they hear a loud but muffled explosion. The Basarios falls to the ground, fire coming out of the area where the crag went off and out of it's mouth, nose and eyes.
"That was so cool, Phoenix!" Orpheus says limping over to the Basarios corpse.
"And dangerous! You could've got yourself killed doing something that stupid with a bowgun!" Dragoon snaps as he hits Phoenix upside the head.
"I didn't want to miss and I only brought one of those with me."
"Well, good shot, if that even counts as a shot." Maccabeus laughs.
"I'd say this would make a fine upgrade for you, Maccabeus." Phoenix chuckles.
"Yea, but how the heck do you harvest materials from something like this?"
"We'll just mark it with some pheromones and let the felynes come pick it up." Dragoon says.
"We can do that?" Orpheus says with a puzzled look on his face.
"Well, 'we' can't do it, but Phoenix can. Only higher ranking hunters are allowed to do it."
"Yet another perk." Phoenix grins.
After marking their kill. The party gathers their equipment and heads back for the volcanic outpost. They arrive after one day of travel.
As they get close to the outpost a guard comes running out to them.
"Sir, are you Phoenix?"
"Yes I am, what's the problem?"
"We have a serious problem that the guild representative wants to talk with you about."
"Understood, I marked a unique Basarios corpse while on a hunt. Be sure to dispatch a felyne recovery squad for it. Guys I'll catch up with you later."
"Yes, Sir." The guard escorts Phoenix back into the outpost and to the guild representative's office.
"You needed to see me, Sir?"
"Yes Phoenix, have a seat. We have had reports of a army of bandits that have been raiding the supply lines. The last report we got from a scout we sent out was that they were heading towards the outlands outpost."
"You've got to be kidding me." Phoenix replies, stunned by the message.
"I kid you not, we need rank two or higher hunters to head for the outpost and get ready to defend it. This Orpheus you travel with will be granted a rank increase and will accompany you, Dragoon and Maccabeus back to the outpost."
"Yes, Sir."
"Oh, a message arrived here for you. I wanted to give it to you personally."
Dear, Phoenix.
I hereby grant you a rank increase to Hunter Rank Five. This rank has few in it and I hope you use it well. I hope you can serve the guild for years to come.
Hoping you are well,
Guild Master, Raiden
"Was is good news I hope, Phoenix?"
"Yes it was, Sir. It was a letter of mark from the Guild Master telling me I've been granted Hunter Rank Five. It also contains the guild badge, that I have to wear."
"Well then, you won't need to call us 'sir' from now on, you'll have to remember our names now." The guild representative laughs.
"Thank you."
"I also have a package and letter for a Dragoon, I was told he was traveling with you."
"Yes, he is."
"Then I trust you to get it to him."
"Will do, Sir."
"Phoenix, call me Stehn."
"Right, good day, Stehn." Phoenix walks out of the office and heads down to the local tavern to find Dragoon.
"Dragoon, I've got something here for you." Phoenix walks over to Dragoon.
"You got to be kidding me! Is that a guild badge?!"
"Heh, yea I got a letter from Raiden telling me I got up to rank five."
Suddenly every hunter in the tavern stands up, claps then salutes Phoenix. "Congratulations, Sir!"
"Oh, that's going to get annoying real quick."
"Tell me about it, Sir." Dragoon growls.
"Anyway, the guild representative wanted me to give this to you."
"Uh oh!" Maccabeus laughs.
"Great." Dragoon sighs and opens the letter first. "Hell yes, bout damn time."
"What happened?"
"Finally granted me rank four."
"Congratulations, Dragoon." Orpheus pats him on the shoulder.
"I have a feeling I know what's in that package there." Maccabeus grins.
"Yea, unfortunately I think I do too." Dragoon sighs and opens up the package, pulling out a red tassel. "Great..."
"Whats wrong, aren't those tassel awarded for doing good?" Orpheus says.
"Yea, I guess. At least they gave me a red one."
"What does that mean?"
"It means I'm a beast." Dragoon laughs.
Phoenix quickly replies. "Technically, it's awarded for great strength and sacrifice."
Dragoon attaches it to the bottom of his great sword's handle.
"You know that suppose to go on your helm."
"Yea, right. As long as it's on me some where it's noticeable it's just fine."
"The other thing Stehn told me..."
"Who's Stehn?"
"It's the name of the guild representative from this outpost."
"Okay..."
"He said I shouldn't call them sir anymore."
Dragoon just stares at Phoenix.
Phoenix sighs. "Anyways, we need to head back to the outlands outpost as soon as possible."
"Why?" Dragoon asks.
"Because I guess an 'Army of Bandits' are raiding the supply lines and the latest intelligence says they are going to raid the outlands outpost next."
"Wait wait wait, did you just say 'Army of Bandits'?"
"Yes, yes I did."
"That's just ridiculous." Dragoon laughs.
"It might be odd but orders are orders. We head out immediately, that goes for anyone else who is rank two or higher that is in this room!"
No one speaks up.
"So no one here is rank two or higher?!"
"Man!" Orpheus complains.
"Oh and the guild representative said he will grant you rank two if you go on this mission."
"Sweet, sign me up."
They heard gossip float around the room.
"If all of you want to complain about how he got rank two already. He helped take down a Basarios made our of diamond and a Diablos."
The room went silent again and Phoenix grins.
"Get some supplies and we head out in one hour, for the outlands outpost defense request."
The party resupplied and met up at the gate after one hour.
"This time we might need to kill humans, but it's in the defense of our home! Let's head out."