Phoenix and Keira return to the village, Pokke.
"Welcome back, Phoenix." The village chief says as Phoenix and Keira walk into the village. "We received the Tigrex corpse. Erald is already working on a a pair of armors for you and your new 'friend'."
"I didn't ask him to make anything."
"Oh he said he felt bad about the Kirin incident. So he is making this armor free of charge."
Keira smiles, wrapping her arms around Phoenix's arm. "Oh new armor."
"I guess I need something new after all this time. This armor is getting a bit ragged." Phoenix gives his armor a quick look over and notices a lot of dents and cuts in his armor.
"We'll have matching armor, this is gonna be fun." Keira started to giggle.
"You're in a strangely happy mood." Phoenix cocked an eyebrow as he watched Keira.
"I also get a new bowgun as well, you promised."
"Oh yea, we'll have to take a few days break and have Erald modify my gun. I wonder if I can get him to make a new weapon for me as well. Why don't you get us a room at the Inn and order up some food, Keira?"
"Sure thing. See ya in a while, Phoenix." Keira said as she began to walk towards the Inn.
Phoenix headed over to the local blacksmith shop.
"Phoenix, welcome back! I'm making you a new set of armor!"
"Yea, the village chief told me about it. Feeling a little guilty about that last armor I wanted you to make?"
"Well.. yea." Erald grinned sheepishly and laughed after a second.
"When you get a little break on making that new order I want you too make me a new weapon. I also want you to modify my old bowgun for Keira to use, last time she tried to fire it she broke her arm."
"Ouch! Well I guess I could replace that old stock with a nice new spring dampened one. How does that sound? Now, what about this new weapon you wanted?"
"Well, I was thinking since I have Keira to cover me with ranged fire I was going to upgrade to a Lance."
"Oh, a lance eh? Not too far fetched from what you're using now. Did you have anything in mind?"
"Do you have enough materials left over from that Tigrex to make a matching lance?"
"Yea, I bet I have enough left over. We got a nice shipment of new ore too. Nice strong stuff called, Eltalite. I'm try working it into your armor and I'll put some into your lance as well."
"Thanks! How long will these orders take?"
"Just a few days is all, I'll try to work a little faster."
"Just don't mess this up." Phoenix chuckled as he left the blacksmith's shop.
Erald yelled back. "Not this time, Phoenix. Not this time!"
As Phoenix walked into the inn Keira stopped him. "Shh, you're gonna love this."
Keira and Phoenix walked into the door way and over at one of the tables Dragoon was sitting there eating. Next to him was Rikka, passed out laying down on the bench.
"How's it going, Dragoon?" Phoenix said as he walked up behind him.
Dragoon flinched a slightly. "Oh hey, Phoenix. I finally found a way to get Rikka to stop talking. She only had half a glass of ale and she fell asleep." Dragoon chuckles.
"Has she ever had alcohol before?' Keira said as she sat across from the now passed out Rikka.
"If she has, she is a horrible drinker." Phoenix said as he sat down next to Keira.
"So I heard you guys didn't have much trouble with that Tigrex."
"Nope, it was rather dull really."
"That's quite the statement coming from the one who almost got her leg bit off by a 'dead' Tigrex." Phoenix raised an eyebrow.
"You didn't check it before you got close to it did you?" Dragoon laughs mockingly.
"Hey most monsters I've taken down stay dead when you kill them, I never hunted something so angry as that Tigrex before."
"Yea, I've heard they are quite agressive at times." Dragoon stopped laughing to continue eating his meal.
A guild maid walked over and placed her hand on Phoenix's shoulder. "Can I get you anything tonight?"
"I'll just take an ale thank you."
Keira glared over at Phoenix.
"Oh and she'll have one as well."
The guild maid took her hand off Phoenix's shoulder. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you had a girlfriend."
Phoenix just smiled over at Keira, who was still giving him a cold glare.
As the maid started to walk away Rikka suddenly sat up and took a punch at thin air. "You're gonna get it this time you darn Kut Ku!" She fell to the floor and passed out again.
"I'm guessing she had a bad instance with those Kut Ku you had to hunt down?" Keira said looking at Rikka, who was on the floor grumbling loudly.
Dragoon stopped eating for a second. "Yea, she got her butt kicked by the one I let her tackle alone. She got pretty ticked off at it, made a lot of mistakes, you know noobie stuff. Luckily that Gypceros armor is very rubbery and she didn't get hurt. Every attack it threw at her sent her bouncing around, quite funny actually." Everyone laughed.
"Did you hear about that new assignment that the guild wants me to go on, Dragoon?"
"Yea, I heard something about a new creature being sighted in the great forest. You want me to come along?"
"Yea, but I think Rikka should stay out of this one. We have no idea what this thing can do."
"No worries, I'll just tell her to stay here until we get back. When are we going head out then?"
"Not for a few days yet, me and Keira are waiting on new armor and weapons. Erald is making a set of Tigrex armor with that new ore the guild found, she's getting my old bowgun and I'm getting a lance."
"You sure you want to handle Phoenix's bowgun, Keira. I mean the last time you tried to use that it your skinny little arm broke like a twig."
"Erald is going to apply a new stock to it to reduce the kick of it." Keira said rubbing her right arm. "Although I am a bit worried about using it again."
"I'll give you a few tips and we'll do a little practice shooting before we head out." Phoenix says with a grin on his face.
"So does the guild have any information on this new creature?"
"No, the research team that set out to gather information on it didn't report in so they sent another team to look for them. Out of the six that went out only two came back alive, they couldn't even find the bodies of the others. They claim that when they were looking for the creature the other four disappeared without a trace even though they never got split up. I guess it drug them off without anyone noticing it."
"Great, sounds like so much fun." Dragoon sighs.
"They told me to gather information and kill it if we can. But, don't get ourselves killed trying to take it down. I guess they don't want to lose more people just to get information on it."
"It's going be quite fun discovering a new creature though." Keira said trying to cheer the group up.
"Yea, I've never discovered a new creature. I've always stuck to hunting the normal stuff." Phoenix laughs.
One of the maids walks over. "Would you mind moving her somewhere a little safer than the floor, please."
Dragoon drank the last of his ale and stood up. "Yea, I'll take care of it." Dragoon walked over, picked Rikka up and tossed her over his shoulder nonchalantly. "I'll catch up with you guys later." Dragoon waved goodbye and walked out of the tavern.
"So what do you want to do with the rest of the night, Phoenix?" Keira said as he looked back at Phoenix.
"I think I'm gonna call it a early night and get some sleep before I train you how to use a heavy bowgun tomorrow. I think you should too."
"Oh, alright."
Keira and Phoenix walked back to the inn and went to sleep.
They awoke the next day and started to put on their armor. "So you think you're ready to use a heavy bowgun yet, Keira?"
"Yea, I think so. I mean I just held it wrong in that one hunt is all. Right?"
"Right! Well then, we'll leave your bowgun and my sword here and we'll just stop by Erald's and get my bowgun."
"Sounds good to me." Keira smiles at Phoenix.
"Is something wrong, Keira? You've been acting a little strange lately."
"No.. everything is fine, let's get going."
"Alright then." Phoenix and Keira leave the inn and walk over to the blacksmiths shop to pick up Phoenix's modified bowgun.
"Is that bowgun done yet, Erald?" Phoenix says as he walks into the shop.
"Yea, I finished it last night before I went to bed. Didn't take long since it was just a modification instead of making a new one. Let me get it for you." Erald walks into the back room of the shop and comes back out a second later. "Here's the bowgun and here's a box of rounds for her to practice with, on the house." Erald hands Keira the bowgun and the box of one hundred shells.
"You're really trying to make up for messing up, aren't you." Keira grins at Erald and walks out of the shop. "I'll meet you outside, Phoenix."
"Alright, I just need to talk a few things over with Erald."
"Okay, see you in a minute then."
"So do you have enough left overs for that lance, Erald?"
"After I looked everything over, I think I'll be a little short. How about I make you a prototype lance that the guild has been working on?"
"Prototype, I don't like prototypes. You know that Erald."
"Well they call it a prototype because it hasn't been field tested but, it has been tested thoroughly in controled conditions. It holds up just fine."
"So what is it then?"
"It's a combination of Vespoid and Hornetaur materials. It's sharp as hell, durable and secretes a paralytic toxin."
"I guess that'll be fine. How long will it take to make that along with the armor?"
"Well I have a armor already finished in the back and the lance will be done tomorrow."
"Good, we need to head out soon. I'll catch you tomorrow then, Erald."
"Right then! See you tomorrow, Phoenix." Erald went back to working on the armor as Phoenix left the shop.
"Ready to learn something new, Keira?"
"Yep, where can we practice in town?'
"Theres a field on the outskirts of the village that way we can practice at."
"Alright, lead the way."
Phoenix lead Keira to the field. It was a grassy field that was next to a river and a forest that no one goes to on the other side.
"I'll set up a few targets next to the bank of the river and you'll shoot at them, sound good?"
"Yep, first tell me how to load this goliath." Keira said as she set the box of ammo down, opened it up and grabbed a shell. "No wonder why it broke my arm, this shell is like five times higher caliber than the ones I use!"
Phoenix chuckles. "Alright, since this gun is so much stronger it can't use clips. It has to to be loaded one at a time into the breach. All you got to do is pull this back.." Phoenix grabs a small rod and pulls it back towards the stock. "That opens the breach, you just set the shell into the breach then shove it closed firmly." Phoenix shoves the tray closed and it makes a clanking sound. "Now you just aim and shoot. Let me go and set up the target first, make sure the safety is on and don't point it in my direction."
"I know that much, Phoenix."
Phoenix walks over and sets a watermelon on a tree stump and walked back behind Keira. "Ready when you are." Phoenix held up some binoculars and stared at the watermelon.
"Okay then, here it goes." Keira raised the gun up and held it firmly against her shoulder. She took aim, turned the safety off and then fired off a shot. The gun made a loud bang and the bullet hit the watermelon dead on. The fruit dissolved into a spray of pulp and juices.
"Nice shot, that was a good sixty yards off and you hit dead center!"
"Thanks. Can I keep going?" Keira smirks playfully.
"Did that hurt at all when you shot?"
"Not at all, that new stock makes it have almost no recoil."
"Alright then let me get a few wood targets set up." Phoenix walked over to a box that he requested to be sent here yesterday. He took it over to the side of the river, there was about one hundred small circular wood targets about three inches wide. Each had a thin wood spike attached to stick into the ground, they were different heights varying from one foot tall to five feet tall. He set them all up and walked back to Keira and took a seat on the ground next to her.
"Alright, I'm gonna take them out from right to left."
"Ready when you are, let's see how many you can take out. Single shots for each target." Phoenix raised his binoculars up and stared at the targets at the right side.
Keira took steady aim and shot the first one out, loaded another round and shot the second one out. She spent about thirtey minutes shooting.
"Not half bad, you shot..." He paused counting the targets left. "Out ninety five out of one hundred."
"Thanks! Wish I was able to get them all though." Keira grins at Phoenix.
"Don't worry, you'll get better the more you practice. But, for now we're out of targets and ammo." Phoenix laughs.
"Aawww.. oh well, I guess we can take a break. Get something to eat and then come back again?"
"Sure, let's get something to eat and drink."
Phoenix and Keira head over to the tavern on the way there they hear someone call out their names.
"Phoenix!"
Phoenix looks towards the entrance to the village, it was Orpheus with a woman walking beside him. "Oh hey, Orpheus! Who might that be with you?"
"Oh, I'd like you to meet Mara. We met at the tavern before I went on a hunt in the volcanic region."
Mara stood five feet nine inches tall, long strait brown hair and had blue eyes. She wore a set of normal yellow and blue Tigrex armor and had a metal lance that had a revolver looking mechanism above the handle.
Phoenix held out his hand ready to shake hands. "Hey Mara, my name is Phoenix."
Mara took a step forward holding her hand out but quicklywrapped her arms around Phoenix and raised him off the ground, hugging him. "It's nice to meet ya, Phoenix."
Phoenix tries to breathe but Mara hugs him tightly while raised off the ground. "Nice to meet you too. Look where my hands are, Keira. No touchy. See?" Phoenix says holding his arms off to the side.
Keira, Orpheus and Mara laugh. Mara sets Phoenix down and he takes a deep breath.
"Well I guess after our new equipment gets done we can head out for that new monster. I think they would let you come along with us Mara."
Phoenix and the others spend a few hours at the tavern talking then head back to the inn and get some sleep.
Phoenix wakes up before Keira and heads over to Eralds shop.
"Mornin' Phoenix!" Erald barks loudly.
"Little early to be that loud isn't it, Erald?" Phoenix says as he puts a finger in one of his ears trying to message it.
"I'm glad to to say your new armor is done." Erald grins widely as he pulls a sheet off two stands with Keira and Phoenix's new armor.
Threre stood two armor sets that were quite similar in design but were mildly adjusted for gender differnces. Each armor was a slightly pale red with blue stirpes, the shoulders were shaped like Tigrex claws and the rest of the armor had nice angles that swept backwards that almost made the armor look like it was moving forward.
"The armor is beautiful, Erald. Much better than that last heap that you tried passing off as Kirin armor." Phoenix began to laugh.
"You'll never let that go, will you?" Erald began to frown.
"Aw, don't worry Erald, this armor will definatly make up for it! Hey mind if I take these stands for a bit? I want to take them back to the inn and have them waiting for when Keira wakes up."
"Oh no problem at all, hope she loves hers! Just bring 'em back before you leave town."
Phoenix grabbed both armor sets and walked back to the inn. He entered the room very quietly, but as he set the armor sets down and closed the door, Keira woke up.
"Morning, Keira." Phoenix said standing between the two armor sets.
"Oh, Phoenix!" Keira said as she sat up and got out of bed. She held her stomach as she got up and winced a little. "I want to try it on"
"Sure..." Phoenix said as he noticed Keira was in mild pain.
Keira removed the armor from the stand and put it on. She looked at herself in the mirror and turned around. "Oh my!" She blushed as she noticed her butt cheeks were slightly exposed with the stinger like piece of armor coming off the back of her armor.
Phoenix laughs. "Well you might have to find some pants or something to wear under those."
"I don't know, I kinda like it." Keira said as she turned her back to the mirror and hopped around a bit.
"You just have to torture me, don't you?" Phoenix grins.
Keira began to laugh then she stopped and fell to her knees grabbing her stomach.
"Keira! Are you alright?!" Phoenix said as he held her arm so she wouldn't fall down.
"I don't know. My stomach has been a bit upset and hurts from time to time lately."
"Let's take you to the infirmary." Phoenix help take her armor off and took her to the infirmary.
After about an hour of diagnostics the doctor came out.
"Is she gonna be alright?" Phoenix said nervously.
"She's going to be fine but I think she wants to tell you something herself." The doctor begins to remove his gloves and walks down the hallway as Phoenix walks into Keira's room.
Keira laid there in the bed she was awake but seemed very nervous. "Hey, Phoenix. The doctor said I'm fine but I wanted to be the one to tell you the news."
Phoenix stood next to her bed a bit tentative about what she was going to say.
"I'm pregnant."
Phoenix didn't say anything for a second.
"That..that's a good thing, right?"
"Of course it is! It means I won't be able to hunt with you for a long time, but yes it is a good thing."
Phoenix leaned over and hugged her. Keira smiled.
Rikka slammed the closed door open. "We heard something happened!"
"Rikka!" Dragoon bopped her on the top of her head. "What did I say about barging in on people."
"Ow ow ow. Sorry, Dragoon."
"So, whats did you do to yourself this time Keira? Break you leg this time?" Dragoon chuckled.
"Well I don't know if she..." Before Phoenix could finish.
"I'm pregnant, you ass." Keira glared at Dragoon.
"Oh...is that all? Let's go Rikka." Dragoon grabbed Rikka by the rim of her armor and dragged her out the door, closing it on the way out.
"What do you mean, 'is that all'?! You jerk!"
Phoenix started to laugh, he noticed Keira was now glaring at him and he stopped.
"I'm sorry that I can't help you this time." She looked down, disappointed.
"Hey we'll be fine, you just take care of yourself. We'd better head out before someone else gets killed by that new monster." Phoenix tapped her chin and began to walk out.
"I love you." Keira whispered.
Phoenix walked back to the inn and collected his gear and then met the others at the center of town.
"You guys ready to do this?" Phoenix said adjusting his gauntlet.
Dragoon sheathed the massive diablos sword onto his back. "As always."
Mara slammed her fist into her palm. "Let's find this thing and take it out."
Orpheus swirled his swords around a bit then sheathed them onto his back. "We'd better find this thing before it hurts someone else."
"My thoughts exactly." Phoenix raised his new helm up and put it onto his head. "Let's head out!"
Phoenix and his party head out of the village to hunt down this new monster. They leave Keira and Rikka in town and head towards the Great Forest.