"Welcome aboard the S.S. Starkiss, this is your captain speaking, please keep your legs and arms in the aquatic vehicle at all time," Said pepe in a mocking tone. I had to ride in the Felyne's boat to get into town where the guilds headquarters was. "How long will this take?" I asked, with my knees just under my chin. The small dingy was just big enough for three cats. The addition of a fullsized human man didnt seem like a great idea. "Im not sure ill be able to do that for this whole ride, my legs are cramping up." The entire village lined up to see me off giving me small good luck charms or some salted meat to take on the trip with me. Most of them were laughing by this time, but I had already received a reputation of being a clown so I was alright with it. "Shouldnt take more than a few hours" Huffed Thyme as he threw my bags under the deck. I was going to load my things by myself, but after noticing the small boat situation, they found it better to find a spot to sit where i wouldnt flip the boat mid-trip. "What did you take with you, friggin' rocks?" he barked wiping sweat from his forehead. "Doesnt matter. Lets shove off." I said. I just really wanted to get out of there and into the town. It was getting sort of cramped in there, but over all I was excited. Ive always tried to imagine what the person writing these letters looked like. Probably a big huge hunter with crazy armor who could crush all his underlings using nothing but his leg muscles. And for the first time in.. well forever I got my own specific quest. It was nice to get recognized for once. Not everybody gets to go on a big hunt, mostly because they didnt want to be the cause of too many peoples deaths Im assuming.
It took way longer than they claimed. We had left port just after the sun went down and by time we got there the sun had just risen. I was proud of myself. I only threw Thyme off twice. As soon as we got there I rolled off onto the dock and stretched out as long as i could. Ive never heard so many bones crack at once. Some other hunters walking by just looked at me and rolled their eyes and muttered something followed by a laugh.. I didnt care. I was finally here. The city was enormous, and every building was made of stone. Some of the buildings were even taller than most of the trees on my island. The ground was covered by street vendors trying to sell something nobody really needed and hundreds of people. So many people. Of different sizes races and professions. You could easily tell who was a hunter and who was not. In this place, the hunters seemed to be like celebrities and the most important ones had bright shiny colorful armor crafted out of some creatures ive never even heard of. Most of the few hours of me being there was Pepe dragging me away from some street vendor or someone who would have ended up robbing me of everything i owned. He was used to this kind of life. He traveled all around the world and met all sorts of people, it seemed like he could tell the intentions of people just by looking at them. After buying something called Binoculars from a salesman for an obscene price, i saw a large banner. It was on a crimson red tapestry with the guild seal right in the middle. "Ah, here we are" announced Pepe, "The guilds main base complete with quest-board." "Also restaurant" Thyme added with an excited tone." "Yeah, for the hunters. Not you." tacked on Basil sarcastically. Jeez shes quiet. Sometimes I forget shes with us. "You go on ahead, we gotta go grab something" said Pepe walking off down another pathway "We'll see you in a little bit, dont do anything stupid." Marching off with Thyme and Basil waving and laughing. Im not sure why he said that, hes the impulsive one. Little furry punk. Shaking off my grumpy attitude I stepped into The Guilds canteena. It was a reasonably small area, with a blacksmith down below, and a few tables above. Way in the back I saw a front desk with a large board with notes stuck all over it. I walked up to the table with a grin on my face and smacked the small bell on the counter to tell whoever was supposed to be working there that I was waiting. My eyes floated around trying to take in as much scenery as possible. "First time here huh." I heard whispered right next to my ear. I jumped and spun around to the counter with fist up ready to attack whoever snuck up on me. Inches away from my face, a woman stood leaning over the counter. She was younger than me, but just bearly. She had short brown hair and a little uniform with the guild symbol on it. She had a big smile on her face and didnt seem at all worried about my attack pose. "Oh jeez I'm sorry miss," i said putting down my fists and turning a light red color. "Its okay! it happens all the time!" She said cheerily, slinking back into her chair behind the counter. It was sort of low and i was excited.. That's why I didn't notice. Smooth move bro. "What can I do ya for?" She asked. "Huh?.. Oh yeah." I said as i clumsy dug though my bag for the guild letter. "I.. received.. a note from you guys the other day.. And it looked something.. Like this!" I shouted as I whipped out the letter from my bag. Other hunters resting or getting a drink from surrounding tables burst out in laughter. "Lets take a look at this now shall we" The small woman said as she took the letter and read it over. "Ah yes, you have been chosen for a hunt slash recovery! Yaaaaaaaay!" She cheered flailing her arms around. Man shes an excitable little thing isn't she. "You'll need this!" She added disappearing under her desk and popping up only to throw a small red bandanna in my face. "Whats this for?" I questioned as the small strip of cloth fell off my nose and into my open hands. "This is your color so your support team can easily identify your possibly lifeless body from the swirling chaos that is a large class monster hunt!" She squeaked with an unusual amount of pep. "Lifeless.. Support team?" "She means us buddy" I turned to see my three friends with matching color bandannas on their foreheads or shoulders. "Usually in quests supported by the guild, each member gets a small team of Feylines as support in case something goes wrong to get their sorry butts out of there. Kind of like health insurance" he giggled. "How did you guys get roped into this?" I asked, still curious and worried about the whole 'lifeless body' thing. "We asked." Thyme said with almost no emotion. "You're welcome." "Aw you guys know eachother? thats so cute!" Squealed the receptionist, "Now usually id be all over this thing like a group of jaggi on a freshly murdered aptonoth, but the clocks a' tickin! best hup to it!" "Freshly murdered?.." "Ah dont worry about it, shes odd" said Pepe running up to push me into the direction of the skydock. "Woah wait, what the devil is a skydock?" I had so many questions that nobody was answering.. "Now have fun! don't die on your first outing!" As soon as she said that, I heard another hunter toward the back yell something about a new guy and begin to clap, by time I was up the steps to the 'Skydock' the whole area was clapping. It seemed sarcastic.. But i had no time to shout anything smart back. At the top of the stairs was a pier. Well, without any water.. The pier was just jetting off the wall of the city over a large sea of sand. "What are we waiting for?.. theres nothing here.." Just as soon as i let out my complaints, a boat came down from the sky to rest right next to the 'pier'. It looked like a normal large scale boat, except for large propellers and a large sack of hot air held on by suspending ropes and wires. I was speechless. I had to be shoved in by Thyme and Pepe. Basil was content giggling about my reluctance to get on the skyboat.
The ride was incredibly short. It only took an hour or so until we reached our destination. I got to enjoy the ride for a few minutes because for a majority of the trip I had grabbed onto the mast with a deathgrip and wouldn't let go. I had never been in the sky before. Pardon me for wanting to stay alive.. It was just a small island, much like the one I lived on. "Now when you're out there, you wont see us very much." cautioned pepe, "But we'll always be keeping an eye on you. Cant let you die this early meow can we?" he said with a nervous laugh. "That's alright, you'll probably get in my way anyway you furry buttmunch." I snarled. He knew i was kidding. "good luck." He patted me on the back and hopped off in the woods with a cart as well as Thyme and Basil. Basil turned to give me a smile and disappeared into the bushes. After stuffing some free goodies given to me by the guild into my bag I took departed. My mission was to kill a Royal Ludroth, as well as locate the assumed body of another hunter they sent on before me. I had no idea what a Royal Ludroth was, but they said I would notice it. Being as stealthy as possible, hopping from shadow to bush, i came across a small cave opening. I heard a shriek from within the cave that sounded like a woman being skinned alive.. Woo. Dangerous what the mind plays on you when your'e terrified. Sword in hand, i delve into the hole to try and save, or end the misery, of the mystery hunter.
"Giggi: large worm-like creature Size - Small, perhaps a half a foot tall by 2 feet long. Dangerous - Yes. Will latch on to whatever flesh is showing and begin sucking blood without stopping until removed by force." I wrote in my hunting log in what little light i could find in this wretched cave. The little buggers were everywhere, and even without eyes were amazingly skilled at finding me. I had just hacked through a couple of them to find sanctuary behind a large rock. And there i saw her, the mystery hunter. I couldn't see her face because she had her helmet on, but her armor looked dirty and rough. Like she had been diving for cover for a while now. "Psst. Miss, can you hear me?" I whispered, leaning over to make sure she was breathing. Upon closer inspection, she was indeed breathing. Hard for a matter of a fact, it seemed like she was horrified. And for a good reason, those giggi were vicious. "miss, just follow me out and ill lead you back to the skybo-" I stopped talking because a giggi had crawled atop the rock we were hiding behind. It hadnt noticed us yet, but we both knew it was there. She took a deep breath. Oh dear lord, i thought. don't scream.. You'll alert everything within a 2 mile radius that we're here. As i prepared for a fight to the death with the little varmints, she let out the loudest most ungodly scream I've ever heard in my life.. but what she screamed was.. Unexpected.. "Awwww JUST LOOK AT HOW CUTE IT IS!" She shrieked, jumping up to grab it. In a warm, and seemingly lethal embrace by the crazy chick, she began to ramble, "ILL LOVE YOU FOREVER! ILL EVEN KEEP YOU IN A BASKET WHERE YOU CAN SLEEP! AND A LITTLE DISH FOR YOUR LITTLE FOOD! WHAT DO YOU EAT?! I DONT CARE ILL COOK FOR YOU! ANYTHING YOUR LITTLE HEART DESIRES! DO THEY HAVE HEARTS?!" she asked me. "Uh. I would assume so.. miss, if you want that thing as a pet you should loosen up a bit. I think you're choking it out" I said pointing out the fact that it had already stopped moving. "Oh. That would explain why they all fell asleep when i grabbed them. Thank you kind stranger!" she said extending her hand for a handshake. "Names Kyrui, Nice to meetcha!" "Uh, Shane" I said grabbing her hand. "Charmed" "You sure say 'Uh' alot" she laughed, "Are you dumb or something?"
What? No!" I said releasing her hand, i was sort of offended, "I was sent here to clean up your mess! they thought you were dead!" "Pft. Dead. They're always so dark, i just wanted a little giggi friend. Aren't they cuuuuttttee?~" she asked shoving the small distressed creature toward my face. "Yeah adorable, we need to get outta here. you could be in huge trouble" I put my hand between my face and the creature. I didn't want it to latch on to me."
Out of the cave and walking back to the safe point, me and Kyuri along with the small giggi in a basket began to notice bugs and other small wildlife leaving with a sense of urgency. "Oh. yeah i forgot to do that didn't I" Kyuri said to herself. "Do what?.." I asked. I had noticed a large amount of water being pushed up behind us from the usually small stream. She turned around and sighed, "That." I turned slowly to notice a large reptilian creature with a yellow hide charging straight for us. From afar it didnt seem to be very large, but as it got closer I began to realize that it was roughly 15 feet tall. "May wanna start running!" Shouted Kyuri. She had already began sprinting for a nearby tree barely holding on to her new pet leaving me standing in the middle of a field. I would have been better suited wearing armor that looked like a target. Oooh I just knew i wouldnt get along with her very well..