4. A Good But Mostly Bad Day

So, it's been a little while. I don't even know how long it's been since I worked on this story, but hopefully not too long. It's hardly felt like a week. Has it been that little time? Well whatever, I hope you enjoy the chapter. The beginning fight is in Kodah third person; the rest is in Rika third.

Kodah

Things were not going well for Kodah. He supported himself on his bolt axe as he looked at the Deviljho before him. This fight hadn't fared well for either of them. The wounds on his leg and arm had reopened, paired with the new ones this monster had added. On the other hand, the 'Jho had a large gash on its face, damaging its right eye, and many wounds on its stomach and legs. His legs ached as he shoved himself up, putting the switch axe in sword form and taking an offensive stance. This fight was coming to a close, he could feel it. But the winner was uncertain, as it could go either way.

Kodah glanced over at Rika to see her still kneeling in the same spot and watching the battle. Even from here he could feel her fear. Any unexperienced hunter could; this was one of the most threatening things the guild had to face other than elder dragons. If Macie were conscious, she would feel Rika's fear too on top of her own. Kodah's mind was getting unfocused by the sensation in the air. He needed to finish this now before he became completely unfocused and got himself killed. And fear could drive one insane if in its grip long enough. He winced at the thought. He didn't want that, especially for a classmate.

He lifted his weapon above his head, daring the monster to come closer. The Deviljho seemed to grin evilly as it took a step towards the hunter. With that, Kodah charged forward with blinding speed and jumped, surprising the monster as he brought the blade down hard on its back, knocking it to the ground. Kodah pressed his advantage and started to let the contents of the phial flow into his weapon as he slashed at the monster's stomach. It thrashed around, trying to keep him away as it got up. He barly dodged the things tail as it flew at him, forcing him to relent in his attack. The Deviljho struggled to its feet and let out a lout roar as its muscles grew and it took on a red glow.

'Ah crap, why now?' Kodah thought as the monster went into rage mode. It swung its tail around, forcing Kodah to jump back further. As it turned to face him again it let out a blast of dragon breath, contaminating anything it touched. Kodah brought the blade up to block the powerful breath attack, and charged forward as it righted itself again. He got under its legs and started to hack at them until it got smart and kicked at him forcing him to relent again.

Kodah put distance between them and charged the weapon until it was just below overloading it and raised it above his head again. "Come on you angry pickle, bring it!" He shouted. He dropped his indifferent shield slightly to try and intimidate the monster with the small smile of excitement on his face. As crazy as it sounds, it seemed to work as the monster hesitated in its charge. This human looked like it was enjoying the fight, despite his injuries. "Yeah that's right, back away!" Kodah continued to taunt. The 'Jho shook its head slightly and let out another roar, charging forward with no hesitation this time. Kodah did the same, letting out a battle cry and releasing the rest of the phial into the weapon and jumped to eye level with the monster and brought his sword down.

Rika

Rika sat there and watched as Kodah fought. She tried to move and help Macie but she was frozen to the spot. Throughout the fight she saw Kodah glance towards them a few times. She wanted to help. God only knew how much she wanted to fight to protect Kodah and Macie, but then she saw that he didn't need protecting and she was too afraid to help anyway. Her breath caught when Kodah almost got hit with the monster's tail.

When it came time for the final charge, she was still frozen in fear and watched helplessly as the hunter charged the monster. When she saw him come out on top, she was amazed. She, Rika, the most popular girl in class and one of the top ten best in her year, had been totally useless and frozen with fear at the sight of an unknown challenge. She felt tears form in her eyes as she thought about it. Kodah chugged down a couple of potions and made his way towards her as if he hadn't just been in a life or death fight. Rika lowered her face so as not to let him see her cry. She felt his shadow come over her as he stood in front of her. She could hear him kneel down in front of her and his gasp when he saw that she was crying.

"Hey," he said. She lowered her head further. "Hey, look at me." She felt him lift her chin to make her look him in the face. Instead of his normal blank look, it was a slightly less blank look of concern. She couldn't take it. She lunged forward and grabbed onto him and started to sob into his chest plate. He froze up upon her sudden movement, unsure of what to do. He was never good in these situations. He just went with what usually seemed to work and slowly lifted his arms, hugging close. Tis seemed to be the right choice as she relaxed slightly.

They sat there like that for a good five minutes before Rika said something. "I-I…" she stammered, "I was s-so afraid. S-so afraid that we were going to d-d-die." She sobbed harder with every word. "I was u-useless. I-I couldn't do anything." She sobbed harder, "You probably think I'm pathetic," she sobbed bitterly. She felt him shaking. Was he crying now? Was he laughing? Yes he was laughing slightly.

"Oh, don't think I'm laughing at you," he chuckled. 'Wait this guy can laugh?' she thought, shocked. As quick as it came, his little chuckle subsided, replaced by a small comforting smile. "I've seen worse reactions. One guy I hunted with had a nervous breakdown." This brought a smile to Rika's face as her tears started to ebb. "Besides," he said, his face going expressionless again, "I have something I have to do, someone to repay. I'm not dying yet."

Rika looked down again, "Yeah, me too." After another few minutes, Kodah got up to go check on Macie. He got halfway to his feet before he started to chough violently, spitting blood on the ground.

Rika instantly got up and tried to help him, but he waved her off and chugged another one of those green drinks that seemed to close his wounds slightly. She wouldn't be able to do anything anyway, as she was still frightened and coming off of an adrenaline high for her to walk or do anything very steadily. After making sure he was ok they walked over to where Macie lay. Well, Kodah walked and he supported/carried her. They checked her over and Kodah gave a simple conclusion. They needed to haul ass to a hospital. "Concussion and possible brain damage. Internal bleeding, bruised to broken bones," he murmured as Rika looked on, full of worry for her friend.

Suddenly, Kodah let out a loud whistle which was followed by the sound of wheels and a felyn cart coming and stopping in front of them. "Take her to the village hospital as fast as possible," Kodah ordered the cat beings as they put Macie on the cart and took off towards the village. Rika tried to get up on shaky legs until she fell over only to be caught and swept off her feet. She looked around shocked to see Kodah carrying her bridal style. She blushed profusely and muttered, "I-idiot, what are you doing?"

He glanced down at her. "Carrying you back. You obviously can't walk very well at the moment." With that he took off at speeds that seemed almost inhuman, cutting the walk in half.

They had just made it back to the outskirts of the village by time the cart had passed them on the way to the hospital. Rika had adjusted herself comfortably into Kodah's arms for the little run, enjoying the feeling of the wind in her hair and the warmth of his body. She listened to the wind and… the sound of Kodah's ragged breathing as he ran. 'He's definitely not ok,' she thought. He stopped at the end of the street that led to the academy, catching his breath. "Uh, you can put me down now," she told him, blushing all the while, "I can walk from here." He nodded and set her down on her feet and took out another green drink which he called a potion and chugged it.

They walked towards the academy entrance where three people could be seen. One was Blake and the other two looked like some of the guys that tried to fight Kodah. As they slowly walked up Blake ran out to meet them. Rika didn't expect him to punch Kodah in the stomach, causing him to cough up an alarmingly large glob of blood and sink to his knees.

Rika let out a surprised yelp as Blake continued his assault. "You little shit," the boy growled, "you screwed up again. That wasn't a practice hunt. That was the real deal and now someone's in the hospital." He punctuated the last word with a crushing kick to Kodah's gut causing him to cough up more blood. Blake hefted Kodah up by the collar and started to punch him repeatedly in the face. Rika ran forward and grabbed onto Blake's arm, keeping him from punching Kodah again.

She struggled to keep Blake off of the wounded hunter as she tried to reason with him. "Stop!" she shouted, "You're going to kill him!"

"Shut up!" Blake retorted with a growl as he shoved her off and dragged Kodah through the doors of the academy and down the hall. Rika chased after him and his acquaintances down the hall. She stopped dead when she saw him throw Kodah through the door into the classroom. "STOP!" she shouted as she started to cry again. "You're going to kill him."

Shouts of surprise could be heard as Kodah was thrown into the room and people backed away as Blake and his cronies entered, quickly followed by Rika. She stopped and put her hands to her mouth in horror as she surveyed the scene. Blake stood over his bloodied classmate and was currently beating the shit out of him. Rika started to cry harder at the sight. 'No,' she thought, 'this isn't happening. He didn't survive that just to be killed by Blake while the class just watches.' Everyone else just watched on without concern. They thought Kodah had had this coming. They didn't care.

Just as Rika rushed forward to stop the angry boy, a shout came from the hallway. "What the hell are you kids doing in there?" they heard the teacher shout. "You better not be wrecking anythi…" He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight before him. The floor was covered in blood and several desks were broken, with the two students in the center having a one-sided fight. Blake got one last punch in before the teacher, Mr. Thomas ran towards them. He placed a hand on Blake's shoulder causing him to turn around and slugged him hard in the face. Everyone was in shock. Mr. Thomas never got mad at anyone. Sure he got annoyed but never mad. Gut he wasn't just mad, he was PISSED, as seen by the fact that he just slugged a kid and was holding him up by the collar of his armor. "And what the hell do you think you're doing, Mr. Fey?" He growled. I should damn well have you expelled for that. And that's because I'm a teacher. But my heart and head are telling me to kill you for doing that to someone who can't even stand up properly. And he's your classmate for Alatreon's sake."

Blake made a very un-smart choice by deciding to push his luck. "It was probably a jaggi that did that to him," he remarked with a sneer. Mr. Thomas' face darkened slightly.

"Ms. Rika, please take Kodah to the infirmary please."

Rika nodded, whipping her tears and gently lifted Kodah up. She made her way to the door, Supporting Kodah as she hauled him out the door and down the hall. It was slow going as her legs were still slightly shaky from earlier. When she got to the infirmary, the academy healer went to work at once. She pulled out a strange looking horn and started to play a soft melody. Almost immediately, Rika felt better, as did Kodah as his wounds slowly sopped bleeding and his bruises faded. "Wow," Rika exclaimed quietly, "What was that thing?"

The Healer smiled, explaining what the horn did. "It plays a sound which has a healing effect on those who hear it. It's quite useful in the field, much like life crystals." The woman saw the confused look on Rika's face, she elaborated further. As it turns out, their first year teacher had been VERY lazy and neglected higher level monsters and most combinations. She gave the orange eyed girl a quick crash course in healing items. Suddenly Kodah started to chough violently and his wounds started bleeding again.

"Crap," the healer exclaimed. "I need to go get something. Don't touch him, it might just make him worse," she added as she saw Rika move towards Kodah, trying to help. She ran out of the room and came back with a jar of odd liquid.

"What's that?" Rika asked the healer.

"You'll see," was her reply. She tipped the bottle to Kodah's mouth, as he had stopped coughing. The substance seemed to taste bad as Kodah's face puckered slightly as it went down his throat. But what really got Rika's attention was the effect it had. All of Kodah's wounds stopped bleeding and closed rapidly, not even leaving a scar. His quick breathing returned to normal, and he visibly relaxed.

"Wow," Rika exclaimed at the sight before her. "Why didn't you use that in the first place Ma'am?" she inquired.

The healer sighed. "It's called an ancient potion. They are very rare, also VERY expensive. I don't use them unless it's an emergency like that." Rika gazed at the sleeping form before her, examining him closely for any signs that he was still hurt.

"Is the kid awake yet Ms. Risa?" A deep voice behind them startled Rika out of her revere.

"Oh Mr. Thomas," the older woman turned around, "I didn't realize you were there."

Mr. Thomas chuckled slightly. "I still remember when you were the most sensual kid in the class Ms. Risa. Seems you've been slipping with age."

The healer, now known as Ms. Risa, glared at the older man. "I'm only 30, dammit," she barked, a tic mark appearing on her forehead Mr. Thomas let out a haughty laugh at Ms. Risa's expression and it took all of Rika's will power to not giggle along as well. Her glare turned on Rika when she couldn't hold back her laughter anymore.

Their laughter died slowly as they got back to the situation at hand. "Anyway, when he wakes up, I have some news for him. It will get him rather excited, so I need you to keep him calm, Ms. Risa and Ms. Harade." He explained rather seriously.

"You can tell me now sir," Kodah's voice popped up behind them. Rika whipped around at the sound of his voice. She blushed at his almost completely naked torso, as they had to remove the armor to get to the wounds on his chest. Now that she wasn't worried that he was going to die, she had time to admire his lean and defined muscles under the remains of a tattered shirt.

"Oh I see your up," Mr. Thomas replied with a smirk. "What happened to your usual jabs of 'Old man'?" Both Rika and Kodah frowned at this. When were so familiar with each other? Rika glanced between them, wondering what Kodah was thinking.

"You know when," Kodah replied, his voice as blank as ever.

Mr. Thomas frowned. "Yeah, and the news I have for you relates to that." Rika noted that Kodah's eyes shined slightly, as did Mr. Thomas'. This seemed to be a touchy subject for them, if the atmosphere was anything to go by. "Where?" It was more of a demand than a question, as Kodah sat up straight.

"Tomorrow, in the middle of class, someone is going to come by. You can either let them carry your armor and weapon or you can wear them to class." Mr. Thomas stated.

Kodah's face remained expressionless as he stood up and faced the teacher. "Tell him to bring my switch axe. I have everything else." Rika looked between the two in confusion. She had no idea what was going on at the moment. But it seemed Ms. Risa did.

"Oh, no no no. You are not in any shape to do something like that. You need to rest first," the healer ordered. Mr. Thomas stared at the woman completely deadpan. "You just gave him a freaking ancient potion."

Ms. Risa seemed to give in and hung her head. "Fine," she muttered, "but no rough activity until morning, and get some rest," she continued with more authority.

Kodah gave her a nod. "Don't worry, I will." This didn't reassure Rika as a creeping feeling grew in her stomach.

The next day

Rika had a hard time paying attention in class as she wondered about yesterday. 'What's going on?' That thought had crossed her mind all morning as she kept glancing at Kodah, much to the dislike of the other boys, especially Blake. Macie was back, due to the doctors at the hospital also using an ancient potion on her, but ordered her to refrain from hunting for a week. "This sucks," she whispered to Rika. "And the ass-kicker's fidgeting isn't helping," she added as she glanced at Kodah too.

Macie was right, as all morning Kodah had been discretely tapping his foot and glancing out the window all morning. He was ignoring the stares from all of his classmates, some of them in dislike for him and others out of curiosity about their quiet classmate. 'They're probably thinking what's under that coat.' She could tell it was true as she heard some of the other girls in class mutter things like 'he's kind of cute' or 'I wonder what's under there'. Hearing these made Rika slightly jealous but she didn't know why.

There was a sudden knock on the door. Everyone turned their attention to find a young man, who looked to be a third year student. He cleared his throat, "Uh, Kodah Otonashi?" 'Silence. What a fitting last name,' Rika thought. Kodah got up from his seat and looked at Mr. Thomas, who gave him a nod.

As he walked towards the door, Macie called out. "Hey Kodah." He glanced back at her. "I wasn't completely out when you fought that thing yesterday. All I have to say is thank you." Kodah gave her a short nod and turned back towards the door. "And one more thing," Macie smiled slightly, "whatever you're hunting, kick its ass." Rika thought it was her imagination but she swore she saw the corner of Kodah's mouth twitch up into a ghost of a smile. He glanced at Rika who blushed slightly and gave an equally small smile.

Mr. Thomas also stopped him. "Good luck, Kodah. Though I don't think you'll need it." Blake smirked at the teacher's words. "Yeah right, he's probably going to get his ass kicked. He's useless anyway." Both she and Mr. Thomas frowned at him while Macie gave him a death glare. Even the third year at the door was frowning in contempt. Kodah just shrugged and walked out the door, grabbing the covered weapon from the third year as the continued down the hall. Everyone looked out the window as Kodah and the third year walked out towards the street where a wagon pulled by an aptonoth was being driven by a felyn. It waved to the two as they walked up and hopped into the back. They exchanged a few words when the wagon started to move. Kodah glanced over his shoulder back at the window, giving a little two -finger wave to everybody as the wagon went out of sight.

"He'll be fine," Mr. Thomas reassured them. But Rika couldn't dispel the small crepping feeling in her stomach again.

Kodah

The boy across from him growled, looking frustrated. "How can you stand the way he talks about you and looks at you?" He exclaimed angrily.

"Probably because he's a dumbass," Kodah replied deadpan.

The felyn driving let out a mrow of amusement. "That guy is a dumbutt to call you useless Kodah, Nyaa" The other hunter cracked up at the antics of the two.

He calmed down after a few seconds and leaned closer to Kodah, his expression serious again. "Are you sure you're ready to do this, man?"

Kodah replied with a nod of his head. He was ready to kill the monster that killed his previous teacher all those years ago. His pale eyes seemed to become even colder than they naturally looked. He had prepared for this. HIs teacher's old Bolt Axe strapped to his back, his Rathian+ armor repaired all of yesterday with some improvements added, such as a few plates here and there with extra padding. He had ten of regular potions and mega potions along with barrel bombs and Whetstones. He had a separate pouch full of paintballs and assorted throwing bombs and throwing knives ranging from sleep to poison affinities along with regular knives and sonic and flash bombs. He had multiple phials for the different types.

He counted through the elemental phials and was just starting on the power phials when everything became quiet except for the low whining of the aptonoth. The felyn murmured a faint "We're here."

Kodah looked around the forested area and saw what looked to be a game trail leading off into the thick foliage. "Be careful," the third year warned him.

"Yeah," the felyn agreed, "Come back to us Kodah." The hunter nodded and hopped off of the wagon.

"Don't worry, Rork, Nitzy. I'll be fine." He assured them and walked off down the trail. "I'll be back before you know it.

He had been walking for two hours, finding obvious signs of the monster being in the area. He was currently following the most recent sign, a day old disemboweled aptonoth with a clear blood trail leading off further towards a clearing. He crouched in the brush at the edge of the clearing to see the blood trail disappeared. He slowly made his way around to the other side to see if the blood trail continued. He was disappointed to find it was gone. With a frustrated and quiet sigh, he made his way into the clearing for more clues. He found long claw marks on the trees from the way he had come. He crouched down to find some on the ground too, obviously very recent.

"It's somewhere around here…" He murmured quietly. He suddenly felt a gust of wind behind him. He quickly turned around and came face to ugly face with his quarry. The Nargacuga loomed threateningly, its eyes glowing red in rage. It had a long scar going from its left ear to right cheek, caused by Kodah's teacher years ago, along with a tear in its wing when it fought Kodah back then too.

It growled at him, its ears pulled back slightly while still cupped towards him. "Hey, ugly," Kodah growled quietly, "Remember me?" It answered with a lunge.

Kodah dodged and pulled out his weapon with lightning speed, still barely managing to block the follow up attack. Its tail bashed against the bolt axe, the horns attached to the weapon grinding against it. It followed up again, slashing at Kodah with its wing, striking again with the other wing. 'What the hell?,' he thought in surprise, 'It's moving like a Barioth.' The narga jumped back, unleashing a barrage of tail spikes at him. 'Scratch that. It's moving in a mixture of Barioth and regular Narga moves .And it's a heck of a lot faster. As expected, it's not normal.' Kodah charged forward and dodged under a tail swing, causing it to get stuck. He pressed his advantage as he switched to sword mode and viciously swung down on its tail. It left a clean cut as it stopped halfway to the bone. It pulled its tail free just as he backed up but he still took a hard hit to his stomach, sending him flying.

Kodah coughed and gasped as the air left his lungs. He rolled over in time to see a spiked tail land right where he had been a second ago. The narga swung its claws and wing at him and he took another hit, this time in his arm, leaving a large gash. He jumped back and put the weapon back in axe mode, letting the elemental booster disperse throughout the weapon. It had been designed to hold unused boosters to help make the next attack even more powerful; a collaborated effort between Kodah and his teacher, and by God it was effective.

The nargacuga swung its tail again, resulting in its tail stuck in the ground again as Kodah dodged out of the way. He proved the design to work as he switched to sword mode again, it charging quicker and more powerfully than last time. He swung at the monster's left wing as it struggled to get its tail out.

'NO. I will not allow you to hurt him!'

Kodah recoiled at the loud voice shaking in his head. He watched as the nargacuga stopped struggling for a few seconds until it seemed to recover and pull its tail out. It let out a loud roar as it sent out another barrage of spikes. The roar did not affect the hunter due to earplugs. While Kodah blocked the spikes, the monster had managed to speedily run up to him and let loose with a huge tail swing, spikes extended.

'RUN BOY!' the voice shouted in his head again. 'I cannot control myself. You will lose this fight RUN!'

The tail stopped mere inches from hitting Kodah in the chest, who had frozen upon realizing where the voice was coming from. 'I-its talking to me. The damn narga is talking to me in my head. Yep I'm crazy.'

The monster them seemed to shake off its previous thoughts with a struggle and swung its tail again. It was so close Kodah had no time to dodge, so he opted for the last thing he could do in the split second. He swung the mighty axe down into the Nargacuga's head as the spiked tail slammed into him.

Kodah sat leaned up against a rock in the clearing, mulling over what he had just found out.

'Boy… are you ok?' The narga asked, now finally in control of itself for the first time in years. As it turns out, it was being controlled by a hunter's soul. It could move between the human body and a barioth, until the monster had been killed, severing the connection. He had gone searching for another monster to control, and found Shikage, or death's shadow, as many called him. Many simply called him shi, or death. The hunter took control of shi and due to the rampage induced by first contact, had killed Kodah's teacher and a girl's parents.

'Yeah, I'm fine,' he coughed up some blood, 'Never been better. It is just a lot to take in.' Apparently, The Hunter had been in control the whole fight, up until they had struck fatal blows upon each other, returning to his own body and relinquishing control. 'I'm going to die, aren't I, Shi?'

The Narga seemed to think for a moment. 'Not if I can help it. I am dying along with you. I can use the last of my life to save yours. Stick out your arm.' Kodah did as he was told and stuck out his left arm. Shi poised his mouth around the arm, barely holding it in his teeth, not breaking the skin. 'This may have… side effects. Including my soul merging with yours. Do you want that?'

Kodah thought for only a second before nodding. "It'll save me and it might save you too. I want that."

'You are an honorable hunter, and it was nice knowing you if only for a little while.'

'Same here, Shikage, Death's shadow.' And with one final nod, he felt the narga's teeth bite down on his arm. He grunted in pain from the bite, but the pain after that made him shout in pain. The last thing He remembered when he blacked out was feeling better and worse than he ever had in his life, and his companions running towards him, shouting to get him on the cart.

Well, now the title comes into play. This chapter was a fun one to write, though it did take a while. No excuses except for my writers' mood being ruined on a daily basis by school. That's a weak excuse at best. Please forgive me, my laziness and bad writers' mood. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the next one will hopefully not take as long. And the summers' coming up so booyah, only 3 Mondays left. As always, I ask you to review and help me improve, as it is appreciated. Until next time.