Training for about a year might seem wasteful, but with all the technology I already had, it was best to learn how to use it well than simply acquire new stuff. Possession doesn't necessarily mean mastery, and after how close the fight had been between myself, Viv, and the Coelohim, well, better safe than sorry. Plus it gave me some time to get my bearings with my stuff and what Vivienne had.
XXXXX
"So, you have Imperial Titans?" I questioned, rather impressed that Viv had acquired such powerful machines.
"Inherited from my mother's family. Celm said that they were part of a joint venture between the old Progenitor Empire and Dark Age Humanity. Whole Legion, to be exact."
"Seriously? And who is head of the Legio? Elling?"
"Only when we're on missions of total annihilation, otherwise my grandpa is in command!" replied said boy.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry...what other mechs do you have?"
"Star League Battlemechs, the AGE Gundam, which is technically Elling's by birthright - "
"He's an Asuno?"
"Distantly - Celm told me that the war between Earth and Vagan never happened in the AGE universe they visited because of the Progenitor Wars uniting both sides, but he didn't give more specifics than that. Oh, and apparently he's also related to the Galette brothers."
"Oh...who'd Flit end up marrying?"
"Celm got annoyed whenever I asked him about that. Apparently, both Yurin and Emily's blood runs through Ell's veins, though."
"Okay. Continue."
"There's at least three GDI Juggernauts in my artillery divisions - they were part of an agreement with Kane - "
"Please tell me about that some time."
"- and several D-Walkers, plus a Battle Gear."
"...You were involved with Diamond Dogs?"
"I may or may not have prevented the entire Metal Gear saga following V, at least, chronologically, from happening."
"How'd you do that?"
"Oh, you know, stop Zero from becoming a vegetable due to Skull Face, prevented Strangelove from dying, convince Big Boss to be more open with Miller and take responsibility for his clone sons, defuse the tyke bombs that are Eli and Trech, and kill off the vocal chord parasites. Oh, and more or less torch Cipher to the ground."
"...You have GOT to tell me how that happened!"
"One day. One day."
"Promise?"
"Promise, my dear Commander."
"Thanks...is there one thing I can ask you now, though?"
"Shoot."
"What did you do with Diamond Dogs?"
"...sign on as a member of the Base Development Team?"
"Really?!"
Rather than offer a response, Viv merely smiled and pulled a file out of her coat, which she soon handed to me. Taking it, I quickly began reading.
Most of it was meaningless data, but one thing did catch my attention:
STAFF NAME: VICIOUS KATYDID
"...They gave you a code name after a carnivorous variety of grasshopper?"
"Eh, I'm not complaining. Mostly had me work on maintenance, occasionally did some secretary work, even one or two combat missions when the A and B Teams were in medical. Before you ask, yes, I could pose as a secretary for you, but please don't ask me to do that too often."
"Just for the sake of asking, why?"
It was amazing how fast Viv could turn her expression from one that could be considered flirtatious to one that was full of malice.
"I don't like being on the sidelines of combat."
…..Note to self: Never piss off my former ROB.
"Ok."
Within an instant, her expression turned to a rather cute one, eyes closed, with a huge smile on her face.
"Thank you!"
…..Scary.
XXXXXXX
Okay, with that all settled, it was time to go to the next universe. Boxing Day was here, and what better time to start my next adventure htan that New YEars would be a little too late.
Carefully, I readied up the portal, preparing my Commander and my fleet for travelling through the multiverse. I'd shut it down for a few months, so it might need some time to start back up... or not.
Okay, now that it was online, time to find another universe to head toward-what was with the energy fluctuation I was getting?
"Commander," intoned the Progenitor AI from PA, who I'd decided to call Katie, "unknown energy pulse detected. It appears to be coming from a nearby universe. We are trying to pinpoint its location now."
"Do we have any nearby probes to explore it?"
"Not at the moment."
"Then give me a moment to ready one up-"
Before I could finish that statement, something happened, and the portal suddenly started sparking. Also, gas clouds and small debris were being pulled toward it."
"Warning, pulse has impacted portal - destination has now been set."
Oh dear. "Deactivate the portal now!"
"I cannot - the portal has been forced open. Also, warning: the portal is now exerting a gravitic pull on all nearby objects."
"Flame, what's going on?"
Uh oh. "Um, something seems to have screwed up the portal and I a-AAAAAMMM-"
The last part might have been the result of me being pulled toward the portal by its gravitic force. Hastily, I summoned up the best armor I had, as well as the paracesis and my kitgun. A moment later, I skidded to a halt beside a radar tower
"Disable the portal's connection to the power netwoRRRRRKKKK!"
Before I could finish my order, the radar tower came free, sending it, and myself, flying into the portal.
Oh, hear we go again.
XXXXXXXX
The feathered egg thief began to organize its catch. Most creatures didn't leave their eggs unattended, but after the commission's recent actions, place the influx of world eaters, many nests had been left without watchers, provided the dodo-look alike with plenty of free lunches. Already, it was examining each one it had acquired, trying to decide which one it wanted to eat first.
Suddenly, a whistling noise filled the air. Looking up, the oviraptor-esque creature watched as several meteors began to sail through the sky, all burning up before they landed, though one or two exploded before they fully burned up.
Before it could watch them much longer, though, the yellow colored dinosaur was caught off guard as a human sized object fell through the trees and came to a halt right next to it. Panicking, the biped retreated. True, it was leaving its bounty behind, but there were still plenty of eggs left to eat.
XXXXXX
OW, THAT HURT!
Ugh, what happened. Also, where had I ended up?
...Okay, I still had access to the progenitor network through my brain implants. Good. Now let's see, what are my surroundings?
...Giant rainforest, what appear to be dinosaurs, specifically hadrosaurs and pachycephalosaurs, what looks like pterosaurs, giant iguanas...is that a wyvern? Why does it look so recognizable?!
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Without thinking, I rolled to the side, just as something huge snapped at where I had been.
Righting myself, I found my assailant to be a pink tyrannosaur with vulture like feathers all over its body...why did this feel so familiar, yet at the same time so alien? Also, why was my head throbbing?
"You appear to have a concussion, sir."
Thank you, Katie. Also, crap - I was fighting a dinosaur while having a concussion. Just perfect.
Also, there were a bunch of eggs nearby, and some of them looked like they were about to hatch. Better protect those from this thing.
Letting out a roar that I recognized but could not identify, the beast jumped at me. I retaliated by jumping up and landing on its back. Seeing no other option, I pulled out the only othe blade I had on me, my zaw, and started hacking at the creature's back, whilst jumping and swinging to avoid being thrown off. When the beast finally tired, I grabbed the paracesis and swung it down on the creature's head, toppling it. With the monster now on its side, I began shooting and hacking at its belly, until it managed to right itself. Sighing, I pulled out the bow I had created in the warframe universe and started blasting it with arrows, occasionally pulling out my kitgun to blast its face with. At one point, I rolled toward some bines, causing the predator to become entangled, allowing me a few more free hits.
When the creature broke free, though, it surprised me by suddenly inflating a nasal sack and roaring at me, before shooting a stream of flames at me.
….Okay, I was really familiar with this, but I still couldn't tell what it was. Curse you, concussion!
"Concussion will heal over in one minute, sir."
Thank you, Katie.
Sighing, I opened fire at the dinosaur, managing to shatter part of its lower jaw, break some of its nasal sack, and sever the edge of its tail. Ultimately, though, it managed to get the jump on me and pin me to the ground...only for it to be attacked by one of the iguanas I noticed earlier, followed by several others and one individual that was absolutely huge. The iguanas got in a few good hits, until the giant one was grabbed by the tyrannosaur ripoff and thrown around like a ragdoll, before being left crawling on its side.
While all this had been happening, I had been limping away, waiting for my wounds to heal. As I stumbled over to the eggs, though, something fell out of one of my pockets. Examining it, I realized it was the shield-like gem I had been given by Viv the Christmas before I had allied with her permanently. Hastily picking it up, I found a strange force over come me telling me to head. Toward. The. Eggs.
Oh, and those eggs were starting to hatch.
Now I really needed to get rid of the giant monster headed toward me.
Sighing, I fired off my kitgun at the giant carnivore, who prepared to charge...only to unceremoniously be grabbed by one of the wyverns I'd seen earlier. The large flying predator carried the tyrannosaur rip-off for some distance before its prey managed to break free, at which point the dinosaur shot a stream of flames at the wyvern, who replied with a fireball to the ground based predator's (already sensitive) nose, causing it to burrow into the ground in retreat. Roaring in triump, the red, somewhat lion like wyvern flew upwards, toward a large tree...wait, red, fire breathing wyvern?
"Concussion Recovery Completed."
Perfect. Because now, I think I knew where I was.
First, though, I had the eggs to attend to.
Approaching them carefully, I held out the shield shaped medallion toward the eggs. For a moment, nothing happened, but then seven of the eggs, one green in color, another red, a third some sort of blue, the fourth pink, the fifth black, the sixth forest green, and the last one sapphire, began to shake more ferverently than the rest, before hatching. From the gree egg came one of the iguana like creatures, from the pink one came a beast like the one that had tried to eat me, the red one gave rise to a red wyvern similar to the one that had unknowingly saved me, the blue one to a crocodiel like reptile with a long neck and cobra hood, the forest green one to a tiny, angry pickle, and as for the last two...no way...NO FUCKING WAY!
...Okay, I should probably tell you what those were.
The black one hatched into a dragon with giant horns and spikes all over its body, while the sapphire one had hatched into a sapphire colored dragon.
...How was I gonna explain the baby Xeno'jiva to the commission?
XXXXXXXXXXXX
AN: Here we are!
Welcome to Monster Hunter!
Yes, I'm going to a fantasy setting. Just remember, this is a LOW FANTASY universe, so barring certain circumstances *CoughBehemothcough* there will be no magic.
For those wondering, this is what Flame got from Melissa/Vivienne in the warframe Christmas special.
It's called a kinship stone, and in the spin-off game Monster Hunter Stories, it's used by riders to tame monsters from eggs, which is exactly what Flame is going to use it for.
Here are the monsties he got from each egg:
Nondescript egg: Great Jagras
Pink: Anjanath
Red: Rathalos
Blue: Lagiacrus
Forest Green: Deviljho
Black: Nergigante
Sapphire: Xeno'Jiiva
Before you complain about this being overpowered, keep in mind CMDR Flame has no idea how to train them, and that they will not get too big this arc. They need time to grow! Also, he still has many, many, MANY more eggs to care for, since the Kulu-ya-ku abandoned said catch when he showed up.
So, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!