...Okay, so, let's review: I'm a human boy who was shoved into a giant Brutally Efficient Self Replicating Mechanism of War by a Random Omnipotent Being, mostly for her amusement, but also to fulfill the wishes of the creator of said machine. I ended up losing it briefly to biotechnology drones and had to gain control of space magic and take a couple levels in badass to get it back. The ROB I mentioned earlier now serves under me, and has...questionable feelings toward me. I'm currently in a low fantasy universe, where there might be dragons and such, but all of their powers can be explained in scientific ways. Oh, and I'm now faced with a monster and a hunter of monsters from two different universes.

Does that sound about right?

'Questionable feelings?'

I'm not sure how you think of me and I don't know how I feel toward you right now.

'...Fair enough. And it does sound about right.'

Glad to hear. So, what now?

'See if we can help, if nothing else. I've some experience with the beasts of the Witcher world.'

You've been there?

'No - some of those beasts came to mine...well, my old one. I've hunted a chort and met a godling.'

...You have got to tell me about that some day.

Maybe. Now, though, focus on the task at hand.

Alright.

"Alright," I began, attention focused on the Field Team Leader, "to address the Gammoth in the room...well, base, how did this man show up?"

"...A magic portal that opened in the Research Base. He's hunting...something in the Ancient Forest."

"...Any ideas what, exactly?"

"No," conceded the man, "but from what I've heard, it involves...magic. Real magic - not the abilities that monsters use. It did something with some of the tree roots in the forest that's left our Chief Botanist at a loss for words."

"...Oh."

'Any idea what it could be?' was my unspoken question to my ROB.

'Most likely a Leshen or Spriggan,' was Viv's answer. 'Certainly matches what I know about the beasts.'

"Yeah. Listen, we're gonna leave this problem up to the Witcher. We're just trying to make sure he doesn't face any additional trouble. If you want to help, well, be my guest."

Good. "Alright, got any leads?"

"There's been an unusually aggressive Tobi-Kadachi sighted in the forest, my what to start there."

"Thanks for the advice."

I turned to Vivian. "You want to come?"

She gave me an amused smile. "Like you need to ask."

Brandishing a grin of my own, I signaled for wing drake...only to halt when I felt a pair of tiny hands tugging on my leg. Looking down, I found the gajalaka I had saved earlier looking at me.

"..Can I come along? I...want to repay you for saving me."

Their voice, though somewhat garbled and sounding like what I'd remembered from playing Tri with Cha-cha and Kuryamba, was distinctly feminine.

"..Eh, sure. Why not? Though before we go, can I ask your name?"

"...Zora."

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I watched as the fanged wyvern fell asleep, only occasionally letting out a huff of breath. Really, this fight hadn't been that hard - I'd faced meaner things by this point, and seeing how this was not a tempered monster, it went down without too much trouble.

Our lynian companion had proven herself quite capable, and managed to briefly stun the cat-snake-squirrel with a well placed bomb. Also, fun fact, she really liked eating steak. Then again, so did pretty much every hunter and felyne I'd met, so that was hardly a surprise. Already, I was planning a victory feast for us back at camp.

Suddenly, a purple light shot up from Astera. Upon seeing it, I couldn't help but smile. It seemed Geralt had bested whatever had shown up in this universe.

..Wonder if I could still meet him. probably not, but still.

As we began to march back to camp, though, I received a message from Fide - it seemed one of my probes was asking for my assistance. When I inquired to why, though, she admitted it had only just asked because it wanted me to save some people. As much as I wanted to help, I declined - my forces needed to learn how to stand on their own, and I needed to be able to trust them to be able to save others when I could not. I told the probe as much, and continued on my way to camp.

I only made it four paces before slipping. As I stood up, though, I found myself staring at a what I had slipped in.

It was a footprint, of all things...but it didn't match up with anything I'd encountered up to this point in the Ancient Forest. I could see a few more prints ahead of it, along with a stain of blood and a broken piece of antler, which our scoutflies were already looking over...oh, and there was a trio of nekkers feasting on a lump of torn flesh.

Hastily catching the ogroids, the three of us began to walk further, eager to see what this creature was. Slowly, our trail lead up deeper into the forest, where more footprints and bloodshed awaited us - it seemed whatever had been here had been a messy eater.

A sudden twig snap alerted us to the presence of...the sapphire star and his felyne companion. What were they doing here?

"...I'm guessing you're following a strange trail of some unknown monster, just like me?"

I could only nod. Looks like he was after the same thing we were.

Deciding that five heads were better than two or three, we united and pursued the trail deeper into the forest. As we did, though, we came to the realization that we were following two separate trails - one belonging to at trio of man-sized monsters, the other to a single, larger beast. Both trails converged toward the same location, though, so it was likely the smaller beasts were either hunting the larger one, or trying to mooch off a kill the bigger one had made.

Once more, we heard a snapped twig behind us. This time, though, we had a good idea of who it was. Sure enough, when we turned around, we found Zoe staring at us, holding two sacks.

"Found something interesting, partner?" She Questioned.

The Sapphire Star nooses, before asking her what she was carrying.

"Oh, this? It's Geralt's reward for killing the Leshen. He didn't think he'd be able to find anyone who'd accept it back where he's from, so he wanted you to have it. As for the other one, it's a runestone. A gift, from him to you. I think you can use it to make magic!"

I smiled at her antics, as did Viv and the Sapphire Star. After she cooled down, we gestured for her to follow us as we continued along the trail.

We didn't have much further to go - we soon arrived in a clearing, where we were greeted by the carcass of an Aptonoth being examined by...Geralt?!

And that wasn't even the strangest thing! No, that honor went to the two portals right next to the carcass.

Finally noticing us, the Witcher merely nodded in our direction.

"Nice to see you again, Sapphire Star...and I assume you two are the two travelers I've heard about? The ones from another world?"

"Yep," was Vivian's response. "You find anything interesting in that carcass?"

"Something familiar, but I'm not exactly sure what-"

Suddenly, a low growl interrupted our conversation. Turning, we found ourselves staring at a group ghouls - likely the creatures that had made the smaller footprints. Immediately, we brandished our blades, ready to fight back.

"Looks like we found our target," quipped Viv.

"Weren't there two different trails?" was Zoe's response.

Thank you for having a good point, girl. Of course, I had no idea what could have made the other trail-*RARGH*

Confused and shocked by the interruption, we all briefly turned toward the roar, and found ourselves staring at a fiend. If I had to make a guess, that was what had killed the Aptonoth, and it did not want its kill stolen.

Unfortunately for all of us, that roar was followed by two more, and a moment later, two large shapes shot out of the portals - a forktail and a cockatrice, to be exact. My guess, they had been nearby the portals, and the roar had just provoked them into investigating.

So, in conclusion, we now had four different types of monsters from the witcher universe staring us down. What else could happen to make this crazier?

I got my answer in the form of a ghoul charging, only to get batted aside by a Pukei-Pukei, which then further surprised me by joining up with us. Seriously, what the hell?

Also, could someone please offer me a way out of this?

...What, another request for help? From the same probe? Why?!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The probe stared on at the invasion force, worry slowly overtaking its systems. Well, invasion force wasn't really a good word, since this was mroe of a raiding party, but that did little to console the machine.

Especially since the invasion force had one of the Coelohim among its number.

How had they found that? And how was he going to stop it? Only the commander had managed...to...oh...

..Yeah, maybe now the Commander would accept his request.

XXXXXXXXX

...Yeah, I was going to take that request now.

A moment later, a bright light appeared, and the next thing I knew, I was falling, as were all of my companions.

When we finally hit the ground, I found myself momentarily dazed. As I struggled to my feet, though, I found myself looking at a confused group of youths, who were all standing in front of a women and...was that Aloy?

"...Could you have told me you could open portals?" inquired a somewhat annoyed Geralt, shaking himself as he stood up.

I smiled sheepishly, then turned my attention toward the Nora Braves-to-be. Before I could get a word out, though, the sound of screaming filled the air. Turning toward it, we all watched as a group of warriors were attacked by the ghouls from earlier...oh.

Well, that was unexpected.

Suddenly, I heard a low growl. Turning toward it, I find the fiend from earlier staring at me. And it looked pissed. Nearby, the other two monsters from the Witcher world were also getting back up, and had their eyes set on us. The bird wyvern, meanwhile, was moving itself so that its body shielded the Witcher.

Sighing, I got into a fighting stance.

I had arrived in the Horizon Zero Dawn universe quite literally just prior to the Proving Massacre. Let's see if I couldn't stop it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: I'm probably never going to mention Viv's encounter with a godling, but her hunting a chort might get brought up later.

Anyway, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!