Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Monster Hunter, only how the story goes. The characters and world of Monster Hunter belongs to Capcom. The only thing that I do own are the OC's of the story. I do apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: As usual, a small filler chapter. Basically, Jacob's going to spend some time with some friends and catches a glimpse of someone who may or may not still harbor some sore emotions.

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Chapter Forty-One: Hard Feelings Still There

It had only been a few hours since Jacob, Calypso and Mama Rath had parted ways for now. He was currently sitting in the cabin of the Blizzard and had his feet propped up against the dash. He was starting to doze off when he saw something flying towards the boat. Jacob got up and walked out of the cabin. He was surprised to see a lone Mernos coming right towards him. The small Flying Wyvern flew right up to the boat and landed on the bow of the vessel. It gave a small shriek and Jacob noticed something attached to its leg.

Carefully coming closer, Jacob removed the parcel from the Mernos. He saw that it was a small cage, a piece of parchment, a brush, a bottle of ink and a written letter. Holding the cage, the paper, the brush and the bottle in the crook of his arm, Jacob opened up the note. It read…

My dear furriend Jacob,

I know that it hasn't been that long since we last saw each other, but I wanted to tell mew that me and the other Felynes are doing fine. We managed to make it to a town in the Old World. Some of us plan to find work with the Guild while others are going to find their purpose elsewhere. I do hope that we meet again someday. And I sent some parchment in case mew wanted to write me back. I also sent mew a scout fly cage. It can come in handy when mew need to find something.

As for taking care of them and using them in the field, all mew have to really do is bring a piece of material with the scent on it. The scout flies will swarm around the item and begin searching. They can gather nourishment from some stuff like flesh from a carcass, plant material and maybe some left over skin from a footprint. And they return to the cage once they have guided mew to your destination or when mew turn back from where you're going.

I look forward to meeting again.

Sincerely your furriend,

Floot

Jacob was really touched that his Felyne friend would send him a letter. And he figured that since the Mernos was still here and he had what he needed to write a letter back. He moved back to the cabin and hurried in writing the letter. He would try his best considering he had never wrote a letter with a brush and ink. Placing the scout fly cage on the dash while placing the other stuff to where he could write. He opened the bottle of ink and dipped the brush down into it. He then started to write his message back to Floot…

Dear Floot,

I thank you for the gifts. I'm very glad that you and the other Felynes are doing well. I will try to make use of the scout flies when I need to. I do hope that we can meet again or stay in touch. And I wish you well.

Sincerely your friend,

Jacob Orr

Trying his best to fold the letter to get it ready to send back, Jacob carried the parchment back to the Mernos as it was waiting to go. He carefully moved to where it had been attached and placed the letter. When it was nice and secure, Jacob extended his arms out and shouted, "Ha!"

The Mernos gave a startled cry and flapped up into the sky. It turned and flew back in the direction that it had come from. Jacob watched the Flying Wyvern go until it was practically a dot on the horizon. He took a deep breath before turning away from the sea. The teen decided to visit some friends within the Ancient Forest before the day was over.

He grabbed his shield and Iron Katana just in case and got off the boat. Jacob went through the opening and went up a wall of vines and carefully made his way into the Jagras' territory. He moved down into the middle of the area and crouched down in some foliage. The human waited a minute or two to see if they would be pass through, but he didn't see any signs of the pack. Slowly getting out of the bush, Jacob moved towards the opening that led to the two paths. Had he looked back to the top of the rocky bridge over him, he would have seen something quickly slink across. It was then that Jacob suddenly had a feeling that he wasn't alone. He slowly turned around just as a shape jumped down from the ledge. The shape crashed into him and they tumbled off the smaller ledge and rolled across the ground.

The creature stood over the teen and tried to keep him down with its paws on his shoulders. From what he could tell, whatever had him pinned down wasn't too big. With a heave of his arms, Jacob managed to throw it off him and moved to get up. It was sent a few feet from him as Jacob got up again. Looking at the creature, he sighed when he saw that it was Julius and the Jagras looked ready to have another tussle with him. With a shake of his head Jacob questioned, "Is this how you treat all of your guests."

He got his answer when the Jagras moved his shoulders as if getting ready to pounce. Jacob let the shield drop from his arm, placed his pack next to it and removed the Iron Katana from his back. They fell next to the shield with a clatter a second later. Jacob stepped away from the gear and the Jagras followed his movements with his head. Julius crouched down and Jacob readied himself. The Jagras charged forward and the teen jumped out of the way when he lunged. The human wasn't prepared when he felt the Jagras trip him up with his tail. Jacob stumbled and managed to catch himself before he hit the ground. In a crazy kind of way, he twisted himself to get some distance between him and Julius. The odd move did make the Jagras tilt his head in confusion before focusing on their little match again.

Julius rushed towards the human and Jacob ran forward as well. And just as the Jagras leapt at him, Jacob dropped down and slid underneath the flying reptile. The human moved to where he stood on his feet again just as the Jagras landed on the ground not too far. They turned to each other and were about to continue the match, but when Jacob took a step forward, he tripped on a root and fell on his rear. Julius gave a laugh like grunt and was about to go for it when a sudden multitude of screeches made them both halt. Another Jagras landed in front of Julius and Jacob figured that it was Jumpa. He was soon joined by Jupiter, Juni and Junker. The four boys hissed at their friend and he just growled back while looking between them. Jacob wondered where the girls were when he felt a couple of scaley heads press up against his own from both sides. Glancing to either side of him, he found Joss and Jess were the ones giving him affection. They moved away as Jenna and Juno came up to him. Juno was the first of the two to greet him by rubbing her head up against his like the twins had done. But she didn't get to stay long as a small nip from Jenna made her back up. Juno gave an irritated screeched at her, but Jenna paid her no mind as she moved behind Jacob before repeating what the other three did. The teen lightly scratched the side of her head and grinned, "Nice to see you all again, too."

They looked over to the five boys as the four let up on Julius. They joined Jacob and the girls and Jupiter gave a small growl to the teen. Junker, Jumpa and Juni gave light growls as they looked over him. Jacob slowly got up on his feet and walked to retrieve his things. But after picking up his shield, Jacob looked back to the nine and thought aloud, "Why don't we have ourselves some fun?"

It got the nine Jagras to tilt their heads. Jacob placed the shield on the ground and lifted his gaze to look behind the nine Fanged Wyverns. He stared hard at a spot and it got the results he was hoping for. The Jagras all looked back to where he was looking while the human laughed on the inside and quietly took off. He moved towards some brush behind some trees to hide. He knew that the nine would be a little sore at him, but it was the only thing he could think of to play the game.

The nine Jagras turned their heads and they were greatly confused to see that the human had disappeared. Not only that, but he had left all of his stuff behind. Jupiter moved over to the weapons and pack and took a sniff. The scent was still fresh and the Jagras looks back and screeched to the others. The nine spread out through the area to search for the human.

Over in his hiding spot, Jacob knew that it was only a matter of time before they found him. But as he remained crouched in the bushes, he heard a light growl not too far. Carefully peeking through the foliage, Jacob saw a shape slinking up the hill towards the vines that would go higher into the Ancient Tree. His eyes widened when he saw that it was Boltia. He hadn't seen the Tobi-Kadachi in practically a month since their spat. He wondered how she was doing and if she was missing him.

The Tobi-Kadachi in question was about to make the leap up when she got the feeling that something was watching her. Jacob stayed still in the bush when she looked his way. He wasn't too sure how she would react if she saw him. She didn't see him and turned back to what she was doing. Boltia made the jump up and continued on.

Feeling that it was okay to come out now, Jacob lightly stepped out of the bush and stared up at the spot where he saw her. He really wished that things could go back to the way they were before their fight. The teen sighed as he felt troubled by this. But his troubles only continued when something tackled into him from the side. They landed with him on his side and the thing placing its talons on his shoulder. He looked up to see Jumpa standing over him and give a victory screech. The Jagras moved off of him as the rest of the pack were quick to join them. Jacob laughed a little from the looks on their faces, "Sorry. I was just playing a little game with you guys.

"At least I didn't go too far." He pointed out with a nod. Then he added, "And this is kind of like when you search for things hiding in the brush and stuff when you hunt.

"But maybe it's best if we do something different." He thought with a shrug. They heard the squawking of birds in the trees and looked up to see a bunch of them flying about. The look of them was so pretty as they flapped around in the air. The group of ten moved down into the center of the area as the birds moved through the trees. They all watched as the birds of the New World entered a dance with flowing colors from their feathers as they flew in a grand circular pattern.

If any of the ten had been looking to the north and up in the trees, they would have seen a pair of red eyes gazing down at them followed by a small whine of sadness.

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A/N: I'll end the filler chapter there. This one is a lot bigger than the previous filler, but that's to be expected. In the next chapter, we really do begin the Caverns of Horror with a one-time monster I plan to feature. I may have to do some more research on its battle moves and such jus to make sure that it's going to be a good fight. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See you all next time.