Monster Hunter: The Telepathic Hunter; Ch6: Mountain Roughrider

January 7th, 2098. 7:30 AM.

Two days later found Alex heading to the gathering hall. He spotted Anna speaking with Vance. "Hey, Anna! Hey, Vance!"

"Yo, yo and hello, Alex!" Vance greeted back.

"Heading off to go on a quest?" asked Anna.

"Yeah. Will you be joining me?"

"Not today, sorry. But, I'm sure you can handle yourself just fine."

Alex looked thoughtful. "Okay… Well, see you later."

"Good luck, Alex!" wished Vance. Alex waved.

At the hall, he noticed that September was not anywhere around, so he just went straight to the counter. "Good morning, Patricia," he greeted.

"Good morning, Alex. Looking for some work?"

"Yup! Do you have any large monsters for me to take on?"

With a smile, Patricia took out a quest sheet and handed it to Alex. "Have a look."

Alex read the paper entitled "The Roaring King." He zoned out upon reading the name of the target monster. "Bulldrome…" In his mind, we saw a young boy with black hair running away from a charging boar monster through a large open field. "I'm going to kill it, dead! I'll take it."

"Great. Um, please be on the lookout for a young boy. Your client is the boy's worried father."

"Ah, okay. I'll bring the boy back to the village, safe and sound."

"Great. Good luck, Alex!"

Hunter Stats

Alex Kasai (HR1)

Weapon: Snakebite Plus Sword and Shield

Armor: Hunter Blade Master

Skills: Telepathy, Strength Up, BBQ Up, Carving Iron Man

Snowy Mountains Hunting Grounds Area 7. 10:00 AM.

Alex arrived at the remnants of a small camp. He searched it thoroughly and found throwing knives and a bottle of Psychoserum.

"This is good stuff. If I drink this, I'll be able to sense large monsters from far away for a short while." He chugged it down and immediately, it took effect. "Blah! This tastes awful, but I'm now sensing a large Chikara signature approaching me at high speed."

'SNORT! PUFF! PUFF!' Alex looked towards the sound. At his 12 o'clock was a huge brown boar with white fur on its back. Its battle scarred tusks were curved upwards. Its snout and tail twitched periodically. "I thought I caught the whiff of a human!" said a gruff voice to our hunter. "Looks like I was right."

Alex rubbed his eyes twice before taking out his Snakebite+ and becoming at the ready. "A-are y-you the R-ruler of t-the S-snow? Are y-you Blanco?" he stammered.

"Blanco, the White Darkness? I'm flattered, kid!" Alex frowned at that address. He surely was no child. "My name's Husky. I'mma gonna charge ya now, ya darn hunter!" Alex shakily prepared himself as the boar scraped a hoof three times. "My potent nose can smell your fear from right over here! Charge!" The boar started running at high speed. Alex rolled away to avoid. Husky turned to face Alex in one swift movement and charged again while he was down.

As soon as he was standing, Alex was sent flying by the large, fast boar. He slammed his back hard into a wall of rock. "Aaaahh!"

At this point the boar was charging again. "You're mine now!" While still on his back, Alex instinctively rolled out of harm's way. "What?!" CRASH! Husky slammed into the wall, getting a taste of his own medicine. He desperately tried to move away, but he was stuck.

"What is to you seems like fear IS MY RESOLVE!" Alex got up and started slashing at the flailing boar's side. After about five strings of 4 hit combos, Husky finally escaped.

'HUFF! PUFF! PUFF! SNORT!' "That was embarrassing! You made... a fool... of me!" 'SNORT! PUFF! PUFF!'

Alex back stepped a few paces to increase the gap between them and started studying his opponent. The boar's tusks were shattered. They had been broken in the rock wall. "You sure... are strong..." His breath was heavy. He looked at his legs and saw that his greaves were torn around the thighs. He wiped sweat from his face and found blood mixed with it. He was pretty hurt. He was also getting tired. The cold was affecting him now.

"You don't look so good. I can go on all day. Just give up. I promise your death will be swift!"

Alex feigned weakness and dropped to one knee as Husky charged. But he jumped up suddenly and landed unto the boar's back. "I got you..!"

The boar stopped charging and started thrashing about in hope of throwing Alex off. "Get off me, get off me, get off me, get off me, get off me!" Alex, while holding on for dear life, was stabbing the ever living tar out of Husky's back using his carving knife. "Owowowowowo! Aaaaaahhh!" With a final powerful thrash, Husky finally got Alex off him. But now, he was bleeding heavily. "You... you! I'll get you for this!" He then ran away summit wards.

Alex laid unmoving on the cold ground. He was not unconscious but he was breathing very hard. "I need to drink a Hot Drink before the cold gets me." Alex struggled to reach into his pack. Upon laying his hand on the warm vial, he took it out and glugged its contents greedily. He absently tossed the vial afterwards and rested for a minute as the warm feeling spread through his core. "Ah, much better." Alex sat up and looked around. Husky was long gone. "Man, I really need to get my act together. I'm glad Anna isn't here to see me in this pitiful state." He finally got up and took out another Psychoserum. "Now where is that overgrown boar? Can't say I like the flavor, but this is the quickest way." With a grimace, Alex drank the Psychoserum. He them looked at the map. "Hmm, if what I'm feeling is correct, then he's on the summit! He's probably recovering as I speak."

Alex took off towards the summit.

Area 8: The summit.

"Where are you!? Show yourself! You coward!" shouted Alex using his mind. "He must be resting somewhere." Alex started running around the summit wall. He stopped as he noticed the shed skin of an Elder Dragon. "Whoa! That's the skin of a Kushala! How did I not notice that the first time!? Ah, I should get back to work." Alex continued on and came across a funny sight.

'SQUEAL! OINK! SQUEAL! SNORT! SQUEAL!' Husky was thrashing around frantically. There was someone one his back. A boy. "Get off me you crazy kid!"

"What the heck!?" Alex was dumbfounded. The boy was using one of his arms to relentlessly strike the Bulldrome with a piece of stick! "This is weird. Is that the boy I'm supposed to save? Oh, why am I standing here gawking? This situation is the perfect opportunity to take Husky down!" Alex ran towards the thrashing Bulldrome and started circling.

The next moment, the boy stopped attacking and looked at Alex. He waved, but in the same instant was sent flying off the raging boar. He landed hard on the ground and just lay there unconscious.

"Serves you right, you meddling kid! Now, I'll crush you!" Husky scraped a hoof three times then charged. He was completely oblivious of Alex.

"Oh no, that boy will be killed! I... got to stop him!" Alex took out a throwing knife and fired it. It hit the boar right on the tail! "Got'cha!"

Husky stopped dead in his tracks, not more than yard from flattening the unconscious young boy. He looked up and gave a loud squeal of pain. "OOOOIIIINNNNKKKK!"

While he was wailing, Alex charged, did a jump slice followed by a string of combos. With a final, powerful spin slice, Alex slashed a vital area on Husky's back leg, an artery. Alex jumped back as blood started pouring out.

Husky fell unto his side and was slowing bleeding to death. "N-n-n-no! How could... this have... happened? I... I'm... You sneaky human... Curse youuuuu!"

"I'm just doing my job. I'm a hunter; I hunt things; I. Hunt. Monsters. Like. You," Those five words were spoken coldly. It was if Alex spat them out as daggers. He stood at the head and looked remorselessly into the creature's eyes. Husky's eyes. Eyes filled with fear.

"You... you're no hunter..."

Alex became tense; his brown eyes and mouth frowned. "What?"

"You heard me... You are no... hunter. You're not even human!"

Those words were like an arrow to the heart. Alex felt an overwhelmingly burning fury blast through him. "I...! I'll! Why you..!" Alex took out his Snakebite. "You're dead! I'll kill you dead, you stupid overgrown PIG!" With one swift motion, he sank the blade into the boar's head. With a squeal, Husky was no more. Alex heavily caught his breath. "Darn it, totally lost myself there again… I think I'll need to take a bath in the hot springs to relax my head later."

"Hey mister. Are you ok?" said a soft voice. Alex turned to see the boy from before. He looked rather unharmed. "Thanks for saving me, Mister…"

"Alex. Just call me Alex. Yeah... I killed it. Um, could you hold on a sec?" Alex sheathed his sword, removed his carving knife and started carving up the Bulldrome. When he was done, he got up and turned to the boy again. "Can you tell me what were you doing here? This place is quite dangerous."

"That boar monster attacked my father and we got separated." Alex gritted his teeth as he put away the knife. "I chased after it in revenge, but I'm no hunter. So the situation turned on me. I've been stuck up here for the last two days."

"Huh! You must've had nothing to eat! Now that I think about it, you look hungry and dehydrated. Let's get you out of this cold place!"

"Thank you, Mr. Alex."

"You can thank me later. The cold is starting to affect me again. Here, climb onto my back." Alex gave the boy his back and lowered. The boy climbed up without a moment's hesitance and Alex high-tailed it. "Here we go!"

1:30 PM.

"Hey, Mr. Alex, are we there yet? I'm tired," whined Sam, the young boy our hero rescued.

"You've got to be kidding me! You're tired!?" Alex exclaimed. "I'm the one carrying 30 pounds of armor, a sword and shield, my laden hunter pack, and finally your 70 pound posterior! I'm not even sure if this whole argument is even sound!"

"Sorry… Oh, look! I think I can see the tree line."

"That means we're close."

"You should let me down now before you collapse, Mr. Alex."

"I told you, just call me Alex. Yeesh." Alex crouched and Sam promptly got off. "There… I think I might just be able to jump seven feet now."

Sam laughed. "Real funny, Mr. Alex." There was just the slight hint of a tease in the tone when he said "Mr."

"You're planning to wear me out, aren't you? Oh, well, let's keep going."

Alex and his new young friend entered the village and were met with the Chief and a man who looked like an older Sam.

"Alex! Welcome back," said the Chief.

"Sam, you're alright!" exclaimed the man. He crouched and held out his hands.

"Father!" yelled Sam as he ran into his father's arms. Alex smiled at the scene, happy that he had brought a family back together.

The father stood up with Sam nestled in his strong looking arms. "Alex, right? Thank you so much for saving my boy. You have no idea how much this means to me."

"It was nothing really. Just doing my job," said Alex modestly.

"Even so, thanks."

"Oh, before I forget, I should report to the gathering hall."

"Let's go then. I'll pay you in there. I'm sure you gave that Bulldrome what was coming to him."

"I sure did!"

At the gathering hall…

"Hey, Alex. How was it?" asked September.

"Oh, September, you're back."

"Yeah, I was taking care of a few loose ends this morning, nothing major." Alex nodded. "I heard about your chosen quest from Patricia."

"Yeah, let's just say I am not fan of Bulldromes and Bullfangos. I was very unfocused at first, but I came through at the end when I found Sam." Alex gestured to the boy in the father's arms.

"Dad, you can put me down now. This is embarrassing…" Sam was pouting.

"No can do. You're going to have to bear with it a little longer. I was worried sick, after all," replied the father.

"Wow, you aren't kidding, Mr. Sanchez," commented Patricia.

"Sanchez?" repeated Alex.

"Ah yes, I guess I didn't tell you who I am. Right, sorry. I am just so overjoyed."

"We can all clearly see that," laughed September.

"Oh, right. Here you go, Alex." Sanchez handed Alex a bag containing his reward money.

"Thank you." Alex replaced the money into his pack. "Well, this is it for today, I guess."

"Keep up the good work, Alex," said Patricia.

"Right. I'm going for some rest. Then I'm going to take a bath in the hot spring to clear my head about today. See you all later." Alex turned and left.

"Bye, Alex!" called Sam.