"Gales! Gales!"

…What… What is this?

"Gales, are you alright?!"

Can't… Can't think…

"Don't you freeze up on me now!"

Hurts…. Hurts so much…

"Come on kid snap out of it!"

Stop… Please… make it stop…

"I said…"

Help…

Help…

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Eyes snapping open Gales looked around, his eyes showing a degree of delirium as he did. "W-what?"

"About time." Karma grumbled as he lowered his fist as Gales stared at him. "Welcome back." He muttered turning his gaze to see the Deviljho running amok. "Now if you don't mind we could use your help."

"Help?" The Hunter muttered as he rested a hand on his face and shook it. "Help… right, I have to…" Karma narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Gales.

"You still good? This ain't the time to be freaking out."

"Yeah… sorry." The Hunter muttered ashe took a breath before shaking his head again and grabbed his Greatsword. 'What the hell was that?" His words went unheard as the brute wyvern released a monstrous bellow.

"Damn it?" Holland muttered. Who the hell are you!?"

"Where's the fun in telling you?" The masked figure asked as he forward with his glaive as the wyvern reared back before throwing its head forward, trying to bite a Hunter only to rip out a chunk of stone and grass.

Someone threw a bomb as the figure whistled, causing the beast he rode upon turned and smacked the tool with its tail, causing it to erupt into a hailstorm of noise. Right after the deviljho jumped, getting a questionable amount of air before coming straight down. "Incoming." Karma responded by opening fire letting his heavy bowgun sing before he turned to one of the palico that were next to him. "Reload!" They obeyed, and the weapon opened up, discharging its spent shells before the palico rammed in another set of ammo. The Deviljho turned, shots landing against its raw hide before it reared back before belching out a burst of Dragon Element that Karma and the Palico dodged. As for the ground where they once were? The moment the Dragon Element hit it, it was bathed in an eruption of 'black' that caused the ground to explode.

"Karma!"

"Best pay attention." Nox froze before turning around, his gaze locked onto the fact that the masked figure was thrusting his glaive at him. He wasn't sure how he dodged in time, but he wasn't going to question it. Stumbling back he swung his longsword only for the weapon to be deflected elsewhere as the figure stepped backwards before lunging forward, his glaive stabbing forward as he moved past and started raining a number of strikes down upon the Hunter. "Come on, is that it?"

"Nox Move!"The Hunter did just that, dodging a massive foot that threatened to crush him. Holland lunged forward as he took Nox's place and went after the masked one as the Deviljho continued stomping around before Belching out spheres of Dragon Element. "Bastard." He muttered. "Just who the hell are you?"

"Didn't you hear me earlier?" The masked one dodged one of the swords by rolling to the side, his glaive coming up to strike the second blade before he started swinging it around to rain a few dozen strikes upon the Hunter. "Where's the fun in telling you?"

"What reason do you have for attacking us? Are you a poacher or something?"

Ha!" The figure's next blow was dodged as Holland spun around, closing in as he swung his weapon. "That's a good one." His foot stopped Holland's strike as it slammed against the edge of the weapon. "Glad to know someone here has a sense of humor."He leaned back, kicking off the weapon and taking to the air before landing on the Deviljho's back as it's head jaws were consumed by black and what looked like wisps of air were gathering.

"Is that-!" The masked figure made a figure gun gesture behind his mask. "Ground Flare, Incoming!

"Bang." The burst of Dragon energy being released sounded more like a cannon going off, and the recoil from the shot actually pushed the beast back a few feet.

"Holland!" The explosion the blast let off seemed to consume part of the world in a sphere of a black and red, one with enough kick that the wind caused everyone to go flying back.


The black sun was something that could not be ignored.

Seeing it - hearing it caused Ignia growl, his eyes narrowing as he watched it fade.

There they were. There was the one who invaded his lands. There was the one who upset the balance of his realm. Turning in the air the King of the Skies adjusted his path, and took off.


The crater left behind by the attack - a Ground Flare as the Guild Knight called it - was one that leveled a portion of the forest, leaving nothing but a debris filled crater behind.

"By the five…" Holland muttered as he looked at the destruction, not entirely sure what make of such an attack.

"Heads up!" The masked one came down glaive first and nearly impaled, probably would have if thorn had deflected the blow with her weapon and knocked the figure back. "Aren't you a pretty little thing?" Thorn just lunged at the figure as he met her charge with his own, before dodging to the side as Karma opened fire on them. "Hey there, easy, you could have hit me!"

"That's the idea." Dodging bullets and blade swings the masked one seemed to dance before raising a hand to his lips and whistled. The Deviljho lunged forward, it's jaws dragging along the floor before scooping up the ground like a crude shovel. It followed with a turn, swinging it's tail around as the Huntress dodged and several exploding rounds landed on the brute. One slammed into it's foot, causing it to topple over and fall belly first on the ground. It responded by releasing a sweeping burst of Dragon element at the Hunter's that were closing in on it. Nox grit his teeth as he dodged, taking a second to look at Glade before refocusing his attention on what was in front of him. He dodged a bite and responded be swing his blade, cutting out one of the beasts fangs before it could return to its feet and tried to eat him.

The brute followed by swinging around, it's tail grinding along the side of the dirt as everyone either guarded against the swing or dodged all together.

"Nox behind you!" Nox didn't turn in time, the back of his head being grabbed before he was thrown forward and slammed into the beast's foot. A foot that it was raising up in an attempt to bring down on him.

Before the foot could come down though, a greatsword met it, holding the limb up as Gales grit his teeth. "Thanks…"

"Don't… thank me yet…" Gales forced out as the brute pressed down on its limp, causing Galesto buckle for a moment.

Dragons fire burned across the Wyverns hide as it turned towards one of the guild knights and roared.

A volley of crag shells slammed into its side as it seemed to stumble, it's limb leaving its position on the hunter's greatsword before it charged forward to the pair. It breathed out bursts of Dragon Element, launching them at the pair as they moved to either side before pursuing the Bowgun user. She responded by planting the barrel of her weapon on the floor, jumped and fired right after to launch herself further into the air and over the beast's head.

"Come on now." The masked figure was on her, grabbing her by the shoulder before throwing her back down to the ground. "Down you go!" The Guild Knight released a noise as she hit the ground, but she still managed to point her weapon bowgun at the figure before opening fire. Only for the deviljho's tail to block the shot and give them cover as they dropped back down on the floor.

"This guy…" She grumbled, getting to her feet. "He's all over the place." She saw the figure land before lunging at one of the others, swinging his glaive in a few thousand arcs as he laid into them. She returned her attention to the wyvern as she narrowed her eyes. "And we can't focus our attention on the Deviljho while he's here." She muttered as she started to move, hoisting her bowgun on her shoulder and looked at her partner. "Tristan!"

"I know!" Her counterpart shouted as he addressed the others. "Nox, Karma, Thorn, Holland, and Gales!" He called out. "You five are with me, we're dealing with the masked man."

"Everyone else is with me!" Evelyn shouted. "We'll focus on the Deviljho!"

"Splitting the party huh?" The masked individual remarked as dodged another strike from Thorn's weapon before hopping backwards. "Don't you listen to the old stories? Splitting the party is a terrible idea." He remarked as he used his glaive to block another one of Thorn's strikes. "Still if that's how you want to play this…" He dug his feet into the ground as Thorn lunged at him, her blade missing as the figure jumped back. "Don't think I'll make this easy for you!"

No one should have been able to cover the amount of distance he did with that back jump.

He whistled and the Deviljho turned to him, its mouth opening wide before they slammed shut around him. "What the?"

The Deviljho turned towards one of the others, belching forward a burst of dragon element that seemed to spin.

"Gales move!" The Hunter instead blocked, planting his greatsword into the ground as he braced himself against it. The Burst of Dragon Element, as well as the glaive hidden within it slammed into his weapon with a hard thud, but at the end of the exchange the Hunter and his weapon were still standing.

Though it was brief, the young hunter could have sworn his heartbeat decided to echo into his ears.

'What the…"

The masker interloper kicked off the blade before hitting the ground, with a spin, letting the edge of his glaive grind against the weapon for a moment before it was picked up and swung in his direction. He didn't bother blocking, instead just choosing to redirect the massive blade elsewhere before tossing his weapon to his offhand and making a swing. A swing that never hit its mark, as Garm had bit into the figure's arm and started pulling. "Bad dog." He grumbled as the crystal on his person started to glow.

Again that dark light started to emanate from the weapon as Gales' eyes widened. "Garm, let go NOW!" The canyne did just that jumping back and getting some needed distance as the light started to die down.

"Good call." The masked man found his face grabbed before gales threw him across the grounds and towards a tree. A tree he landed against feet first, and with enough force that the bark started to crack. A second later he rocketed forward, spinning as his glaive was pointed forward. Gales responded by blocking with his blade, taking the blunt of the attack as he went sliding back a bit. Garm barked as Gales looked up, seeing that the Deviljho was coming down from the sky and threatening to crush him under its bulk. He dodged, rolling to the side, but the beast's landing still displaced a bit of stone and grass before it turned and tried swinging its tail like a makeshift club. Again the masked intruder jumped onto its back as it started gathering Dragon Element between its jaw, black strips of air gathering as he bit his lips. That attack from earlier was coming, so he did what he needed to do. He let the others know.

"Ground Flare!"

"About that~" The masked figure tightened his grip on the deviljho's dorsal spines as he whistled, ordering the beast to aim its head at the ground beneath it. "Fire away!" It did as ordered, and the explosion that ripped through the area was truly a sight an onlooker would never forget.


"Your rider has been gone for quite a while." Fafnir didn't reply, instead focusing his attention elsewhere as he stared off into the distance. "Are you worried?" Again Fafnir didn't respond, instead just lowering his head for a bit as he closed his eyes. "I guess not."


"Help…"

Not… again…

"Help… me…" "Help… me…"

That voice?

"Hurts…

Who's voice is that?

"It… hurts…"

Who's in my head?

"Stop…"

Make… stop…

"Make… it… stop"

The sound of a demonic bellow ripped across the hunter's mind, pulling him back to consciousness as his eyes snapped open. Groaning, he rolled over, slamming his hand on the ground as he shook his head before getting back to his feet. Garm was already at his side, nudging him, supporting him as he did so. "Thanks buddy." The Hunter muttered as he looked around, staring at the crater that had been left from the Deviljho's Ground Flare. Everyone else was either out or trying to get to their feet, their armor cracked and groaning as they did. TheDeviljho wasn't that much better, having taken the full blunt of it's own attack. Still it was standing, and seemed ready for more, a testament to exactly how strong these brutes were.

"Wow there." The masked individual muttered as he reached down and rested a hand on the Deviljho's head. "Sorry about that, can't imagine how much that must have hurt." He admitted as he started to pat the creature's head. "And to make up for it…" He started to whistle again.

"Now what?" Gales muttered as he forcefully realigned his shoulder. "Wait… I know that tune…"


"Alright you little runts." Hunter Zeal muttered as he set himself down in front of the group. "Today we're going to learn about Melodies." The response he got was expected. A collective 'huh', and a crowd of confused faces. "Hunting Horn Melodies, get it together kids."

"Oh~" One of them muttered before falling silent. "What's a Hunting Horn Melody?"

"There songs you can play on a Hunting Horn, and they're pretty damn useful if I'm being honest." He admitted.

"How~?"

"When you play melodies, they hit a frequency that stimulates the spirit, and the effect it causes depends on the melody you're currently playing." Zael muttered. "An example." He took a breath… and grabbed his hunting horn, playing a tune that the kids weren't all that familiar with. Still the effects of hearing the tune… they all felt that. Raising their hands as they looked themselves over in confusion.

"I feel…

"Good?"

"Yeah~

"I'm not tired anymore."

"That was the Tune for Stamina, it makes it so you don't tire that easily… for a while anyway." Zael admitted. "Every tune played on a Hunting Horn can cause a different effect, so you can grant 'boons' to any of your allies, or even put a small 'curse' on your enemies." He stated.

"That's neat."

"Right, I'm going to be teaching you how to play these melodies, not just on a horn, but without." He got those confused looks again. "You're going to learn to create them with a whistle."


"He knows how to whistle them too?" Gales muttered as he saw smoke starting to erupt from the Deviljho's wounds. "And he just used a Recovery Tune…" He muttered as he grabbed his greatsword. "What other tricks does he have up his sleeve?"

"Oh you have no idea." The figure muttered as he hopped back on the brutes back and swept his gaze across the landscape. "But if you'd like to see…" He trailed off as hjis gaze turned to Gales and just stared from behind his mask. "You…" He muttered as the Hunter got his blade ready. Out of nowhere he started to laugh, and it wasn't a maddening, insane laughter either, it was joyous, full of excitement and happiness. "Oh man, I can't believe this."

"What's so funny?"

"Your face!" He shouted putting his hand on his hair and ruffled it. "I can't! I seriously can't!" He trailed off. "To think I'd see that face here!" He continued to laugh for a moment before calming down. "Of all the places!" He shook his head as a shrieking noise caught his attention. "Hm?" Turning his attention to the sky he saw something coming down from the skies.

Ignia had arrived.

"Well, this day just keeps getting better and better doesn't it?"