A short while earlier, the other group was making their way up the mountain.
The twins travelled with their monsters, keeping their distance from Judah, who walked alone.
"Hey." Spence whispered "How come his monster isn't with him?"
"How would I know?" Isa whispered back. "I don't even know what his monster is, I couldn't see it."
"Ah, neither did I. That's a pain."
"You can just go and ask him."
"...That's also a pain."
She looked over and grabbed his attention with a "Hey."
Judah turned back somewhat slowly.
"What is it?"
"Where's your monster? You had one, right? Where is it? You not taking this hunt seriously or something?"
"Oh, no, not at all. It's just that he doesn't feel like showing up right now, so he's staying back. He should help us fight, don't worry."
"Huh."
After a few moments of silence, they went back to walking as they were before.
"There you have it." Isa whispered.
"You didn't ask what monster he has."
"Oh. Well, I don't really feel like asking again. So."
She made gestures indicating she didn't care.
The group continued up the mountain.
"So, what's your plan, dude?"
"Whaddya mean?"
"You picked a fight cause you didn't wanna get shown up by him. So how are you gonna do this?"
"Oh. I'm just gonna hit it really hard."
"I shouldn't be surprised. But really, that's all you thought of?"
"Well, yeah. I don't really care about plans and stuff. I just have to show that he's not that much better than me."
Spence faced forward again, before finding himself face to face with something he didn't recognise. A monster hung upside down from the branches above, studying him.
Storm was the first other than him to notice the monster's appearance. This was followed by Isa and Irontusk, until eventually Judah noticed something was wrong and turned back.
The hunter and monkey made eye contact for a few moments longer, until it let out a screech. The rest covered their ears to try blocking out the noise, but Spence just tried swinging at the monster.
His attack was too shallow, not causing any real damage. The fanged beast backed off, pulling out some fruit and hurling it at him
Spence managed to dodge around and wildly sprinted towards the monster, Storm following directly behind him, their minds in sync.
They ascended into the trees, as the Bishaten swung between the branches with ease. Spence grabbed onto Storm's back as they pursued it higher up, dodging projectiles as they went. Storm landed on a tree and pounced directly at it, the Bishaten was barely able to move itself out of the way but Spence's glaive cut through it as they flew past.
"Hey, leave something for the rest of us!" Isa yelled up at them "You can't just take it down alone!"
The words failed to reach that high as the battle continued. Spence and Storm made a few more passes, failing to deal any real damage. The Bishaten's counterattacks barely did any damage in response, always coming close to missing.
It suddenly slipped on one of the branches. Not missing that opening, Storm dove towards it with his fangs ready. Spence readied himself to attack.
The fanged beast smirked.
As its attackers approached, the monster swung around with surprising energy. It caught itself again and swiftly struck before they could reach it, knocking Spence off Storm's back. The sound of something cracking rang out.
"Did it pretend to slip just to lure them in?" Isa thought, looking up. "This bastard's tricky."
As Storm processed what was happening, he was too slow to stop a follow up attack from the Bishaten, sending him hurtling towards the ground. The Bishaten followed him down, finally providing an opening for the others to attack.
Isa swung up at it with the hammer, but noticed a fruit being thrown down. As it hit the ground, gas rose upwards. She instinctively covered her mouth and nose, while Irontusk backed away.
"It's got poison in those? Shit, if I'd known I'd have brought some antidotes."
Taking advantage of her no longer being on the attack, the Bishaten swung and quickly knocked her down.
Judah finally made his entrance, charging into the target. Its attempts at counters were blocked by the shield, as he continued to stab at it.
A frustrated yell from the distance. Spence ran forward from the other direction, weapon already swinging. At the same time, Isa managed to get back up and went on the attack once more, followed by Irontusk.
The three forces overlapped, with the Bishaten in the center. Yet, it didn't seem worried. It elevated itself slightly, landing a swipe that went slightly over Judah's shield. It only grazed him, but it was enough to halt his offence for a moment.
Isa reached it first, taking a wild swing which it stepped out of the way of. Irontusk followed up, trying to catch it in her jaws. Spence reached the target next, striking rapidly.
The whole group was surrounding it now. Just as it wanted.
The Bishaten kicked off the ground, taking them by surprise. Before any of them could guess where it was going to land, it threw down another fruit, hitting the space inbetween all of them. Their movement came to a halt.
"Paralysis this time?" Isa struggled to break free of it, but wasn't quick enough. The Bishaten seemed to mock the group, before taking off and disappearing into the trees.
Even when their paralysis wore off, the group still didn't move for a while, out of frustration.
Isa looked at the evident anger on Spence's face, then to how Judah seemed to not be reacting.
"Yeah, this isn't gonna work out like this."
She started to speak.
"Hey, Spence. You need to cool it a little. The reason it got you that good is cause you rushed in too aggressively."
"I know that but…" He turned to Judah "Before that, why the hell are you not taking this seriously? Are you too good for us, or what?"
Judah went silent for a moment.
"What?"
"Your monster is still off chilling somewhere, isn't he? You think this job's too easy so it's not worth bringing him, right?"
"Wh-what? ...That's not it at all. What are you talking about?"
The conversation paused.
"I think it'd be for the best if you went and got him." Isa told him.
"You're probably right. This one's tough, so there's no point not using all our strength. Okay, if that'll fix things, I'll go get him right now. He should be… somewhere around here."
Judah led the way for a while, before coming to a stop.
"Titan! We've got work to do!"
The earth started to shake slightly.
The twins braced themselves, ready to finally find out what this man fought alongside.
A Dodogama appeared. They froze up.
"Eh?"
"This is Titan. Titan, say hello."
The monster made a strange noise towards them.
Judah stared at them, uncertain what they were thinking as they remained silent. Isa finally sighed a minute later.
"I didn't realise it at first, but you're a real awkward guy."
Spence looked over to her. "Huh?"
"In what way?"
"Well when I first saw you fight that thing, I think I got the idea that you were some super badass. Then I figured you were like the quiet but strong type. I don't doubt that you're strong, but I think the quietness is just cause you're bad at communicating, right?"
"Yeah, exactly that. You just worked that out?"
"How would I have known?"
"I'm not trying to hide it."
"I'm so confused." Spence interrupted, "What does any of that mean?"
"He's not looking down on us, he just can't talk good and we kinda inferred the rest."
"Ohh."
"Wait, you thought I was looking down on you?"
"Yeah, he said it before. Directly to you."
"That's… not wrong. I think I was just so confused that it didn't register."
Spence sighed and looked up.
"Even knowing that you weren't making fun of me doesn't make it feel much better. I guess that wasn't my problem, then."
"Then what was?"
His head snapped back down, staring at Judah.
"How the hell are you so much stronger than me? It's frustrating. Everything since I've arrived here has been kicking my ass, but here you are taking on that thing without breaking a sweat."
Judah paused for a minute, taking in the question.
"Experience. That's probably all there is to it."
"That can't just be it."
"How old are you?"
He looked over to Isa.
"We're nineteen." She answered for him.
"And I'm twenty four."
"Seriously?"
"Don't get surprised at that. But still, that means I've got five more years of experience. I didn't always have it easy. I've gotten beaten up more times than I can count. Sometimes the training itself was more gruelling than the fights, but that's besides the point. I knew how to fight that thing back there because I've fought a bunch before."
Spence looked disappointed.
"I don't wanna spend five years training just to get strong enough to fight out here though. It was enough waiting just to get here."
"I'm not saying you need five years. You just need to be strong enough to reach your immediate goal. And if you can't face it right now, then get strong enough to face it."
Spence paused, his facial expression changing slowly.
"Alright, then let's get that strong, right now." He rubbed Storm's mane, before the pair began their slow walk down the mountain.
"That's not it." Isa called out to him "It's back the way we came."
"Oh."
"Well, let's get going. Before that, though…" She turned to Judah "That motivational pep talk's got him fooled, but you can't trick me. I still know that you're secretly an awkward guy."
Judah seemed slightly embarrassed.
"It's really not a secret. I think everyone already knew except you two."
The group found the Bishaten once more, waiting in the trees, having spotted them coming. The three took a deep breath, before charging in unison.
It waited for the two from before to chase it upwards, but was surprised to see them stick to the ground. Upon closer inspection, Spence and Storm appeared to be in pain. The Bishaten had no way of knowing that this was a result of the mental strain from forcing themselves to not immediately leap into the air and chase after it.
The Bishaten descended, targeting Isa and Irontusk first. Seeing its intent those two stopped, while Judah moved in to block its strike.
In its moment of confusion, Spence and Storm were finally allowed to move. They leapt over the shield and struck in unison, knocking it down.
Irontusk stepped in to try grabbing the fanged beast in her jaws, but it dodged back.
Both of the twins then jumped forward, trying to strike it down with rapid attacks. The Bishaten was unable to avoid all the hits, but managed to get another fruit readied, throwing poison to cover its escape.
It was only as the Bishaten backed off that it spotted the new addition to the group. Titan chewed on the rocks that Judah had brought with him, looking towards the Bishaten.
It was currently mid-air, unable to move properly. Titan took aim.
"Okay." Judah told him "Now fire!"
Something resembling a fireball pierced the air, sent directly towards the fanged beast. It barely managed to grasp a tree and pull itself away, but it was too late. The projectile connected with its lower half, the blast sending it sprawling.
The assault resumed, unrelenting. Spence and Storm led the charge, delivering fast attacks. Isa aimed for the head, trying to stun it. Those three quickly backed off as Irontusk dragged up a chunk of the ground and slammed it down on the Bishaten before it could flee.
A moment of silence, before it suddenly rose to its feet and started attacking again. Spence was caught by one of the swipes, but the others managed to successfully take cover behind Judah's shield.
In frustration, the Bishaten repeatedly struck it, failing to make a dent. The man stood resolute, not backing away even a single centimetre. Titan barrelled into the monster, using the full force of his weight to knock it off balance. As the Bishaten stumbled back, it finally looked up to the trees.
Storm hung off one of them, lying in wait. The moment the Bishaten was far enough away, he and Spence descended for a joint attack. That signalled the end of the fight.
"We… won?" Isa asked, sort of unsure.
"Yeah, we got it!" Spence and Storm both celebrated, dancing around. "This frontier's got nothing on us now!"
"Surprisingly, I don't really have the heart to crush his hopes this time." Isa looked over to Judah "Well, you can be cool when you try, I guess."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Probably. Anyway, shouldn't we get back? The others probably struggled as much as we did, so we should be back at the same time."
"I doubt that." Judah replied.
"Huh? We're the stronger ones, right? There's no way they had it easier than we did. It's impossible."
As she spoke those conceited words, she had no way of knowing how wrong she was.
TO BE CONTINUED