Hello!
I've had this idea for a while now but couldn't really think of a way to make it into a full story, so I thought I might just make it a one-shot.
Monsters &... Monster!
In the depths of Dungeon, fog permeated the 10th floor, creating a haze which obscured the vision of adventurers that travelled through the floor. A small group of Orcs wandered these floors, club in hand, searching for the moment when they would be able to strike down the invaders that dared walk into their territory. All until a flash of white and black streaked past them all, and in an instant, the three Orcs fell with large slashes across their chests.
Bell Cranel quickly turned back around to his fallen foes and got to work retrieving the magic stones from the monster corpses. Many of the white-haired boy's friends and Familia had plans for the day, so he decided to stick to the higher floors and collect some money for the Familia. Hopefully, Goddess Hestia will take it to help pay off the debt for his knife.
Although thinking of that made Bell release a sigh "Who am I kidding, she won't take it" his Goddess had been very stubborn about paying this debt on her own.
"Well, I guess I should head up now" Bell spoke to himself, feeling that going any deeper would just get him in trouble with Eina, and it just didn't feel right being down here without his Familia by his side.
His decision was made, the young adventurer stood with three new magic stones in hand and began his travel up to the surface. But, before he made it to the stairs to the higher levels, something in the distance caught his eye. A shining glint of gold glimmered from the wall of the 10th floor, a formation of rocks in the shape of a large entrance to a cave... or some kind of den.
His curiosity piqued, a sense of adventure filled Bell as he slowly made his way toward the entrance of the cave, which was shrouded in darkness. Peering in, the smell of the cave sent a memory flying through Bell's mind, a moment in his life were a bolt of lightning had hit a tree near his hometown, creating a strong smell of ozone.
The interior of the cave had a completely different scenery to the 10th floor, no longer were there white stone-like trees dotted around, and the mist which covered the 10th floor did not seem to be able to enter the golden cave, giving Bell a clear view of the area in front of him. The inside was bare stone, coloured like the earth and seemed to be broken down into two chambers. Ruby eyes scanned the cave interior looking for any sign of monsters, but not finding any Bell continued down the path and quickly came to the second chamber where he found something truly confusing.
"A nest?" the white-haired boy said in confusion, staring up at a large nest built atop a small hill in the cave.
Making his way up Bell found the sight of a large egg before his eyes, confusing the boy more than he already was, the egg itself was the most bizarre colour and pattern; it was mainly a light cyan with jagged strips of dark blue down the egg, almost looking like lightning bolts.
"Is it a drop item?... a monster egg? But monsters don't lay eggs" Bell said to himself, trying to understand what laid before his eyes.
If it is a drop item it could be worth a lot, Bell has never seen anything like it but maybe Lili would know something about this egg. Nodding, the young adventurer grabbed the egg by the sides and the moment he made contact he felt a burst of.. something go through his body, something that felt almost comforting in a way, like meeting a new friend.
"It's kind of heavy" Bell stated as he picked up the egg, holding it close to his chest.
Quickly Bell made his way through the dungeon until he reached the surface. He planned to go straight to the Guild and get Eina's opinion on what this egg was, but as he made his way he felt more inclined to go back home, something inside him was saying that was the right course of action.
"Argonaut!" called out the joyful voice of the Loki Familia's Tiona, the Amazon bouncing down the street with the ever-stoic Aiz by her side.
"Oh, hello..." greeted a now flushed Bell.
As the two level 6's approached they both grew curious about the egg in Bell's arms, Aiz herself felt a sort of familiarity around the egg but was quickly drawn out of it by the Amazon's voice.
"Where'd you get that?" Tiona asked, bending down to get a closer look.
"This, it's just something I found during my dive in the Dungeon" Bell explained, but soon after an idea came to him, these two had been deep into the Dungeon "I was going to bring it home, but do either of you know what it could be?"
Aiz and Tiona looked over the egg before both shook their heads.
"I've never seen anything like it," Tiona said with a small pout before her face bloomed into a smile "You've got some great luck, don't you Argonaut"
Bell gave off a bashful laugh but quickly excused himself and ran off, leaving the two women alone as the Amazon turned to her companion "What's with you Aiz, you didn't say anything"
"That egg" Aiz suddenly said, gaining a curious look from her fellow Familia member.
"Egg?" Tiona replied with a tilt of her head.
Aiz nodded in return, her voice taking on a more happy tone "It felt... nostalgic"
The doors of the Hearth Mansion opened with a loud creak as Bell pushed them open, alerting the only other occupant, her long black twin-tails whipping around as she smiled at her most precious child.
"Bell!" the goddess of the hearth called out, running to her child at full speed.
"Wait, Goddess!" Bell warned, not wanting the egg to be damaged by his deity's powerful charge. So utilising his level 4 agility the white-haired boy was easily able to dodge out of the way, which in turn coursed his goddess to charge face-first into the doors of their home.
"ACK!"
Bell looked on in worry as Hestia sat on the floor with tears filling her eyes, looking towards the now empty space in front of her "My Bell just dodged my love, has he decided he no longer needs me" she said as dark clouds started to cover her.
"That's not it Goddess, I just didn't want to break this" Bell said in desperation, trying to explain as quickly as he could by holding up the egg.
In an instant, Hestia was completely back to normal with a bright smile on her face.
"Oh is that all, well then let's see this thing you foun-" started the goddess of the hearth but she was quickly silenced when her eyes laid upon the object in Bell's hands, giving it an inquisitive once over "... uh, well that's odd"
"What's wrong?" the young adventurer asked.
Hestia swiftly turned away from her child and started to walk towards the stairs of the mansion "Nothing, that egg just gives off a familiar aura"
The white-haired youth followed after his goddess his eyes now filled with interest as well as a feeling of worry taking over "Is it dangerous?"
"No, nothing like that. It's just hard to put my finger on it" The Goddess of the Heart said in confidence, turning towards her Familia captain with a bright smile "Anyway, I know you were only in the Dungeon for a few hours but how about we update your statues"
Bell returned the smile with one just as bright "Of course, Goddess"
And so the two ascended the stairs and moved to the mansion lounging area. There Bell placed the egg down onto one of the two sofas that made up the centre of the room, he then walked over and laid down on the second, his goddess quickly joining him and sitting on his lower back. The ritual began as Hestia cut a small drop of blood from her finger and let it drip onto Bell's back, and with that, his status began its update.
"Everything looks normal" Hestia began, seeing only a few point increases which are to be expected from only an hour or so in the Dungeon, looking down the goddess expected to see the normal list of skills her child had...
"What the!" Hestia exclaimed in surprise "You've got a new skill"
The red-eyed rabbit lighted up in excitement "Really, what is it"
With a few more hand gestures and the placement of a sheet of paper Bell's new status was transferred over. The two then sat next to each other and looked over the information about the new skill.
Bond of Kinship (Tobi-Kadachi)
A bond between Monstie and rider has been formed; the strength of the Monstie will match the rider and as Kinship rises, they will become one in combat.
Ride On!
The human and deity blinked at the new skill, both with a look of confusion plastered over their faces. What in the world is a Monstie and Kinship?
"Is it talking about some kind of mount" Hestia guessed.
As for Bell, there was one word that got his attention, mainly because he had never heard it before, so he turned to Hestia hoping she would know "Goddess, what's a Tobi-Kadachi?"
"I'm not sure-"
*CRACK*
The loud, sharp braking noise dragged both of the two's attention to the sofa in front of them. Before their eyes was the egg now sporting a new addition, a large fissure was now on the cyan surface of the egg, several chips of shell falling to the cushion under it. Bell and Hestia looked on in silence, both frozen from what they just heard and the sight in front of them, but quickly the two jumped back in shock as the egg began to wriggle and worm as another crack appeared on its shell.
*CRACK*
"Oh my!" Hestia called out in surprise, sitting frozen like a statue.
Bell kicked into action, standing guard in front of his Familia's goddess unsure of what was even happening, as he stared on wide-eyed "It's hatching!" there are similar drop items in the Dungeon that look and feel like eggs but none of them can actually hatch, nothing in the Dungeon is born like that.
"Bell! What do we do!" Hestia asked in alarm.
"I don't know" the red-eyed boy replied in return.
In the time it took for the mortal and deity pair to have this exchange, the egg had several more cracks sprout from its surface with a white, rainbow-like light shining from inside. With a thundering shatter, the room was bathed in this light as the pieces of shell scattered around the room, peppering the two individuals nearby.
Outside of the Hearth Mansion, a small group of adventurers was gathered; a red-haired blacksmith, a Pallum supporter, a black-haired samurai, and a blonde Renard. This was the Hestia Familia, or at least the other members it had who were on their way home somehow all at the same time.
"I'm surprised all of our plans ended at the same moment" spoke the blonde Renard, Haruhime, her long tail gently swaying with her movement.
"It is... oddly convenient" Mikoto said in suspicion.
"Best not to think about it" Welf, the red-haired blacksmith, spoke with a strong level of certainty.
As the group of Hestia Familia members made their way towards the mansion's front door, a bright rainbow light shined from the window of the second floor followed by the sound of a great shattering. The small group all flinched back from the light, while Haruhime was forced to cover her ears from the noise.
"What was that!" Lili shouted.
Mikoto's eyes readjusted the fastest out of all of them. Quickly she looked towards the source of the light, locating which room it came from the samurai moved like the wind and dashed into the mansion, like lightning she bolted up the stairs and slammed open the appropriate door with a shout.
"What's going on!" the Far Eastern girl shouted, hand firmly on her blade.
Soon after the other members scampered to the same doorway only to find Mikoto frozen in place. Squeezing past the still samurai the others were able to find their Goddess and captain who were also standing in silence, when their eyes landed on the course they two froze at the sight.
Sat on one of their sofas was a small lizard-like creature, a large part of its body had cyan scales with a pattern of darker, almost black, scales going with it. Its legs carried it much more like a hound than like the Dungeon lizards the adventurers were used to, and one of its most striking features was its large fan-like tail which spread out behind it.
The small creature looked around the room as if it was searching for something before its eyes landed on Bell, who flinched back at its gaze before he looked closely into the creature's orange orbs 'It doesn't feel like a monster' the white-haired boy thought, seeing some kind of recognition flash in the little things eyes.
Tobi-Kabachi, as it will soon be known, jumped in excitement and dashed at unnatural speeds for an animal that had just been hatched, it flew through the air and into Bell's arm who cradled it on instinct, all while it released a sound that was a combination of a roar and a hiss... it was oddly cute.
...
...
...
"IT'S SO CUTE!" surprisedly it was Haruhime who shouted out first, her voice taking on a much higher pitch, very much unlike her usually timid tone she mostly found speaking in. Like a bolt of lightning, the blonde Renard was in front of Bell, her head at the same level as the cyan creature.
"Hello there~" Haruhime cooed, to which the Tobi responded with a small yip that seemed to generate some kind of... electricity.
Mikoto gently lifted her hand from her sword, all while keeping her eyes on her now smitten friend "Well... this is new"
"Not again" Lili sighed.
So that is it!
This idea came to me after I played MH-Stories 2 and I started to think about what characters would have what monsters as partners, and the idea sort of generated from there. Some ideas that came from this was switching out the Kinship Stone (which in-game is what allows you to tame monsters) for a skill that gets added to the Falna when they pick up the egg, it also allows the monster to match up to the adventurer they are partnered with.
I also decided to add the moment with Tiona and Aiz while writing this because it could lead to more plot moments now that the Loki Familia has seen the egg. And the thing with Aiz finding the egg nostalgic is the only way I could think of her somewhat not trying to instantly kill the things if they somewhat felt like spirits. Which would also give a reason for them to become more commonplace.
With the monster Bell got, I thought of using Lagombi because well... rabbit, but I went with Tobi-Kadachi because the lightning element feels like something Bell should have, something to connect with his Grandfather. I also had an idea of what monsters other characters could get, I'll put those at the bottom.
Welf - Glavenus [the blacksmith gets the sword monster, it just fits]
Haruhime - Mizutsune [she is a support mage so I feel having a strong monster would make for a great defence, like a gaurdian]
Finn - Seregios [this one is an odd one, I think it's the colour matching mainly]
Riveria - Legiana [the most common spell I've seen her use is ice, it's also one of the more elegant monsters I can think of]
Aiz - Rathalos [Aiz's main thing is wind and Rathalos is the King of the Skies]
Tiona & Tione - Pukei Pukei & Coral Pukei Pukei [this one is a lot more symbolism, Pukei Pukei would be Tiona's because of her connection to Bache whose spell is poison. And Tione's would be Coral Pukei Pukei which is a water monster, because of her alias Jormungand which was thrown into the sea and grew to fill it]
Anakitty - Nargacuga [they are both cats... they can't all be symbolic]
Ottar - Rajang [a monster able to fight Elder Dragons, I think it fits the current strongest adventurer]
I didn't give anyone Elder Dragons mainly because I feel they would be a special case, powerful creatures that would give any high-level adventurer a beating. A new force of nature they need to deal with like they are in the games.