"Next up then, is Astalos, who is, uh... an electric psychopath. He is erratic, twitchy and unpredictably aggressive. He took the aggression dial, ripped it off and tried to fight the fucker, then looked at Deviljho and went 'Hm... Hold my lightning.' It is ridiculous fighting him. He has these twitchy, rapid, insectoid movements and has a huge insect-y aesthetic. It's like someone took a dragonfly, combined it with a scorpion threw in a bit of Rathalos and had a 'It's alive!' moment with thunder. He will fight anything and everything, even if it's retreating, even if it's given up, he will not stop murdering the shit out of it until it's been thoroughly murderized." Rage explained.
As all this was happening, a blue raptor-like dinosaur with long red claws and a head crest was wandering through a forest, when a large wasp-like bug dropped dead in front of it. The raptor went to investigate, only to find more wasps dropping like flies. It continued to investigate, unaware of the large insect-like dragon with a strange head crest looking at it from the trees, before diving out of the trees and slamming into the poor, unsuspecting raptor, pinning it to the ground and mercilessly ripping it to shreds, before tearing off and eating some of its flesh, then roaring in fury.
Several younger and/or less mature members of the audience cried out in fear once again and hugged their go-to support person: Ruby to Cinder, Neo to Yang, Nora to Ren, Jaune to Pyrrha and Weiss to Winter. "That thing's super creepy and scary." Ruby said.
"Ugh. It's reminding me of Tyrian." Cinder said, shuddering.
"That raptor never even saw it coming." Nora said sadly.
"Velocidrome." Katana corrected.
"He will fight all of the things. And the thing is, he's very good at fighting. In the air, he has a dragonfly's level of precision, dexterity and speed. And, by the way, dragonflies, the most successful hunters on the planet. And he can even challenge Rathalos for king of the skies status. Known as the Thunder Wyvern, he can generate thunder throughout his entire body. He doesn't just have a thunder organ, his entire body charges up with green lightning as he fights, the heat and pressure building up inside him, converting into more and more electricity that he can fire out of his pincer tail, out of his mouth in great blasts, even coat his wings when he reaches full charge. He glows this beautiful green, he can send lightning balls skirting 'round the battlefield. Essentially, he turns the area around him into the 'no go, you get fried' zone." Rage continued as an Astalos chased down and decimated a Rathalos in aerial combat and challenged a hunter on the ground.
"That is some impressive aerial prowess." Ironwood admitted.
"Truly, to challenge and defeat the supposed king of the skies." Glynda agreed.
"Looks like the king got dethroned." Neo said, shocked.
"That's messed up, Neo." Yang lightly scolded.
"On top of that, he's incredibly physically competent and fast, using his wings as blades with electrified green claws slamming down into you, charging you and leaping around the place, doing incredible aerial feats of lightning smashing down. Essentially, he will use EVERYTHING in his power to absolutely decimate you as quickly as possible. He is by far and away the most constant, relentless member of the Fated Four and it's an exhilarating, heart quickening fight. And if that wasn't enough, their entire shell is covered in deadly spikes that shred foes on contact and, believe me, he's gonna want to keep contact with you. He can also have his signature attack where he generates a thunder blade emanating from his horn and slams it down upon you. It really is quite badass." The lecture continued as a hunter mounted Astalos, bringing it to the ground, which enraged the beast, causing it's attacks to become even deadlier.
"Dang. That might be more electricity than even Nora knows what to deal with." Jaune said, shocked.
"Don't want it!" Nora cried out almost instantly.
"It's alright, Nora. Even if it were real, I wouldn't let it hurt you. Your Kirin would protect you. And so would Mizutsune and I." Ren assured her.
"Yeah, about that..." Katana said reluctantly, knowing Mizutsune would be a poor choice against Astalos, although no one heard her quiet tone.
"We all would, Nora." Pyrrha assured her as Nora had done for her moments ago.
"He will feed on vespoids and occasionally something larger, but most of the time he just fights and kill things because that's just what he does, not even to eat them. Things like Rajang and Deviljho are above his pay grade, but he often does punch above his weight, due to just how sheerly competent he is at killing things he is. He can also not be trusted with his own young, they leave their nest just before they hatch, otherwise they can't resist a little bit of baby Astalos cannibalism. Similar to bearded dragons in that regard, bearded dragons will eat their own babies as they just eat anything that moves that's small enough to fit in their mouths. The wings of the Astalos are see-through and glass-like, much like the wings of the Glasswing Butterfly, which is a very, very beautiful creature and another reflection of their insectoid appearance." Rage informed as the Astalos continued to attack the hunters, before the aforementioned butterfly was briefly shown.
"Well, drawing similarities to other creatures can help make others seem more reasonable. Or at the very least, less terrifying." Ozpin said.
"With all due respect, Professor Ozpin, I do not agree." Penny said, shrinking a bit in her seat, moving closer to Ruby. As strong as her metal body was, it felt like Astalos would tear it to shreds if she encountered one.
"I bet one of those could even take a giant Nevermore with moves like those." Qrow said.
"I can't think of a Grimm it couldn't take on." Winter said shakily.
"Wait, the babies leave their nest before they hatch? That's some early development right there." Coco said, trying to lighten the mood.
Velvet giggled. "I'm pretty sure he meant the parents leave before the babies hatch, but that was funny. Thanks, Coco. We needed a laugh." Velvet said, hugging her arm.
"Am I a joke to you?" Yang asked.
"And, yeah... There really isn't a lot more to it, but he's still quite badass and a really fun fight, just lightning death wherever he goes and, just one of the most powerful Flying Wyverns going. I do think Astalos' theme might be my favorite." He explained, before playing some intense hard rocking music.
"Oh, yeah! Now we're talking!" Qrow said.
"Yeah! I can jam to this!" Yang cheered, headbanging along with her uncle, sister and Neo.
"We should play this in our band! Weiss, you could give it some awesome lyrics!" Ruby suggested, Weiss considering this idea.
"His deviant version, then, is the Boltreaver Astalos. He's always fully charged up and can reach an even higher state of charge where he turns blue and his lightning blade is absolutely colossal. It is glorious in its terrifying power, slicing his enemies asunder with electric disintegration. He then also generates the power to control electromagnetism. Due to a rare mutation in his organs, he has gained this extra delicate ability whereby he will produce lightning that will attract, absorb and drag his enemies screaming towards him, so he doesn't even have to really put in the effort of going to them. On top of that he gets the usual bump in strength, speed, aggressiveness, his moves take on new flavors, new twists, his electric attacks are all... AMPED." He explained, adding a pun at the end with a laugh track inserted. "To the max and he is simply put... Ruthless." The Astalos class finally ended.
"Wow, I think that joke was worse than any of yours." Neo said, looking to Yang, who wiggled her fingers in a silent threat to torture Neo via tickling once again, silencing the former mute.
"I thought I was scary, but that beast is truly terrifying." Cinder said, looking at the creature with a fear she hadn't felt since her last time in Salem's presence.
"Well, fortunately, this one is slightly less scary. And it's Jaune's monster." Katana said.
"Yes! Finally! I can't wait!" Jaune said excitedly.
"Finally, then. Last, but not least, we have Glavenus. Arguably the strongest of the Four, certainly the one hunters are instructed to fight last. He is a Brute Wyvern and while not the biggest, he is among the most strong and deadly of them. He's also the most intelligent, with genuine battle nuance and strategy that helps him just take his opposition apart." Rage introduced the final of the four as a group of four hunters: a girl with a hammer, two guys, one with a greatsword and one with a light bowgun and a Felyne, stepped off of an airship and into the jungle.
The monster of honor then emerged from the brush, a large Brute Wyvern with dark red scales covering its body. Two rows of blue, bony plates ran along its back, going from the eyes to the tail. Its underside was more of a cream color. The main feature of Glavenus' physiology was its huge, sword-like tail. Its hind legs are powerful and muscular, while its arms are much smaller and mostly useless. The face and jaws are covered in sturdy plating, particularly resembling a Carnotaurus. The Felyne retreated as the girl rushed in and hit the Glavenus in the face with her hammer, but it wasn't even fazed and pushed against the hammer, sending the girl back into her team. The greatsword user rushed in and swung his massive blade, only to be met with Glavenus' tail and thrown back as well, then blocked some fire from the gunner with the tail, before roaring fiercely at the group.
Jaune and Ruby had stars in their eyes as they watched the beast in awe. "So awesome! I want it! Jaune can have a different monster!" Ruby cried out.
"No way! It's mine! Katana already said so!" Jaune argued.
"Sorry, Ruby. But trust me, you'll love the monster you do get." Katana assured her.
"The way it uses its tail like a sword, or even a shield... Is just incredible. I've never seen that level of skill from an animal." Pyrrha said in awe.
"You're right. It's like he said, it's deploying actual strategy. Like it knew how to deal with these hunters before even fighting them." Ironwood said, equally amazed.
"In appearance, his face is structured very similarly to a Carnotaurus, with specially developed fangs." Rage explained, a small image of a Carnotaurus appearing at the bottom of the screen being shown. "His shell is this lovely black and red, sleek and shiny all the way down to his long... smooth..." Rage began explaining, the words suddenly echoing as he said this, as if he were setting up an innuendo. "Tail. That is his main focal point as a creature. You see, this tail is very special. It's incredibly hard, it's incredibly sharp, it's essentially a huge sword, acting as a counterbalance to his feats of surprising agility, able to leap great distances and move with a grace you would not expect from something looking that bulky." He continued to narrate.
As he narrated the Felyne played a strange horn, blasting out reddish sound waves that seemed to empower the hunters, who rushed in as the Glavenus breathed furiously, flames being stoked in its mouth. It then shot out a fireball as the greatsword user jumped and twisted in the air, passing over it and delivering a diagonal upward slash to knock the Glavenus' head to the side, leaving it stunned long enough for the gunner to run up, jump onto the greatsword user's back and fire a couple of rounds into the Glavenus' back as he soared over it, landing on the other side, at which point the rounds exploded, staggering the beast, but it was still more than capable of continuing the fight and only now seemed enraged.
"Whoa. Those blasts didn't do anything." Blake said in awe.
"I bet it could even take rounds from Ember Celica like nothing." Yang said, a bit intimidated.
"Gammoth may even have its work cut out against this beast." Weiss said worriedly.
"But the main use of it is in offense. Granted, he can hold it out in front of him as a shield, blocking whatever may be coming at him, but this tail blade is used to swipe at foes and cleave them in twain. But that's not all: Glavenus, then, has the ability to grind his tail against the ground and hard surfaces, which will then heat it up and ignite it. So he has a flaming sword tail. Let me say that again: he has A FLAMING SWORD TAIL! It's beautiful! A flaming sword tail, you're argument is invalid after that point! He will often use this as a display of power and aggression when coming into contact with other predators, striking the ground, lighting it up and intimidating them into backing down as most animals don't wanna mess with fire. They definitely don't wanna mess with fire... on a sword tail. They definitely, DEFINITELY don't wanna mess with fire on a sword tail attached to a hugely powerful dinosaur. That's just not worth it for most things, but hunters gotta hunt." Rage explained.
As this lesson was being taught, a Glavenus was indeed shown grinding its tail on a rock, sharpening it and building up heat it its blade-like tail, which began to glow as if it was freshly forged. As it admired its tail, a Rathian appeared and roared at it. The Rathian then jumped to avoid a horizontal slash at its feet, but the Glavenus flipped, delivering a downward sliced that took off the spikes on the end of Rathian's left wing, causing it to roar in pain as it struggled to stay airborne, flying from the battle.
"I can definitely agree, fire's a great way to make sure people don't mess with you." Cinder said, remembering several times Watts had annoyed her, but a small flame in her hand shut him up. If it wasn't for Salem, she'd have roasted him the first time she saw him after getting the half of the power she had.
"It's brutal and efficient. It just disarmed Rathian of those spikes that were likely deadly claws." Winter noted.
"So, while in this state, the tail is more vulnerable, the heat softening the scale, but the offensive upgrade is palpable, slicing through rock effortlessly, crushing and cracking the ground, turning a hunter into half the man he used to be as soon as look at him. Glavenus spends its time dominating its jungle-y home as the top predator, tearing through herbivores at his leisure and generally having a wonderful times decimating opponents in battle, 'cause he is very aggressive, not psychopath erratic aggressive like Astalos, but a deliberate, intelligent, focused aggression, tearing through rival large animals by deadly wielding his tail in a way that they just cannot combat, they simply can't comprehend what is coming at them. And there is only one animal that can consistently prey upon a Glavenus. And we don't talk about it right now... there's just so many bones... So many bones..." Rage informed as a Glavenus was shown quite competently handling a hunter before the music changed to something dark and eerie and the screen went dark, something moving unnaturally.
"What was that?" Ozpin asked, gripping his cane, intimidated by the creature.
"I was able to enhance the brightness after viewing the image, but I'm still unsure of what exactly it is. The only thing I can confirm seeing was... tentacles..." Penny said fearfully.
"I'd rather not know of anything capable of preying upon something like that." Ren said.
"But there is more to this... TALE." Rage declared jokingly, laughing at his own terrible pun. "I have no talent. You see, his tail gets dull, much like a hunter's weapon, it needs sharpening. And when it needs sharpening, Glavenus will run the tail through the fangs in his mouth to give it its edge back. Now this generates loads of sparks and heat which his eyes are protected from by the plates over them, but during this process as well, he will grind off various bits of debris that have gotten caught on his tail, things like minerals and various bits on the ground and he will take that in, swallow it and, using an engine-like organ, convert it into huge amounts of heat, generating an almost magma-level substance inside of him, which he can then fire out in explosive bursts as he slowly heats up, his throat glowing red, his body temperature rising to ridiculous levels as he gets more and more aggressive as he approaches 'I'm super mad at you right now' mode and starts just being unstoppable with his tail sword attacks." He continued as Glavenus repeatedly demonstrated the ability.
"Man, that's an awesome monster! You sure we can't give Yatsuhashi one of those?" Coco asked.
"I think Yatsu would prefer a smaller, cuter monster, Coco." Velvet told her leader.
"So, yeah. Glavenus, pretty damned awesome. And then, of course, we have Glavenus' theme, which I think might be the weakest of the four." Rage said unsurely as the theme played, very tense and high tempo.
"I don't know. I like it. Maybe a little more than Mizutsune's." Jaune said.
"Right. It gives off the sense that you're truly in danger whenever you encounter a Glavenus." Pyrrha agreed.
"But, of course, he has a deviant, also: the Hellblade Glavenus and this guy is-" He continued, laughing nervously as a much larger and darker Glavenus was shown in a much darker region, shooting fireballs at a greater range than before. "So, you got a giant, flaming tail sword, but what's one thing you could add? Well, the thing is, Hellblade Glavenus has a new organ and it produces explosive powder. This explosive powder, then, gets onto his tail as he sharpens it and means that the swings from his FLAMING TAIL SWORD also generate EXPLOSIONS. FIERY DEATH EXPLOSIONS, as well as cutting everything the hell up. It's absolutely ridiculous and due to this, on top of again, the physical boost in all categories, his shell has become extra thick and durable, resistant to his own explosions and other explosions as a side effect. It's to the point where, even after death, his shell, you could be handing it to the blacksmith and if the blacksmith was like 'whoops, dropped it!' It would explode upon contact, that's how unstable this Glavenus has become!" Rage explained as the Hellblade dominated a group of hunters.
"Oh, come on! That's just cheating now!" Nora complained.
"Well, the deviants are supposed to be the most powerful among their species. And with a species like Glavenus already super strong, it only makes sense that the deviant is practically unstoppable." Blake told her.
"Entered into this Hellblade state because of loads of rich soot being taken into its body. Also physically changed because its constant tail sharpening has worn down a lot of the black coloring, allowing more red to seep through, due to the sheer amount of heat produced in a Hellblade's body. And Hellblade Glavenuses are able to fight very much on par with the Rajangs and your Deviljhos and just colossally slaughter all that is beneath them and well... all is beneath them." The lesson on Glavenus finally ended.
"I want it. Right now. It's so awesome!" Jaune said.
"I agree. When exactly will we get these monsters, Katana?" Weiss asked.
"Once we've covered everyone's monster. It wouldn't be fair if some of you got yours while others didn't." Katana told them.
"Although, one final thing to mention. The cool thing about the fated four, then, is despite that the four aren't physically linked to each other, is that they are weak to each other: Astalos is weak to Gammoth's ice, Gammoth is weak to Glavenus' fire, Glavenus is weak to Mizutsune's water and Mizutsune is weak to Astalos' thunder, which is quite cool, a way to connect them to each other." The discussion was finally over.
"Oh... So, fighting Astalos with Mizutsune would be a horrible idea." Ren said, horrified.
"So, these hunters have some way to manipulate elemental forces like we do with dust?" Ironwood asked.
"Yes, when they kill the monsters, or sometimes simply break parts off of them, they take those parts, which have the properties of the monster and use them to create weapons with the elements of fire, water, ice, thunder or dragon. Or, ailment weapons, which stun, poison, paralyze, blast or put the monsters to sleep." Katana explained.
"Incredible. Even on Remnant, we've never thought of weapons that poison or put the Grimm to sleep." Winter noted.
"Do the Grimm sleep?" Katana wondered, looking it up and finding no information. "I'd just stick with what you've already got." She suggested.
"Man, that was a long one." Ruby said, almost feeling exhausted from all the info she took on.
"Well, there were four monsters to talk about all at once." Blake defended.
"Right. And you'll be happy to know that none of them are ever quite that long again." Katana assured them. "But, so, what did you think?" She asked.
"That was awesome! I bet I could learn some epic new moves by copying some of Glavenus' moves! And maybe I could even add some fire dust to heat up my blade." Jaune thought.
"How would you copy its moves? You'd have to stick the handle of your sword up your-" Nora began with a mischievous grin on her face.
"NORA!" Pyrrha, Ren, the teachers and, surprisingly, Cinder and Yang, all cried out, with the latter two covering Ruby and Neo's ears with their hands.
"Mizutsune does seem like a creature I could certainly get along with, as long as it was a female that wouldn't go crazy." Ren said, picturing himself basking in the sun, laying against the creature curled up around him, its fur keeping him warm if a brisk wind should roll in, as well as using its soapy secretion and water abilities to wash dishes after cooking for his team.
"With Gammoth at my side, I'd be unstoppable! No monster, Grimm or human could stand against me! I defy even Salem to be able to contend with our might!" Weiss declared, going into her classic evil monologue.
Everyone from Remnant gulped at Weiss' behavior, but Katana simply deadpanned. "Uh, Weiss?" She said, pointing to the screen, showing A: Salem, seemingly regenerating from being completely destroyed and B: the massive whale Grimm she was now assaulting Atlas with, larger than the flying city itself, so surely it would dwarf even Gammoth. Weiss quickly deflated at this.
"So, what's next, then?" Ozpin questioned.
"Well, I think it's time to shed a positive light on a dragon many perceive the wrong way. Heck, even most of you vomited when you first saw it." Katana said.
"Y-you mean that corpse-looking dragon?" Winter said, a bit nervously.
"Yes, but I think you'll have a better appreciation for it after this." Katana assured them, playing the video.
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this. This certainly took a while to get through, but I hope it was entertaining all throughout.
But, I've recently had a discussion with a friend of mine and another reviewer, who agree we need more series like these where people learn the lore of other universes. So, I make another challenge here and now, for someone to have Class 1-A reacting to Monster Hunter. I'll even help by giving the transcripts for the episodes I've done, so for those first few episodes, you basically get freebies, just needing to make the reactions. But still, the choice is yours.
Thank you for reading and I hope you look forward to the next chapter.