Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from Monster Hunter, only how the story goes. The characters and world of Monster Hunter belongs to Capcom. The only thing that I do own are the OC's of the story. I do apologize for any errors in grammar and/or if I was not accurate in reference to something.

A/N: And so the first chapter of the Storms of Old and New story arc has begun. Sorry for a lame sounding title. I tried to my best when it came to researching the guys featured in this chapter.

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Chapter Nineteen: Elder Storms

A day had passed after Jacob had spent a good bit of the day with Grumper. He retrieved his weapons and bag from the camp at the shaded forest area. After spending a night resting from and no scary dreams, Jacob thought himself a careful stroll around the forest. Today he had decided he would keep his Dual Blades on hand while the remainder of his weapons were safely with the boat. The day turned out to be a cloudy one given the look of the sky. The winds were blowing pretty high as the branches of the trees swayed in the breeze. Jacob guessed that rain may soon come about and would need to get back to the boat soon. The teen was currently making his way out of the split between foliage around the first camp and came across the river. But as he found himself on one side of the river bank, he was greatly surprised to see that the Aptonoth that usually gathered around the water source were nowhere to be found. Looking about and keeping an ear open for any dangers, the human didn't notice anything dangerous about the area. He didn't hear or see any signs of the Rath family or Grumper, mostly because he had come across the Anjanath while the Brute Wyvern had been fast asleep within the caves to the north.

But Jacob couldn't help but feel a sense of uneasiness come about him. He wondered why there wasn't even the sounds of smaller animals in the air. Movement above caught his eye and his head snapped to where he had seen the shape. But he missed whatever it had been as it rose back into the clouds above. Having a feeling that he should get out of there, Jacob quickly made his way to get across the river.

(Cue Shadow on the Tempest: Kushala Daora – World Version from Monster Hunter World)

But he was stopped when a terrifying yet amazing sight touched down before him. A small tornado stood before him and didn't seem to move, grow or shrink. The sound of high winds made him look around to see a few more small tornados form. They formed pentagram around him. Jacob didn't know what was going on, but he had a feeling that this wasn't something that he had encountered before. He was proven right when the tornados dispersed and he raised an arm to brace himself from the high winds.

When he lowered his arm, Jacob was amazed and a little terrified by what he was seeing. Hovering in the air by flapping their wings were five gray dragons. Each one didn't seem to be much bigger than he was and were coated in metallic looking scales from snout to tail. He wondered if these were some of the Elder Dragons that the journal talked about. Jacob remained on guard as the dragons gave metallic sounding growls to the other. They all raised their heads and Jacob did too to see what was going on. His eyes widened when he saw another dragon, one that looked kind of like the other five, descend from the sky. The difference between the five and this newcomer was that the scales were a bit more rusted looking. He wondered if this was an older one, but from the size of it, it looked to be the same age as the others.

The new dragon touched down on the ground and the others followed suit. A little wary of how the situation was starting to go, Jacob started thinking of a way out. But before he could even make any moves, an odd sound came from the sixth dragon. Jacob turned his attention to the rust-colored dragon and wasn't sure to be worried as it seemed to stiffen up a little. Various sized flakes started to fall from the body of beast as it stopped moving. He was really put off when he heard creaking and groaning coming from the unmoving dragon. He jumped in fright when the body started to dent outward as if something were trying to break out. The human glanced to the other dragons who had their attentions fixed on the sixth dragon. The dents continued to grow along the back of the dragon until a split formed along the spinal area. Jacob covered his ears from the earsplitting tearing of metal coming from the rusted dragon. When it was over, he looked again to see something rising out of the rusted shell.

The dragon, now covered in white looking scales, rose out of the rusted shell with a roar. The amazement didn't stop there when the dragon's light-colored scales started to become more grayish like the other five. Jacob glanced back and saw that there was a bit of a gap between two of the dragons and slowly started to make his way backwards. But he didn't make it as the three dragons behind him moved to block his path. One of them growled before he bumped into it and the human turned to face each of them.

Thinking that he was going to have to defend himself from the dragons, Jacob removed the Dual Blades from his back. He tried to come up with a plan of attack, even though the odds were literally stacked against him. One of the dragons jumped up into the air and with a flap of their wings, they created a whirlwind that kicked up some of the water into the small twister and the contents ended up splashing him. The twister of water wasn't strong enough to do him harm, but it was enough to knock him back a few steps. Jacob managed to keep his balance as he watched the dragon land on all four feet again before it let loose a gust of wind from its maw and caused him to stumble back another few feet. He really wasn't expecting the other two next to it repeat the actions.

With a tuck and roll, Jacob dodged the next two water twisters while keeping his grip on his Dual Blades. He turned to face them again when he saw them all gathered together. Each of the dragons looked at him curiously and their curiosity seemed to grow when he lowered his weapons. One of the dragons cautiously came forward from behind him and took a tentative sniff of the boy. The other dragons also came a little closer and the human questioned with equal curiosity, "Just what are you guys?"

(End of track)

He had a feeling that they were Elder Dragons, but the journal that would have their name and other information on them is back on the boat. And he had a feeling that these six weren't really going to be leaving anytime soon. Jacob slowly put his weapons away to avoid angering them. The six Elder Dragons didn't seem to be looking very hostile as one of them used its paw to swat some water at him and the others. They gave light growls as they either used a flap of their wings to create small whirlwinds to throw water or their tails to splash the other back. One of them looked over to Jacob and used a small tornado to douse him with more water. Jacob fought to stay on his feet from the water attacks and when it stopped he watched as the six continued to play with each other. One or two looked to him and waited to see if he would join in on the fun. Jacob then watched as they created a small twister underneath him and he yelped in surprise as it carried him up. Jacob laughed a little when they stopped before creating another twister to catch him. The others looked from their fun and started to create their own little twisters to catch him, only these were kind of lower to catch him. The human teen thought of them kind of like stairs when he was brought down to the ground. Two entered a bit of a tussle when on leapt at the other and they turned into a ball of claws and teeth. They came rolling towards Jacob and he scrambled to move out of the way.

When he had gotten a good distance from the playing dragons, Jacob's mind immediately went to the stone and he moved to remove it. He held it up to each of the Elder Dragons and found that they were a mixture of males and females. He did wonder if they were adolescents or a bit younger. One of them happened to be looking his way and noticed the stone in his hand.

Jacob hardly knew what hit him when a gust of wind knocked him off his feet. The stone fell from his grasp and landed on the ground not too far from him. The human had picked himself up when the dragon that had knocked him down made a dash for it. The dragon scooped up the stone in its jaws and started to take off. Jacob gave chase and shouted after him, "Hey! Give that back!"

But the Elder Dragon didn't stop as he took flight into the sky. Jacob raised his arm and fired his slinger. The hook managed to catch onto a tree branch above the dragon and he zipped up to meet it before it could get too far with his stone. When he was next to it, Jacob got the hook to release and managed to grab onto the dragon's tail. The human was surprised to feel that the creature's skin felt like metal underneath his palm and he wondered if it really was. He couldn't help but chuckle, "Guess you've got yourself a set of armor, huh?"

The two went flying underneath some branches before where the slope that went down to the sea. Remembering his objective and looking up to the dragon's head, he started to climb. The Elder Dragon tried to shake him off by wildly moving about in the air. Jacob was a little worried when the other five flew up to try and help their friend. He swung his legs when one of the dragons came up at him to avoid being knocked into while fighting to keep his grip on the tail. When the tail moved upward, Jacob screamed as he was sent flying into the air and ended up landing upon the young dragon's back. The silver dragon thrashed even more now as the added weight started cause him and his passenger to descend from the air.

"I'm not going anywhere without that stone!" Jacob firmly said as he slowly made his way to the head of the Elder Dragon. When he reached the head, the young dragon fought with him as he managed to reach around and grab the stone in its jaws. The Elder Dragon gave a light growl as it fought to keep its prize. As he fought to get it back, Jacob worried, "I'm probably going to need a tetanus shot after this."

The two didn't see one of the other Elder Dragons coming and it ended up ramming into them. All three fell to the ground just on the other side of the trees and Jacob tumbled off the one with the stone. He landed a few feet from them and groaned as he sat back up. The two dragons were starting to pick themselves back up as the other four came up as well. Looking to the one who tried to swipe the stone from him, Jacob made his move and pulled the stone out of the dragon's mouth. He placed it around his neck just as the two Elder Dragons picked themselves back up and all six looked to him. Jacob shook his head, "Sorry that I had to do that, but the stone's not exactly mine and I don't want anything to happen to it."

The six young dragons only gave him low growls and looks as if they were pleading with him. Jacob didn't want to make the dragons sad, not just because they could end up using their wind powers on him or try to eat him if they were hungry, but he also didn't want anything to happen to the stone in case he were to find the original owner. Jacob was about to say something else when a loud sound startled them all. It didn't sound like any other creature from the New World, but it was loud enough to draw attention. The sound continued to drone on and it was greatly grating on the ears. The six metallic dragons quickly took flight and left the human. But Jacob didn't blame them for being scared by the noise. He watched as they flew up towards the dark clouds just as the rain started to fall.

The harsh noise drew his attention back to the ground. From where he could tell that it was coming from, it sounded as if it were coming from the sea. Jacob's eyes widened if the sound was coming from the boat. All else forgotten, the human quickly dashed back underneath the trees and made for the opening to the ledge. A sense of hope started to fill his heart that he may end up getting rescued. When he came out of the opening, Jacob looked to the boat and a smile grew on his face when he that the noise was coming from the boat and saw a small light coming from the cabin. The rain started to intensify as he climbed down the ledge and ran for the boat.

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Author's Note: I thought a bit of fun with a few young Kushala Daora would be an interesting thing to do. I do apologize that this chapter is a little short. And I can't guarantee how big the next one will be. Everything in this story arc came to me at the last minute as I was working on the last few chapters. I'll try to have the next chapter posted soon. I look forward to reading your reviews. Be sure to leave a comment either about if I've done something wrong or if you want something specifically to happen. See all of you next time.