Once again, the sun rose across the landscape. The world sprawled out farther than any eyes could hope to perceive.
Two approached a tiny dot at the base of that world.
They walked up to a desk at the camp. The man spoke.
"We'd like to head into… the Frontier Grounds."
"Got it. Can I see your hunter cards first?"
They handed them over.
"Spencer Page and Isabel Page, huh? You related?"
"Twins." Isabel answered.
"I see. Well that's great and all, but you've got some work to do first."
"Huh?" Both went in unison.
"We can't let newly qualified hunters in. You're both only at hunter rank three. You need to at least get to fifteen before you can head to the first zone."
A long silence.
"It's fine, right?" Spence asked, "You can make an exception."
"No, I can't."
"Numbers are all the same, right? It's not even that big a difference. I don't even believe in numbers."
"That's worrying."
"What the hell did we come all this way for if you're not gonna let us through?" Isabel asked irritatedly.
"This was clearly written down. If you'd just taken the time to read up-"
"You sayin' I'm stupid!?"
"Not directly."
She tried to reach for her hammer as the guards rushed towards them.
After some more arguing and narrowly avoiding getting thrown out, the two sat down, frustrated.
"Can't believe this. What a dumb rule." Isabel complained.
"Well, it's fine. We've just gotta keep fighting things. It can't take that long." Spencer replied.
"Um."
Isabel sighed. "I mean, it's taken us all this time just to get to three, it'll be more than that."
"Uh."
"Yeah, but that was when travelling. Don't be so pessimistic."
"Hello?"
"There's a line between pessimism and just looking at things for how they are."
"Hi?"
"Wait, there's definitely someone else in this conversation, right? Other than just us."
They finally noticed the other speaker. When they turned around, they saw a young looking boy.
"Whaddya want?" The girl asked.
"Well, it was kinda difficult to not hear your earlier discussion with the guild worker, so I was wondering if you want to work together."
"Sure." Spencer replied instantly.
"Wait, don't reply so quickly. We have to act at least somewhat hard to get or he'll just think we're easy and will team up with whoever just asks."
"Wait, he will?"
"Wait, I will?"
"Well, like… never mind. So what's your plan anyway? I don't see how having more of us will help us get there faster."
"You really didn't read the rules, did you?"
"You tryna say I can't read or something!?"
"N-no! But there's a rule that says that you can enter if just one member of your group fulfils the rank requirement, s-so I thought it'd be useful to you."
Her disposition immediately switched.
"You should've said so earlier! Ok, we'll be forever in your debt, so hurry up and take us over the border."
"That's not... quite what I meant."
Another woman entered the room, spotting him.
"I'm back. Wait, Luke, who are you talking to?"
Confusion filled the air, with the only one who could get rid of it struggling to find the right words. Noticing this, the new girl took action.
"I'm Mary. What are your names?"
"Isabel."
"Spencer."
"Are you talking about hunting something, then?"
"Yeah, he was offering to help us over the border or something." Spencer explained.
"Wait, you can't do that."
"Huh?"
"He's not anywhere near rank fifteen."
The twins turned to him with confused looks.
"Can I finally get a chance to speak?" Luke asked, in spite of the fact that no one was interrupting him, "I was gonna say that Mary's at hunter rank fourteen, so she's almost there. You've just gotta work with us for a few quests."
"Oh, got it." Isabel replied "So just fight with you for a bit, then we split up after you take us over the border. Makes sense."
Silence from the other two.
"What is it this time?"
"You did read the rules, right?" Mary asked.
"Well, a little. Just a bit. But there were a lot, y'know, so I might've forgotten a couple."
"Let's just start from the beginning, then."
She took a deep breath, sitting down.
"The Frontier Grounds. A place barely inhabited by humans, but packed full of monsters. It's got pretty much every type of environment you could think of and more mysteries than you can count. Or at least, that's the gist of what I've heard about it."
"Yeah, we know that part." Spence replied "That's why we're here."
"I'm getting there, calm down. The guild is authorising expeditions into the area to chart it out and help establish their presence there. But the catch is that you have to be above a certain hunter rank to be allowed in. What hunter rank are you two at?"
"Three."
"You've got a lot of work to do then. Luckily, there is a workaround. You only need one member of your group to meet the qualifications. So long as you're in a group, people of lower hunter ranks are allowed to join. However, breaking off from the group and going to do your own thing is no good. So, if you're okay with sticking with us the entire time, then we can help you get there quicker."
"Sure." Spence said instantly.
"At least wait a little!"
"But it works for us, doesn't it?"
"I guess, but still, same reason as before."
"Oh. Sure." He turned to the other two. "Okay, pretend I didn't say that for a few more seconds."
"Okay?"
A few seconds slowly passed by. Luke broke the silence.
"So, you're agreeing?"
"Yeah, pretty much. We don't have anywhere specific we need going to, we just need to get there."
"Don't act like it's for sure just yet." Mary replied "We've still gotta get there. And before that, we gotta check if we can actually work as a team. So shall we go hunt something?"
They approached the quest board.
"Uh… Jaggi, Malfestio..."
"Those won't give us much of an increase." Luke said.
"I know that, I'm just going through the list. Ah, here. Does an Anjanath sound good?"
"No clue what that is." Isa replied.
"It's a brute wyvern that can breathe fire."
"Hmm. Well, it'll still die if we hit it enough, right?"
"Yeah."
"No problems then."
The group headed out.
"Oh, I suppose that before that, we've got something you might find surprising." Isa told them.
"That's worrying." Luke replied.
"Exactly."
They headed slightly further away from the base.
"Ok, this should be far enough. You can both show yourselves now!"
A rustling in the trees above, followed by a blurry shape descending onto the ground. As it landed, the ground rumbled, before a red shape burst through it.
"This guy's name is Storm." Spence said, petting the Tobi-Kadachi.
"And this is Irontusk." Isa gestured to the Tetsucabra. "Yes, it's exactly as you think! These two are our partners in battle!"
"We've become the first hunters in history to successfully tame and fight alongside monsters! How's that? ...Why aren't you surprised?"
"Ah." Luke turned to Mary "Should we just not say anything, or uh…"
"It's a bit late to hide it now, right?" She turned back to the other two "Yea, sorry to undermine the moment and all but uh… just wait a minute."
She left with Luke for a little bit, leaving the twins in confused silence. When she returned, there were two more monsters.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. Saying that you're the first is a bit inaccurate. Cause there's at least a few other than us. Though I guess it is impressive that you managed to do it without knowing about any others, so uh… yay?"
"Acting all condescending like that just makes it sting more, you know."
Spence looked the monsters up and down.
"So, what are their names?"
Mary petted the Aknosom "This one's Kasa." She looked to Luke.
He pointed to the Barroth.
"Pa-" He stuttered and started again "Panzer."
"That's a weird one. I like it."
The four continued to search for the monster.
"Wait," Spence began "Kasa's a bird."
Isa sighed. "Yeah, good job noticing."
"No, I noticed before, honest. I just realised though, can't you fly up and look around?"
"This is a forest. We wouldn't be able to spot it through the trees. We're better off just walking around and listening."
"For what?"
Heavy footsteps interrupted the conversation, coming from nearby.
"That."
Isa looked over "Sounds like it's coming from that way."
The group of eight headed through the forest, finally laying eyes upon their target.
The brute wyvern stormed through the area, looking for food.
"Hasn't spotted us yet." Isa noted "You know what that means."
Luke did not know what that meant.
"Make a plan? Set up some bombs?"
"No, stupid. We rush it."
"But that's-"
She took off, charging towards it.
"No head starts!"
Spence and Storm quickly followed after.
The Anjanath saw the attackers and roared. Isa drew her hammer and slammed it into the creature's head, cutting off the roar. She tried to go for another, but was stopped by it swinging its head around and breathing fire.
"Why the hell can it do that? It doesn't look like it has anything to do with fire!"
"Uh… it's like… mucus and a flame sac, I think. It ignites-"
"Luke, they can't hear you if you mumble like that."
"Oh, right."
Spence slammed his glaive into the ground and vaulted into the air. He leapt over the flames and swung at the creatures back. While it was distracted, Storm flung himself into it from the side.
The beast stumbled slightly, at which point Irontusk slammed into it, trying to knock it over completely. It just barely retained its footing and struck back by trying to bite at her.
Mary rushed in and swiped at the target, followed up by some swift kicks from Kasa.
"You've got to be more careful, this thing's dangerous."
Spence vaulted over her.
"It won't be once it's dead!"
As he yelled this, a tail swipe knocked him out of the air, sending him crashing through the trees. Mary and Kasa stood there frozen with shock, while the rest just continued like nothing happened.
The Anjanath stormed towards the one who seemed the weakest. Luke stood there, unable to move.
Its charge was interrupted by a creature of equal size. Panzer clashed with it to shield his partner.
"Nice one, Papanzer!" Spence emerged from the trees, seemingly unconcerned by the damage he'd taken.
Mary looked over to Isa in confusion.
"Is he... okay?"
"Don't worry about it, he's sturdy like that. Too stupid to die, something along those lines."
"Just hold the bastard right there, it's time for some payback."
He charged forward with reckless abandon once more.
Luke continued providing supporting fire.
Storm attacked first, followed by Spence stabbing at it.
Isa swung for the head, while Irontusk slammed a rock into it.
Kasa repeatedly launched kicks at it.
The brute wyvern attempted to ward its attackers off with more fire, but Panzer just charged through and slammed his skull into its throat, finally causing it to stagger backwards.
Isa rushed in, swinging her hammer around her head. It retaliated by kicking out, knocking her away. Storm attempted to dive for the throat, but was forced to change course to narrowly avoid its jaws.
Spence jumped up and injured its back, before another tail swipe landed.
Mary jumped in and began slashing at the legs. It tried to turn its attention to dealing with the new problem, but this proved to be a mistake.
Panzer charged in once more, catching the Anjanath off guard. It was thrown to the ground. The fallen stood up.
"Here's the best chance possible!" Isa yelled, jumping in.
The entire group started whacking the monster while it was stuck on the ground.
After a countless number of hits, it roared, stopping them. The Anjanath shakily rose to its feet, staring them down.
They prepared themselves to fight once more.
But, before the fight could begin, it collapsed.
A moment of silence passed before the eight finally processed this.
"That was surprisingly underwhelming." Luke thought aloud.
Isa turned to him "What, so you'd rather we get hurt more?"
"Well, no, but… let's just get to carving it."
The group headed back towards the base camp.
"So, when are we heading out into the FG?" Spence asked.
"Huh?" Luke seemed confused "Why are you saying it like we're ready to go?"
"Oh, do you need to pack or something? We pretty much just got here, so we're good to get going again whenever."
"Not that part. Mary's still not qualified."
"Seriously? I thought for sure that taking out that guy'd do it."
"Yeah, we've still got a way to go. Well, assuming things last."
"Huh?" Isa looked back "You tryna say something?"
"That the two… wait, I think four would be more accurate? Well still, you're way too reckless. We can't really work together if you're always rushing into danger like that."
"It worked, right? So there's no problem."
"This time, but…"
Spence cut in "You're just gonna have to keep up, I guess."
"There's no point arguing over stuff like this." Mary threw herself into the conversation "How about we just drop it for now. Plans are best discussed when we're actually out there, y'know?"
Isa looked away. "Fine then."
Luke didn't answer.
The four awkwardly wandered for a short while, before Spence broke the silence.
"Oh yeah, I completely forgot to ask."
"What?"
"What are you two even heading there for?"
Mary looked over to Luke briefly, who nodded.
"Well, we're looking for someone. His brother specifically. He's quite a stroppy kid, so he just stormed off there on his own. We're gonna go drag him back home."
"Huh, that's weird as hell."
"What about it?" Luke asked irritatedly.
"Ah, not like that. I mean it's weird cause we're going for similar reasons. Our dad's a famous hunter, see? We've tried looking all over for him, but he's nowhere to be found. So we're going to look for him there. So we can kick his ass."
"That sure did take a sudden turn at the end. Hmm. What's his name? I might have heard of him from somewhere."
"Joseph Gilmore."
Both Mary and Luke came to a sudden halt.
"What? Don't do that without saying anything, it's creepy."
"Well, like…" She rubbed her head, trying to think of how to best explain things.
"It's kinda…"
Isa finally spoke.
"Just say it. You've already thrown a bunch of surprises our way today, I doubt this one could be much of a shock."
"I think he's our uncle."
She just stared.
"Okay. I stand corrected."
TO BE CONTINUED
And so, we finally return. Since my last update I've gone through a year and a few months of university. I also finally got back into this series with rise. I don't think I've changed too much as a person, as current world events have caused my search for a boyfriend to remain unsuccessful.
To those of you who are new, welcome. This is very undoubtedly a sequel story, but if you were still bold enough to click on the first chapter anyway, then I'll be sure to try accommodating for you. There will be many references to the original ahead, but I'll try to make some effort to make my own personal brand of bullshit understandable to those who can't be bothered to trudge through about 40-50 chapters of messy writing.
To be honest, I spent a while unsure on whether this was a story I wanted to write. I don't regret the amount of time I spent on the original one bit, because it was important for me in growing as a writer. But as a result of that I've got a lot of other story ideas that I want to get to making soon.
The vague idea of some next generation story is something I've had going since at least 2017, though obviously those plans were nothing like the one I have now, except for some vague idea of what the characters would be like that got worked into their current forms. By some force beyond my control (read: my brain daydreaming) it got more and more complex, to the point where I'm a bit too attached to just throw it away.
So, here's the resolution. This story is one that I can only tell here and now. Without the foundation I've clumsily created, it just won't work. I don't know how long it will take, I don't know if I'll reach the end, at this point it's even possible this site could keel over before I make it. But there's no reason not to take the first step. So if you've made it this far, then I request that you try to bear with this story of the beginning beyond the end.
I don't doubt that I'll acquire more regrets. Even editing this now I'm fretting over whether everything is as right as it should be. But if I don't throw myself into writing this already, then I'll just be stuck here forever.
I've written the first thirteen chapters out in advance over the past few months, which I'll be uploading over the next few days. There was no real plan when writing them, I just started, now I have too many. That said, updates aren't going to be regular anymore because I don't have the effort to write anymore in advance and I'd rather not get close to death trying to follow a biweekly schedule again.
I'll try to stick to one chapter a month but it's being released when it's done, no sooner and no later.
See you next time I write one of these.