Before we begin I want to thank you all for the support. I honestly expected this fic to be a dumpster fire when I started writing this so, thank you.
Now, responding to a specific comment.
DeathClawProductions: Thank you for the honest reaction and comment. As well as shining in some lore from MH. Tbh, I only learned most of my lore from Rage, Oceaniz and Sai. Now, regarding Fatalis. I completely understand that there's only ONE Fatalis in existence and has since been slain by the player. However, in my AU, there's been at maximum, 2 Fatalis spotted. The one in GU and the one in Iceborne. The one in GU has already been slain by Aylia, Rage and their former party members. While the one in Iceborne was slain by the Blade family. Yes, this also means that they won't react to Pro vs Fatalis due to me wanting to proceed with my continuity. This also obviously includes White and Crimson Fatalis. However, everything else is free game, including the Deviants. Though, not the Extreme variants.
Anyways! Thank you all once again for the glowing reception and onto the show!
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"There's been a murder!" Aylia and Cotton were currently in the hub having a drink and a meal after the previous hunt last week. Recently there'd been reports about a Daimyo Hermitaur making a ruckus around a desert town and Aylia decided to pick it up so that Cotton could experience his first Carapecian. Right now, they were waiting for an Airship to pick them up and drop them off at the site so they may hunt(slay) the monster.
Until then, Aylia wanted to do something to pass the time. So she got her brother and made it so there's a murder. It was obviously fake but they were simply curious about Cotton's reaction.
"Why's Aylia just laying there? And who's the black haired guy?" Cinder questioned.
IT WILL BE EXPLAINED WHY AYLIA IS LIKE THAT LATER. AS FOR THE 'GUY' THAT IS RAGE.
This caused quite the shock. Rage was basically a carbon copy of his sister, with the only difference being their gender. Of course this caused all the ladies to blush as they finally saw the man behind the voice of the many educational videos they watched during their time in the caring hands of Katana Blade.
This also in turn made the men in relationships (Jaune, Qrow and Ironwood) very jealous that their partners were reacting that way and seethed. While the other men couldn't help but be impressed by Rage's physique.
Rage easily passed 6 feet, even going into 6'5. He had a muscular build but was surprisingly lean. Short black hair that reached his nape, crimson red eyes as opposed to his sister's ruby red eyes. His current outfit showed (I'm too lazy with outfit descriptions. Just google Gogmazios armor and the first image you see is the one he's wearing except without a helmet.).
While the women mentally complimented, the taken men mentally raged and the other men appreciated, the video continued on despite Ruby saying, "Wait what was that about a murder?"
Despite the 'crime scene' Cotton just ate and drank like nothing happened. This caused Rage to ask, "Why aren't you concerned?" Causing Cotton to say, with food still in his mouth, "I'm eating I'll be concerned later!" This stunned both Aylia and Rage. Enough so they didn't notice that he put his food on hold before looking at the 'Dead Body' that is Aylia.
Standing up and walking towards the 'body', he looks around to make sure the coast was clear before he crouched to Aylia and bit her ear, causing her to involuntarily moan (Think of that meme where the guy bites the girl and it causes the girl to moan). She covered her mouth and then her face exploded in red.
This stunned the audience for a few moments before atomic blushes appeared on everyone's faces save the adults in/were in relationships (Ironwood, Glynda, Qrow, Winter, Ozpin and Summer.)
The reason why is simple. Most of them barely went past first base at this point for various reasons with the exceptions being Qrow and Winter. (Seeing as these are Katana's characters and I want to keep the teen rating I'll not say anymore than that. But let's say they had a very drunk night ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡))
Though, even the adults did have minor blushing, it just wasn't to the same degree as the teens. With the audience stunned the video continued.
After dead silence for what seemed like hours when it really was just a few minutes, a horn blew, signaling Cotton and Aylia that the airship was ready to pick them up. At which point Aylia sprinted to her item box, sorted out what items she wanted to bring with her and sprinted the hell out of there and towards the Airship.
Cotton was a little stunned before he jogged and did the same thing as Aylia and even said goodbye to his shocked and horrified brother-in-law. Speaking of, he is currently just standing there with his jaw to the floor staring in the direction of his sister and her spouse.
We then cut to about 10 minutes later where a yell was heard from the airship Aylia and Cotton were boarding, causing a blush of embarrassment to bloom from Aylia's face.
This caused some laughs in the audience. Though for the ones with siblings of the opposite gender(Jaune & Qrow) they shuddered and mentally vowed to never go near them or their spouses(In Jaune's case) when the topic of sex is mentioned.
"I'm a grab me some." Aylia says as she takes both paintballs. Currently the both of them are in a desert, as well as in the camp of the desert that had been built in a rush by the Guild. Aylia and Cotton were currently deciding the items, provided by The Guild, should be given to whom. Though, I never did say evenly did I?
"MOTHER FUCKER!" Cotton yelled in a rage(See what I did there?) and tackled Aylia to the ground and proceeded to tickle her. Even though she was wearing 'end-game' armor that can even tank hits from a Kushala Daora, she was easily defeated by her beloved's tickles.
After about 2 minutes of straight tickling and laughing, Aylia finally conceded and gave ONE of the stacks of Paintballs she stole from right under Cotton's nose. Then, they split up the rest of the items, evenly this time, and went with the hunt for a Carapecian.
Of course the audience laughed at this interaction and couldn't provide coherent commentary so we're moving on.
…Until this moment at least.
"Oh I had a warm drink!" Aylia exclaims as her body not only turns hotter but the armor being primarily metal increased that by a significant factor. She immediately drank two cold drinks to counteract both the warm drink she mistakenly had and the sweltering desert conditions.
Though, it still had its effect and had forced her to shuck off bits of her armor. Nothing major just the gloves, gauntlets and leggings. As she removed those bits of armor, the layer of clothing underneath the armor is revealed. The clothing is tight enough to showcase her muscular form. (Think Black Widow. She's nimble and small but she can pack a hell of a punch. Triple that due to being a known Great Sword user.)
Coco whistled, "Damn, that's some impressive muscle." She then flexes her own for a minor comparison and let's just say it wasn't a competition.
"It makes sense, she's a Great Sword wielder. It's obvious for her muscle growth to be primarily in the upper part of her body. Though, I wonder how long it took her to get this physique?" Ozpin analyzed Aylia analytically.
"BOTH RAGE AND AYLIA STARTED THEIR CAREERS AT 12 AND QUICKLY ROSE UP UNTIL THEY REACHED G-RANK 17 AS PREVIOUSLY STATED. BUT THEY HAD BEEN TRAINING FOR A BIT LONGER. THEY UN-OFFICIALLY STARTED TRAINING AT 10 BUT COULDN'T GET THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR PROPER MUSCLE BUILDING FOR THEIR FAVORITE WEAPON, THE GREAT SWORD."
That didn't truly shock the audience. They already knew both Rage and Aylia were prodigies on the level of Stark. What shocked them was that they'd already decided what weapon to use.
"Wait! They wanted to be Great Sword users at 10!?" Ruby was the one to exclaim this. Despite being a prodigy in her own right, it still took her 5 years before she decided to take up her uncle's path as a scythe user.
"CORRECT. IN THE MONSTER HUNTING WORLD, IT'S CONSIDERED COMMON FOR CHILDREN TO DECIDE WHAT OCCUPATION THEY WANT AT 13-14. BUT FOR THOSE THAT WANT TO TRULY BECOME HUNTERS AND HUNTRESSES, THEY HAVE TO DECIDE AT 11-12. KEEP IN MIND, IT NORMALLY TAKES ANY HUNTER 7 YEARS BEFORE THEY COMPLETE THEIR TRAINING IN THEIR PRIMARY WEAPONS AND CAN START DOING LOW-RANK QUESTS."
For a few minutes everyone takes in this information. Until Ironwood asked a question, "What about those that only wish to be Hunters/Huntresses for glory and money? As well as those that are underprepared to take on the job of being a Hunter/Huntress?"
"FOR THE ONES THAT SEEK TO EXPLOIT THEIR HUNTER LICENSES, THEY'RE EITHER WEEDED OUT BEFORE THEY CAN SPROUT OR ARE KILLED BY SHEER STUPIDITY FOR SNEAKING IN QUESTS THAT ARE FAR ABOVE THEIR PAY-GRADE. AS FOR THOSE THAT DON'T TRULY WISH TO BECOME A HUNTER, IT'S A SIMILAR SCENARIO AS THE PREVIOUS ONE. EXCEPT, THEY EITHER QUIT OR THEY GO THROUGH WITH THE TRAINING AND SIMPLY DECIDE TO BE A BODYGUARD AFTER TAKING A FEW QUESTS TO SEE IF THEY THINK THEY CAN TAKE THE CHALLENGE. SOMETIMES, THOSE THAT DON'T THINK THEY'RE ANY GOOD ARE ACTUALLY SOME OF THE BEST. COTTON AND SAI ARE EXAMPLES OF THIS."
The mention of Sai not originally being a hunter, reminded them that he actually was a medic first and a Hunter second. Though this did make them question what Cotton's previous job was.
"FOR CONTEXT, DURING THE 5TH FLEET TO THE NEW WORLD, HUNTERS WERE AT AN ALL TIME LOW WITH THERE BEING BARELY 5 THOUSAND IN ALL OF THE OLD WORLD AND NEW WORLD. THE REASON BEING, FATALIS. BEFORE, THERE WERE EASILY 20 THOUSAND HUNTERS AVAILABLE BUT THAT NUMBER STARTED TO DECLINE DUE TO THE RECENT DISCOVERY OF FATALIS.
THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME EVER THAT FATALIS HAD BEEN SPOTTED AGAIN SINCE THE GREAT DRAGON WAR. AFTER AN ENTIRE YEAR STRAIGHT THEY WERE ABLE TO FINALLY KILL FATALIS BUT AT A HEAVY COST. 10 THOUSAND HUNTERS AND HUNTRESSES HAD FALLEN TO FATALIS, WITH THE COST BEING EITHER THEIR LIVES OR THEIR MINDS.
AT THE WAKE OF THE 'HUNTER MASSACRE', AS HAD BEEN DUBBED BY THE PUBLIC, MONSTERS HAD RANDOMLY STARTED TO ATTACK. FORCING THE GUILD TO USE THEIR SPARSE RESOURCES AND THEIR TIRED HUNTERS TO FIGHT BACK. IT'S THEORIZED THAT FATALIS USED HIS FINAL ROAR AS A ROAR TO EVERY MONSTER, BARRING ELDER DRAGONS THANKFULLY, TO GO AND ATTACK THEIR NEARBY HUMAN CIVILIZATIONS. THE MONSTERS CONTINUED COMING FOR TWO STRAIGHT YEARS.
BY THEN, THERE WERE A MERE 2 THOUSAND HUNTERS LEFT IN THE ENTIRE OLD WORLD. THIS WAS ANOTHER REASON THERE WAS SUCH A LACK OF HUNTERS GOING FROM THE OLD WORLD TO THE NEWLY DISCOVERED NEW WORLD. BY THE FIFTH YEAR THEY'D GOTTEN THEIR NUMBERS BACK TO A MANAGEABLE NUMBER TO KEEP THE OLD WORLD UNDER ORDER. BUT NOT ENOUGH TO SPARE THE TRIP TO THE NEW WORLD. AS SUCH THEY WERE FORCED TO SELECT HUMANS THAT HAD HUNTER LINEAGE IN THEM. COTTON AND KATIE WERE AMONG THEM.
LONG STORY SHORT, COTTON AND KATIE WERE GIVEN BARELY 5 MONTHS TO TRAIN WITH THEIR PRIMARY WEAPONS. THEN THEY WERE SHIPPED OFF TO THE NEW WORLD."
Everyone was stunned at the massive death toll and also confirmed their thankfulness towards Katana for not bringing a Fatalis to their world.
Ozpin was stunned but he was mostly saddened at the massive loss of life. He had a similar feeling when he was the King of Vale and had faced a particularly nasty Grimm that had somehow survived to the 10 year mark and had killed several hundred hunters and huntresses. While it isn't nearly the same amount as the ten thousand lost in the war between Fatalis and humans, it was still something Ozpin could relate to in his experience.
Another thing that really stuck was the sheer monstrosity that is Fatalis. While in the Lore video shown by Katana they'd been aware of its strength, to single handedly make the Hunter profession near extinct in barely 3 years showed its power, cunning and sheer hatred. This made everyone extremely thankful of Katana to not even be tempted to add Fatalis to Remnant because if she did. Intelligent Life would've been extinct by the first week of it arriving into the world.
Everyone recovered from the shock after the break 'The Screen' had given them and had discussed among themselves and continued watching.
"I don't think that would help you." Cotton said sarcastically as he watched Aylia counteract her mistake.
"What have I done!?" Aylia says in an exaggerated tone as she stares where the sun should be.
"Why is it so hot?!" Cotton also exaggerates as he continues the bit.
Chuckling a little bit Aylia extends the bit by saying, "Just there drinking tea in the desert with a- from like a thermos flask!" Aylia laughs at her own joke and eats a steak to top up her stamina.
The mood flipped and everyone was chuckling at the duo's surprisingly good comedy and were amused with how easily they each play off of each other. Though the massive death tolls still lingers in their minds despite the massive artificial mood shift.
We then cut to Aylia walking into one of the zones and spot the Daimyo Hermitaur. Instantly stopping and crouching, she presses the buttons on her neck and says,in a low nearly whispering tone, "Alright come into 3." (Think the mics from Avatar and Way of Water)
She hides behind one of the nearby trees and speaks at a slightly higher volume to say, "I'm excited. You should- I- This is for you, my Dear. This is for you."
Orchestral music plays as the camera zooms in on the Daimyo, only for it to dig down with a person saying 'Nope' accompanying the Daimyo's actions.
This got the teens in the audience to giggle at the build up, only for it to come crashing down.
"Personally I think it's sweet that Aylia specifically got herself and Cotton on a hunt with a monster she knows Cotton is going to like. And the way she said 'My Dear' was honestly kind of heart warming." Summer was the one to speak up. As one of the only people to have actually been in a healthy relationship she could already see that Aylia and Cotton's relationship will last even until death.
Winter and Glynda then realized that they should go to Summer for dating advice when they inevitably get into a fight with their respective partner.
At the same time, Qrow and James realize they should go to Ozpin for advice for the same reasons as the women.
Another reason is this is the first ever relationship, at least a serious one in Qrow's case, they'd all been in and will want all the help they need.
"Oh it went underground as you walked in." As it showed Cotton walking into the zone to see nothing but regular Hermitaurs. Aylia then left her hiding spot and went to walk over to Cotton when she was suddenly launched into the air by a Monoblos Skull!
At the sudden ambush by the Daimyo's hand, or claw in this case, they laughed at Daimyo's perfect timing but then quickly sobered and were concerned for Aylia's safety.
After landing on her back she began to yell. Not by the pain the Daimyo caused her, which was negligible due to her armor. No, it was the fact she got sent flying into the air and then landing on her back that caused the pain. "JESUS!" Putting her arms over her head and on the ground below her, she pushes and instantly she's back to her feet and running.
The Daimyo wasn't idle as it started attacking where Aylia once was as soon as she left the vicinity. Cotton yelled in surprise and worry for his partner in both senses of the word, while Aylia ran towards him yelling, "RUN!"
"WHAT THE FUCK!?" They both then ran around like headless chickens as they waited for the Hermitaur to pop back out.
"You know this would be really funny if this was an actual skit." Coco said in an attempt to relieve the tension. Which worked to some extent.
While the teens slowly let the tension draw out, the adults, while not so tightly wound that they'll explode at any minute, were still on guard.
The Daimyo then came back to the surface to face off the Hunters. Causing Aylia to say, "There we go."
As she said this, the screen cut to a clip with low quality footage of a massive crab suddenly landing on a platform with the audio of the clip saying, "So here's this giant enemy crab."
"OH. MY. GOD!" Cotton yelled in awe as Aylia laughed. She predicted he'd react like this. After seeing his reaction to simple Hermitaurs, she knew he was gonna like Daimyo and will like Shogun in the future.
"EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED!" He yelled in excitement as the Daimyo shielded himself with his claws.
"I know right? Am I the best or am I the best?" Aylia said with pride and a little bit of arrogance.
"Careful Aylia, you might not be able to get back on that airship with your massive head." Roman warned jokingly. Causing the rest of the audience to chuckle slightly. Thus causing the rest of the tension to fade.
Roman then looked at Coco, "That's how you relieve tension, take notes Fasionista." Thus causing Coco's eye to twitch slightly and for Velvet to hold down her girlfriend so she doesn't start a fight.
"IS IT WEARING A FUCKING TRICERATOPS ON IT'S BUTT!?" Cotton exclaimed as he took note of the Monoblos skull on Daimyo's back.
Aylia took an exception to one of her favorite monsters and dinosaurs being mismatched, "WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND THE AMOUNT OF HORNS A TRICERATOPS HAS!? IT'S 'TRI'! IT'S IN THE NAME! YOU IGNORANT DYNOSAUR!"
Many were caught off guard by the sudden rant from Aylia and most visibly jumped with the exceptions being: Oz and his inner circle, Qrow, Winter, Summer and Hazel. But even then, they were tense in shock.
"Monty Oum, what crawled up her ass and died for her to snap?" Qrow crassly remarked which earned him three smacks to the back of the head. One from Summer, one from Glynda and the final most painful one being from Winter. Not only was it painful but it also got him knocked the fuck out.
"Though he did pose a question. A rather crass way of asking it yes, but a question nonetheless. Why is Mrs. Aylia rather defensive over a simple misunderstanding about a Monster he'd never encountered before?" Ozpin asked.
"TWO THINGS. FIRST, THE AIRSHIP THAT WAS CARRYING THEM HAD ONE CREWMEMBER HARASS AYLIA DESPITE BEING TOLD MULTIPLE TIMES THAT SHE WAS MARRIED. AND SECONDLY, SHE'S CURRENTLY IN HER MONTHLY CYCLE. BOTH OF THESE COMBINED MAKES HER TEMPER A HAIR TRIGGER AWAY FROM SNAPPING AND SHE LASHED OUT AT COTTON DUE TO HER PATIENCE BEING AT ITS LIMITS. NORMALLY, SHE HAS SURPRISING CONTROL OVER HER TEMPERAMENT EVEN IN EXTREME CIRCUMSTANCES. IT'S ACTUALLY RARE FOR AYLIA TO GET GENUINELY MAD FOR LONGER THAN A MINUTE AT MOST. IT'S NOT SHOWN BUT SHE APOLOGIZED AS SOON AS THE HUNT WAS OVER TO COTTON WHO JUST TOOK IT IN STRIDE AND THEY MADE UP."
The adults were impressed with Aylia's self control but the women were most impressed in knowing that it was a genuine challenge to get Aylia emotional even during her most emotional state after puberty. In fact, they were about to ask the screen how Aylia managed to keep her emotional state so calm, even in extremely stressful situations. But a book suddenly appeared on everyone's lap. That book was labeled: "How to keep your emotions in control. For dummies!" Made by Aylia Dynosaur nee Eldia.
This made everyone peek at the first few pages on instructions and was actually helpful with some tips for those that are far different in temperament compared to herself. But the adults(Except Roman) noticed Aylia's last name and maiden name.
"Is Cotton's full name, Cotton Dynosaur?" James asked incredulously.
"WELL YES AND NO. DYNOSAUR IS COTTON'S LAST NAME BUT THAT'S NOT COTTON'S FULL NAME. COTTON'S FULL NAME IS, 'COTTON TIBERIUS MAXIMUS CRABBANE DYNOSAUR.'
ANYWAYS, DYNOSAUR ORIGINATED FROM A TIME WHERE THE WORD DINOSAUR WAS MISTRANSLATED AND MISSPELLED. WHILE BOTH HAVE THE SAME PRONUNCIATION, THEY MEAN COMPLETELY DIFFERENT THINGS. DINOSAUR MEANS 'MONSTROUS LIZARD'. WHILE 'DYNOSAUR' MEANS 'DRACONIC LIZARD'(1). SOMEONE EVENTUALLY FOUND THE WORD AND MEANING AND DECIDED TO NAME THEIR FIRST BORN AFTER THE WORD. THUS THE FIRST 'DYNOSAUR' WAS BORN. FRY DYNOSAUR(2) IS THE ANCESTOR OF EVERY LIVING 'DYNOSAUR' WHICH INCLUDES COTTON'S MOM AND COTTON HIMSELF. IN FACT, FRY DYNOSAUR WAS ONE OF THE FIRST COMMANDERS IN THE ELGADO BRANCH OF THE GUILD. IN FACT 2 OF THE STRONGEST HUNTERS IN HISTORY WERE DYNOSAURS. THEIR NAMES BEING HERSHEY DYNOSAUR AND TOBBLE DYNOSAUR."
Upon hearing the history of Cotton's family name, they were surprised to say the least. But they were also very impressed with Fry, Hershey and Tobble's achievements and feats. It was also very amusing to most that nearly every family member appeared to be named after a sweet. Though most were just baffled at the ridiculousness of Cotton's full name. Especially the 'Crabbane' part. Which just left them with a hell of a lot of questions but Glynda was more interested in another's last name.
"What about Aylia's maiden name? Eldia?" Glynda had asked.
"IN GENERAL, AYLIA COMES FROM A FAMILY OF COMMONERS. HER PARENTS WERE FARMERS AND SHOPKEEPERS. ELDIA IS A FAMILY NAME THAT'S DERIVED FROM HER HOME CITY, ELGADO. ASIDE FROM THAT, RAGE AND AYLIA ARE THE ONLY MEMBERS OF THE ELDIA FAMILY THAT HAS ANYTHING NOTEWORTHY THAT'LL BE FOREVER RECORDED IN HISTORY."
"So wait." Ruby said, "Cotton's from a family that made a commander and two legendary hunters. Yet Cotton wasn't a fully trained hunter before the Fifth Fleet. While Aylia and Rage come from a family that has literally no hunter history but become one of the best in a third of the time it takes veteran hunters."
After Ruby's revelation on the irony of the present couple, the rest chuckled as they found the contrast amusing. But that brought one last question.
"Wait. So where's Katie from? Is she the same as Cotton?" Velvet asked, curious to see if there was a form of irony in Rage's relationship.
"KATIE DOESN'T COME FROM AN EXTREMELY WELL KNOWN FAMILY. KATIE'S FULL NAME IS 'KATIE ELDIA NEE AIREACH'. THERE'S ONLY BEEN ONE FAMOUS AIREACH IN HISTORY AND THAT BELONGS TO KATIE'S GRANDMOTHER, KELLY AIREACH. WHO WENT BY THE TITLE OF HIGH RANKER. THIS WAS DUE TO HER, AT THE TIME, UNCONTESTED AMOUNT HIGH RANK QUEST SHE WENT ON IN HER TIME. WHICH WAS A TOTAL OF 924 IN HER ENTIRE HUNTING CAREER. SHE'S SINCE PASSED AWAY IN HER SLEEP AT THE AGE OF 63. FOR REFERENCE, KATIE WAS 23 AND KATIE'S MOTHER, KATHERINE AIREACH, WAS 43."
The Huntsmen and Huntresses were impressed with Kelly Aireach and were saddened when they learned she passed away but were happy that she simply died in her sleep and not in battle.
Then they realized one thing.
"Wait, all of them have a 20 year difference. Is it normal for them to have children at 20?!" Summer asked in shock.
"THIS IS THE LAST QUESTION BEFORE WE GET BACK TO THE VIDEO. BUT YES, EVERY SINGLE WOMEN AND MAN IN THE AIREACH FAMILY HAS HAD CHILDREN IN THEIR 20's AT THE EARLIEST WITH THE YOUNGEST BEING KATIES GREAT-GRANDMOTHER, HAVING KELLY AT 16. KATIE HERSELF ISN'T PREGNANT NOR HAS HAD CHILDREN YET. NOT FOR LACK OF TRYING MIND YOU."
Every woman was shocked at how young every Aireach mother was and were asking several questions on how. Then a piece of paper was placed on each of their laps that gave an overview of how the Aireach women were able to give birth that young, and yet still be able to bounce back from their pregnancies to hunt. This has made Summer jealous at how easy it is for the Aireach family to have children and yet shrug it off after a week of recovery despite it taking her 3 months from giving birth to Ruby before she could go back to training and hunting. And these women didn't even have Aura! Which made her more irritated before calming down and continuing watching the video.
A tense silence fell on the couple as Cotton fought the Carapaceon. After a few seconds Cotton meekly said, "I'm sorry…"
Aylia quickly moved on, "But this is a giant crab, so. Are you- Are you happy?" She asked gently.
"Yeah I'm pretty happy. Oh he's hiding." Taking notice that the massive crab was shielding itself with its claws.
As he was saying this, Aylia took the opportunity to leap on to the Monoblos skull, "I'm on its shell now."
Cotton finally got a good enough hit to make the Carapeceon bleed and was amazed, "He bleeds blue!"
"Yeah it's got blue crab blood!" Aylia confirmed as she held on while the Daimyo took an exception to something riding its shell. Bending its joints and placing the claws on the ground, Daimyo Hermitaur began to jump up and down and up and down several times in barely a minute. When Daimyo got tired, Aylia casually stated, "Don't mind him, he's just having a little freak."
"I don't blame him, you're on top of him."
The scene then slowed when the Hermitaur regained its stamina and jumped up. As the song Le Freak by Chic played.
"Oh my god, he's got legs!" Cotton exclaimed at Daimyo's impressive jumps.
Aylia was chuckling before she fully registered what her husband had said and nearly messed up her mount.
A clip is then shown of a man saying, "What you just said-"
It cuts back to Cotton, who proceeds to say, "Like eight of them!" despite Hermitaur having four legs and two claws…
The clip is shown once more, "-Is one of the most insanely idiotic things I'd ever heard."
Hearing Cotton's two sentences made them pause for a solid 10 seconds before they looked at the screen dumbfounded at what they just heard. Even Ozpin, who's usually unflappable, was completely stunned at what the Dynosaur descendant had said.
Too shocked that they moved on.
"Nothing gets past you." Aylia stated blankly as she finished the mount.
"Four of them really." Cotton corrects his earlier miscount.
Aylia laughed and yelled indignantly, "How did you get eight!?"
Cotton then charged his hammer and slammed it into the torso of the massive Hermitaur and said, "I don't know man. Look, it's been a long day."
Aylia then laughed at Cotton's poor excuse as to the reason he miscounted that heavily and mocked him for it, "'There's at least like eight legs guys!'"
Aylia laughed once more, this time collapsing on the ground.
The audience broke out of their stupor and laughed/chuckled at Cotton's misfortune.
"Like seriously, how the hell can you miss a step that hard?!" Yang yelled in mock shock before diving deeper into laughter.
"Well, Daimyo Hermitaur has six limbs, four legs and two claws, so it's a little easy to see why he'd mess up. But it's still amusing to say the least." Ozpin had attempted to defend Cotton, before minorly indulging in humor as he said the last part with a smirk that was hidden by his coffee mug.
"So this is Daimyo Hermitaur!" Aylia finally says the Carapeceon's name.
"Giant Crab?" Cotton asked simply.
Aylia let out a minor snort and replied amusingly, "Yes, this is Giant Crab."
A minor silence befell before being broken by Cotton saying nice.
"Giant Crab, this is Cotton." Aylia introduced Daimyo to Cotton, despite having fought for 10 minutes now.
"Hi!" Cotton said enthusiastically as Daimyo dug underground to attack them with his Monoblos skull.
"'Nice to meet you, I've always-awe. Can I have an autograph?' Just pushes his claw through your paper." Aylia then said poking minor fun at Cotton's fascination with the Hermitaur.
Upon seeing that Daimyo was targeting Cotton, who was drinking a potion, Aylia let out a quick warning, "Careful he's coming to thrust you!"
"Is he though?" Cotton asked mockingly. Right as he was about to make another step, Daimyo bursted out of the ground. Luckily, the horn wasn't what had gotten Cotton, and was instead the sheer force of Daimyo's attack that caused Cotton damage. A sound effect of a man being in sheer agony then played to accompany Cotton's injury.
The Audience was amused by the little interaction between Cotton and Aylia before becoming worried by Aylia's warning, and then a mix between laughter and trying to stop said laughter at the abruptness and perfect timing of Daimyo's interruption. Before everyone delved into laughter at the sound clip.
"Talk Shit, Get Hit!" Qrow yelled out, after waking up from his extremely deserved slaps to the head, before getting more abs as he held his stomach.
"Swear!" Both Ruby and Summer said in unison before getting back into laughing.
The rest either were too busy laughing or spat out words that were too incoherent to understand.
Having not heard what was added in post, Aylia got legitimately worried and pulled her beloved out of the next attack and used a lifepowder to get Cotton out of danger.
They may be poking fun, but hunting is a legitimately serious job. They're only able to make jokes because the monsters are barely able to do anything to Aylia and she can easily pull the both of them out of danger if needed.
Cotton then got up, drank a potion and waited for his wounds to mend. Aylia took this slight downtime to break the tension, "Yes, yes he was."
It worked, causing Cotton to chuckle a bit before getting back on the job.
That then caused the rest of the audience to sober up and look at the matter at hand seriously.
"Remember children, never take ANY opponent, Monster or Human, lightly. While Aylia and Cotton had gotten off lightly this time, that is solely due to Aylia using a Lifepowder as well as Cotton drinking from a potion. Seeing as we're still behind them in terms of healing items, though we're making excellent strides in that department, it'll still take several months before they're ready and years before they're able to be mass produced." Ironwood started to lecture before getting into a minor progress report before Qrow stepped in.
"Basically, Tin Man is just saying that we aren't invincible even with Aura as a shield against the monsters. So always see your opponent as someone that is either close to your level or above it if you don't know jack all about them."
The Audience went a bit silent at this and decided to just continue the video in hopes of moving on but they'd still put this line of thought on hold and come back to it later. Especially those of the younger generation.
The scene then shows them fighting the Carapeceon again with said giant crab having just jumped and hoped to slam the betrothed hunters into the ground.
"He's off!" At Aylia's call out she went into the Valour stance while Cotton put up his shield to protect himself from harm.
Daimyo then came back down doing no damage to either hunter. When Daimyo came back, Cotton then exclaimed, "He's on!"
As Aylia was about to attack, she heard Cotton's 'Call Out' she laughed and missed her hit. Though she did dodge Daimyo's follow up to take advantage of Aylia's distracted state. "He's Off, he's on! I repeat Code On!" Aylia joked and then went back to fight the Hermitaur.
The minor skit like scene had relieved the tension minorly but they were still a little preoccupied which caused Ozpin to speak up.
"We'll have plenty of time to think of what has happened here once we come back home. For now, let's enjoy ourselves."
Snapping them out of their respective fugues, Yang then had an amazing(read: Terrible) idea. She thought of a head of lettuce and said vegetable appeared in her hand and said, "Don't you mean, 'Lettuce' enjoy ourselves?'" Causing everyone to groan at the pun she made with only Neo amused and gave Yang a peck on the cheek.
While everyone was recovering from the terrible joke they went back to the video.
"You see the little mini ones as well?" Aylia had asked when pointing out the normal Hermitaurs while also dodging a claw swipe from Daimyo.
"Yeah. Well I've been killing the mini ones." Cotton had confirmed while also killing his 5th Hermitaur today.
"Yeah, he's just like, 'I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get you! Aghh! I-I got this sir! I got this sir! I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna be the favorite! I'm gonna kill 'er! I'm gon- I'm gon! Ugh!'" Aylia then started commentating on the Hermitaur's attempts at attacking her with a mocking tone.
Cotton then decided to join in, "'I can only go sideways, what is this!?'" with the same mocking tone as Aylia.
"'Maybe this one! This one looks easier! I'll get this guy instead look! Look at me- oh, oh! Agh! Agh! I don't know!'" She couldn't hold it in any longer and fell to the ground laughing as well as pounding her fist into the sandy ground to release more of her laughter.
The audience was too busy laughing along with Aylia and couldn't comment further.
The scene moves to a different area with Aylia about to unleash a charged greatsword attack while openly mocking Daimyo. The Daimyo took offense to this.
"BUBBLEBEAM!" Aylia yelled as she got blasted by the full brunt of the attack. All the while, sound effects could be heard in the background as a result of post editing.
With Aylia on the ground recovering from her well deserved payback, the camera then turns to the Daimyo who snips its claws as if celebrating the fact it got the arrogant hunter. A child saying 'I did it!' then adds credence to this fact.
Another wave of laughter passed over the audience at the well deserved sucker punch provided by Daimyo.
Once more too consumed in laughter to comment, the show goes on.
Once Aylia recovered from her minor exposure to bubbles, she barely saw Daimyo's celebration and decided to coo at it like it was a child and say, "Aww he's so happy about it! He had a little celebrate." As she finished her sentence, the massive over-evolved crustacean then proceeded to use its legs to jump and land directly on Cotton. Causing Cotton to scream in panic as he dove out of the vicinity of Daimyo's attack.
While doing this Aylia looked over with minor concern and saw that he was fine but decided to ask, "Are you okay?"
Cotton, in response to his wife's question, replied back, "Why are his thighs so powerful?!"
Aylia was currently keeping Daimyo's attention on her when she heard Cotton's reply and was baffled for a second before coming back to her senses and Valor dodging when the massive Hermitaur tried to swipe at Aylia with its claws. Out of the danger zone with Daimyo jumping again, this time with foaming bubbles in its mouth, Aylia decided to ask incredulously, "'Thighs'?! How many crabs do you know that can accurately be described to have thighs?!"
Cotton, having dodged Daimyo's second on screen jump better than the last time, retorted back, "How many crabs do you know can jump 20 feet in the air?!"
Aylia was a little dumbfounded but got her barings enough to dodge another one of Daimyo's attacks. When she did finally process what Cotton had said she laughed. And during that she'd said, "Touche sir! Touche!" And continued laughing.
"Touche indeed Cotton." Ren said.
The audience had too been dumbfounded by Cotton's exclamation of Daimyo Hermitaur's 'thighs' but his retort to Aylia's comments made them fall over laughing with Ren and Ozpin being the first to break out of it.
"I mean the man has a point." Torchwick supported Cotton's retort and really nobody can fault that logic.
With nothing more to say, and nobody was really curious what a crab's legs were actually called (Read: Me being too lazy to look it up) they moved on.
"You win this round!" Aylia had forfeited as she jumped from a ledge and slashed the Daimyo across its face.
The scene moved to Cotton using his Hammer to bash the massive Hermitaur's legs, but due to the stance of said crab, it made it hard for the hammer to do any effective damage. Sound effects were accompanied with each of Cotton's attempted attacks.
"Come on!" Cottons yelled in frustration, much to Aylia's continued amusement.
"Look at you just trying to hammer him! 'Why can't I kill this fucking crab?!'" To which she once more fell over in laughter. When she does fall over, Cotton finally gets a hit in and bashes the Crab in the mandibles.
When Aylia finally got back her bearings, she was near face to face with a charging Daimyo and rolled out of the way before saying, "Seriously, this is like the second most threatening crab I've ever experienced!"
The scene then cut to a clip of a regular crab that looked to be trapped between two rocks, which was paired with text at the bottom of the screen that said, "No.1 Most Threatening For Reference"
The crab then dragged its pincer across its carapace as if to do a similar gesture commonly done by humans. Only it was their thumb and necks instead of pincers and shells. Anyway, this gesture was followed by a sound clip of a deep voiced man that said, "You're gonna die"
When Aylia had stated that this was the 2nd most threatening crab she'd experienced, that made everyone wonder what was the most threatening crab she'd fought. Nearly everyone thought that it would've been one of the deviant forms of said crabs, a few others (Mainly the fighting nuts) thought that it would've been the crabs from Frontier, and Nora had guessed that it was a normal crab.
So when the following clip occurred, Nora was jumping up and down with joy at being the only one to actually guess it right. As well as rubbing it in peoples faces. While the ones that were wrong were baffled that a crab that threatened the camera person was the most threatening crab Aylia ever experienced, they knew that it was a joke and let Nora have one. Except for the Schnees, they were slightly bitter but kept their mouths shut. And then they let the moment pass and move on.
The scene transitions back to the fight as Aylia was complaining about how powerful her Great Sword was when Hermitaur smacked her with his claw, as if to say 'Shut up'. It then continued showing both Cotton and Aylia smacking the crab with their weapons until Cotton was behind Aylia and hit her on the bottom with his hammer and simply said, in a deadpan voice from exhaustion at fighting and wielding a massive skull for so long, "Go."
Which then launched Aylia in the air, completely unprepared, and went over the Hermitaur, and on her back. Aylia just stayed there for the entire fight until Daimyo left the zone, which allowed Cotton to look at Aylia. To which, as soon as Cotton was within her depth perception, said, "I hope you die."
Cotton looked amused and offered a hand, which Aylia looked at and stared for a few seconds before grabbing it and allowing Cotton to pull her up. Which led to her pulling Cotton closer so that she could whisper in his ear. Whatever was said wasn't heard by the mics, but the reaction of Cotton's face becoming as red as Ruby's namesake allowed everyone to guess what she'd said.
Aside from speculation on what the woman had to say to Cotton, no one else really had anything to say. Aside from crumbs of Wisdom and Advice from Ozpin and Ironwood about teamwork and proper communication.
The scene then showed Aylia and Cotton fighting the giant crab, when it suddenly stopped fighting and just walked away leaving Cotton and Aylia baffled. Until Aylia saw that Daimyo was being slightly more sluggish than it usually would and told this to Cotton which then leads to the next scene which had the Hermitaur dragging its shell as it ran away from the couple to its nest as Aylia and Cotton watched.
The scene then cuts to a sleeping crab, with Aylia charging up a slash with her sword and slamming it on said crab's face. Which then led to Cotton bashing its leg so hard that it went prone immediately, following up on the opportunity Aylia performed another slash while asking Cotton, "What if I told you he's not the only crab monster?"
Cotton simply stated, "I would be happy." And then brained Hermitaur with the Bullfango tusks.
"He's not the only crab monster." Aylia informed her beloved, as said crab monster started to stand up.
To which Cotton replied with a noise of surprise, which made Aylia laugh and retort, "You said happy not surprised!" The apparent rage at the 'lie' Cotton told led Daimyo to get knocked prone again, this time by Aylia. "I feel lied to!" She said 'indignantly'.
"Look, I can be happy and surprised at the same time!" Cotton rebuked. And then Aylia slapped Hermitaur on the ass which led to its death.
"I killed him with a side slap!" She announced both surprised and baffled at the effort needed to gain the final blow.
"That hunt was both boring and eventful." Adam had stated. Which the audience agreed with. While it was great to see actual hunters hunting monsters, everyone could agree that due to the low level they're at, it's pretty boring. It was only entertaining due to Cotton and Aylia having fun and doing skits mid hunt.
With not much else to comment on, they moved on.
The scene cuts to Aylia and Cotton at the smithy looking at the previews/concept designs for the armor made from the Daimyo Hermitaur. (Headcanon lore, previews are basically smithies drawing up armors and then showing that drawing to hunters to get their opinions of the armor before they're fully commissioned and made.)
"Oh, that's… Not bad." Cotton stated, not unimpressed but far from impressed at the same time.
"Mine's very understated." Aylia said.
Coco's critical eyes for fashion analyzed the details of the armor of the Daimyo, and decided, "Meh." While shaking her hand side to side.
"Yeah, there's not much to comment on with both the hunt and armor." Yang said, a little disappointed at how pedestrian the hunt felt like, despite understanding why.
—
…..So….. two years huh? It's kind of fitting that I'm uploading this on the near exact date that I went offline for a while. For reference, all of what you just read? Has been sitting in my Docs for….. God, I think a year and a half by now. I've kept delaying it purely because I wanted to finish the episode in the last half but just can't force my ADHD to sit my ass down for more than 5 minutes before being bored. So yes, this is a three parter.
….I want to say more but there genuinely isn't. I don't have any good reason why this story has been on Hiatus for so long and all I'd be doing is pissing you guys off with random nonsense that isn't at all related to this story or my ability to write. I just simply didn't. So, I won't make any promises. I'll try to finish part three within the year but don't get your hopes up, I'll likely disappoint again.
….That's it I guess. Bye.