15Chapter 1: A a Monster Hunter and a Palico
A/N: 1st true chapter of my crossover story. Warning, there is a description of gore near the end and will be throughout the story. The characters Eleanor and Elaine are borrowed with permission from a Monster Hunter fan-fiction story A Palico's Dream by Tidbit03. In a sense this story is more of a crossover between their version of Monster Hunter World than the game itself.
Edit: added a few extra details, changed the story of why Elaine did not go to Hoarfrost reach a tiny bit to show the minor change that makes this AU from Tidbit03's story. Added
Ch1:
Ais woke up in panic. That black dragon was so huge. It flew in from no where, and blocked out the sun. It attacked Papa, sending great streams of fire from it's mouth. Papa survived the 1st attack and yelled for "Aria and Ais run, I will try to hold the monster off until help comes." Momma grabbed Ais in her arms and began running. "Help!" Ais shouted as her Momma ran. Hoping one of the other elves was near enough to hear and would save them. Then Ais saw a giant shadow cover them. Then the dragon was grabbing Momma and Ais with its front talons and flying away with them. Only for Momma to let go of Ais with a brief whisper of, "I love you, live and be as happy as possible, I'll slow your fall with my wind magic."
Then Ais was falling, looking at the ground and seeing lots of blood and fires near where they been before the Dragon attacked. Then there was a glowing magic light everywhere...then nothing.
Was it a just a nightmare? Please let it be a nightmare.
Ais panted harshly, trying to calm down.
Ais looked around for the first time since waking up, and saw green everywhere. Giant trees with green leaves, moss, and even some sort of flowering vines growing on parts of them. The leaves from the trees were blocking out a lot of the sun and making what light got through look green. There were even bugs with strange giant green sacs flying around.
Though most of the other bugs were some variation of brown, black, or other colors.
The trees back home were almost as big but farther apart from each other. The leaves at home were a brighter green and a different shape, the bark was a richer brown, and there were not other plants growing on the trees. There was grass, bushes and in spring a few flowers in between the trees and the paths, but not growing on the trees. The air smelled different somehow, more musty and with a hint of something rotting.
Ais slowly sat up from where she had just been lying on the ground, looking around, but only saw those trees, bugs, the forms of a few birds flitting about, and even smelly brownish green rotting leaves on the ground everywhere. Now that she listened there were the sounds of a lot more bugs, birds, and even a distant but scary sounding roar of all things. At home there might be birdsong and the sound of some bugs, but it was rare to actually see the source of the sounds, they were all hidden and much quieter. There was no sign of a path anywhere. There were no signs that anyone had ever lived here.
This was not home, this was no where near home. The memory of the dragon attacking was not a nightmare, her parents were gone. She was alone, lost, in some place far from other people.
Ais started panicking, her breathing coming faster again after calming down from waking up, and tears starting to form in her eyes, when there was a rustling, crunching sound very close behind her, followed by a grunting snort.
Ais froze, realizing that there might be big scary monsters nearby that would want to eat her. Even if she was rescued from being eaten by the giant black dragon, there was no one else here to defend her, any monster that was hungry could attack and eat her, monsters were everywhere in wild places, and this looked like a wild place.
Slowly she looked for the cause of the rustling and saw . . . a pig?
Except it had something silvery on its head and was covered in more moss on its back, or green fur that looked like moss. Its nose was to the ground rustling the rotting leaves. The pig monster was sniffing and snorting at the smells, clearly searching for something to eat, but thankfully it was ignoring her even as it walked not more than 7 feet away from her. Ais breathed a gusty sigh of relief that there was no danger from that monster.
But vaguely realized that despite that specific monster not being dangerous to her there were likely many dangerous monsters in such a wild looking forest, so she should be ready to run away at any time. Ais also needed to find shelter and find people to help her, but if she made too much noise she would attract predators.
What should she do?
Yet again Ais started feeling fear and uncertainty but before she lost herself in panic for too long yet again she asked herself what her Momma or Papa would want her to do.
Ais took a few slow deep breaths in and out, remembering her Momma's words about calming down by taking deep breaths and listening to the wind. Sometimes the wind would carry sounds from far away if she listened hard while thinking and whispering about what she wanted to hear.
That was something that her Momma asked her to do to realize Papa was fine, there were no monsters near, or whatever had upset her was gone.
That may have been her Momma using her wind magic to help, but maybe Ais had a bit of that magic too, hopefully. Maybe she could listen for the sound of people talking and head in that direction? Or the sound of running water at least, since people were often near water.
"Elves, people, water, bring sounds from any of those near" Ais whispered quietly.
Then listened with all her might, squinting her eyes shut to concentrate, hoping to hear them.
Bugs, the pig monster slowly wandering away, birds, more roars from distant monsters, nothing that she hoped for. . .wait was that water?
Ais got to her feet, suddenly excited and faced the direction she could hear water, it sounded sort of like the brook near their home. She was getting thirsty as well, so when she found water she could drink and search for people.
Ais desperately tried to ignore the nagging fear, anger, and terrible sadness that her Papa and Momma might be dead, eaten by a giant black dragon that came out of nowhere as they were having a peaceful picnic in a clearing near their house to celebrate her fifth birthday.
Ais had not actually seen the dragon kill her parents so maybe they were alive, maybe someone rescued them, she knew Papa had to be injured badly from all the blood and fire, but maybe he was still alive just near death. The other elves would have come to put out the fires, and maybe they healed Papa when they found him.
Maybe the weird magic, some new Wind magic her Momma had used had moved her far away and now her Papa and Momma were searching for her? A part of her knew there was no way that was true, but what else could she do but hope?
Ais just needed to find people, she would go to the water, drink, then follow it until she found people. She would ask the people for help, tell them her story, ask them where she was, she would then ask them to take her to home. Ais started walking, slowly and trying to be quiet just in case of monsters, heading toward that water. She had to constantly walk around the tree roots sticking up out of the ground, and the actual trees themselves.
When she finally reached the water she found it was bigger than she expected from the sound, it was a river, but very muddy and flowing slowly due to that mud. In some parts there were even some green plant stuff growing right on the muddy water. The trees were also growing right up to the water in a lot of places, with those vines trailing down all the way into the water...
Would muddy water with bits of plant really be all right to drink? Didn't her Papa say something about water in the wild not being safe to drink once when a story character rushed to drink a bunch of water from a river while lost? Something about making you sick sometimes?
Ais would just have to follow the water until she found people, then get water from them. Since the trees grew right up to the muddy river there was no clear path. Ais also was not sure which way to walk along the river at first, but decided to walk the same way the water was flowing. Ais still had to walk slowly, keeping a watch out for tree roots and possibly monsters while going around trees a lot.
Eventually she gave up walking right next to the river and just tried to stay near it.
Due to it being surprisingly peaceful so far despite her fears Ais started relaxing her constant watch for monsters. Although she had seen and heard a few in the distance sometimes, none of them had attacked her so far so maybe this place was not as wild or dangerous as she thought it was.
Ais started thinking more about that black dragon, feeling a bit of anger stirring. Ais might be helpless now but her Papa and Momma had started teaching her stretching exercises and having her run around a lot in their games. Papa had also said that if she wanted he would try to teach her how to use a bow, dagger, or sword soon. He had even started carving a few branches into sword, dagger and bow shapes for when she started learning.
Ais had been uncertain about learning just yet, since Papa said it would be hard and she would have less free time to play. But now Ais realized that she really wanted to learn how to fight, so she would not be so scared of getting attacked again.
If Papa was still alive Ais promised herself she would learn everything he could teach her as fast as possible so she could defend herself and maybe get revenge on the black dragon for interrupting her birthday party.
If Papa was not alive. . . maybe she could still learn, just from someone else instead, she would get revenge on the black dragon for killing her Papa and maybe her Momma. Ais found tears welling up in her eyes again, this time letting them fall even as she walked next to the muddy river. Ais could not really believe Papa was still alive, she may not have seen the black dragon kill him and he was supposed to be a great warrior, but . . . there was no way he would have let the black dragon get passed him to swoop down on Momma and Ais if he was still alive. There was also no way the Black dragon would just leave him alone if he was hurt or unconscious, the Black Dragon was easily big enough to swallow him up with just one bite.
Ais suddenly tripped and fell on the ground. Her eyesight had become too blurry from her tears to notice a random tree-root just barely sticking out of the ground. Ais did not try to get up again immediately, Instead she stayed laying on the ground crying, starting to breath unevenly and letting out soft hiccuping cries. Papa was gone, she would never get to learn how to be a great warrior from him. If she lived she might be able to become a great warrior from someone else but she would never know for sure what Papa would have taught her.
She would never hear him laugh, never see him smile adoringly at her Momma and Ais and tell them he loved them more than all the stars in the sky. She was not even sure what her Papa's name was, since he had always been Papa to her. Papa had sometimes called Momma Aria so she knew Momma's name, but Momma always called Papa beloved, husband, papa or other nicknames but not his actual name.
As Ais was busy crying she never noticed a monster come up to the river to take a drink behind her. After drinking the monster took note of the noises Ais was making and started stalking forward to her slowly. Fortunately for Ais there were lots of dead leaves and other stuff on the ground and the monster was not very stealthy, so she heard the monster even over the sounds of her crying.
Ais sat up and turned to see what was making all that noise and froze up with her eyes going very wide in terror. That was a big monster, not as big as the black dragon of course but way bigger then the pig. It was bigger than a horse, the largest animal Ais had seen before, and since Ais was a tiny girl that meant the monster was more than three times as big as her or even more. Its mouth was open slightly, so Ais could see the very sharp teeth it had. The monster looked sort of like a giant lizard or a dragon without wings. Except it had a blue belly that was bulging out, lots of yellow and orange spiky things on its back and head as well as bigger front arms than any dragon or lizard Ais had ever seen before.
The monster was not moving very fast, so Ais had time to scramble to her feet again while taking deep gasping breaths. Ais knew the only way for her to live was to run, and hope there were people near enough to rescue her. So she took a very deep breath then screamed as loud as she could, then turned around and ran away as fast as she could, leaping over any roots and around all the trees. Ais heard the lizard monster moving behind her, chasing her, and screamed again, but kept running.
Just as she heard the lizard monster very close behind her and was planning to glance backward, suddenly something leaped out in front of her, then leaped over her. She heard a crashing sound and a sizzling sound, suddenly smelling smoke and burning meat. Ais ran a few steps more then slowed and turned around.
At first Ais wondered if another lizard monster had attacked the monster chasing her, since the figure attacking had spiky yellow orange things on its back as well, then realized the figure was standing on two legs and holding a weapon of some sort, though it looked like parts of the weapon were on fire. The sizzling sound was the weapon cutting into and burning the giant lizard monster. So the figure was a person wearing the hide from a monster very similar to the one that had been chasing her.
The person moved very fast, though the lizard monster was also moving faster than it had been. Ais could not keep track of all the movements. The lizard monster kept trying to either bite, slash, or leap on top of the person, but they dodged easily and kept stabbing their weapon at the giant lizard monster, injuring it more and more.
Then with one final stab as the lizard was mid-leap, the lizard monster thrashed a bit then fell still and started falling down. The person jerked their weapon out and dodged the monster again, then stood still for a few seconds staring at the dead monster. After poking the monster with their weapon with no response other than another sizzling sound they suddenly called out.
"Elaine, its dead, start harvesting this please while I talk to the child and try to find out why in the world a child is here to begin with, much less alone."
" Meow, yes Eleanor! I'm coming! Meow, you moved so fast when we heard that scream I couldn't keep up!" Ais heard from behind her.
Then before she could turn, she saw a cat. The cat was white with lavender and dark purple patches, wearing clothing, walking upright, and carrying a giant bag bigger than it. The cat walked past her toward the person and dead giant lizard monster.
The person, a woman Ais realized from the voice, though they were so covered in the monster hide it was impossible to make out their features started to slowly walk toward Ais. Once they were close enough that Ais could make out parts of a face in between all the monster bits they stopped and started talking is a low, gentle voice.
"Child, why are you here? Its very dangerous here, this is a restricted area that only experienced Monster Hunters are supposed to enter. Great Jagras like the one that was chasing you aren't even the worst of the monsters that live in this Ancient Forest. You are very lucky we were nearby. Where are your parents child?"
Ais took in a deep breath then half wailed
"I don't know! I woke up here! A really giant black dragon monster attacked my parents and I! Papa said he would hold the black dragon off while Momma and I ran, but . . ." Ais gasped for breath for a few seconds fighting off more tears after trailing off, then continued
"the giant black dragon swooped down on us only a little bit later as Momma and I were running and grabbed Momma in its front talon arms and started flying up again. I was being carried by Momma and was taken too, but then Momma let go, saying she would slow my fall with magic. I started falling down, and then there was a lot of glowing light around me that kept getting brighter till I shut my eyes to keep from being blinded. Then I woke up a bit away from here." Ais finished off, and relived the memories a bit while trying to take calming breaths at all the pain and fear talking about that monster attack had brought up.
Then remembered that she needed to finish explaining and hurriedly said
"When I woke up, after panicking a bit I knew I needed to find other people, so headed to where I heard water because Momma and Papa always said people usually live close to water. Home is not this ancient forest place, the trees at home are different, smaller and farther away from each other, there aren't all those other plants growing on them, and the elves like my Papa have cleared out all the aggressive monsters and regularly patrol to keep more from coming in. I don't know how I got here really, though that glowing light might have been a really powerful magic spell from Momma that teleported or flew me here. " Ais said, taking more big breaths.
"I tripped and fell over a root and started crying, because I finally could not ignore my fear and sadness anymore, then I saw that monster, screamed and ran. . ." Ais finished.
The woman, Eleanor had listened to Ais babble her story relatively calmly, though she had winced in sympathy when she heard about the attack on Ais' parents and her, then gotten a slightly wondering look when Ais mentioned the dragon picking up her mother in its front talons, mentally trying to recall which wyvern-type monster had front talons as well having a black color and was large enough to pick up a human. She had also looked slightly surprised when Ais mentioned other elves, noticing Ais' own slightly pointed ears for the first time. Eleanor then shook her head slightly, deciding questioning the child about details regarding the monster that attacked her family could wait. Figuring out how to help the child took priority.
"Do you know what your home was called? Maybe we, that is the Guild of Monster Hunters can find relatives to take care of you. Maybe those other elves you mentioned? What is your name, and your parents names?" Eleanor quietly asked after pondering only a few seconds.
Ais whimpered, feeling a new wave of sadness as clearly Eleanor assumed both her parents were dead even though Ais had not said they were, she had refused to say her parents were dead, but Eleanor assumed they were just from hearing the story and was already moving on. Still, Eleanor had asked a question that Ais knew the answer to, sort of.
" I'm Ais Wallenstein, momma is Aria, I don't know papa's first name but I guess his last name was Wallenstein. We lived in a forest called Ryumilua, in a special tree house. It was part of an elven community. Momma and Papa did not live very close to the other elves though. Papa joined the patrols and talked about the other elves sometimes, but Momma was not an elf, and they did not like to visit us. Momma said they didn't like her because she was not an elf but was even better at wind magic than they were. Papa agreed, but said they would warm up to us eventually, that elves were very slow to accept any changes as good." Ais responded sadly.
Eleanor was surprised and confused by this story. Ryumilua forest was mostly burned down hundreds of years ago by a rampaging Great Dragon monster. The forest had even been renamed as a new dangerous monster territory called Burning Ryumilua forest. Supposedly the Great Dragon monster, most likely an Elder Dragon, hibernated in the heart of that forest and occasionally started new fires in its sleep or during short waking periods. She did not think there was enough forest left for an entire community of elves to live in, much less raise a child. Most of the elves who survived the fire were forced to scatter and live in other places. Last she heard other than a couple of strong stubborn elves who were trying to replant the forest while defending makeshift homes from all the monsters on the edge of the burned zone it had been abandoned.
Monster Hunters ventured there occasionally to hunt the monsters there, or collect some rare plants that grew in the ashes of the old forest. The arrogant ones had tried to seek out the slumbering Elder Dragon to slay it, but either returned unsuccessfully or never returned at all. Could Ais be a survivor of an attack from that Elder Dragon somehow?
Eleanor decided to voice her confusion, though she doubted the child knew the answer to this mystery.
"Ryumilua forest was mostly burned down by a rampaging Great Wyvern Dragon or Elder Dragon monster hundreds of years ago, the elves that survived and lived there were mostly forced to find a new place to live except for a few that are trying to replant that forest, but last I heard they were not successful enough yet especially with new fires starting at random for it to be anywhere near safe enough to raise a child. I have no idea how your parents could raise you there.
Still its a start I guess, maybe those at the Guild headquarters will know more details and what to do now, at the very least it will be safer for you at guild headquarters and the small village surrounding it than out here Ais, if you are willing to come with me."
Ais stared at Eleanor, confused, sad, and angry all over again at the idea of home being burned down, she knew the dragon had started a fire, but for it to burn down most of the forest was an unpleasant surprise. Eleanor's words of the forest being burned many hundreds of years ago had been ignored by Ais for now, especially since Ais did not have a very good idea of time yet.
She was slowly starting to accept the idea that Papa was probably dead, this sort of confirmed that there was no way he could have survived both injuries and a fire. Home being mostly burned down and not safe meant that it was unlikely that anyone would let her go there to search for herself to see if Momma was still alive somehow. Ais vaguely recalled that Momma could turn herself into wind, but it would be very difficult to gain a physical body again. So maybe Momma was lingering in the area grieving for Papa or stuck as wind still. So it would be a long time until Ais could find Momma again, since Ais needed to be strong enough to go look herself.
Still, Ais knew she could not survive on her own yet, and had no idea where Ryumilua forest was from here so decided to go with this Eleanor woman for now, since she was clearly a strong warrior that could keep Ais safe from all the monsters and said she would take Ais to this guild headquarters place that was also safe and might have more knowledge.
Maybe they could contact Momma somehow when Momma got a body again to let her know where Ais was and if Momma was able she would come for Ais, or maybe if they knew that Momma was in Ryumilua forest they would take Ais there even with the danger, since after all this ancient forest was also supposed to be dangerous too.
"Ok, I'll go with you" Ais said quietly.
"Right, Elaine are you finished harvesting the parts we need from the great Jagras yet? Do you want help if you are not? Eleanor briskly asked as she turned to look back at the lizard monster, called a great Jagras apparently and the cat person. Ais noticed that while they had been talking the cat person had apparently been using a bunch of knives to skin and then cut up the great Jagras into smaller pieces then somewhat clean them in the muddy river, and was putting the pieces in their giant bag.
"Meow, I'm almost done Eleanor, just need to find the magic stone and get a few more parts in the bag, especially the belly. Meow. Though the magic stone is probably in its belly somewhere. I nyaow we want to keep the belly mostly intact since it can be turned into a new bag so I will just try to empty out the belly of the stuff in it as best I can without damaging it. Meow. If you can help hold the belly upside down once I get it cut out of the great Jagras that will be a big help. Meow" the cat person, called Elaine said.
Ais watched in fascinated disgust as the cat person Elaine now dug into the area around it and cut the bulging belly from the great Jargas, pulling a long smelly string-like thing coated in blood and connected to the belly out at the same time. Then Elaine cut the smelly string, put it into the muddy and now pinkish river briefly, then put it into her bag.
After that Eleanor walked over, and together the two held the belly which now had two holes with one bigger than the other, up into the air a bit with the bigger hole facing down and shook it a bit. Blood, other smelly fluids and what looked like the bodies of a pig and a smaller than the Jagras but still bigger than Ais, lizard/dinosaur somehow came out of that hole as it expanded. The bodies had no skin, bits of their bodies gone, and smelled even more disgusting somehow than the now chopped up great Jagras. The fluids also splashed both Eleanor and Elaine, who seemed to ignore that easily.
After shaking the belly a bit more a weird blue and yellowish crystal the size of an adult's fist fell out which Elaine pounced on with a delighted cry of "Meow, yes! The magic stone! Its a good size and undamaged too, meow!"
Elaine pranced over to the river in joy, dipped the crystal in the water then very carefully moved to place it deep into the big bag, putting her whole head and both arms into the bag in the process as she moved other stuff out of the way. Eleanor watched with amusement, then walked a few steps and dipped the belly into the water and held it in for a bit sideways, with streams of more blood and fluids coming out now.
After the magiic stone was placed, Elaine came out of the bag and with Eleanor's help they partially folded up the belly into a smaller size and stuffed it into that bag as well. Eleanor then cut off the head of the great Jagras and after cleaning it in the water placed it into the bag as well. Ais wondered how a bag, even as it was pretty big, could hold so very much stuff, but stayed quiet.
Eleanor asked Elaine
"Do you want to try harvesting anything from the Mosswine and Aponoth that were in the great Jagras stomach?" in a slightly teasing voice, as if she already knew the answer.
"Meow! No! Their magic stones would be tiny if we could even find them, meow. The meat would be no good since its covered in the great Jagras stomach acid and will rot very fast, meow. And nothing else is worth dealing with that horrible smell! If we want parts from a Mosswine or Aptonoth we can hunt one down ourselves later, some scavenger will eat them quickly enough or they'll rot and feed the plants. Meow. "
Then Elaine waded into the water and splashed herself to get the worst of the blood and other stuff off, complaining as she did
"Meow, that's the part of harvesting parts from monsters I really hate; its so messy, bloody, and smelly. There is no way I could stand to groom myself by licking that gunk off my fur, but that means I have to wash off with this muddy water and be wet and muddy until I dry, then I'll have bits of mud and dirt stuck in my fur until we get home and I can properly wash and groom myself. Meuuk!"
After Elaine had shook herself as dry as she could get she suddenly turned to Ais and cheerfully exclaimed
" Meow! We haven't introduced ourselves yet! I'm Elaine, a felyne Palico partner for Eleanor! As you saw I help her with harvesting stuff, carry the bag, and even help distract monsters during really difficult hunts! I'm training to become a monster hunter myself, though I still want to stay with Eleanor most of the time even when I'm good enough to be a hunter in my own right!"
Eleanor chuckled briefly and said
"Ah, we really haven't really introduced ourselves yet have we. I am Eleanor, a human A-rank Monster Hunter and Palico Meowster for the Monster Hunter Guild."
Ais quietly said "Ais Wallenstein, half-elf," she then hesitated, she knew her Momma was a wind spirit so she was technically half wind spirit herself but some fuzzy memory or instinct said it would be a bad idea to say that to strangers, so she stopped there and instead said " I just turned 5 years old so I don't have a fancy title yet."
"Right, now that that is all out of the way lets head back to guild headquarters, We can figure out where you'll stay later, though if the guild does not know where you can go right away I can let you stay with Elaine and I for a while since we have enough just enough space" Eleanor said.
Elaine grabbed the giant bag and strapped it to her back, and then the three set off in the general direction Ais had been heading before all this. Eleanor in the front, Ais in the middle, and Elaine taking up the rear. As they walked the water became a bit less muddy and more like an actual river, but it still had lot of stuff floating in it and Ais still remembered that Elaine and Eleanor had used it to clean off blood from the body of the great Jagras. Still she was getting really thirsty so quietly slowed down to let Elaine get closer, then turned to Elaine who was a bit less intimidating than Eleanor and asked "Water please, if you have any?"
"Of course, Meow, I carry everything one can need in this bag, though it will take a bit of digging since we put all the Great Jagras stuff on top of everything else. That is one downside of a bag like this, it is hard to organize everything." Elaine then called out to Eleanor "A brief break for water, meow"
After a bit of searching Elaine dug out two flasks of water from her bag, Elaine drank a bit from one of them and gave the other to Ais who quietly took a few big sips, drinking half the flask, then prepared to hand it back. Elaine said "Meow, keep a hold of that just in case you get thirsty again, meow. There are also purifying magic tablets somewhere in the bag so we can refill the flasks with water from the river then dissolve a tablet in it to make it safe to drink, meow"
Eleanor had waited patiently, keeping watch for monsters. Once it was clear Ais had finished they started off again. The three walked for hours, staying mostly parallel to the river, though veering away from it due to obstacles or dangerous monsters frequently, only to return once past them.
The journey was not silent, though only one of the three really talked. Elaine commented on the passing scenery as they walked, giving short informative descriptions of anything potentially useful, dangerous, or that Elaine found interesting.
"Meow, those bugs with the green sacs are wild vigor-wasps! Lets capture a few! They are endemic life so not dangerous. Vigor-wasps produce a substance called vitality nectar that can stop bleeding, cure most blights, and heal wounds really fast, although since the sac that contains vitality nectar is part of their body once its punctured it slowly kills them. So unless a hunter has special capture equipment or just decides to kill the vigor-wasps it is hard to get that vitality nectar.
We do need to keep a look-out for a Pukei-Pukei or Vespoids though. A Pukei-Pukei is a large poisonous bird wyvern monster that is often found near vigor-wasp hives for some reason. Vespoids are a small monster that eats vigor-wasps especially, and have poisonous stingers.
Many botanists and Palicos such as myself cultivate vigor-wasps, defending them and feeding them until they become giant vigor-wasps that produce lots of an extra potent vitality nectar."
The vigor-wasps were the small bugs carrying large green sacs Ais had seen earlier, so she shuddered and sighed in relief that she had not encountered a Vespoid or Pukei Pukei when she woke up near them in that clearing.
The group paused long enough for Elaine to capture a few vigor-wasps, using a net and then transferring them to an empty basket that Elaine slathered the inside of with honey to lure them in.
Before they took off again Ais quietly asked it there was food since she was getting hungry.
"Is there any food? breakfast was interrupted by that attack, and we have been walking a long time..." Ais asked Elaine.
Elaine dug out some rations for Ais to eat as they walked, a very salty tough dried meat called Jerky and a vaguely rectangular bar with oats, nuts, seeds, and small bits of dried fruit all smashed together. They were kept in a small cloth that folded over them and was tied with a piece of twine to protect against everything else in that bag.
Elaine also complained mildly about the mud in her fur while also telling brief stories about other times her fur was even worse,
"Meow, this mud is encrusted in so much of my fur I look like I'm brown. Still it is much better than the blood or other stuff, we are lucky that the river was so close by. Meow! There have been lots of other times when I had to endure being completely covered in dried blood and other stuff from trying to find the magic stone or reach valuable parts of a large monster. Meow, and there was no river or water anywhere near so I had to walk for ages to finally get semi- clean again. Meow, like when we hunted in the Elder's Recess, which is volcanic so the only water is what we bring and we need it too much for drinking to waste on cleaning up "
Elaine also spoke in more detail about her goal to become a Monster Hunter in her own right.
"Meow, I have felt like just a sidekick sometimes and wanted to be more, so I finally found the time to tell Eleanor recently. She is really supportive of my goal. At first I sort of wanted to hunt a Barioth as my first hunt, since they are challenging but not extremely aggressive and can be hunted solo. I planned to go to Hoarfrost Reach just to observe, then train with one of Eleanor's weapons and finally hunt one.
Then Eleanor asked me to describe what I would do in various scenarios such as a turf war, or other more aggressive large monsters deciding to try to eat me.
While reading in preparation and from going through Eleanor's scenario training I realized that even if Barioth's might possibly be something I could observe and then hunt, there are too many other monsters that are way more aggressive and dangerous that would also be in the same area, and alone I could easily be ambushed by one of them.
So I decided to start off with easier monsters like Jagras and Great Jagras, that also have a fire weakness so I could train with the same weapons I will use in Hoarfrost Reach. I'll have Eleanor act as support for the more deadly dangerous monsters, in a sort of role reversal. After all even Eleanor does not hunt alone most of the time, since she usually has me or another hunter nearby."
Ais made ahh sounds and nodded her head at appropriate moments to show she was paying attention but mostly focused on putting one foot in front of the other while wondering and thinking about everything that had happened, and what Eleanor had said about home being mostly burned down long ago.
"An example of when even Eleanor needed help was during a hunt for a huge Odogaron, which are native to the Rotten Vale area. Meow. Anyway, there was a hole or something covered by bushes, and while attacking the Odogaron Eleanor had both became poisoned and tripped into the hole, dropping her weapons too, which left her very vulnerable. Meow! So I leaped into action to save her! I rushed in and rammed my Kitty-of-the-Valley rod against the Odogaron's snout and paralyzed it! Meow! That gave Eleanor a chance to chug a mega potion, grab her Holy Sabers, and jump out of the hole to charge the still paralyzed and trembling Odogaron to deal a lethal wound to it. That ended the fight as our victory! Meow!" Elaine bragged while continuing to explain her reasoning.
The group paused again when Ais had drunk all the water in the flask and gotten thirsty again, with Elaine also having drunk the water in her flask, so Elaine dug out the purifying tablets, refilled both flasks and put one in, shook the flask, then told Ais to "keep shaking the flask for the next 10 minutes to activate and dissolve the magic purifying tablet for the water to be safe to drink."
They walked for another few hours, with Elaine continuing to keep up her chatter at the sights around them.
Ais saw a large group of dinosaur monsters that were the size of an adult horse and mostly a brown color but with scales instead of fur across the river, lined up with only a few actually drinking at a time.
" Meow, those monsters across the river drinking in turns are Aponoth, a small monster. Meow. They are plant-eaters and one of the major prey species for other monsters such as the Great Jagras so they always have to be ready to run away at any time. Meow. They also breed and grow pretty fast to get through the vulnerable times quickly so more of them survive to adult-hood to continue that cycle.
Their meat is a main ingredient in a lot of the food that we eat at headquarters. Meow, Aponoth rarely even have magic stones that anyone can find, the stone is probably too tiny to see. Aponoth have no real special ability other than their speed and even then they are not the absolute fastest monsters out there. Meow, they can be tamed and ridden to speed up travel times a bit since they are faster than most Monster Hunters, but they don't have great endurance and it is hard to catch them in any numbers so they are not the most common mount. Meow."
Eventually the trees became too thick and close together to walk through in the direction they had been heading, and there was a giant cliff or mountain that blocked the way after that. Although there was a small building with canoes tied to a dock before that point, and the river continued on and cut though those trees.
However instead of getting a canoe Eleanor said, "We will now head south of this natural barrier, this river leads to the Rotten Vale and Coral Highlands rather than headquarters. Headquarters is to the south of this area by a bit, and we would have to pay someone to row the canoe back upstream if we used it anyway."
Elaine spoke up then,
"if we are heading away from the river and easy water source, we should take this opportunity to refill our water flasks after drinking what water is left in them. Do you want some water Eleanor? I know Ais has your usual flask but I figured she needed it more than you and I could always share with you."
"I am a bit thirsty, I may not have been talking near constantly like you have been, but it has been a long walk." Eleanor replied.
Elaine handed over the water flask and Eleanor drank until it was empty. Then Elaine requested to Ais "If you have not finished off all the water in your flask already do so now, or give it to Eleanor or myself if you are not thirsty. Then come over here to refill your flask, I'll be getting the magic purifying tablets out and refilling our flask. Remember, once the tablets are in, you need to shake the flask viciously and wait 10 minutes to be sure the tablet has time to do its work, then the water will be safe to drink.. If you need to pee, you should also do so now, Eleanor and I will turn our backs to give you some privacy, but we have to be near just in case a monster tries to attack you."
Ais did not want to complain, after all both Eleanor and Elaine seemed fine with all this walking. Elaine was giving her water and food, even taking breaks to inform Ais of something and let her rest a bit. With Eleanor protecting them from monsters, and staying on her feet the entire time. However her feet were starting to hurt from all the walking, even with those semi-frequent breaks as Elaine exclaimed over something, for food and the two breaks for water, so she quietly asked Elaine "how much farther?"
Elaine cheerfully replied "not much longer at all, about an hour and a half at this pace. Normally we ride domesticated monsters or endemic life to get places faster, but since they are not always available and cost money to use and especially since things are not nearly as well organized here as back on the old continent and Monster Hunters need lots of endurance anyway, as part of my training we are walking everywhere when things are not urgent. Eleanor can move much faster than this, but you and I can't so she is trying to match our pace." Ais sighed slightly at this, but felt hope that they might be able to stop soonish.
Sure enough, after another hour and a bit of walking something came into sight. There was a truly enormous tree and a village right next to it. The village looked very strange to Ais, it seemed more like a collection of ships and big boats placed on land randomly that were all slightly broken in some way. They were all surrounding a big wooden building that also sort of looked like a very giant ship. The ships all seemed to be on a hill, so were higher than most of the land surrounding them. Ais assumed the ocean was to the south of the village but blocked from sight.
"Welcome to Asteria Ais, its not really a standard village as you can see, but it works well enough as a base camp and safe place for us Monster Hunters to sleep and relax when we are not hunting. I'll take you to see the commander to inform him of your situation, but most likely until we can find someone willing to take you someplace better and safer, you will bunk with Elaine and I, we at least have our own conjoined rooms, and enough materials to make a cot for you, on one of the tiers of that great ship in the middle, our rooms are close to the canteen too" Eleanor said.
As Eleanor, Elaine, and Ais walked closer to the main part of Asteria, through all the ship buildings Ais found herself both awed and nervous. There were a lot more people and buildings than she had ever seen before, and most of the ships looked amazing despite seeming to be wrecked somehow. But although most of the people seemed focused on their business, whatever it was, a few would pause to greet Eleanor and Elaine and cast a few curious glances at Ais while they were at it. They did not seem hostile at least, but Ais did not like so many strangers looking at her, especially since almost all of them were wearing armor that made them look like bipedal monsters from a distance. She found herself walking closer to Eleanor and Elaine, and hiding behind them whenever someone called out to greet them.
Brief switch to Eleanor Point of view
Eleanor chuckled briefly when she noticed that, but let Ais try to hide behind her and even helped a bit, since she wanted to get to the Guild Headquarters, meet the commander and explain Ais situation, drop off the Great Jagras parts, eat and then finally bathe and relax as soon as she could. The hunt for the Great Jagras had not been difficult, but since they had walked the entire distance as part of Elaine's training it had been more tiring and took longer than what Eleanor was used to for such a minor hunt.
If Ais had not been there, Eleanor would have tried to let Elaine take the lead in the hunt to build up her confidence, but the safety of a child had taken priority. Oh well, there was always next time Eleanor thought to herself.
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Review Please!
A./N: I know that the stomach of a Great Jagras is not normally a harvest-able item, but since this is not completely a game world I wanted an explanation for the massive amount of items Palico's and Hunters can carry that was semi-realistic and plausable while still making my planned Inventory skill for Ais special. When I read that Great Jagras can swallow even monsters bigger than they are I figured their stomach having magic properties powered by a magic stone due to being descendents of dungeon monsters made some sense for this story. In this world item pouches and bags that hold a lot more than they should be able to are mainly made from Great Jagras stomachs, or specially enchanted hides of some other monsters, but using a great Jagras stomach as a base makes it easier and cheaper to enchant. Although the pouches and bags can contain everything needed, only slowly making the bag bigger but no where near as big as the bag would need to be to hold so much, just like true bags it is hard to keep things organized, and weight is only reduced a bit even for the high-grade bags.
It will take a while for the story to reach Orario, since I want to explain more how Monster Hunter world fits in with the story and set up some character development for Ais and those she gets to know. I'll introduce a few Ocs, but have Ais pretty isolated so I have room to add more character development or add the characters from other fan-fictions or even those listed on the website as characters.
I have little idea about any timeline for Monster Hunter World since it is player driven.