Aboard Markus' ship, Smolder and Ocellus sat in an awkward pause with the two strangers in front of them. The strangers were a bit older than them, but still young looking, but what they were made them stick out. Both wore black clothes with neon purple and green colors, with the purple forming the outline of an X on their chests. The difference is that the man or the team had a purple mohawk with goggles that looked thick with light blue Xs over his eye holes. Meanwhile, the woman had hair over her left eye, and appeared to have cybernetic limbs over right arm and left leg.
"... What?" The man began to ask, noticing how the two creatures were quiet. "Riftstalker got your tongue?"
"Uh… no…" smolder answered. "It's just… uh…"
"You don't look like the ANY of the other slayers we've seen." Ocellus finished.
"Hmph, well, you should keep an eye open." The woman replied. "There's a lot more of us around."
"More what?"
"You seriously don't know who we are!?" The guy asked, sounding offended. "We may not be the biggest clan, but we're certainly the loudest."
"We're still fairly new," Smolder replied. "And what do you mean by 'clans'? Just what are you both even?"
"... Markus!"
"Yes?" Their ship captain answered.
"How long till we slay that piggy?"
"Give or take a few minutes."
"Aight, guess we can tell em who we are, love." The woman got up and cracked her neck.
"Well, name's Jessie," she began. "And he's James. We're both part of one of the many clans in Ramsgate. Just call us the-"
"Aetherpunks?" Sandbar asked. "That's what they're called?" He, and his friends followed Kat as the landed back in Ramsgate.
"Yeah, they're the ultimate partying punks I've ever met."
"And there's more of them?" Silverstream asked.
"Yep. Both Aetherpunks, and other clans."
"And what are those other clans?" Gallus asked.
"Eh, there's too many to count from, since new ones are made almost a month and a half thanks to Flynt."
"It's called fashion!" Flynt yelled from across the area. "And it's my passion."
"Yona curious what other clans are." Yona spoke.
"Eh, I've been getting rumors that all those clans will be arriving each day to recruit newbies into their areas." Kat replied, getting back to her position. "I'm sure they'll be able to hunt." The faint sound of some loud, upbeat music could be heard. "And speak of the devil. Here they come!"
From both sides, and jumping over their heads, were a group of fifty people, all wearing black clothes with neon lights sticking out. The entire center became what appeared to be a race, with every other slayer looking in confusion, but a few of the newbies joining the rave. Meanwhile, the creatures stood aside, with somewhat mixed opinions about it. Silverman looked pretty giddy upon seeing how much fun it looked.
"Ooh! Let's have some fun!" She grabbed Gallus and dragged him into the rave.
"No! Wait!" Gallus yelled before being muted by the loud music and cheers of the rave.
"... Is this normal?" Sandbar asked.
"Not really." Kat answered. "But I wouldn't be surprised if the other clans arrive at a time and do something like this to get people to join them."
"Yona hope Smolder and Ocellus are doing ok."
"Alright, we're near the Quillshot's location." Markus spoke over the radio. "You all ready?"
"Ready as we'll be!" Jessie replied. She turned to the two creatures to her left. "Last one to slay the Quillshot's buying drinks!"
"Oh you're on!" Smolder replied. The bottom opened, and the group fell down to the island. Though Ocellus and Smolder landed normally, Jessie landed and kicked a trashcan that was on the island (for some reason that may never be answered). However, James came down on what looked to be a hovering skateboard, doing a quick kick flip off of it and landing smoothly, stomping the skateboard into his hands.
"Radical." He spoke aloud.
"... I think you're trying too hard." Ocellus commented.There was the sounds of a behemoth nearby, making squealing noises like that of a pig.
"Here, piggy, piggy, piggy…" Jessie spoke up, pulling out her Ostian Repeaters, which had the same aesthetic as her outfit.
"Uh, we don't know what a Quillstrike is." Smolder spoke, following the woman. "Is it basically a giant pig?"
"A pig mixed a porcupine." James replied, pulling out a purple baseball bat with green stripes and spikes on it.
"Is that even durable!?" Ocellus asked in complete shock.
"Course it does, love. Gotta love crackin behemoth skulls."
"... I think we stumbled with the wrong duo." Smolder whispered to Ocellus.
"You're one to talk." The changeling replied.
"I meant that as a joke back home."
"Shut your traps!" Their female ally yelled. "It's close. Let's have some fun."
"SOOEY PIGGY PIGGY PIGGY!!!" The other added, charging ahead. All charged through the forest to see the quillshot. True to what they said, it's face was very pig like with a large snout, but it's mouth had sharp looking tusks protruding from both sides of its mouth, and sticking from its cheeks like mandibles. Also unlike a pig, it was pretty low to the ground, with multiple, small spikes, on its back, head, tail, and joints.
"Uh… I can see the pig," Smolder spoke. "But the porcupine? It looks more like a hedgehog than-" The Quillshot turned to the group, and the small quills jutted out, becoming longer, more sharper looking needles.
"Ooh! It's like a pukwudgy back home!" Ocellus said in fascination. The quillshot charged at them.
"Too much like them!" Smolder tackled Ocellus out of the way. Both Aetherpunks charged ahead, Jessie blasting at it's sides as James bashed its head with his spiked baseball bat. The swing knocked the behemoth back a few feet.
"WHOO!!! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT, PIGGY!?!?!?" He swung his baseball bat again, only for the Quillshot to swipe its claw at him, knocking him to a tree. Smolder and Ocellus hot up, the dragon taking out her ember scythe.
"Come on, Ocellus!" She began. "Let's get in there." Ocellus pulled her warpike out, charging alongside her friend. Both stood by Jessie's side, as the woman reloaded, her weapons flew a bit, becoming empowered a bit more. Their target jumped down at them, though all three rolled out of the way, with Jessie planting a mine nearby.
"That was close." Ocellus commented. The spikes on the behemoth's back fired at them. Jessie's mine exploded, taking out the majority of the quills fired at them, leaving only the far sides to fire away from them. Smolder cleared her throat.
"Think before you speak." The dragon groaned.
"I didn't think it would do that!"
"EAT AETHER!!!" Jessie yelled, making a blast so strong, she was pushed back a bit. The blast broke some quills from it's back. James got up and charged back at the behemoth. Smolder pulled her axe out, concentrated, charging her next swing, and swung at the quillshot, slicing it's left tusk off, knocking it back. Ocellus followed, using her warpike on its tail. James ran to the other side of the Quillshot's head, smacking his baseball bat at it again, knocking off the other tusk. Both the Aetherpunk and Dragon repeatedly smacking the Behemoth's head, knocking it down a bit. As it was down, the two turned to it's right side's limbs.
Jessie followed with Ocellus, attacking the tail of the quillshot, with the changeling making enough missiles in her warpike to shoot off the Quillshot's tail. Following like before, Jessie became empowered, throwing another mine just away from the behemoth's feet. It got up, as Smolder and james gave its right side plenty of scars. The Quillshot kicked at Smolder and Jessie, knocking the two back a bit, before it turned to them and charged. Jessie's mine detonated, knocking the quillshot down, and for good, as it tried to get back up, but failed.
"WHOO!!! NOW THAT'S WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT!!!" James yelled loudly as he pulled a boombox out and blasted some loud techno remix. Jessie rolled her eyes, pulling out a spray can and sprayed the floor, making a sort of smiley face with Xs for eyes.
"Another victory for Ramsgate and the Aetherpunks." She said aloud. "But I wish it was a real quillshot and not a lesser one."
"Uh… we're still new here." Smolder said. "But thanks."
"Anytime. Feel free to call anytime." She extended her arm out. Smolder accepted it, both shaking hands.
"Maybe next time, we will." Ocellus replied. "But we should head back to Ramsgate."
"Totally." James agreed. "And perhaps you can join our clan?"
"Uh… maybe." Smolder replied. "We've got other stuff to do before joining any clan."
"Pfft! Lame, but you do you, I guess."
The rave had ended with trashcan knocked down everywhere, tags of the "Smiley Pete" all over the walls, and silence returning to Ramsgate. Gallus' feathers and Silversteam's mane were now dyed, the former's pink and the latter's green. Sandbar and Yona tried to hold in their laughter as Gallus sat down with the most disappointed look on his face and Silversteam admiring her look in a reflection. Ocellus and Smolder arrived next to them, both wearing their new armor from the Quillshot; the armor made them look very much like bikers, with ripped pants, shoulder, knee, and a single elbow pad with spikes sticking out, chains around the other unprotected arm, and a strap on mask that resembled the Quillshot's tusks, minus the snout.
"Whoah! What happened to.you two?" Smolder asked.
"Us? You both look so cool!" Silversteam responded
"Yeah, I guess I look pretty cool in this." Ocellus replied. "Especially with our new weapons." She pulled out her new warpike, which had a quillshot spike at the tip, followed by two rows of two spikes facing downward. "It's called Quillshot's Javelin!"
"Yeah, and I got my new weapon as well," Smolder added, taking out her new axe, which looked like a hook with three small spikes sticking away from the end. "Quillshot's fury! And by the looks of it, we all have our own neutral stuff we'll use when going against behemoths."
"But will we keep using them all the time?" Sandbar asked. They all thought about it.
"... Nah!" Everyone came to the same agreement.
"Unless we're going up against a new behemoth, I doubt we'll be using these for long." Gallus spoke.
"Yona agree!" Yona added. "Unless otherwise, Yona smash behemoths with Yona's shock hammers!"
As they chatted, they were approached by a woman with dark skin with braided hair tied to the back of her head, wearing a white dress with gold outlines and purple undertones.
"Ah, the Slayer recruits Kat told me about." She began. "I'm Doctor Shaed Priyani. I study how Behemoths evolve and thrive, so we can end their threat. And I think we can help each other."
"Oh, hello there." Sandbar began. "What do you need help with?"
"The Skyquake scattered Behemoths to the winds, but the Charrogg's physiology makes it useful for tracking population distribution. Slay a Charrogg for me and let's get learning."
"... uh… what's a Skyquake?" Silversteam asked.
"And what's a Charrogg?" Smolder added.
"A skyquake is like an earthquake, but it affects all the shattered isles in that area." Shaed answered. "And a Charrogg is a blaze behemoth. It's hide will help in my studies."
"Hmm… a Blaze Behemoth, eh?" Gallus asked, putting on his Embermane helmet. "You ready for this, Smolder?"
"I don't have this axe and armor for nothing." Smolder answered.
"Excellent!" Shaed spoke with glee. "And I found some other people that might be joining you both." There was a slight panicked look in Gallus' face.
"Don't tell me it's Aetherpunks."
"Oh no! Not at all." Gallus let out a sigh of relief.
"Ok, that's good."
"They're barbarians." A silent pause fell over the group.
"... as in literal, or metaphorical?" Smolder asked. Following that came what appeared to be a loud warcry, followed by a swarm of overwhelming testosterone as men and women arrived, barely wearing clothes, charging into the center, and utterly beating each other up with fire bursting everywhere.
"... I think you can answer that yourself."
"Hey! Now this feels homey!"
Gallus fainted.