//------------------------------//
// Back to Work 
// Story: Monster Hunter World: Monsters and Magic 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Grogar found that he was able to receive only two days of training from Alexia and all of the other Hunters, which made sense due to the fact that Zorah Magdaros was still out there, moving towards whatever destination it was heading for, but based on what he learned no one knew where it was, as odd as that sounded. He had a feeling that the Elder Dragon liked to travel below the ground when it had to cross long distances, only coming up for short periods of time, hence why they had run into it when it reached the New World, even though it quickly pushed itself back underground once it made landfall, due to a hole it made in the western side of the Ancient Forest. Of course that didn't take into consideration the fragments that they found in the regions of this continent, where he was starting to assume that they might be the tips of it's shell, likely breaking off due to the Elder Dragon getting older and older as time went on, but there was no way for him to tell for sure, not without seeing Zorah Magdaros again. The Scholars and Researchers found the idea to be quite interesting, as some of the older residents of Astera confirmed that some of the Elder Dragons that came in the past seemed to be in their older, and more formidable, years, but they also agreed with him, that there was no way for anyone to confirm it without finding the Elder Dragon.

In addition to that he found that the blacksmiths created a set of attire that was special, designed for his body, which was a combination of strong hides and light metal that would protect him from harm and allow him to move faster than before, or at least more than his ordinary armor would, though it wasn't designed to match any of the monsters he had seen, so this was something unique for him to wear.

One of the other Hunters did recover his staff, finding it near the Jyuratodus' body, though he stared at it for a time before resting it on one of the walls in the room that he and Sherry shared with a number of other Hunters and Handlers, and as soon as that was done he picked up his new weapon and readied himself for the day's events. He wasn't asking for much from the other Hunters, rather he wanted them to show him the basics of their weapons so he could study them and see to learning each set, or at least try to since some of the weapons, like the greatsword, were far too heavy for him to use, so he stuck with the other weapons that were available to him. Aiden and the others shared some of their skills with ease, as they knew that he was a vital part of the Commander's new team, to figure out why the Elder Dragons came to this new continent, and that keeping him alive was a good thing, though Alexia was a hard mentor to impress, as she taught him what she thought he needed to know and had to master that lesson before moving onto the next one. Still, he did what he had to do to make sure he was ready for whatever the future held for him and the Commission, since he knew that some monsters wouldn't listen to his words and that he would have to defend himself accordingly, especially with the likes of Nergigante, even if it meant going through with Alexia's training.

On the third day, after his near fatal encounter with Nergigante, Grogar found himself and Sherry standing near the table that Shepard worked from, while Patches and Jaya waited off to their right, and sure enough he found Alexia standing near the Commander as well, meaning she was either involved in whatever they would be talking about or just wanted to kill some time before her next mission.

"Grogar, allow me to tell you that we have made great strides in learning more about Zorah Magdaros, thanks to both of the fragments you helped us recover," Shepard said, as he was grateful to have accepted Grogar into the Fifth Fleet while it was on it's way here, as his magical power allowed them to do all sorts of new things, and even inspired others to make new things to improve the abilities of the other Hunters, "in fact, we're getting closer to understanding where we might find Zorah Magdaros, but before we can commit to focusing on that, well, we have some problems near Astera that need to be taken care of. Some of the Researchers heard that you are capable of using some sort of invisibility spell and have come up with a tool that might be able to help the other Hunters out, a 'Ghillie Mantle' as they call it, but they need some help testing it out and are hoping that you'll use it against one of the monsters on the Ancient Forest."

"A field test... which monster are we talking about? Tobi-Kadachi, or Anjanath?" Grogar asked, because while this seemed like a good idea, since it might help the other Hunters out when they're in the field, part of him was itching to get back to work and taking down the Anjanath seemed like a good way to make sure his body was ready for the ordeals that might be waiting for him and the others.

"According to what I've heard, they feel that using it against a Tobi-Kadachi is better than an Anjanath, especially with how ruthless the one in the Ancient Forest is," Shepard stated, something Grogar knew about, as he had seen how brutal the latter monster could be, while he hadn't seen the former one yet and was interested in looking for it, to which he glanced over to Alexia as the other core members of Astera gathered at his council table, "While you do that, we'll be talking about the next step of our operation, about what we're going to do once we pinpoint where Zorah Magdaros is going... one you finish that task, we should have an idea of what to do next."

"I'll go set up the quest while you talk to the Researchers," Sherry said, where she seemed happy to be back in the routine that a Handler should be in, even though she was a magnet for monsters for some reason, where Grogar had some ideas as to why, before she departed to get things ready for this mission.

With that done Grogar headed over to the Researchers and found that they were ready for him, where they handed over a cloak of some kind that seemed to be covered in leaves, even if it was metal under that, though given what he had seen so far he suspected these ones would last in this state for a long time. He carefully stored it away before making his way over to the Wyverian who was in charge of the tomes and information, due to the fact that he had no idea where to even begin his search for a Tobi-Kadachi, before discovering that they were found high in the Ancient Forest, close to the location that the Rathalos nest was in. Once he had that information he headed up to the Canteen, where he found that Sherry was, as he expected, sitting at their table with a plate of food in front of her, complete with the quest materials she needed to do her part of their partnership, so he sat at the main stone slab and ordered a bit of food for himself, Patches, and Jaya, as he had a feeling he was going to need it this time around. He still found it amusing that being displaced had allowed him to eat meat and other things without getting sick, and with how the Meowscular Chef cooked it was incredibly tasty, so he dug into the food with the same enthusiasm that all of the other Hunters had when they ate, something that always made Sherry chuckle when she watched him do it.

Once they were ready to go, and he was sure of that, he, Patches, and Jaya took one Barnos as they flew to the new camp that had been set up in the Ancient Forest, where they found that Kulu-Ya-Ku earlier, and Sherry followed after him like normal, as if nothing bad had happened a few days ago. The only difference this time was that they had someone else in the group, as it looked like Alexia might have been assigned to make sure he was ready for field work again, though right now he had no intentions of falling in battle or showing that he was still weak from his battle with Nergigante. A couple of moments later they landed in the camp and let the Barnos fly over to the rest post, until they were needed to return to Astera, though he moved over to the supply box and pulled out a few of the rations and potions that had been brought to this location earlier, before he had been given this mission, and readied himself. He knew that this would be the first time he would actively seek out a monster to fight it, instead of talking, but that wouldn't stop him from trying to settle things in an instant, with a few words, before checking and confirming that the Ghillie Mantle was safely stored in his pack, ready to be used against the monster they were here to test it on.

The first thing he did was head down the curved path and carefully looked at his surroundings, finding tracks that had to belong to one of the Pukei-Pukei he had seen in the past, not to mention one that looked like a Rathalos' talons, a set that went to the Anjanath, and even the Great Jagras, but nothing that looked new. He considered that information for a few seconds and recalled that the Scholars had told him that Tobi-Kadachi liked to live in the upper reaches of the giant tree, to which he got up and started to move towards one of the paths that might bring him to his destination. The Scoutflies, as he discovered, weren't too helpful in his search for the new monster, meaning the Commission either had a limited scent for it or they didn't train his Scoutflies so he could train them while out in the field, but his thoughts were interrupted as he noticed a few new tracks, small footprints that didn't look like the others he had seen. He, Patches, and Jaya took a few seconds to follow the trail with their eyes and found that it was heading up a large root, up a vine covered wall at the end of that, and headed higher within no time, to which he trained the Scoutflies to know this set of monster tracks as he and and his companions followed after the tracks.

It didn't take him long to find the area that the Scoutflies were bringing him to, a decent sized circular area that had a few large branches that held up a piece of ground, like a cradle of sorts, before finding some silvery feathers floating down as he stepped into the area. As he caught one and studied it, however, his heard something else in the area and turned his head for a moment, finding that whatever it was happened to be moving around the area at a fast speed, not the speed of an Elder Dragon, but still pretty fast. Sure enough the monster he was tracking emerged from where it had been hiding, as the Tobi-Kadachi was clinging to the side of a branch, where he found that it was more of a grayish blue color and looked like a squirrel of some kind, plus it had some spikes on it's tail, and when it leapt at him he found that he wasn't the target of an attack, rather it moved it's front limbs and showed him that it was more like a flying squirrel. Such a thing allowed it to glide over a short distance and reached another branch, where it coiled around it before stopping and hissing at him, as she was definitely threatened by someone like Grogar entering her domain, meaning he was likely going to be fighting her for the foreseeable future.

What he discovered was that one of the Tobi-Kadachi's methods when it came to fighting was using the bushy tail to strike enemies and knock them away, though at the same time she could all electricity to her tail to cause Thunderblight to those she was fighting, which was an effect that shocked one's body and made it easier for her to stun her foes, which she struck Patches with as she knocked him away from her position.

As he watched that happen Grogar pulled out his new weapon and approached the monster, where he held the sword in his right hand and the shield in his left, the opposite of what a Hunter with this weapon was supposed to do, but he felt at home with this setup and shifted his stance accordingly, keeping his eyes on the Tobi-Kadachi. They stood there a couple of seconds, each other eying the other as Patches and Jaya waited for one to make the first move, which his foe made for him as she rushed at where he was standing, causing Grogar to roll to the left before he was hit and slashed at her with his blade, scoring a shallow hit in the process, but this wasn't an actual hunt, this was a test of the Ghillie Mantle. He had a feeling that using it against a pissed off monster might be the best course of action, since it would show him how it could be used in the field and give the Scholars some valuable data once he returned to Astera, so for now he was focusing on making sure he fought like how he had been trained. Using the sword and shield involved rolling to avoid attacks, using the shield to defend when the former didn't work, and lashing out with the blade when he was sure an opening was there, in a flurry or simple pokes, depending on the situation, so he slashed at Tobi-Kadachi before rolling out of the way, as she used her tail and missed him.

Of course Patches got in on the action and struck their foe as well, while at the same time Jaya found openings to jump up onto the Tobi-Kadachi's back and bit into her back, or at least tried to since it sent a surge of electricity through her body and knocked her off. Another thing they had to be mindful of, in addition to the movement speed of their foe, was when their opponent pulled back and rushed forward in a biting motion, like she was wanted to tear them down with her fangs, so each of them had to roll out of the way to avoid being bitten in half. They also had to move out of the way when she leapt onto one of the branches and then jumped at her target, expanding the webbing between her front limbs and body so she could glide towards her foe, and when she landed she swung around and used her tail to attack whoever was near her target, which Grogar ducked under to avoid. In addition to all of that they also had to be mindful of when their foe let out a roar, as monsters could let out a powerful roar that stunned Hunters in their tracks for a short period of time, which they either used to attack their foes or flee the scene so they could lick their wounds, though the Tobi-Kadachi used hers to stun him before whacking him with her tail, showing him that she wasn't afraid of him.

With that done Grogar was sure that his foe was fully angry at him, to which he shifted his stance and switched his brand new weapons with the Ghillie Mantle, though while he was sure it would fail he found that the Tobi-Kadachi seemed to lose sight of him, as she stared at the area he was standing in, like she couldn't see him, before scanning the area for a time, and both Patches and Jaya seemed to be invisible as well. As he witnessed this he came to a decision on what might have caused this to happen, the leaves that were part of the Ghillie Mantle had to be ones that released a faint aroma, one that interfered with a monster's senses and was only released when someone wore it, so when he took it off he was sure it would go away. Grogar also assumed that Patches and Jaya were lost as well since they were smaller than their foe, even if it might be due to another reason he couldn't quite guess at, but they stood by him for a time as they watched the Tobi-Kadachi tilt her head in confusion, trying in vain to find those who had been fighting her, before letting out a hiss as she rushed off into the Ancient Forest. Based on the time frame Grogar was sure that Hunters could use this to drink potions, sharpen their weapons if need be, or even run away if they were overwhelmed by whatever monster they were hunting, to which he pulled out a few writing materials and wrote down his notes on the Ghillie Mantle.

Once he was done with the Ghillie Mantle, and was sure the others in Astera would be happy, he pulled it off and put it back in his pack, to which he and his companions headed back to the camp so they could use the Barnos to get around the annoying Anjanath... though as Grogar thought of that, however, they froze as soon as they reached one of the roots that allowed them to reach the Tobi-Kadachi's next, as the Anjanath was right in front of them.

"Listen, we're not here to cause trouble... just let us go and we'll be on our way." Grogar said, hoping that the violent beast would listen to his words and let them go so it could find food or whatever else it was currently looking for, though both Patches and Jaya were getting ready to run, so the moment they were free to leave they could get out worrying about the monster killing them.

Unfortunately the monster didn't seem to care about them and rushed right at where Grogar was standing, causing him to roll out of the way as his companions did the same, though such a thing didn't stop the Anjanath from turning on them as soon as it noticed that it had hit no one with that attack. After that, however, he discovered something bad, the Anjanath was building a gout of flames in it's throat and he seemed to be the target, to which he gathered his magic and formed a barrier in front of him, just in time to block the incoming burst of fire blasts. From what he knew the Anjanath was a sac in it's throat that allowed it to do this, though instead of a flame breath, like a dragon would have, this monster could only fire off a few bursts at a time, making a dangerous monster even more dangerous, even if it wasn't on the level of an Elder Dragon. He and Patches were safe, though Jaya had dodged off to the right to avoid the attack, but it only lead to the large monster swinging it's tail at her, hitting her square in the face and knocked her further away from where Grogar had set up the barrier, and as the smoke cleared he watched as the monster smashed his head into the ground, crushing the life out of Jaya in the process.

In that moment something inside Grogar snapped as he saw one of his companions fall, past the point of no return, as his magical aura flared to life, turning red to signify his anger and rage, before he rushed forward and punched the Anjanath in the side of the face, knocking it away from where Jaya's body was resting. With the opening created Patches ran forward to collect their companion, even if it might be just recovering her body before the monster ate her, and Grogar growled as he loosed a pair of fireballs through the space between him and his target, striking his target and pushing it deeper into the Ancient Forest. Such a thing didn't quell his anger, rather he gripped his weapon and flashed through the air, lashing out with the blade as he delivered several shallow gashes to the Anjanath's body, though when it tried to smash him into the nearby wall he raised his shield and blocked it. Once that was done he gathered his magic and summoned a cage of lightning that was designed to shock a foe into submission, something that was used on the Anjanath and he found that it roared in pain for a few seconds before it slowly started to turn towards him, causing him to loose a sleep spell at it, which caused the Anjanath to collapse a few moments later.

Part of him wanted to kill it, especially since it was a threat to Astera, but he knew that being lost in one's rage made them do things that they wouldn't normally do, so he turned and headed over to where Patches stood, letting the tears fall as he found that Jaya had passed, to which he resolved to bring her home and bury her where the monsters wouldn't try to dig her up.

Sherry was, as Grogar expected, saddened by the loss of Jaya, as she had gotten used to the little Jagras running around Astera, but there was nothing they could do for her at this point, as unlike what happened to him there was nothing of her life left inside her body. Alexia, who had watched the entire thing go down, had flown back to Astera and returned with a few Hunters and Researchers, as capturing a monster like the Anjanath would help improve their understanding of it, even if most might want it dead given everything they had seen so far, before they returned to Astera. Once they were back on the safe side of the gate Grogar headed over to the group that had created the Ghillie Mantle, where he handed over his notes on the mantle and the tool itself, because he had his spells and didn't need to carry one around, at least not until all of the others were armed with the new piece of equipment. In addition to that he watched as they hauled the slumbering Anjanath to an area that it could be studied in, a large platform that looked like it could be raised and lowered depending on whatever the Researchers wanted, though he turned his head away and walked over to the council table, to report his success to Commander Shepard.

What he discovered, however, was that Shepard was in the middle of planning something and that more people were in the area than what he was expecting there to be, meaning his report would have to wait until after this council meeting, making him wonder what in the world was going to happen next.

"Grogar, we have good news: we've discovered where Zorah Magdaros is headed," Shepard said, speaking as Grogar and his group returned to the council table, while finding that everyone else, the main heads of Astera based on what he was seeing, was standing around the table as well, before he pointed down at part of the map, "It's heading for an area known as the Great Ravine."

"Isn't that an area just beyond the Wildspire?" Sherry asked, as while Grogar was busy in the field, and she wasn't with him and the others, she had to do something to kill some time and she decided to read more about what they knew about the rest of the continent, even if it stopped at the Great Ravine, "A massive valley between us and where the Third Fleet went all those years ago?"

"That's correct. With that in mind, I have a proposition for all of you: let's capture Zorah Magdaros!" Shepard stated, as he was pleased to learn that Grogar's team knew more about the surrounding area than what he had told them, though right now he was more interested in the plan he had come up with to help them learn more about the Elder Crossing, which was tied to the powerful Elder Dragons.

"Commander Shepard, with all due respect... are you out of your mind?!" Grogar inquired, as he was stunned by the very idea that the one who lead the Commission's forces in the New World would even suggest such a thing, especially since the Elder Dragon in question was a freaking walking volcanic creature that looked like it might be capable of pulling an entire continent to a brand new location, or making one with the lava inside it.

"I know many of you might not like the idea, but hear me out. The Great Ravine is the ideal spot for staging such an event, especially since it would be walking right into our grasp," Shepard said, his tone and body language showing them that he was dead serious, that he wanted to throw the Commission at an Elder Dragon that likely had enough power to equal the one that nearly killed Grogar earlier, and while everyone else seemed concerned a few liked the idea as well, "we aren't going to get another chance like this... and, since your magical power has been boosted, I have a feeling we might be able to pull this off."

Grogar had no idea if everyone in Astera was going insane, especially after his close encounter with Nergigante, but since so many seemed to be excited by the idea of attacking Zorah Magdaros, and trying to capture it, all he could do was let out a sigh as he waited to see what the future held for them.