//------------------------------// // Coral Discoveries // Story: Monster Hunter World: Monsters and Magic // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// After resting for a few more minutes, to be sure that Sherry was fine and that nothing was wrong with her body, Grogar, Patches, and Sherry bid Hiroko and her team farewell before departing from the ship that they had been brought to, which his partner found was resting on a mountain, like the one in Astera. Grogar carefully moved along the path that the lady had lead him along, keeping his eyes drifting between what was above them, just in case the monster that was in the sky came down to attack them, on the path, so no one tripped, and down through the cracks that rested in the Coral Highlands's ground, gazing down at the Rotten Vale. Once more he found himself admitting that the New World was a wonderful place, and quite deadly if one had no idea what they were doing, as it was a massive place, full of life and creatures he hadn't seen before, and each region seemed vastly different from the previous one, to the point where he had to wonder what else he might discover on this continent. His reasoning was because there were four regions he had passed through, a large forest, a desert with a marsh, an ocean floor risen above water, and a vale where death seemed to rule, and he was curious if there might be more that they hadn't discovered yet. He also went over the information Hiroko had given him, the lady that helped them out, Cindy, a Tracker for the First Fleet, had set up a small base of operations on one of the lower levels of the Coral Highlands and set it up in a slightly covered area that monsters ignored, meaning it was a good place for Sherry to rest while he and Patches explored the area. Sure enough they found that it looked like all of the camps that the Hunters and their Handlers set up all over both regions they had been through so far, where Sherry made a note of what was around them before nodding her head, as it had enough stuff for them to work with. Of course she double checked everything to make sure they had a tent, a small canteen, an area for the Wingdrake transports, and a chest that goods could be stored in at some point, either to help Grogar in the field or to deposit items in. Grogar, on the other hand, made sure his blade was at the ready, as it hadn't been damaged in their fall and his shield was just fine as well, all while Patches did one last check of his gear before they considered leaving the camp and seeing what the Coral Highlands had to offer. "So, what else do we have to do while we're here?" Sherry asked, as she could tell that Grogar was in charge of their new mission, even if they were currently working for Hiroko and her group of Researchers, and suspected that he had some sort of plan in mind, instead of just mindlessly exploring the rest of the region. "Well, the first thing Patches and I are going to do is head out and see if we can find any of the monsters that call this new region home," Grogar replied, where he stood at the opening that would allow him and his companion to descend down into the Coral Highlands, allowing him to glance out at every bit of the region that they would be exploring for some time, hearing a few monsters out there and had to wonder what they would run into, "while we do that I'll keep an eye out for any additional areas we might be able to make camps in, to make our mission easier, and see if we can't find the piece of Zorah Magdaros we're looking for. If there is no fragment up here, well... we'll have to go down into the Rotten Vale, and right now I'm not eager to head back down there." "I don't remember what happened down in the Rotten Vale, if anything, but I trust your judgement," Sherry said, where she walked over to the canteen and made sure it was stocked, something that Grogar watched as she organized some of the food, no doubt brought by Alexia, before sitting at one of the seats as she waited for him to return with news of what was in this region. A few seconds later Grogar and Patches reached the ground of the area they were in and started to explore the section of the Coral Highlands that they were in, where he found some Kelbi, blue furred deer, wandering around and didn't seem afraid of him, rather some stared at him before going about their business. As the two of them walked for a time he found that his thoughts were right, it was like they were at the bottom of the ocean, without having to worry about drowning due to being underwater, and when he tapped the side of a piece of coral he found that it was rather sturdy, stronger than the normal coral he was used to seeing. Of course there were puddles of water here and there, for monsters to drink from, to which he wondered if it was all rainwater, given that this place seemed too high for the rivers he had seen during his time in the other regions, all while the Scoutflies found a few tracks for him to look at. What he discovered were some tracks of a bipedal monster that had three talons on each foot, making Grogar think about the Kulu-Ya-Ku for a moment, though it was something he was interested in and he followed the Scoutflies for a time, allowing him to add more to the map he was making of this area, to compare with Cindy's when she returned. While he walked, however, Grogar spotted a monster that didn't match the tracks he was following, as it was on a ledge off to his left, a white furred monster that looked like a cross between a squirrel and a bat, only fluffy and kind of cute, but it took off before he could study it, meaning he would have to track it down again. After that he found his way to an area of the highlands that held some large bits of coral that held some bones inside, as the coral were more like seashells in some manner, where Patches looked at them for a few moments as he took a couple of notes. His reasoning was for both the Researchers in Astera and the Blacksmith, as he knew the latter would find some way to use this to improve their weapons or armor, and once he was done they resumed moving, following the Scoutflies to the monster they were following right now. It eventually brought him to an area that had a couple of small monsters, looking similar to the Jagras he had seen in the past, where these ones were mostly black or dark grey with red scales around their faces, including large orange eyes, to which he pulled out his journal again and made some notes about the new monster, only to pause as Patches pointed at something coming their way. The figure in question was a raptor monster, much like the Kulu-Ya-Ku they had encountered back in the Ancient Forest, which had a navy blue color to it's body and he found that both it's legs and forearms had powerful claws that would likely rend the life out of whatever it was fighting. The smaller monsters were annoyed by it's arrival, as they were feasting on a small creature that could have been the Barnos of the Coral Highlands, it was hard to tell since it was mostly eaten at this point in time, and they gathered in front of the raptor, hissing at it to convince it to leave. Grogar could hear their words as they did that, which was them mostly telling, even demanding, that the raptor leave them alone, where he finally noticed an odd addition to the raptor, it had some sort of antenna on its head, frills that opened and revealed the beautiful color that was on them, before they started to pulse. In that moment he turned his head and had Patches do the same, where he heard the raptor say 'flash... flash' and the area was covered in a bright flash for a moment, like when he used the Solar Flare earlier, and when it dimmed down he found that the wolf creatures were fleeing, often hitting the walls like they had been blinded by the raptor's light power. "I'm sure Cindy has a name for this monster, so I'll give it a nickname for now... 'Flash Raptor' sounds good," Grogar said, because based on the information he had been given it seemed like Hiroko knew all about the Coral Highlands, thanks to Cindy's efforts to find Scarlet and explore both regions that were near their ship, and this was more for him to gather his own information as he sought the fragment of the molten Elder Dragon. As he said that he noticed that the Flash Raptor walked down the path and ignored the fallen monster the wolf ones had been eating, rather it glanced at him for a few moments, as if debating whether or not he was a threat, before resuming it's walk around the Coral Highlands. Since he was in the clear Grogar took a moment to follow the path in front of him, as he was interested in documenting the small flying monster he had seen, before glancing at the sky for a moment to make sure his notes were complete, using a few living ones to make sure he knew what the monster looked like. With that done he continued along the path that the Flash Raptor had come from, climbing up some more vines to reach another section of the region he was currently exploring, which seemed to be a sloped hill of sorts, before discovering a wall of it that lead even higher, which had an even higher location beyond that. In that moment he spotted the squirrel bat monster floating in the air some distance away from where he was standing, as it looked like it had an air sac inside it that inflated the neck area, into a balloon of some kind, and it looked like the Fluff Bat was resting, causing a smile to appear on his face as he took a moment to write some notes on it. A few moments later, however, he paused as both he and Patches discovered something that worried them, as another monster was entering the area they were in, a large crimson scaled wolf monster that looked far more vicious than what he had seen so far, and it's blue eyes reminded him of what he saw in the Rotten Vale. What worried him was the fact that the quadrupedal monster's hind legs and forelegs ended in a double row of claws, so it had one set and then another on top of that, meaning it could inflict some serious damage on whoever it happened to be fighting. In addition to that he was able to see that it had a thick and hard looking tail that would hurt if it struck him, or whoever the monster's foe happened to be, and he was sure that the scales were quite durable, to protect it from harm. The monster looked like it could go toe to toe with a number of the monsters he had seen so far, like the Great Jagras, Kula-Ya-Ku, Flash Raptor, and possibly even the masters of the sky, as in the Rathian and the Rathalos, plus the one that attacked him and Sherry earlier, so he kept his guard up as they stared at each other for a time. As he considered that information, and had a moment to wonder if he was screwed, he heard something behind him and watched as the Blood Wolf leapt over his head, chomping down on the neck of the Flash Raptor that had moved into the area they were in, causing the poor raptor to let out a screech as it was attacked. Grogar and Patches got out of the way as the Flash Raptor scratched up the side of the Blood Wolf's head, even though it didn't seem to do anything at all and it let go of it's prey for a moment, as if the vicious monster enjoyed a fight before claiming it's meal. What shocked him was the sheer speed that the Blood Wolf used to move around the area they were in, dodging the Flash Raptor's attempts to blind it for a time, it's claws digging into the ground while rapidly moving from point to point, before tearing into the raptor with both claws on it's front right limb. The Flash Raptor was simply no match for the Blood Wolf, the latter proving that it was an apex predator and that it was capable of climbing up to the Coral Highlands, either for additional food or just because it wanted some fun, and Grogar watched as the monster chomped down on the raptor's neck again, this time crushing the life out of it, causing the Flash Raptor to go limp within seconds. In that moment he remained still, staring at the Blood Wolf for a time as it stared at him, though it simply turned it's head and dragged the fallen monster down into the depths of the Rotten Vale, where he stayed still for a few more moments, just in case it decided to come back, before moving once he was sure the coast was clear. After witnessing that fight, and the sheer domination that was displayed, Grogar turned his attention back to the wall he had spotted and glanced at it, finding that it might be best to use his magic to get to the top of it, instead of climbing and using his strength on the vines that lined the wall. As such he had Patches stand next to him before forming a platform for them to step on, which took them right up to the top of the wall in no time at all, far faster than climbing it with his hands, and once they reached their destination they climbed off it and walked forward. He paused for a moment as he head the screech of another monster and glanced at the sky, finding the one that had knocked him and Sherry into the Rotten Vale, flying through the air without a care in the world, but he stayed down for now, observing the monster, the 'screecher' as he decided to call it for now, without drawing attention to himself. Once he had some notes on this particular monster, in addition to the notes on the other monsters he had seen so far, Grogar resumed his search for a new campsite, where he paused at a nearby wall for a moment, finding that there was a low opening that lead to a small hidden chamber that was accessible from the ceiling, large enough for Barnos and a person. With this location noted for later, as Hiroko would be interested in learning about this location and what he found, Grogar carefully made his way back down to where Sherry was resting, finding that she was just fine, meaning nothing had tried to attack her, before the three of them returned to the Third Fleet's ship. Upon their arrival they found Hiroko and her team hard at work once more, which seemed to be the only thing they did, given everything that was happening around the Coral Highlands, and he spotted Johnson speaking with someone, a fact that gave him a chance to speak with the person he was eager to speak with. Hiroko was also eager to speak with him, as she wanted to hear what he had discovered, even if she knew everything thanks to Cindy's work, where he went into the monsters he had seen and wrote notes on over the last hour or two, as he was sure that he had been down in the Coral Highlands for a while. He learned that the Flash Raptor was called Tzitzi-Ya-Ku, the Fluff Bat was a Paolumu, the one that he called the Screecher was a Legiana, which happened to be the very monster that knocked the Third Fleet out of the air all those years ago, and the Blood Wolf was known as Odogaron, a powerful monster that was actually the apex predator of the Rotten Vale. As it turned out Grogar wasn't the only one that had seen the Odogaron in the Coral Highlands, as the first time they had seen it here was when Cindy was exploring this place for the first time, where she ran from it and lost it for a time, meaning it must have chased her down for a time, an incredible feat given the speed he had seen, meaning he had to hear her tale at some point. He also shared his ideas for a new campsite, in an area that seemed to be near the peak of the Coral Highlands, though as he said that he also knew that it was a good thing he didn't see the Kirin, if it was around anyway, otherwise he was sure Patches would have been hauling his body back to the camp. "I also didn't see a sign that Zorah Magdaros had passed through the Coral Highlands, so it seems that he's gone down, towards the Rotten Vale." Grogar said, finishing his report on what he had seen during his time in the Highlands, while at the same time Johnson had walked over to listen to what he had to say, meaning he knew there wasn't a sign of the Elder Dragon they were looking for. "A shame. I was hoping you'd find something." Hiroko replied, though as she said that Grogar had a feeling she was far more interested in him and his unique body, especially since this was the first time someone like him had been seen in this world, before she glanced at Johnson for a moment, "While you were gone one of our allies came through the fissure to check on you, since they hadn't heard anything since you came to this part of the New World, and he's got an idea to remake the airship." "Really? I'd say that's a good thing, but we'd have to convince the Legiana to leave us alone." Grogar pointed out, since that was the key to making sure they weren't bothered, as he suspected that Johnson wanted to head down into the Rotten Vale and see what was down there, and since there weren't any massive openings in this section of the Highlands, based on what he had seen, they needed to move to another area, "Not to mention that there are many components that we'll need to collect so we can get this ship into the air." "I've got that covered. We need to track down this Paolumu you mentioned and use some of it's components to make the items we need," Johnson stated, showing Grogar that they already had a plan, meaning the Researchers aboard this ship had been planning this for some time and Zorah Magdaros breaking through was the key to getting them into the air, so they could study the Rotten Vale in much greater detail. Grogar sighed for a moment and informed Sherry to get the quest set up, as he had a feeling that it might be easy for him to find what they were looking for, he just had to be patient and see what happened once he and Patches returned to the Coral Highlands.