If anyone had told Pinkie that she didn't look like she'd been through the most horrifying experience of her life, she would have assumed they were lying. Her armor, though relatively undamaged, reeked of the Gigginox's poison. It had taken her three hours of bathing just to get the smell off herself, and she had been scrubbing at her Rathian armor all morning. When she finally finished, she stepped back to admire her handiwork. It looked good, or rather, it looked normal, and it didn't stink, which was the most important part. She ran her fingers through her hair, which bounced into a noncommittal shape. She almost always had it covered, so it was forced to lay flat. Now, it just did whatever it wanted. She took a deep breath, heaving a contented sigh. She had decided that she was going to take the day off, at least from anything serious. She had intended to go gather resources in the afternoon, but she didn't feel like hunting after dealing with yesterday's fiasco.
Lyra threw the door to Pinkie's house open not ten seconds before the entire village shook so hard that Pinkie was surprised when they didn't just drop into the ocean. She fell backwards onto her rear and Lyra faceplanted with a tiny "Oof!". The quake lasted a long time. Considerably longer than any of the others. Pinkie grabbed Lyra, holding onto her, wide-eyed terror painted plainly on both of their faces. Surely, this was the end of Moga, and maybe the island. Then, it all stopped. It was if Pinkie had gone deaf, there was no sound, no motion. The world had come to a screeching halt. Pinkie and Lyra stared at each other for a few moments, before separating, deciding that they weren't going to sink into the ocean.
"H-here..." Lyra handed her the paper with her request on it. Pinkie was hesitant, fearing that she already knew what was on there. Sure enough, her fears came to pass. She stared down at the image of the Lagiacrus, and it stared back. She sat in silence for a long time, how long, she wasn't sure. She felt a lifetime wile away before Lyra got her attention, bringing her back to reality. "P-Pinkie? You okay?" Pinkie shook her head rapidly, chasing off the offending thoughts that had creeped into her mind.
"Yeah...Yeah!" the second one came with more bravado. She was scared, sure. Who wouldn't be? However, she was past the point in time where she was allowed to be scared. It was time for action. "I'll be fine, Lyra." she said, grinning. She oozed confidence as she stood up and started putting her armor on. The Dragonmaiden Axe was leaned against her bed, glistening in the sunlight. She checked all the clips of her armor in the mirror, making sure it was all secured before she placed the hat on top of her head. "It's time to end this, Pinkie Pie style!" and she tossed Lyra a bag of Zenny for the fee before she took off into the hunting grounds.
/) (\
Pinkie held up a hand, shading her eyes from the sun. There hadn't been another quake for the rest of the day. Pinkie had assumed that the Lagiacrus had worn itself out causing the last one. She folded her hands behind her head as she started walking towards the shore. She hadn't seen the Lagiacrus in the wetlands, and her last guess was the ocean. She stepped up to the edge of the water, staring into it. The waves lapped at her armored feet as she watched her reflection waver. This was not the best time to daydream, but Pinkie was ensnared by how peaceful the area was.
"Y'know..." she crouched, talking to her reflection. "I could sure use a double-me right now. Or a double-double-me." she ran her fingers through the water, and it soaked through the mesh on her palms. The Hunter stood and took a deep breath before diving in. She broke the water's surface and started swimming. She passed a few Epioth, which paid her no mind as she made no motion toward them, and swam for the archway that lead into the Lagiacrus's lair. The water was very still as she swam deeper and deeper. She felt the vibrations through the water long before she saw the monster. She caught sight of it, mezmerized by the sheer size of it, even after tangling with it twice. She was ready, this time. It ended today. The monster turned towards her, and she immediately saw glowing red orbs under the scars she'd left on its eyes. The thing had regenerated its eyes. Pinkie didn't know how, or why, but the Lagiacrus had grown its eyes back, and from the look it was giving her, it clearly remembered who took them in the first place.
The Lagiacrus spiraled through the water, mouth agape, at the Hunter. With a strong kick, Pinkie dodged the attack, though the current from the monster dragged her around. She caught herself and started swimming towards the leviathan. She drew her weapon and took a heavy swing, catching the monster's foreleg. It swiped her away as if she were an insect. The Lagiacrus leaned back and whipped its tail up at Pinkie. She felt it connect, and not long after she felt warm air and sunlight. The monster had knocked her clear out of the water. She landed on top of a nearby rock, coughing up a bit of water. Pinkie clambered to her feet and shook her head, getting her bearings before taking off for the edge of the rock. She leapt off, Switch Axe raised high above her head, and descended towards the water. She found exactly what she had expected. The Lagiacrus was waiting, mouth open, for her to fall.
"Not today, mister!" Pinkie gave a battle cry and swung the axe as she drew closer. The inertia of the swing dragged her out of the way of the monster's mouth, and the axe connected with one of the horns, shattering it to tiny pieces as she slammed it into the creatures scales. She'd sunk it about two inches into the monster's head, the weapon unable to pierce any further despite the speed and power of her strike. Pinkie found that she was standing on the Lagiacrus's snout. She changed the position of her hands on the weapon's hilt and lifted herself up, performing a front flip over her weapon, digging it in a bit further before her feet planted on the middle of the creatures back, the forward momentum causing her to rip the axe out with excessive force. To her great surprise, the Lagiacrus didn't move much. She looked down at her feet before realizing she'd been lead into a trap.
The Lagiacrus's spikes started to glow, faint at first, then lighting up to a blinding electric blue. Pinkie didn't have time to run as the Lagiacrus curled into a ball, the lightning discharging into the Hunter through her feet. She let out a scream as blinding pain coursed through her entire body. The scream lasted until the Lagiacrus ran out of energy, and the electricity ceased its rampage through her insides. Her world started to grow dark and she fell into the water, losing her grip on her axe. She was sinking, weighed down by her armor. She had faced death on several occasions since coming to Moga, but her last thought before the world blacked out was that, this time, she wasn't going to be able to cheat the reaper.
/) (\
"Nya!" Pinkie felt paws slapping against her face. "Wake up, right nyao!" another slap and her eyes fluttered open.
"What the-?" Pinkie grumbled as she sat upright, a Felyn hopping off her chest and onto the ground next to her. She got her bearings and looked around, she was at the base camp. More importantly, she wasn't dead. "How-? Who-? How am I alive." the Felyn saluted before answering her question.
"Madam Lyra heard of your plight, nyah. She told us to be ready if anything should happen. You blacked out, we came to save you. It's too dangerous for us to keep pulling you out of the fire like that, though." Pinkie noticed how this Felyn spoke perfect Common. "So, we can maybe pull you out one more time. You mess up again, it's on you. Good luck, nyah!" the Felyn waved, and Pinkie waved back, watching it and a group of others take off, stretcher in tow. Pinkie got to her feet. She couldn't afford another fatal error like that. She grabbed her axe, which had been propped up against the trunk at the camp. Slinging it onto her back, she stomped off, fury in her eyes and revenge on her mind.
/) (\
When Pinkie caught up with the Lagiacrus again, she could swear the monster was wearing a satisfied smile. It swam lazily towards her. The thing practically oozed confidence, as if there was no doubt it would be making a meal out of the Hunter by the end of the day. Pinkie narrowed her eyes, watching every movement the monster made. As soon as it got close to her, it backed up, swiping its tail up at her again. It was trying the same thing. Pinkie drifted to the right and swung the axe down, the head sliding down into a hand guard and the sword cleaving the end of the monster's tail clean off. It howled in pain, spiraling back through the water. Pinkie's blue eyes coursed with fury as she gave chase. She slashed at the monster's chest, leaving a clean gash through the white scales. Blood seeping from its fresh wounds. She accelerated upwards, taking the other horn off. For a minute, she wondered why the leviathan wasn't retaliating, then she saw it. The purple liquid lining each cut she'd made. She poisoned the beast. As soon as it gained its bearings, it hit her full force, knocking her away in an attempt to flee. Pinkie recovered from the spin-out, swimming up to the surface and taking a gill of fresh air, she swam to where the monster had made its escape to.
Pinkie moved towards the shore silently, seeing the monster on land, looking worse for wear. She moved out of the water smoothly, weapon drawn. She could hear the creature's stomach growling as she drew closer. She was almost within striking distance when it heard her. The Lagiacrus turned to face her, the glow in its eyes a little dimmer. She noticed that there was no more poison on its wounds. It had worn off. No matter, the monster was getting weaker. The Lagiacrus backed up, gnashing its teeth in a threatening gesture. Pinkie put her free hand into her pouch, pulling out a Flash Bomb.
"Present for ya!" she shouted, belting it at the monster's head. It hit the Lagiacrus on the nose and she shielded her eyes, the telltale screech letting her know that she'd blinded the monster. A grin spread across her face as she moved in. She immediately took wide slashes at the legs. The Lagiacrus would turn on her, biting, but it would never make contact, the effects of the flash leaving it helpless. She sidestepped, then stabbed the axe into the monster's side, raising it up and tearing deeper into it. More howls of pain as she started to take furious swings back and forth, the sheer length of the axe allowing it to hit a foreleg, then the back one for each swing. A particularly powerful blow sent the monster tumbling, and Pinkie used the axe to vault herself over to the creature's back. As it was attempting to recover, she used the weapon's sword mode to cleave off the spikes on its back. Small electrical discharges sparked with each one she chopped off.
The Lagiacrus, growing quite tired of this assault and having recovered from blindness while it had been vulnerable, rose up to its full height. The creature curled up and bit down on the Hunter. Holding Pinkie in its jaws, it whipped its head through the air and sent her flying into the nearby cliff. The Hunter was dazed as she hit the wall, her axe spiraling out of her hand on impact. The Lagiacrus, however, started limping away. Pinkie slid off the cliff wall, slamming hard into the ground. She curled up in pain, hearing the monster retreating. She couldn't let it get away. She got to her feet, scrambling for her axe, and gave chase without hesitation. She drank a Potion along the way, feeling immediately better about whatever level of blunt-force trauma she had just endured. She dove into the water swimming with all her might, watching what was left of its tail go out of view, a mix of blood and poison leaving a trail for her to follow.
When Pinkie reached the are where the Lagiacrus usually lurked, she saw neither hide nor scale of the monster. Looking around, she saw a few Sharqs taking bites out of the tail she had severed. She spied the blood trail again and followed it. She swam down into a brightly lit area, the blood trail leading her towards a cave that had sunlight bleeding through. She swam in and noticed the sandy ground rising up in front of her. She broke the water's surface, and she saw it. The Lagiacrus was curled up like a Felyn on a rug. She could hear its heavy snoring. Blood was pooled around the monster and she started to appreciate how much damage she'd done to it.
"How sweet." Pinkie's voice was laced with an uncharacteristic venom. Her eyes were wider than normal and her pupils were dilated to pinpricks. "Well, Mr. Sleepyhead. Time to wake..." she drew her weapon and took a baseball swing. "Up!" the weapon sunk in deep, as she hit the wound she'd opened earlier. The Lagiacrus dragged her up into the air as it snapped to its feet. She dug her feet in under its broken horns, securing herself. She tore the axe out and started taking vicious swings again, each one more powerful than the last. The Lagiacrus staggering a bit with each strike. It gave a few futile attempts to throw her, but the relentless Hunter would not give up. She gouged out the left eye, then the right, burying the axe and tearing it out, slinging blood all over the cave. "Now stay..." she raised the axe up and brought it down with every ounce of strength in her body. "Down!" she felt the monster crumple under the last blow, its body collapsing to the ground. The motion dislodged her, and she fell down in front of her kill. She rolled over onto her back, breathing heavily as the Lagiacrus let out its death throes, twitching a few times before lying still.
Pinkie shut her eyes. She'd done it. The Lagiacrus was dead. She'd saved Moga Village. Hell, she'd saved the whole island from a watery grave. She smiled, the sunlight warm against her skin. The Dragonmaiden Axe lay on the ground next to her, bloodless and glistening. She raised her right arm up into the air, opening her hand and spreading her fingers apart. She opened her eyes and stared at the beams of sunlight that shone between them. She clenched a fist and let her arm drop to her side.
Pinkie heard something. Faint at first, but building in volume as the ground beneath her began to tremble.