The boat that the Guild provided as transport gently slid into port. Pinkie and Wookie stepped off the ship, the pink-haired Huntress had her eyes glued to the horizon, and she almost tripped over a passing Felyn. She stumbled forward, apologizing profusely, and the Felyn took its leave, mumbling about people needing to pay more attention. Wookie watched his hunting partner with a concerned look.
"You seem distracted. Something bothering you?" he asked her, adjusting his monocle. Pinkie didn't answer, and he reached his hand out, finger curled up, and flicked the side of her head. Pinkie recoiled at the strike and looked around as if she expected to be attacked, right hand on the hilt of her weapon, left hand at the ready. "Geez. Calm down. You've been on edge since half way through the ride home. The hunt is over, chill."
"I-I know! I just...Don't those clouds look weird?" Pinkie spoke in a tone that was meant to be taken as a defense of her actions, but just ended up sounding guilty. Wookie shook his head, turning to look out at the horizon. There was a large mass of dark clouds that appeared to be drawing closer to Tanzia, and he had to admit, they looked pretty menacing. He couldn't tell Pinkie that, he had to dispel the Huntress's fear, or he felt like she was going to fall apart.
"They look like normal storm clouds to me." Wookie said, shrugging. "You're just blowing it out of proportion." he turned, heading towards Twilight. The liaison, characteristically, had her nose buried in a book. Pinkie puffed her cheeks out at Wookie's dismissal of her fears, but she sighed, conceding. He was probably right, but something burned at the back of her mind. Something she had tried to ignore since the day of the attack. She shook her head rapidly, clearing her mind as she walked towards her partner. "How about a Barioth?" Wookie asked her, taking a request slip from Twilight.
"Didn't we just fight one of those?" Pinkie raised an eyebrow, tilting her head to the side. "I'm fine with fighting another, but some variety wouldn't hurt." she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Barioth is variety. We just fought a Barroth. Barioth is different...By one letter." Wookie said, slowly turning to look at Twilight. "Really? One letter difference? You guys couldn't come up with a better name?" Twilight raised a hand defensively.
"I don't name them. I just tell you to kill them." the purple-haired liaison spoke. "Now, do you want to hunt it, or not?" she was getting impatient. They were interrupting her study time, which was all the time. Everyone was interrupting her. She hated the fact that Celestia had forced her to work as a liaison while she was studying to be a Guildmaster. Wookie looked over at Pinkie, who just nodded.
"May as well." he slid the fee across to Twilight, who scooped it up and deposited it into her desk, returning immediately to her book. The Hunter shook his head and smirked, walking back towards the boats. Pinkie was tailing behind him, and her eyes turned unwittingly to the horizon. There, she found nothing. The clouds had gone. She froze in place, coasting her eyes back and forth, searching for the storm clouds. A voice in the back of her head told her that she wasn't going to find what she was looking for. She had to shake her head to chase off the voice. It was starting to frustrate her and make her nervous. The Huntress took a few calming breaths as she stepped onto the boat, Wookie hadn't noticed her distraction. They took their seats and the boat drifted away from Tanzia.
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"What are you so afraid of?" Wookie asked his partner, drawing her attention away from the sky.
"I think...I think it's following me." Pinkie's voice sounded small, as though she was worried it may hear her.
"The thing from the party?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. The Huntress nodded, she appeared to shrinking further and further into her seat, silently hoping she may just disappear. "Why is this an issue all of a sudden? Back when we first met, you had never even mentioned the thing, and there didn't seem to be anything wrong with you. What's with this newfound dread?"
"I hadn't talked about it in a while." Pinkie said, taking deep breaths as she sat back up. The boat sailed gently towards the frozen tundra where they would be hunting a Barioth. "And Lyra never said anything about it. I guess seeing Twilight's reaction to me threw me for a loop. What would I do if it came back? I...I can't fight that thing. All I could do was run." she put her face in her hands. Wookie couldn't tell if she was crying, but he was surprised to see a moment of weakness from her. He'd seen a glimpse of the monster that lie beneath the surface of this girl during the Qurupeco hunt, and it frightened him a bit to think there was something out there that shook her up like this. Not to mention the theory that it may actually be following her. None of these were fears that he expressed, mostly due to the fact that, if she had a mental breakdown, it may cost them more than just a hunting fee.
"Pinkie Pie." he began slowly, and she lifted her head to look at him. Her eyes were wide, but she wasn't crying. "That was a freak accident. The fact that you survived is a miracle, sure. And people stuck you with that stigma because you were the only one who survived, but that doesn't mean that it happened for a reason, or that this thing is still even after you." he shrugged, glad that he had become a good liar throughout the course of his life. "So don't let it get to you." Wookie rose to his feet as their boat bumped against the pier at the tundra. The air was crisp, like before, but the sun was shining, which made the area a little more bearable. Pinkie stood up, too. She had to admit that his speech made her feel marginally better. "Now, let's go hunt us a Barioth." She nodded, smiling.
The wind had picked up a bit since their arrival, but the sunlight kept things above an unbearable temperature. They had walked through the first area together, deciding to split up and investigate the caves separately. Wookie went to the cave furthest to the southwest, and Pinkie headed north. There was the faint sounds of water dripping as she stepped into the cave. She searched the area quickly, her gaze falling onto a large hole in the cave wall. The Huntress could see light seeping down from a hole in the cave ceiling, but the ledge was too high for her to climb. She turned away, and started walking to the east. She found an opening into another area, but it was obscured by frozen stalactites. She crouched down and started to crawl, her bulky armor and oversized weapon making things unnecessarily difficult. When she had at last freed herself from the frozen cage, she found herself on the other edge of the island. There was a steep cliff that would throw those unlucky enough to fall off into the freezing ocean below.
Pinkie was so busy examining the area that she hadn't noticed the monster watching her. The Barioth was on the cliff above her, its claws dug into the ice, bracing it. It was a beast wyvern, having the mammalian features of a large cat. Its forelegs doubled as wings, but it was clearly a beast that preferred to stay grounded. The large, amber colored tusks that protruded from its mouth were sharpened, made for tearing open the Popos that it was used to feeding on. Its tail waved back and forth lazily, its red eyes following the Huntress's every move. The end of its tail was forked, spikes protruding from each side. The white monster hunkered down, preparing to launch itself at Pinkie. An arrow sunk into the ground a few feet away from the monster, and it backed off, snarling.
"You're going to get yourself killed if you keep sightseeing." Wookie said as he pulled another arrow from his quiver. Pinkie wheeled around and looked up at the Barioth. She noticed how much its movements resembled the Tigrex. She clutched her weapon as the Barioth threw itself at them. The beast came crashing down as the pair dove out of the way. It snarled, its body coiled into a striking position as it turned its back on Pinkie. The Huntress drew her weapon and took a swing, but the monster had moved its tail up out of her weapon's trajectory just in time. She set her jaw, calming herself. She hated missing her swings. Wookie was leading the Barioth around the area, running in a wide arc out of the monster's reach.
In a motion much faster than they had anticipated, the beast threw itself at the monocled Hunter, knocking him off his feet. The monster wheeled around and reared back, launching what looked like a giant snowball at Pinkie. While she smirked when it fell far short of her, she realized that was its intended course. As soon as the ice ball hit the ground, it cracked open and a whirlwind whipped up around it, separating her from her partner. She could barely make out the Barioth's movements through the whirling snow. Biting back fear, she charged through the icy gale, the shards of ice making small cuts on her exposed face. She broke through the other side as the Barioth was bearing down on Wookie and leapt through the air, embedding her axe deep into the monster's tail. She'd almost lopped it off, but it barely hung on. The creature responded in kind, crashing the undamaged part of its tail into the Huntress. Pinkie felt an intense cold fill her body, ice hammering through her veins. The distraction had given Wookie time to run, and he'd taken advantage of the opportunity. He applied a Paralysis Coating to his arrows and loosed on into the side of the Barioth. The monster was stunned for a moment, but quickly shook it off.
Pinkie, who had been thrown a fair distance away from the beast wyvern, could feel the cold sucking her energy away. She stood up, her entire body wracked with intense shivers, and brought her weapon to bear. She couldn't let a little chill stop her. Her legs pumped hard against the frozen ground as she ran at the monster, tufts of snow kicking up in her wake. The Barioth snarled almost as if it were challenging the Huntress, and they clashed. The claws of the monster met the head of her axe, and the superior smithing triumphed. Pinkie had shattered the claws off the Barioth's right paw. As the creature reeled in pain, Wookie sunk a few more arrows into it, the coating taking effect. The Barioth looked as if it were being electrocuted. It stood in place, body jerking but mostly unable to move. Pinkie grinned maliciously and sauntered over to the paralyzed beast.
"My, my...What a shame." her voice dripped with uncharacteristic venom as she turned the Switch Axe sideways. She saw fear in the Barioth's eyes, and for a moment, she could tell it knew what was about to happen. "Let's get rid of this little problem." she hoisted the weapon up over her right shoulder, standing like a player up to bat, and stepped in with her left foot, bringing the broad side of the axe crashing into the Barioth's teeth, shattering them. The beast would have let out a ferocious wail of pain, but the paralysis was still in effect. She picked up one of the broken tusks and tossed it into the air lazily, catching it in her right hand, the Dragonmaiden Axe held firmly in her left. She could see the pincushion that Wookie had tastefully made of the monster's back while it had been unable to retaliate. She hauled off and rammed the snowy wyvern's own tusk into its left eye, gouging it out just before its motor skills returned. She pocketed the bloody, amber tusk and took a swipe at the Barioth's head. It hopped back, avoiding her strike and immediately went airborne. It took off, a few of her partner's arrows failing in their chase of the beast.
"That...That was brutal." Wookie said as the Huntress approached him. She handed him the other tusk, a smile on her face as she started to head towards the center area.
"C'mon. I know where it flew off to." she said and they looped down around the area nearest the base camp before making their way towards the area that lead into the caves. Their previous assault had left the Barioth terribly injurred, and starving. They found the beast tearing large chunks out of a young Popo. Without its tusks, it was too difficult to eat a tougher adult. The Barioth looked up, its left eye gone, but it still saw the pair approaching it. It hopped back, putting distance between them before lunging at Pinkie, who was on point. The Huntress made no move to dodge. The creature's depth perception was shot and it landed heavily in front of her. She saw the surprise in the monster's eyes as she burried her axe into its chest. Wookie was making his way around as another crushing blow from his partner sent the creature to the ground. He started hammering arrows into the beast as Pinkie cleaved the tail the rest of the way off.
The Huntress turned the weapon to sword mode and ducked under a swing from the recovering monster's broken claws. Even with the sharp points removed, the monster was still strong enough to cause severe physical harm, and despite her desires, Pinkie backed off. A wounded monster was always more dangerous. As expected, the beast started attacking in a blind rage. Swinging what was left of its tail at Wookie, knocking him off his feet before it jumped into the air. It flapped its wings twice and threw itself through the sky at Pinkie. Instead of dodging, she angled the blade towards the monster and braced herself. She felt the weight of the Barioth come down on her, then its warm blood splash over her face. She had shut her eyes before impact, so she wasn't sure where she'd cut into. She opened her eyes slowly, turning her head towards the monster. She was at eye-level with the beast. It had been split down the nose, her blade the greater portion of the way through the Barioth's head. It had long since gone limp, but the dead weight made it hard for Pinkie to move.
"Wookie!" her hunting partner had recovered to his feet in time to see the Barioth crash into her. He assumed that it had almost crushed her, considering how hard it had thrown itself. Relief washed over him when he heard her voice, and he latched the Arca Raptora onto his back, heading over to help Pinkie. "Just..." she panted, trying to pull her weapon out if the monster's head. "Just help me get free." he smirked, then started pushing on the Barioth's corpse before it finally relinquished its hold on the Huntress's weapon. It slumped to the ground, the blood soaking into the snow. The pair carved what they could fit into their bags before starting the trip home.
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The boat ride back to Tanzia was filled with joyful conversation, as the pair celebrated another victory.
"We've recovered well after that first fiasco." Wookie said with a grin, Pinkie returning the smile and nodding. "I was ready to hang it up after that first Qurupeco fight. I assumed that that was how all of the hunts were going to go. Luckily, you got your shit together and stopped holding me back."
"Oh, yeah. Because I was the weak link in that fight, Mister 'How-Do-I-Load-This-Bowgun'." Pinkie teased back.
"Don't act like you were an expert on your weapon either. I'm guessing you had used that thing, what? Maybe once before that fight?"
"Nuh-uh! More than once!" she retorted, Tanzia coming into view. Pinkie looked over the top of Wookie's head, her face dropping in disbelief.
"What?" the Hunter followed her eyes and his reaction mirrored hers. They both sat there, staring, as their boat rocked gently in the waves. The darkest cloud formation that Wookie had ever seen hung over Tanzia, and fire and lightning rained onto the port below.