//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 - The Lava-Chicken // Story: Monster Hunter Pie // by BronyArmitage //------------------------------// Pinkie dug through her trunk, more than relieved to have her old gear back. As she sifted, she noticed that nothing was out of place. There was nothing missing. She adorned her Rathian armor once more and smiled at how right it felt. Though she'd only been out of it for a few days, it had felt considerably longer. Lyra and Wookie were standing with her on a boat bound for a destination that none of them had been informed about, the latter having already adorned his armor as well. He was wearing the standard leather armor set that all Hunter's started with. "Why the change?" Pinkie asked, cocking her head, a smile permanently plastered on her face at the time. "When I'm wearing the Bhahabara armor, I can't properly wield a close-range weapon. It's not thick enough. Too dangerous to get close to a monster. Gunner armor is considerably lighter than Blademaster armor." Wookie explained, when Pinkie gave him a blank look. Having been nothing but a Blademaster herself, she was unaware of the fact that the two armors varied in uses. She'd learned about it at the Academy, but the knowledge left her not long after she left the school. She wasn't much for retaining facts. "Oooooohhhhh..." she uttered, finally understanding. "So, you're wanting to use something up close and personal?" Wookie nodded. "I've taken quite a liking to this thing." he reached into his trunk and pulled the massive Warhammer from the depths. "I may see what else it has to offer." "You do seem to do pretty well with it." Pinkie said, and she looked down at the Iron Katana that sat quietly in her trunk. She picked it up and drew it slowly from the sheath, the blade gleaming in the sunlight. The boat rocked gently, waves lapping against the sides of it. Sun beat down on the three companions as Pinkie looked at the Longsword in awe. Something about it spoke to her, and she wasn't quite sure what it was. She had loved her Switch Axe, and wouldn't have traded it in for the world, but it felt like a weapon, and nothing more. The Longsword she grasped in both hands, sheath resting against her trunk, almost felt as though it were personified. Like it was more than just a dangerously sharp piece of metal. "Maybe..." she spoke to no one in particular. The Huntress caught something on the horizon out of the corner of her eye. She wheeled around, Longsword in hand, watching as a very familiar mountain crawled ever closer to the sky over the curve of the Earth. "R-really?" Pinkie turned towards Lyra, who had a knowing smile on her face. Wookie looked confused. "We're going back? Is anyone else even there, right now?" the liaison shook her head. "No, the village is still abandoned. But, as a form of redemption, the Guild wants you to continue your work there. Since Tanzia is still a wreck, there's really nowhere else for you two to go that fits your rank." Lyra explained, folding her hands behind her back as the boat drew ever closer to Moga Village. Pinkie heard faint footsteps coming from below deck. She clutched tightly to the Longsword, watching the door that lead up from the storage area and up onto the deck. Her eyes never wavered, and Wookie's gaze followed hers, falling on the door. Footsteps ascended the stairs, and they both watched as the door was flung open. Standing in the open doorway was Magnum, Moga's former Wyverian Artisan. The Wyverian yawned and stretched, popping his back as his fingers gripped at the air. "This damn thing just won't sail smoothly, will it? When are you Guildies gonna' get some better boat technology?" he asked in his casually short tone. His eyes fell upon the Huntress, who was staring at him in silent shock. "What? Did you honestly think they'd send you back without someone who can make equipment for you two? Heh. Not even those stuck-up Guildies are that stupid." Lyra pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. "Alright, Magnum. Enough belittling the Guild. Some of us do actually work hard, you know?" the mint-haired liaison spoke, her tone a bit more resentful than she had intended. Magnum, however, just smirked. "Yeah, yeah. You're doing a bang-up job over there. How's Tanzia coming along?" he asked in mock concern, which caused all present, besides him, to downcast their eyes and mumble incoherent responses. "That's what I thought." the Artisan looked out towards Moga, a genuine smile finally appearing on his face. "No place like home." he said. The four of them sat and talked for another forty minutes before the boat nestled up next to the dock. Some of the plant life from the farm had started to grow a bit out of control. Pinkie hadn't realized it, but it had been quite some time since she had been to the village. She tried to remember when, exactly, as she walked along the pier, towards the center of town. There was clearly no indication of anyone living there, so no one had squatted at the abandoned village in the last few months. Pinkie grunted as she began to drag her trunk towards the place she called home. She pushed the door aside, and heard the skittering of Bhahabara fleeing from the light, and a Vespoid buzzed past her, almost running into her. It wasn't as large as some of the ones out in the field, but none of them were small. She dragged her trunk into the house and flung it into the corner where she had kept it before. Wookie followed her, dragging his own trunk in there. "This our storage area?" he asked, thudding his trunk down opposite hers. The Huntress was almost a little embarrassed, since the house was a mess and she suddenly had someone else in there. "No, this is where I lived when I was working here." she scratched the back of her head nervously, her pink hair fluffing a bit as she did so. "I, obviously, have not been around to keep up with the mess." there was still some residual confetti from the last time she'd been here. "Don't worry. The Guild is shipping you guys another bed." Lyra's voice came from the doorway, and Pinkie jumped a bit in surprise, though she wasn't sure why. She'd known Lyra was with them. "It'll be a few days, but it should be here. Now, let's get busy, shall we?" the liaison clapped her hands together and walked out of sight. She made her way over to her original post, hopping over the counter and sitting down on the horrendously uncomfortable barrel that served as her chair. While it did nothing for her comfort level, she felt a little better knowing that things were going to be back to normal before long. Or, at least, that's what she was hoping. She closed her eyes, sighing contentendly, before reaching into one of her drawers. The drawers a liaison used were a mystery, as they always seemed to be able to pull Hunting Contracts out of them, despite the distance from Guild Headquarters. She pulled up a piece of paper and looked it over, her eyes scanning it. What she found was something she hadn't expected. "Interesting. I'm going to take a wild guess and say neither of you has been to the volcanic region, yet?" they both shook their heads. "Perfect. While the Guild looks into whatever is attacking the island, you guys are going to hunt an Agnaktor." she passed the paper across the counter to them. Pinkie picked it up and stared at it. The creature depicted on the piece of paper appeared to be very serpent-like, and it looked like it had a beak. The Huntress turned to paper around a few times, trying to find a way to make this monster look threatening, but to no avail. It just looked like a stretched out bird, in her head, sans wings. "This thing looks...Odd." Wookie spoke, watching his hunting partner examine the paper thoroughly. "What is it, exactly?" he looked at Lyra as Pinkie continued to rotate the paper over and over. "It's a leviathan class monster, much like the Lagiacrus, but it lives in volcanic regions. It can dig around and coat itself in a kind of lava armor." the liaison elaborated, watching the pink-haired Huntress with a bemused smile on her face. "I don't think it's out of your ability range, though maybe your armor range." she looked Wookie up and down. "Leather and lava don't mix, honey." a smirk spread across Wookie's face, and he shook his head. "I know, but it'll have to do until I can get something else." he spoke, and Pinkie, who had been completely oblivious to the entire conversation, threw the fee down in front of Lyra. "Let's go. Time to kill us a Lava-Chicken!" the Huntress exclaimed, moving quickly to the boat. She had chosen to take the Longsword with her, having grown quite fond of it in the short time she'd used it. Wookie just looked at Lyra and the two shrugged to one another before the Hunter followed his partner to the boat. /) (\ They got off the boat on the volcanic island. The sky was clouded by ash, and the volcano would let out a belch of fire at random intervals. Pinkie's eyes watched the sky in wonder, smoke and fire curling up into the air and leaving a smell in the air that was heavy with brimstone. Wookie stepped up next to her, sweat already beginning to form beads on his forehead. "Fucking hot out here." he spoke, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Well, it is a volcano." the Huntress retorted, walking over to the trunk that was situated at the base camp. She tossed a few Cold Drinks and First-Aid Meds over to Wookie before shoveling some Rations into her mouth. She wasn't sure what the Rations were made of, but, whatever it was, it never seemed to taste bad. "I feel like you're just wasting those." Wookie spoke, storing the supplies she'd tossed him into his item bag. "I feel like you're not eating them enough." Pinkie said, turning on her heel and walking downhill into an area that had small patches of grass, burnt trees, and a body of water that could be mistaken for a puddle. How any water could be present in this section of hell was beyond Pinkie's understanding. She popped the top off one of her Cold Drinks and downed it as she walked, tossing the bottle aside when the contents were drained. There was a small ledge that took her entirely too much effort to climb over, and that Wookie vaulted easily. "Stupid, bulky armor!" she squeaked, pulling herself up onto the ledge. The higher they climbed, the hotter it got. By the time they reached the shelf below the summit of the mountain, they were both pouring sweat and looking more miserable than not. "Where the fuck is this thing?" Wookie asked, looking around for any sign of a leviathan coated in lava. "No idea." came the Huntress's response, between gasping breaths. This had been harder on her, because her armor was far more cumbersome than the leather that her partner was wearing. No sooner had they spoken, though, than a roar filled the air. They both wheeled around, eyes scanning the area. Neither of them saw anything, but the ground beneath their feet started to shake. Pinkie looked down, noticing that her feet were starting to feel excessively hot. The ground had turned bright orange, and the monster burst forth from the ground. The Huntress was launched through the air like a toy. Wookie had managed to avoid the creatures first attack, but he was a bit stunned at how large the Agnaktor really was. The picture did it no justice. It was easily as large as the Lagiacrus, and it moved very similarly. The difference being the lack of electric spikes on the back of it, and its beak. The monster's golden eyes scanned the area, they fell upon Wookie first. The creature clicked its beak loudly, an act meant to ward of potential threats. The clicking sent sparks and lava airborn. The Hunter was looking around for his partner, but he saw no sign of her. He was about to call out to her, fearful that she'd fallen into the river of lava, when the Agnaktor lunged at him. He felt a massive level of heat radiating off the monster as he barely got out of the way of the attack. His right hand closed around the hilt of his Hammer, and he brought it around, striking the monster in the side of the head as hard as he could. He felt a crunch as the leviathan recoiled from the blow. He noticed a dazed look in its eyes, as though it were close to being stunned, but the monster shook it off and advanced on him again. Pinkie, meanwhile, was still floating through the air. She had just reached the top of her arc, and was fairly certain she could see the mountain of Moga off in the distance before she began her descent. She looked down, noticing how Wookie looked oddly like an ant with a Warhammer before she drew her Longsword from its sheath. Holding the empty sheath in one hand and the hilt of the katana in the other, she gathered speed, approaching the Agnaktor from above. Wookie glanced up, seeing her approaching. He grinned, glad that she wasn't a deep fried Huntress. Whether the monster noticed, or whether it was just dumb luck, the Agnaktor actually started to burrow into the ground. The Hunter noticed, and ran forward, taking a swing to try and knock it out of the motion. It started to rotate, despite the attack, and was below ground before the Hunter could stop it. He cursed himself as he heard a small scream followed by a loud thud. He cringed, looking over at the crumpled form of his hunting partner. He put the Hammer away and rushed over to her. "Pinkie? Pinkie?!" he bent down, quickly helping her to her feet. She looked as if she had a massive concussion, and, more than that, was lucky to be alive. Her head lolled back and forth for a few moments before she finally caught herself. "Where did that jerk go?" she asked, putting the sheath on her back so she could have both hands on the hilt of her weapon. "That hurt like hell. If he hadn't run, I'd have had some cushion, at least." the ground began to shake again, and they split, running in opposite directons as the leviathan burst forth from the ground again. It only came up half way, its bottom half still submerged in solid rock and lava. It clicked its beak again, and the pair of Hunters glared at it. It glared back for a moment before opening its mouth, releasing a jet of magma straight from its mouth. It punched a hole clean through a large rock that was behind the Hunters, and the beam itself narrowly missed the pair. Their eyes were wide in shock as the creature slinked below the ground once more. "I vaguely remember Lyra saying this thing was within our capabilities to fight. I don't remember any mention of fucking laser beams!" Wookie exclaimed as he stared at the hole that the Agnaktor had punched through the rock. He could clearly see the sky on the other side of the rock. It was a thick chunk of earth, too. Close to ten feet wide. The magma jet had punched a hole clean through it, as though it were constructed of butter rather than stone. "I don't even remember the 'within our capabilities' part." Pinkie said, and dodged out of the way as the monster came up out of the ground again. It spiraled into the air until the tip of its tail came up from the rock, and then it crashed heavily to the ground, landing on its feet. It wheeled itself around, and was greeted by a Longsword to the beak. Pinkie had swung with enough force that she actually knocked the monster's head down into the ground, plunging its beak into the rock and causing it to become stuck. Wookie dashed forward, and his Hammer made a hissing sound, as though it were letting off steam. The Huntress backed off as her partner swung with every ounce of strength he had. He slammed the head of the Warhammer into the monster's eye, sending the creature sprawling along the ground. It let out a howl of pain as the pink-haired Huntress closed the gap quickly. She dragged the Longsword across the stone, sending sparks flying up from the ground as she made her approach. The Agnaktor lifted its head slightly, a pained look in its eye, before Pinkie drove the katana deep into its skull. Another howl of pain, and the monster rolled over, dragging Pinkie with it, until it rolled on top of her. Between the weight of the beast and the heat from the volcano, she was quickly becoming exhausted. Sweat was pouring down her face in a torrent, and she looked as if she was on the verge of collapse. Wookie, having noticed his partner's distress, made his move. Sprinting forward, he took a golf swing at the Agnaktor's head. The force of the strike was so great, that it knocked Pinkie's Longsword out of the wound it had created, and sent it clattering across the searing stone. As soon as her weapon was free, he took another swing, this time with enough force to cause the creature to be knocked away from Pinkie. Clearly in a severe amount of pain, the Agnaktor rolled onto its feet and burrowed into the ground, disappearing from view in a whirl of lava and broken stone. The pompadoured Hunter knelt down, shaking his partner. "Up and at 'em, Pink. No time for a nap." he continued to shake her until she gave a reluctant grunt. Like a petulant child being awoken from a nap, she laid there for a few more minutes, hoping he'd just let her die there, but he persisted. Mumbling, the Huntress got to her feet, her eyes scanning the area for her weapon. "I think it wound up in that direction." she followed his directions, and found it laying dangerously close to a ledge that lead down into a river of lava. She picked it up, staring into the molten abyss, wondering to herself how bad it would burn if she jumped in. She shook the offending thoughts from her mind quickly, and returned to her partner. "Where did that thing go?" the Huntress asked. "It doesn't seem like it was in very good shape." Wookie was consulting a map in silence, trying to find the most secluded area. One where an injurred monster would be most likely to recover. "Here." he pressed his finger to the map, indicating the area directly below their current location. "It's further down the volcano, so its likely to be not as blisteringly hot." he rolled the map up, returning it to his pouch. "Let's get this done." Pinkie nodded, and they began to descend. /) (\ They entered an area that acted as a natural valley. Probably crafted by the planet itself from a former lava flow. Now, just an area where steam shot up from the ground with hissing fervor. The pair of Hunters scanned the area, finding their target coiled up. The lava that coated the leviathan's body had blackened, forming a natural armor. They both clutched their weapon's tightly, creeping ever closer to the sleeping monster. "Plan of attack?" Pinkie asked, noticing the hissing sounds coming Wookie's Warhammer. "I figured I'd ask, since you seem like you already have something in mind." "Yeah." he said, raising the Hammer high above his head. "Knock the fuck out of it." he brought it down with enough force to shatter the hardened lava on the Agnaktor's head. It flailed wildly, screeching as it got to its feet, only to be greeted by a powerful slash from Pinkie's weapon. Having already had an eye gouged out, the blow to the face was enough to send the monster reeling, another loud screech escaping it. It tried to recover, but Wookie smashed the Warhammer relentlessly into the leviathan's foreleg. It tumbled again, and Pinkie managed to goug out its remaining eye, completely blinding the creature. It didn't have many more opportunities to attack before the pair sent the monster to meet the reaper. Its death wail shook the air, and the two of them, soaked in their own sweat, stood over the beast as it gave its death throes. Pinkie took the sheath off her back, putting her katana away. Wookie swung his Hammer around, latching it onto his back. "I'm a little surprised at how smoothly that went." Wookie spoke as the pair began to carve away at the monster. "I'm not. I mean, the laser beam was a bit surprising, but let's be honest. This thing was just a lava-chicken. I wasn't too worried." Pinkie spoke, hacking off a fin and putting it into her pouch. Wookie chuckled, shaking his head.