//------------------------------// // Eventful Visitor // Story: Monster Hunting: No Way! // by GhostlyDarkness //------------------------------// "We're doing a what quest?" Twilight asked smiling. Rain shook his head, yet couldn't help to crack a grin and her enthusiasm, "I said we're doing an event quest," he repeated to her. The two of them moved themselves to a busy port full of hunters from far and wide coming to take quests, to trade, and to enjoy the luxuries of life. "What's an event quest?" Twilight asked smiling. "It's a special quest that opens whenever there's a special monster or there's a huge amount of monsters in one area or any other conditions that may apply for there to a be a special quest," he explained shaking his head. "Anyway there have been large hordes of Shogun Ceanataurs appearing in the volcanic questing area so the guild has issued an event quest to take down at least three of these monsters," he said handing the paper over to Twilight. Twilight read the paper carefully before looking back at Rain with a worried expression. "Hunting basically inside of a volcano? That doesn't seem too safe," she said pondering the thought. "Wouldn't it be impossible anyway considering the temperature of inside and the lava nearby?" she asked. Rain smirked and shook his head, "don't worry I have you covered but let's get there first," he said before guiding her to the familiar process of being able to get to the hunting grounds. The two of them wore matching red and black armor. The spiky red and black scales of the Rathalos along with metal padding to be extra durable and protective. Rain's helmet covered his whole face, but had a metal piece for him to look through and breath. His shoulders had the larger black spikes of the Rathalos while his faulds hung downwards reached the back of his knee. Twilight's armor was somewhat similar. Her helmet exposed her face and her left arm was heavily plated with Rathalos scales. Her faulds hung unevenly to her left side and reached near her upper thigh. "So you still haven't explained to me how we're going to be able to stand the heat in there to be able to hunt anything," she said getting out of the air balloon and immediately checking the quest box which held all the equipment they will need for the quest. Rain took out a bottle and tossed it over to her, "here drink this," he said simply. Twilight looked at the bottle and noticed it looked similar to what she had drank in the tundra. "Hmm," she said before drinking it down. "I feel pretty cold now," she said with a shiver. "That's the point genius," Rain teased. "Anyway let's get a move on," he said as he packed his newly made Kibamaru onto his back. It's blade seemed to be wet even in the increasing heat of the volcano it could still stay wet enough to keep from heating up. Twilight rolled her eyes before joining him with her Queen Blaster lll made out of the Rathian they took down from before. It was the pure embodiment of the wyvern into the bow. The glistening green scales in the light from the volcanic area made it look stunning. "So what is a Shogun Ceanataur?" she asked as they walked into the volcano. Rain shrugged his shoulders, "I'm sorry I don't know this one," he said with a slight chuckle. "This particular species of monster is from an entire different region than here," he said lightly. Twilight frowned, "you're supposed to be the monster expert how are we going to fight something that we don't even know what it looks like, or what it can do, or if we're even ready for it?!" she asked in blazing heat of questions. Rain couldn't help to smile even though his armor didn't show it for him. "Well i'm guessing this would be one," he said pointing to a blue looking dead crab-like creature. It seemed to be using another monster's skull as it's shell. It's pincers looked razor sharp and deadly. "This thing looks like it was being hunted so I'm guessing we're not the only hunters here right now," he said looking at the lacerations on the monster's body. "Oooh this'll be interesting I've never talked to any other hunters besides you," she said excitedly. "Don't get your hopes up," he said looking around. "A lot of hunters like to solo their hunts nowdays there are very few who form a hunting party," he said grimly. "And the solo hunters don't tend to be too nice to other hunters hunting their prey," he said continuing on. "I see," Twilight said carefully. She paused to look around the lava infested cavern before she spotted another dead monster off in the opposite direction they were heading. "Why don't we go see who it is," she said running off towards the dead monster. "No!" Rain said as he ran to chase her. "I see another one after this one," Twilight yelled back to Rain who was nearly caught up with her. She then suddenly stopped and Rain caught up to stand at her side slightly panting. The sounds of slashing blades echoed throughout the caverns. "They're over here!" she said pointing down a small gap in the wall leading to another part of the cave. Rain sighed, "fine let's go," he said reluctantly. Twilight smiled and grabbed his hand to lead him through the gap to reveal a spectacular sight. A hunter in an armor that seemed to be made of blades themselves. The whole set looked like standard knight armor except for the sharp edges that looked like they could be a weapon on their own. The armor was blue-ish with white tinges in it and looked almost like the Shogun Ceanataur. The hunter seemed to be wielding a pair of Grimmest Noxwings and dashing around the monster zipping in and out of slashes. He seemed to be everywhere at once. His blades would occasionally collide with the Ceanataur's blade-like pincers that created the sound of clashing blades. Accompanying this was the sounds of happiness and glee as the hunter seemed to dash around the monster recklessly slashing away at it. "C'mon let's help him," Twilight said flipping out her bow and readying a shot. Rain put his hand infront of her to block her, "wait just watch," he said looking intently at the fight. The hunter seemed to dance with the two blades in his hands, yet it still had the appearance of recklessness of one who dared to kill just for the kill with no art. After a couple minutes of watching the monster looked worn out and began to dig underground. "Damn! First one that got away!" the hunter said in a slight rage. He threw a couple more slashes at the air before throwing the two blades over his back, "oh well no matter I came looking for a particular one of these..." he stopped as he spotted Twilight and Rain. He approached them in a slow walking manner and seemed intimidating every step closer he came. Rain stepped forward to look at the hunter, "that was nice bladeswork," he said in a somewhat light tone. The hunter looked at him intently, his armor not showing his true emotions before he replied, "thanks, I didn't know the guild would let a couple of novices do this quest," he said as he looked down at Rain. Rain looked back at him, a hidden glare in his eyes. "Ok then, we'll get out of your way then.." he said ready to turn around. "Hold up one minute there mister!" Twilight said coming up to the mysterious hunter. "Who do you think you are we're just as qualified to be on this quest as you so you have no right to say we're novices," she said with fury. "You better apologize to Rain because he's been teaching me how to hunt all this time and we took on many monsters even both a Rathian and a Rathalos at the same time!" she said getting even closer to the hunter. The mysterious hunter looked down at Twilight before chuckling, "you sure got some temper there misseee," he said beginning to break into a laugh. "If you're so sure of yourself and your teacher then why don't you prove yourself then, defeat one of these beasts," he said in a challenging tone. "Fine!" she said sternly. "And who am I addressing?" she asked with purple eyes full of anger. The hunter paused for a moment before answering, "my name is Soul," he answered simply. "Hmm...ok one Ceanataur no problem," Twilight said then grabbing Rain to pull him back through the gap. "Let's go find ourselves a Shogun," she said in a vicious tone. Rain looked at Twilight with a shocked expression. He had never seen her angry and she seemed like an enraged savage Deviljho(that's for another chapter). There was a puff cloud suddenly emerging a couple feet away from the two to reveal a pair of blue pincers pierce through the ground and grab it to pull it's full self out of the ground. Twilight already had her bow drawn all the way back to launch a single arrow from the string to fly right through the monster. The Shogun turned around to face the two hunters before quickly charging at them with it's claws extended outwards. Rain drew his sword to realize there was lava on both sides of them and that he couldn't dodge the crab creature's attack. Twilight still focused on the monster unflinching and unwavering before launching another arrow to flinch it and stop it's attack. Rain nodded before charging in with his sword. He needed to push it backwards or lead it back so they could have ample space to fight it. "Twi stop shooting it for a moment," yelled over to her. She obeyed him until she heard Soul's voice behind her, "you just let him boss you around like that?" he asked in a dark teasing fashion. Twilight frowned before continuing to fire arrows at the monster drawing it's attention back to her. Rain looked at her with a confused look, "I need you to stop shooting so I can lure the monster away," he said as the monster seemed to be more interested with her than Rain. Twilight looked even more determined and ignored his order and continued to fire arrows at the creature. The arrows seemed to be doing nothing to it before it raised up a claw and forced it downwards. Rain dashed in between the claw and Twilight. The claw was inches off from her head, yet she didn't look phased by the development. "This is just sad," Soul said shaking his head disappointingly. "Oh don't help both of you," Rain said struggling to keep the Shogun's pincer from slashing downwards anymore. Soul sighed before taking out his dual blades and dashing in past Rain to deliver a flurry of slashes into the beast's face. It flinched lifting it's pincer from Rain's block and backed up slightly. He then proceeded to dash around while slashing wildly at it before causing it to collapse over and remain still. He then sheathed his swords and walked up to Twilight, "you need to trust you're partner more," he said grimly. Twilight looked at Soul with rage before her expression faded to realization, "but you were saying all those things..." she said softly. "So what? That doesn't mean not to follow your partner's orders which he is telling you because he wants the best for you and himself," he said seriously. "In the midst of a fight you can't let your trust be fragile and break, you're trust for that person has to be strong enough for you both to survive," he said before slipping through the gap. Twilight stood there for a moment just as Rain came up to her. "What's going on? you didn't hear me? I needed you to stop shooting so I could've drawn it's attention to lure it out into a better spot to fight it," he said with deep concern laced in his voice. Twilight frowned and didn't respond. She felt embarrassed to be shown that still after all this time her trust for Rain was fragile and flimsy. They would've been in serious trouble if Soul wasn't there to save them. She sighed before turning to Rain, "I'm sorry..." she said softly. Rain looked at her confused, but before he could respond a pair of black and crimson red pincers pierced through the ground and pulled up a dark brown and red Shogun Ceanataur. It's pincers looked even larger than the regular blue Ceanataurs. It also wore the black skull of a mysterious large wyvern. It looked over at them before letting out a oddly sounded cry. Rain quickly rushed in at the monster and began slashing at it until it swung it's left pincer in a low swing towards him. He expertly stopped the pincer with a block before slightly looking back at Twilight. "Poison coating now!" he demanded. Twilight looked down at her bow before closing her eyes for a moment and exhaling. Trust she said in her mind before slipping an arrow into the nock and letting it fly into the creature. The Shogun backed up letting out a similar cry to before and pounding on the ground with it's sharp claws forcing Rain to dodge roll right underneath it to end up on behind it. Twilight loaded the poison coatings while the Shogun focused mainly on Rain who began fade away slashing at it trying to avoid it's swift claws. Soul appeared behind Twilight before noticing the new Shogun that had appeared. "Yes! There you are," he said in a happier tone. Twilight ignored Soul and continued to fire arrows at the creature. It seemed to be paying very little attention to the arrows flying into it's back. "Why does it look like my arrows aren't having any effect on this thing?" she asked herself sounding frustrated. "Because you need to break that shell," Soul said rushing past her. He pulled out his dual swords and charged full speed at the creature's shell and began recklessly attacking it. The Shogun still seemed to be interested in Rain who was dodging and attacking in an unseeable pattern. He seemed to be slowing down from exhaustion. "Switch!" Soul yelled over to Rain who nodded and rolled underneath the Shogun's legs. Soul rolled in place of Rain and ended up in front of the monster. "Keep attacking the shell till it breaks," he said before crossing his blades together and dancing around slashing at the monster wildly. Rain focused harder using wide and accurate slashes to hit the monster's shell, slowly chipping it away. Twilight decided to switch up her shots and applied left overs of the special coating Rain gave her. She fired a barrage of arrows before the Shogun looked as if it couldn't move. She paralyzed it and long enough for Rain to break that monster's shell and Soul to do a considerable amount of damage and apparently poisoning it. The Shogun spun around and slashed in a low sweep and sent Soul and Rain flying backwards towards a pool of lava. The creature seeing the time the two threats it saw were down burrowed back into the ground. Soul hopped to his feet, "hurry I know where it's going," he said following a couple small dust clouds that seemed to be heading away from the area. Rain slowly got up before being accompanied by Twilight. "Quickly let's follow him," he said as the two of them ran to catch up with Soul. The puff clouds ended in another cavern, but this are seemed to have a small overhang with on every other side waterfall of lava pouring down into a lake down at the bottom of the edges. "It's in here," Soul said entering slowly having his poisonous dual swords out. Both their purple and black blades dripping with a purple liquid. Rain and Twilight entered after him slowly and cautiously. What none of them knew was that the Shogun was on the ceiling, quietly climbing and getting into position. Just as soon as Soul put his swords away it launched a beam of what looked like water at him. He went tumbling backwards towards the edge of the platform. "Twi get it down and I'll go help Soul out," he said sheathing his sword and running over to stop his comrade from falling into the lake of lava below him. Twilight nodded and looked upwards at the monster getting into place to blast Rain with the same kind of beam. Twilight quickly drew her bow and began shooting upwards at the Shogun. The arrows seemed to do nothing to it though and it continued to get into position. Trust the word repeated in her mind again. Twilight closed her eyes and focused intently, she could hear her own heart beating slowly. I don't only have to trust them, but I have to trust myself she thought to herself before releasing the arrow that seemed to fly straight for the monster and surprisingly knocked it down onto it's back for it to struggle to get up. Rain pulled Soul up who seemed to ignore his gesture and hurried over to the monster and began attacking it again. Rain rolled his eyes and joined him in the assault on the vulnerable monster until Soul pushed him backwards. "That's enough," he said before tossing down a small disk that seemed to emit some kind of faint light. "Here on the count of three throw this at it," he said handing him a bomb casing. Before Rain could ask the Shogun hopped back to it's feet only to be shocked by what looked to be a shock trap. "One, two, three!" Soul said as he and Rain threw the bomb casing at the monster before it fell over and laid, yet it still seemed to be alive. "What was that?" Rain asked looking over at Soul. Soul chuckled lightly, "that's how to catch a monster a task I see you've experienced till now," he said seriously. Twilight ran over to join Rain, "it's still alive?" she asked. "Yes because I have a quest to catch this Terra Shogun Ceanataur," Soul said sighing. "I just didn't count on it being this toug-- I mean pesky," he said putting away his blades. Twilight and Rain sighed, "I guess we better get back, I've had enough of these Ceanataurs," Rain said exhausted. "Just a minute," she said before walking over to Soul who seemed just as tired. "Hey we looked like a real team out there and I'm sure there's more you could teach both of us," she said extending out her hand to him. "Will you join us on a quest to hunt the Dire Miralis," she asked slightly smiling. Soul paused before shaking her hand, "sure," he answered with a serious voice contained with excitement.