"Will ya stop fidgetin', sprout? This be hard enough as it is." Grumbled the wyverian artisan as he gathered measurements for Rainbow's set of armour. Said mare however, was not liking the fact she had to stand still while the artisan measured, it reminded her too much of her time in Rarity's boutique for her liking. The only thing that made her comply was that she was getting a badflank suit of armour out of this and not some pointless dress. Finally the artisan was done measuring.
"Ugh, finally." said Rainbow as she spread her wings for take-off, but a green claw in her face stopped her.
"Hold it there girl, one last thing before ya go" With that, a heavy load was dropped on her back, sending her flat on her stomach with an audible oof.
"What the hay was that for?" Rainbow ground out as she struggled to stand back up despite the load. Fortunately, the weight was immediately removed.
"Hmm, looks like ya can't wear blademaster armour. Too heavy for ya." Was what the artisan said as he went to his forge. With nothing holding her back, Rainbow was soon in the air. Doing small tricks like flips and twirls, she felt a grin spread across her muzzle as she heard the cheers from the kids below.
"Hey Rainbow, come down here for a minute." She heard Raiden call, and saw him over by his house waving at her. Shrugging, she flew down to the hunter, hovering at eye level with him.
"Yeah, what do you need?" She asked. Raiden beckoned her inside the house, bringing her to his storage chest. Opening it, he brought out several different looking weapons. There was a large metal spear-like one with a blade attached to the underside of a large tube, which was connected to a cylinder of some kind. A shield also rested on it (Iron Gunlance). The next one was something she had never seen before. It was long and made of both metal and bone of some kind, with a metal tube sticking out one end, and the other was attached with an oddly shaped piece of carved bone (Bone Blaster). The third weapon looked similar to the second, only smaller and less heavy (Cross Bowgun). The final weapon was something she was most familiar with; a bow. This one was made of bone, and had an odd piece that hung near the grip where the arrowhead would sit (Hunter's Bow 1).
"While the smith makes your armour I figured you'd like to find your weapon of choice. The artisan notified me that you could only wear gunner armour, so these are all my ranged weapons. I don't use them, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to give you one." Rainbow was puzzled at that.
"If you don't use them, why do you got them?" She asked.
"The hunter academy trains initiates in every weapon type until they've mastered the basics of it. After that it's up to the student to figure out what he or she works best with. I myself prefer the dual swords." Deciding to give it a whirl, Rainbow Tried the first weapon, only to stagger and flail at it's weight. She was also unable to grip the thing right. After managing to set it down, she tried the second weapon. this one was also a bit difficult for her to hold, and while the weight she could deal with, it would definitely keep her landlocked. Setting it down, she picked up the third one. The weight was not a bother for her both on the ground and in the air. but the problem came to actually using the thing. The weapon wasn't designed with a pony in mind, thus Rainbow had no way of firing the weapon. That only left the bow. Rainbow had dabbled a bit in archery before, so she knew how to aim and use it. She was also able to load the bow and decently fire it, which surprised Raiden due to the fact she had hooves and not fingers. One thing about the bow still puzzled her however.
"So what's this doohickey here for?" She asked, indicating the piece hanging off the grip.
"That is for arrow coatings." Raiden replied, and showed her how to load it. It took a bit of practice, but she was able to do it with little trouble. "Well, it looks like the bow suits you best Rainbow, though if you don't mind my asking, how is it you can grip the thing with those hooves?"
"Well it's not like they're stiff or anything." Replied Rainbow, showing Raiden her hooves. Raiden was surprised to see that Rainbow's hooves were actually soft and flexible. "It takes a bit of practice to learn how to grip the arrow and bowstring, but once you get that down there's nothing to it really."
"Impressive. Well the smith should be done with your armour by now, so lets not keep him waiting, or he'll chew both our ears off." The two shared a laugh at that, and returned to the smithy. Soon, Rainbow was decked in her new chainmail armour, Raiden having helped her get it on, and she was loving it.
"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh, this is so cool!" She screamed in excitement, rocketing around in the air doing flips and spins, moving so fast she was a grey blur with a rainbow contrail.
"Settle down Rainbow and follow me." Said Raiden, motioning for rainbow to follow, which she did. Walking down to the other side of the village, Raiden brought her before a large stall full of different goods stacked upon shelves. "This, Rainbow," He began waving an arm at the stall, "is the general store. It supplies all the basic necessities you and I will need during our hunts. Coatings for your arrows, whetstones for my blades, and an assortment of other helpful items. Understand all that?" Rainbow nodded, and Raiden led her to a counter with a large board beside it. "And this is the quest counter. You go here to sign up for guild quests, which is how you earn zenny."
"So why are you showing me all this?" Asked Rainbow.
"Well I thought it would be obvious Rainbow. I'm not going to do everything for you, you know. You're earning your own keep with me. I've had a word with my guild liaison here in the village and I've managed to set you up as my hunting apprentice. This means you will be a licensed hunter while in my presence during quests. This means that you can take a quest for yourself as long as I accompany you. I expect you then to earn your own zenny and not mooch off others." At this, Rainbow winced. She didn't exactly like the idea of mooching all that much, and this did sound pretty fair.
"Well I see where you're coming from, but I don't have any bi-er, zenny to my name here. I heard there was a fee for taking quests, so how am I supposed to take quests if I can't pay for them?"
"You make it seem like I'm going to leave you high and dry. You're coming with me on my next quest and we split the reward. You'll use those funds to earn your own keep, got it?" Rainbow saluted at that, and Raiden smiled. "Excellent. Now, as for that quest." He then went over to the girl standing behind the counter, who was poring over a book. "Hello sweetheart, what's the word with the guild?" The girl looked up at him and smiled.
"Well once again you've gotten incredible results." She replied, then looked over at Cha-Cha, who was dancing around with a couple of kids. "Who'd have thunk there actually was some mysterious thing in the woods, two at that." Then she saw the dour face of Rainbow. "Uh, no offence." Rainbow just huffed and turned away. Nervously chuckling, the guild liaison turned back to Raiden. "Anyway down to business. Letters from all across the land have come singing your praises. Know what that means? Drumroll... Presenting...A new hunting ground! The guild has authorized you to be able to visit and take quests in the Flooded Forest." At Raiden's interested look, the liaison smirked. "Wondering what sort of place it is? Yeah, me too. According to my in-depth guidebook..." Muttering something else Raiden didn't quite catch, the girl hefted a large tome from underneath the countertop. Setting it down with a large thud, she began flipping through it until she reached what she was looking for. "Aha! Here it is. Flooded forest. A forest flooded with water." Rainbow's jaw hung wide open at that. That book was huge, and all it had to say about that place was the complete obvious.
"What the buck! That's all there is on that place. Nothing on what lives and grows there? No monsters, nothing!?" She exclaimed.
"Hey, don't get at me, I didn't write the thing. Anyways, if you are headed there, don't forget your towel." Raiden sighed at this. He had nothing against them, but harvest tours could be so boring. The liaison then looked through a few documents, until one caught her interest. "Oh, the guild also wants you to hunt down a big monster in the Sandy Plains called a Qurupeco. Time to strut your stuff!" At this, Raiden's mood lifted considerably, a grin of anticipation wide on his face. Rainbow was also grinning, she'd get to participate in some real action. With that, Raiden accepted the Qurupeco quest, filled out the paperwork for it, and paid the fee. The liaison then stamped the document, making it official. Something about the paper caught Rainbow's eyes.
"Hey Raiden," She said, getting the hunter's attention. "What was with that big red question mark on the paper?"
"That Rainbow, meant the hunting ground was unstable." He replied, causing Rainbow to give him a baffled look. Realizing his error, Raiden sheepishly continued. "Right, sorry. Unstable hunting grounds mean that there might be another monster in the area who might crash the party. Given the fact that it's a Qurupeco we're up against, I'm not surprised at all."
"Any idea on what it's gonna be?" Rainbow asked, causing Raiden to shrug.
"Not a clue, though I highly doubt it's gonna be something extremely dangerous, like a Diablos, or worse, a Deviljho." That got Rainbow confused. The book that brought her here had information on the Diablos, but the other one was new to her.
"Um, what's a Deviljho?" She asked.
"Trust me when I say, Rainbow, you don't ever want to know. If on the astronomical chance that Qurupeco summons something like that, we turn right back around and get the heck out of there. Quest or not, we are nowhere near ready to fight something like a Deviljho." That got Rainbow frightened. Usually she would have boasted about how she could take it, but Raiden's tone told her if she were to try and mess with that thing, she'd be dead with no ifs, ands, or buts about it. On the subject of death though, what would happen to her if she did die here? would she be ejected out of the world, or would she really die. With no way of knowing, she wasn't going to risk it.
"Okay, got it. So, we heading out?" That grin of anticipation was back on Raiden's face with a vengeance.
"But of course." He said, twirling his dual blades in his hands with flourish.
The Sandy Plains looked pretty awesome to Rainbow. Craggy sandstone cliffs rose out of the ground with stiff and hardy grasses and shrubs growing out of them. Below, she could see a crystal blue lake with lush vegetation growing around it.. and beyond the plains stretched a massive desert as far as the eye could see.
"So where is this Qurupeco thing anyway?" She asked as her eyes roamed the land below, trying to pinpoint the monster, without success.
"No clue, but finding it is half the fun." Said Raiden with a grin. the two were currently at what Raiden called the basecamp; a sort of safe zone for the hunting group. Here was where a hunter was supplied and could rest during hunts. Raiden immediately went over to the big blue chest by the cliff edge. Opening it, he reached deep into it, his whole upper half nearly fitting inside, and came back out with a bunch of odd looking items. "Okay, the guild supplied us both, thank goodness. Here's your map of the area Rainbow. Don't lose it." Nodding, Rainbow took the item and placed it in her bag. " Okay, these are mine." Raiden placed four small stones into his pouch. "Let's see, we can ignore the torches and the bowgun ammo as we have no need of them, but these are yours." With that, he handed Rainbow two coating bandoliers, both filled with fifteen phials of a purple liquid. "Careful with those, those are poison coatings for your arrows. Oh, and here are some empty phials for making your own coatings, be sure to root around the areas we're in for ingredients and the like. Let's see here, ah, these are all yours. Six first aid medical drinks in case you get pretty banged up, and four ration bars to keep you going. I would suggest eating one right now to bolster your energy. Don't worry, they're completely meatless." Doing as Raiden said, she unwrapped one of the large bars and bit into it. Her eyes immediately widened, and she spat the piece out of her mouth.
"Oh sweet Celestia, that's disgusting!" She shrieked, trying to spit out the repulsive flavor of the bar.
"Yes it is. And your going to eat it as it's all you can eat on these quests unfortunately." Rainbow was crying tears of agony as she consumed the bar, her tongue screaming at her to stop, and her stomach threatening to send it back the way it came. Somehow, she managed to hold it down.
"And what about you?" She groaned out, still struggling to hold down the disgusting ration. Raiden just grinned at her.
"Lucky for me, I'm not strictly herbivorous." With that, Raiden pulled out of his pack a cooked piece of meat, still on the bone, and devoured it with a speed and ferocity that would have made Rarity utterly furious with the lack of manners. "Oh that was good." Said Raiden as he patted his belly in contentment.
"I hate you, so bucking much right now." Rainbow ground out, and Raiden just laughed. With that out of the way, the hunter once again went through the pile.
"Okay, lets see here. Two sonic, paint, and dung bombs for the both of us, and the most important thing of all, cool drinks." Rainbow's brows raised in confusion at that.
"Cool drinks?" She echoed.
"Yup. Feel how hot it is out?" At Rainbow's nod, he continued. "Well, when we get into the desert areas, this heat's going to amplify, a lot. You might as well be in a stone oven, 'cause you will get cooked alive out there. Cool drinks stop that nasty process from happening, so for future reference, make absolutely sure you bring cool drinks to any mission involving the Sandy Plains, got it?" Rainbow nodded, already planning to do so the moment Raiden mentioned being cooked alive.
"One question though. What the hay are the dung bombs for?" Asked Rainbow, her snout crinkling in disgust at the thought of chucking an animal's crap around.
"That's in case any unknown monster in the hunting ground decides to crash the party. Chuck one of those at it and it'll be gone faster than you can say, 'get lost'." Nodding, Rainbow took her share of the equipment.
"Just one last thing before we go." Said Rainbow, getting Raiden's attention. "Why the hay is the idiot with us?" She asked, pointing a hoof at Cha-Cha,
"Cha-Hey! Cha-Cha not idiot! Cha-Cha demand minion apologize-alaka right this instant!" Screamed the Shakalaka in fury.
"Aside from the fact that he'll annoy Junior to absolutely no end if I left him behind, Cha-Cha has his uses. Shakalaka dances have an odd shamanic power to them that have a variety of beneficial effects for them and their allies, mainly healing, so I would suggest you keep on his good side." He then leant over to Rainbow Dash's ear, and continued in a whisper. "plus it gives our quarry a target other than us to attack." Rainbow Dash couldn't help it, she erupted in powerful belly laughter.
"Cha-Hey! Cha-Cha hope minions not be joking about me behind back-alaka."
"Of course not Cha-Cha, wouldn't dream of it." Replied Raiden, though he himself was barely containing his own laughter.
The hunt for the Qurupeco wasn't as fast as Rainbow would have liked. They had spent their time looking around in the plains section of the hunting grounds, with no luck in any of the sections.
"Well it's official, the thing's hiding out in the desert areas." Said Raiden as they checked sector four, again.
"Yeah, but which one?" Asked Rainbow, not liking the idea of looking through a desert to find one stupid bird, even with cool drinks.
"Hmm, I don't know for certain. It could be anywhere in there really, and monsters can take the heat of the desert way better than we can, lucky jerks." Rainbow let out a slight giggle at that. Suddenly, she heard something. It was faint in the distance, but it was unmistakable. It was the same yelping howls of that big carnivorous monster back in Moga Woods.
"Raiden, you know that monster you saved me from, the big one."
"The Great Jaggi? Yeah, why?" He asked, confused as to what the pegasus was getting at.
"I just heard it's calls. They were coming from that way" She answered, pointing towards sector eight of the hunting ground. Raiden had heard nothing, but his gut told him to trust Rainbow's words. nodding, he led the group to the area.
"Raiden, why are we going after the Jaggi? Shouldn't we be looking for the Qurupeco?" Rainbow asked as she and Cha-Cha followed the hunter.
"I would explain, but you'll learn better if you see for yourself." He replied. The trio soon entered the area, and Rainbow realized that Raiden may have been understating things about the heat. She was just about to pull out a cool drink, when Raiden stopped her, and pointed at a spire of rock. Looking at it, she saw a Great Jaggi and his pack barking and looking about in confusion. Just before she could ask Raiden what was going on, the yelping calls of the Great Jaggi reverberated through the area, but the Jaggi didn't make them, the bird on top of the spire did. It was a bright green colour with a flexible bill-like beak. Bluish grey scales covered the arms of it's winged forelimbs, and on the end of each wing was a strange dark red lump of what looked to be an odd cross of bone and stone. The wings themselves weren't feathered like she expected them to be, but the weren't completely like a bat's either as there were no support bones running through them. As the Qurupeco made it's call, she noticed a portion of the neck had inflated like a red balloon .
"It can copy other monster's cries?" She asked in amazement.
"That's just one of the things it can do. Now look sharp, it's flying away." True to his word, the Qurupeco abandoned it's perch and took off. Rainbow however had other ideas, and promptly shot off after the bird. "No Rainbow, wait!" he hollered after her, but it was futile. "Dammit, she has no idea what that thing can do. Okay, it was flying south, and a little to the east, putting it on a course to... sector three. Come on Cha-Cha, let's pull Rainbow's meat out of the fire." As he said it, Raiden could only hope it wouldn't become literal.
Landing with a thud, the Qurupeco strutted over to the water. It could see the fish swimming just beyond the muddy flooded banks of the lake, and it was hungry. Suddenly, a piercing pain hit the Qurupeco in the back like a Bnahabra sting. Squawking, it spun around, only to see nothing. Then a second sting struck it, then a third. no matter where it turned however, it could not see it's aggressor. Deciding enough was enough, the Qurupeco inflated it's vocalizer, flexed it's bill into a trumpet shape and let out a Great Jaggi distress call that echoed for miles. Rainbow Dash, who was shooting the bird from it's blind zones while keeping out of sight, just snickered. All the thing could do to fight back was imitate some kind of barking call? This was going to be too easy, Continuing her current strategy, Rainbow lined up a shot for the Qurupeco's back, only for pain to flare in her left hind leg. Shouting in pain and surprise, she involuntarily fired the arrow off course. Looking down at her leg, Rainbow was surprised to see a small Jaggi gnawing at it. The armour kept the fangs back, but the pressure from the biting was still painful.
"Let go you stupid thing." She gritted out, trying to kick the lizard off of her, but the thing held on for dear life, applying even more pressure. Suddenly, Rainbow's ears caught the sound of flint clicking together. Glancing at the source, Rainbow's eyes widened when she saw the Qurupeco leap straight for her, forelimbs pointed forward. Due to the Jaggi holding her, Rainbow couldn't get out of the way, and the two bone lumps on the birds wings slammed together right in front of her, hitting her hard with an explosion of force and fire that sent her careening backwards, her body smoldering. Just as Rainbow recovered she was hit by the attack again, this time the blast sending her into the muddy banks of the lake, which thankfully doused the flames. Groaning, Rainbow Dash struggled to rise, but was slammed into the ground repeatedly as the Qurupeco brought it's bill down on her with the force of a hammer blow. After finishing with smashing the pegasus into the ground, the monster leaped away from her and hovered in the air, allowing the group of Jaggi it had summoned to rip at the defenseless mare. Rainbow screamed as she was beset upon by the group of carnivores as they bit and pulled. Her armour was doing it's best to keep the teeth away, but the fangs were tiny enough to slip through the loops. One jaggi caught one of her exposed wings in his jaws, the fangs easily punching through her skin, and she screamed in pain, the reflexive flapping of her wing only making things worse.
Just as the Jaggi began pulling, it let go with a shrieking cry as a blade carved a deep gash into it's side. A dervish dance of metal soon surrounded the downed pegasus, sending the group of Jaggi everywhere. The ones not killed by the furious attack scampered off, their prey now guarded by a furious hunter. The Qurupeco, it's plan foiled, hopped about in anger, it's wings flapping furiously, However, Cha-Cha whacked it with enough force to send it toppling to the ground, flailing and squawking as it tried getting to it's feet. Raiden was on it in a second, slashing, hacking, and whirling as he laid into the stunned bird, dishing out as much damage as he could before it rose. Managing to get up, the Qurupeco spread it's tail wide and spun, whacking Cha-Cha away from it. It spun again, the wind generated blowing Raiden back, halting his offence. Targeting Raiden as he had established himself as the most dangerous, the Qurupeco fired off a barrage of odd green liquid, which Raiden easily avoided. Clacking together it's flint stones once more, The Qurupeco lunged for the hunter. Raiden rolled away, avoiding the first blast, and rolled again, avoiding the second. On the bird's third lunge, Raiden simply backed up a bit, giving himself enough room to avoid the Qurupeco's final strike, but also kept him close enough to immediately go back on the offensive. Rainbow Dash then looked over at Cha-Cha, and saw that the Shakalaka had begun to dance, if one could call it that. when the dance was completed, Rainbow suddenly felt rejuvenated. Everything still hurt, but nowhere near as bad as before. Casting her attention back to Raiden, she saw the hunter mercilessly slash at the Qurupeco's wings.
Then she saw it happen like it was in slow motion. The smaller of Raiden's blades came up spikes first, and struck the bird's flint stone, the sound of cracking stone reaching Rainbow's ears. The blade then came down in a slash on the same spot, causing the cracking sound again. Finally, Raiden spun in a slash with the second, more weighty blade, and upon striking the stone, shattered a large chunk of it into pieces and sending the bird sprawling once more. Instead of hurling himself into a full offensive however, Raiden sheathed his blades and brought out one of the stones he had taken from the chest back at camp. Taking his blades off his back, he quickly sharpened them, finishing just in time as the Qurupeco was getting back up. Reaching into his pouch once more, Raiden pulled out a paint bomb and lobbed it at the monster, the item successfully impacting the monster a moment before it leaped high into the air, and flew off when it gained enough height. Satisfied that the coast was clear, Raiden turned his attention to Rainbow Dash, his eyes displaying his anger loud and clear to the pegasus.
"That, was the stupidest thing you could have possibly done." Said Raiden, the anger in his tone causing Rainbow to flinch. "If I wasn't an excellent aerial tracker, those Jaggi would have torn you apart." Reaching the pegasus, he hauled her roughly to her hooves. "You broke no less than four major rules of hunting. First rule, never separate from the hunting party. As soon as the Qurupeco took off, what did you do? You completely left me and Cha-Cha behind. If I wasn't as good a tracker as I am, I most likely would never have gotten here in time to save your sorry hide." Rainbow winced in shame, her ears folded back, but there was still more to come. "Second rule, never underestimate your quarry. I'll admit that strategy of yours had some good merit to it, but when that bird called for help, you just snickered and kept attacking, never once exhibiting any sort of caution as to what that call could have been."
"Wait a minute, how did you know about that? you just showed up when the Jaggi were all over me." Rainbow asked.
"I actually got here when the buzzard began calling for help. As for why I didn't immediately step in, well, why do you thing the big one didn't show?" Rainbow winced again, realizing just how big she had screwed up with that one. Raiden however, wasn't done there.
"Third rule, Never, under any circumstances, ever, ignore your quarry. So you had a Jaggi holding onto your leg? Suck it up and keep your focus on the bird. Because you decided that the Jaggi was more important, that Qurupeco's ambush plan went off like clockwork. If you had kept focus on the bird, it would never have gotten you into that position in the first place." Rainbow was feeling like she was in a hole of her own making she couldn't get out of, and Raiden was still going.
"Finally, rule number four, always mark you quarry before engaging it. This may not seem important, but it is. We are on a time limit with every quest we take, and if times up, the guild sends us home. Furthermore, time we have to spend hunting the thing down is time it can spend recovering. By marking our quarries, we can easily give chase to the damn thing even if it flies or burrows, thus being able to intercept it should it try to recuperate. Even now, I have to waste limited time pounding all this into your brash dense head. Don't you ever try to hunt on your own again. You are the apprentice here, so you will follow my lead, Am. I. Clear!" Rainbow nodded furiously, feeling like the postermare for biggest idiot ever. Raiden had just given her a dressing down that put every single one of captain Spitfire's to absolute shame, and she deserved it all. Raiden was right about everything, and it hurt her to see the sheer amount of risk she had put on not only the quest, but her own life as well.
"and here I was this morning, telling myself to play it safe. I'm such an idiot." Just then, Rainbow felt Raiden's arms wrap around her in a hug.
"Now listen," He said in a much gentler tone. "I know I just made you feel like utter crap, but I did that because I care about you. Right now, you're my responsibility, and because of your actions, you put yourself in huge danger. The thing is, this is just as much my fault as it is yours. I forgot that not only have you never been to the monster hunter academy, but you're a complete stranger to our very world. I just threw you into this without even teaching you the most important things about this job. So, don't go feeling too bad, cause I'm just as big an idiot as you right now. Let it be said now that when Raiden joins a hunting party, every member is a family member, so if you're ever in danger I'm coming for you, and nothing is going to get in my way. Heck, I think that's the fastest I've ever taken down a Great Jaggi. Just please, make my job easier and use some common sense next time." Nodding, Rainbow returned the hug, the tender moment helping her feel better.
"Blech, Cha-cha's stomach can't take all this mushy-mushy. Me going to puke-alaka." And just like that the mood was destroyed by rapid fire crag shot. Both a fist and a hoof collided into the Shakalaka's masked face, sending him flying.
"Again, why did we take him along?" asked Rainbow Dash as she and Raiden separated and got up.
"You know, I thought I had a good reason, but now not so much." The two then remembered what they were here for. "Right then, let's bring that buzzard down." Said Raiden, and the hunt was resumed.
"Damn it, what does it take for this stupid thing to go down!" Screamed Rainbow as she continued firing arrows at the Qurupeco, her entire coating stock having been depleted a while ago. The trio had been chasing and fighting the monster all over the plains area, and now they were currently in sector seven, and hopefully at the end of this hunt.
"Bloody hell, that's it." Snarled Raiden as he was once again forced to disengage to sharpen his blades. "Next quest I take is that harvest tour of Flooded Forest. These damn swords can't keep their sharpness for any decent length of time." Over the course of the hunt, Rainbow and Raiden had laid down the hurt on their quarry. Both it's flint stones were broken, it was barely coherent and couldn't stop swaying and drooling, and it was getting a whole lot easier to knock the thing around. Just as it puffed up it's vocalizer to call for Melynx reinforcements, Rainbow shot the red organ with as much strength as she could muster. The strike stopped the bird's cries cold, and had it scampering away, though exhaustion caught up with it quickly and it tripped. Raiden was once again on the monster, dealing massive damage. As the Qurupeco rose back onto it's feet, it once again tried flying away, but Rainbow was tired of this game. Flying above it, she used an arrow to slash at it's back as it rose, then fired the arrow, sending the thing careening back to the ground. Pulling the string back as far as it could go, Rainbow delivered a wide spread of arrows into the grounded Qurupeco. With a final shriek, the bird collapsed, groaned, and laid still, dead.
"Final-bucking-ly." wheezed out Rainbow Dash as she hovered down to Raiden. "Now what?"
"Now we call the Felyne team to cart the monster's carcass to the collector's office here in the hunting grounds. He'll then supply us with our cash reward and a bunch of choice materials from the carcass that can be used to make armour and weapons."
"Well what the hay are we waiting for? I'm exhausted, and can't wait to crash into bed when I get back." With that, Raiden blew some sort of small whistle, and a minute later, four Felynes with a large cart came rushing to the site. Gathering up the monster's carcass, the four Felynes then rushed to the collection office, the trio following at a much more leisurely pace. Upon getting their reward and spoils, the two were soon heading back home.
The sun was just touching the ocean when the group of three returned back home to Moga Village. Rainbow was practically dead on her hooves as she stumbled for the home she was currently sharing with Raiden. Raiden himself was also tired, but was way better off than Rainbow, and Cha Cha was already asleep, a snot bubble expanding and contracting out through a breathing hole in his mask.
"So kid," Said the village chief as Raiden walked by, "how went the hunt?"
"Well we had a rocky start, but we pulled it off." Was the tired reply.
"And did the pony learn anything?" Raiden smirked.
"Oh trust me, she learned a lot. Some of it was easy, the rest she learned the hard way, but she learned all I had to teach her for today." Smiling, the chief clapped Raiden's shoulder, giving it an encouraging squeeze.
"See, I told you bringing her with you was a good idea. Now I'll let you know that Junior's been hearing weird calls from the forest during his resource gatherin' forays, and we think the culprit's a Qurupeco. He'll let you if he hears another one in there if you're goin' in." With that, the chief walked off. Unfortunately for Raiden, he was ambushed by the village children pleading him to recount the tale of his finished hunt.
"The things I do for kids." Raiden muttered before he began.