//------------------------------// // Chapter 24 - Vinyl the Destitute(Let Me Scratch Your Brain) // Story: Monster Hunter Pie // by BronyArmitage //------------------------------// Vinyl clambered up into the ship, the cold tundra air whipping snow into her face. She took survey her surroundings, searching for something specific. She spotted what she was looking for. The musician walked over, placing both hands onto the latch that held the ramp up. Giving it a hard tug, her hands almost slipping on the thin layer of frost, she managed to loose it. The ramp dropped loudly to the pier, which was covered perilously with ice. Wookie and Pinkie stepped back as it slammed into the wooden structure beneath them. The swordsman ascended first, hauling the Heavy Bowgun over his shoulder and walking carefully onto the deck of the ship. Though not as icy as the pier, the incline of the boarding ramp called for caution. Pinkie was not far behind, carrying the motionless body of the Gunner. She was the only one who had survived from her group, albeit not in the best of shape. The Huntress set her down and pulled the ramp back up, slamming the latch into place. They all had a dusting of snow on their armor, and Wookie's eyebrows appeared to be completely frozen. "Let's get below deck." Vinyl said. Her voice was hollow. The trio had taken time to carve up the Stygian, and Vinyl had gotten what she needed, but the fact that they had murdered two Hunters was wearing heavily on her. She closed her eyes, leading the way into the ship's cabin, and found a chair at the small table in the middle of the room. Her partners were close behind; Wookie propped the Bowgun up against the wall, and Pinkie laid its owner down carefully onto one of the hammocks. They joined her at the table. Despite the freezing outside air, the cabin was quite warm. The only sounds that interrupted the silence were water lapping against the ship, and the creaking of the wood as they rocked gently on the waves. Not a word was exchanged between the Hunters for a long time. They were each lost in their own world. Vinyl was swimming in guilt, the face of the silver-armored Hunter swimming to the forefront of her thoughts. She buried the heels of her hands into her eyes, sighing. Wookie's thoughts were elsewhere. Mostly, they dwelled on the former Guildmaster who had placed faith in him. Seemed to trust him. Why would she want us dead? Or...maybe...maybe it had nothing to do with me. His eyes moved slowly towards Pinkie. The Dual Blader seemed completely nonplussed. She bobbed her head back and forth to a song only she could hear, her hair bouncing with her. She wondered what she would eat when they got back to Tanzia. She snapped into the real world to see her partners staring at her. "What? Is there something on my face?" She poked a finger into her cheek, then glided her hand around, searching for an offending blemish that didn't exist. "You're so...you right now!" Wookie exclaimed. "How are you completely unaffected by what just happened?" "Sometimes you have to look at the bright side of things, Wook!" She pressed her index finger against the tip of his nose. "It could have, just as easily, been us dead in the snow back there." He opened his mouth to argue, but couldn't find the words. She was right. "I guess it was us or them." He agreed, but his voice was crestfallen. His shoulders slumped. "You do feel something, though, right?" Vinyl's voice came quietly. There was a hint of judgement behind her words, as though she already knew the answer. "Look, Scratchie, I know you've lost a partner before." The musician was taken aback and Wookie snapped his head over to stare at her. She had never mentioned it, not once, since they'd known each other. "So, I understand why you want to feel bad about killing other Hunters. I don't relish in the fact that I had to do it. I'm not going to go home and throw a party. But I accept the fact that none of us would have walked away from that encounter, and I wasn't going to let that happen." "I...well...but..." Vinyl searched for an argument. Any moral ground to stand on. Like Wookie, however, the musician found herself at the mercy of Pinkie's logic. "Exactly!" Pinkie grinned, bouncing slightly in her chair. "Now, since I've cracked open the egg, why don't you spill the yolk, Scratchie! What happened to your partner?" "The...the way you worded that severely diminishes the seriousness of this story..." Vinyl said, hiding her face in her hands after she spoke. She took a deep breath, her eyes moving back and forth between her friends, who watched her with rapt attention. "It happened about three years ago..." /)(\ "Vinyl!" A voice rang through the musician's room. She opened her eyes, staring over at the clock on her nightstand. It was early, too early for the blue-haired Huntress to have the drive to hoist herself out of bed. "Vinyl!!" The voice was closer, smooth as silk but authoritative. Footsteps were cutting the silence. Making it difficult for her to fall back asleep. "Vinyl! Get up!" The voice's owner was in the room, now. Standing in the doorway and staring, disapprovingly, at the Huntress who didn't appear to have moved. "Fi'mo'minutes..." Not a real word, but Vinyl uttered it all the same. She rolled over, wrapping herself deeper into the cocoon she'd made of her blankets. "No, I have already given you much more time than usual." The invading Huntress, who's charcoal colored hair and lavender eyes seemed to mesh perfectly with her voice. "We are going out on our first Hunt today, and I will not be late." "Ugh! Fine!" Vinyl threw the blanket off, sitting up in a flash. Her two-toned hair bounced up into its normal spikes. She rubbed the sleep from her magenta eyes, grumbling a few choice words about her views on getting out of bed before noon. "You're a bully in the morning, 'Tavi." The sleepy Huntress spoke as she stood up. "I really wish you would just use my full name, Vinyl." The charcoal-haired Huntress spoke, shaking her head. "Sorry Octavia." A nearly visible layer of sarcasm dripped from her voice. "It's just us in the room. Relax a bit." Despite being barely awake, she couldn't help but grin. Octavia Philharmonica was Vinyl Scratch's closest friend, and had been for as long as either of them could remember. They had grown up together, and had decided to become Monster Hunters together. There was rarely a time where you would see one without the other. Other people at the Academy swore they were attached at the hip. The only thing they didn't do together was choose what weapon they would specialize in. Vinyl had chosen the Hunting Horn. The heavy, musical weapon suited her. She loved the songs she could play, and was always happy to help the Hunters her and Octavia trained with with her melodies. Octavia, on the other hand, though quite fond of the Horn herself, decided to pick the Dual Blades. She had based her decision off what Vinyl had chosen. It seemed silly for there to be two Hunting Horn users in a group, so she took another road. It had taken her a long time to get used to the Dual Blades, but she had finally gotten the hang of it. Something about them felt wrong to her, at first. Alien, even. Through grit and determination, she had stuck it out with them, though, and had come to appreciate them as they were. "Just get dressed, Vinyl." The other Huntress spoke, heading for the door. "I'll meet you down in the courtyard." "Yeah, yeah. I'll be down in a minute." Vinyl waved her hand, shooing her away as she put on the set of leather armor that all new Hunters wore. Vinyl jogged into the courtyard, her newly forged Bone Horn latched to her back. Octavia was standing there, arms folded, with a look that on her face that made Vinyl question whether or not she should have come downstairs at all. "Heh...heheheh." The blue-haired Huntress laughed uneasily. "Hey, y'know, if you glare at the monster like that, we may not even have to fight. It may just drop dead." She put on a sheepish grin, trying to lighten the mood. "Everyone else has already left, Vinyl." Her voice was quiet, but severe. This wounded Vinyl more than if her partner had just yelled at her. This was a tone of disappointment. "I was left standing, looking a fool, waiting for you." "I'm sorry, Octavia." The Huntress sounded sincere, and her partner took a deep breath, gathering herself. "Don't worry about it, let's just go." They made their way toward the last boat. There was a brief silence before Vinyl spoke. "What are we after, anyway?" She asked, looking over Octavia's shoulder as the other Huntress looked over the Hunt Request. "Standard first hunt monsters. Have to kill 6 Jaggia." She said, folding up the piece of paper and placing it into her item pouch. "Should not be too difficult between us." "Nope." Vinyl grinned, pushing her sunglasses up on her face. This was their first real Hunt, and she was practically skipping to the boat, despite the weight of the weapon on her back. They boarded the ship, and set off. The boat came to rest at the base camp that rested at the foot of the Misty Peaks. They looked up at the mountain in awe. It towered up and out of sight through a cloud layer. They could hear the warbles of the native Gargwa coming from the area around the camp. They both gave themselves a once over, making sure they had all the necessities, and set off from the camp. They made their way through a thin forest at the base of the mountain, occupying the time with small talk, and future plans. After spending an hour navigating through the forest, they found themselves in a ruined settlement. The entirety of the field was occupied by ruined huts, overgrown and weathered by time. How long this place had been this way, neither of them were sure. What they were sure of, however, was that there was a pack of Jaggi nearby. The raptor-like wyverns had made nests in the area, and a few were occupied by a clutch of eggs. "Tavi. I have an idea." Vinyl whispered, nudging her partner. "I'm gonna' go try and steal an egg." "That is reckless, Vinyl." Octavia hissed. "They would not leave a nest unguarded. Jaggi are very territorial." "Exactly. If I get close enough, they'll come running." The musician smirked and started creeping towards the nest. The closer she got, the more she felt like she was being watched. As she got to the edge of the nest, she couldn't help but notice that, despite this being a clutch of Jaggi eggs, there wasn't a single indication that one of the raptors was nearby. She stepped down into the nest and her eyes scoped the area. "Nothing. How strange." She thought out loud. Something caught the corner of her eye, though. There was something just inside the forest, watching them. She could feel it. She pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head to get a better view of whatever it was, but to no avail. All she saw was a pair of eyes watching her. She began to back slowly out of the nest when the eyes illuminated. Two glowing orbs started moving towards her very quickly, bobbing up and down with the gallop of their host. In her terror, Vinyl could faintly hear Octavia screaming for her to run, which was the only order she had followed without question. She sprinted up next to her partner, who was already breathing heavily as the Stygian Zinogre burst through the edge of the forest. Vinyl didn't dare look back, but she knew whatever was following them was massive and powerful. She could feel the ground shaking beneath her feet, and she glanced over at Octavia, who took a sharp turn to the right and jumped off the nearby cliff. Vinyl's jaw dropped, but she followed suit. She swore she could feel the monster nip at her heels as threw herself from the top of the cliff. It was a long fall, or it felt long. Maybe because she was fairly certain that she wasn't going to survive. She landed heavily on the ground and fell onto her stomach. It took her a few moments to recover, coughing as she pushed herself to her feet. She looked around, seeing Octavia on her hands a knees, breathing heavily. "What was that thing?!" Vinyl yelled, getting to her feet. She took a moment to survey the area. They were standing near a stream that ran from a nearby waterfall. She could faintly see a cave trough the cascading water. Her eyes traveled back up the cliff, but there was no sign of the monster that had chased them. "I've never seen anything like that before." "Nor have I." Octavia replied, getting to her feet. She wavered a bit, but Vinyl helped steady her. "We should just be glad we were able to get away. Also, I believe that creature is the reason that there were no Jaggi in that area." "Makes sense to me. I wouldn't stick around with that big bastard looming at my doorstep." Vinyl shook her head, wiping the sweat from her brow. "And we should follow their example." Octavia said, pulling a map from inside her item pouch. She pressed her fingertip to it, muttering to herself as she moved it. "I do believe that we are...here." She jabbed a finger into the center of the map. Vinyl leaned over and looked at it. "Not too far from camp. Just need to go through those caves and we're pretty close." Vinyl pointed to the waterfall as she spoke. They nodded to each other and set off. There was no small talk this time. The rushing water echoed through the cave, and neither of the Huntresses spoke. They kept their heads on a swivel and their ears open. Exiting the cave into the sunlight blinded Octavia for a moment. Vinyl's sunglasses protected her eyes. The blue-haired Huntress gasped and Octavia shielded her eyes from the sun in time to see what had surprised her partner. Across the top of the small cliff they stood on was the Stygian, sitting back on its haunches as though it had been waiting for them. It rose to its full height, standing an easy fifteen feet tall, and glared at them. Vinyl looked around for an escape, but her partner drew her Dual Blades. "Tavi?! You can't be serious!" She was, though, and she stood her ground as the Stygian charged them. They rolled opposite directions as the monster swung its head, horns first, downwards. Catching nothing but air, it turned on Vinyl, roaring before taking hard, deliberate stomps towards her. She had to roll in between its legs to avoid getting crushed. A brief moment of silence was followed by an ear splitting roar. The musician put distance between herself and the Fang Wyvern before she turned around. There, hanging on for dear life, was Octavia. The Dual Blader had embedded one of her weapons into the left eye of the beast. It flung its head furiously, trying to shake off the Huntress. It finally decided to raise up a massive foreleg and smashed into Octavia with a paw that was almost as big as her. She held tight to her weapon, pulling it out as she was ejected off of the creature. It howled in pain as Vinyl helped her partner quickly to her feet. "That was amazing, Tavi! But it's really time to go!" The musician almost dragged her partner to the rope bridge as they ran for the sanctuary on the other side. Vinyl began to laugh victoriously as they passed the halfway point of the bridge, but it began to sway violently. The Huntresses had to grab onto the rope along the side to keep from falling off. Their worst fears were being realized. The Stygian, whose left eye was now nothing more than a stream of blood, had given chase. Vinyl gritted her teeth, grabbed Octavia's hand, and sprinted. Mere feet from the end, Vinyl felt the bridge give out beneath her. With every ounce of strength she had, pulling Octavia with her, she leapt towards land. Her feet barely caught the edge of the cliff, but holding onto the other Huntress made it impossible for her to balance, and she slipped. She threw her free hand out and caught the edge of the cliff. She had a firm grip, and had enough time to draw a calming breath. She could pull them up. "We're going to be okay, Tavi..." "Not this time, Vinyl." Octavia's voice reached her ears. She sounded weak, and the blue-haired musician looked down at her friend. The Stygian lay motionless on the ground below. Whether it was alive, Vinyl couldn't tell. Her eyes fell on Octavia and her heart nearly stopped. The charcoal-haired Huntress was holding onto Vinyl's hand with both of hers, tears streaming from her lavender eyes, and blood pouring from what remained of her left leg. Vinyl could see where the Fang Wyvern's teeth had sunk in, tearing through the leather armor like paper, and leaving nothing below her knee but a few hanging muscles. "Let go." Octavia whispered to her, but Vinyl redoubled her grip. "No. Nononononono! You'll be okay, Octavia! We just have to get back to the boat!" Vinyl yelled, trying to pull them up onto the cliff. What she thought had been a good grip started to give way. Their combined weight was making the rock under Vinyl's fingertips start to break. "Shit!" "If you do not let go, neither of us are going home." Octavia's voice was growing weaker. "Shut up!" The musician yelled down at her. "Shutupshutupshutup! We'll be fi-" they slipped a little more, and Vinyl's eyes caught movement below: the Stygian was getting to its feet. "It will be alright, Vinyl Scratch. Just let go..." Vinyl stared into her partners eyes. They had started to glaze over. She was losing too much blood. Vinyl wasn't even sure if she could make the trip back to the boat. "I...Octavia. I can't. I can't do it. I'd rather die with you than continue living without you." Tears started streaming down the musician's face, and they dropped a little lower. She was barely hanging on. "Do not be silly, Vinyl Scratch. There is no need for both of us to die here. You are going to do great things, some day. All you have to do is get over that infernal laziness of yours." Octavia smiled weakly up at her partner. "Goodbye, Vinyl." As soon as the words left her mouth, she drew her carving knife as slashed it against Vinyl's forearm. The sudden rush of pain loosened the musician's grip, and she let out a scream as Octavia dropped into the valley below. Vinyl shut her eyes tight, trying to stem the flow of tears, none of which were brought on by the freshly bleeding cut on her left arm. With some effort, she dragged herself onto the top of the cliff, but she didn't look down. She didn't want to see what had become of her partner. The part of her mind that wasn't screaming in mourning was trying to convince her that this was just a nightmare she would wake up from. She tried to stand, but grief and pain caused the world to go dark and she collapsed onto the ground. /)(\ Tears ran down Pinkie's face as Vinyl's story came to a close. The Dual Blader wiped her eyes, sniffling heavily. Wookie just stared at their partner in stunned silence. "And that was the same Stygian that we just fought?" He asked, being the first to speak after she had stopped her story. "I think so, unless a lot of them get their left eye cut out." She said flatly. Her eyes turned towards Pinkie again, and she was finally able to ask a question that was nagging at the back of her mind. "So, now that you know how she died, and that she used Dual Blades, I can't help but feel that she would have survived if she could do what you do." She pointed across the table at the pink-haired Huntress. "How come other Dual Bladers can't do that?" "I-I-I didn't kn-kn-know they couldn't." Pinkie stuttered through broken sobs. "I-I've always b-b-been able to d-do it." Vinyl crossed her arms. "Is it just with Dual Blades?" She asked more harshly than she had intended, but her temper was starting to rise. "God dammit!" She slammed her hands onto the table, rising to her feet, causing both Pinkie and Wookie to recoil a bit. "She died because she couldn't do it so why can you?! It's...it's not fair." She collapsed back into her chair. "I'm sorry." She shook her head, wiping her eyes. "I hate talking about this, and seeing you able to practically teleport around and take a beating makes me wish every day that she had been able to do that, too." "Luna told me that it had something to do with my family." Pinkie explained sheepishly, hoping that this answer would be satisfactory. "It's a bloodline thing?" Vinyl asked, and the other Huntress just nodded. "That would explain it, then." She crossed her arms, looking up at the ceiling above them. "We've got a bigger problem now, ladies." Wookie said. During their conversation he had gotten up and made his way over to the porthole. "We're about to reach Tanzia."