Monster Hunting: No Way!

by GhostlyDarkness

Down Time Training

Author's Note:

Almost time for the special urgent quest, what monster do you think it'll be?

Rain looked over the paper carefully reading every bit of it. He was excited yet frightened at what their quarry was soon to be. He rolled it back up and handed it back to Soul, "we need to train...hard if we're going to take on that now," he said grimly hiding the excitement he contained.

Twilight hung back not knowing what they were going to be faced with. The uncertainty scared her a little, but thrilled her even more.

Soul nodded with an evil smile, "which is why Twilight is going on a small gathering quest while you and me get down to training first," he said turning to Twilight to direct her to the quest counter.

Twilight frowned, "why don't we all train together?" she asked sounding disappointed.

"Because you two will distract each other," he said firmly. "If you want the training to work I have to train you separately so go!" he said once again.

Twilight looked so annoyed that she was probably contemplating some evil scheme to get back at Soul before turning towards the girl at the quest counter and talking.

"Now that that's out the way we're going to the deserted island near Moga village, I hear it's Jaggi mating season," he said just as Twilight left through the gate to go to her quest area.

Rain shrugged his shoulders are proceeded to the quest counter.

Once the two of them reached the island they were dropped off at the base camp and hiked out to small shady stream where him and Twilight had sat down to relax. "Well this is the spot," Soul said turning around to Rain. His hands reached for his dual blades slung over his back. "Let me assess your abilities," he said just as he drew his blades out.

Rain looked at him confused and startled as he drew his poisonous blades and pointed them at him. "Wait, you can't use these weapons on other people it's against guild rules," he said in protest.

"Then are you going to let me kill you then?" Soul asked as he lunged forward to stab him with both blades.

Rain rolled to right to evade his attack and grabbed the handle of his long sword. He hesitated before drawing it out completely and pointing it at Soul. "Why are you doing this?" he demanded.

"It's better to practice on prey that is unpredictable, than on something that you can predict," he said before lunging at him again but instead of stabbing he slashed at him in a somewhat dancing motion.

Rain couldn't react fast enough and felt the blades slash all the way up his shoulder and across his chest. The armor defended him against the blades, but the power made him fall backwards.

"Too slow. Now get back up," Soul demanded looking ready to continue.

Rain got up sluggishly and raised up his sword again pointing its tip right at Soul.

Soul gave him a sly look before rushing in once again, but this time Rain was ready and sidestepped backwards so his blades were mere inches away from him. He then countered by raising his sword high and slashing downwards.

Soul quickly dashed forward and stopped his blade in mid-slash, "c'mon I know you know how to fight better than this," he said tauntingly before kicking him backwards into the small stream.

Rain looked agitated as he got up. He took off his helmet and tossed it aside, before doing the same with the rest of his armor to reveal a light black shirt and shorts he wore underneath.

Soul looked amused, "what's wrong am I too good for you?" he taunted.

Rain didn't respond and grabbed his sword out of the water and gripped it tightly.

Soul readied himself into a stance where one blade stood out in front diagonally while the other blade was help perpendicular to it.

Rain gripped the handle with both hands and quickly drew it over head into a somewhat horizontal slash.

Soul seemed to have predicted the move and parried it with both of his swords, but before he could react Rain reversed the slash and slashed as he hopped backwards which caught Soul off guard and sent him falling backwards.

He chuckled as he rose to his feet, "nicely done now you're ready," he said as he raised his blades up in the air quickly crossing them. The two blades became cloaked in what looked to be a red aura around the sharp edges. He lunged again at Rain before he could even react. He seemed to be moving at supernatural speeds as he dashed around slashing the air around before raising a blade up to Rain's neck.

Rain was surprised at how quick he moved that he almost didn't realize he stopped right in front of him with his weapon held up to his throat. "How did you do that?" Rain asked sounding somewhat surprised.

Soul chuckled before lowering his blades and returning them to his back. "Give me your long sword," he said reaching out his hand to Rain.

Rain slowly handed him long sword and watched him carefully.

Soul stepped away before gripping his blade tightly and intently focusing before raising the sword high to slash downwards into a stab and a rising slash. He then followed into an overhead slash which followed into a flurry of stabs and slashes before finishing with a perfect horizontal slash that seemed to make a circle around him before it became cloaked into a white aura all around the blade.

Rain looked in amazement as he preformed the spectacle in front of him.

Soul turned towards him, "you see both the dual swords and long swords might not seem so fancy but they do have a unique power to them," he said looking over the blade cloaked in white aura. "They seem to draw power from the user when this happens and what's special about the long sword is that there are different levels to its power," he said handing out the blade back to Rain.

He reached out to it slowly before grabbing it, just as he did the aura dispersed and the blade returned to normal.

"Now learn how to channel that power into your weapon," Soul said challenging him.

"How do I do that?" he asked sounding as if the task was impossible.

"You saw me do it follow them steps, although...if you want to challenge yourself there are a couple G. Jaggies running around here you can practice on them till you have it perfect," Soul said before turning away to walk back to the base camp.

Rain looked down at his Kibamaru long sword and sighed. He quickly put his armor back on before leaving the area to head down the cliff.

As he was walking he could hear faint yelping in the distance before being accompanied by the unmistakable sound of a G. Jaggi. He quickened his pace before seeing the familiar small pack of Jaggi and Jaggia (female Jaggi) all around with the G. Jaggi leading them. The giant raptor looking beast turned its head to the side before it spotted Rain. It fully turned towards him to scrape its feet against the ground and let out a screechy attempt of a roar just as its blue and orange rimmed frill went up.

The Jaggi and Jaggia already started running towards him, but another screechy roar sent them turning around to return to their leader's side. The G. Jaggi stepped forward slowly before making its trademark call.

Rain drew his blade ready to engage his target in the same way Soul had showed him. The beast charged in leaning in and opening its mouth wide for a bite. This gave him the perfect opportunity to step back and then lean in with the over head slash to its face. He then followed up with a reverse slash and an upward slash and continued slashing away before finishing with a downward slash which flinched the monster. "Now for the finisher," he said as he began leading into the sweeping slash Soul had done, yet when the blade made contact with the G. Jaggi it simply bounced off its hide which made Rain stumble backwards.

Seeing this the G. Jaggi quickly turned to its side before ramming him full force sending him sliding backwards.

Rain got to his feet quickly and raised his sword up, "why didn't it work?" he asked muttering to himself.

"Stop holding back," a familiar voice answered him.

Rain looked back at the pack of Jaggies to see all the way in the back Soul leaning casually against the side of a rock. The minions didn't seem to mind his presence and seemed to be focused more on the battle with their leader.

The G. Jaggi seeing the hunter distracted began to limp away to the overgrowth of vegetation near the tree to escape. Seeing this the minions followed their leader into the vegetation and disappeared.

Soul slowly walked towards Rain, "you're holding yourself back, think of your blade as not only as an physical extension, but also a spiritual one," he said standing in front of him. "Only then will you be able to channel the power into your blade," he said before walking the path back to the base camp.

"Spiritual extension.." Rain said to himself. For a moment he stood there staring at his blade for what seemed to be countless hours before sitting down with the blade in his lap. He took out a small smooth rock and began sharpening the edge of his sword slowly. He did this until the blade looked as if it could cleave through any substance in its wake. He then began to practice the basic combo they had taught him in hunter's school. "Down...stab....upward slash...and back down," he repeated as he preformed the simple combo that could go on for eternity. He then paused before once again starting the combo, but this time at the end of the combo he led into an overhead slash and followed it up with a stab and then a reverse slash before going into an upward slash. He quickly followed it up into four diagonal upward strikes before finishing with a downward slash. He sighed before returning his blade to its sheath and going to the next area to see where the G. Jaggi had run off to.

As he walked into the next area he could see the sun making its way downward into the edge of the horizon. The area was quiet everything seemed to stand still as if it was waiting for the impending night. As he stepped around the corner he could catch a faint glimpse of a lone quiet Jaggi running away into a much shadier area.

Rain hesitated at first before following it. He trekked through what seemed to turn from grass to straight dirt littered with bones everywhere. He looked around and could notice Jaggies and Jaggias everywhere sleeping peacefully. In the far upwards corner he could see the G. Jaggi resting on its side. He carefully made his way through and around the sleeping minions towards the G. Jaggi.

Just as he drew his sword ready for a sneak attack the sound of unsheathing his sword echoed through the Jaggi area. Many small heads poked up to see what was the source of the noise before alerting the entire pack which made the leader hop up to his feet to confront the intruder.

Rain led into it with a downward slash before stabbing at its chest. The beast didn't seem to be affected by his attacks and continued into its own attacks. Rain flinched as the G. Jaggi spun around to whip him with its tail yet he didn't stop attacking he continued to follow his combo. He followed through with the overhead slash and a stab as the G. Jaggi swiped him with a bite.

Rain maintained himself and continued into the flurry of diagonal upward slashes.

Seeing his attempts on the hunter were unsuccessful the G. Jaggi raised its and let out its call for reinforcements. Many Jaggies came rushing towards him from all around.

Rain had just slashed downward when he could see from the corner of his eye a wave of Jaggies rushing towards him. He gripped the blade tightly as he began to move into the final slash. His movement seemed to be one fluid action that went by so fast he was a blur when he completed the sweeping slash, he sent the Jaggies flying back as well as the leader.

Everything was quiet again as the leader and his minions seemed to lay still. He sighed heavily and looked at his blade which seemed to glow a ghostly white aura. He smiled weakly in accomplishment as he sheathed his sword.

"Very good," a voice said breaking the silence.

Rain turned around to see Soul leaning nonchalantly against a giant stone. "You finally were able to do it, but don't get a big head that aura is still on level one and is looking pretty weak," he said killing Rain's accomplished smile.

"Whatever I'm going back..." Rain said walking past him.

Soul smirked as he passed by and turned around to follow him back.

When the two of them returned back to Port Tanzia they were greeted by Twilight who seemed enthusiastic to see them.

"Hey guys I encountered an Arzuros and took it down myself!" she said excitedly.

Rain walked up to her and gave her a proud pat on her shoulder, "nice anyway I'm going to take a nap before we head out for the urgent quest," he said walking past her.

She nodded and watched him disappear into the crowd of hunters, "well I guess it's my turn to train, I'll be right back my bow is at the blacksmith," she said looking ready to run off when Soul's hand caught her by the shoulder before she could leave.

"Don't worry you won't need it, your training is going to be a little different..." Soul said seriously.

Twilight looked at him confused, "ok?" she answered as they both walked over to the gate to leave.

Comments

[Shadow Lord Malice]

My money's on the Nargacuga. That thing is awesome, and I so want to see Twilight in ninja armour

An interesting chapter, and I like the representations of demon and spirit modes you've given. I assume that Rain has a longsword of every element right? One thing I don't like about this fic is that Twilight is basically mooching off of Rain. I would find the fic more enjoyable if she was responsible for her own arms and armour, which is quite feasible now that she has shown good competence in the way of hunting, just a thought though.

[GhostlyDarkness]

He has only some (expect some material grinding chapters in the future) but not all and I plan to change that with an upcoming chapter because I have something in mind that will force her to do that so don't you worry.