Monster Hunter Pie

by BronyArmitage

Chapter 22 - 3's My Favorite 2

3 months after Celestia's funeral...

Pinkie Pie dropped her recently forged Demolition Blades to the ground, taking in deep gasps of the freezing tundra air. She dropped to her knees next to the Gigginox they had captured. The crackling of the Shock Trap fading in and out, occasionally being drowned out by the rubbery monster's snores.

"That should be the last one, right?" She looked over at Wookie, who was doubled over, hands on his knees, breathing just as heavily.

"Should be." He stood up straight, looking up towards the sky. "Then again, we should have been done killing these things a month ago. Mostly because someone can't control herself enough to not destroy the mouth on this thing." He shot her a look, but she just smirked. The pink-haired Huntress picked up her midnight blue Dual Blades, attaching one to each side of her waist. In the time since Alatreon's attack, they had done nothing but upgrade their arsenal. Pinkie was adorned in a full set of Barioth X armor. While the armor was usually white as snow, it was currently painted in purple and red, poison residue and blood stained her arms and the waist piece. She had pulled her hair back into a ponytail, but there was still very little control over it. The spikes from her armor's host jutted out at every joint, and the layered waist armor appeared thick, but it felt very light to the Dual Blader.

Wookie had gotten new pieces of armor here and there, but he was really after the Gigginox X armor. As much as the pair hated hunting the beast, Luna had advised them that it was, at present, the only way that the Bowman would be able to use the full potential of the Kelbi Strongshot.

"We should probably go back to see what they could scavenge off this thing." Wookie said, watching as a hot air balloon came lower, picking up the slumbering wyvern. He turned on his heel and headed for the base camp. "Do you know how many of these things we killed?" Pinkie reached up under her ponytail and pulled out a notebook. Her partner stared at her, wanting to ask, but she spoke first.

"It's in case of notebook emergencies. And we've killed 43 Gigginox." The Huntress said, disdain thick in her voice. "Really? That's it? It felt like we killed more. A lot more."

"Let's just hope that it stops at 43..." They climbed onto the boat and exchanged very few words between the Tundra and the Port.

/)(\

Port Tanzia, still in the process of reconstruction, welcomed them silently. Hunters glared at them and shopkeepers refused their business. Pinkie sighed, shaking her head as they made their way towards one of the four people in the Port that still spoke to them. It had been hard on them since the death of the Guildmaster. They found themselves the target of a lot of blame, seeing as they had escaped with their lives, when a master Huntress had been killed. Suspicion followed them, and other Hunters shunned them.

"Welcome back, you two." Lyra smiled from behind the counter. Twilight was sitting at a desk behind the liaison, scribbling notes onto a piece of parchment. The two-toned, purple headed girl had been up to her ears in work since the incident, and it showed no sign of slowing down. The only day that no one worked was the day of Celestia's funeral. "Good news, Wookie, they were able to salvage a Nightmarish Maw from the Gigginox." Wookie dropped to his knees.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Pinkie thought she saw tears, but she stepped up to the counter to speak with Lyra.

"Will this ever blow over?" The Huntress asked quietly, looking around, but trying not to catch anyone's glare. She could feel their eyes on her. This didn't seem to bother her partner as much, but the feeling almost made her sick. She was so used to everyone liking her, that it became a shock to the system when the others turned hostile.

"Maybe when Alatreon is dead. Until then, keep your head high and do your job and no one will mess with you. They may not like you, Pinkie, but they don't have to." Lyra gave her a comforting smile as she passed the reward Zenny across the counter. "What are you guys going to do now?"

"I think he went to make that armor." Pinkie responded, looking to see if Wookie was still there, which he wasn't. "Yeah. That's where he went. Anyway, once that's ready, I guess we'll take whatever you have." Lyra shuffled through some papers, humming to herself. Pinkie was bouncing on her heels when someone tapped her shoulder, she turned around to a grinning girl, who's violet sunglasses blocked her eyes from view. Her two-tone electric blue hair was cut short, and a complete mess. It didn't look like she even attempted to control it after she got out of bed, not that Pinkie could point fingers.

"I see you two go out on a lot of Hunts, but I never seen anyone else go with you." The girl spoke, her voice was jovial, which was a stark contrast to how most other Hunters had treated them recently. The girl wore armor that Pinkie was unfamiliar with. It was brightly colored, but it looked like it had been a different color to begin with. On the other Huntress's back hung what appeared to be an oversized electric guitar. Pinkie recognized this one, it was the Despot's Thunderclap, the Hunting Horn constructed from Zinogre parts. "I wanted to see if you guys might let me tag along with you. My name is Scratch, by the way. Vinyl Scratch, really, but that's too long." Throughout the whole conversation, Scratch's grin had never faded, and this in itself made Pinkie feel better.

"I don't see why not!" The Dual Blader said happily. "We've never had another Hunter with us!"

"Check out this sweet hat!" Wookie yelled as he came back into the tavern area of the Port. The desperado hat sat atop his head, casting his face into shadow. There was an eyepatch over his left eye and a smirk on his face. "Badass, right?"

"It would be, if it wasn't a sickly purple color." Pinkie said, trying to hold in a laugh. "Why is Gigginox armor purple? That thing is white."

"Don't ruin this for me, Pinkie." He said, sighing, and he flipped up the eyepatch, looking over at Scratch. "Haven't seen you around before." He tilted his head slightly, examining her.

"Like what you see?" A bright blue eyebrow raised over her sunglasses and Wookie was taken aback. "Relax!" Scratch laughed. "I'm messing with you." She held out her hand and he shook it. "I'm Vinyl Scratch. I just asked your friend here if I could come with you guys on your next hunt. By the way," she turned towards Pinkie. "I never got your name."

"Oh! Pinkie! I'm Pinkie. Pinkamena Dianne Pie, but Pinkie is easier." The Huntress said, grinning.

"I'm Wookie Love." Her ever present partner introduced himself. "What are we going after now, Pinkie?"

"Uhhhh..." Pinkie turned around and Lyra handed her a Hunt Request. She squinted at the paper, reading it. "A...Steel Uragaan? What the hell is a Steel Uragaan?"

"You guys haven't fought one of those yet?" Scratch asked, looking as the pair shook their heads. "Aw, man. You're gonna' hate it." She chuckled and made her way towards the boat.

"Then shouldn't we hunt something else?" Wookie asked.

"Nah! It'll be a good learning experience!" The musician said, beckoning them to follow her. They boarded the boat and it took off towards the Volcano.

/)(\

"What is this thing like?" Wookie asked as they disembarked.

"It's awful. It rolls around and has a giant chin that it uses to smash rocks." Scratch explains. "Incredibly fire-resistant, but that's obvious, since we're in the Volcano."

"It has a giant chin?" Pinkie echoed, questioningly. Scratch nodded.

"Don't let it fool you. They're very powerful. And it can take a long time to bring one of these things down. They're one of the more resilient species out there." Their new partner spoke as they walked through the forest at the base of the volcano. They each had a Cool Drink in their hands, taking drinks between conversations. "Do you guys ever wonder why these things work?"

"Nope. Much like how I never question how or why Pinkie does things, I just accept them and move on. Some things are better left unknown. I mean, what if they're made from, like, starved Kelbi babies? Would you still want to drink them?" Wookie asked, then drank the remainder of his drink in a single swallow.

"When you put it that way, no." Scratch said, and she looked at her Cool Drink. Her sunglasses hid her eyes, but you could tell by her wrinkled nose that she was slightly mortified by the thought of Kelbi babies being part of a balanced breakfast. She swallowed hard, held her breath, and drank the last of it. Necessity wins overall. Pinkie was long since finished with hers, and they crested the hill leading into the actual volcano.

"Does this thing have a place that it likes to hide?" Pinkie asked, looking around. The serpentine Uroktors went about their business, hissing and clicking their beaks at each other. The smaller monsters took no notice of the Hunters. No sooner than Pinkie had asked the question, the lumbering giant came into view. The jagged stone that made up it's back looked like a miniature mountain range, and its chin was, indeed, massive. At least the size of a smaller monster's head. Wookie and Pinkie took a step back. It wasn't as big as the Ceadeus, but it was still intimidating. The bipedal monster had movements that resembled that of a tyrannosaurus, and its stubby forelimbs cemented the image. With every footfall of the beast, the ground beneath the Hunters shook.

"You guys ready?" Scratch asked, a smirk spreading across her face as she swung the guitar to a ready position.

"Do we have a choice?" Pinkie asked, drawing her blades. Wookie flicked his wrist and the Strongshot snapped open. He grabbed some pellets from his pouch, holding them in his left hand.

"Nope. Let's get this party started!" The musician hit three loud notes on her instrument, and the other Hunters felt an odd sensation, it was as if adrenaline was being pumped through their veins. They felt stronger. The two lighter Hunters took off towards the Uragaan and the brute turned to face them, drawn by the sound of the music. It bellowed loudly and lifted its chin high into the air. Wookie drew back hard, and waited until the monster's head swung towards the ground before loosing the pellets. They connected heavily, and green slime splattered out of them on contact. The Bowman was confused, he had seen this slime come off his partner's weapon, but never his own. He was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of Pinkie roaring.

The Huntress had gotten right under the creature's mighty chin and Demonized. When it came crashing towards her, she had sunk her blades into the lower jaw. The Uragaan let out a screech of pain, flinging its head around. Pinkie held on tight, slime sinking into the open wounds, some dripping down onto her face. As soon as she saw it start to turn red, she flipped her legs around, planting her feet firmly into the underside of the Brute Wyvern's jaw, and pushed off, dragging her weapons out with her.

"Impressive." Scratch said as she ran up next to Wookie. Pinkie landed heavily on the ground, the purple aura disappearing as she panted heavily. "So, you can only do that for a certain amount of time?"

"Seems that way." Wookie answered for his partner as the slime on the monster detonated. The force of the explosion cracked the beast's chin, and it let out another howl. It stumbled around, flailing its forelimbs towards its face as the Hunters closed it. Pellets from Wookie's Bow thudded heavily against their target's side, slime squelching loudly out of each one. Scratch hammered some more notes out as they approached, sending another wave of strength to her allies. The Uragaan lifted its head and Pinkie smirked, dashing forward again.

"No!" Scratch yelled, but it was too late. Instead of smashing down, the brute curled into an armadillo-like ball and barreled forward, smashing into Pinkie and throwing her body effortlessly to the side. "Dammit!" Scratch and Wookie had narrowly avoided the rolling monster, which continued to roll until it was in the safety of the river of lava. Pinkie got shakily to her feet, blood running slowly from under the headband of her armor. She shook her head rapidly, clearing the fog from her brain.

"That could have gone better." She wiped her forehead with her sleeve. "It's coming back." She pointed as the other two came to her side. They turned in unison as their query charged them. It opened its mouth, letting out a roar as it approached. It turned from a roar to a howl of pain as the pink-haired Dual Blader sunk her weapon into beast's tail. Scratch turned around, and, sure enough, Pinkie was gone.

"How-"

"Don't ask." Wookie cut her off as he fired upon their foe. With one blade buried in the monster's tail, Pinkie hacked away at the softer skin beneath, a mix of blood a slime covering splattering onto her with each cut. Scratch grabbed her guitar by the neck and smashed it into the side of the Uragaan's head, lightning jumping off of it on impact. The brute was knocked onto its side, and Pinkie leapt up onto the side of its tail, which faced the sky. She slammed both of her blades deep into the monster, and sprinted up towards its head, dragging the Demolition Slicers through its skin, tearing two parallel lines from tail to head in the beast.

Wookie had placed his left foot on the cracked chin of the downed wyvern, forcing its mouth open as he fired slime-filled pellets into its gullet. He weakened his hold slightly to let the monster bite down, crushing the pellets so that the slime would fill its mouth. He smirked, noticing that the monster had swallowed a fair amount of the green liquid. Pinkie leapt over him and landed heavily on the ground. Vinyl Scratch had been smashing her weapon into the soft underbelly of the Uragaan. When the blue-haired Huntress saw that her allies had backed away, she did the same. The Steel Uragaan scrambled to its feet and turned tail. Scratch ran up next to the other Hunters.

"Why did we stop attacking?" She asked.

"Watch." Wookie said, smirking. Pinkie had put her weapons away, her eyes still glowing a brilliant blue, the purple aura crawling off her body. She held out her right hand towards the fleeing wyvern, her fingers folded down so that her hand was shaped like a gun. She raised her thumb slowly, until it was perpendicular to her fingers.

"Bang!" One voice overlapped the other, but both sounded excited as she dropped her thumb into her palm. Scratch felt the ground shake violently, and watched as the Uragaan's innards exploded out its stomach and onto the volcano floor. It collapsed heavily to the ground, unable to let out a single noise in its death throes. The brute convulsed a few times, then laid still. A few Uroktors scuttled over to feed on the slain monster.

"That was...Well, that seemed unnecessarily brutal." Scratch said, and she almost felt bad for the monster. Almost. "But, I'm impressed. If you'll have me, I'd like to join you guys for more hunts."

"That would be super!" Pinkie said, her voice having returned to normal. She leapt on Scratch, hugging her. The two had become three. They weren't alone, anymore. They had finally met someone who didn't look at them as though they had ruined everything. And they couldn't be happier.

Comments

[Dragonis999]

Nice chapter man love the way you did vinyl

[Grif_Bladefeather]

finally there getting help

[TarotCard2]

Loving the story so far.