Monster Hunter Pie

by BronyArmitage

Chapter 8 - Get Back

In the weeks following her first victory over the Rathian, Pinkie learned something very important about herself: she was the bane of these wyverns. She'd received several more assignments from Lyra to hunt Rathians, sometimes having to hunt two or three in succession, and she'd gotten rather adept at it. She noticed every subtle nuance of how they moved, and could tell when they were tired or hungry. She knew what areas of the hunting grounds they were most comfortable in, and had figured out the best areas to fight them. That's not to say, though, that she hadn't encountered any snags. The Hunter had run into her fair share of problems. Persistence, however, is a virtue. After many hunts, she had gathered a copious amount of materials from this species of wyvern. Pinkie dragged a massive bag up to Magnum's store and shoved the door open. Rarity looked over at the Hunter, her eyes drifting to the bag, then back to Pinkie with a smile.

"Good morning, darling!" she stepped around her father, who was hammering away at something that Rarity had brought him the plans for. "I would ask you what brings you here, but I can already guess. You appear to be having great success with your hunts!" Pinkie grinned and bounced up and down slightly. The smithy did not occupy a tall building, and the Hunter had to take care as to not hit her head.

"I hunted a lot of Rathians!" Pinkie dragged the bag forward with a grunt and set it down next to Magnum. The blacksmith looked up from his forge for the first time since Pinkie had entered and was taken aback by the sheer amount of Rathian parts she had gathered. He set his hammer down and stared. He pulled each piece out individually, examining it with great care.

"I have no idea how you managed to pull this off, but all of these are quality parts. I never imagined you would have been able to accomplish something like this..." Magnum spoke evenly, trying to keep the emotion from his voice. "Leave this stuff with me tonight. Get some rest and come back tomorrow. I should have a nice little surprise for you."

"Ooohhh!!! I love surprises!" Pinkie bounced higher, clapping her hands and managing to hit her head on the ceiling. Magnum and Rarity shared a look of amusement, the Hunter massaging the top of her skull and glaring at the offending ceiling. "I guess I'll let you get to work, then." Pinkie turned and left the smithy, the door swinging gently shut behind her. She was finally going to get new armor. Real armor. Armor she worked hard for. Her only two weapons had come pretty easily. The Rough Edge took a minimal amount of work, and she was wearing armor that she had purchased. Tomorrow, though, would bring with it new equipment, and the chance to accomplish greater tasks.

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The Hunter made her way back to Magnum's shop the next day. She hadn't gotten much in the way of sleep, as her excitement over what this day would bring kept her tossing and turning most of the night. She eeked in a few hours, though, and after constructing an Energy Drink out of some honey and a Nitroshroom, she was ready to start her day. She was still drinking the bittersweet liquid, a small cringe on her face with every sip, as she passed through the door to Magnum's shop. Her eyes fell upon something that almost made her drop her drink.

There was a Pinkie-sized mannequin next to the blacksmith, and it was adorned in the most beautiful green armor she'd ever seen. The scales that formerly belonged to a Rathian fit beautifully over a piece of chainmail that made up the torso armor. Spikes protruded from the backs of the elbows, and the gloves were made of tempered Earth Crystals. Melted down and formed with joints to perfectly fit Pinkie's hands. The waist armor looked like something that Magnum would never have made, in fact, Pinkie was fairly certain that Rarity had a hand in the construction of this armor set. The waist was made of a skirt that went down below her knees, but still held its form. It was constructed of the heavy metals that were made from Machalite Ore. There was a pointed tip to the edge of each fold in the skirt as it rose and fell at the hem, making a jagged pattern. The greaves were constructed in a similar fashion to the gloves, long and pointed at the knees, constructed of bone, scale, and Lightcrystals.

"Not bad, huh?" Magnum's voice made Pinkie jump a bit, sloshing her drink onto the floor. Thankfully, the blacksmith hadn't noticed. He stepped out from the door that presumably lead to his room, and smiled at the Hunter. "Took me all night to complete, but it turned out perfect. I don't even mind the froo-frooey part. Seems very appropriate for armor made from the Queen." he folded his arms in front of his chest. "I do, however, have one more surprise for you. Since you're such a good client, I'd like to present you with..." Pinkie was giddy with anticipation, bouncing on her feet again. Magnum had stepped out of sight, then returned to the room holding a brand new, compacted Switch Axe. "This!" he clicked the button and it opened. The scaled axe head, which had been filed down to a point so sharp in left a slice in the air in its wake, rose up to the top of the weapon. Clicking heavily into place, she noticed four spikes protruding from the back of it. Her eyes grew wide as he rotated the weapon into sword mode. The axe head slid back down and formed a hand guard akin to an estoc, covering the hands of the wielder, and the blade was thinner than the Rough Edge or the Bone Axe. The weapon was as streamlined as a Rathian in flight, and just as beautiful. "I call it the Dragonmaiden Axe. A fitting title and a fitting weapon for a princess of the battlefield." he grinned and returned the axe to its compacted shape, handing it to the Hunter. Pinkie was on the verge of tears, but she held back, wiping her eyes and smiling at the blacksmith.

"Thank you, Magnum. Thank you so much." the Hunter gave him a quick hug before gathering her new stuff and taking it home. She changed upon returning to the house and was surprised at how the armor didn't make her feel cumbersome, despite how much heavier it was in comparison to her last armor set. She tightened it down to fit her form and smiled at the results. Tossing the hat from her old armor away and putting the Rathian Cap on, she grinned. It rested well on top of her bright pink hair, though the colors clashed a bit. She shrugged. She highly doubted that any monsters were going to care. Nothing was going to bring her down today. Nothing.

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"The Lagiacrus?! As in, that thing that almost made a meal out of me?!" Pinkie was in a panic as she spoke with Lyra later that morning. She'd gone for a walk to get used to how moving around in the Rathian armor was going to feel. So far, it seemed to be going well. She didn't trip over herself, or knock anything over despite the size of the skirt. After becoming comfortable in her new armor, she had decided it was time to take it for a spin. What she hadn't counted on was Lyra sending her to her inevitable doom.

"You have to repel it, Pinkie. That thing's going to tear the village apart if you don't!" the liaison looked terrified. "Please, I know it seems a little extreme, but the Guild now recognizes the Lagiacrus as the threat that it actually is. We both know what will happen if that thing goes unchecked." Pinkie finally nodded, resigning to her fate. The liaison told her nothing that was untrue. That monster would tear Moga apart, were it given the chance. The earthquakes were enough proof of that. The Hunter dug into her pockets and pulled out the fee. She paid Lyra and turned, the liaison waving and wishing her good luck.

Pinkie practically trudged towards the hunting grounds, terrified and upset at what was about to transpire. She was sure death waited on the other side of that bridge. When she reached the top of the stairs, though, she saw most of the village's denizens waiting for her. They heard what she was going to do, and many of them offered words of comfort. She smiled, reinvigorated by everyone's faith in her. As she crossed the bridge, on her way to face the Lagiacrus, she could faintly hear the village chanting her name. How could she fail after that?

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Pinkie passed through the wetlands, her feet sinking deeper into the mud than usual, her weight having increased with the larger armor. She had her right elbow in her left hand, and her other hand was on her chin. She was lost in thought, watching her reflection break in the shallow water. She passed under the stone archway that lead to the area where she'd first tangled with the Royal Ludroth. She could hear the faint sound of waves lapping against the shore, but the next sound that caught her attention was snoring. Deep, guttural snores that could only come from a massive leviathan. She'd been hunting so many Rathians, she forgot how big the Lagiacrus was, not to mention the intimidation factor. She swallowed her fear, then noticed that a small pack of Jaggi were nipping at the creature, leaving small cracks and blemishes on scales that were almost as large as Pinkie.

The snoring stopped, and in a single, surprisingly swift motion, the Lagiacrus unfolded itself. It's tail catching a Jaggi and crushing the tiny monster against a nearby wall. The broken creature dropped to the ground, not even twitching. On the other end, the Lagiacrus had bit down on the second Jaggi. Pinkie heard bones crushing in the powerful monster's jaws. The Jaggi let out a small cry and then another loud crunch was heard before the Lagiacrus swallowed a mostly whole monster. The third Jaggi turned tail and fled, terrified. It passed the Hunter without even a second glance as the Lagiacrus rounded on her. Some blood ran down its fangs and off its bottom jaw. Clutching the Dragonmaiden Axe tightly, Pinkie bit back her fear and started to close the distance between them. The Lagiacrus lumbering forward, intent on killing her.

Pinkie was being unnaturally careful. She danced around the Lagiacrus, watching its every move. She'd seen it underwater, but her experience with fighting it on land was limited. Her armor clanked with every step, and the Lagiacrus constantly had an eye turned towards her. A few times, the leviathan would lash out with lightning, sending blue bolts through the air at her. Pinkie had been ready, though. She managed to avoid most of them. The last one had caught her off guard and she'd dove out of the way, landing helplessly on the ground. No electrical damage, but she could hear the leviathan rushing her down. She got quickly to her feet and rolled towards the Lagiacrus. It had slammed its open jaws against the ground where she had stood moments before. In the monster's temporary shock, Pinkie took a heavy upward swing, striking the monster in the throat. It let out a pained wail and backed away.

Lunging through the air, teeth gnashing, the pained Lagiacrus lashed out. Pinkie felt the monster's teeth close down on her arm and let out a cry. The armor soaked up most of the damage, but there was a sharp pain on her upper arm that suggested that the Lagiacrus had hit home with one of the bites. She raised her axe up with the arm that was not inside the monster's mouth. She rotated it into sword mode as the leviathan raised its head, still holding her arm in its jaws. She could feel her shoulder starting to tear, and screaming pain coursed through her whole body. She bit her tongue, holding back another scream as she drove the tip of the sword into the Lagiacrus's left eye. She felt an increase in pressure on her left arm, the monster had bit down harder in reaction to the pain. Pinkie revved the blade and they both let out howls of agony. Even though her arm had been relinquished, it had been rendered almost useless. It felt as though it may have been broken, but she wasn't sure. She continued her assault with unrestrained ferocity. The Lagiacrus threw its head around, the Hunter still attached. It was trying to shake her off to rid itself of this horrid pain. Pinkie would not give up. She drove the axe as deep into its head as she could before the discharge blast sent her rocketing through the air. She hit the ground, blood raining down on her from where she'd stabbed the monster. Were the Lagiacrus a lesser monster, it would have most likely been without a head. Being a giant leviathan, however, meant that it was built more sturdily. Though blind in its left eye, it let out a roar that shook the ground. It charged in on Pinkie again, who was standing with her left arm hanging uselessly at her side, her right hand clutching her weapon tightly.

This was going to be the moment that meant success or failure in this mission. A single, bright red eye glowed as the Lagiacrus barreled towards her. Pinkie narrowed her eyes, waiting. She would know the moment when it came. Then, it happened. The Lagiacrus snapped its massive fangs a her, the first time going way wide, the loss of depth perception making it difficult. The second bite, though, Pinkie managed to sidestep. She rotated with a gentle grace and brought the axe in a wide arc, sinking it into the leviathan's right eye. She tore the weapon down, back towards her. It let out another cry of pain, now almost completely blind, and turned its back on her. It started to run away before stumbling into the large rock formations. It crashed through rocks larger than Pinkie in its panicked escape. The monster had elected to live to fight another day, a decision that Pinkie was not upset about. She dropped to her knees, as a massive splash came from the ocean. The Lagiacrus having either fallen into the ocean or jumped in. The minute details didn't matter much. She was in an intense amount of pain, and it wasn't going to get better if she just sat here. She put the axe away and nursed her left arm all the way back to the village.

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Pinkie had stripped out of her armor, down to her normal clothing and she'd had Lyra assist her in making a sling for her arm. She couldn't lift it very high, so she was pretty sure it was broken. The Hunter sighed. She wondered how long this injury was going to leave her out of commission. Staring out to sea as Lyra patched her up as best she could, she watched the sun start to sink into the ocean.

"What am I going to do?" Pinkie's voice sounded weak. Defeated, even. "I can't keep screwing up like this and getting injurred. This is how Hunters get killed."

"So it is." Lyra said, matter-of-factly. "You just need to stop being so reckless. You're so driven to kill these things that you stop caring about yourself. You need to worry more about not letting them hit you. The armor is your last line of defense." she tapped Pinkie on the temple lightly. "This should be your first. You have a world of tools at your disposal. It's time for you to start learning how to use them." the liaison grinned. "Which brings me to how you'll be spending your recovery period." she held up a massive book that Pinkie just stared at. The Hunter rolled her eyes as Lyra started to read the Hunter's Compendium out loud to her.

"Probably should have let the Lagiacrus eat me..." she muttered, settling in for what she knew was going to be a long recovery.

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The snoring stopped, and in a single, surprisingly swift motion, the Lagiacrus unfolded itself. It's tail catching a Jaggi and crushing the tiny monster against a nearby wall. The broken creature dropped to the ground, not even twitching. On the other end, the Lagiacrus had bit down on the second Jaggi. Pinkie heard bones crushing in the powerful monster's jaws. The Jaggi let out a small cry and then another loud crunch was heard before the Lagiacrus swallowed a mostly whole monster. The third Jaggi turned tail and fled, terrified. It passed the Hunter without even a second glance as the Lagiacrus rounded on her. Some blood ran down its fangs and off its bottom jaw. Clutching the Dragonmaiden Axe tightly, Pinkie bit back her fear and started to close the distance between them. The Lagiacrus lumbering forward, intent on killing her.

Round two!

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