Journey of a Monster Hunter



This is written by Bill The Blackfoot.

I don't mind constructive critacism. As long as it's not a load of hate... Then that's flaming.

Rated M for mature.

Chapter I: Child's Play
'Lucy, come on!' Will shouted as he ran through the wilderness.

Will had long, dark hair that reached his shoulders, dark eyes that looked nearly black, and tan skin with a small amount of black freckles on his face. He wasn't the best looking guy in the world, but Lucy liked him. She had known him for 5 years now. They were nine, cheerful, playful, and happy.

Lucy, however, was different, with long brown hair passing her shoulders, pretty blue eyes and a perfect face.

'Im coming, Im coming,' Lucy replied, quickly running after him.

They often played here, together with no one else. They were happy together, but not yet boyfriend and gilfriend, although the others suggested it. They ran through the forest, chasing kelbi, harvesting herbs and shrooms, cooking meat they bought from their house. It was a happy life.

They soon came across an old cabin. Rumor had it an old man lived there and trained rookie hunters.But they quickly left the place for fear of being shouted at.

They wandered deeper into the woods, but they were losing their way.

'Do you know where we are?' Lucy asked.

'Um, no,' Will said, worried. It was getting dark; they had been wandering through the wilderness for what seemed like hours. It was nearly nightfall, and one could wonder what lived in the dark, gloomy hazardous forest.

'Will, I-I-Im scared,' said Lucy quietly as they tiptoed though the forest. Will was quick to reasure her, telling her they would be home soon, although he was not certain.

Out of nowhere, two bright red, angry eyes appeared. Then a screech.

'A Nargacuga! Lucy, run!' shouted William as he plugged his ears from the piercing sound of its scream.

They were sprinting, faster than they known they could, William ahead of Lucy, their legs carrying them, panting. Then suddenly, it grabbed Lucy and took her back. She screamed.

'Lucy! No!' he shouted.

But there was no time, soon it would be finished with her and come after him. So he ran.

In the distance he saw smoke - no, a fire. He ran towards it, wondering if he would be of any help to them. But he soon realized it was his own vilage. He ran towards the wooden door, trying to pry it open. It wouldnt budge. A man was suddenly flung through the door past him, and what seemed about 10 meters behind him. Will ran to him, before noticing its his father.

'Father,' he said, crying, 'who did this?'

'A beast...' he replied.

There was a massive splinter going through his whole body at least 3 meters long.

'I promice you and my people, to slay this beast, and avenge my family!' he told him. And he died. In Williams arms his father lay, dead.

He gave his father a proper burial, in the Woods, dug a deep hole and used the splinter that once ran through him, as a mark of his grave he carved into it: HERE LIES JHON, MY FATHER, A WONDERFUL MAN.

Chapter II: Lucy
Lucy was quickly grabbed and flung, two or three meters before hitting a tree. The Narga quickly went back to her screeching and screaming. It landed on her with force, cracking her arm and spliting her delacate skin, the bone was white and broken, poking out her soft skin.

"Will? Will! Will!" She shouted as the crazed Narga consumed her lower arm.

A Narga was a dark black beast, it possesed scales inder its thick black fur. It's red eyes left a short trail whenever it moved. It's back legs were short, and it's front ones had long sharp blades apon it.

It soon came back and tossed her into yet another tree, this time it did damage, you could hear the loud crack of her ribs and her, screaming loudly as it tore her apart. It then crunched her leg, crushing her knee and leaving her leg hang on a tiny bit of raw, red, bleeding flesh. Her deep blue eyes were teeming with tears, begging it to stop, to finish her, but it would continue for what seemed like hours. The crunch of her bone, the rip of her flesh, all of it.

She wondered in her extreeme tourture, why it was doing this, why not just kill and be done with it. This is rather unusual for a Nargacuga do take this long.

Its jet black fur was swaying in the wind, its bright, angry, red eyes staring her down, almost telling her "I am better than you."

She looked away, she was loosing blood, alot of it, death was near, looming over her, a dark shodow. It was ironic. Death wating, black evil, just like it, the beast.

She looked up, at the stary night sky, a sereene view for a death, she remembered her short life, and uttered her final words:

"Will..."

She faded seeing the dark sky soon turn white, but before that, she saw something. Something huge, red and evil, it flew by but before she had time to take a good look, she faded away. Mercifully taken by deaths welcoming arms, it guided her, to the next world, where she would wait, paitently for Will, and when he came, they would be eternally together. Forever.

-Five Months Later-

William was desperatly trudging through the thick snow, freezing with no supplys. He wondered if the man would happily take him in, but he was scared of what he diddnt know, but he feared pretty much everything now. The images of his father dieing in his arms playing in his mind like a tape, he was lost, confuesed, and dead inside. He could not forget Lucy, his best friend and how he just left her to die, he was sure this would haunt him, but somehow it never did, and that worried him, weather he cared enough about her to remember her, but he diddn't. She was the past. He needed to focus on what was to come. He slowly approached the old cabin on the hill.

Ten Years Later
As William walked up the old path up to the old cottage on the hill, he reminded himself of the whole ordeal that occurred ten years ago. Lucy, his father, all of it.

It was hard walking in the snow, deep as it was, and he stumbled every now and again. Finally, after a long trek, he arrived at the cottage he and Lucy once visited before her death, and how he tried onece again after she died, but couldn't bring himself to do it. He knocked.

An old man opened the door. He was short, with grey hair and a typical grumpy face. He wore a brown hat that cast a shadow over his blue eyes. He looked at Will, who was somewhat intimidated by him.

"Um, I was told you could train me," he said quite timidly.

The man examined him, looking at William's build.

Of course Will's size has changed since he was a child - he was now much taller, 6ft to be precise, and his chest was quite large. His muscles where huge too, but due to this, it made him a lot heavier and he weighed in at about 120 kilos.

"Yes, yes, do come in," he replied, eventually. "Let me introduce myself, my name is", he paused, "Achilles, your master and mentor during your traning." He spoke with a odd accent.

The homestead was larger than Will had expected, with many rooms, armories, and weapon racks, a kitchen run by 5 or so Felynes, an art gallery of monsters he had never seen before, a vast open garden where wild animals ran free, and training rooms fitted with safety mats created out of various pelts. It was truely enormous. But his awe was soon interupted by Achilles who shouted from the other room.

"Your traning will start tomorrow, child. Feel free to take weapons and hunt in the forest, or gather materials. Remember to take Hot Drinks at this time of year, it gets really cold out there!"

"Ok, thanks," Will replied as he gased at the numerous paintings.

It was getting dark, and Achilles was getting ready to go to sleep. He needed it, Will needed it - they both needed it, as they had a long day ahead of them.

The Next Morning
"Get up my boy, we have work to do!" Achilles bellowed.

He was wearing his armour; it had a hard helmet that was black, with a purple tinge and a dark fur cape. William just assumed it was that of a Nargacuga, but it was actually from a Goa Magara. Other than that, Achilles wore his usual clothes, a brown jacket made out of pelts and boots that reached his knees.

"Go to the armory," he said, "and pick up a weapon and put on some armour."

William did as he was told, picked up a Longsword, and put on a set of ordinary armour.

"Now first I need you to hunt a Bulldrome, and bring me its tusks."

A Bulldrome was rather lage, it had brown and white fur, gigantic tusks, and an otherwise swine like apperance.

"You will be sure to find many in the wilderness, especially since it is winter." Achillies stated

William did as he was told, but soon returned, with nothing.

"I am sorry Master, I have failed you," William said, in a low voice.

"You what?" Achilles said.

"I-I-"

Achillies cut him off.

"You incompetent fool! I sent you on a simple task, and you come back with apologies and excuses?!" he shouted.

Achilles turned to look at him.

"Leave," he said, slowly and deeply. "Now!"

"But I can't," he pleaded. "I have to slay a beast to fulfill my duty!"

"Let me tell you something William - life is not a fary tale, and THERE ARE NO HAPPY ENDINGS!" shouted Achilles.

"What would you have me do then? I made a promise to my people," Will replied.

"I will give you one more chance," Achilles said as he stared out into the wilderness, watching the trees sway calmly in the evening breeze.

And they both walked into the homestead and discussed Will's training.

-The Next Morning-

"Wake up boy, we have work to do!" exlaimed Achilles "And put your armour on," he added as he put on his.

They soon eat breakfast, a bowl of garden wheat, and set off into the wilderness, carrying their heavy weapons on their back.

"Where are we going?" asked William.

"You will see..." replied Achilles.

Chapter IV: Todd
Tom Dodd was a former member of the Blackfoot tribe, a very cocky man, but right to do so as he can literally slay beasts with in a matter of minuits. He soon left the Blackfoot tribe after he turned 13, as his father was extreemly sctrict and pushy. He now lived in Pokke with his friend, Rachel.

Rachel was a rather slim girl, with long hair syled in the Teostra Long Cut, she liked it like that, she rairly cut it anyway, and for some reason she dyed her hair pink, using the pigments from the Cherry Rathian. She had light blue, pretty eyes that sat appon her face. Her face was beautiful, in perfect proportion. She used a bow, she likes the bow, she had used one scince she was 9, she now was 18

Tom however was a small, slim guy with short blonde hair. He was rather disliked within the comunity, mainly because he was so cocky or possably because he was close with Rachel. His preffered weapon type was dual swords, fast and quick, rather like him. But everyone called him Todd, a mixture between Tom and Dodd

Pokke was a large comunity near the mountains, Malachite ore was almost its symbol. A rather large pice of Malachite was resting behind the Vilage Elder, an old woman who sat there with a list of quests, constantly poking at a fire with a wooden stick.

They aproched her.

"We would like to hunt a…" he paused, contamplating his desicions, "a Rathalos, NO! Tigrex" he said staring down at her short body, one would wonder however, how could anyone get shorter than him.

"Your hunter rank is not yet-" she was cut off by the moan of Todd.

"Come on! You know im the best hunter in the whole of Pokke," he moaned, with Rachel paitently standing beside him.

"Well…" she couldn't say no, she allready knew the outcome, this had happened many times before, and she allways ended up saying yes and she allways got in trouble with the guild in Minegrade.

"Fine," she huffed and continued to prod the fire.

"Come on then Rachel!" he said enthusiasticly.

She silently followed as her pink hair blowed in the wind. They were walking down the windy path that eventually lead to the mountains until they came to a cross through, two paths, and yet the sign was on the floor. One path lead to the Tundra, and the other lead to the snowy mountains.

"Well 50/50 lets go!"

"Im not so sure," Rachel replied.

"Don't be such a girl."

She looked at him as if he were a dumb child, "I am a fucking girl dipshit!" she replied.

Todd was shocked, this was the first time she ever got angry near him.

"Well I'm going this way…" he said, camly and took the path on the left.

"Wait!" she shouded as she ran after him, "I'm coming, I'm coming," she said with a silent fit of rage.

And she followed after him.

The path was unusually long, and felt different from before, the snow was deaper, slowing them down, and they were nearly out of Hot Drinks, they hoped there would be some more in the suply box.

"We should turn back…" said Rachel with a worried tone.

"Oh come on, we may aswell go now we walked this far." He replied.

Soon they came to an unfamilar area. It had supply boxes, and a camp. They checked the box, nothing, so he stupidly continued on, with Rachel following him. Soon though, they came across a dark cave, with next to no light. He trod on something.

"Holy shit! Oh, its just a leech." He said, surprised.

"Actually, thats a Gigi, oh wait, we are in the Tundra!" She finally realised, looking at the white leech like creature under his foot.

"Crap, we got to get out of here,"He stated.

And so they walked, faster, until they came across another cave, but this time it was better lit, due to the fact that the fires on the holders had been lit. Then a rumble. A giant Ice Agnaktor burst from underground, quickly firing a concentrated ice beam, but soon after two more hunters came in. One was rather short and old, while the other had black hair, tied back in a short ponytail, deep, dark eyes, tan skin, and a rather large build. But before Tom had enough time to worry about them, he had to care for himself, as the Agnaktor, a large beast simular to that of a sea horse, covered in chunks of ice from all the tunneling, and a large, sturdy, yellow beak, was coming streight for him

Chapter V: The Rope Dart
"Should we help them?" Asked Will who whached Rachel hide behind a rock.

"Give it a moment child, I'd like to see what will happen. Besides he seems to be doing a fine job of it anyway." Achilles said, pointing his walking stick at Todd.

Todd was hacking and slashing at the Agnaktor, and it was flinching and fireing its beams. It tunneled it self under ground before emerging again to fire yet another beam of ice. This time it hit. It smaked Tom Dodd in his chest. It was freezing and it sent him flying, his back barely missed the icicel but his arm got torn all the way down. This told Will he should help, and with a nod of approval from Achilles he did so. This encoraged Rachel to join in. She pulled out her custom bow that her rich father gave to her as a birthday present. The string was made out of many hairs of Cedeus fur, all spun to make a tough string. The actual bow itself was made out of many materials: Dragon Wood, Elder Dragon Bone, Teostra Horn, Rathalos Ruby and had many decorations also.

She fired two or three arrows all hitting their targets. The poison tip poisoned the Ice Agnak, slowly sapping away at its heath. Will was skillfully, (but not as skillfuly as Todd had done) cutting away at the Agnaktor with is fire sword, Wyven Blade Fall. He was well prepared the job shoud be over soon.

"H-H-Help please..." Wheezed Todd who was a little winded.

Achiles slowly walked over to him, laughing as he did so, got out bandeges from his pouch and wraped it round his arm.

After a few more hits and burst of flame erupting from the Long Sword, the Agnacktor soon fell into the trap Will had set and Rachel used her TRANK ARROW to make it fall asleep. They captured it but Todd was dissapointed.

"Hey!", he coughed, "I barely done anything." He Whined.

"Should have payed more attention boy." Achilles said.

Todd looked at him and narrowed his eyes.

"Well we best behalf..." said Will.

"But what of the beast?" Asked Rachel.

"You keep it," said Will cindly.

As Will was leaving the cave, Rachel glanced back at him and smiled sweetly. Will noticed and shily smiled back.

"Don't stare," Achilles said, hitting him with his walking stick.

"Sorry..."

-A Day Later-

Will was at the homestead in the underground section traning on Sack-head monsters.

"Look what I found," Achiles said showing him what looked like a piece of string with a blade attached to it.

"What is that?" Asked Will.

"A Sheing Bao, or Rope Dart if you prefer..." He replied.

He handed it over to Will who swang it round in circles, and wached the dart. But suddenly he lost his grip and it went flying towards Achilles. Luckly it hit the post beside him. Achilles looked at him angrily.

"Sorry..." Said William as Achilles walked back up the stairs.

Chapter VI: Training in the Homestead
"How do I use this thing?" Will shouted as he pulled it out the post.

"You can use it to pull monsters towards you, trap monsters breifly by tieing it around trees and posts or maby if you are strong enough, you can pull a monster right out of the sky!" He laughed. " But you would need alot of strength to do that..." Achilles replied.

" Have you not seen me?" Will joked.

Achilles ignored him, but smiled to himself.

"Go practice on some Jaggi, you'd be sure to find their nest somewere in these woods."

"Why can't we go to Moga, the so called 'floating city'?" Will asked.

"In time my boy, in time," he replied coughing.

Will stepped out the door of the manor and set out to hunt with a pouch of five rope darts. He saw a Great Jaggi, this was a good opportunity. He aimed and threw it like a dart, just as the name would suggest, and hit, he used a light pull and sure enough, it dragged iself towards him. Still pulling, he pulled out his sword and slashed it, leaving a gigantic gash on the side of its body. It all happened really fast, faster than Will expected. It only took another two or three hits before the Great Jaggi died.

He kneeled down, he got out his knive and carved off the pelt and its crest and left the body to be consumed by whatever beast walked these parts of the world.

It soon came to him how far he was from the other parts of the land, Moga was way over in the western part and Pokke was far up north, Yukomo was in the far east and Minergrade was in the middle. He was closesed to Minergrade yet still very far away. He felt like an outsider, like he was cut off. He still remembered Lucy, hoping desperatly that she would have some how survived the attack.

He soon arrived at the manor, holding up the pelt.

"You used the dart?" Asked Achilles.

"Yes, they are rather efficient and I shall use tham well."

"Good, good. Want a game of Morris before we leave for bed?" He asked, hoping Will would say yes.

"What is that?" Will said harshly.

"Well there is no point now, too long to teach." He coughed a few times. "I'll be off to sleep now, good night boy."

And with that he walked up the second flight of stairs to his room on the left and fell asleep, and a couple of minuits after that, Will went up also and slept like a log.

Thunder and lightnig was outside, rain was pouring down heavily and some Ludroth were waliking about outside. Achilles got up at about 2:20 Am that mourning and went for a stroll outside. It was lonley for him, but atleast now he had company...

Chapter VII: Jhen Mohran
"Get up, you're killing a Jhen." Achiles said blatently.

A Jen was a huge beast that dwells within the sandy plains of the Great Desert. It hat two huge horns, amd fed of animals in the desert, the sraps are given to the Delex that follow it.

"Me?" Said Will rubbing his eyes.

"Who else?" Achilles said sarcasticly.

Great Desert Later That Day
"So I command this?" Asked Will holding the steering wheel.

"Yes. Commands?" Asked Kidd.

Kidd was a former capitain of the fleet. He used to work for Moga gathering fish but he worked himself up and killed Jhen on a regular basis.

"Get to your staitons men!" Shouted William.

"Jhen, JHEN!" Shouted a member of the crew.

Sure enough a massive Jhen Mohran came out of the sand and swam along side the ship.

"To arms, To arms!" Will shouted at the crew.

"Fire the cannons!" He added, pointing to the Jhen.

Four cannons exploded, and with each explosion a cannon ball erupted from it and smashed into the Mohran, some brusing its arm, others ricosheting of its spine taing bits of ore with it.

"It's coming to wards us!" Shouted another member of crew.

Will thought for a moment, "Fire the binder." He exlaimed.

"Now's our chance, hit it with everything." He said, and so they did, Ballistas and Cannons slamed into its body and it screeched in absolute pain. It dug underground, deep in the sand.

"Is it leaving?" Will asked.

"No, its coming from behind..." Replied Kidd as he pointed to the emerging Jhen.

"Wait for the Dragonator, on my count. Three. Two. One. Fire!"

They hit the button, but did it hit? The Mohran emerged and the Dragonator propelled itself into the Mohran, it sreamed, and landed on the boat sending it, and its crew skyward.

Will awoke from his moment of unconcenceness to see Kidd and his crew passed out, and the Jhen fast approaching. Must I do everything my self? he thought to himself. He ran in with his sword slashing at its fore legs, breaking away chunks of shell. Soon though soon, it would be close to the ship, and the Dragonator would deliver the final blow. He took a few hits, getting knocked over by the ever mooving feet, slowly charging towards the broken ship.

He looked back, noticing the ship which was surprisingly close. Will ran back and up the stairs, waited and timed his attack, then hit the button. They slammed into the poor Mohran killing it and it landed with a loud thud on the now still sand.

"What happened?" The now awoken Kidd asked.

"We won Kidd, we won."

Chapter VIII: Tigrex Hunt
"Achilles I'm back!" Shouted Will as he walked through the door.

"How did it go?" Achilles asked.

"All went well, Kidd taught me how to command the crew and drive the Naval Ship." William exitedly replied.

"Good, good. By the way I want to try something William," Achilles told him.

"And what would that be.?" Will asked.

"Come down to the weapon amoury," Achilles told him. "Put these on..."

There lay an abundance of weapons: A Great Sword, A sleek shiny Long Sword, a Powerful Bow, Two small Dual Swords and a small pouch that contained Rope Darts. One by one William put them on, First the Greatswords holster, the Longswords Holster fit above that, the Dualswords hanging by his sides, and finally the bow, the curve going round his back and the string across his chest. He put the Great and Longswords in their respective hilts and shuffled around abit to see if they are comfortable.

"Can you hold it?" Achilles asked?

"Just fine," Will replied, half lieing.

"You are one tough nut boy... My old bones can't hold that you see, and the only other man that could do that is one of my pupils: Jhon De La Tour. But he was the best Hunter out there at the time and I doubt anyone can top him." Achilles said, remenising the past.

"Anyway," Achilles said realising he was off tracking, "You are to hunt a Tigrex! All those weapons are Power based, so no need to worry about monsters weaknesses. But we had best be off."

Two Hours Later, Snowy Mountains
"It's so cold..." Will said as he rubed his hands together to keep warm.

"Have a Hot Drink then." Achilles replied.

He did so but he tried to ration them to make sure he didn't run out. Carrying the heavy load of weapons was hard, but it should keep him warm. He was walking up the small isle in the cave part of the area and he could see the light ahed, just behind the three giaprey that seemed to guard it. Giaprey where small raptor like wyvrens that could spit an icy substance and they had a pack leader, the Giadrome, whos icy spit could actually freeze you. Quickly, he pulled out his Longsword and swiped it hitting all three. One jumped but Will quickly managed to hit hit with one swipe of his sword, and the 'prey split in two. Will pulled a Rope dart from his pouch and threw it directly at the 'prey, gave it a tug and slahed it, sending the prey flying.

"Very good..." Achilles said sarcasticly.

Will gave him a glance of discust and continued on. As he walked out he saw it; the big bright yellow-orange beast. Those light blue stripes running down all its body. It was sinking its teeth into the fresh meat of a Popo, its face was smuthered in blood. As soon as he finished asmiring it in awe, he quickly crouched, slowly making its way towards the beast, silently approaching its behind. He laid a Pitfall Trap, a trap designed to temporarily restrict a monster, and it can be used for capturing.

The Tigrex fell back, and William immediately started hacking and slashing at it with his Greadsword, aiming for the head and claws. The Tigrex struggled free and jumped back, letting out a roar of rage. It pushed its claw forward, sending three huge blocks of ice through the air, one of which nearly hit poor old Achilles who was assessing and watching William throughout the hunt. It came charging like a tank at full pelt, Will rolled to the side, but not before giving it a quick slash. He came to realise that for him, this beast was too fast and the Greatsword was too slow. He needed speed. He got the two Dual swords, hanging by his sides and started to do the renound 'Devil Dance'. He was speedily hacking and slashing, dodging and roling hitting hard, but did so with mistakes, occasionally tripping and getting hit by the Tigrex's many mooves. He ran back and pulled out the bow, applied the paralisis coating and aimed. He pulled back the string leaving it to gain more strain and let go. The arrow flew through the air, pircing the Tigrex's eye. This wound told the Tiggy to go, it helplessy flaped its wings trying to escape, but Will was deep in the hunt, adrenalin pumping through his veins. He remembed what Achilles said. '...pull it streight out of thr sky!' He scrambled for another rope dart and threw it, peircing the airboune Tigrex's ancle. He tugged with umpf and strength, his face turning red, and the Tigrex gave in and came plummeting to the ground, smashing its face as it did so.

It was dead.

"Good job, good job, not neciceraly a 'clean kill' but at least you killed it." Achilles said looking at the arrows and the holes the rope dart made, the messy slash marks and the broken bones.

"Thank you for the encouragement." Will replied, trying not to lash out with rage.

He walked over, and started to carve. There was no way he would manage to salvage a pelt, no artisan would use such a poor quality pelt. Instead he went for two claws and some scales, leaving Achilles to scavenge for the rest. In total he had: two claws, three scales, a skull shell, and a tail. He looked at what he got and felt a small amount of self pride.

"We'd best get going..." Will suggested sipping down another hot drink.

"Better be some daylight by the time we get back..." Achilles replied, slightly hinting about the time it took Will to kill the Tigrex.

And with that, they made their journey back.

Chapter IX: That Chin!
"Well William you must learn how to hunt bigger and heavyer beasts." Achilles told him.

"But, I just hunted!" Will whined.

"That too, you must also learn how to hunt, even streight after a hunt, it will build your skill and stamina." Achilles replied.

William looked at him in discust, thinking to himself about when he will finally get the chance to kill the beast he set out to kill, rather than killing all the other beasts.

"Why not I kill the beast that burned my vilage now? Why all this extra work? Why waste time?!" He asked in anger.

"Even if you find it, what will you do? You are an average hunter and you have no chance against it even if you did get to it!" Achilles replied in even more anger.

"But-" he was cut off.

"So nieve." Achilles said under his breath. "Listen, just go to the volcano, take all your weapons and kill a..." Achilles paused, contemplating and thinking about what William should kill. "... An Uragan."

"A what?"

"It's big, has ore on it's back, you could mine off it if you want to, it's stomach is covered in a black ooze. and it has a huge chin it uses to smash ores so it can eat them, but it might just smash you." Achilles said, describing the Uragan.

Will left, holding the mental image of this so-called Uragan. He made his way out of the house and into the frontier, he looked about the area, watching the screene sight of Kelbi runnig and playing, and the insects buzzing about.

"What a false reality." He told himself.

Volcano, Later that day
We walked up, passed the small forest like area and onto the more rocky terain. He paused, took a sip of that cool, refreshing, delicious cool drink and liked his lips. So very hydrating, it would help keep him cool in the heat. He walked up, pulled himself up onto the ledge and ran towards the hotter part of the place.

He pulled out his map and looked at it carefully.

"Hmm, Achilles said it should be in... Area 6." Will told himself.

He looked back at his map, and headed east. Will soon came to area 6, he looked in wonder, and asked himself where it was. Out of nowhere, the Uragan came pelting towards him, rolling like a wheel on a cart and hit William streight in the chest. It was huge, a massive chin which it used to smash items and golden ores runimg down its thick back.

"Argh!" He yelled as he was pelted a few meters back. "Come here you bastard." He then said under his breath.

He pulled out his dual swords and repetedly tried to hit, but each time they kept bouncing back.

"Fuck," he said. "Why does this never work?"

He thought for this monster he should go heavy, and that's exatly what he did. With one swing he pulled out his Great Sword and swooped the Uragan's legs, tripping it up as he did so. Will managed to get a few hits off while it was down, but the Uragan soon got up, and with rage, smacked its huge heavy chin on the ground and roared. The shock nearly caught William off guard, but he was heavy, he rarely tripped. He tried to get off a few more hits, but most missed, and even mor bounced off.

"Damn, I need a new tack'." He huffed.

He pulled out a rope dart and flung it. It soared through the air and caught on a pice of ore. He pulled hard but nothing budged. He pulled harder but doing that was not good for him, the rope dart looked like it was ready to snap. One last pull did it, both the pice of ore, and the rope gave way, the ore flew through the air with the blade in it, and Will fell back landing on his back.

"Arg!" He yelled, deep in pain.

He looked up only to see a huge angry beast coming towards him. It stopped, looked at Will and with one heavy hit, it bought it's chin down hitting Will on the helmet, knocking him out. He was stone cold.

Chapter X: The Plan
Will nearly woke up, he was dizzy and tired. He tried to open his eyes, but they wouldn't he managed to take a glance at a feline. It said something he could not make it out.

"You're going to be OK nya." It said.

Homestead, Soon after
"William? William!" Shouted Achilles.

"My head..."

"Don't worry, I've seen to that." Achilles replied.

"I failed Achilles."

"Why do we fall William? So we can learn to pick our selves back up." Achilles told him. "You'll be allright."

Will rested for a while. Thinking about what he did, and why he failed. Soon he recovered, and got out of bed. Still dizzy, he managed to walk his way down stairs, grasping the banisters as he did so. He went down the coridoor and saw Achilles there, sitting, waiting.

"I see you've recovered." Achilles said on first sight.

"It was your fault!" Shouted William. "You sent me out with poor equiptment to hunt a beast that nearly killed me!"

"I sent you out thinking you would succeed..." Replied Achilles

"Save it! You never help, NEVER! Why can't I go out now with GOOD weapons and kill the beast I set out to kill all thise years ago?! Why all this extra work?" Will bellowed. He had this arguement before, but Achilles doubted it would end soon.

"I NEVER help?! Ok then, let me take away the weapons, and the training, and- and the rope darts-"

"Your rope darts are SHIT! The break too easyly and-"

"They break when used inproperly. If you are so angry about it, I'll try to fix them. And even if I sent you out to kill the big beast, what would you do?! You have no plan, no heading, no idea what to do. And do you really think you can go out there by your self and kill a monster like that?" Achilles argued, saying what he said many times before.

"I have a plan! Better than one you could come up with." Will said as a rebuttle.

"Out with it boy!"

"I go to Pokke and gather the two we met in the Tundra, then to Moga as I might see Kidd again and finally to Town and gather many more hunters and huntresses who are willing to hunt with me. I wont tell them it is for me. I'll only say it is for sport, or I'll cast some other lie..." Will said, telling him of his 'plan'.

"So nieve..." Achilles replied.

"Toss of!" William said in anger.

And with that he slamed the door open and stepped out into the rain and sat there, on the muddy, dirty ground.

"Get back in NOW!" Achilles told him.

Will said nothing, he only raised his hand to shoo Achilles off, he wanted to hear no more.

Later That Day
"Achilles!" He said banging on the door. "ACHILLES!"

"What?" He said opening the door.

"I- I'm sorry." Will replied.

"Get in."

Chapter XI: The Journey North
"I managed to fix the rope darts you know..." Achilles told him. "I changed the ordinary string with a new type of wire just introduced to us called '... Ore Wire' the better the ore the better the wire, I've fitted Dragonite ore in there for you, but if you wish you can have it upgraded."

"Will this not cut my hands?" Replied Will.

"Your gloves should save you... Doing this also allows you to 'splice' your enemies. You could allmost use it as a whip. But Dragonite ore is not strong enough... You'll have to get wire made of a much stronger ore." Achilles said.

"Right, thank you Achilles for everything, I can't thank you enough! But now I'm off to Pokke." Will said, while shaking Achilles' hand.

"Not without this your not." And with that, Achilles pulled out a huge battle axe type weapon and handed it over to Will.

"Even more to carry?!" Will joked and he put the seath over him self, tightened it, and hung the axe by the handle.

"Of you go," said Achilles with a sad expression on his face.

And with that William left for Pokke walking down the pathway, and into the woodland below. After about an hour of walking he found a grave, but he soon realised who's it was, he didn't want to be near it, so he slowly started in the other direction. Will was surprised he hadn't ran into anything yet, but he tried not to think about that, about HER, plus, he didn't want to jinx it either. It was freezing, even the hot drinks didn't help that much, he dreaded what it would be like at nightfall. He looked down at his map, noticing he barely covered any distance, and the newly formed snow was seemingly getting deeper with every step. Suddenly he stumbled, realising that the snow would cover some holes in the ground, or stumps potruding from, it. His foot was stuck, and it took a while to un-wedge it, but eventually he did.

Seventy two days later
He aproached a clearing, and there were two possable pathways, Will quickly remembered that the path on the left sent them to the tundra, and quickly went for the one on the right, but not before placing the sign back up, from when it fell afew days ago. He decided to make camp in the snowy mountains, and then go back down the path, back to the clearing and up the third path that leads to pokke.

Three hours later
It was midnight, it was freezing, Will was hardly sustaining himself in the weather, and he had to keep aleart incase a beast came strolling by looking for a good hearty meal. He could have sworn to hear the cries of a fellow hunter a few times, but he took it as to just his mind playing tricks, or just bad memories of the past.

Six hours later
He soon arived at the path, and walked up it, stepping past the vilage elder, and walking straight into the center of the village. All eyes were on him, wondering if he were a tresspasser, few were happy to greet him, but at least it wasn't all hate. Soon after Todd walked by, with Rachel, he noticed Will.

"Hey, it's you!"

Capter XII: To Town
"Why are you here?" Asked a confuzed Rachel.

"I'm here to gather a team, for a huge hunt." Will blatently replied.

"Bill, isn't it?" Asked Todd.

"Will, and how did you know my name?" Will asked.

"I heared the old man say it a few times in that cave when we got lost." Said Todd

"Well, I'm coming!" Said Rachel half drawn to Will.

Will felt slightly awkward at that moment, and took a half step back.

"I have to go to Town first, there are a few people I need to get." Will confesed.

"Oh, I don't mind at all, do you Todd?" Asked Rachel.

"No." Said an angered Todd through his clenched teeth.

Town, Guild Hall, later that day
"Where is John De La Tour?" William asked a man.

"I don't quite like your tone boy." The man replied.

A third man aproached, pulling the two apart.

"Don't mess with Don." The third man said.

"I can take him!" Exlaimed Will. "And who are you?"

"I'm John De La Tour..."

"Achilles sent me, he said you-" Will was cut off.

"Yes, yes. The old man. Telling tales about me I bet." Said John.

"I need your help!" Will pleaded.

"I bet you do!" Replied John, almost amused.

Will threw a heavy punch.

"I AM IN NO MOOD FOR GAMES!" William shouted.

"What about a fight?" John suggested.

Will hit him twice round the face, but the third time John caught it, and sent back a punch in the stomach. Will ran at him grabbing his throat, and getting him into a head-lock. Three time Will kneed his face, breaking John's nose. John booted the back of Will's legs, causing will to colappse on his knees. Once he did that he sent a kick into Will's back causing him to faceplant onto the pavement. He got up.

"UUURGH" He grunted.

"I. Am. Not. Your. Enemy!" He said kicking his stomach, and elbowing his allready broken nose.

"Just hear me out!" He continued.

"Allright! I give in, but you started it!" He complained. "I'm too old for fist fight..."

Will rolled his eyes. "Let's go to Moga!"

"Not that fishy place," John said, still complaning.

Will gave him a look, and with that, they all followed. An angered Will, a slightly less cocky John, an intimadated Todd, and a marvled Rachel.

Chapter XIII: The Floating Village
"We need a team name," Todd suggested when the ship was just docking at the harbour.

"No." Said John Moodily.

As they walked off, the Vilage Elder, (an old man with dark skin and grey hair, who fumbled around with his walking stick), approached them.

"Can I help?" He asked in a cheerful voice."

"I'm looking for Capitan Kidd, a former person in the Moga Navy as I understand." Will quickly said in responce.

"Is that the man you want?" Said the Elder, pointing to the capitan on a ship, carrying bucket fulls of fish.

"Captin Kidd!" Shouted Will as he jumped down and off the ship. "Nice boat!" He joked.

"Get over here!" Kidd replied, going for the hand shake.

Will denied it, but Kidd moved his hand gesturing to the Village to try to hide it.

"Look, I need your help-" Said a cut off Will

"And I need yours, look a hunter recently just repelled a monster, but I think it's back. You know the Ceadeaus right?"

"Cedoo-what?"

"Ceadeus, you know the titanic monster that lives in the sea..." Replied Kidd

Will looked at him blancly.

"With two big horns one bigger than the other, a white beard of fur..." Kidd continued.

"I'm sure I can marvel at it when I see it for my self, but for now, if I kill it, will you help me?" Will asked.

"I'd be happy to."

Underwater Ruin, later that day
"So, like, how long do we have to hold our breaths for?" Asked an anxious Todd.

"Well, there should be cracks on some rocks where trapped air is being let out..." Replied Kidd.

"Look, I've been here before, there's a short-cut we can take to get to the area it's in." Said a pissed off John.

"How would you know?" Asked Will.

"I've been here before. They were the ruins of an acient civilization, but they sank, and now they're beneath Moga, ready for monsters to find there way in." John Replied.

They all followed John to the short-cut area, and they dived in each following John to the center area. Everyone but him was looking around gazing at the sunken gold, and rare items of jewlery, and carcases of old decaying monsters. Todd hat to take a breath of air, so he swam to crack and breathed it in.

"We're here, just swim through that gap and you're there." Said John through his healmet.

One by one they entered, but they all (but John) stopped at the sight of the mighty Ceadeaus.

"Crap" Said Todd. "That's huge!"

"It's bigger than my bloody ship!" Kidd added.

"Shut up and kill it allready!" Shouted John.

Rachel was the first to attack, fireing from her elegent bow, hitting the Cead in its tail and under-belly. Kidd and John were earger to follow, Kidd going for the head with his hammer, and John attacking the beard with his Great Sword. Will went in with his Long Sword, attacking the tail, and hopeing to cut it off. All this angered it, and in responce it swung its head hitting Kidd with its horns, and nearly, if not for him swimming slightly to the side, hit John. The tail smacked Will.

"Damn!" Said Will, who was ever so slightly winded.

Rachel continued to fire, and so the Ceadeaus blasted a beam of water from its mouth that sent her to the top of the ruined cave. They now were all desperate for some air, so they were each desperatly searching for their own individual scource. Will could see Rachel couldn't find one, so he swam to her and put his lips to hers and gave her some of his. She thanked him, and continued to shoot all the while the Will amd the others were advancing on the Monster.

"We need to hurry up!" Shouted John through his air mask.

They did so, Kidd managed to knock it out with his hammer, and that allowed them all a few more hits. Will had the tail weak, and was ready to come off.

A few moments later it did so, ant the beast was bleading profusely because of it. It was lacking the energupy to defend it's self, and did so. Not before one last attack on the four with it's beam of water which missed, but hit the cealing, causing some boulders to fall, and barely miss an unaware Rachel.

"That was far too close, but it's at Death's door, finish it off!"

And with afew more hits they did, they wasted no time in swiming back, amd climbing ashore.

"Well, that was different..." said Todd, dripping with water.

"A little too different, if you ask me." Replied Will.

"Well son, no one did ask you so let's get going on where we have to next." Said John, almost proud with his accomplishment.

"We need to rest!" Will shouted back.

"We do, I'm tired, and it's nearly nightfall." Added Rachel.

"I'll go to the Moga Woods to get some meat." Said Kidd.

"I'll help." Said John.

"Me too." Said Todd, eager for a boyish night hunt.

"You're not going?" Asked Rachel.

"I couldn't leave you alone," Will replied.

"About earlyer... I-I just want to thank you properly, I could have died back there." Said Rachel.

"Well, I couldn't leave you." Replied Will, looking into her eyes.

They both stared at eachother, and leaned forward. His lips touched hers, and they kissed for about eight seconds. She went to hold his hand, and she did. They both sat there, hand in hand, watching the sun set over the horison.

Chapter XIV: The Hunt Begins
Will woke up. He checked the sun dial, it was allready 10 o'clock.

"Get up!" He said to the sleeping bodies.

"Yeah guys get up!" Shouted John, making Will jump.

"Since when were you an early bird?" Asked Will.

John ignored him, amd stood there as everyone got up.

"So Will, what's your next step in your master plan hmm?" Asked John, mocking him.

"I need to find out where the beast is, do you know of any good scources of information?" Will asked, speaking to everyone.

"Towns?"

"Vilages?"

"Veggie Elders." Said John bluntly. "There are bound to be some anywhere you go, allways giving you things in exchange for items you happen to own."

"Then which one do we go to?" Asked a newly awoken Todd.

"The Swamp"

Swamp later that day
"The Veggie elder should be here!" Said an astonished John.

"Well, what does it look like?" Asked Will.

"Short, covered in wrincles. Annoying. A bit like your Village cheif!" Said John pointing to Todd.

Todd laughed loudly, perhaps more than he should have and Rachel sniggered slighty.

"We have to look around..." Said Will unamused.

They first went towards the strip of corn feild, amd killed a few bullfango on the way, but later decidet to try the caves.

Swamp Caves, Three Hours Later
"Khezu!" Screamed Rachel, as she stumbeled over a rock.

Khezu. A discusting flabby lump of fat. It would hang from the celing using its stubby tail, and await prey. It would eather suck it up with its long strechy neck, or shock it with its thunder attack. It had two frog like feet coming from its sides, and a pale white, almost translucent skin, in whuch you could see the throbing veins and arteries behind it.

"Kill it then!" Shouted John back.

They all ran at it, hacking and slashing at it, but barely doing anything due to its thick blubbery hide.

"Anyone here got a 'fire' attributed weapon?!" Will shouted. "Its fat will burn in the fire!"

"I do!" Said Todd pulling out his fire dual swords, who did his quick fast attacks, with burst of flame coming out out of the pair of swords.

Kidd did his trademark, hammer the head, and soon it was dead.

"We can carve some steaks from the body! I'll carry them 'till lunch!" Shouted John, who then got out his carving knife.

Out of the dark corners of the cave toddled out a small, red-faced creature, walkng out with his miniture walking stick.

"Hey! Is that your Veggie Elder?" Asked Will shouting back.

"I think it is..." replied Rachel, as she approached it.

"Hi!" She said sweetly. "Do you know where I can find out something about a big red dragon?" She continued.

"Might do, but first, you give me." The Elder replied.

"Give you what?" She asked.

It looked up to the cave celing. Contemplating the things it could have.

"There's a jewl, that a pesky feline stole from me, bring be that and I'll tell you where the map might be..."

"Ok... Where is this feline?" She asked.

"In the Tundra! I think..." The Elder Replied

"Hey guys, I got something!" Rachel said.

"Then let's go." Will replied.

Tundra
"Great the entrance is blocked..." Said Will, looking down the narrow pathway obstructed by debris. "We'll never get through!" He added.

"A monster could break it..." Said Todd.

"Ice Barroth." John stated.

"What about it?" Kidd asked.

"When an Ice Barroth is weak, it will use it's large head to charge at the debri to get to the other areas," John added. "We cam weaken one, but if we kill it we will have to wait for another to appear, and by then that beast of yours Will, might be gone."

"Well, we have to set up camp, and wait for one." Said Rachel.

"I'll fetch some wood and kindling." Will said.

"I'll go to," said Kidd.

"Me too!" Said Todd.

"Why don't we all go!" Said John sarcasticly.

"Ok!" Said Rachel, seeing through the sarcasm, but doing it anyway.

John looked at her as if she was stupid.

"Seriously?" Said John, as he lifted his arms in the air.

Three Hours Later by the Campfire
"Bloody hell, it's freezing!" Moaned Todd.

John gave him a look that said 'no complaining'. Todd looked away rubbing his hands together to help keep warm.

"How long have we been here?" Asked Will.

"About two to three hours." John replied.

"It'll never turn up, man!" Todd said complaning as he stood up. "I'll see if we can find it."

"I don't think you should go alone..." Kidd told them.

"Hey shut up fishy boy!" Said Todd frowning.

"You want a fight?!" Kidd said in anger.

"Break it up guys, look. I know we're tired, but we need to keep it together!" Said Will pushing the two apart as John smirked to himself while prodding the fire with a stick.

They both panted and wached the icy mist float out of their mouths. Suddenly there was a loud roar.

"Is that it?" Said Todd.

Tundra Clearing 30 mins Later
"It's there!" Said Todd, as he pointed with one hand and drew his sword with the other.

And there it stood. Ice Barroth. It was big, bulcky, and had chunks of ice and snow stuck in the cracks amd gaps in its body. Its huge forehead was used for smashing, and occasionally, it would slam its head to the ground, amd charge at you. It's blue body was great for hiding it's self in the snowy areas. It would sometimes shake it's body, and fling chunks of icy slush at you, in an attempt to immobalise you.

"Remember not to kill it!" Shouted John.

Will ran in first, pulling out the battle axe Achilles gave him. He used it to upper cut the Barroth in the face, making it flinch. Todd, used his long sword, and and started attacking the tail in an attempt to cut it off. Rachel, as ever, hit it from a distance, using poison tipped arrows to try and poison it.

"Try and push it into the area where the debris is! Surrond it from one side, and attack itso it'll move back, or run away!" Shouted John.

"Why don't you help?!" Will replied as he hooked the edge of his axe to the Barroth's chin.

The Barroth jerked it's head violently, causing Will to fall of. Then it turned around, slamed it's head on he floor and started charging. Chunks of snow and ice were flying off of it's head, and some of the ground. The slam caused a mini quake, and temporarily immobalised Rachel and Todd as the stumbled, trying to regain balance. It was coming for Will, but he rolled away quickly, got up, and brushed the exessive amounts of snow off of himself. As soon as he did that, he used the blunt side of his axe to take a swing at the Barroth's face. He hit it, breaking it's jaw, causing it to whine and roar loudly, and nearly tripping, it ran towards the exit of the clearing. They all soon chased after it, and they got to the clearing after an exausting 20 minutes of streight running.

The Barroth slammed it's body into the debris, breaking it in a few hits, and ran down the narrow path.

"Good, we did it!" Shouted Rachel in excitmentm jumping up and down.

"Calm down, we still haven't found what we need..." Said Todd in response.

They all soon followed, but they were soon dissapointed. In the far east of the area was the Barroth, which died due to it's wounds. But there were atleast a dozen of these felines hopping around.

"How are we meant to know which fricking one it is?" Asked Todd.

"We loot all of them." Stated Will.

After about 10 minutes of looting the dens, and pouches of these sub-intelegent felines, they found it. It was beautiful, it was a small jewl, but it glisened. Even more so in the snow. The light reflected off of it which made it shine brightly.

"We've got it, let's go." Said Will, clenching the jewl in his hand.

Swamp, 7 days Later.
"Here it is." Said Will as he placed the jem in the Elder's hand. "Now give me what we need."

"I don't actually have it..." Said the Elder.

Will looked at him with an extreemly angered face.

"What?" Said Kidd.

"Urm, well, I hid it somewhere to keep it save..." The Elder replied.

"Well then, where did you hide it?" Asked Todd.

"There is an old abandoned tower, atop a hill. It-it spirals upward. But it is unknown to most of the world, and, well. No one really knows what is there..."

"You've been there before though." Said John.

"Well, it was a long time ago. But I have a vague idea... There's something called a Remobra, it's like a snake, only black with red stripes, and it has bat like wings... Oh and they spit poison." Said the Elder.

"Anything else?" Asked Will.

"Well, there are these things... Great Thunder Bug. They are a collection of tiny little insects that fly as a group, and glow dimly. If you get too close, they will explode." The Elder added.

"Then how do we get around them?" Asked Todd. "They bloody explode!"

"Well, they seem to react to sound. If one gets really close, don't move at all. But if they're near, move very slowly." The Elder said.

"Well, that's enough of that, let's go." Said John bluntly.

"I think we should listen-" said Rachel.

"I KNOW we should go." John replied.

They all followed John out the swamp cave, save Will, who was thanking the Elder at the time. But Will soon caught up, and they made their way out of the swamp zone.

Ruined Tower
They stood there, and looked ahead, the tower was tall, and not very wide, and loomed over them, lanky and grey. It was a long walk from where they were, and it was night time, the stars above them staring down, the long flat grassy terain ahead.

"We should make camp." Said Will.

"Again... I'm tired of making camp!" Said Todd.

"No one asked you to come the last few times." Said Kidd.

John was allready geting to sleep.

"And to all a good night." John said rather rudely.

"Thanks for the help..." Will said sarcasticly.

John raised his middle finger at Will, but Will just ignored it and rolled his eyes.

"Jerk!" Said Rachael.

John did it again, but they all just laughed. Todd sat back down to say 'I'm not doing it', and Kidd explained he was tired also.

"Just the two of us then?" Asked Will.

"Yep." Replied John with his eyes closed.

"Come on then." Said William to Rachel as they both waklked near the denser part of the green area, out of sight from the rest of the group. They tried to gather all the dry wood they could find, but it was all too damp, rotten, or covered in moss. They resorted to climbing the trees so they could get wood that wasn't touching the damp ground. They got strips of wood, but as they climbed down, Will noticed a red eye.

"Urm, Rachel? Rachel!" Will shouted as he pointed to it.

"Crap, we're moving!" Rachael said as they began to rise.

The monster roared, and this soon woke up the rest of the group.

"Shit, guys look!" Said John.

Kidd pulled put his spy glass he got from the Moga Navy.

"It's William and Rachel!" He shouted as he saw them through the spy glass, pointing to them. "It's heading towards the Tower."

"It's a Yamatsukami." Shouted John.

"A what?" Asked Todd. "How do you know all this?"

"That doesn't matter, come on!" John anxously replied.

Lower Tower 30 minutes later
They looked up, noting the long menotinous spiral of stairs that go up, and a large gap in the wide spiral which the Yama was squeezing it's self up. One trip, and they would fall.

"We have to catch up!" Shouted Todd.

They weren't too far down from it, only about one ore two spirals down. They started sprinting their way up, exausting them selves.

"Hit it!" John shouted.

They oulled out their swords, and started hacking at it's wide, green, squid like body, and chunks of wood, leaves, and all sorts of foleige that grew in it's back. It flinched, and occasionally tried to swipe them with it's four tentacles, with the odd one hitting someone. Slowly but surely they climbed up the spiral, each attacking it from a different stand point, while it deperately tried to hit them.

Will was clinging onto the vines and Rachel, as she stabbped it's back with an arrow head repeatedly.

"Do you think they can see us?" She asked.

"I don't know, it's a quite dense area, they'll see it dead. Plus, think of the bright side, this is basically a lift up to the top area where the map is!" Will replied.

"I don't know..." She looked up. "We are atleast half way up, but if it goes any higher, we could get smushed on the roof of the stair case..." She replied, worried.

"It's probably old anyway, plus there's lots of crevases we can hide under." Will said confidently.

"Crap, we're nearly at the top!" Kidd said panting.

"It should be dead by now, or near to it." John said confidently as he hacked away at one of it's tentacles. He took one big swing, and cut a tentacle off.

"Oh god that stinks!" Shouted Todd as the tentacle flew off, and the flesh wound was dripping slime and ooze, letting off an aweful oder.

"You're luky you're wearing a helmet!" Said John as he put his hand over his nose.

"What is that?!" Will said as the smell wafted up.

"Oh god that's aweful!" Replied Rachel as she tried to cover her face.

"It doesn't matter, look, we're nearly at the top, we need to jump."

"Well which end, is the end? Which direction do we need to go?" Rachel asked. "Wait, what are you doing?" She said as Will climbed a near by tree.

"If I get to the top, I can see where we need to go." He replied.

He quickly climbed down.

"Left"

They sprinted across the woodland on the beasts back and got to the edge.

"I see a ledge coming up. One, two three-"

He was cut off, as they started to fall, the others had killed it.

"Shit!"

They jumped, and Will grabbed the edge, but Rachel missed.

"Rachel!" He shouted as he went to grab her hand.

"Crap, help them!" Todd shouted as the rest of the group sprinted after them.

Will was struggling, the weight of Rachel in one hand, and the excessive ampunts of weapons and armour on his body was straining him. He used all his effort and strength to help pull her up. John was there to grab her, and with two hands Will pulled himself up too. He looked down the 90 foot drop,

"Bloody hell." Will said as he panted.

"On we go!" John said, who allready started on the narrow path that lead to the main room.

They all followed untill they came to a large, dark, eery room.

"What are those... husks on the floor?" Todd said as he pointed to the many small husks on the ground. Some soon lit up to a dim glow and started to hover around the room in a slow, tortoise like manner.

"Fuck, those are Thunder Bugs..." Will said, as one slowly started to hover towards him.

"Don't moove, don't speak, attracted to sound remember?" Said John.

Rachel was wimpering as one got dangerously close to her. Will raised his finger to his lips, and Rachel quietened down a little. Todd mouthed the word 'Slowly', and they all started etching towards the exit. Every so often when one got close, they stopped and waited untill it mooved on, or went to investigate the sound of dripping water, or rustling leaves. After an exrusiating time, they mooved on from that room and came to an open clearing at the peak of the Tower.

"The Elder said it's hidden under a loose tile on the ground near the edge of the Tower." Rachel told them.

"Here?" Will asked as he ran his hands over the old, dirty, moss covered ground.

He lifted a tile, and picked up a small wooden box. He pried it open and quickly opened the small scroll inside, a few coins fell out, and Todd was quick to get some.

"So were next?" Asked John.

"The Battleground."

Chapter XVIII: Black Eyes in the Battleground
"That's it? A volcano?" Asked Todd.

"No, it's just an enclosed area the Guild shut off years ago, known to us as the Battleground. Many monsters came here to rest, and hunters like me slayed them." John replied, as he remenised the past, his past.

"Let us hurry, I have no desire to wait any longer." Will bluntly said, as the anger and lust for revenge built up inside him.

They all followed Will down the narrow path that had been eroded by lava and hunter's weapns scraping along the side. They came to the clearing of the Battle ground. There were thin streams of lava flowing through the rock, and occasionally, pressure would build up and small sprays of molten rock burst out of the ground.

"This place is a wreck!" Kidd said. "I prefer the high seas."

"Wait, that's it? THAT'S IT?! You draged us all here for a Crimson Red Fatalis?" John.

"What? No!" Will replied.

"That's the only fire beast I see here." John replied.

"Do you have any idea what they are arguing about?" Kidd asked.

"Oh crap!" Shouted Will as the Fatalis swooped down, nearly taking his head off with it's wings.

It had a long, thin, crimson-orange body, and two bright red wings, it's two black eyes stared at them as it licked its lips and ran it's toungue over it's white, serated teeth. It shot a beam of fire out it's mouth, and it barely gave them any time to escape.

"Listen, please, that is not the beast I remember!" Will said as he dag hard through his memory.

"Then that prick of an Elder either lied, or is as stupid as I assumed!" John said as he drew his sword.

They all in turn pulled out their weapons, and Will weant for his bow, constantly aiming for the wings and head. Kidd pulled out his hammer, and was smashing and bashing it's feet and legs, and when it came down to stand on all fours, he would take a big swing and hit it's head, chiping one of it's four horns on it's head.

"Urm, John why is it going black?!" Will asked.

"What?" John shouted back as he hit the Fatalis, but his weapon bounced back off. "What the hell?" He continued to hit it, but each time his weapin bounced back off.

"It's hide got thicker!" Rachel said as one arrow bounced off it's now black wing.

"Aim for the eyes"

Will got pulled out one arrow, carefull timing the shot, but he barely missed, just skimming the side of it's face.

"Why not fire one of those rope things? There's a gap in it's scales where you can reach it's spine, then it'll die!" John shouted.

"I think it'll be easyer to throw!"

"What ever floats your boat" John replied.

"Water, or a fast current of sand floats my boat..." Kidd said.

John ignored it as Will attempted to hit it. He managed to get the eyey, and the blade lached onto the eye socket.

"Climb!" Todd shouted.

Will was grasped the rope, and started to climb up, each pull hurting the Fatalis more, as it pulled on it's socket, it shatered the bone, but not enough for Will to slip.

"I'm there!" Will shouted as he pulled out one of his dual swords. He plunged it into the gap, and it penetrated it's spine, killing it. Instantly.

It fell to the ground, it's face in lava. Will hopped down, and went to hug Rachel. Everyone looked at him, and he backed off, realising the rest of his little 'group' didn't know about them.

"Urm, I..."

"You like her," John said with a smug look on his face.

"No."

"No?" Rachel said.

"I mean-" Will said.

"Oh we know what you mean!" Kidd said laughing.

"Stop being mean!" Rachel said, as she went after Will.

The following morning
"We need to figure out what to do next."

Chapter XIX: Where from Here?
"The guild knows everything. They keep tabs on every monster there ever was." John told them.

"Then why not go there in the first place, and not piss about? Why not go there when we had the chance instead of going to that midget dwarf thing?!" Todd asked.

"Because it's far away. We had a better chance if we went to the 'dwarf' in the first place." John explained.

"Well, I'm out!" Todd said as he sat on a near rock.

"See you next winter Todd..." Will said.

"You can't just leave." Rachel said.

"He can do what he wants." Kidd added.

"ENOUGH! Let Todd decide. So, Todd, is it stay, or go?" Will asked.

"Rachael, I-I'm sorry. I'm leaving." Todd replied with an extreemly glum face. He looked down. "Good bye."

30 Days later
"How far from the guild?" Will asked John.

"About 60 days."

"I wonder how Todd's doing..." Rachel said.

"He'll be fine," Will reasured her, putting his arm round her shoulder.

"He's right, Todd is a good hunter, he'll handle." Kidd added.

"Once we pass the Forest Biome, it'll be a fast trip." John told them.

"This is getting hard... The days feel like months, and the months like years, I'm not surprised Todd went when he did..." Kidd told them, hinting towards his worries.

"No one's forcing you mate." John replied.

"I'm forcing my self. Will helped me, and Moga... I can't just leave him high and dry." Said Kidd.

50 Days later
"And there it is... The Guild."

"Different to where I grew up." Will confesed.

"It's filled with corrupt men, sitting at desks, earning more money than us hunters... Pathetic." John said in discust.

The Guild was bustling with people, and things to do. About 50 market stands selling foods, hunting supplies, and Monster items like tusks, scales and all sorts of items. Blacksmiths were forging weapons for the many hunters wandering the town. Men were even testing their strength with arm wrestles and fighting wrings.

"Hugh" Will said.

They approached the gate; guarded by two men.

"You must pay addmitance fee." One of them said in a very rough voice. "90 coins."

John looked at Will. "90 coins!" He said gesturing towards the guard.

John rolled his eyes up before plunging his arm into his back pocket, and pulling out a number of coins, he couldn't be bothered to count. "Keep the change."

"If there is any," Kidd joked, followed by a sniger from Will and Rachel, and 'the look' from John.

They approached one of the guild stands.

"May I help you?" One of the guild ladies asked.

"We're looking for a... Describe it Will." Kidd said.

"Well, it's big." The guild lady frowned. "Red, breathes fire. It has two arms, legs, and wings, black claws."

"Crimson Fatalis?" The lady asked.

"NO, no." John butted in. "Not that."

The lady frowned again. "What you're looking for is for elite hunters only..."

"This is not a sport woman. I need to kill this thing." Will told her.

"Why is that?" She asked.

Kidd gave Will the 'just lie' look.

"Urm, it's heading for my village." Rachel quickly said.

"Okay... So that's Minegrade village right?" She asked.

"YES, yep." Will said.

"Then why has she a pendant with Pokke seal on it?" The woman pointed out.

"Souveneer." Will casually said.

"Okay then. We'll get back to you by tomorrow." She told them.

"Okay, thanks." Will said.

"Thank you." Kidd added.

"Shit! That was close!" Kidd said as they turned away.

Will smiled. "But we got what we needed."

One Day Later
"Hey! Miss? Have you got what we needed?" John said as he aproached the stand with the rest of the group.

"We might have. We'd be more... Urm... Convinced to give you this information, if you help us out." The woman said.

"And what would that be?"

"Well, an Elder Dragon is approaching the fort. We believe this is because it is fleeing from an angered Fatalis." She replied.

"Another Fatalis..?" Moaned Kidd.

"Do you want it or not?" The woman asked.

"We'll take it." Will quickly said.

"Here are your guild passes..." She said reaching from the counter, and handing each of them a ticket. "And you exit is that way" she added pointing to a stone arch, with multiple carvings of monsters and beastes etched on it.

The Fort
"Is that it over there?" Rachael asked as she pointed to the grey beast.

"Seems so. Especially as that Fatalis is chasing it." John replied.

With every step, the ground shook. The beast was truley enourmous. Weighing about 40 tonnes, it's large feet were the only thing that didn't let it from sinking into the ground.

"So, a Fatalis, and a Lao..." John said.

"That grey thing's called a Lao?" William asked.

"Yeah... Problem?"

"Can't we get them to fight each other?" Rachel suggested.

"We could try... The Lao would have to be cornered, or it would have to feel in danger." John told them. "But yes, anything for less effort."

"The Fort is heavily armed, there are meany weapons, and cannons we could use. We just have to wait for it to run its self into the edge, then it'd be stuck, and the monsters would have to fight." John added.

"You know way too much John," Rachel joked.

"It's in the blood." John replied.

20 Minutes Later
"He's trapped, now watch the action!"

The Lao turned around, realising it would have to face it's enemy. In comparison, the Lao was literally 40 or 50 times the size of it's opponent, but the Fatalis had more tools of destruction at it's disposal.

"Should be fire cannons?" Rachael asked.

John replied; "No, then it would be pissed at us!"

The Lao swung it's tail, it smacked into the chest of the Fatalis, bringing it down to the ground. The Fatalis briskly struggled out of the situation, firing multiple fire balls at the Lao, one of which chipped it's horn.

"My bet's on the Lao." Said Will.

"Really?! Mine's of the Fatalis." Kidd replied.

"50 coins?"

"You're on!" Replied Will, shaking hands to seal the deal.

The Lao replied with a bite to the neck, applying nearly 30 tonnes of pressure, but the Fatalis' neck was well plated, and the Lao only achieved a few scratches, and maybe a chipped bone.

"Come on Lao!" Shouted Will.

"Calm down mate," John said. Will narrowed his eyes.

Screeching, the Fatalis pelted a few more fire balls at the Lao, chipping off more claw, and blinding it in one eye. It had enough. The Lao got up on it's hind legs, standing tall, and smashed back down on the Fatalis, it crushed almost every bone in it's body, and killed it. Instantly.

"50 coins please," Will said, quite pleased with himself.

"Here..." Kidd said, a little annoyed, as he handed a pouch of exactly 50 coins.

"Thank you," Will said mockingly as he counted the cash.

"Wait, why is the Lao leaving?" Asked Rachael.

"It only came here because it was being chased by the Fatalis. It has no quarrel with us." John explained.

"Hugh fair enough..."

"Now back to the guild."

Later that day
"We demand that we get what we came for!" Will shouted, fed up.

"Yes, yes of course..."

"Hurry, my patience is thin." Added Will.

"Ah, here," the lady said, as she handed over the contract.

Will looked at it briefly, examining the contents. "Have a nice day."

They turned and walked towards the exit, but Jon rudely bumped into someone on the way through the market.

"Watch where you're going old man." Jon said with disgust.

"Achilles?" Will said, as he shoved Jon out the way.

"William, I was hoping to find you here, how fares the hunt? I see you have your self a little group!" Replied Achilles.

"All is well. We're so close, Achilles." Will told him.

"Well, I have a little contraption, that might serve you in the hunt. It's a concealed blade, on a bracer... It extends, and retracts with the flick of a wrist!" Achilles explained.



"Thank you." William said as he put it on his left arm. "We're going to rest here for one more night, then we'll start."

That Evening
Will and Rachel were in a rented out room, just a five minute walk from the market.

"Will, I want to live with you forever." She confessed.

"No one can live forever, but I do too." He added, just before they kissed.

"Let's have a child. He'll be strong, smart, and handsome like you," she said.

"You sure? Do you love me that much?" He asked.

"Yes."

Chapter XXII: Pain
"Here, have this." Rachel said, as she placed an unusual amulet round Will's neck. It was a gold like coin, but with a hole in the center, and in the middle was a terquiose strip that ran around the inner circumference.

"It's lovely," he said, as he took a better look at it.

"I saw it in a market stand, it was cheap, so I though I mas as well..." She told him.

"We so nearly there. I can feel it!" Will said as he squeezed her hand.

"I know." She kissed him.

The next day
"Hey! Look what I found!" She said, as she put an amulet over Will's neck.



Will held it in his hands to get a better look.

"It's lovely. But, how does it glow?" Will asked.

She shrugged. "I found it in a stand. It didn't cost too much, so I thought I might as well..."

"Well well! Aren't you two love birds getting along?" John remarked.

Will sneered.

"Come on guys. We found it. They say it's in the Tundra." Kidd said, as he popped out of the blue.

"Tundra? Why would it be there? Elder Dragons usually are found where they are attributed. That's why a fire breathing Teo is found in a Volcanic area." Explained John.

"It says something else too... It's not an Elder Dragon. It's a Legendary Dragon. Ancient as they come." Kidd replied, looking at the parchment.

"Time's wasting. We got to go." Will said anxiously.

Tundra
"There is is!" Will said, as he pointed to the pale blue sky, littered with clouds.

The red-orange dragon stuck out like a sore thumb, a ball of inferno hovering in the sky. Will pulled out his bow, and aimed.

"Rope darts?" Kidd asked.

"Yeah." The arrow shot through the sky, and the metallic rope followed, like a tail on a fish.

The arrow penetrated it's left ankle, and Will began to tug. No use. It was too large. Will decided to plant the bow in the ground. The snow would provide good friction, and a means to berry it. He shoved one end deep in, and used his foot to push it down. It was stuck. Rachel ran forward, she shot about three arrows, before it gave in and landed. It looked around. Any fire here, and the ice caps would fall on them. It turned it's eyes to her. Rachael. It lunged forward. Snapping. It bought it's tail around. Like a dagger, it pierced through her weak armour. The sharp tail end went right through her chest. It punctured her left lung.

"NO!" Will ran forward.

The beast let the body slide off it's blood smeared tail.

"RACHEL!"

It backed away. Will sprinted to the body. It was too late. No. Last. Words.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" He shouted.

He pulled out his great sword smashing it repeatedly round it's face. Will to climbed aboard as it seemed to take off.

"Will! You'll die!" John screamed.

"At least I get to be with her!" He replied as he pulled out one of the dual swords, and started stabing it in the back.

Chapter XXIII: The Chase
It was no use. The thick scales made the weapon bounce off. Stike after strike. He pulled out a rope dart, and swung it round, hoping to get the wier in it's mouth, and use it like a reign. Three short lived attempts prooved difficult. But eventually, he did it.

"Die you bastard!" He shouted as he pulled hard.

He could feel the wire cutting into the inside of it's mouth. The beast screamed in agony, and flew through a group of closely knitted trees to try and throw Will off.

"Ah!" He said, as the bristles and brambles cut and scraped him, and caught themselves inbetween the gaps in his armour.

He slipped. With reactions like no other, he grabbed onto one of the larger scalles. Each one almost the size oh his head.

"Is that, the homestead?" Will asked. This distraction cost him dearly. The blade Achilles gave him extended, and cut into the meaty flesh of the beast.

It shook, and Will fell. A 20 meter drop. His fall was broken by water, but his land was poor. His leg cracked. Will screamed.

Achilles was chopping vegetables, when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A dragon came crashing towards the building. His frail bones granted him little speed, but he made it to the basement door, and down the stairs. The building shook. As Achilles emerged, he stood in awe. A dragon. His house totally destroyed. Layed in ruin. Rubbel and splinters, and debris.

"Shit."

Will got up and looked at his leg. It had snapped half way through. It hurt to the touch.

Chapter XXIV: The Last Stand
Will limped forward. The Beast got up. They looked at each other. Eye to eye. It's demented, demonic, dark red eyes seemed to stare into his very soul. An explosion of flame. Will was holding his sword. Using the wide edge as a form of shield. Will was pushed back. The scolding hot temperatures melting away at the blade. It stopped. Will chucked the blade at the beast in an attempt to burn or hurt it. He pulled out the axe.

"I'll kill you for what you've done!" He screamed.

He ran forward. Hacking and slashing at the beast's head. The beast attempted to bite, and gnaw at Will, but it instead grabbed the axe and crushed it with it's razor like teeth. Will was running out of options. Fast. He grabbed a hand full of the darts, and attempted to tie them round the dragon's mouth. He managed about four, and they seemed to hold. The more it tried to open it's mouth, the more the razor wire dug in to it's scales.

"Will! What are you doing?" Achilles shouted, as he emerged.

"Ending this."

Beads of blood appeared on it's neck, from where the darts cut and dug into the softer part of it's body.

"Long sword!" Achilles instructed.

Will did as told, and pulled out the long, sleek, shiny blade. It's paper thin edge should cut through anything like butter. He ran forward. Will plunged the sword into the body, but the beast used it's wings to knock him aside. The weapon was still stuck.

"Damn." Achilles said.

"Achilles? Help!" Will shouted.

The beast speared Will's shoulder, and bought it close to it's face. It had puffed flames in it's mouth, and the only exit was though it's nose. The flames smelted the dart's wire off.

"Will! No!" Achilles shouted.

Will extended the blade. The one Achilles gave him. The one that nearly cost him his life. He yelled, as he plunged the blade into the wound. The blade had pierced an artery. Will continued to repeatedly stab it in it's lower jaw and neck.

"Die!" He screamed.

Will was flung 10 meters, and landed on the ground. He groaned as he got up, barely standing due to his broken leg.

"It is done."

Chapter XXV: Sum of the Truth
Will stood there. Alone. Over the newly dug grave. It read: Rachel, died a young, but happy woman. Will looked at it. A tear rolled down his face. He had the amulet she gave him about a week ago in hand.

"Rachel, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean- I failed. I dragged you into this. Into my quest for revenge. I was stupid. I thought- I thought that by killing it, we would be safe. Everyone would be safe. I went to battle. Not knowing what was at stake, or how hard it would be. I believed it would be a walk in the woods, a breeze. But no. John and Kidd are safe. Kidd's back in Moga, and John is probably spinning a take of an epic journey, of how he triumphed over this forsaken beast." He paused.

Will looked around, to the debris of the homestead, and back to the grave. The grave that overlooked a cliff. And the river that had saved his life.

"Rachael. I love you. I'll never forget you. I'm sorry."

He took one last look at the amulet and the grave, then he dropped it. The amulet drifted slowly down, and rested. Rested there on the grave he dug, for the woman he'd never forget.