MHW:IB ; The Search For The Sapphire Hunter!

3. A Not-So-Normal Expedition

Cory and Tinker reached the camp near area 1. Unfortunately, Tinker's wingdrake was extremely tired from trying to catch up to Cory so it flopped to the ground the moment they landed.

"Huh. Guess they'll be out for a while." Tinker said, looking at the tired wingdrake before walking away with Cory, heading to area 5.

"So, how long until it's no longer tired?" Cory asked walking beside Tinker. Tinker looked at him and shrugged.

"I dunno, prolly a long time." She said, before taking out her notebook from her pouch and looking at her map.

"We should be there anytime soon." Tinker said, closing her small notebook and placing it back neatly into her pouch.

"Huh, it should be around.... Oh I see it!" Cory yelled pointing at a barely decomposing barioth corpse. They  both immediately ran up to the corpse, the scoutflies going crazy and picking up the Barioth' s corpse, viper kadachi tracks and some human footprints.

"Aw jeez! That's a lot of tracks!" Cory said, looking at the amount of scoutflies around. Tinker crouched and began examining the tracks.

"Huh. It's been pretty old. I wonder why there aren't any wulgs ea-." Tinker was then cut off by a screech. No...a roar. Immediately, the duo ran and hid behind a rock not so far from the corpse.

"Man, a monster comes in during our investigation!" Cory angrily whispered.

"Shhh! What is the monster?" Tinker asked in a hushed whisper.

"Oh, yeah I didn't check." Cory whispered before poking his head slightly out from their hiding place. A viper kadachi had entered, and it was now eating the Barioth corpse. He forced himself to not gag while it ate.

"It's eating the corpse!" Cory whispered in an exaggerated tone.

"What is the it?!" Tinker whispered.

"A viper kadachi!" Cory whispered back.

"Well, do we have to slay it or no?" Tinker quietly asked. The viper kadachi perked its head up and turned toward the rocks, mouth bloody. Cory immediately withdrew his head.

"It heard us!" Cory whispered.

"Crap." Tinker whispered.

"What do we do?!" Tinker whispered. Cory tried to not panick and think of a plan but failed. Just as the monster was about to peek at what's behind the rock, a voice called out.

"Oh there you are!" The voice called out. It turned its head around, it's pupils dialating.

"You silly boy, what did I say about waiting? Cmon let's go back." The viper kadachi' s tail was wagging, kinda like a palamute before rushing to them.

"What just happened?" Cory whispered, confused.

"I don't know..." Tinker quietly replied, also confused.

"Did that viper kadachi...follow a voice without attacking the voice?" Cory asked.

"I don't know, but that voice sounded like.....my partner." Tinker said, her eyes wide open.

"You mean the Sapphire Hunter?" Cory asked. Tinker didn't reply, she simply teared up before realising and immediately covering it with her bushy black hair.

"I-I think so. Let's go back and report it to the-."

"I'm following her." Cory said, standing up.

"Are you insane?! You might get yourself killed!" Tinker said.

"I'll be fine. Just go back and report to the commander."

"But-."

"Go. Like I said, I'll be fine." Cory reassured her. Tinker was about to say something but paused....before nodding her head. She got up and ran back to camp to check if her wingdrake is still tired from flying. Cory followed the footprints left behind by the viper kadachi and the sapphire hunter.

Meanwhile...

Tinker was now in the air, supported by the wingdrake she was grappled onto.

"Good thing you've got rest when you did. Otherwise I would have to wait more." Tinker said. She then saw Seliana from afar.

"There's Seliana." She then proceeds to ungrapple from her wingdrake once she was near the bridge. She landed on her feet before losing her balance and falling over, face planting into the ground.

"Owwwwwww..." Tinker groaned, her voice muffled by the snow. She lifted her head up and laid her chin on the snow, grumpy.

"Tinker, are you grumpy again?" Tinker looked up and saw Alice, looking down at Tinker.

{no, I don't support Alice but I did make her actually nice}

"Oh, hey Alice. I just had the perfect landing and then I fell." Tinker replied before she gently hit her head onto the ground.

"Ah, that. Need help orrr-."

"Nah, no thanks. Also, can you report to the commander that Cory and I found the Sapphire Hunter with a viper kadachi?"

"Oh. Hmm, okay dearie! Though, where is Cory?" Alice asked.

"He's following them."

"Oh, that's a shame. we haven't talked in a long time. When he gets back, can you tell him I said hi?"

"Sure."

"Thank you, dear." She said before walking away.

"Man, she's nice when she's on her good side." Tinker remarked.

Alice walked to the meeting room, where the commander would always be. She passed by the ecological team, who were being helped by Recon, Ruby and Tommy. She stopped and gave them a slight wave. Recon noticed and waved back. She smiled before continuing to the meeting room. She reached the entrance, moving aside the curtains.

"Commander, Tinker has a report and I'm reporting it to you on her behalf." Alice said.

"What's the report?" The commander asked.

"Well, she was on an expedition with Cory and they found the Sapphire Hunter, along with a viper kadachi."

"Hm. Please elaborate." The commander gestured.

"She didn't give me much info but from what I could possibly guess is that they were given an order to investigate something by Hooper. I suppose they were in an area that they were investigating in and the viper kadachi came in, so they were probably forced to hide. The Sapphire Hunter could be in another area near the area they were investigating in, probably looking for the viper kadachi, found it and headed to somewhere. Tinker also told me that Cory followed them." Alice elaborated perfectly.

"Hm, let Cory follow them."

"But what if he needs-."

"No need. He can defend himself." The commander said.