Anyone who has played any Monster Hunter game will have probably noticed at some point that the ways these so called "monsters" act are strangely familiar, with their behavior being more animalistic than monstrous. This is without a doubt the thing...
Day breaks over the volcanic landscape as the sun's rays gleam across the nearby shorelines, the crystal blue of the waves heavily contrasting the sooty grey of the land. Above the rocky area, clouds of smoke mix with the yellowish-blue of the morning sky, creating a bizarre tapestry of vibrant and monochromatic colors.
In the distance, surrounded by ash clouds, an active volcano spews out lava, giving it a somewhat ominous reddish-orange glow, a sign of the flaming mountain's dominance over this charred landscape. Occasionally, a low rumble can be heard coming from the towering structure as volcanic activities cause tremors to rattle across the land, reminding its inhabitants of the region's violent nature.
Due to the many challenges that come with living in this region, many of the animals that inhabit these lands have had to take on some truly extreme adaptations to survive here. From becoming lithovores to evolving ways of moving through lava, the organisms that call this place home are some of the toughest, strangest, and most extraordinary creatures of the known world.
But it's not just the threat of having their own home explode from under their feet that drives the local fauna to evolve such adaptations; the animals themselves are driving each other's evolution; forcing one another to either become more specialized or take on abilities that can allow them to dominate their competition. Yet despite this constant battle for resources, not all interactions between organisms in the region are hostile.
Carved in the side of a cliff is a massive hole, its walls blackened with soot, and dented by mighty impacts. As the crater transitions into a tunnel, the deeper areas are marked with scrapes, indentations, and scorch marks. Sleeping at the end of this passage is Shockwave, an adult male Brachydios, and his unusual partners.
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Waking up from his slumber, Shockwave yawns as he stretches before using his massive, battering ram-like arms to get up, leaving some small, green blotches on the ground in the process. As the slimy puddle sits there, it quickly turns yellow, then red, before finally exploding; however, due to the size of the oozing spots, the blasts remain diminutive and don't cause any real damage to the surroundings.
It may seem like the Brachydios himself is producing this explosive substance; however, in reality, he doesn't possess any kind of special abilities other than his immense strength; rather, the object that just fell off him is another living organism. The green splotches that cover the brute wyvern's pounders and horn are colonies of fungi known as Slime Mold, and they are Shockwave's unlikely partners.
Despite being incredibly different from one another, these two organisms have a symbiotic relationship. By carrying the fungal colonies around with him, Shockwave is capable of harnessing the fungi's explosions to create dens, mark his territory, gain easy access to ores, force subterranean prey to the surface, impress potential mates, and under extreme circumstances, unintentionally use the blasts to damage opponents after punching them. It may seem like the Brachydios is the only one to benefit from this team-up; however, the Slime Mold also benefits from this relationship.
