Monster Hunter: A New Hero

Chapter 5: A Threat Arrives

Aria and Natsume were out in the Tundra near the village outskirts, fending off an Urcusis. In the heat of their battle, the Urcusis was putting up a fight. "Aria! Attack til the monster falls then I'll give the final blow!" Natsume ordered. Aria quickly nodded and sent out a flurry of slashes from her longsword. "Take that! And that! And that! You ugly monster!" Aria yelled as she attacked. The Urcusis fell to the ground in pain, struggling to get back up. This was Natsume's chance. She heads near the struggling Urcusis and brandished her Gunlance. She readied her weapon for a devastating blow; she was about to fire her weapon's strongest attack, the wyvern's fire. "3...2...1..." she counted then until a strong explosion came from her Gunlance which set her aback with such immense force but ultimately brought down the Urcusis. 

"Alright! Nice shot, Natsume!" Aria jeered and ran back to the fallen Urcusis. "Well, shall we carve off some parts of the monster now?" Natsume asked as she set aside her weapon and took out her carving dagger. Aria nodded and took her carving dagger too and started carving up some of the dead monster's parts when suddenly, they heard a strong roar from the mountains. "Natsume!? What was that?" Aria asked, looking around to check on what was in the area. Just then, another roar came from the mountains then followed by another. "What!? Two of them!?" Natsume sounded perplexed. They kept their guard up as they scanned the area when suddenly, a Tigrex dive-bombed to where the two veteran hunters were. "Damn it! A Tigrex!?" Aria stepped back and readied her longsword for a battle when suddenly, another Tigrex dive-bombed behind them. "Aria! There's two! Damn!" Natsume and Aria were now back against back as they faced two Tigrexes. "Natsume...We can't win this. We don't have enough supplies and we're short on men. We need to retreat!" Aria explained. With this said, Natsume agreed and took out a flashbomb from her pocket and threw it at one of the monsters. The flash was strong enough to daze both of them for a bit. Aria and Natsume took their chance and ran off.

"We have to hurry and warn the village elder, Natsume!" Aria shouted to Natsume as they ran. "Yeah, but first we have to escape!" Natsume replied, running as fast as she can. The two Tigrexes had recovered from their momentary daze and were hot on the hunters' trail. They roared as they chased down the two hunters back to the village. "Aria! We have to lose them! We can't have them follow us back to the village!" Natsume exclaimed. Aria was struck and agreed. They took a detour to another path. The Tigrexes of course followed them as both monsters were hungry and saw the two hunters as prey. Aria and Natsume did their best to lose the two monsters. They made a lot of turns and masked their scents with the snow. Not long after the series of circles that the hunters made, the Tigrexes decided to drop the chase and search for other food sources. "Finally!" Natsume gave a sigh of relief as she and Aria made their way back to the village.

After arriving at the village gate, Aria and Natsume quickly rushed to the village elder and warned her of the impending danger in the Tundra mountains due to the Tigrex pair that made their home there. "Elder! We have urgent news!" Aria came first and bowed before the village elder. "In the Tundra! Two Tigrexes had made their home there!" Natsume then followed and bowed before the village elder as well. The village elder was vexed by such news. "Oh my...This is bad...If ever those two would be given a chance to breed, it may spell trouble for us." the village elder said. There was silence for a moment as the two veteran hunters awaited the orders from the village elder. "Call the masked hunter, Zero. And the young prodigy, Shin." the village elder ordered the two hunters. Both of them quickly nodded and headed out of the village elder's house and looked for Zero and Shin. Aria and Natsume split up to look for each of them. Aria went of looking for Shin and Natsume went off looking for Zero. Aria found Shin at the weaponsmith's shop. It had seemed that Shin was having his weapon strengthened for the next quest which may be given to him. "Shin!" Aria called out and rushed to his side. "Oh, Aria. What brings you here? And you look stressed. Is something the matter?" Shin asked as he looked at Aria's troubled countenance. "The village elder has summoned you to the guild hall! It is urgent!" Aria replied then tugged on Shin's arm. Right at that moment, Shin got back his weapon from the old weaponsmith, Raizo. "It seems that trouble is amidst us, Shin. You must go Take your weapon." Raizo said as he handed Shin's weapon to him. Shin thanked him and gave his payment then headed off to the guild hall with Aria.

Now, Natsume was looking hard for Zero. She has looked in almost every place in the village, all except the farm. That was the last place that she could ever imagine Zero to be in but she had no other option left. She rushed to the farm and sure enough, Zero was there, tending to the seedlings on the crop field together with the Felyne farmers. Zero looked peaceful there and seemed to look much softer. Natsume watched in amazement for a moment when Zero then noticed her standing at the entrance to the farm. Zero then got up and walked up to Natsume. "What brings you here?" Zero asked, brushing off the dust off his gauntlets. "I didn't know that you liked to plant, Zero." Natsume giggled. Zero sighed and asked again, "What do you need, Natsume?" Natsume snapped and remembered why she was there. "Zero! The village elder has summoned you to the guild hall. It is urgent." Zero simply nodded and the two of them left for the guild hall.

Zero, Shin, Aria and Natsume all met up at the guild hall's entrance. "You were summoned too, Zero?" Shin asked as he and Zero walked into the guild hall along with Aria and Natsume behind them. "What do you think, kid?" Zero replied a bit impatiently. "If you've been summoned as well, then...This must be something big." Shin said to Zero as they got in the guild hall where the village elder awaited them. "Zero, Shin, Aria and Natsume. You have all been summoned here for an urgent quest." the elder began speaking. "Our two veterans here, Aria and Natsume were up in the Tundra peaks when they were found by two hungry Tigrexes. We believe them to be a male and a female. A breeding pair." she continued when suddenly Shin spoke up. "So...You mean that they might be making their nest in the Tundra mountains? If that's it then they may breed and create more monsters..." Shin said. The village elder nodded. "You are correct, Shin. That is why you both are here. I am sending you as well as Aria and Natsume to the Tundra peaks to hunt down the pair. Ready what you need and gather back here in the guild hall." the elder ordered. The hunters nodded and went out of the guild hall to prepare what they needed.

As the hunters walked out of the guild hall to prepare for the quest, Zero called out to Shin. "Hey, kid. I believe this is your first hunting quest for a Tigrex, right?" Zero asked. Shin nodded and wondered why he had asked such a question. "Well...I'll give you a peace of advice since we'll be going out on this quest together. Don't get too near the Tigrex for too long. It's a vicious monster and incredibly strong. If you let your guard down even for one second, it can rip you to pieces." Zero said with a tense voice. Shin gulped and nodded, feeling the weight of the matter pressing on him. "I-I'll keep that in mind, sir!" Shin replied. Zero then patted his shoulder and went off to get ready. Shin stood for a moment, still dumbfounded by Zero's words.