Sneaking His Way into the Multiverse (RWBY Jaune, WC-lite mechanics)

[Finsdale]

Since they went Gaga over cat videos, they might catnap a Felyne.

 

[KaMinSod]

Since they went Gaga over cat videos, they might catnap a Felyne.

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Getting a Palico would be absolutely rad. Maybe one of the apprentice Chefs wants to go on a multiversal culinary expedition?

 

[MethodicBibliophile]

Once they realize just how much prime loot they can get from this world, they are definitely going to mark it down for a future permanent portal.

 

[Lazurman]

Jaune: "I'm home."

 

[Agent Orange]

prime loot they can get from this world

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Pet dinosaurs? Oversized weapons?

 

[KaMinSod]

Pet dinosaurs? Oversized weapons?

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The Food, the Mantles, the clutch claw could pair very nicely with rocket boosts. A suite of elemental weapons, potions that will fully heal a person and even increase their maximum health. Scoutfly lanterns, maybe even Kinsects. Jaune's not restricted to MH weapon limits. Shit, almost every consumable is amazing in mh. Cure poisons, lay traps that will paralyze enormous monsters, Demondrugs and armordrugs and dash potions... It's all fantastic.

And the New World guild as a whole are the most hard working, balls to the wall, endlessly positive support anyone could ask for. They'll be teaching Jaune more in a day than beacon would in a year. They'll be teaching Lisa how to be his handler. They're a perfect support group on this quest for power.

 

[Stasys]

Don't forget extra 10 mm sockets! they always disappear...

 

[Image]

I wonder which power scale interpretation this is? The one we see in game, or in lore? Cause in certain interpretations of the lore regular tank shells from our world should bounce off of even the least monsters hide.

I don't It's that but it's still something to think about.

 

[Rhydion]

I would definitely put a Rathalos down as a lesser threat than the Hellkite. Hellkite's larger and capable of sustaining a longer lasting stream of fire over a larger area than Rathalos. On the other hand, that's assuming that it's just a Rathalos, and not also a Rathian. That would very quickly make the Hellkite seem like a cakewalk in comparison.

 

[Agent Orange]

What's a Rathalos? Or a a Rathian for the matter? I mean I can guess from the context that they are monsters of some sort but what are they? Dinosaurs?

 

[TDMMyst]

Holy shit, Monster Hunter, let's gooooo!!!! Man, MH being my favorite game series, I really wish the instance could be longer than one day. Sadge

 

[KaMinSod]

They're one of the flagship monsters of monster hunter. Rathalos being a male, and Rathian a female, of the same species. They're a flying Wyvern - the forelegs are wings; the back legs are proper legs; Scaled like any wyvern. They both breathe fire, and have venomous stingers in their long tails. Typically, Rathians like to fight on the ground, biting and poisoning, while Rathians like to hover and burn. They both enjoy calling their mate to help them when they bite off more than they can chew, though. They're about the size of a bus, or thereabouts? 17m long, about 5 tall, about twenty meters wide with their wings out. The claws are about 50cm long, or about a foot and a half long in freedom units.

In short, fire breathing, poisonous, flying, sharp, tough bastards. And there's always two of em.

Edit: Rathians have poison tails, Rathalos has poisonous talons*

 

[sul4ic]

What's a Rathalos? Or a a Rathian for the matter? I mean I can guess from the context that they are monsters of some sort but what are they? Dinosaurs?

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Rathalos and Rathians are the male and female variants of the Rath wyvern respectively. They're not too massive (think a little bigger than a T. Rex) but they come with a whole lot of unique adaptations that make them pretty damn dangerous, especially in a pair. There's a lot to Raths that would take ages to explain, but the gist of it is this (MonHun bros correct me if I get anything wrong):

Rathalos -> Males; adapted best for flight, and as such typically have large wings and smaller legs (this is not the case for the New World Rathalos, the native to the area Jaune and Lisa currently find themselves in. These have beefy legs); their feet and talons are similar to those of falcons/hawks, so they can grip and slash at prey with them.

Rathian -> Females; adapted best for the ground, and as such have thicker legs but smaller wings. They're also equipped with venomous barbs and the like that run down the lengths of their bodies. Rathalos lack this feature.

Edit: Rathalos illustration

 

[Tyrlin]

Five minutes later, he ate those words.

"Sooo?" Tattletale, smugly smugging, flourished her hands at the pack of dinosaurs grazing on the vegetation.

"...You're right."

She preened. "Always am, nihihi~."

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I genuinely love how Lisa is getting the realistic woobie treatment while still retaining most of her shithead, bad person traits (most of that being a teen kek). She's definitely better with Jaune no doubt, reading the trust in their partnership grow has been my favorite part of the story.

I don't know if her conflict drive is being whammied getting isolated from the Shard network or the new data is so exotic that Negotiator is bliss-ed out but whatever is the case its doing her a world of good. Thanks for the chapter!

 

[Party2tehArth]

Yes! They can get Palicos! New additions to Jaune's group!

Enjoyed the domestic experience and rocket boots playtime with the Blondes. They're so silly. It was a nice break, narratively and from an in character view.

Also, first, I thought Jurassic park or world. Then Kashyyyk. Then the MonHun made itself apparent with the giant tree description. Fun reading!

And the view, oh my. Waterfalls, exotic flowers, a rainbow across a pond […]

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Disclaimer that I'm not a beta or even a writer but I've occasionally seen small occasions where you add in a small bit of 1st-ish person descriptors during some parts, @TheTangerineCat.

It's not flow-breaking or anything. I think most people easily bypass it. But if it matters, you might wanna change things like that to something like: 'and the view… incredible.' Or some adjective. Just wanted to bring it to your attention.

Other than that, enjoying your work as always and looking forward to how they deal with Monsters!

 

[LazyAutumnMoon]

snip

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Nice, thanks for catching that.
Phone+google docs+firefox= 3 different autocorrects deciding I'm wrong.

Disclaimer that I'm not a beta or even a writer but I've occasionally seen small occasions where you add in a small bit of 1st-ish person descriptors during some parts, @TheTangerineCat.

It's not flow-breaking or anything. I think most people easily bypass it. But if it matters, you might wanna change things like that to something like: 'and the view… incredible.' Or some adjective. Just wanted to bring it to your attention.

Other than that, enjoying your work as always and looking forward to how they deal with Monsters!

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Eh, that one generally seems fine going by other writings. In third person limited, the narration and the main character's thoughts can experience a certain amount of bleed-over without being an explicit italicized thought, things like 'My,' / 'oh my' / 'methinks' / using 'you' in places. They convey tone and emotions well, and in a concise manner.
Using something like '...incredible' works, though there are also a whole different set of considerations in regards to ellipses, since, like the em dash, they often pull double, triple, even quadruple duty in my writing for a variety of situations and could quickly become overused.

 

[Party2tehArth]

Yep. Like I said not a big deal. Just wasn't sure if it was something subconscious or not and wanted to bring it up in case.

Appreciate the explanation though and looking forward to more!

 

[Imperium]

Bruh, NICE!

 

[LazyAutumnMoon]

Logy, the monster Hunter.

That was their new acquaintance, and he proved to be as open as his first impression suggested. The young man responded well to their subtle inquiries, letting Jaune and Tattletale piece together the story of this land.

Fanged beasts, leviathans (no relation), bird wyverns, flying wyverns, brute wyverns, piscine wyverns, wyverns out the ears and underfoot, plus a host of other types of monsters. Standing above them all, the elder dragons. In a world where great monsters roam, mankind may seem so very small indeed.

Hunters became the answer to that terrifying world. People who trained and armed themselves in order to protect their home, banding together in the form of a Guild. They drove back monsters to ensure safe harvests, captured and relocated rare species, and slayed beasts when the time called for it. Coexistence, rather than eradication, guided their hand.

Jaune admitted to some misgivings of that notion. 'Monsters' for him boiled down to Grimm in most cases, and his travels have not painted a kind picture of the ones populating other worlds.

Yet... he saw plain as day the pride Logy took in his profession, and the awe with which he spoke of monsters. Awe, not hatred.

To the Hunter, each monster he fought was a duty, a challenge, and an honor. It was pitting oneself against a worthy opponent, with the dead nourishing the living to continue the cycle of nature. His armor contained the scales and hides of his foe, his weapon their fangs and bones. Their meat fed a feast, and their memory a lesson to help the Hunter better survive. In this fashion, Logy's greatest opponent to date, a fire-breathing T-rex called the Anjanath, journeyed with him wherever he goes.

What a strange life, familiar in some ways, unfamiliar in so many others. Jaune would have liked to skin a Beowolf Grimm and wear it as a hat.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb, and guess you two are interdimensional travelers that came here through a portal?"

Well, okay, then.

Jaune and Tattletale looked at each other, before turning back to the Hunter sitting on a giant mushroom. One conversation, and they've been made. Maybe they were not as sneaky as they thought.

"Is that something you get a lot of around these parts?" Jaune asked, once again deflecting.

Logy was only too happy to explain. "Not often, but it happens. Like a couple months back, there was an influx of critters and monsters we've never seen, and this Hunter from another world calling himself a Witcher showed up after them. Real intense guy. Apparently hates portals. Then there's the monster Behemoth"—Tattletale flinched—" from a second different universe that rampaged for a while until our brightest star gave him what for." He shrugged. "Stuff like that has been occurring on and off for generations. It's a pretty well-documented trend in the Guild records."

His instinctive response was to call doubt on all that, since it sounded insane. But then, he was the prime example of similar possibilities on Remnant, wasn't he?

The important point to note, was that the Hunter acted quite blasé about the matter, and the example of the Witcher indicated little to no hostility from the locals towards people of Jaune's nature.

Refuting it would mean fighting against the Hunter's natural assumptions. "You can add another incident to those records, Logy. Because yeah, we arrived from elsewhere." So, he opted for the truth, even if Tattletale looked like she wanted to strangle him.

"In that case, do you need help finding a way back?"

And in return, the first thing offered to strangers like them, was aid.

"We have our exit ready at any time," Jaune reassured the Hunter. "Don't worry, this isn't an emergency for us. We're just here to find a Rathalos." Logy raised his hand to interrupt.

"About that, do you mean a Rathalos from your world, or from mine? Because I'm looking for one too, and two of them in the same area is bad-bad."

Tattletale replied, "Yours." Her demeanor had softened a tad, resigned to playing nice now that Jaune blew their cover for good. "Will that be a problem? We're not here to step on anyone's toes, if it is."

"Not at all!" Logy quickly denied. "My teammates and I spent all morning searching the forest for traces of him, and we'd welcome extra hands pitching in. That hungry fella's been gorging himself to the point that it's affecting the local populations, so the faster he's taken care of, the better…" Trailing off, he studied them with a slight frown. "Although, I'm worried at how underequipped you are for a hunt. You could sit this one out, and I'll take care of things?"

From an outside perspective, Jaune had to agree that that was the obvious conclusion. Tattletale was wearing not much more than her costume, with just the camouflage cloak they got from Crowley over top. Her crossbow and wristbow made fine weapons to deal with human assailants, but even the handgun hanging from her hip lacked the stopping power to incapacitate bigger foes. Meanwhile, he had on normal civilian clothes, Panacea Poncho on shirt and jeans—not exactly the legendary armament of a hero.

That conclusion did not take into account Aura. Of course it would not, as nothing the Hunter said suggested his world knew of its existence.

Jaune held up one finger, signalling for Logy to wait. Then, he and Tattletale put their heads together.

"How do you think he'd react to Aura? Should we tell him?"

Tattletale bit her lip in thought, assessing the Hunter one last time out of the corner of her eye. Up until this point, she had mostly remained in the background, content to let him do the bulk of the talking. Now, Jaune could almost see her mind racing to merge all the observations she had quietly noted to reach a decision.

It's the way her eyes darted around. Frantic at first, slowing as the seconds passed by. Once they fell still, that's when she was ready.

"No. He's creepy."

Quite an unexpected take.

Jaune glanced at Logy, and lowered his voice. "Any reason for that? He seems fine to me."

"Yeah? What about that goody-goody act? That 'oh I'm so earnest and helpful to strangers, because we can all become bwest fwiends' crap." She scrunched her nose, displeased. "Solaire was already a stretch. You can't honestly tell me we would just happen to meet another person like that right from the get-go."

Tattletale stopped talking to look down at Jaune. No longer standing by her side, he instead squatted on the ground with his face buried in his knees.

"Sorry for being creepy," he muttered.

"Aw, crap."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"...Exceptions exist."

He felt her hand lightly patting his back in a comforting gesture. It cheered him up a little.

"Okay, look." Tattletale leaned down to speak in his ear, "I'll admit that the chances of him stabbing us in the back seems…low. He hasn't lied so far." She sounded as if it pained her to say that. "If his story is true, and the Guild is concerned with maintaining the ecosystem, then I think that's why they try to help people return to their universe. It's a tiny bit of altruism, and a lot more pragmatism. Big changes aren't always a good thing in their view."

Meaning, the two of them were unlikely to get murdered or dissected for possessing Aura. Great news!

"Telling him about Aura should be safe, then?" Jaune said. "The Hunters have experience with the monsters here. Working with them is safer than striking out alone, but leaving it all to them means we have no claim to any loot. I want him to be comfortable with bringing us along. What do you think?"

Another brief bite of her lips. A flicker of the eyes to the Hunter and back. "The issue is that I'm basing everything on his words. His trust in the organization is certain to skew the data. There could be a whole other side to the Guild that he doesn't know of. You get that, right? It's not on me if things turn out different from what I tell you." She waited for him to nod. "Then, fine. Go ahead and do whatever you like, but stay on your guard."

"Got it!" Jaune bounced to his feet, reinvigorated.

The pair rejoined the monster Hunter, who appeared to have considered their back and forth a grand bit of entertainment, and had brought out a piece of jerky to snack on while he watched. Dino meat? Jaune idly wondered.

"Sorry about that," he said. "We had to discuss a few matters. Do you mind if I—?" He gestured to his sword, and once the other man agreed, he drew it from the scabbard. "Here, watch this. You might find it hard to believe, but we have methods of protecting ourselves that's comparable to armor."

"Interdimensional stuff," Tattletale tacked on.

Logy brightened. "Oh! That would explain it!"

…Did it? Did it really?

The Hunter leaned forward in his seat, eager to witness the demonstration. Interest grew to outright amazement as Jaune ran the blade over his palm, only for Aura to manifest and negate the damage. Afterwards, Jaune displayed his unscathed hand, and was greeted by applause.

"Good show!" said Logy. "That's gonna be a surprise for any monster trying to chomp on you. Is it resistant to fire?"

"Uh, no? I mean, I'll survive for a while, but the sensation transmits over."

Logy grimaced, mirroring Jaune. A long, drawn-out, screaming death was as pleasant as it sounded. "Low elemental resistances, huh? Not ideal, but hey, if you understand the risk and still think you can do this, I'm not stopping you." When Jaune nodded, Logy slapped on his helm and hopped off the mushroom. "Then we're burning daylight, guys and gals! Ready to hunt?"

"Sure—" Jaune got no further than that, cut off by Tattletale who had one thing on her mind.

"By the way, how will we divide the spoils?"

"Standard shares," was the instant reply. Met by their blank faces, Logy clarified, "The Guild will set a value to what we find. We divide the usable parts based on the needs of the team members, then even out the differences with the zenny reward for the rest of the monster."

"And zenny is…"

"It's the money used by most of the known world. The Guild conducts all transactions in it."

So, local money or… parts. Parts that one can make equipment out of, yes, but the haul for this universe seemed rather underwhelming to Jaune on the whole, unless he was missing something. "Would the monster have treasure in its lair, do you think? A hoard of, oh I don't know, relics and weapons and the sort."

The question seemed to stump Logy, and he almost made a head-scratching motion before remembering that he was wearing his helm.

"A Kulu-Ya-Ku might have a couple of bits and bobs in its nest, I suppose—they love shiny objects. And legend says the mantle of a Kulve Taroth is covered by the weapons of the many defeated hunters who pursued it. Other than them, I can't recall off the top of my head a monster with similar behavior. Definitely not a Rathalos." He spotted the disappointment on their faces, and hurried to lift their mood. "If it's a weapon you want, you can spend your shares of the monster parts and zenny to have one forged. Our smiths are among the best, whether in the New World or the Old World."

Jaune mulled on the suggestion, doubtful. "How good are they at, say, swords?"

Crocea Mors could always use an upgrade.

"That's hard to say. Nobody on my team handles a sword," Logy said, chin in hand, "but I've seen the longsword users get together to show off their skills. Their favorite game is competing on who can leave the deepest cut on a boulder. The smiths give them grief for it, but none of their works have snapped yet."

Color him intrigued. For all that Logy appeared a knight of old, his statements implied a higher level of forging than Remnant, blade-wise. How it compared against Andre of Astora's work was less certain, but in the worst case, he could forgo improvements for Crocea Mors to instead commission a second set of sword and shield, either to keep as a backup or sell off for a few hundred Points—assuming it's valued at about the same price as his current arms.

Then there was the advice given by Solaire in what felt like a lifetime ago to consider, recommending he find a heavier weapon to leverage his enhanced strength…

He turned towards Tattletale. "I'm willing to take that deal, if you are."

Tattletale regarded him with a tepid gaze, seeming able to read the sword-minded thoughts running through his head. A moment later, she spread her hands in a shrug.

"Boys and their toys. Whatever."

Jaune and Logy both cheered. The hunt was on!

-o-​

As the one with experience in this field, the local Hunter took the lead.

Their goal was not to fight the Rathalos, not yet. The Ancient Forest region that formed its natural habitat encompassed a huge swath of the land. So, before anything else, they had to track the monster.

"What's that there in the undergrowth?"

"Jagras, a common carnivorous species. Ambushers."

Jaune placed a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Will they attack?"

"Not without a clear numbers advantage, or a Great Jagras leading. With the three of us? They'll keep their distance."

Yellow lizard eyes chose that moment to pull back among the foliage. Slim figures the size of horses then darted away at speed.

"See? Jagras are a cowardly lot."

"Ooh! Ooh! What are those?" Tattletale, whose opinion of Logy had been put aside in the interest of sating her curiosity, pointed at the base of a tree further ahead. Frolicking there were a number of brownish rodents reminiscent of rabbits, or perhaps weasels, with slim, sleek forms and ears as long as their bodies. They often defaulted to standing up tall, craning their heads to peer at their surroundings. "And that one!" She indicated an odd rabbit(?) within the group that had fur in shades of pink, growing to a vivid red at the end of the ears and tail. "It's a different color! How come?"

"Ahaha, you've spotted the pilot hare. It's a rare offshoot of the shepherd hare. The higher internal temperature might have something to do with its coloring."

Jaune asked, "How dangerous are they? I've had bad experiences with bunnies."

"Shepherd hares are harmless unless you're leaving supplies in the open for them to get into. When startled—"

"They pounce with nasty, big, pointy teeth?"

"Ha, no. Escaping inside whatever hidey-hole they can find is their preferred survival strategy. They make for popular pets, though good luck catching one. Their ears are sensitive to the lightest of noises."

Tattletale gave it a shot anyway, banking on her Slumbering Dragoncrest Ring to dampen the sound of her approach. She even almost succeeded; the creature slipped through her fingers at the very last moment. There was no consolation prize for 'almost', though, with the failed caper causing the entire pack to scatter to the wind, many of them trampling on the indignant girl as she laid flat in the dirt.

"Dammit. That thing is cute as a button and I want one!" she grumbled afterward, drudging back to the group.

Jaune gave her a helpless shrug. What, was she expecting him to do something about it? His recent bunny-related escapades involved him beating them to a pulp (and sometimes vice versa, but they don't talk about that part anymore (he had declared the topic forbidden (forbidden!))). At this point, unless their name was Pumpkin Pete, he considered them firmly in the 'enemy' category, and they shall be treated as such.

He was saved from her pouting by a tap on his arm, an oblivious Logy directing his attention to the next object of interest. And thus, the crash course in New World ecology advanced onward, never looking back!

A Hunter doubled as an excellent guide. Logy was not shy to impart his knowledge, and under his tutelage, Jaune experienced the Ancient Forest to the fullest. They say that nature provides. Nowhere else was it more true than here. The vibrant ecosystem around them teemed with resources for those willing to get their hands dirty, and the collection of jars and pouches on Logy's belt steadily filled up along their route.

The first thing the Hunter pointed out to them was the innocuous green herbs which dotted the area, noting their medicinal properties. One might hear that and think ginseng tea or such, except these herbs formed the base reagent for potions whose efficacy rivaled stimpaks. Logy attested to that in much the same manner Jaune proved the existence of Aura, swiping a shallow cut on his hand before taking a few sips of a green fluid—apparently not matcha tea—from the bottle on his hip. Flesh and skin knitted together in a span of seconds.

Jaune tore those plants out by the roots, in addition to the blue-leafed antidote herbs that grew in the same vicinity. Once he departed this universe, it was time to be a farmer.

Add beekeeper to that, too.

"Careful. A little more…" Logy muttered as he and Jaune crept towards a beetle bigger than a grown man's hand. Coming within range, the Hunter darted forward, snatching the bug off the rock with a surprisingly delicate touch. "Gotcha!"

Giddy, he turned to show the beetle to Jaune and Tattletale. The thing was wriggling in a futile struggle to escape. Golden in color, it looked pretty cool. Very shiny. Yet, Jaune had come to understand today that for monster Hunters, the aesthetics were oftentimes the least of it.

"What does this one do?"

"This is a flashbug," Logy said.

A knife appeared in his other hand, at which point Tattletale noped out of there, leaving Jaune to observe. Logy flicked the shell off the beetle's back (Ahhh it was still alive!), then removed a sac of viscous golden fluid. A quick swipe killed the beetle, its carcass tossed high for a passing winged lizard to gobble up. The thin shell of a nut, taken from one of the pouches, served as a container to secure the sac.

That done, Logy held it out for Jaune to see. "When a flashbug dies or gets struck by a hard impact, they activate the organ here to emit a blinding light. One last parting gift for whatever killed it. Harvest the organ, put it in a case that won't break by accident, and you have a—"

A flashbang. Well, Hunters call it a flash-pod, but same idea; it was a crude form of the grenade he carried in his Pocket. Efficacy aside, the clear advantage lay in the dead simple process of making them. He did not need a factory and a bunch of chemicals, just a bug, a knife, and a container. Jaune resolved to keep a lookout for more, even if they were not as high a priority as bitterbugs and godbugs.

Bitterbugs enhanced the effects of medicines. Potions, for example. Godbugs did somewhat amplify the properties of other reagents, though its best use was as a hardening agent, turning fluid-form potions to powders that can be dispersed over the air to affect multiple people—lesser results, greater reach. Disgusted as Tattletale was by the oversized bugs of this world, she practically commanded Jaune to capture half a dozen specimens of each insect type they've encountered thus far. To increase the chances they'd get both a female and a male for breeding purposes, she had explained.

A little while after that, they came across a grove of dandelion-looking plants. Logy plucked a few stalks, and passed one to each of them.

"Medicine?" Tattletale hazarded a guess.

The Hunter shook his head. "Nah." A breath sent the spores flying. Sunlight reflected off them to create a shimmering effect quite pleasing to the eye. "Sporepuffs are just fun to blow on."

Huh.

Grinning, Jaune raised the stalk to his face and exhaled a puff of air, Tattletale copying the motion. They plucked a couple more of the plants off the ground, and soon the spores filled the sky, resembling flocks of birds as they followed the paths of the wind to seed the forest with new growth.

Sometimes, the aesthetics mattered the most. He could sort of understand that, too.

They found the first trace of the Rathalos atop a bridge.

In truth, it was one of the tree roots that extended from the ancient tree, the tendril crossing from one side of a slow-flowing stream to the other. The place seemed to be a popular watering hole visited by the many beasts of the forest. They stuck to the riverbanks, however, since the bridge was too high for them to reach the water surface. Only something with a long neck, and a strong grip, could drink from this spot and not fall.

Kneeling on the bridge, Logy brushed his hand over the marks left on the wood. He spread his fingers apart to measure the width, then shaped them to mimic the talons that would have been responsible for the damage.

"Yep. Those are Rathalos tracks, alright," the Hunter concluded. "Hours old, from the look of it. Let's hope the scoutflies can still catch the scent."

He unstoppered one of the jars on his belt. This one contained insects smaller than shirt buttons (normal-sized, in other words) that glowed green. Freed, they lingered around Logy instead of flying away, and he waved his hands to lightly drive them onto the claw marks.

"Scoutflies can remember scents. Give them some time, and they would imprint on whatever new smell catches their attention, then follow it. Guild researchers discovered them decades ago when they arrived in the New World, these huge swarms of insects that would trail monsters over great distances. From that point on, they've become part of our standard kit."

Jaune bent down for a closer look. "It looks like something's wrong, though. They're kind of just drifting back and forth."

"Yeah…" Logy clicked his tongue in disappointment. "Problem is the forest. With all the different odors mixing, it doesn't take long for one to become overwhelmed by the others. That confuses the scoutflies. I think our best bet is to check the area for fresher tracks."

"Not necessarily," Jaune said.

Putting a hand behind his back, he summoned the Olfactory Sensor tracking tool from his Pocket. The bulky device, resembling a handgun with a long barrel, had no business hiding anywhere on him, but he figured being an outed interdimensional traveler would excuse a certain number of discrepancies.

The manual included with the tool mentioned its origin in the perfume industry of Academy City, before conversion to military use for pursuing fugitives. The concept worked in a similar way to scoutflies, a technological solution to the biological approach.

The steps were simple enough. Jaune pressed the device's spongy sensor tip close to the claw marks, and watched it go to work. A small LCD panel flipped up on the device, issuing a soft electronic whine as splashes of colors appeared on the screen. One by one, the smaller spots faded until a single scent remained. Target locked, the screen then switched to a graph of oscillating bars.

Jaune panned the tracking tool across the area. Upon passing a particular direction, the bars shot upward.

"And there we go. The Rathalos headed thataway."

Logy paid him zero attention. His eyes were locked onto the sensor device. "What is that?" he said in a breathless whisper.

Jaune was rather miffed by the reaction. The guy treated Aura as though it was a neat gimmick, but went ga-ga for a slightly better version of what he had in his own pockets.

"It's a scent tracker I picked up in my travels. "

"Any chance you'd let our smiths take a look at it?" Eagerness rang clear in the Hunter's voice.

He grimaced. "Ehhh, they can try to make sense of it, but to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure how the thing works. The technology is years ahead of both our worlds, I think."

Excitement drained out of Logy at the revelation.

"Awww…"

"B-But who knows," Jaune continued, feeling quite guilty in the face of the kicked puppy, "maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. We can certainly look into it later. For now, let's get that Rathalos!"

The trail led them along the stream, traveling further away from the forest depths. Half an hour on, the view before them began to widen, the trees ceding to flat, rocky ground. Jaune detected a salty tang to the air, and was therefore unsurprised when he first glimpsed the blue sea. They had reached a coastline.

Cawing birds in every color of the rainbow glided over the ocean, occasionally diving down to catch the fish leaping high out of the water surface. Docile packs of dinosaurs roamed the land, grazing on ferns or bathing in the pockets of seawater left behind by that morning's falling tide. The horizon stretched on and on.

This untamed world was so…big. Open. Free.

Jaune and Tattletale stood under the sunshine for a time, just to enjoy the seabreeze.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked her.

She nodded, her voice a tiny thing. "Uh-huh."

They soon returned to the hunt. Following the tracker, the party struck upon a piece of disturbed ground, where the Olfactory Sensor devolved into a scrambled mess, the scent seeming to have gone wild. The branches of the mighty tree nearby littered the area, and there were gouges in the dirt.

"What happened here?" he asked, looking around.

Tattletale replied, "A fight."

A fight implied two monsters, and as the party started to wander through the scene, Jaune stepped by accident into a sticky smear of mucus.

"Yuck!" He peered closer at the ground. "Hey, Tattletale, doesn't this look like what we found before?"

A split-second glance, and she confirmed it. The mucus here and in the forest belonged to the same creature.

"I wonder, is it the Rathalos that left that there, or the second monster?"

"The latter," Logy said. "Mucus secretion wouldn't be typical behavior for the Rath species." He squatted down to better study the substance. "Could be a…"

Drawing his knife, the Hunter scraped a dollop of the stuff off the ground. His other hand retrieved a piece of flint from his supplies. He made sure to angle the knife away from the group, and struck the flint against the steel blade, creating sparks.

Beyond that, nothing of note occurred.

"Huh. My guess was going to be a Brachydios, but that should have ended with an explosion were it the case. Their mucus is so volatile that it ignites on contact with fire."

Tattletale chimed in, "What's the next possibility on the list, then?"

"The Anjanath." Logy tapped the rippling scales of his armor. "Fella loves to mark its territory this way. Only problem is I've spent a looot of time tracking after them, and the color and volume don't match. Besides those two… I'm a little stumped, to be honest. My hunch is that a nonnative monster has gotten into the region. I'll have to report that later to the Commander."

"Not a good thing, I take it," Jaune said.

Logy slumped. "Ugh. Tell me about it. Invading species tend to turn the local ecosystem upside-down and make it everyone's problem. I suppose that explains why the Rathalos ranged out in this direction. They're territorial beasts."

"No, that's completely wrong." Tattletale pointed at the tree branches. "The Rathalos got here first to collect those. For a nest? He discarded some of them, and chose the tougher branches. Yeah, a nest. Then, the other monster crashed the party—its mucus is lying on top of that branch there. They had a scuffle before both sides chose to retreat."

Logy rubbed his chin in thought. "It's building a nest? But this is still too early for the Rath mating season." All of a sudden, his face grew stiff. "Ahaha. Ha."

"What?" Jaune asked.

"The Rathalos we're hunting isn't the original one that ruled this area," Logy explained. "See, a while ago, our brightest star took down the rampaging apex Rathalos, the king of the forest, to stop it from slaughtering the other members of its species. It got too territorial, too greedy, and wanted to monopolize all the Rathian mates, the food, the space. After it died, we expected weaker Rathalos to trickle back into the region. They would fight among themselves, establish a new pecking order, and life goes on. Only—"

Tattletale took over. "It's happening in the lead up to mating season. You mentioned how our target is eating a lot. The Rathalos—Rathaloses?—aren't beating the crap out of each other yet like you expected, because they're busy building their strength. They're waiting, and that will push the conflict back to coincide with the moment these 'Rathians' go into heat."

"Yeeeah, we are gonna have one hell of a time. Multiple Rathalos, all riled up and trying to impress the ladies. The Rathians are already prone to infighting on any given day, and with all the different 'shows', they'll get even more excited. Wowee, this forest is going up in flames come the next few weeks."

Contrary to the dire news he spoke, the young man looked eager at the prospect. Jaune would bet that once the Rath mating season arrives, the monster Hunters of Astera will be out in force, hosting a competition of their own to trim the numbers to manageable levels.

It also made hunting their Rathalos all the more important. Each monster taken down meant one less participant in the upcoming crisis (or festival).

Which was why the troubles with the Olfactory Sensor frustrated Jaune so. Unfamiliar with the device, he could decipher neither head nor tail of the readings. The higher bars should translate to a better signal, shouldn't it? Except, the signal seemed pretty strong in multiple directions.

Oh, and now for some reason it maxed out across… the board….

His first sight of a Rathalos—a red drake the length of a bus from snout to tail—was when it snatched up Tattletale. As powerful beats of the monster's wings carried it over the jungle, the girl hung in its grasp, legs and arms dangling. It lent her the impression of a small animal caught in the talons of a hawk, just silently gazing back at Jaune with this look of utter confusion on her face, like she has yet to catch up to the new development.

On his part, he stared after her, likewise stricken dumb.

One.

Two.

Three. He snapped out of his stupor.

"Oh, crap! Tattletale! Tattletaaale!"

Jaune plunged into the forest, full-out sprinting after his partner to rescue her before she got eaten.

---

Author's Notes: Lisa's no good, very bad week.

Next chapter should come early. Already halfway through writing it.

 

[Newborn_Cretin]

Hey, hey, jaune, jaunerino, jaune my boy, your saving a snarky princess from a dragon, a real knight in shining armor, go make your dreams come true and hold it over Lisa's head forever.

 

[Kaguya_Otsutsuki]

Does Jaune and Tattletale not realise they can sell monsters?
Why arent they trying to catch the small monsters they come across while exploring instead of rushing to clear the objective?

 

[Alan975]

I beg of you, don't make me play monster hunter.

I know how this song and dance goes, I always get trappad in games by fanfiction

 

[sul4ic]

D:

No one ever looks up! These two will be sick of dragons in no time if this is how their experiences with them keep going lmao

 

[Seviriegnty]

Universe: Monster Hunter. Location: Ancient Forest.
Event: Rathalos Hunt.

Click to shrink...

Get this man a Charge Blade or better yet upgrade his Corcea Mors and sheathe shield into a proper MH chargeblade. Or just teach him how to be a proper hunter from from the new world. MH armor with decoration would do him some good too.
I'm really wishing he had Sundancer instead of Lisa at this point.

 

[imhotep99301]

I beg of you, don't make me play monster hunter.

I know how this song and dance goes, I always get trappad in games by fanfiction

Click to shrink...

You can hear the call of the hunt already, can't you? See all the sweet, sweet weapons and gear you can make already.

 

[A878]

Get this man a Charge Blade or better yet upgrade his Corcea Mors and sheathe shield into a proper MH chargeblade. Or just teach him how to be a proper hunter from from the new world. MH armor with decoration would do him some good too.
I'm really wishing he had Sundancer instead of Lisa at this point.

Click to shrink...

Sundancer would be way too op.

 

[sul4ic]

I'm really wishing he had Sundancer instead of Lisa at this point.

Click to shrink...

Her meta knowledge and OP powers would be quite handy right about now, indeed. But Lisa has her upsides… when she isn't being snatched up by wyverns

Speaking of Sundancer, I hope the poor girl is doing alright (hahaha funny joke for a character from Worm). From her perspective she lost a friend she'd only just gotten to know. Lisa's also probably presumed dead, so I wonder what kind of impact that's had on the Undersiders, Coil, and whatnot.

 

[AFTNSFW69]

Every time I see the story update, I get unreasonably excited. It's not often that I check just the plain creative writing section, but every now and again I find a gem that could go on any other site and could probably get more traction there. I really do appreciate the great dynamic between both Jaune and Lisa.

I've got no issue with the pacing of the story, but just wondering if you have an over arching, long-term plot, or is it just going to be there crazy – wacky ride through the Multiverse? If it's the latter, no problem at all because once again, I really do like the dynamic they have and you've established.

 

[Kazumaa23]

Her meta knowledge

Click to shrink...

Why would Sundancer have meta knowledge?

 

[TheRookIsOnFire]

Why would Sundancer have meta knowledge?

Click to shrink...

She MAY OR MAY NOT have been exposed to the places Jaune gets thrown into, given she is from Aleph and Earth-Aleph is an in-setting IRL Earth clone