Rebirth of a Hunter - Chapter 1: Shaking off the Rust (MH)

Standing on a pier in the remote Moga Village was a man. He wasn't quite as tanned as the villagers around him, instantly setting him apart. He was also more built than many of the people here, only the fishermen being more muscular. He also lacked the tattoo that natural born Moga Village people had.

He was every bit a foreigner, but they still treated him like family. Several small scars dotted his chest and arms, mostly hidden by the colorful Jaggi armor he was wearing. Most notable was the angry red one on his face. This thin vertical scar ran across his left eyelid and cheek, and when he blinked, the scar continued across his eyelid. His bright, emerald eyes were unharmed, however. The Monster Hunter was lucky.

The Hunter had a matching helmet in the crook of his left arm, and a Jaggi short sword on his back with matching shield attached to his right arm.

Today was the day that Roy Alomar was setting out on his first official hunt in years. Aside from a few Jaggi and one or two Great Jaggi, he was rusty at his job.

He landed himself in Moga Village (drifted in on a plank of wood, more like) after a devastating White Fatalis fight on a remote tower. He didn't remember much of the fight itself, other than being launched off the roof and landing in a river.

Moga fishermen had picked him out of the ocean, bringing him to their village to recover. It was roughly four months before he did, but it would have been sooner had he not been stubbornly fighting with them every step of the way.

Insistent on paying the village back, Roy had quickly taken up a hobby fixing broken things and forging small tools that the local blacksmith couldn't be bothered with. Hammers, handsaws, those kind of things. The Chief had taken quite a liking to him after Roy had made himself useful, often playfully teasing the ex-hunter about "getting back in the game". Roy was still quite young after all, only twenty-five.

Iron was a rare commodity in Moga Village, at least until the silver-haired man decided to take matters into his own hands and go mining. As such, now the village was swimming in both iron and machalite.

Unfortunately, his work had NOT gone unnoticed by local wildlife...including a Qurupeco that had been nesting in the region. It had nearly roasted him with a clack of its fiery flints, the hunter's battle-hardened reflexes being the only thing that saved him.

Setting the Jaggi helmet on his head, and knowing full well just how flammable he was, he stepped off the pier and into the village proper. The Jaggi short sword and shield clanked as they brushed against his iron-clad waist, the setting sun glinting off of the metal bits on occasion.

The armor was too...light. He wished he had the comforting weight of his Azure Rathalos platemail, but that had been absolutely destroyed following the White Fatalis battle years ago. The only thing left was a single charred Azure plate, which sat on his nightstand.

Similarly, his weapon had been obliterated, and he wasn't exactly in Pokke to get to his store of spare ones.

If anything, Pokke's Chief had auctioned it all off. Pokke had done it before when another hunter had been confirmed dead, so he saw no reason why they wouldn't do it to his stuff too. House, personal belongings, weapons, everything. That thought...depressed him quite a bit. There were several keepsakes that meant a lot to him, and he'd likely never see them again.

Still, Moga Village meant one thing: A fresh start. A chance to just throw everything away and start again. Loc Lac city was roughly a day's travel away by boat and sandship, and Tanzia Harbor was less than an hour away. He had options.

"Hey there, Hunter!" The Guild Maid called. The people around the village liked to call her "Sweetheart", though Roy liked to keep it perfectly professional. He wasn't sure he could handle another relationship so soon, if he was perfectly frank.

The Hunter's Guild had only received word Roy was even alive just two weeks ago. They had immediately reinstated his license, regardless of whether or not he wanted to hunt and regardless of the fact it was three years expired. "Just in case," the official had said, before taking the small skiff to Tanzia port.

"Hey there. Got that contract for the Quru set up?" Roy asked, polite but to the point. The red-dressed Sweetheart stuck her tongue out playfully, then nodded.

"Yup, got it right here. Just need your signature here..."

Roy signed the line.

"And here."

Flipping the page, there was another form to sign.

"Signing this declares us best friends from this point forward, for life!" The text above the line decreed. Roy chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Nice try, maybe next time."

"Aw, no fair!" She grumped, crossing her arms. "Fine, fine. Go stick that bird on a platter."
---

The sun had slipped beneath the horizon, the moon and stars taking its place in the sky.

Back into the plains an hour later, Roy began looking around. Verdant fields and running water was all over, several Aptonoth drinking and eating peacefully, most calling it a night. One was eyeing the Hunter, but ultimately determined he was a non-threat when Roy didn't even acknowledge them.

The Hunter's target was...absolutely nowhere to be seen.

"Should have figured it wouldn't have been that easy. Alright, fair enough."

He marched on for a few hours more, tearing into the packet of dried meat he had in his hunting pouch. Eating and walking, he looked around for any sign of that blasted bird from the other day.

He found one when it cried in pain.

Sprinting over to the site of battle, he saw a short, pale, blue-haired wyverian girl clad in nothing but her underwear, fighting the Qurupeco savagely. She had twin iron claw-type weapons, each blade biting into the scale and drawing blood and a grunt of pain from the bird.

It took a deep breath and bellowed loudly in a very, very familiar way. It was...calling a Rathian? Roy was curious to see if one would actually answer the call, though after a few moments figured there were either no Rathian in the area (which was good), or she just didn't care (which was also good.)

The Wyverian woman was attacking with no regard for herself, which was evident when the Quru spun on its thin ankles and let its wide tail bat the Wyverian away. She grunted when she hit the ground, quickly rolling onto her heels and lunging again. She missed as the bird wyvern beat its wings and lifted off, horn trumpeting mockingly.

"Get back here and fight you fuckin' coward!" She nearly screamed, pitching a rock at the bird wyvern. The stone missed completely, soaring a good twenty feet off course as the Qurupeco simply flew away.

She was ranting to herself as Roy approached, only realizing he was there when he stepped onto the riverbank and made the sand crunch.

The girl whirled and displayed the steel claws, until she realized she was pointing them at another human being.

"Oh. Didn't think I'd find anyone out here in this deserted island." She said, lowering her weapons.

"Uh huh. Two questions." Roy started, lowering his own weapon that had been raised in self-defense. The blue-furred ears twitched to let him know she was listening, despite her gaze wandering already. "One, who are you?"

"I'm Kino Inu, Monster Biologist, sometimes Monster Hunter. Been trying to find something unique on this island, so far this Qurupeco has been the only thing I've found." She replied, ears flattening in annoyance.

"Okay, two: Where are your clothes?"

This time she flushed a bright red.

"Ah, well, you see..."

A bruise coupled with a burn was on her left side, and that told the hunter all he needed to know.

"The Qurupeco got a good shot on me, and they burnt. I'm lucky I managed to save my underwear, okay!" Kino huffed, not looking at Roy and blushing furiously. "U-usually it's not a problem, because there's only wild animals around! With you around..."

She whirled on her heel and pulled the claws up again.

"How am I supposed to know what you're doing? Huh, mister pervert? Out here in the middle of the night, tracking down half-naked girls!"

"...What." Was Roy's flat response, the Hunter blinking a few times.

"Where did you come from, huh?" Kino pressured Roy, demanding answers.

"There's a village on the water about a mile from here." The silver-haired hunter replied, rolling his eyes. "You had to have seen it coming in."

The biologist seemed to freeze for a moment, turning in the direction Roy gestured. A sheepish grin spread across her face as she lowered and 'sheathed' the weapons, the blades retracting into little boxes on top of her wrists.

"You uh, wouldn't mind...showing me, right?" She asked bashfully. "I had a crew of rookie hunters guiding me, but they got lost almost two days ago, heh heh..."

"Uh huh." Roy replied, unconvinced. "They did, or YOU did?"

"Little from column A, little from column B?"

The Hunter rolled his eyes.

"C'mon, it's this way."
---
The sun had risen by the time Roy had escorted Kino back to Moga Village, and she immediately took his personal living space to sleep in...much to Roy's great annoyance.

"So Roy, who's your girlfriend?" Sweetheart teased, sticking her tongue out at him again.

"Hey hey hey, she merely needed escort here. Is it too late to change the objectives of the hunt?"

"Mmhm, sure is. You still have yourself a Qurupeco to hunt!" She replied in her bubbly tone.

"Ah dammit. Well, I'm gonna wait for a few hours then." Roy replied, huffing. "Anything need doing around here?"

"Not a lick! Looks like you're out of anything to do then! Have fun with your new gf!"

Roy rolled his eyes again, going into his room to find Kino curled under his blankets and fast asleep. She hadn't been in the room for more than five minutes, that was actually impressive.

He tossed a spare pair of clothing on top of her, which caused her to jolt out of her snore only a little, before she went back to sawing Great Forest logs. The newly reinstated Hunter then sat on the chair near his desk, intent on taking a quick nap before heading back out.

...which was proving impossible with the woman's constant groaning, complete with tossing and turning. A nightmare if he ever saw one.

Not sure what the reaction was gonna be, but doing it anyway, Roy sighed. He stood and reached over, touching the woman, who in turn instantly froze and then proceeded to calm down. Gentle sleeping sounds took over after that, and Roy returned to his chair.

"What have I gotten myself into this time...?" He asked himself, closing his own eyes and going to sleep.
---

"I KNEW IT!"

The shout caused Roy to jolt awake, chair falling backwards and tossing him onto the floor on his back. A foot was on his chest a second later, effectively 'pinning' him.

"Wh-"

"SHUT IT, pervert!" The blue-haired woman shouted, her blades springing from their hiding places and pointing right at the human's face and throat.

The entire village's various noises went dead silent at the woman's accusations, aside from the fishing crew currently licking their wounds from a Lagiacrus attack.

She pressed on his chest a little harder, and it became slightly hard to breathe. His arm rose and his hand snatched the girl around her thigh, roughly shoving her off.

"That's enough." Roy said. "You jumped into MY bed, and now you're telling ME off for being a pervert?" He growled, and Kino shrunk back just a bit.

"O-oh, this is your...room?"

She flushed heavily, retracting the blades once more.

"Oh, I'm...sorry. I just saw the bed, and it was in the middle of town, I thought it was...a guest room."

"No, it's not." The man growled, brushing himself off. "I'm heading back out in about an hour to kill that Qurupeco, I need to get something to eat first. You? I don't care what you do."

Roy left the room in a sour mood, heading directly off to the right where the Gastronome was waiting. The Argosy had been around just last week, and the seasick felyne had practically begged to stay. The chief was more than happy to add to the Moga Family, and allowed it.

"How can I be of assistance, Hunterrrrr?" He purred, sharpening his knives and claws on a whetstone.

"Just something light for late breakfast, eggs and some toast. Orange juice too, if you can."

"Of courrrrse!"

The felyne hummed to himself as he prepared Roy's brunch, and Kino crept out of the room and sat next to him.

"So..." She started. Roy merely arched an eyebrow at her and drank his orange juice. "If you want, I can help you."

"Aren't you a Biologist?"

"AND Monster Hunter, remember? Gotta find some way to pay the bills when funds for exploring run low." She giggled, pulling out her coin purse and...finding it absolutely empty. "...like right now. Hehe...he..."

Roy pressed the bridge of his nose, not looking at her.

"Do you need food too?" He asked.

"Y-yes please?"

"Gastronome, get her what she wants."

"A large Aptonoth Steak and eggs, with a side of toast!" Kino said proudly.

Both the cat and human stared at the tiny wyverian, and only the sound of the waves below deck could be heard.

"Can you even EAT that?" Roy asked with a hint of disbelief.

"Every bite." The wyverian replied, eying Roy at the hint of challenge. "Wanna see it?"

"Oh, I'd love to." He replied, leaning back in the chair as he finished his own breakfast. The felyne brought out the food and, with a small huff, went into the back. He wasn't interested in cleaning his fur of meat.

Kino rubbed her hands together, and dug in. Meat was torn from bone, eggs were devoured...

Roy was semi-horrified that a small girl put away a breakfast that was almost her size.

"Now, we have a Qurupeco to hunt!" Kino said cheerily, pushing the stool in. She was quickly off and across the bridge before Roy had managed to grab his Jaggi sword. He had slept in his armor, and woken up sore and stiff. Nothing a walk and stretch couldn't fix.
---

Kino was silent for the entire walk, which Roy noted was strange. She hadn't been quiet for a moment since he met her, so why she wasn't talking now...

"Hey, you alright?" Roy asked, semi-concerned.

"Mm? Oh, yeah, I'm okay." She replied with a bright smile.

Roy shrugged.

"If you're sure. Anyway, that Qurupeco should be around here somewhere. I noticed a nest to the west, could be there." The Hunter listed off. "There's also a shore to the east. Prime fishing spot, as it's a pescetarian."

"A...what?"

Roy rolled his eyes.

"Its beak is thin and filled with razor sharp teeth. It eats fish."

"Oh. Right. I knew that."

"Of course you did. I was merely reminding you."

"Right!"

Roy chuckled and lead her down a small path to the west, leading into a cave. There sat the Qurupeco, half-asleep. Its motions were slow and drowsy, and it even looked directly at both Hunters without registering their presence.

Roy took off at a crouching jog, moving quick and keeping the noise low. The bird wyvern must have failed a spot check on the noisy Hunter, because it didn't turn to face him.

Once in range, Roy sprang up and pulled his knife, wrapping himself around the wyvern's body and stabbing its neck. It shrieked in shock and pain, thrashing wildly to dislodge the bold Hunter.

Kino took advantage of the bird wyvern's distraction, claws pulling forward with an audible *shing*. She used natural punching motions, the blades cutting feathers and stabbing flesh as she fluidly moved from spot to spot. The wyverian ducked a distracted tail swing, the bird still not having dislodged the human with any sort of success.

Roy wrenched the serrated knife out and plunged it back into the wyvern's side, when it fell over and finally tossed him off. Rolling to his feet, the human put his knife away and drew his Jaggi short sword. A well-practiced jumping slash had the blade biting into brittle neck scale, and the Qurupeco didn't last much longer afterwards.

Kino punched forward on the chest, and Roy slashed down on the neck once more. Blades simultaneously pierced its heart and severed its neck, killing the small bird wyvern nearly instantaneously and ending the threat to Moga's mining operations for the time being.

Roy wrenched his blade free, deftly flicking the blood off and sheathing his sword. Kino likewise pulled her clawed gauntlets free, flicking the blood into the dirt and flipping a switch on the inside, sheathing the blades.

"Well, that couldn't have gone any better, I think." Roy started with a grin. Kino likewise cheered, pumping one fist into the air and laughing.

"He was so clueless! Like beating on a baby!"

Roy blinked.

"Uh..."

"Y-you know, because babies are so defenseless...?"

A dead, awkward silence took over.

"...right." Roy slowly started. "At any rate, we should head back. I need to report to the Guild and you need to find a place to sleep."

"I dunno if I wanna stay on the water though..."

"Why?"

"It makes me pee too much..."

"...too much info, Kino."

---

"Alrighty!" The Sweetheart chirped, sealing the letter and putting it in a mailbag. "The Guild should have your payment within a day or so, congrats on the successful hunt!"

Roy nodded, then turned to see Kino animatedly talking with the Chief of Moga Village.

"Ahahaha!" The Chief laughed, slapping his knee. "Roy, my boy, you'll have to tell me where you found this spirited girl!"

"On the beach. She tried to stab me." The hunter responded flatly, which only brought another round of laughter from the old man.

"Heheh, well, at any rate, the Guild has dispatched another two hunters to our quaint little village." The Chief started again. "They're fresh out of the training program, so don't expect much. Still, we were all new once."

"Oh yeah? What for?"

"That blasted Lagiacrus that sank our fishing boats." A raised hand stopped Roy's rebuttal. "Ah ah ah, I know what you're gonna say. 'Why not me, I can handle it?' Well, I'll tell you why."

He took a puff of his pipe, savoring the taste for a moment.

"Because you need to relearn teamwork as much as they need to learn it in the first place."

Roy scowled.

"Last time I worked with others, they all ended up dead and I ended up with localized amnesia of the entire thing."

"Years ago, my dear Hunter." The elder chuckled. "They've been given room and board, as well as Kino here."

"I'm still not so sure about living on the water..." Kino mumbled, kicking her feet onto the boards. The elder only smiled softly.

"You'll be fine, Lass."

The blue haired woman returned a shy smile, and he personally showed her to her room. Roy retreated to his room and flopped onto the bed, sighing lightly.

He was out before he knew it.