Monster Hunter Destiny V - Fight with the Sun Devil, Dark King, and Living Shadow

The Arena Terra hadn't seen action in days, as the trainees were still recovering from the loss of one of their group, the Hammer-wielder Hornt. Even Taka, who loathed Hornt with a passion, felt stricken at his sudden disappearance.

What made him sadder, however, was the deaths of the four monsters that he had fought in the Arena Terra - a Qurupeco, Toxic Barroth, and two Bruteon. Even though Taka knew that he should hate the monsters, as they had been warring with the hunters for hundreds of years, he felt very sad when he remembered them falling to the ground in mortal agony, finally becoming still as death took them.

Taka suddenly looked around. Bronton was gathering the rest of the group for another fight in the arena. He picked up his Longsword, Guan, and hurried out the door, grabbing his item pouch on the way out. It felt a little heavy with its First-Aid Meds, Rations, Antidotes, Whetstones, and other assorted supplies inside of it.

Bronton held the group up as he prepared to brief them on what they would face in the arena. "Today's lesson is about Unstable Environments," he boomed when they were all gathered. "Even when on a simple mission, gathering Herbs or Iron Ore, a large monster can ambush you. This is why I need you to be prepared for anything that I will allow to enter the Arena Terra."

Kread and Ryka looked nervously at each other as Bronton continued. "Your mission is to gather as many Unique Mushrooms as you can. The one who gets the most will win some free supplies - but beware, as after a certain amount of time, I will be releasing a monster into the arena." He then opened the doors into the Arena Terra.

The changes that the arena had undergone were dramatic. It was now a dense forest, with trees and shrubs literally covering the arena floor. They were standing in an open clearing, from which they would venture into the makeshift jungle to gather mushrooms. Taka supposed that it had taken Bronton since the Barroth fight to get this ready for them.

"Go!" yelled Bronton from his usual vantage point. As the arena doors slammed shut behind them, the group scattered and made their way into the trees.

-

Taahnn, Kread, and Kiem stuck together as they searched for the rare fungi. Although they worked independently from one another, they knew that if a monster attacked, they would need to be united in order to stand a larger chance against it.

Kread shouted in surprise as he looked under a fern and discovered a clutch of Unique Mushrooms. Putting the four mushrooms in his pouch, he heard Kiem and Taahnn find some as well. He doubled his efforts, quickly checking each shrub for patches of mushrooms. After five minutes, he had found only one other Unique Mushroom - the rest were common Blue Mushrooms and Exciteshrooms.

Suddenly, he heard Kiem say, "Quiet! I hear something!" Kread and Taahnn became silent, then heard it too - the now-familiar sound of a monster cage opening. The sound was quiet, so the monster was far off and would take time to reach them. Muscles tensing, they continued gathering in silence, prepared to instantly grab their weapons if something attacked them.

-

Relcia and Illeera stopped dead as they heard the cage open a slight distance away. They had foolishly headed to the deepest part of the forest first, knowing that this area would likely have the most mushrooms, and that the others would search the area around the exit first. Now, they realized that this could have been a potentially fatal mistake.

Illeera took out her Bow and dipped four arrows in Paralysis Coating in advance, then continued searching, more stealthily than before. Relcia sharpened her Raven Tessen with a Whetstone and ate a Ration just in case.

Little did they know that, luckily, this preparation was virtually unneeded. The monster wouldn't find them, at least for now. However, this was only because the unknown creature had already picked out another target...

-

The creature stopped. It had heard something rustling the ferns in the clearing up ahead. Instinct took over as it went into stealth mode. Moving with complete silence, it slowly followed the sound. As it neared the small clearing, it lowered its body, blending in almost perfectly with the shrubs that now covered it completely.

Its eyes narrowed. A lone human in strange, spongy armor was busy plucking fungi from underneath a fern. Her back was to it, so the creature could easily see the long weapon she carried. The monster winced as it remembered a weapon that looked almost just like that - it had been used to subdue the monster in the rainforest where it lived, while it struggled in the cleverly disguised trap the hunters had placed.

The wyvern shook its head as if to dispel the painful memories. Instead, a plan formed in its head, a plan that it had used many, many times before against prey, and had always worked perfectly.

It shook its long tail, making a low rattling sound and purposely disturbing the plants around it. It smiled a predator's grin as it saw the human turn around, frightened and curious as she heard the noise. Soon, thought the wyvern. Now all I have to do is wait.

-

Far from the clearing in which the monster stalked, Ryka and Taka continued to quietly gather Unique Mushrooms. Each was cautious, but confident as they counted seven mushrooms each. They didn't know the other's find, so they were both certain that they would win.

And so far, the monster Bronton released hasn't even shown up, thought Taka happily. He knew that for a fact. If the monster was as large as even a Qurupeco, it would have rustled the leaves and stems around them, making quite a bit of noise and alerting them to its presence.

Out of nowhere, the duo froze as they heard a loud *fwssshhhhh*, as if something was flying through the air at a high speed. Then, a shrill scream split the otherwise complete silence, so loud that it made Taka jump. However, the noise wasn't nearly as shocking as the fact that he knew that scream.

"MYLIE!" Ryka shouted, and instantly sprang to her feet, weapon already in hand, and ran in the direction of the sudden noise. Taka did as well, then faltered as he heard a deafening, catlike yowl somewhere near Mylie's attack. He became terribly frightened as he realized that he recognized that sound - he had heard it before, in the Forested Spring a long time ago. He spoke the monster's name in a horrified whisper as it wound its way into his brain - "Nargacuga..."

Taka began to run again, but more cautiously. If he rushed into the fight, blindly crashing through the foliage, then the Nargacuga would instantly know where he was and would strike without mercy. He needed to be like that Pseudowyvern - silent and stealthy.

As he slowed his pace and began to crawl through the dense foliage, he heard the shouts of his comrades as they rushed toward the scene of the crime. He heard the Nargacuga's angry growl as it, too, heard the multitude of people running to help Mylie.

REST COMING SOON