[Everwood Hunting Ground - Dust]<br/><br/>"Then how were you going to scare off the creatures?"  She sniped back, nonplussed.  "With your 'manly physique'?"  She sighed, and fell silent for a long few minutes in the gathering darkness of the evening, long enough that were Dust still awake he might have thought her asleep until she spoke.  "I think you could be a hunter, you're fit enough, and probably a capable enough fighter too...  Just...  You clearly don't know what you're getting into, and yet you keep acting like you're some sort of expert.  You're a novice in this world, bottom rung, your status as a mercenary is-Hauh..."  Vianna yawned.  "...Irrelevant to your status as a monster hunter."<br/><br/>Whatever else was said though, Vianna was silent after that, and soon enough both of them were asleep one way or another.<br/><br/>Dawn came, sunlight breaking through the eastern treeline, bathing the camp in honey-gold tones as it promised warmth in the coming day.  Vianna was still asleep as Dust rose and readied himself, but by the time he was out of the tent he could hear her stirring not far behind.  The girl he approached sat, watching the rising sun, though truthfully, it was hard for dust to tell her age beneath the sturdy-looking armor she wore.  It was odd, not like anything he was used to, for few mercenaries could afford the parts to make armor from monsters as hunters did, but it seemed flashy more than practical in some ways, even if it was quite solid looking...<br/><br/>She had a youthful face though, and a short dark-blue head of hair tied back into a ponytail while her helmet rested next to her on the bench.  She gave him an odd look as he sat next to her, a familiar look, as though she was both sizing him up and wary of him at the same time.  "Yes, I do."  She replied eventually, then turned back to watching the sunrise, a slight smile on her face this time, though she was doing her best to hide it.<br/><br/><br/>[The Primal Forests - Kaze]<br/><br/>The Rathian stiffened for a moment as Kaze took her breasts in his hands but then she began moving again, rolling her hips faster, tightening slightly around him as her moves gained faint urgency, churning the load of cum he'd just deposited inside her with his cock as she clearly went for a second.  Her arms were around him now, new scratches on his back as she clung to him, the change of position in their union giving him the chance to thrust up and into her properly rather than merely being ridden.<br/><br/>It didn't seem like she was going to just<i>let</i>Kaze go any time soon but at least this round was slower and less intense than that first round had been...  With any luck she'd tire out eventually, though monster girls had much more stamina than any human could usually match to begin with, so that might take a while...<br/><br/><br/>[The Ancestral Steppes - Sonya]<br/><br/>"Ehehe...  Not really?  It's on a bunch of the maps though..."  Nat grinned, scratching the back of her head awkwardly.  "It shouldn't be hard to find though, it's pretty clear...  See?"  the huntress had been rummaging in her bag and pulled out a map, one of the usual guild maps, which did in fact highlight a little passage that ran through a narrow pathway from the step cliffs to the canyons proper.  "We just head through there and we should have plenty of time!"<br/><br/>By now the two of them were climbing towards the cliffs again, and already Sonya could see a couple of shadows humming their way along the lower ledges.  Nat saw them in turn, and looked over.  "Seltas right?  They look like them at least...  Think I could shoot one from here to draw its attention?"  The pink-haired girl had unlimbered her bowgun and was loading a handful of shells into it carefully.  Even if they weren't going to take a shot from here she would want it loaded for when the fight really started at least...<br/><br/><br/>[Everwood Hunting Ground - Alistair]<br/><br/>The Kut-ku was tiring, but as Alistair protected his flanks the pack was slowly being whittled away, a war of attrition that was brutal to both sides until finally, a lucky blast of flame opened a hole in the pack's depleted encirclement and the Kut-ku broke for it immediately, not even trying to throw Alistair off as he sprinted for the mouth of the canyon.<br/><br/>In fact, Alistair wasn't even sure he could get off any more.  The fact that he would likely lose the kut-ku to the jungle the moment he let himself be left behind aside, the bird was pelting through the woods so fast in that combination of desperation and adrenaline that the act of jumping off itself could potentially lead to a broken bone or two, and any crippling injury could be lethal this deep in the everwood.<br/><br/>And that in turn was to say nothing of the Genprey pack that must still be following them...<br/><br/>Looking back however, the pack was vanishing into the trees even as Alistair thought of that, retreating to lick their wounds and perhaps seek out some easier prey.<br/><br/>Hopefully the Kut-ku would slow down soon at least...  At this rate it was sure to tire itself out, and Alistair would likely be able to capture it with ease once that happened...<br/><br/><br/>[The Primal Forests - 'Little Death']<br/><br/>The barbs struck puffs of darkness where they hit the dragon and some pierced through his scales as he roared and lunged, slightly slower than the Little Death but still terrifyingly fast for any being of his size.  They met in the middle, the monster girl vaulting up and over his head, slashing at him with her wings as she went, opening a dozen little cuts over his back as he turned, forepaws batting at her in motions humans would call catlike, trying to smack her out of the air and missing by inches.<br/><br/>He growled again, louder, and the Nargacuga-girl could hear the Kelbi below snorting fearfully as the dragon paced lightly, circling as best the tree branches and vines they both stood on would afford him that movement.<br/><br/>Then he barked at her, a miasmic lump of blackness surrounded by a corona of purple flames flying through the air, and even as the Little Death dodged he was barking again, covering first the left of his first blast, then the right, trying to catch her as she evaded that inital attack!  As they struck the trees and ground around her, the projectiles burst, scattering dense dark clouds that immediately lit up with purple lightning.  Even being caught in just the edge of one of those clouds would bring with it tingling as those sparks played over skin, a scent of rotting cinnamon, and a sudden flush, heat gathering in the cheeks and between the legs, urges that had no place in a fight for dominance suddenly intruding upon the mind.<br/><br/>All of which would be to say nothing of being struck head-on by the attack...