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MH:TLC Ch9, Season of the Valley of Flowers Part 2

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Season of the Valley of Flowers (Part 2)

Disclaimer: Monster Hunter is copyright Capcom. All the characters in this story are mine.

"Okay, this isn't even fair," Levin muttered as his second knight was successfully captured by Mel's remaining rook. "I taught you this game yesterday and you're wiping the floor with me. You're cheating somehow, but for the life of me I can't tell how."

"Maybe you just suck," Mel grinned, tossing his knight into her ever-growing pile of captured pieces. "Ever considered that by chance?"

"Once or twice," Levin admitted. "But still, this is insane. I can't even get into check. How in nine hells were you born with such an affinity to board games?"

"You find ways to pass the time when you don't do much work during your job," Mel replied as Levin feebly marched a pawn up the board. "I'm sure you've figured that out by now, what with Doctor Orson forcing you and Eleanor into permanent bed rest until you both recover. Speaking of which, how're the ribs coming along?"

Levin scratched absentmindedly at the bandages wrapped around his chest. "Well enough, I suppose," he admitted. "They don't ache anymore, but still sting a bit if I put pressure on them. But I guess I wasn't really expecting a full recovery after two weeks."

"And Eleanor?" Mel asked hesitantly as she knocked over one of Levin's bishops, earning a despairing frown from Levin.

"She's… recovering," Levin sighed. "Physically at least. Orson's a miracle worker to get her arm set and recovering so quickly. He told me she'll be able to go out into the field again in only a few days. But the Rathian attack really shook her up."

"Is it really that bad?"

"I've been talking with her as much as I can, trying to get her to open up, but she's really reluctant to give me anything. If I had to guess, whatever incident she had with a Rath before she came here to Boma really left her feeling powerless. After getting beat, she's got this irrational desire to butcher any and all monsters out in the wilds; Aptonoth, Kelbi, you name it. Anything generally referred to as a 'monster.'"

"That covers quite a few creatures out there," Mel said with a frown.

"Tell me about it," Levin sighed as he brought a pawn forward to take one of Mel's knights. "Few days ago, she tried to get her bowgun out to fire at a squad of Epioth that swam close to shore. I had to hide her ammo after that. She's even been eyeing the Felynes that work in town recently. I…suggested that Leif take a temporary vacation for a few days until she recovers her senses."

"Ouch," Mel said, wincing. "How do you plan to 'recover her senses,' anyway?"

"Same way Marshall knocked some sense into me, I suppose."

Mel blinked in surprise and glanced at a calendar on the wall of the Guild booth. "I guess it is that time of year, isn't it? Well, I suppose if it worked for you, it'll work for Eleanor."

Levin frowned. "Was I really so bad back then?"

Mel scoffed. "You would've made Eleanor look she's attained inner peace by comparison. But that's not an issue anymore. When you planning on heading up to the valley?"

"Just as soon as Eleanor's arm is good enough to hold a bowgun properly," Levin replied. He frowned as he realized what he'd said. Ever since Eleanor's beating from the Rathian, she'd glared at him in anger every time he tried to call her Ellie. Even he felt pained from seeing her seething like that, so he'd started calling her by Eleanor since the first time in a long time.

"You're letting her go armed?" Mel asked skeptically. "That might not be a good idea, if her condition's as bad as you let on."

"I'm aware. But convincing her to go traipsing through the forest without a weapon would be pretty much impossible."

"Point taken."

Levin stood up and stretched. "On that note, I figure now's as good a time as any to inform Miss Eleanor of the little trip we'll be taking here soon. I hate to leave you hanging, but I'd really like it done as soon as possible."

"Oh, no worries," Mel said with a grin. She reached forward, and with a flick of her queen, knocked over the last of Levin's bishops and smiled triumphantly. "Checkmate."

Levin stared incredulously at the board, eyes flickering over his king and its possible moves, before drooping his head in defeat. "You're a cruel woman, Mel," he grumbled.

"Have a nice chat with Eleanor, Levin," she said, waving him off.

Several minutes later, Levin arrived at Eleanor's hut and leapt up the stairs. Shuffling through the thin flap of fabric that separated the interior and exterior, he turned and faced the brightly painted door that separated Eleanor's little room from the rest of the world.

Levin rapped lightly on the door. "You in there, Eleanor?" he called out, knowing the answer already. Eleanor hadn't willingly left her room since she'd been allowed to leave the medical hut with a cast on her arm. She'd been bouncing between bouts of hate-induced rage and manic depression since the Rathian fight, seemingly unable to decide whether or not to hunt all monsters in a mission of revenge, or sink into a pit of despair for not being strong enough to fight the dragon at her current level.

A grunt on the other side of the door signaled that she certainly was inside the room, and Levin took it as permission to enter as well. Not that she really had given him permission, but it was easier to reinterpret sounds than silence. Although, bad translations of Eleanor's minimal sounds had led to Levin getting things thrown at him for entering at less than decent moments… But he couldn't very well let her wallow there forever, could he?

As he entered the room, he noticed it had slowly been accumulating filth since he'd last been there. No doubt the absence of Leif had left its mark in a stronger manner than Levin had thought. He spotted Eleanor rather quickly, sitting on the dock in the back of her room, staring out into the bay. As a precaution, Levin scanned the room to make sure none of her weapons were within immediate range as he wandered her way. Safe in the knowledge her bowgun and sword were both stored away, he proceeded to sit next to her on the dock.

"How's the arm?" he asked, attempting to strike up a conversation.

"Fixed," Eleanor replied nonchalantly, holding up her arm and revealing the cast to be gone.

Levin whistled. "Not bad. Wish my ribs would finish healing that fast. Can't rush these thing, though, you know?"

"Why do you do it?" Eleanor suddenly asked.

Levin paused in confusion. "What do you mean? Why do I do what?"

"Show sympathy to monsters. You let them go if you feel like it. You don't kill them if they get in your way if you don't have to. You take the long way around if a monster's in your path rather than killing to get through faster. Why?"

"Ah, that," Levin replied. "I guess it's because they've got their own ecosystem, their own lives to live with. Why get in the way of that? There's nothing to gain by going out of my way to kill them if I don't have to."

"But they kill people," Eleanor said sharply, turning to face Levin with a heated look. "They attack caravans, they hunt travelers, they invade farms and villages. Why let them live if they'll just attack you or someone else later?"

Levin scratched his head in thought. "Not all monsters are content with attacking humans. Some would rather go out of their way to avoid humans altogether. Why hunt anything and everything if only a few of them cause any problems?"

"But they all cause problems!" Eleanor growled. "Our world didn't have problems like this! Why couldn't this world be just as good as ours was if all the monsters were just gone? They're just bloodthirsty monsters, anyway."

"You can't just decide that the world would be better off without the monsters," Levin told her. "Besides, who says the monsters are only a source of strife?"

"You just don't get it!" Eleanor cried, leaping to her feet and striding across her room. She sat down on her bed and glared at Levin. "You got off easy getting pulled to this world earlier than the rest of us. You don't know what went down after the initial problems."

Before Levin could stop himself, he had crossed the room and grabbed Eleanor by the collar, yanking to up to face him eye to eye. "Don't you ever, ever say that I got off easy in the initial attack," he growled. "I may not have been around as long as you were after the start of it all, but don't you ever think that you're the only one who suffered, got it?"

Eleanor's eyes widened a bit in surprise at Levin's sudden aggression, but she met his glare in return. "Got it."

Levin released her, allowing her to sink back into her soft mattress. "Now, what do you mean when you say that things went down after I left?"

Eleanor turned away from him, hiding her face. "At first there were the disasters. You were a part of those, I'm sure. Just random catastrophes. Explosions big enough to wipe out towns, storms that leveled huge areas of land, thunderstorms that completely tore up anything they touched. People thought it was the end of the world."

"Good lord…" Levin gasped. "There was an explosion before I got brought to this world, but I didn't know there were so many things after that."

"It was hellish," Eleanor whispered. "People didn't know what to do, where to go. Anywhere people settled in, tried to weather it out, got completely destroyed by some freak force of nature. It was like we were being exterminated."

Levin was silent for a moment, taking in the news of what had happened to his world. Then a thought hit him and he focused back on Eleanor. "But that's not what's got you so hell-bent on killing monsters, is it?" he asked.

"No," she replied. "After the storms died down and the disasters lessened, we thought the worst was over, that we could start to rebuild."

"What happened?" Levin asked nervously, terrified that Eleanor would confirm his fears.

Eleanor looked at him miserably. "Monsters appeared," she told him. "Like we'd only heard about in fairy tales. Dinosaurs risen from their graves, sea monsters from the old mythologies, and… well…"

"Dragons," Levin finished.

"Yeah," Eleanor muttered. "Dragons. Like the Raths. Exactly like them."

Levin tilted back, stunned. He grasped clumsily for a chair, slumping into the seat and leaning back in shocked silence. "All this time, I thought this place was someplace different," he murmured. "I thought, I was brought here and one day I'll find a way to go back. But it's impossible to go back isn't it? We weren't brought here, we were… preserved. Kept unaltered until the world was something completely different, something we couldn't recognize. There's nothing to go back to."

The two hunters sat in silence for a long time. Finally Levin leaned forward and looked at Eleanor. "What happened to you that made you so hateful to monsters?"

Eleanor sighed and leaned back to recall the painful memories. "During the rush of monsters that followed the disaster, I was taken in with a group of wanderers that were trekking aimlessly between destroyed cities in search of food. One night, we took shelter in an abandoned building to escape a hunting party of… Jaggis, I guess. They looked similar. Anyway, late at night, we thought we were safe, and started talking freely, trying to lose the edge of being hunted. I guess we were making too much noise, because we were heard by… by a Rathalos."

Eleanor stopped for a moment, shaking from the memory. She quietly swallowed her fears and continued. "It wasn't even a massacre. Too quick to be one. It was just one explosion, one blast of flame, and the whole building was gone. Everyone dead. Except me. I escaped the fire and rubble somehow. Then the Rathalos sticks his head into the destroyed building and sees me. It just gave me this look, like I was nothing to it, just a snack to gobble up until it could get a better meal."

She curled up, pulling her knees close to her chest as she shivered. "I've never felt so weak and worthless in my life. I couldn't do anything but cower. I thought that was it. I was going to die so pathetically, and no one would know or care.

"But I lived. Before it could get me, there was a bright blue light, and next thing I know, I'm waking up in a rain forest, no clue where I am. After that, I wandered to Loc Lac, and, well…"

"Hitched a ride here, to get revenge," Levin finished. "You want to show you're better than the monster that tried to kill you."

"Yes," Eleanor replied weakly.

Levin sighed, staring at his shoes. "You're too much like me, you know that?" he said quietly.

Eleanor looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… I don't know," Levin said, scratching his head as he searched for the words. "Look, I understand you want to get revenge on the Raths, but you're going about it the wrong way. As much as it hurts to say it, I still can't condone your hunting monsters ruthlessly."

"What do you mean?" Eleanor shouted, suddenly enraged. "They destroyed our world! They ruined our lives! They're all bastard monsters that deserve to be slaughtered! They…"

"Wait wait wait," Levin said, holding up his hands. "I realize all that. But it's just… I want you to hold off your decision to 'kill them all' until I've given you the whole picture."

"What whole picture?" Eleanor growled. "What else is there to see?"

"There's more to the monsters than killing people or attacking caravans. You've got to know both sides of their lives before you…"

"You just don't get it, do you? You were gone before they appeared, so you don't know what was lost! You don't understand what…"

"My entire family was taken from me!" Levin roared. Eleanor froze, stunned. Levin seethed, trying to force down the anger that had built up inside of him.

"My family disappeared in the destruction of our town," Levin admitted. Broken and incomplete memories flickered through his mind. "I barely remember anything about the explosion. I just remember I was with my family, trying to run from the destruction. It was so quick. There was a flash of light, and then they were gone. Nowhere to be found."

Levin slumped back into his seat. "And now I hear that this whole thing may have been caused by the monsters. It's like being offered the proof you need to order an execution. Part of me wants to do like you, take up arms and kill everything. Make certain that there's no sign of them left. Bring our world back to its original state. But I can't."

"Why not?" Eleanor asked, shaken.

"Because, I've seen that not all monsters deserve to die, not by my own judgment. Back when I first came here, I had the same thoughts you do. After I got the scar on my face, I hated any and all monsters in the world, thought they deserved to meet their fates. If the monsters are problems, why not kill them all? But Marshall forced me to see that not everything involving monsters was despicable or terrible. He showed me something I thought was impossible in the monster world… our world."

"What was it?"

Levin looked over at Eleanor and cocked a half-hearted grin. "You really want to know?"

Eleanor frowned at the sudden change in emotion in Levin. "Yes, I do."

"Then I'll show you," Levin said softly. "Tonight. After dinner, we'll head out into the wilds, and I'll show you something the Guild guides and quests never mention."

"But what is it?" Eleanor asked in frustration. "And how the hell do you think it'll make me not hate the Raths?"

"You'll see," Levin replied, standing and walking to the door. "You won't need much ammo, we're just going to see something, then we'll return to the village."

"But you're not telling me…"

"Just get ready," Levin ordered as he opened the door. "Hopefully, tonight's a night that'll change your outlook on the monster world, like it did with me."

And with that he shut the door behind him, leaving a thoroughly bewildered Eleanor sitting confusedly on her bed.


The forest around Boma certainly seemed like a different world than it did during the day time, Levin noticed as the two hunters walked through the dense foliage. The sun was just beginning to drop over the horizon as they traveled down a less-used path. A whole different collection of wildlife seemed to come out to play when all the primary predators where hiding away in their nests, devouring the meals they'd succeeded in hunting during the day.

Eleanor trekked not too far behind Levin, obviously very confused and irritated by Levin's unwillingness to divulge what they were doing traveling so deep into the heart of the forest so late in the day. She'd been incredibly quiet, considering how badly she seemed to want to know what was going on.

Normally, Levin would've had no small amount of fun teasing her on the way, but his own head was filled with his own confused thoughts about what he'd learned. The knowledge this world filled with monsters was the ravaged result of his world being ravaged and overwhelmed by the creatures he hunted now bothered him far less than he had thought it would. Knowing that he was so at ease with his world being long gone was far more disconcerting than the knowledge itself. He wished he knew why.

The two of them crested a large hill just as the last of the sun's rays flickered and faded on the horizon. Levin scanned the distance and spotted the landmark he had been searching for: a large bowl-shaped valley that seemed to glow with color even at this distance. He pointed it out to Eleanor and she gave him and confused look.

"What's the light coming from?" she asked as they began hiking down the side of the hill in the direction of the valley.

"It's emitted by the plants that grow in the valley," Levin explained. "Some sort of luminescent process of sorts makes them light up at night. It's pretty cool to see."

"Is that what you're taking me to see?" Eleanor asked incredulously. "The plants? Those are supposed to change my outlook on monsters?"

"Not quite," Levin replied. "They're part of it, but they're not the main thing we're going to go see. You'll see when we get there." Eleanor frowned at the remark, unhappy with not knowing what was going on, but tagged along behind Levin dutifully as they trekked through the forest.

It took them the better part of an hour to cover the remaining distance to the valley, and the sun was a long time set by the time they arrived at the tip of the bowl. But as the sun had dropped further under the horizon, the glowing plants in the distance seemed to grow ever brighter, emitting an eerie multi-colored light that lit their path with the help of the moon overhead.

As they crested the lip of the valley, Eleanor gasped at the sight before them. The deep valley, several hundreds of yards across, had every inch filled with thick vines, coated in bright flower buds in full bloom. Each flower was its own color, glowing brightly in the night and sending rays of shining color everywhere. Swirling arrays of thousands of colors were splashed everywhere, filling the entirety of the valley.

The only darkened place in the whole valley was a dark circle surrounding the center of the valley, from which a short twisted tree bloomed with the light of dozens of different colors. From the base of the tree was a thirty yard gap of a deep relative darkness of land that completely lacked any sign of the bright flowers that bloomed everywhere else in the crater.

"How is this possible?" Eleanor asked breathlessly, stunned by the beauty of the location.

"No one's really sure," Levin replied. "A few people have tried to study the plants, but they only really bloom during this time of year, so getting to the area at the right time is tricky. Not to mention the flowers only bloom one day a year, so you have to get really lucky."

"Wait, then how did you know we'd get to see it today?" Eleanor asked.

Levin grinned. "You couldn't see it when I first pointed the area out to you, but there are actually several other valleys like this one around the area. The trick is to get to a high point a distance away and look for the glow as the sun goes down."

"So the other valleys haven't lit up yet?"

"Not tonight from what I saw. They're either not ready yet or they've already been burned up. If you really like them though, they'll have grown back by next year, so we can see it again if we feel like it."

"I see," Eleanor said, and then turned as she realized something. "Wait, they grow back? What do you mean by that? I thought they just lost their glow."

Levin shrugged. "When a valley lights up, the same night it burns to the ground. The plants spend the entire rest of the year re-growing itself so it can light up again the next year."

"But what makes them catch fire? Do they overheat?"

"Not quite," Levin said with a wry gin. He turned to the west and saw the light of the sun quickly fading. "You'll see in a bit, once the light of the sun is completely gone. For now, let's go find us a seat."

Eleanor sighed, accepting Levin's vague explanation, and followed him up a ledge to a higher point on the edge of the valley. As they hiked, she probed Levin with a question. "How come we didn't see any monsters on the way here?" she asked. "I mean, we saw some Kelbi over near the village, but other than that, there was nothing in the wilds. I thought there'd be some Jaggi doing some late night hunting or something, but I didn't see a thing, not even any Bnahabra."

"They're all in hiding these days," Levin replied. "For the most part, the herbivores spend their time hiding at their nests, and the carnivores only venture out to collect meals for the day. Otherwise, they're all hidden away."

"Why?" Eleanor prodded. "What's so special about this time of the year? Does it have something to do with the flowers in the valley?"

"It does."

"Then you're not going to explain it to me?"

"Nope."

Eleanor groaned, earning a chuckle from Levin. The two continued hiking circling the edge of the valley until they reached a particularly tall ridge that gave a clear view of the whole place. Levin motioned to Eleanor, and the two of them sat down on the rocks, setting aside their weapons as they overlooked the shining display that stretched out before them.

As the final rays of sunlight began to fade under the horizon, the last of the flowers in the valley began to bloom, increasing the blend of colors to the full magnitude the valley could offer. Levin watched Eleanor as she stared amazed into the center of the vast palette spread before them. He noticed her bowgun sat unwatched and unhooked next to her. With a quick glance to make sure she wasn't noticing him, Levin slipped a hand through the sling of Eleanor's bowgun, quietly dragging the weapon away from her and sliding it behind a rock next to him.

As Eleanor gazed in awe into the depths of the valley, Levin leaned over to her. "Something else, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she replied in wonder, before turning to give Levin a cold look. "But I don't see how this is supposed to make me think of monsters as less than murderers."

"You will," Levin assured her. Just then, he picked up a sound on the wind, a familiar perpetual thumping. "I just want you to promise me something tonight, Eleanor."

"What's that?" she asked cautiously.

"I want you to remain calm," Levin told her sternly, "no matter what, and I want you to promise not to interfere at all with what you see."

"Why not?" Eleanor asked, confused. "What am I going to see?"

"Promise me, please," Levin begged. "I can assure you that you'll be perfectly safe as long as you promise not to do anything dangerous. Please promise me that."

Eleanor frowned, uncertain and slightly afraid, but finally nodded in consent. "Fine, I won't do anything. But you've got to tell me what's going to happen."

The two hunters froze as the sound of thumping suddenly increased in sound, and was soon immediately accompanied by what was almost an echo as the sound was multiplied. The sounds of an unknown amount of creatures approaching filled the air in the sky, howls of aggression and urgency echoing through the valley.

A powerful roar tore through the skies, and Levin winced as Eleanor seized up in fear and recognition. He leapt to his feet as he saw her eyes dart to where her bowgun once sat. A moment of confusion flickered across her face before she threw a full-blown look of rage at Levin and leapt towards him.

"Give it back!" she screamed as she jumped at him, swinging her fist around at him. "You've got to give it back! I have to fight back!"

"No!" Levin shouted as he batted aside Eleanor's fist, trying to avoid getting hit. "You promised you wouldn't do this!"

"I can't let them live!" Eleanor shouted, batting at Levin with all her might. "They'll kill people! They'll kill us if they see us! I won't let that happen!"

"No they won't!" Levin shouted back. He paused and looked away for a moment as a dark shape soared over the two of them, then buckled over in pain as Eleanor's fist connected with his stomach, sending a burst of pain from his still-aching ribs.

Eleanor stood over him triumphantly for a moment, before she spotted the butt of her bowgun sticking out from the edge of the nearby rock. She leapt towards it, intent on using it to blast down the dark shaped soaring through the sky above them.

Levin twisted around and dove after her, tackling her a few feet short of her bowgun. He winced as another lance of pain ripped out from his chest, but forced himself to ignore the feeling, fighting against Eleanor as she struggled against his grip on her.

"Let me go!" she screeched, pounding on his back with her loose hand, desperately trying to break free.

"No!" he replied as she struggled. "You have to see this!"

She leaned back and attempted to kick him off her, but Levin struggled forward, grabbling both of her wrists and holding tightly as she fought against him, dragging her away from the poorly-hidden bowgun and towards the edge into the valley.

"You're going to get us killed!" she yelled in fear. "You have to let me fight! They'll kill us if they see us! I have to kill them! I have to…"

Eleanor was cut short as an exceptionally large shape swooped over their heads, and a moment later, let out an ear-splitting roar that seemed to shake the very earth below them. Levin's vision swam as his instincts told him to cover his ears, but his self-control forced him to keep his grip on Eleanor's wrists. He nearly passed out as the sound shook his brain in his skull, and almost let go as the sound faded and the dark shape began to descent into the center of the valley.

With an impact that sent an echoing thump through the valley, an enormous Rathalos, bigger than any Levin had ever laid eyes on, landing inside the plant-free ring at the center of the valley. Both hunters paused at the sight of the giant among dragons, and Levin felt Eleanor shaking in terror as the creature howled into the sky.

For the first time, Eleanor looked up, taking real notice of the shapes in the sky. Above them soared dozens of dragons, both Rathian and Rathalos. They tore through the sky, nipping and biting at each other as they circled. Levin noticed that the Rathalos in the area were beginning to reduce in number, the apparent strongest and best of them taking the center stage. However, the Rathians still fought amongst each other for the right to enter the bright and glowing valley.

Ellie began to sink to her knees, terror welling up at the sight of so many of her feared beasts circling above her. Levin quickly spun her around and held her around the shoulders, keeping her upright as they stood on the crevice of the valley.

"This is their mating season," he whispered, explaining the events occurring. "They come here every year to find mates. Only the strongest and largest are allowed to mate with each other, so they fight to determine who is superior. Their mating takes up the whole of their focus, so unless we interfere, they will not even notice us. Please, trust me when I say that we will not be hurt as long as we don't do anything to disrupt them."

Eleanor didn't respond, still shaking in fear as the females of the species battled over their heads. Levin carefully lowered her down, letting her sit on the ground rather than stand. Above them the numbers of Rathian slowly began to dwindle as weaker females admitted defeat to the stronger, escaping the area to tend to their wounds.

After an unknown amount of time, the number finally dropped to only a few. With a howl of superiority, one of the Rathian began its descent into the valley, the remaining Rathian leaving in defeat. With a resounding impact of its own, it landed in the center of the valley as well, on the opposite side of the glowing tree that grew in the center of the valley.

Eleanor still shook in fear under Levin's firm grip. Despite his attempts to calm her, she was still terrified.

Then the howling began. Like the eerie song of the sirens, the two dragons in the center of the valley began calling out in warbling cries that filled the valley. The two dragons in the center of the valley craned their necks to their extents, calling out into the sky as they released their undulations, announcing to the world and the retreating dragons in the sky their intent. The deep resonating honking and baying echoed through the valley, shaking the flowers on their vines.

Eleanor's shaking stopped as the last of the echoes died down and the forest fell back into silence. She gazed down at the two dragons in the center of the as they drew back away from the center of the valley and pulled in their wings. They flexed and strained their muscles, pulling their wings in to their bodies, like wide leathery capes that fluttered in the light breeze that fluttered through the valley.

The two dragons stood tall on opposing sides of the short tree in the center of the valley, eyeing each other carefully. They pawed the ground in a slow rhythm, slowly meeting each other's tempo, before cautiously speeding up. They stomped and pounded the ground at an increasing speed, thumping a powerful rhythm that shook the earth. Then, in a flash of motion, the two dragons twisted, simultaneously beginning to spin, while at the same time, leaping into the air and spiraling around the tree in the center.

As they spun, the clubs of their tails clacked and rebounded off each other, each collision sending a wave of sparked down onto the tree that grew below them. As several showers of sparks, a lick of flame picked up at the base of the tree, slowly working its way up the side of the trunk as the Rathian and Rathalos spun and twisted in their spiraling dance around it.

The flames chewed their way up the tree, finally reaching the height of the lowest-hanging flowers on the trunk, which all were colored a deep aquamarine hue. Levin saw Ellie twitch back in surprise as the brightly glowing flower erupted in a blast of flame the same color as the flowers the flames touched. The fire continued to devour its way up the tree at an ever increasing pace as the flowers burst in a symphony of color and light. Rainbows of color sent an aurora of light around the valley, thousands of shades and hues blending together as the light of the flames merged with the light of the glowing flowers.

Slowly but surely, the flames that lit up the valley from the tree began to wither and die as the collection of flowers burned out and died away. As the final flower emitted its light, a bright and vibrant green, the two dragons slowed their spinning and once again turned to face each other in the center of the valley. The two creatures twisted their heads back, and with a blast of fire, each dragon released three fireball bursts that roared through the air towards their partner in the valley.

Eleanor leaned forward in shock as the blazing orbs tore across the valley towards each of the opposing dragons. Licks of flames leapt out in showers of sparks as the fireballs grazed each other, spitting small licks of flames in skewed directions as the fireballs continued towards the dragons on each side of the burnt tree.

The dragons stood unflinching as the fireballs roared past their leathery hides, skimming past without touching a single scale, while barely missing by even a centimeter. The fireballs continued their flight, eventually erupting in explosions as they connected with the earth further up the sides of the valley. Six sprouts of multicolored flame erupted into the sky as the flames began to spread, consuming the flowers on the vines around them.

The pair of dragons began leaping and dancing around the valley center again as the brightly colored flames shot into the sky, continuing their stream of blazing fireballs, shot daringly and precisely to slide harmlessly past their counterpart. Soon, dozens of pillars of flames, constantly changing color and hue, were shining up from every corner of the valley as the Raths bounded and spun in the center.

With a burst of wind, the two dragons simultaneously took to the skies, continuing their dance by sliding and dipping through the air around each other. They gracefully dipped and dived over the pillars of colored flame that rose into the sky over the valley, occasionally turning to charge each other at the center of the valley, only to slide away at the last possible moment and continue their aerial acrobatics.

As the pillars of light spread and the fires grew wider and brighter, the pair of dragons spiraled around each other, increasing the distance between each other until they pair of them flew at the very edges of the valley. Every few seconds, one of the Raths would soar over the heads of the two hunters that sat in wonder, watching the show. Levin noticed that Eleanor didn't even shudder as the great beasts flew over them, a look of pure amazement shining on her face as the pair of dragons soared over head and the light of the fires shone up from the valley.

With a wave of heat, the dragons unleashed a steady stream of fire down into the edges of the valley, making the two hunters flinch back as a wall of fire leapt up only a few yards from their seats. The bright yellow flames soon caught the flowers, changing the wall into a great ring of multicolored light that encircled the whole valley. The two dragons continued to soar high overhead as the flames licked the sky, an aurora of color lighting the entire forest as far as the eye could see.

The Rathian and Rathalos then began to spiral in towards the center of the valley again, slowly spinning closer to the ground. With a thud, the two beasts dropped to the ground, shaking the earth beneath them as the flames in the center of the valley began to die away as the remainder of the flowers burned away. The two approached each other from opposite sides, until their heads were only a few yards away from each other.

The Rathalos reared back, and with all the power and strength it could muster, unleashed a mighty roar that shook the rocks and stones beneath the two hunters as they sat on the ledge. The force of the roar shook the very flames that danced into the sky as they shivered under the blast of wind that streamed from the Rathalos' gullet.

The roar soon died away, and the Rathalos stared intently at the Rathian. There was a moment of silence between the two, until the Rathian let loose a powerful roar of her own, nearly as powerful as the Rathalos' own.

As the Rathian's roar died away, the two dragons, satisfied that they're mate was surely the greatest and most skilled of dragons the whole world had to offer, took to the skies together. Each was content with the other and they soared away over the cleft of the valley and towards the ocean, just as the last of the fires were dimming and dying away from sight.


The two hunters sat in silence as the flames died away, staring into the valley in thoughtful quiet. Levin realized he was still tightly clutching Eleanor's shoulders, and gently released her, slightly relieved that she didn't immediately thy and knock a few of his teeth out immediately after.

He continued to watch in silence as, across the valley, the last of the flowers, colored a deep pinkish hue, burnt away before snapping the valley into darkness. All that remained as proof of the magnificent show was the smoking husks of the buds under the light of the waning moon.

Levin heard Eleanor try to speak several times, trying to decide what to say before she finally spoke. "This is how the Raths choose their mate?" she finally asked. Levin felt that this wasn't she had wanted to say.

"It is," he replied. "Mel explained it to me when I saw it last year. The dance is the method they use to find the suitability of their potential mates. They must be strong, agile, and accurate if they wish to be accepted by their counterpart. A single mistake will make the other dragon consider them to be unworthy of being their mate. Most Raths spend their entire lives practicing for this one night."

Eleanor was quiet for a moment. "But you said the flowers only bloom once a year. If they make a mistake, the flowers still burn, don't they?"

"Afraid so," Levin replied. "That's part of the risk, Eleanor. You have to be stronger than the other suitors just to get the opportunity to take part in the dance. If one of the dragons messes up, they not only lost the opportunity for themselves to mate, they took away another dragon's chance by burning down one of the flower valleys for that year."

"How harsh," Eleanor said softly.

"Very harsh," Levin agreed.

Eleanor was silent for another moment. "I, I thought… I didn't…" Levin was silent as she collected her thoughts. "I didn't know. That they had such a complex way of living, I mean. I thought they were just like other animals, just find a mate and… you know. Are all their life processes like this?"

Levin sat back in thought. "I know their methods of raising their young are fairly complex. Also, if they get old enough to die of age, they have a tendency to fly off to some unknown place. It's speculated that there's some dragon burial ground somewhere hidden away on a mountain or in a volcano or something. I've got a Rath reference book that I bought from a trader if you'd like to look at it when we return to the village."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Ellie replied. She was silent for a few moments before speaking again. "I'm sorry, Levin."

"Don't worry about it."

"But I should! I mean, I've hit you, threatened you, been just generally pissed off at you just because I thought you didn't understand what I've gone through. But you always just took it. Why?"

Levin sighed and reached under his armor. Eleanor stared as he pulled out a glittering Rathian scale tied to a string in a necklace. He held it up for Eleanor to see.

"See this, Eleanor? This is a memento I made for myself last year, when the old man dragged my ass up here to see the same thing I showed you tonight. I found this in the valley afterwards and held onto it in order to remind myself that I couldn't decide whether monsters were good or evil, not by my own right. The reason I put up with your anger is because, just like you, I just wanted to kill all the monsters in the world before I saw the Rath mating dance. I knew you were like me. I wanted to help you, to take care of you."

Levin grinned as he slid the scale back under his armor. "So, I've got to ask, do you understand now? Why we shouldn't just kill monsters mindlessly?"

"Yeah," Eleanor said. "I thought they were just senseless killing machines. But all this time, they've had their own customs and ways of living. I can't just kill something that has such a complex way of life. Even if they… even if some of them hunt and kill humans, we can't just go out of our way to kill any and all of them."

"That's what I decided when I saw this," Levin told her. He then turned and gave her a serious look.

"What?" she asked, leaning away a little.

"While it's great that you understand why it's not a great plan to go on murderous rampages, I've got another issue to discuss with you."

"What's that?"

"What are you going to do now?"

Eleanor blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you decide to become a monster hunter?"

"Because I wanted to get revenge on the monsters that… oh," Eleanor said, frowning.

"Yeah, there's the issue," Levin said. "You applied to this apprenticeship based on a desire for vengeance, Eleanor. You can keep going as a hunter, but the old reason for doing so won't cut it, not anymore. If you're going to keep hunting, you've got to decide on a reason why you want to do so."

The two sat in silence for several minutes as Eleanor mulled over the problem of finding a reason to hunt monsters. Levin sat back and stared at the stars patiently, allowing her proper time to think.

"I just remembered something," Eleanor said suddenly.

"What's that?" Levin asked.

"Back when I was in Loc Lac, I visited a hunter's bar while I was recuperating from wandering through the forests. While I was there, this hunter walked in, some highly decorated guy that had slain countless extremely dangerous monsters. Everyone in the bar immediately knew who he was, just by looking at him. Of course, being one of the Lost, I have no clue who this guy is, so I ask the waitress who he is. She looks at me like I'm crazy before she realizes I'm Lost, right?"

"You want to be famous?" Levin asked, deflating slightly. He was hoping for more.

"No, not that," Eleanor said quickly. "Well, not exactly. It's just, the waitress tells me this guy is well known in loads of towns and hunter villages all over the place as far as the known world, as far as she can tell. And I think to myself… I think…"

"What?"

"I think to myself, maybe if I can get that famous, maybe my family will be able to find me."

Levin blinked in surprise. "Your family?"

"Yeah," Eleanor said sheepishly. "Back when the disasters had just started, I lost contact with my family on the other side of the country. I tried to travel their way to see if I could find them, but I was… preserved before I got there. When I heard about this hunter's big reputation and how well he was known, I thought maybe if I got that famous, my family would hear about me and come to me instead of all of us wandering aimlessly. If they were preserved in the first place, I mean."

Eleanor scratched her head in thought. "Does that make sense? It made a lot more sense in my head than I think it did out loud."

Levin laughed. "No, I get it. The more people that know you, the more likely it is your family will find you. Fame for noble reasons; monster hunter legend Eleanor. I like it!"

Eleanor smiled at the praise. "Maybe that'll work for you too. If you become well-known, maybe your own family is out there looking for you as well, and they'll come to Loc Lac or wherever to find you."

"Maybe so," Levin replied. A flicker of a painful memory flashed through his head for just a moment, but before he could get a grasp on it, it disappeared as quickly as it came. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Eleanor grinned at him, and then gazed out into the burnt-out valley. "So what do we do now?" she asked.

"Well," Levin said, hopping to his feet and offering Eleanor his hand, "I think it's just about the time we start heading back. The Rath mating season will be going on for at least another few days or so, so hunting will be slow for awhile. So sleep in tomorrow. We'll go see if we can't reduce the Jaggi population in a couple days, okay?"

"Sounds like a fair plan to me," Eleanor replied as she accepted Levin's hand and got to her feet as well.

Levin reached into his pocket as Eleanor stretched, and pulled out a torch he'd brought, and with a quick clack of his hunter's knife against the rocks, a bright flame lit the area around them. As Eleanor hopped over to him, he saw her stumble, and quickly swung an arm around her shoulders to support her.

"Sorry," she apologized. "Guess my legs are still asleep."

"Take your time, Eleanor," Levin told her.

"Thanks," Eleanor replied. She looked up and grinned up at him, and Levin's eyes widened in surprise as she leaned her head against his shoulder. Levin felt his heart rate increase dramatically as she sighed contentedly. He suddenly seemed very aware how warm and… soft she seemed.

"Call me Ellie," she said.

"Excuse me?" Levin stuttered, caught off guard.

Eleanor (or Ellie) chuckled quietly. "After all this time, it just sounds so weird when you call me Eleanor. So just call me Ellie. It just seems more comfortable that way, don't you think?"

Levin stared blankly at her for a moment before laughing loudly. "If you say so, Ellie," he said with a smile. He held out the torch to light the way, and the two of them began slowly walking side-by-side back to Boma.


Author's Note: Please Review!

This chapter certainly followed a more serious note, didn't it? Don't worry, next chapter will be more upbeat! I think. I'm not sure if it shows too much in this chapter, but Raths are easily and by far my favorite monsters to fight in this game. Especially with my switch axe and some armor with earplugs. And me and my homeboy Bobby going 2 on 2 with a Rathian and Rathalos in the arena? So much fun!

Also, in other news, I've been going on a nostalgia trip ever since a friend of mine transferred a GameBoy emulator to my computer. I've been playing old GB games on and off ever since, like the Pokemon games. Fun stuff.

I was dicking around on FF recently, and decided to see what kind of fics there were for various games. As a joke, I went and searched for Minecraft, and what the hell did I find, but 30+ stories. That many for Minecraft! WTF, mate?

Reading: Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, Seafire by John Gardner
Playing: Minecraft, Pokemon Gold Version
Listening: Explosions in the Sky, Five Iron Frenzy, Hot Hot Heat, Gorillaz, Eiffel 65

First Chapter: [link]
Previous Chapter: [link]
Next Chapter: [link]

Read the full story here: [link]

Yep. Still trying to put these up on a regular basis on DA. Still wish someone could tell me how to post the whole chapter at once though. Hope you enjoyed the read, and if you want to read to the latest chapter, hit the link above!

Also, it should be noted that the author's note posted at the bottom of the chapter is what I wrote and posted when the chapter was released on FFnet, so you're looking at my thoughts on the story from almost 2 years ago. Seems like forever I've been working on this story.
© 2013 - 2024 almanorigin
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I think this suits Marshall quite well, agreed?