Valaganeus

Valaganeus are the adapted species of Voluron.

Story Behind Evolution
Times were tough for all monsters during the Second Great Dragon War (See FanGame:Monster Hunter Project Gigas). But out all of that were affected the worst, the common Voluron species had it exceptionally bad. Ocean life was extremely hostile, where every scrap of food counted and only perfection survived. Voluron, despite it being on par with Lagiacrus, wasn't among them. They never had experience such a grand extent of competitors before, and their aggressive behaviour meant no positives relationships were made, not even with their own species. They ended up developing a rivalry, then eventually hate towards their subspecies, the Tsunami Voluron. Being inferior to them, the Voluron were outclassed by their own subspecies, who began driving them out of the tropical environments. As the war became life threatening, the Volurons main residence of the deep oceans was completely unsafe. Elder Dragons battled regularly, which had no problems in killing and repelling Volurons to clear them of annoyances. Breeding grounds were destroyed, the oceans becoming endless war-zones tore into the very foundations of the monsters very existence as a species. Soon, the normal Voluron species was endangered. With the most powerful Volurons having been slain, and many dying before reaching their potential, the species became unable to compete face to face with their rivals. As many years past and on the verge of extinction, the Volurons had no choice but to start avoiding fights and try to get to prey faster or eat carrion. These faster, nimble, and smaller Volurons were the ones who managed to start making it through the war. In addition to that, they stuck to such strict cycles of things they did, the times they hunted and the times they went where, that the behaviour of repeating things became fixed into their nature. Since the waters were so dangerous, they became accustomed to only going into it on rare occasions, further distancing itself greatly from its past ecology. When the war was finally over, all the previous aggressive old species Voluron were completely gone, surpassed by the now much weaker but surviving individuals. As thousands of years passed they eventually lost the ability of thunder along with their crystals due to lack of use. These crystals would instead by replaced by new fins developed to assist in their new "schedule" behaviour and their new hunting style.

Now in the events of Project Gigas, the Voluron has become the Valaganeus, now baring only resemblances in the body structure of its tail, its head and the colouration. All other traits of its ancestor are gone.

Aesthetic Differences/Appearance
The Valaganeus have severely shrunk in size compared to the huge Voluron, now roughly the size of the Royal Ludroth (who had also adapted into another species by this time). They lack any sort of crystals on them, meaning its thunder element abilities are completely gone. They still have fangs that are enough to cause prey to bleed, and in greater numbers on the top and bottom of its mouth. A large fin extends from its head to the shoulders with two smaller ones to the side. The fin on its tail has separated apart and it now runs to its arms, which also have fins of their own. Their tails have also greatly shortened in length, further shrinking it from their ancestors. They can still split their jaws, but now only when angry.

Behaviour
Valaganeus are very routinely timed monsters, often doing the exact same things every day at the same time. If one hunts a certain prey at noon, it will never hunt that prey anytime else. They are so dedicated to their routines that even if danger loams near, it won't change its plans so it can escape. This makes tracking them extremely easy if hunters learn the scheduled activities of a Valaganeus in a certain area.

If a large monster is heavily flinched or knocked over in front of it, the Valaganeus can react by making a "lohl" sound at them. It can also repeat this multiple times in the same situation if not enraged or the event doesn't effect its routines.

They aren't aggressive by any means until something breaks its routine cycle, which either really annoys them or causes them to rage.

Introduction
Not On The List: Foaming Cliffs: Area 1

On the left-hand side of the beach the Valaganeus awakes from its nap and heads out to the right-side to eat what has moved to shore. This has been what it has done for the last three weeks, as the monster doesn't change its routine once it finds a good one. However, this would not come to be today. The Valaganeus notices a wall of pebbles and sand blocking off the usual area, and with a slightly annoyed "grumph" it clears the way. It only finds major disappointment as a Eveidyon finishes the last scrap of the wildlife remaining, with nothing at all left for the Valaganeus. Its schedule has been ruined. This sudden change out of nowhere won't sit with the finned Leviathan today. Blood swells to the face from rage, which mouth emits a loud and long "Heeraaauuuuuuuumph!!". Without provocation the Valaganeus attacks the Eveidyon, who upon the seventh quick hit creates an iron skin that completely stops the rest of the monsters slaps. The Eveidyon sees the break in concentration from the realisation of Vala that the attacks are being repelled and shoves the Valaganeus off it outside of the broken wall of pebble and sand. Even madder, the Valaganeus charges towards the Eveidyon in an almost crazy fashion. But the Eveidyon is ready, swishing a large wave of sand and pebbles in a wide spin forwards at the Valaganeus, blinding it and knocking it backwards again. As the dust clear, the Eveidyon had already escaped into the water. The Valaganeus shakes and emits a loud "Grruaaauummpphhh!" that soon transitions into a deep sigh. With slower movements it walks across the beach as the hunter enters the scene.

Mount
Valaganeus has the same mount mechanics as the Voluron, but its animations are far more exaggerated and spastic in getting that hunter off it.

Rage And Tired States

 * Enraged: Face turns red, gains a more grumpy face and makes more growling noises.
 * Tried: Takes far longer to recover from roars, often flops comically after attacks, gains a bored face and drools from mouth.

Attacks
Valaganeuses attacks have a pattern. Firstly, it will do biting and head attacks, then do some clawing attacks and then do a strong attack then re-begin the cycle.

Low Rank

 * Valaganeus Roar: When not angry the Valaganeus will produce a short roar that sounds like "Grruuumph" that will require Earplugs to block.
 * Faceplant: Valaganeus will lift itself up for a split second and suddenly slam its head down at the ground, which it has to lift it out of when done.
 * Slap: Valaganeus swings one of its hands at a hunter in a flail.
 * Claw Swipe: Valaganeus swings one of its claws at a hunter in a more serious but more built up swipe than with the slap.
 * Tail Pound: Will lift its lower body up slightly and slap its tail down hard.
 * Bite: Valaganeus will try and bite at a hunter, which has a slight chance of causing Bleeding.
 * Double Bite: Valaganeus will try and bite at a hunter twice in a row, which also has a chance of causing Bleeding.
 * Roll: Rolls around to the side in the style of a Royal Ludroth.
 * Body Flop: Attempting to do the Leviathan body slam, it instead ends up flopping twice on the spot.
 * Slide: Backing up, it goes sliding quickly at a hunter like a Leviathan. Has a very noticeably longer build up time than a normal style Leviathan slide.

Enraged Only

 * Grumpy Roar: When enraged, the Valaganeus will produce a considerably longer roar that sounds like "Ghhrrrraaauummpphhhh" that still requires only Earplugs to block.
 * Ha-ha: Should Valaganeus get the upper-hand in a fight when enraged it will emit a high pitch sound like "HEH", that actually counts as a roar that requires Earplugs to block. It can also do this seeing something eventful happen, like a large monster conflict, which it will repeat the sound repeatedly. This can be extremely annoying to hunters in the worst circumstances, as it may appear to do the sound to completely random things.
 * Slappy Attack: Emitting a growl that sounds as "Grrummphh" it does a similar attack as it did in its intro, hitting a hunter repeatedly with its hands, only this time it'll bring both down hands as a finisher. Should a hunter evade the attack or block with no damage taken, the Valaganeus will pause for a moment and wonder why the attacks didn't have any effect.
 * Sweeping Bite: Valaganeus lifts its head up to the side and makes a sharp turnaround bite to the other side, which may cause Bleeding.
 * Triple Faceplant: Shaking its head wildly it does its Faceplant attack three times in a row, then flails its head after the last one that leaves it open for attack.
 * Mega Faceplant: Valaganeus goes into a shaky bipedal stance, lifting up its head as high as it can as it makes a "Hrruummppphhh" sound to tell the attack is coming. After taking a few wonky steps towards a hunter it faceplants with great effort. If it loses rage when the attack occurs, its head becomes stuck in the ground and it has to pull it out to resume attacking. Should the attack connect with an object like a rock, it will damage it, and leave the Valaganeus stunned or knocked over.
 * Leap: With bigger build up than a usual Leviathan leap, it jumps at a target to close the distance in an attack.
 * Derpy Rush: Valaganeus rises its body up, then goes charging at a hunter with exaggerated movements that look to be like from a Yian Kut-Ku's. It can home in on hunter with this attack and will fall over once done. Only done when at a distance.
 * Sliding Crash: Valaganeus emits a yawn sound, then jumps backwards and begins sliding. Using its fins as a speed boost it continues sliding until it nears the hunter, which it then leaps forward and makes a curving bite which may cause Bleeding. The Valaganeus then crashes directly into the hunter and rolls for a bit before getting back up. This crash is the strongest attack and will inflict Stunned on hunters hit.

Underwater Only
It can do all its bite attacks underwater.


 * Charge: The standard Leviathan underwater charge. Nothing unique to note.
 * Control-less Rolling: It makes a clumsy like curl and flings itself spinning towards a hunter multiple times. It is able to home in during the attack.
 * Circular Rush: Rolling over as if about to lose balance the Valaganeus rushes in a single wide circle.
 * Surface Skim: Valaganeus goes right underneath the waters surface and cuts through it by rushing forward using its large fins.
 * Risky Chew: Valaganeus opens up its mouth and swims behind a hunter and takes a few seconds to prepare the attack, and if allowed to do so it very quickly bites the hunter four times in a row and flinch locking them in place. Bleeding can easily be inflicted by this and built up damage. However if its head takes any sort of damage in the preparation it flinches heavily without fail.

High Rank

 * Clumsy Slappy Attack: It can now do its Slappy Attack out of rage, but in this normal state variant it will fall over before it can finish.

Enraged Only

 * Tail Pound Combo: Valaganeus turns around to do its Tail Pound, then using the momentum it turns around again and does a Slide hoping to get a hunter knocked off balance from the tail.

Underwater Only And Enraged

 * Painful Eating: A pin attack used by the Valaganeus when hungry but angry. Splitting its jaw it makes a hiss from its shaking head and quickly darts at a hunter and attempts to swallow them whole in one bite. However, due to its different shaped mouth than the Voluron, it first has to shred them of solid and hard parts with its fangs. Hunters do have a chance of escaping, but they must use a Dung Bomb or Dung Pod to avoid getting Bleeding. If the pin succeeds, the hunter is ejected from the mouth far away from Valaganeus. If the pin drops the hunter to zero health, then it'll actually swallow the hunter for an unavoidable cart.

G Rank

 * Clawed Slam: Valaganeus suddenly rises in an apparent body slam attack with its claws up high. But it will instead comes down suddenly again with its claws in full force.
 * Claw Stab's Return: Valaganeus will raise a claw upwards to the side and makes a very short jump around then stabs its claws at the place it looks where it lands.

Enraged Only

 * Always A Backup Combo: Enraged in G Rank it will always combo its standard Leviathan backup walk animation into a bite or faceplant attack.

Underwater Only And Enraged

 * Circular Rush Into Control-less Rolling: Valaganeus will shake before the curl and then spin around once before doing an advanced version of its Control-less Rolling that comes in at greater speed, greater width, and greater duration.

Death Animation
Valaganeus first collapses downwards with a loud "welp" sound. It tries to get back up with flailing of its legs and arms as if it were trying to go somewhere urgently. In one last effort the Valaganeus manages to get itself up in a bipedal stance and wave its hands, but mainly the right one as it were somehow signalling "cya". Then, the Valaganeus falls head first down into a faceplant, dead before the impact, the lifeless body twisting over to its right side.

Breaks

 * Head Lightly Scarred And Neck Fin Slightly Damaged
 * Head Heavily Scarred And Neck Fin Damaged Greatly
 * Front Claws Wounded
 * Back Fin Damaged
 * Tail Wounded

Trivia

 * Valaganeus was originally just a joke made by Chaoarren in Discord, but eventually ended up becoming a monster by demand.
 * Many of the traits of Valaganeus are based around Dinoman0310 himself, such as the strict patterns of doing things and repeating them, as well as the meme content he does on the Discord like his usage of emotes.
 * Its title of "Routinely Frilled Serpent" is made out of three parts. "Routinely" is due to its behaviour. "Frilled" is due to the fins on it. "Serpent" is a legacy name from the Voluron.
 * Image was created by Setheo before the page was made.