FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 1/Season Finale - Regroup

N oami opened her eyes. Through the rugged blur of her recovering vision, she could almost make out something blue... and other things that were green. She raised up and shook her head, at which point she realized that her head was searing with pain. "Ohhh," She groaned and rubbed her head. "what the damn hell was that? Where am I?" She asked herself.

Indeed, where? It appeared that everywhere around her were trees, trees, and more trees, for miles and miles. She looked up and saw more trees still, and upon further observation, realized that she had landed in a clearing. Her eyes drifted around the area. Nowhere could any other light be seen, even after her eyes had unfogged. "I'm never getting out of here," She thought aloud. What she didn't know, of course, was that she was only about a mile from the edge of the Field; however, the trees on the band separating the Field and the forest mountains were much taller than the others, and the ones opposite her that seemed to loom down at her were actually few, but thick, and climbed the mountain, so that it seemed as though she was in the middle of a distant forest.

Meanwhile, Taka was waking up himself--luckily, he was greeted by hi Yian Garuga, which lovingly rolled Taka onto its back and flew him to safety--away from the snake-infested rocks below, to an abandoned eyrie of a Qurupeco. From here, Taka looked around and took in his surroundings. In the Field, the Tower burned. It didn't seem all that far away, actually. He noticed that elsewhere, sheets of ice still covered the ground.

Taka looked at the sky, and noticed the storm clouds had receded. "How long have I slept," Thought he. On the rocks here, even, there was still a layer of snow. When he finally took this into account, it occurred to him that he couldn't have slept for long, or else more snow would be melted; it was an easy 49 degrees now, and getting warmer, now that the Phenor was gone. Despite this, he shivered. "Where is everyone..." He said.

"I'm here," Said Reia, climbing out of a messy bush, "and you're lucky to be here, too. I woke up about half an hour ago, pretty soon after we landed, but I saw you were knocked out and since you are supposed to let the sick rest, I figured I might as well go back to sleep and let you sleep yourself. I see your bird was able to move you," She said, noting the Yian Garuga (which she was not in the least bit afraid of) and his new place atop the stone.

"I thank you, but were you close by? Did you have to walk far?" Taka asked, with more concern in his voice for the locations of his newly-accepted comrades than for her safety. "No, I landed in that tree over there--see the one with all the broken branches? Yep. And luckily, beneath it there was Moga Moss, so I had a comfortable landing in all, probably. You must have taken a beating. Let's get back to town and make sure we aren't hurt," She said, after pointing out the tree and moss. She was bruised only slightly, and none of her armor or clothing was ripped--which was more than could be said for Taka, who looked as though an Elder Dragon had thrown him against a rock. Oh wait--one did...

"Shouldn't we go find the others?" Asked Taka. That's when it occurred to him: they did not know where the others were, nor did he know whether or not his bird could handle it. "On second thought, I say we just go to town and come back--hopefully, we can find them then. By this time, Noami had already made it halfway back to base; she had ran most of the way, since she had been on the Academy Track Team with Calli, but was walking now.

Brutus and Ali, never too far away, had landed wide awake and each had scaled a tree to ascertain their location. They had been tossed to the east, into the deepest reaches of a small valley. The landing, though it was extremely rough and Ali was concerned for her child, did not seriously wound either of them, thanks to their strong armor. Despite this, Ali was delirious for several minutes after the landing and for hours, she was pale and sickly, occasionally losing her breath or vomiting at the random. But they managed to find a way back.

Calli was still in the Field, though at the very western reaches of it. She couldn't see the Academy's section, though she wasn't far from it. Her fall had been rather uneventful; she passed out as soon as the Phenor hit her--possibly due to the bright flashes it would emit with every movement it made. It had luckily not given her a seizure this time, but only knocked her out. When she did wake up, her first concern, interestingly enough, was not "Where am I?" but rather "I hope Gamor and the others are OK...". And little did she know, they were.

She began to walk towards the Field herself to scope out the damage and see if she could locate her lance. Nowhere were any of her friends to be found, but she didn't give up hope. On either side of her, she could feel their presence somehow. She knew they weren't dead.

Gamor, who landed in the small meadow right behind the Academy that connected to the Field, was severely disoriented and for a while, he could not do anything except mutter a name and stumble around. After several minutes of this, he took a drink of Mega Potion; suddenly, he got back his senses and began to think rationally again. "First things first: find Yuki and Calli. Then, the others. Then, regroup. Oh, I hope they're alright..." He said as he walked towards where he knew the field was.

Katrina had landed in the Battle Field, although she was inside the bleachers. This, luckily, disguised her scent and did not lure the Phenor to get more, or finish her off. She was very, very angry and sickly, but she was still alive. Taking a deep breath, she pulled off the partial corpse that had landed on her, barely affected by the sight but appalled by the smell, and got up. The sight was horrrific. None of the old Battle Field was left. The tower burned, the bleachers burned, a few trees burned, and the scent of roasting human and wyvern flesh wafted from around the area to greet her. She doubled over in disgust and pain and vomited across the bloody grass. After wiping her mouth and cleaning her eyes of tears, she got up and walked to the middle of the Field, where there was a huge stone. There she sat.

Yuki had a good landing; she had not been affected by the hypnosis the Phenor forced on them, and so employed her Hunter's Parachute. She was already up and about, and was walking towards an unconscious Jeren, who laid crazily hanging on a jutting rock. It was a lucky thing he hadn't hit it. Nonetheless, his breath was faint and he could not speak. Even his eyes were dull and empty. Yuki shed a few tears and yelled a bestial, angry roar, piercing heaven and earth with her angst. She ran.

She ran like the life of her last loved one depended on it, and she did well. Within five minute's time, she had reached a hospital and was arguing with an unskilled receptionist to get her cousin in. After five minutes of this insane charade, she finally burst out: "This is my cousin, and he is a recognized Gunlance Wielder, Guild Hunter, and Witness of the Unthinkable. You will make room for him now, or I will employ the use of his gunlance, which I have not neglected to bring." She growled, hatred and honesty in her eyes all at once. The horror-stricken receptionist scribbled away and made him a spot--a spot right then, as it were.

Jeren was taken into the hospital room and registered into the system. Yuki left some Zenny on the counter and jogged back to the Battle Field. In the middle, or what was the middle, all of the lost hunters were either approaching the small group or already there. The air stung with the remaining cold and a bitter feeling of electricity that they couldn't shake, but that soon dissipated.

"What... in the blue... Fuck was that?!" Brutus said after catching his breath--upon seeing the group, he had dashed towards them and lost his breath in the excitement.

Gamor and Katrina both looked darkly at Taka. "Something he brought, I bet," they both thought silently. Their dark eyes and suspicious glare went unseen, but not unnoticed, by the thoroughly shaken Taka.

"It was a living fossil... And I only know that because I was near the Forest Village in Ultimiose when I eavesdropped on a conversation between a Guildie and a Hunter. Something about a huge white beast that flew overhead, and was raining hellish mixes of fire and ice upon the inhabitants. Things like that amaze me, so I checked it out. The guild didn't know jack squat, but told me to check out a place called Fort Tanzia, a castle right over those mountains," Taka said, pointing towards the mountains and pausing before continuing. "Anyway, they told me to go there--there was some guy, old guild man, that knew about all kinds of rare monsters, because he was descended from the peoples of Dorgkuni in the west, and a native of Minegarde, before he came here. So I went to him." Taka said, pausing again to recover his memory.

"And then? Well, don't keep us in suspense!" Reia painstakingly asked.

"Then... He told me that he had heard of such a creature, but even he knew nothing of it. He said an ancient being, one who had lived through its attacks and had lived in every major continent, was said to exist somewhere, but he hadn't the slightest idea how to find him--though he did mention the southwest and the northeast. But other than that, total ambiguity. So, anyway, he called it a phenomenon and showed me some ancient scrolls written in writing from my native land that described it. Terror. Misery. Horror. The Phenor. Those were the specific phrases it said. And though those scrolls were written in my native land," - Taka spared a brief glare towards Gamor and Katrina - "I did not bring it, nor do I know where it comes from. Since the most recent attack happened years ago in Ultimiose, it clearly didn't come from the Central World. So there. That's my explanation." Taka concluded.

"Can we kill it?" Noami asked.

"No. Not in our current state. I don't even know where it's at. Plus, who knows--maybe it's better off left alone." Taka replied.

Gamor quickly lost his cool. "That beast destroyed my life," he growled, "and you say it's "better off left alone"?! How dare you!" Gamor said, now shouting, now drawing his hunting knife with a mind to stab Taka. Calli stepped in, disarming Gamor with a few slick maneuvers, and throwing the knife a few feet away. Gamor looked daggers at her, but they quickly forgave each other and turned towards the item at hand.

"None of us know what led it here, all right? I'm trying not to get us all killed, or kicked off the Guild Hunter's Roster. Can you please cooperate?!" Taka hissed.

Gamor retired to his sullen state and nodded his head, but still dwelt in his mind on what to do about the Phenor. However, he soon learned he had no need; everyone else wanted to kill the thing too--Taka was the only one not in agreement.

Up until this point, Brutus and Ali had remained quiet, Brutus giving Ali a quick glance-over every few seconds to ensure that all limbs, heads, and genitals were still connected. They finally diverted their attention to the group. "I'm OK, Brutus," She said, brushing him off and stepping forward, "I'm not a shy person--you guys know this. I'm also not the brightest Thunderbug in the hive. But I do have one talent: I'm great at pep rallies. Who else is with me--Taka, come on--everyone else is going to! We need you--and your knowledge of wyverns. Come on, help us reclaim the lives it took!" She said, surprisingly powerfully for such a dull-witted person.

Yuki, too, spoke. "I have lived through a lot. And one thing that always sticks with me is that no matter how much you're paid, how many people you piss off, or how little your will is, you can't be trampled over and you must meet those who try to trample on you and break your spirit with an iron fist and merciless destruction. This thing... took our innocence, by forcing us to watch the horrors of 80 years' worth of life and death. It took our friends' lives. It took from us our order, our strength. It took from us what we must get back. We must destroy this thing. I, for one, don't want this menace coming back... And I am prepared to meet whatever demand to do so." Yuki finished, resolve in her strong voice.

Taka finally nodded and agreed. They pledged then and there to protect the lives of those who would be brought low by the terrors of the unknown; to avenge the lives taken by the unknown; and to prevent the unknown from ever again raining such rotten death upon the earth again. Dropping their blades and bow to the ground, they repeated after Yuki:

We are the Tanj Ten. We do not back away. We do not know mercy... We do not know fear... We shall find and destroy all who seek to assail the Free. We are the Tanj Ten, free and wild, artists of the hunt, dancers of the blade. From this hour henceforth, until death greets me, or until my duties release me.

They sheathed their weapons. All eyes turned to the sky, which had cleared and shown no clouds, but a big noon sun, and then to the academy.

So many thoughts ran through the heads of the hunters.

So many.

''This is our fate. This is our destiny. If we are to die tonight... We will all die together. No one now stands in the way of this. This is real. Find and conquer. Fate is upon us.''

To be continued in FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 2/Chapter 1 - Dark Paths

'''This is the end of Season 1 of The Art of The Hunt. Season 2 is found at FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 2. Please continue reading at your leisure!'''