Zorah Magdaros

I didn't know how long I was unconscious for, just that whatever I was laying on was wet, I slowly pushed myself up, the palm of my hands on the weird material beneath me, my teeth grit together. I shook my head to clear my vision as I stood up, the blurriness clearing up and the sounds of what sounded like rushing water meeting my ears. I looked around, eventually getting to my feet and I realised I was on the creature, the creature that had attacked us, that had half of a broken ship stuck further on its huge body, the monster that seemed to be made from rocks and lava.

There was no time to wait, I had to get off this monster, it was dangerous enough as it was without being on it. I started forwards, down the small slope of the creature, making sure not to get too close to the edges of the monster, one seemed to be a sharp drop off the monster as though it were a cliff, and the other side, a wall with some sort of magma dripping down the rock formation of the monster. Within seconds I was met with a wall, it seemed easy enough to climb, I gripped on and began climbing, it wasn't too high of a wall so it didn't take much effort, despite my arms still aching from trying to cling onto the ship, I wondered if my Palico was still alive, if my partner, the handler as they were also called, was alive and okay, but right now, I had to find a way off this beast.

My questions, at least one of them, were answered as I clambered over the top of the wall onto the surface, the handler there waiting for me. "Oh! Hey, it's you..." She said, voice high pitched and raised slightly over the groaning of the monster that filled the air. "Look what happened to the ship!" She said pointing up, I followed her hand and indeed, it was the ship I had seen earlier, it was thrust that high up and stuck on the monster that I could even see the bottom of this ship now, guess there was no use in hoping to sail away from the situation. "We have to do something!" She said with a little gasp. I approached the handler, my partner, and nodded at what she said. "It's not safe here. This way!" She told me and with that we both began venturing forwards, me following her as she motioned for me to follow.

We only made it a few steps before the strange texture beneath our feet shook, causing the handler in front of me, and myself, to fall to our knees, I barely caught myself with my hands, my breathing quickened as we steadied ourselves against the tremors of the Monster. What worried me the most wasn't that the monster shook beneath our feet, it was the loud creaking and sound of wood scraping that made me turn around as I got to my feet, the monster seemed to have moved, which in turn, had rocked the ship off whatever it was caught on, and now the once magnificent wooden vessel was sliding off the monsters formation. It suddenly dropped, the front of the ship slamming down less than a meter in front of us with a heavy thud, debris of rock and wood filling the air briefly, almost simultaneously me and the handler covered our heads with our arm and took a few steps back, there was no going back the way I came now.

I thought that would be it, that the ship would stop moving, however it didn't, the groaning of wood against the Monster continued and only grew louder as it began to slide against the monster, as though it was sailing on it. The sound continued and it was clear that the handler didn't want to be near it for much longer as she turned around and took off running. I followed quickly, a cloud of dirt began to emerge from the bottom of the ship as it ground against the monster, I feared it might overtake me with how big this cloud was getting, and I didn't wish to be overtaken by it and lose any sense of sight that i still had.

"We need to get outta here. I've got an idea. This way!" The handler called back to me loudly. She was already quite a way in front of me, it was hard enough to catch up as it was, I was out of breath and my body ached, and it didn't help that the part of the monster we travelled on was at a slight side angle, gravity almost forcing my body down to the left. I kept my footing as I chased after her, my feet hammering against the hard monster surface and tried to avoid any loose rocks or the uneven surfaces. The Monster shook again, I briefly fell to my knees, a few large boulders coming off of the monster and luckily smashing behind me. "Watch yourself!" The handlers voice came, no kidding. I got up, pushing forward quickly as I definitely didn't come all this way to get killed by a falling rock.

The monster began to move, it shifted it's stance, causing the once almost flat ground beneath me to raise up into a wall, I had to start climbing, and as I looked up it was much taller than the other wall I had climbed up, thankfully, as trained A-lister's we had that strength. A magma core further up exploded, chunks of rock falling down and lava spilling from the minster, the air immediately heated up and I could feel it as it rushed down past me, I threw my body to the right as quick as I could to avoid the debris and burning lava, pressing myself momentarily to the face of the wall so that I had a better chance of surviving, luckily, with the handler being further up she had just managed to miss the incident, from what i saw at least. "Up there! Let's head for higher ground!" She shouted down to me.

The wall we were climbing as we neared the top seemed to curve towards the right, great, we'd have to climb sideways, but it seemed it would be a little easier than going up against falling rocks and lava. A few minutes passed, we'd made it to the top, thankfully a little quicker as up the wall I had managed to make a few small jumps that hoisted me up a little further and I could grab onto the rocks. I climbed over the top of the wall, thankfully to finally be stood on a flat surface, though who knew which part of the Monster we were technically on right now.

I paused for a moment to catch my breath, though what I saw above me took my breath away, a pack of flying Monsters flying in the air, their wings stretching out almost as big as they were. "Oh, wow. Wyverns! Ugh...I didn't think my first encounter would be filled with so much pecking! Shoo! Shoo!" The handlers voice came from beside me, despite everything I suppressed a small chuckle as if saying Shoo would get these New World Monsters to clear off, though it did make me think as to what the handler thought her first encounter was going to be if not this.

We got past them without much trouble at all, a few of them even flying off. We continued further up to the top, a slight incline we had to run up. A thud shook the Monster, it groaned and I quickly fell to my knees, thank god I was wearing some decent leather armour. "Oh no! The ground's moving again!" The handler said as the Monster began to rise up once again. I held on as much as I could, honestly...if we had to climb again I wouldn't be happy. "We're on...I knew it!" The handlers voice called out above me, I looked up at her wondering what she was figuring out.

Well, unsurprisingly, I had to climb the last little bit of the formation that was now a wall, the handler waiting for me at the top where it ended and encouraging me to keep going, though I wondered if she knew what Monster we were on, from what she'd said it sounded like it, though it wouldn't surprise me with her being a researcher and all. I climbed to the top, feeling my body heaving and shaking, glad I was on flat ground again. "Time to hitch a ride and get off this thing! C'mon, let's go!" She shouted, damn, this girl never gave up, she always seemed so optimistic. The Surface of the monster began to decline, I quickly caught up to the handler, what the hell did she want us to hitch a ride on, there were birds in front of us, Flying monsters that looked an awful like the Wyverns that I'd just seen. "Get a good running start, then jump!" She told me as i began to slide down the slight decline of the Monster, well, even saying that she sounded optimistic, and how she'd said it made it seem like it was the simplest thing in the world to do.

I slid down far, the ground beneath me dropping at such an angle I had no choice, I kept myself steady as I slid down, heading towards the little upturned ground at the very end of the Monster. Then I was falling, I jumped off the edge, turned myself around in the air and fired the handy gadget on my wrist, a grapple firing at the monsters claws and latching on. This little gadget that each hunter was equipped with was called The Clutch Claw, an extension of the slinger, allowing one to grapple onto monsters using a sharp, claw-shaped hook, it came in very handy, especially at this moment in time. I got a good look at the flying creature above me, it was a wyvern, a much smaller one though, resembling birds or pterosaurs, this version I knew particularly were called Wingdrakes, and thankfully, a method of transportation in the New World. A translation I read from a text identified these beasts as 翼竜種 Yokuryūshu.

With that said, I was grappled onto the Wingdrakes claw and swinging in the air, I grabbed the rope and pulled myself up slightly to have more tension and control, a scream came from above and I looked up, the handler was falling right towards me, arms flailing as she fell. I outstretched my hand reaching for her as the Wingdrake began to move, thankfully, our hands met, and I held the handler as tight as I could in my grasp, out hands slapping together with a sound that almost cut through the sound of the Wyverns large flapping wings. I had no choice but to hold her as she held onto my hand, but at least the wyvern was taking us away from this Monster.