The New World is fraught with danger and filled with monsters both thinking and feral. It is a land where humans struggle to survive and coexist with forces far greater than themselves. Hence why the massive monsters that call this place home have taken it upon themselves to guard and guide them. To teach and train them and see to it these frail and imperfect beings have all that they need to survive if not one day thrive in these inhospitable lands.

That and to bully and bother and love on them.

Shock and awe I wrote a sequel to Monster Hugger! Filled with cuddles and combat and all sorts of derring do and danger I was compelled to revisit this world and flesh it out further.

Hopefully you enjoy!

Thumbnail comes courtesy of  Jazzumi!

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Monster Hugger Unite
By: RaddaRaem

“I'm not seeing the appeal,” Nell rumbled. Her eyes, wreathed with crimson fur, squinted at the lance pinched between her clawed fingertips.

Blissbills that had been impatiently circling the clearing cawed and squawked as they dove back into the branches of the surrounding trees. They loudly made their irritation at a certain Nargacuga and Hunter's now daily bouts known.

“Indulge me, Nell,” Jet pleaded. A small sampling of weapons lay spread out before him. “Just pretend we were actually capable of crafting something more... to scale.”

Nell lazily picked at her teeth with one of the said weapons. The thick scaled fingers on her free hand twiddled in place as the Nargacuga flaunted the protrusions of keratin sheathed bone that jutted from her digits.

Jet incredulously arched his unseen brows. He wasn't going to force the topic if his audience wasn't receptive to it.

Meaty hands clasped upon her knees Nell drew in deep of the humid and cloying air before dragging out a heavy sigh. “Look, Jet. You're asking me to fix something that isn't broken. Even if I did indulge this...” The Nargacuga gestured at herself. At her hulking and imposing form that utterly dwarfed the human before her. “In terms of raw resources... I don't see this working. Besides,” Nell confidently rumbled as she leaned forward and playfully knocked down the visor of Jet's helmet. “Aren't you getting ahead of yourself? You're no Master Rank Hunter yet!”

Jet chuckled as he flipped back up his visor and let a hand come to rest against the massive finger that lingered beside him. His heart skipped a beat at the low and bassy growl of delight that emanated from Nell's bosom for it. “In due time! I just... want to be prepared is all.”

The Nargacuga's tail excitedly swished behind her at the prospect of traveling the world together with him. “And there's nothing wrong with that!” she chirped. “Just, you know, we'll get there when we get there. Alright?”

“When you're right you're right,” Jet sighed. Dropping to his knees, he carefully bundled up his makeshift arsenal and tossed it over his shoulder. “Catch you same time tomorrow then?” Trembling, Jet couldn't help but let his nerves get the best of him when the Nargacuga leaned in close and swallowed him up in her shadow. Her fingers pinched against the sides of his helmet and, with practiced restraint, plucked it clean off his skull.

“It's a date,” Nell cooed. With some awkward maneuvering, accompanied by an errant bonk and an apology, the Nargacuga guided the tip of her beak to rest against her human's forehead. There she planted a shy kiss... only to blush madly when Jet clasped his hands against the sides of her maw and enthusiastically reciprocated her affection. With an embarrassed cough, and heart caught in her throat, Nell slipped his helmet back on and bid her beloved off with a wave.

A dreamy sigh tumbled out from her beak as she watched him disappear into the underbrush. She couldn't wait to kick his ass all over again tomorrow. Or, better yet, for him to do the same to her own.

---

“Please don't see me please don't see me please don't see me,” Jet repeatedly thought to himself as his leisurely pace accelerated to a brisk jog. Much to his chagrin, the trip back to Astera was proving to be anything but uneventful. Rhythmic quakes, growing stronger by the second, approached him with measured intent.

He darted from tree to mossy tree. Vaulted over and under gnarled roots. Forced his way through the densest brambles and brush. Yet still... it followed.

“Jet! Jetttt!”

Dammit dammit dammit! Beneath his helmet, Jet grit his teeth as Taras effortlessly caught up to him. The thooms of the Tobi-Kadachi's massive footfalls bounced him up into the air and left him flailing for balance.

Pointed chin tucked against his chest, Taras attentively regarded the hunched over human that barely came up to his knees. “There you are! Ssso? How wasss training today?”

Shoulders slouched, the Hunter grimaced as the Tobi-Kadachi saw fit to force his company upon him. “Oh, you know. Just the sssame old sssame old,” Jet answered back with a sigh and an unseen roll of his eyes. “Brook's busy I take it?”

“Hmph,” Taras responded with a pout. The scales that lined the Tobi-Kadachi's cheeks wavered in hue as he defensively tucked his arms against his chest.

Trudging ever onward, Jet ruefully couldn't help but notice that Taras continued to trail him as if he were his shadow. “Shouldn't you be busy traumatizing a fresh crop of Rookies?”

“Asss if I will dignify sssuch ssslander with an anssswer!” the static laced amalgamation of snake and squirrel sassed back. Snout turned up, Taras huffed while he not so subtly forced Jet off the beaten path back to Astera.

Grunting, Jet veered back out of the brush and thwacked against the towering Tobi-Kadachi's calves. “Well?”

Brows furrowed, Taras let a guttural growl gather in his throat as beads of static crackled along his spine.

Eyes half-lidded, Jet blankly stared up at the Tobi-Kadachi.

The Fanged Wyvern's snaggletoothed scowl wavered. Head flopped forward, Taras' growl tapered off into a pitiful whine. “...Nooooo. My ssschedule hasss been... light asss of late.” Fidgeting with his clawed hands, the Tobi-Kadachi shamefully turned his gaze downward. “Difficult asss it isss to believe I'm not exsssactly the most popular Trainer.”

“Really now? I never would have known,” Jet sarcastically replied.

“It'sss not my fault they don't make them asss ssstubborn asss they usssed to!” the Tobi-Kadachi hissed back. “If anything thisss is your fault! Tricking me into thinking that all humansss were asss dedicated and persssissstent asss you! A-and... payssshent. And kind. And generousss with their time,” Taras bashfully acknowledged.

The humbled Hunter shyly brushed at his armored cheek. Fist clenched and held up before him, he coughed into it as he cleared his throat and the very air. “...Are you really that interested in hearing how me and Nell have been getting on?”

“Of courssse!” the Tobi-Kadachi proudly proclaimed. “E-every now and again I do ssstill find myssself thinking of you asss my Trainee. And then, much like now, I want nothing more than to sssee you sssucssseed!”

Jet shamefully rubbed at the back of his head. “Well. Mmph. By the Sapphire Star where do I start? On the one hand our relationship is better than ever...” he mumbled as steam pooled out of his slitted visor. “On the other...”

A wistful sigh tumbled out from the Hunter. Wandering off the beaten path he propped himself against a gargantuan and ivy-caked tree. Leaning back, he allowed himself to slide down along its base as a pollen stained gust whistled by.

THOOM

Jet violently jostled in place, bouncing against the roots that flanked him, when Taras sat down beside him. The Tobi-Kadachi, knees bunched up against his chest, let his chin rest upon them as he turned his crimson gaze upon the hrmming human.

“Progress has been... erratic,” he admitted. “Some days I push myself. Some days I don't.”

“Oh dear. Ssstruggling to ssseparate work from play?”

“No? Yes? Maybe? ...Alright, fine, yes. Very very yes,” Jet grunted. “Before, I used to obsess over the hows of my Master Rank. How would I train? How would I improve? How would I finally finally finally get past her? Lately though I... I find myself thinking more about what I'll do after the fact. Like it's somehow a given. That it'll just fall into my lap one day and then Nell and I will be off!” Kicking his legs, Jet petulantly flopped his arms out to his sides. “Sometimes I... even find myself thinking that maybe it's alright if I never do end up cinching my Master Rank. That what she and I have is enough.”

Taras' fur lined scales crackled with electricity as he couldn't help but giggle. “You're hopelesss,” he teased as he took to nudging at the ragdolled Hunter.

“I know, I know!” Jet aughed as he tossed his head back. The Hunter, and his mood, continued to slip until he was all but horizontal.

“Hmm?” Head cocked to the side, Taras curiously watched as the bundle that was once slipped over Jet's shoulders popped out from under him. A number of weapons, of questionable quality, rolled out onto the sparse grass. “Thessse are not your usssual toolsss of the trade,” the Tobi-Kadachi thought aloud. “No wonder you have been ssstruggling so!”

Jet raspberried through his visor while Taras daintily pinched an Insect Glaive betwixt his fingers. “That's not what those are for,” he half-heartedly snipped back. “Like I said I... I keep getting ahead of myself. Just today I embarrassed myself asking Nell what weapons she might want to try her hand at when we finally do set out together.”

Taras, his forked tongue peeking out from between his lips, twirled the unimpressive iron polearm atop his twiddling digits. “And what did ssshe sssay?”

“Thanks but no thanks,” Jet relayed. “She shot me down without a second thought.”

“Maybe ssshe will reconsssider? Onssse you have your Massster Rank, anyway.” The Tobi-Kadachi, his thoughts drifting elsewhere, hissed out various sound effects as he played at being a Hunter. Two of his three fingers sauntered along the upturned earth as if they were legs while his thumb, serving as a makeshift arm, uneasily balanced the Insect Glaive atop it.

Rolling his head onto its side, Jet bemusedly regarded his once tormentor. “Enjoying yourself?”

“Yesss,” Taras acknowledged with a blush. He proceeded to walk his hand over towards Jet and reached down to tap tap tap reassuringly at the humbled Hunter.

TATONK

Taras oopsed when the Insect Glaive tumbled free and slapped against the prone Hunter. “...M-maybe what you need isss a change of payssse?”

“Like what?” The human erfed when Taras slid his scaly fingers under his armpits and propped him back up against the base of the tree.

“What I mean to sssay isss why not seek out a new Trainer? Or at leassst sssomeone to tutor and train you on the ssside?”

Jet bit down into his lip and pondered. Someone he could train with sans daydreams and flustered feelings? Someone that could help him clear his head long enough to finally claim the Master Rank as his own? P-provided Nell was alright with such a thing, of course.

In silence, Jet chewed on Taras' words. The shrill cry of Emperor Hoppers filled the air and a balmy breeze sent the branches just overhead creaking as their leaves rustled against one another. Through it all, Taras patiently waited for the Hunter to find his answer.

“Who though?” Jet dared to finally ask.

Hand held up before him, his finger raised high, the Tobi-Kadachi eagerly offered up... uh. Umm. Hmm. Taras's raised finger retracted against his palm while his maw clamped shut. “Oh bother.”

The Hunter rapped his knuckles against the side of his helmet as he struggled to recall the roster of Master Rank Trainers. “There's... Baldesion?”

“Hisss waiting lissst isss a tad long in the tooth thessse daysss,” Taras pitifully hissed. The Brachydios was an extremely popular Trainer who was renowned for both his eloquence and clarity. However much time a Hunter was willing to invest into learning from him he was more than happy to reciprocate. As such, competition proved fierce among his prospective students.

Jet crossed his arms about his chest while he rummaged through his memories. “Erza?”

Taras' head tossed to the side. “Ssshe hasss been on sssabbatical for sssome time now. No one can sssay for sssure when ssshe will return from the Rotten Vale.” The Ebony Odagaron, while brusque and crude, had a reputation for being a harsh but very fair Trainer. She would knock you flat on your ass one moment only to reel you back on your feet to meticulously explain where, why, and how you fell short the next. Those aspiring Hunters that could withstand her abrasive teaching style often spoke glowingly of the Fanged Wyvern.

Papping at the sides of his helmet Jet tried to knock more names free from the periphery of his thoughts. And so it went. Whensoever a new name was proffered Taras was always able to explain why it would not work.

Snoot scrunched, the Tobi-Kadachi apologetically pat at Jet's back. “S-sssorry. I wasssn't trying to get your hopesss up jussst to dasssh them,” mumbled the subdued and dejected serpent.

“It's alright,” Jet sighed. “I always knew getting my Master Rank wasn't going to be easy. I just. It's just. I wish that I had more to show for-”

KATHOOOOM

Ripples of energy, coursing through upturned earth like it was water, spread throughout the Anciest Forest. Blissbills and Revoltures let slip panicked squawks as they fled from the canopy.

THOOOOOOOOOOM

The gnarled roots against which Jet rested did little to dampen the incoming force. With a crash and a clatter his gathered weapons rattled in tune to the tremors as they bounced and skittered away.

KRATHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Jet's heart caught in his throat when he suddenly found himself airborne. Launched into the air by a rolling wave of loosened earth the armored human wildly flailed about. To his relief, the sensation of Taras' hands scrambling to clasp around him overtook him before gravity could. Thick and scaly digits, wrapped around him like a vice, mercifully muffled the intensifying quakes.

THOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Taras' eyes went wide and wavered at the sight. Before them, a scarred and sun-baked limb sank deep into the land that could barely support it. Clad in dulled red scales it splayed its clawed toes as fissures erupted out from underneath them at the unintended show of force.

Forked tongue catching against the roof of his mouth, the Tobi-Kadachi stepped forward in defiance of Jet's panicked slaps and protests. Wait. It had been some time but... but he recognized this towering and terrible figure! “A-alma?”

A low and dismissive growl, reverberating within its owner's throat and tinged with and a bone-rattling bass, answered his inquiry.

Taras stepped out of the shade and directly before the curt colossus. Head tilted back, the already looming Tobi-Kadachi struggled to measure up against this Alma. Even standing on his tip-toes he barely reached their waist. “Alma! It isss you!”

“Hrm?” The brutish dinosaur, fluff and feathers and torn wings draping down her broad and muscular back like a cloak, peered down at Taras with sunken eyes that glistened like amber.

Jet, hanging limply in Taras' grasp, gazed back curiously at the imposing figure. Noticeable patches of dully colored scar tissue pocked the Brute Wyvern's toned torso. Her bulging arms. Her very visage.

Alma's expression softened as she rolled the Tobi-Kadachi's name upon her tongue. “Ah, Taras! Mine apologies. I hope I did not interrupt your...” Her ridged reptilian brows flattened when she took notice of Jet. “Training, was it?”

Taras wiggled nervously which elicited an amused chuckle from the Anjanth. “N-not at all!”

“You haven't shed any tears over this one have you?” Alma teased as she half-heartedly gestured at Jet. “I recall you telling me how the last one was anything but courteous.”

“Noooooooo. S-sssure, Brook wasss a bit of a bully...” Taras mumbled with puffed out cheeks, “B-but we have sssince patched thingsss up!” Before his bashfulness, and a very visible blush, could get the better of him the serpentine squirrel hurriedly presented his latest and greatest trainee. “Thisss here isss Jet!” At that he proudly held the Hunter aloft. Jet weakly waved back at the mountainous monster.

Alma wordlessly grunted in response.

Pride welling in his voice, Taras excitedly proceeded to gush about the frazzled human. At least until he realized Jet had started to ragdoll and go limp in his grasp. Laughing nervously, he promptly relaxed his grip before depositing Jet back onto the churned earth. The Tobi-Kadachi's scaled tail, sporting fluff that lined the faintest gaps between them, timidly curled around his legs. “W-what about you, Alma? How have you been?”

“I... have been better,” she acknowledged with a sigh. Her eyes, covered in shadow, pressed against the sides of their sockets as her attention clearly lingered elsewhere. Shaking her head, the Anjanath cracked a wicked smile as she let a rough and calloused hand come to rest atop Taras' head. “I, admittedly, may not be in the best of spirits but tis reassuring to see you are.”

“Isss sssomething the matter?” he asked. Harrumphing, Taras couldn't help but blep and playfully hiss as she took to ruffling him.

Meanwhile, at ground level, the particulars of the conversation escaped Jet. He paid little heed to Taras' persistent inquiries nor Alma's guarded answers. The Hunter, nearly going cross-eyed, was far too focused on failing to digest the sheer disparity in size that confronted him. While Jet struggled to reach up to Taras' knees, a fact he had long ago resigned himself to, his mind boggled at the realization he could not even clear Alma's ankles.

THOOOOOOOOM

Alma's depature promptly snapped Jet back to attention. Brow cocked, he watched the gargantuan and battle scarred Anjanath exchange warm farewells with Taras while he she all but ignored his very existence. The Hunter limply bounced about in place, in concert with her footfalls, as he watched Alma's form refuse to fade from the horizon as she stomped her way through the Ancient Forest.

Jet's mind raced. He could scarcely fathom just what kind of battles she had fought. What kind of stories, what kind of lessons, what kind of wisdom did she have to share? Surely she could whip him into shape!

“Say... Taras?” The Hunter asked while he casually brushed at the indents the Tobi-Kadachi's fingers had left in his armor.

“Hmm?”

“This Alma... just who is she?”

---

“What do you mean NO?” Jet whined. Arms tossed out before him he pitifully slapped his hands against the Canteen counter.

“What I mean isss-”

“Mrow mrow meow maow mow!”

“You. Husssh!” Taras sassed. Brows furrowed, he bumped noses with a petulant Felyne that had climbed atop the counter to confront him. “Yesss yesss yesss I know what the new polisssy isss! One platter per perssson!”

“Taras, please don't argue with the hired help,” Brook sighed.

Sitting cross-legged before the Canteen, his knees bumping against the slab of stone that their meals would soon be piled high upon, the Tobi-Kadachi thbbbpted at the Felyne who rudely responded with a raspberry.

Brook promptly separated the two by scooping up the mewling and mrowing Felyne and carrying the frumpy feline back into the kitchen.

Snoot turned up, Taras huffed at the shoddy service. To think this is how they repaid him for his ever loyal patronage! “Anyway...” he grumpily trailed off. “Alma isss not a Trainer! Ssshe is a Ssslayer! One tasssked with keeping our landsss free of the feral threat.”

“Haven't heard that name tossed around in a while,” Brook quipped as she sauntered back up to the counter. “What about em?”

“We crosssed pathsss with one earlier!” Taras excitedly announced.

The huntress hrmmmed worriedly as she looked to Jet. Even as Felynes nudged his order against him he remained listless and unresponsive. “That bad of a first impression, huh? Can't say I'm surprised.”

Jet's eyes, and little else, swiveled up curiously towards Brook.

“It wasss not that bad!” insisted the Tobi-Kadachi. Licking his chops, Taras' crimson eyes focused intently on the untouched platter of food besides him. Slowly, carefully, he reached out towards it.

WHAP

“Ow!” Tears beaded along the monster's eyes as he kneaded at his freshly thwacked knuckles. “Not even a nibble?” Taras huffed.

“No,” Brook tersely replied. Her stony expression turned soft as took to slapping at Jet's shoulders. “C'mon now. Your food's gettin' cold.”

Hmphing, Jet lazily shoveled mounds of loaded baked potatoes towards himself. “My fault for getting my hopes up.”

The huntress... did not quite follow. “Hmm?”

“Jet wasss hoping to sssee about tutoring under Alma. Under a Ssslayer,” Taras elaborated.

Brook winced as she inhaled through clenched teeth. “Jet you really REALLY don't want that. Just leave that lot be, alright?”

“Why's that?” he mumbled through mouthfuls of starches.

“Now how do I go about this...” Brook hummed. “Guess the only place to start is the beginnin'. Right. So in each and every territory that monsters have a claim to you'll find yourself a Slayer. The roughest and toughest of em' all that can go toe to toe with the mindless monstrosities that lurk beyond the borders.”

Jet curiously nodded along as he supped.

“The thing to keep in mind is that they are ambivalent at best towards. Well. Us.” Brook broadly gestured at herself and Jet. The only Hunters, the only humans, present. “Back when I actively indulged my wanderlust, flexin' what access my Master Rank afforded me, I wandered into a fair few of their territories. For the most part you could count yourself lucky if they out and out ignored you.”

A pitiful growl rumbled within Taras' throat as Jet pulled himself up off the counter and gave Brook his undivided attention. “And if you weren't?”

Arms crossed, Brook thrummed her fingers “Let's say a Slayer does acknowledge you.” The huntress shrugged her shoulders as unseen scars burned at the recollection. “Maybe they're feelin' talkative and let slip where some beasties have allegedly been spotted slinking around as of late.” She sighed bitterly. “...And maybe you're fool enough to take them at face value. To mistake their cunning for courtesy and let yourself be funneled right where they want you. I survived more than one scrape where, after the fact, I realized I had been set up as bait. Be it to suss them out or soften them up, whether or not I walked away from those unthinking abominations was of little consequence to the Slayers.”

As Taras motioned to raise a defense, of Alma at the very least, a platter of fish skewers, lined thick with tomatoes, rattled before him. He immediately abandoned any notion of rushing to the Anjanath's aid as he greedily took to devouring his meal. That and the ceramic it was delivered upon.

Leaning forward, the dark skinned huntress let her elbows come to rest on the counter. “So in short...” she trailed off before flicking at Jet's forehead. “Don't. You've got a good thing going on with Nell as it is. Why would you want to muck that up?” she smirked.

Jet ran a hand through his wild mane of hair and swallowed a sigh. “You're not wrong, alright? Just... lately it seems like my Master Rank is drifting further and further out of reach.”

Rubbing at the back of her neck, Brook cast a furtive glance towards Taras. The Tobi-Kadachi caught her gaze and wordlessly nodded. “That's life, Jet. Sometimes our priorities change and so do we. If this is eating at you that much though...”

Taras playfully bumped a hip against Jet that was thicker than he was tall. “Why not let usss help?”

“Huh?” Blinking, the Hunter acked as the dread snake squirrel took to noogying him.

Brook took to stroking at her chin as she piled on. “Let's say, oh iunno, starting tomorrow you can expect to see us spectating and critiquing your bouts with Nell! How's that sound?”

“W-w-wait a minute. I never agreed to-”

“Provided you show up to fight instead of flirt,” the huntress clarified with a shrug. “Otherwise we can just treat it like a double date.”

Wincing, Jet impotently batted at Taras' heavy handed nudges. “Do I not even have a say in this?” he dejectedly asked. Once it was made abundantly clear that he did not the Hunter could do little more than groan. “Fiiiiiiiine. I'll see you then.”

“You're welcome by the way,” Taras tutted.

“But of course. Where are my manners?” Jet mouthed off as the shyest of smiles cracked his facade.

---

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