The girl with the shortly cropped black hair pushed a tankard my way. "So, how about a toast?" She asked me with a small smile. I took it off her with a smile in return, I wore the leather armour right now. I heard the pattering of small footsteps and looked over my right shoulder slightly, my Palico holding up a tankard overflowing with broth from the ale, he purred and held his mug up higher. The guy who was still excited, the red haired hunter, shaved at the sides with a little strip on the top stood up with a celebratory cheer. "To the A-list! And the commission!" He held his tankard up higher and me and the girl also stood up. "Cheers!" She exclaimed, the three of us brought our tankards together, broth spilling out from all these as we hit them together. I watched the red haired boy took a sip of his ale, closing his eyes and letting out a content sigh as he swallowed the drink.
He locked eyes with me and let out a little chuckle. "So tell me, what's your theory?" He asked as he sat back down at the table besides the girl in the green leather armour, the ship creaking around us. "The Elder Dragons must migrate to the New World for some reason." He suggested as I focused on downing my ale. I brought the ale down with a little breath and frowned slightly shaking my head, I wasn't too sure, I was about to say something when someone passing me caught my eye. The red haired A-lister didn't seem to notice. "After running the Research Commission for forty-odd years, the Guilds itching for an answer." He said standing up slightly as he talked, he was clearly very excited about this. "They said the Fifth Fleet's got the best shot at cracking this case, and I agree!" He explained to me.
My attention was elsewhere, to a girl who had just walked past me. I watched as this girl walked to the table, a large leather bag strapped to her side, a huge bowl of chicken in her hands, the smell filling the room, some sort of binoculars on her head, she definitely looked like a researcher and not a hunter. "Keep it down." I heard from my table, the girl sighing disapprovingly, she turned to me bringing my attention back to them. "Hey, speaking of. A-listers usually operate in teams of two. Have you sat down with your partner yet?" She asked me with curiousity. I gave a little frown and before I could answer as I turned to look at the girl who had just caught my eye, she stood up from the table, her wooden stool falling backwards and landing on the floor, I watched as she made her way to the little square window in the side of the ship, a gasp escaping her.
I stood up, waving my hand briefly to the others at the table to let them know that I'd see them later, I wasn't one much for talking. I approached the girl at the window slightly. "Listen to that." She said as she leaned away from the window. "Getting rough out there...The waves are picking up." She told me. "And that's gotta mean Landfall!" She said excitedly. She turned to me, lifting up the leather binoculars that had some sort of metal built in telescope to one of the glass eyes. "You're on the A-list, right?" She asked with a small chuckle, I gave a nod and heard a meow from beside me, my white Palico, fluffy, had come to say hi. My partner chuckled and bent down slightly to my Palico "Meowdy-do." She chuckled, standing back up to face me, a few strands of her dark hair peeking out from the binoculars that she rest on the top of her head. "I'm not psychic. But I do have pretty good ears." It seems everyone was rather excited to get to the New World. And it showed. "Ah! Put 'er there! I happen to be an A-lister myse..."
Her excitement was cut off as the ship rocked, making her loose her fitting and stumble backwards, a small surprised scream leaving her. I wondered what was happening, perhaps we'd just hit something. It had rocked quite a bit, I looked around, other hunters gripping onto their tables for support, the researches lovely cooked meal sliding off the table. I watched as she ran off to the side, then quickly followed after her as I saw her making her way to the stairs, narrowly missing the wooden box that came sliding in front of me across the floor as the ship jolted to the side. We made our way around the corner, up another set of stairs that lead to the top deck of the ship, i couldn't tell if it was raining or if it was the spray of the ocean that hit us as we came outside to see what was happening, the air filled with the sounds of a few grunts from the others on the deck.
Nevermind, it was definitely the ocean, and we didn't hit anything, all I saw as I looked over the front of the ship was a hint of orange emerging from the water, soon followed by a huge burst of water roaring towards the sky as something erected from the waves, we fell to the ground, trying to keep any stability we had as the water splashed onto the ship and raced towards us. We weren't the only ship out here, but apparently, it had to come after the one I was on, whatever it was. Me and my partner stood up, a gasp leaving her mouth and mine opening in shock at what we were looking at. My research partner took off running towards the front of the ship, a little groan leaving her and I followed.
I couldn't see much, but the creature was massive, certainly bigger than the ship we were on, I could see a dark shadow, only lit up by what looked like the red and orange glow of lava. Only then did I properly notice that the ship was roaring up, the front of the ship beginning to point up towards the sky as this New World monster appeared. She made it to the top, grabbing onto the railing with a small groan as she tried to hold on. I almost made it, gravity pulling me down so I managed to flip my body over slightly as I began to slide down and grab onto the wooden railing at the side of the ship to stop myself from falling off.
It didn't last long, my Palico had followed us and was now sliding down the deck, I tried to reach out to my partner, only the tips of her feet touching the deck now as the ship roared up. My grip on the wet wood slipped and I fell down, I managed to grab onto a raised wooden part of the deck floor to stop myself falling any further, my arm burning and my fingertips hurting. I went to go grab my Palico as he slid past me, but before I could, a sack hit him and he was sent into the air, I looked over my shoulder to hear a meow from my Palico as he fell down towards the water, the only thing I could see was lava, not one hint of the blue water in sight. I looked up hearing a gasp from the researcher and she fell, the ship croaking around us as it began to fall, we hit something hard as we began to go back down, at the sudden stop and new angle of the ship, me and my partner were thrown off, arms flailing slightly as we were thrown towards the beast, I hit the rocky surface of the monster, and the next thing I welcomed was the darkness.