Now away from any danger, the handler and I began our journey once again, she took a small right turn a little further down the path to see another set of vines that were blocking our path, she didn't hesitate and this time she was the one to push through them. Once we got through to the other side there was a steep dirt path, as I looked up it I could only see a few trees waiting for us at the top and the blue sky, a few pants leaving us as we pushed our way to the top of the hill. "Let's climb down here!" She said, she pointed to the floor, at the edge strong looking vines that were red and green slowly creeped over the edge of the summit indicating that we could go down that way.
The handler turned around and she went first, a few small grunts leaving us as we let ourselves gradually drop down, let's just say I'm glad we were trained for this. "We're getting really close." The handler said from below me and I just hoped she meant closer to the research base and not just to the bottom of the vines. We both reached the bottom a second later and there was no time to wait, we began to walk along the wide first path that met us, grass, bushes and little bits of grass growing at either side of it. "There's something here." The handler said as she moved towards the side of the path, voice filled with curiousity. "What is this...track?" She questioned and bent over to study what she was looking at. The Scoutflies from her container had activated upon finding something of interest from a monster and had now gathered around the track that she had spotted. I studied the track, the handler stood to my right, they seemed to be some old footprints from a monster, never hurt to study it.
I pulled out a vial and quickly scooped up the dirt off the area, which knows if anything could be determined back at base about what left this track. "There's more over there. Let's check it out." The handler said as she looked to her right, I couldn't exactly tell her no. We traveled down the slope of the grey rock and back onto the grass as we followed these tracks, perhaps we could bring us some research in when we got home. There was a long muddy path up towards another exit, and this time the Scoutflies led us to the track on the floor, the handler reached it before I did and I saw as she crouched down on one knee, her hand running over the evidence that she had found.
The next thing I knew was the sound of heavy footsteps echoing around us and as I looked to the handler saw a monster collide with her, sending my handler sprawling to the ground with a surprised gasp, I studied the monster, it looked exactly the same as the iguana typed creatures we encountered earlier, except it was huge, much bigger than the skinny four legged things we want into earlier. I started running towards my partner, the Monster not noticing me just yet as I came up from behind it, the handler had flipped over onto her back and was now pushing herself away from the beast. It roared up, which was much more terrifying than when the little ones did it, this clearly seemed to be a much greater version of whatever nearly attacked the two of us earlier.
I kept on running, I wasn't fast enough to get there, the monster slammed back down to the ground, it's massive clawed foot was trapping the handler beneath it, claws either side of her head, I could hear the grunts and gasps coming from her as she tried to push herself free. As I drew closer I was racking my brain, thinking of ways I could distract this beast from eating my partner, which I didn't exactly want to happen on our first day, yet I didn't have any weapons. I kept on running, breath leaving me, I heard another grunt, but this one was male and it didn't come from me.
I looked up, pausing slightly as I saw a male hunter with a big sword strapped to his back, and when I say big, I mean the handle was average size and the sword was almost longer and thicker than him, I was surprised that it didn't drag on the floor. The only other thing that impressed me was that he'd jumped off somewhere, perhaps the tall cliff that was next to us, and he was falling right to the monster. "Ha! Don't mind me!" I heard him call out as he landed on the monsters back, unknowingly to me this was the Field Team Leader of our new Home, and thankfully for the situation right now, seemed rather experienced. The monster let out a growl as it's body pushed the floor slightly, realising someone was on its back the creature began to shake it's body trying to throw the Hunter off.
I ran forward, not caring if I was getting closer to the beast, I had to make sure my partner was alright, after the first few steps the monster began walking forwards, being controlled somehow by the hunter on its back. With ease the Monster broke a fallen tree that was wedged between two sides of the rocks, it reared up at the impact and fell over, the hunter taking the opportunity to jump off the monster and land on the ground. I grabbed my handlers hand and helped her up and we walked towards the man who had rescued us. "This way. Hurry." He said and motioned for us to follow him. "Okay, let's go!" The handler said, she certainly wasn't going to say no after that, and nor would I. She headed past the other male Hunter, a stretch of another dirt path was waiting for us. "Move! Get to the gate! Go go go!" The Field Team Leader told us both, he turned and began to follow the handler up the path.
I was still quite far behind them now, even this seemingly giant and fat iguana had managed to follow their trail before I did, I kept on running knowing that I had to get to the gate, I came upon the clearing of this next section and I could see the gate ahead of me, the only thing that stood in my way was the green scaled monster. Before I could move any further, another monster, much bigger than the iguana looking one appeared from nowhere, it had a dark blue or black top, the stripe running from it's back to the tip of it's tail as far as I could see, the rest of the body a light shade of pink. Despite the fact that It had gone straight for the Monster that attacked the handler which was a good thing, it now also blocked me off from the handler and the other Hunter, thus the gate that I had to get to.
"That's not good." I heard the Field Team Leader shout from the other side, I wasn't sure if he was meaning another monster appearing or me being so far behind, I got a chance to notice this pink monsters massive claws, two legs holding up the body of this beast, little black spikes seemed to make home on the underside of its tail, I definitely wanted to avoid that, i watched, eyes scanning for a safe way around them as dirt began to rise from the ground in forms of cloud as they fought and the iguana typed Monster was thrown to the ground. "What are you waiting for? Get over here!" The Field Team Leader shouted at me, I could barely hear him, and I could just spot his and the handlers figure stood in front of the gate.
Unfortunately for me, the two Monsters carried on fighting, but I didn't have time to waste, especially not now. I began jogging, not wanting to alert the monsters that I was there, this new black striped monster now had its head, its teeth, latched on around the green monsters throat and was thrashing it to the ground. I ran around the back of them, under the tail of the pink monster and rolled under it just in case it moved or anything else happened. However as I stood, I was caught between the two legs of the pink monster, and it was moving as it attacked it's prey. "C'mon!" The handler yelled at me. "In here!" The other Hunter shouted, their voices louder now.
I took a chance and began running, the clawed foot slamming down right in front of me, I managed to stop myself just in time from getting crushed took a few steps back and went around it quickly, the monsters still fighting each other right behind me as I made for the other two and the gate. I could hear them, growling and hissing, the monsters continuing to be aggressive, I couldn't see what was going on but the Field Team Leader told me to jump, so I did, I launched myself into the air and propelled myself forward, I felt the tail of the pink creature whip above me, cutting very close to my body.
I slammed hard onto the dirt ground and now I was on the other side of the dirt, all three of us now safely on the other side of the gate. I pushed myself up quickly hearing the growling and l looked behind me, the gate seemed to be made of the long trunks of cut trees and tied together with rope, there was no way any beast was getting through that. "Hey." The male Hunter said. "You all right?" The handler asked me, coming to stand at my side, I gave a quick nod. "let's go." The hunter said and we both gave another nod. "Okay." The researcher replied, more than happy to get out of there now. I took a small look back through the thin gaps in the gate, the two monsters still growling and fighting each other, at least we were on the other side now.
With that, all three of us took off running back up the dirt path, towards the research Commissioner's base, to where me and the handler should have arrived at in the first place.