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The arrow's nocked and waiting the moment the man appears, and at Mari's yell it's finally loosed. Straight into the shoulder joint of the Great Baggi. Kyle doesn't wait for the roar of pain before he's sending another arrow, this time aimed for the chest. He isn't as sure this one will hit with the way Red and the Baggi are tumbling around together, but it shouldn't hit Red at the least.

"Tsukino, get in there."

"Got it." The palico vanishes from his side, reappearing seconds later at Mari's instead. Leaving Mari to her, Kyle refocused on the Baggi and bringing it down. Hopefully they didn't have anyone else coming, but if the guy had reinforcements they'd definitely hear the fighting by now. He slipped out of the bushes, reorienting for a new shot.

"Red! Move it that way–"

AND JUST LIKE THAT, the cadence of footsteps crunching through the grass can be heard. Mari inhales, stiffening for a beat while she mentally prepared herself for whatever came next . . . then relaxed on the exhale, just before her breath would have come into earshot.

"Greetings, friend," A stranger appears, face half-obscured by a cowl around his neck. He lifts his hood down, features seemingly tired and friendly. Mari turns toward him, casting a wary stare.

"Ah, I don't mean any harm," Says the stranger, raising his hands placatively. "You're a rider, yes? I have a monstie in need of rest. We're looking for some place safe to bunk for the night."

Mari narrows her gaze. "What gave it away, the Rathalos?" She mutters, just as she feels presences nearby. A monster behind the fellow, probably the aforementioned beast of his. But a second one further away.

. . . If her guess was correct, then there were reinforcements. Probably plotting an ambush of their own. The rider turns her head away, and strategically glances in the direction of Streak.

He hadn't moved yet. Good.

"More or less. May I?" Replies her new company, gesturing towards the fire. Mari leans back, and nods after a long pause. For several minutes, there's nothing but small talk between them. Mari guesses its an attempt to get her guard down—to make her and Ratha, who was across from her, easy targets.

If not for the fact she could sense the second monster in the shadows, it might have worked.

"Lulucion, eh? That's quite a ways away from here." Says the man, after leading his aptonoth to drink from a nearby trough. He moves back towards his seat towards Mari, strategically placing himself behind her as he does.

. . . Mari can sense the other monster much closer now. It was behind her own. Her gaze darts towards Kyle, watching and waiting, before she senses alert from Ratha. It's all the rider needs to know that the well-disguised foe was about to strike from behind.

"KYLE! THE ONE BEHIND RED, NOW!" Mari swings back her elbow, aiming for the man's solar plexus but succeeding instead in parrying a dagger. Ratha rises to his feet with similar swiftness, and swings his tail around; knocking a stalking Great Baggi to its feet.

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Kyle doesn't look any better in his hiding place, hands twisting together between almost obsessively checking and rechecking his equipment. "This is stupid," he mutters to Tsukino, scowling. "It's dumb. She's dumb. We could have picked a better plan. One where she doesn't die."

Or get maimed, or kidnapped or a hundred other things that could go wrong. He should be out there, being the bait or at least visible. Close enough to help faster.

"We're all idiots, this will never work–"

"Kyle." Tsukino's exasperated–she hides it well behind a stern tone and calm eyes, but he can see her getting annoyed with him by the way her tail lashes and her ears go slightly flatter. "It'll be fine. You've got your bow. They won't get far before you have them taken out."

"Still–"

"Quiet." Her ears lift, swiveling as she turns to peer into the area around them. "They're coming."

SHE RISKED HER LIFE, WHAT—every other tuesday? So unlike Kyle, Mari didn't feel as anxious. That could either be called incredible bravery or bold stupidity, because most in their right mind would be fearful if something did go wrong.

And, she wasn't completely fearless, but neither did she lack confidence in herself, or the others for that matter. She had faith in her ally's ability. Hence, why Mari had offered herself up rather quickly to the idea of playing 'bait' in a risky attempt to attract and round up Oltura cultists that had been sighted in the area. Traveling to this location had already been a risk in itself. They had to hope that these people didn't have any aces up their sleeves, and that they'd fall for the ambush swimmingly.

Centered at the edge of a clearing in the gorge, Mari sits at a makeshift camp with Ratha in tow. Streak was positioned in hiding alongside Kyle and Tsukino. From this distance, the sheen on the rider's face is visible . . . it's hard to tell if it was from nervousness, or simply the heat of the cooking fire nearby.

"Elders willing they stick to old tactics . . ." She mutters under her breath.

@zinnyplated / plotted starter

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He watches them just long enough to be sure they're keeping the monster down before Kyle starts scrambling further up the cliff. His vantage point had been useful, but he needs a better vantage point if he doesn't want to hit either of them with any of his next attacks.

Tsukino keeps watch from his shoulder, calling out encouragement and any movements the creature makes towards getting back up.

Kyle turns, drawing a new arrow and taking a breath. Can he hit an eye from here if Red moves just an inch or two? That sort of damage might keep it down long enough for the others to finish it off. "Tsukino, we're going for an eye."

"Got it." The Palico leaned over the edge of their newest perch, calling a warning to the wyvern below. Kyle let the arrow fly.

"Shit." Well, he definitely had it's attention, at least for a moment. Red's timely interference granted Kyle enough time to scramble higher on the ledge he was perched upon before he turned to fire another arrow as it went down.

Reaching back to grab a handful of arrows, Kyle nocked them – Tsukino understood immediately what he intended and responded without hesitation from her own perch higher up where she'd been observing the fight and watching for other threats that might appear – then fired once he had a clear shot. The rain of arrows whistled by Mari, slamming into the Lagiacrus as it flailed.

"Don't let it get back up!"

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“Kyle…? H—holy shit. Is that you?” The camp is in disarray thanks to the Wudwuds, who are nowhere short of panicked as the nearby monsties fought to protect their saddlebags from being ransacked. An Avis Unit handler, dragged along out of obligation, had just barely kept the other hunters from attacking the beasts that had been mistaken for wild monsters…As the tension dies down, a young woman stands ready to defend her kin, and is greeted by a familiar sight…

"You didn't think to tell me you'd be here?" Okay hypocritical since he hadn't done the same, though in his defense he'd been busy preparing and by the time he'd realized it had slipped his mind he's already been off. Still!

"You guys can relax, she's a friend!" He shoves his way past a couple hunters, waving a hand vaguely. "Remember that rider I told you guys about? This is her! These are her monsters, they're not gonna hurt anyone."

Though they might bite a wudwud if the lynians kept trying to steal their stuff. Not that he'd blame them.

"What're you doing here anyway?"

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i only just reached HR the other night but contemplating post game future!kyle being part of the delegation to find the keepers... :thinkcat:

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"Lemme see yewr guide. Ah wanna know what yew wrote 'bout dat Bewear we were watchin' earlier. Ah'm stumped on what tuh put in my guide..."

"What do you know about it?" he asks, though Kyle flips to the right pages anyway before handing it over. There's a few doodles on the first page, with clear annotations about the pokemon's size, strength and posture. The rest of the pages are filled with observations including what it had eaten while they watched, how it had interacted with the pokemon around it and a particularly hasty note about it snapping a large tree right in half to get at the beedrill honey inside.

"Show me yours."

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Wow she's buff.

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"He thought it was cool, yeah." It'd been almost embarrassing the way he kept telling everyone to come look at it. Granted he'd also been bragging about himself and how he was so cool even Kyle understood his coolness. Funny cat, that felyne. His mouth curls up slightly at the memory.

"I was! I'm only mean to you, anyway." They're friends, so he can be mean to her all he wants. It's a friends thing. Felynes on the other hand, do not deserve being mean. Especially when their food is as good as the chef's is. "He showed me some recipes, it was nice."

Kyle glances out the window for a moment, debating.

"...Wanna get outta here for awhile?" They'll probably need some help getting around but Mari can probably use a change of scenery. Maybe it'll distract her for awhile.

SHE DOESN'T IGNORE HIM, but for a moment she doesn't respond either. Her mind is clearly elsewhere—it has been for the past few days. Always wondering, always worrying. Even when Chama and Chunma came to greet her by sticking their heads in the window, the girl's anxiety could be quelled for only so long. It was as though a part of her was missing.

. . . That part of her was on the mountain.

Swallowing a lump in her throat, Mari finally relents her gaze from the outside world, slowly turning her head to look at Kyle. "Mm' sure he appreciated the effort, at least." She chuckles, trying to imagine Navirou's response. With her bedridden, the others had been doing their best to tend to the other monsties.

"You been to the canteen yet? Ol' Calico's probably all chuffed to be serving a hunter from the mainland again. You better have been polite!"

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She's winded, and scrambling up a cliff edge. An agitated growl sounds as she calls out to him in frustration. "Help me up . . . so I can kick your butt . . ."

He catches her wrist, dragging Mari up and onto the cliff ground with an amused sound. "Think you need to build some endurance, Mari." A nudge with the toe of his boots.

"We're gonna do some training later."

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Perfect! He leans forward for a better look, passing over the jerky before he starts sketching. The odd red lighting gives an interesting ambience and – wait a minute.

"... What the hell is that." He leans back, staring upwards. Is that a person?

...Snacks? Well, he wasn't above a bit of bribery. He stops his digging and turns to the boy. What had he wanted again? His leg? He sits down and lifts one of his front paws up for him to study.

Unbeknownst to him, it seemed the disturbed raid den wasn't as empty as he had suspected. The red stones seem to begin glowing...

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"I'll give you a snack if you do." Dogs like snacks right? All the palamutes he's ever met have loved jerky treats. Maybe this one does too? "I got jerky."

The professor? He's met the professor. She has plenty of information on him already. He growls again before beginning to dig at the broken walls of the raid den. Definitely no. You'll live.

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👫

- any time one of their friends teases him about having a crush on mari he drags her over immediately so he can sort of gesture vaguely in her direction like "i do not have feelings for her bc of this" and mari's like "you just gestured to all of me". every time. it's turned into a bit. - he's fairly confident mari likes cool rocks so whenever he needs to get her a present for something cool rocks is the default if he can't think of something more suitable. - he considers her his main rival. in what exactly is never explained but if asked about their relationship he tells people they're rivals. - trusts mari with his life and more importantly tsukino's

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👫

- Gloria's the one who gets him his first pokemon and teaches him how pokemon battling actually works; prior to this he's just been using monster hunting techniques to observe and record information on pokemon both with the dex and in his own handwritten field guide - Kyle teaches Gloria how to keep her own field guide, and how to really observe pokemon in their natural habitats without intervening or causing them to alter their behavior due to human proximity. There's a lot of lessons on stealth and tracking. - Gloria REALLY wants him and Lance to get along. Kyle is intimidated by Lance, who reminds him of some of the older veteran hunters he knows from home who have spent decades immersing themselves in hunting and mastering their craft. - He's not used to compliments from cute girls, or from cute girls being so excited to see him all the time so he gets super flustered sometimes. He refuses to elaborate and Gloria is just confused often.

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like this post for me to come yell @ u about establishing relationships with kyle

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Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship

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look at her she's fashionable

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Kyle and Tsukino would stumble upon something familiar on their journey…a Kulu Ya Ku feather, amidst a freshly raised pokemon’s nest…

"Tsukino."

The palico leaned down for a moment, studying the feather and tracks. "Yes," she said finally, answering his unspoken question. "The first evidence we've seen of home. Which means we may find her, if we keep looking."

Kyle frowned, crouching to pick up the feather and study it himself. "So whatever sent us here probably sent Mari too." And monsters, based on the feather. He wondered for a moment if the creatures in this world were prepared for monsters.

... Maybe he should talk to the professor lady again.