Roar of the Anjanath

 Astera, 2 weeks later 

 The hunters within the town all bustle about, having to work overtime in order to make up for the loses in the Zorah siege. Perhaps from the damage Evans had done on their operation, many of the hunters had turned their attention to hunting anjanaths, both for venting their anger and the possibility of gearing up with as much fire resistance as possible.

 Some of the veteran hunters have even begun a rathalos raid, with dozens being taken out whenever they are spotted. As the hunters rush about, their defacto leader steps into the center of the swarm of activity. A few of the hunters seeing him stop and call out to their companions. Within minutes, all eyes, be it palico or hunter, were on The Commander. "Thank you for your attention. I will now detail the siege days prior. We had planned to capture the Elder dragon Zorah Magdaros and failed, letting it escape beyond the Great ravine."

 Some of the hunters wince, bracing themselves for what comes next. " On the operation, out of the hundreds of hunters that bravely joined, 200 are unfortunately unable to return, and are now resting within the otherworld. We gather to salute theses fallen heroes." As he says this he, faces the ship at the top of Astera and raises his hand to his forehead. The hunters gathered nearby all copy his action, silent regardless of the tears that flow from some of their eyes, knowing that either their friends or loved ones won't be around anymore.

 After the few minutes of silent respect the commander then turns his attention back to those under his command. " Their were two main reasons why this operation had failed, not taking into account of the underestimation of Zorah's strength. The first reason being that Nergigante had appeared, leaving us unprepared and in disarray. This alone would have made the mission fail but because of the other reason, we lost a lot more than we should have." The commander grits his teeth at the thought of the second obstacle. The hunters, unaware of their being a second interference, listen closely.

 "The second reason why we failed, along with the reason why we had lost many of our hunters, is because of the variant known as the [HELL IGNITOR]." At the mention of this name, many of the hunters eyes turn red with fury.

 A strange anjanath, causing them to lose their friends and comrades? UNACCEPTABLE!

 The Commander, seeing their fury, is pleased but still reigns them in. " I know many of you wish to deal with this variant, however, we will unfortunately have to shelve any large scale operations against it for the time being, for we have to track down Zorah. "

 The Commander pulls from his cloak a stack of files. "We have recently been able to reach the third fleet, likely from how close we were to the Great Ravine at the time along with the large hole Zorah had left in its wake. They reported that they have safely landed and were even able to not only map out a place they call the coral highlands, but Even briefly spotted Zorah Magdaros."

 The hunters cheer, glad to not only find one of their lost research fleet, but even being able to find a chance at redemption against the living volcano. Their glee is short lived however as The Commander intervenes, saying "However, they are unable to continue forward or even return due to a new type of flying wyvern being discovered. That's where we come in. our goal is to track down and either capture or kill this flying obstacle. I need a volunteer to head out there and get it done."

 At first, none raise up to the cause, hesitant on facing a new flying monster. However, a hand shoots up from the crowd. "I'll do it!" The crowd turns to see a woman wearing googles, and carrying a bow on her back. Around her shoulders is a long scarf that seems to be made of kulu material.

 "Perfect, what is your name?"

 "My name is Grace!"

 The eager hunter introduces herself under The Commanders prompting. "Well then, Grace, prepare you things for you set out by dawn." "Yes sir!"

 As Grace prepares for the task at hand, Evans, is seen to be lounging about. Over the half month he has been within the highlands, he has done nothing but explore, hunt titziyakus, and basking in what sun light he could find.

 Sometimes, Evans would look for the paolumu and play a game of wall tennis, much to the annoyance of the wronged wyvern. "Man this is lame. I wonder if there's anything interesting past the mountains. Yeah that seems like a good place to start." Mind made up, Evans gets up and lazily heads north.

Coral highlands, Grace 

 "This is amazing! new place, new monster, I feel like I'm dreaming!" Having meet up with the Third fleet master and receiving the details about her new query, Grace was bouncing with excitement as here eyes darted from place to place. She would collect and capture many things, from the wigglers bobbing up and down to the strange lantern fish like creatures within a cave she stumbled on.

 "But where is the wyvern I'm looking for? maybe its higher up. Yeah that should be it!" Decision made, Grace dashes off to the north. "Phew! what a climb, but thankfully it paid off!" Having climbed and even swung from multiple vines, Grace felt like her arms were about to fall off.

 But she didn't focus on that for in front of her laid scratch marks that didn't seem to come from any known wyvern so far. She followed the scratches to a bowl like area when that's when she spotted it. It was a dark navy blue with a white underbelly. Its head was triangle shaped with two antennae like structures on top, while its tail more looked like a fish's based on the fins it had. "Sure enough, that should be the Legiana."

 Grace, looking back and forth from the creature to the photo in its hand, was now sure it was her target. Drawing her bow, She took aim at the creature's backside. Her arrow took on an orange hue as she released it, sending it flying into the side of the frost wyvern.

AHHHHHHAgghgroughhh

 The Legiana, Having been struck, turns to face its new adversary and roars, angry at having an arrow in tis side. The Legiana then takes to the air as three arrows land at the location it was just at. "Dangit, almost had it!" Grace, somewhat miffed at how here arrows missed, focus her attention back to the now airborne wyvern. She rolls to the side as the Legiana swoops in, ice littering the once rough terrain. Though slightly affect by the cold, Grace fires of a second level charged arrow, causing the Legiana to stagger. "Now, mittens!" Seeing the chance, Grace shouts out a command. A small shadow dashes past. It is covered in fur, with some fanning out from its face. It has conical ears and an incredibly puffy tail. In its hands was a towersheild that resembles a tribal mask. This was Grace's hunting partner.

 Mittens leaps into the air and slams the tiki shield into the Legiana's face, causing it to crash to the ground, dazed and now disorientated. "Good job!"

 Grace yells out as she charges up her bow. However, just as she was about to release it, she felt the ground rumble beneath her. "what?" confused, Grace stops charging her bow as she tries to find the cause. Suddenly mittens appears in front of her, jumping about with a strange expression on his face.

"What's wrong? turn... around?" reading the sign language mittens was using, as he could not use his voice like the other palicos, Grace turned around. Her face immediately turned pale as behind her was the anjanath variant that was just discussed yesterday. The earth was carved out as it dragged its jaw across the floor, maw wide open ready to devour anything in its path. 

 "Yikes!" thinking fast, Grace grabbed her palico and superman dived out of the way. The Variant rushes past as it scoops up the stunned Legiana. Blood flies about as the frost wyvern was dragged away by the giant creature under the shocked eyes of the hunter and palico.

 Grace sat their for a bit, the cold ice nearby giving a chill that let her know she wasn't imagining it. Finally regaining her senses, she looks toward the path of destruction left behind as she mutters "What just happened?"