Monster Trainer Academy, page 11
“I don’t think Kiba is going to ever want to move again,” Abigail chuckled as she walked over and knelt down next to her sleepy cat.
“I told you, they get super pampered, especially at that inn. They pride themselves on monster comfort,” Claudette explained as she heaved two of the leather sacks over each of her shoulders.
I grabbed two more sacks and heaved them up onto my back with little effort now that my body seemed to be made out of corded muscle and called to Titan. “Okay, dude, it’s time for us to go.”
Titan slowly lifted his head again, gave me a sad look, and sighed heavily. It took him a minute, but he finally rolled himself up to his belly, planted his feet underneath him, and slowly pushed himself into a standing position. Titan yawned and shook his entire body, ruffling up his feathers.
“Kiba, you too,” Abi called to Kiba.
The feline also yawned and stretched her black and yellow limbs before slowly rolling over and standing up just as lazily as Titan had done. The two monsters, along with Aki on Claudette’s shoulder, all looked like they were ready for some more naps, but we had a lot of traveling to do.
Claudette did one last check around the area to make sure she had everything, and then she did another one of her Aki-scaring claps. “Alright. I think we are ready to head out.”
“Lead the way to the stables,” I gestured an open palm toward the cobblestone street.
Claudette winked at me as she passed by me. She stepped onto the road, walking in the direction of the hill and the Monster Trainer Center. Abigail, Kiba, Titan, and I followed her carefully, navigating with the sacks through the crowd of townspeople going about their day.
“This was a nice little town,” I commented to Abi as I admired the pink and white stone buildings basking in the forest sunlight. We wandered up the hill after Claudette, who was a little way ahead.
“We’ll see a lot more nice towns as we keep traveling, but next is the city,” Abigail told me in her animated tone that I was really starting to adore. “It’s about a two-day trip to the city, but we’ll be able to do some more monster fighting, for sure.”
“Are there any other towns on the way, or will we be camping?” I asked, not opposed to either option.
“There’s not much else along the road from Plott Town to Haven City, so as long as we make good time, we’ll have to camp for just a night.” Abigail broke off a piece of bread that she had pulled out of her bag and tossed it to Kiba, who happily chomped away at it.
“Awesome. Camping sounds fun,” I grinned at the beautiful women who glistened in the shining sun. They really were something spectacular.
“It’s great we have a skilled hunter with us, too. She can probably catch us a pretty great dinner tonight.” Abigail cutely licked her lips and rubbed her stomach even though she munched away on some bread.
I hadn’t thought about the fact that Claudette could hunt us up some food and realized it might be a good skill to learn. I made a mental note to ask Claudette for some lessons as we reached the top of the hill. The Trainer Center came into view next to the little green battle zone where I had totally kicked Benny’s butt.
Claudette walked directly to the furthest building on the left-hand side of the road. It was a little stable nestled between the town wall and another building. The front side of the stable had four separate stalls, each with horses in them. An older man with short brown hair dressed in simple cloth clothing grabbed handfuls of feed out of a wooden bucket and fed the horse nearest to us.
“Hey there, Daven, how’s my big ol’ furball doing?” Claudette approached the man and patted him on the back. Then she reached her pale hand up and patted the horse on the nose.
“Bawfa is the easiest, most amiable creature that has ever come through these stables, although he does tend to eat me out of house and home.” Daven gave the horse another handful of food and smiled.
“He is a big glutton, that’s for sure,” Claudette laughed and shook her head. “I’ll throw in some extra cash for your trouble.”
“Oh, Claudette, you know I don’t mind. We love having Bawfa. I’ll go get the big lug for you.” Daven set the feed down and walked down a little lane along the edge of the stable.
After a few minutes, Daven returned, followed by one of the largest monsters I had seen so far. It was as tall as the horses, but looked to be at least three times as wide. I wasn’t even sure how it fit in the stable unless they had a bigger stall for it on the backside.
The creature was covered in brown, shaggy fur, reminding me of a bison or a fluffy yak. It had tiger-like stripes of black fur along its body and a fluffy mane of lighter brown fun on its head. Two long, white horns protruded from the monster’s head, matching the two smaller tusks sticking out of its mouth.
Claudette squealed as Bawfa wandered out into the street, chewing some hay slowly. Daven led the giant beast out to Claudette, who wrapped her arms around Bawfa’s giant head, which was much larger than Claudette’s body.
“I missed you, Bawfie,” Claudette cooed as she nuzzled her head into the side of the monster’s head.
Bawfa made a contended, rumbling sound and turned toward Claudette. He stuck his giant, red tongue out and licked Claudette from her arm up to the top of her head.
“Thanks, friend,” Claudette giggled as she scratched under his chin. She turned to Daven and handed him some crubels that she’d pulled out of her pocket. “Thanks again for looking after him.” She pointed at the money in his hand and grinned. “I gave you some extra, and you’re gonna take it.”
Daven looked down at the money and smiled at Claudette. “Thank you very much, Claudette. When will we see you and Bawfa in Plott Town again?”
Claudette set her two sacks on the ground and started to hoist one up onto Bawfa’s back with some rope. “I have a feeling it’s going to be awhile, honestly.” Claudette glanced back at Abigail and me, who were standing next to each other. “I met some new friends and have a feeling I might be with them awhile.”
The fact that Claudette had called us her friends, and that she was also planning to travel with us for a while, made me feel really happy. I had to admit that I was hoping we might get to see each other for a while longer, even after we got to Haven City, but I knew Claudette had her own things to take care of, but she was more than welcome to hang out with Abi and me for as long as she wanted.
“I’m glad you found some good friends.” Daven smiled at Abigail and me. “Ah, you seem to have found yourself some powerful friends. You’re the one who ran those Ruby Runners out of town?” Daven pointed a long finger at me.
I stepped forward and nodded. “Yeah, well, it was mostly him.” I looked down at Titan, who was right next to me.
“That’s a good little monster you have there. Make sure you take good care of him,” Daven eyed me as he spoke.
“Oh, I will,” I smiled back.
10
“Well, I wish you luck on all your endeavors,” Daven told us as he turned back to feeding the horses.
“Thanks,” I said as we loaded the rest of the sacks up onto Bawfa.
The giant beast didn’t seem to mind that we were loading heavy sacks up onto his back and strapping them firmly to his furry body. He just happily munched away on his hay and the few extra handfuls of feed from Daven.
“Thanks again for everything, Daven. Take care of yourself.” Claudette waved goodbye as she led Bawfa by the bit toward the portcullis out of Plott Town.
“Remember to take care of those monsters!” Daven called to us as we reached the tunnel through the cobblestone wall.
“I’ll always remember.” I waved back, feeling like that was a promise I made to both Daven and myself.
For a second, my mind flitted back to poor Hank laying on the green grass of the battlefield, totally knocked out and getting kicked and yelled at by Benny. The thought of it made me sick. I could never treat Titan, let alone any monster like that. Even the thought of hunting animals made me a little queasy.
I guess some people just didn’t care that much about their monsters and used them like a tool. I wished that wasn’t allowed, but apparently, some people like Benny could get away with it.
As I thought about Hank, I started to hope that I would see Benny again once we got to the city. I didn’t want to see Benny for his sake, though. I wanted to offer Hank that chance to have a better life. Maybe Hank didn’t realize that he could leave Benny and either seek out a better trainer or go off on his own. Maybe Hank just needed to know that it was a possibility.
We were about halfway through the tunnel out of Plott Town when a low rumbling broke me out of my thoughts. The tunnel walls, ceiling, and the ground beneath my feet vibrated. Only subtly at first, but it all increased in magnitude until the whole earth shook violently.
Abigail, Claudette, Kiba, Titan, and I tried to steady ourselves by pressing our hands up against the rumbling walls or grabbing onto each other or Bawfa, although even that big monster struggled to stay standing up straight.
People in the town screamed as the tremors continued for another minute, which felt like an eternity while it was happening. When the ground finally stopped shaking, and the unnerving rumbling subsided, we carefully stumbled out of the tunnel back into Plott Town.
“What was that?” Abigail breathed as we walked back toward the Trainer Center, where a group of people started to gather. They pointed at something off in the distance.
“It was an earthquake,” Claudette breathed as we turned around to see what everyone was looking at.
A way off in the distant, forested mountains, a black plume of smoke mushroomed into the blue sky. There were murmurings of an explosion, of hunters, of terrible things happening as people spoke in hushed whispers.
“I told you.” Claudette shook her head. “Weird things have been happening around here.”
The sound of boots marching in unison parted the crowd as another group of Monster Minders, dressed in their black and red armor, jogged up the hill.
“What’s happening?” Claudette called out to them as they ran past, heading for the tunnel.
“We think it was something to do with the Behemoth,” one of the Minders called back.
There were loud gasps and hisses of air as people responded with shock, along with more murmurings.
“The Behemoth?” I asked, trying to remember what I had learned about them, but my mind was coming up a bit blank.
“Yes, one of the six Behemoths lives in those mountains.” Abigail nodded her head toward the cloud of smoke. “He is the turtle Behemoth, Bagluf. He harnesses the power of the Earth.”
“So… did something just happen to him then?” I asked, concerned because I remembered hearing about how the Behemoths were viewed as god-like creatures.
“Well, if hunters have been seen in the area, it was probably them,” Claudette said mournfully. “I just hope Bagluf is okay.”
“So, these hunters are trying to harness Bagluf’s power? Would they really just blow a Behemoth up?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around what was happening. That earthquake was actually pretty intense.
“Well, I guess it depends on the hunter, but my guess is they would just try to harm him enough so that he can’t fight back,” Claudette explained, but her eyes stayed on the black cloud.
“I think any hunters that are willing to take on a Behemoth are trying to harness a monster’s power,” Abigail remarked. “These guys are probably pretty dangerous.”
“Could it have been something else?” I wondered.
“I don’t know what else it could be.” Claudette shrugged as she looked at me with worry on her face.
Abigail gently placed a hand on Claudette’s shoulder. “It’s okay. The Minders will take care of it.”
Claudette gave Abigail a sad little smile. “You’re right. They will handle it.”
After a little while of waiting to see if something else would happen, the townspeople dispersed as the smoke cloud finally dissipated into the blue sky.
“Well, should we head out?” I asked.
Claudette nodded. “We might as well keep on with our plans. Standing around isn’t going to do anything.”
For the second time, we made our way back through the tunnel leading out of Plott Town. As we were halfway through, I almost expected another earthquake to trigger. I think Abigail and Claudette had similar thoughts, too, because we all subconsciously slowed down a little bit and braced ourselves, but once we made it past the halfway point with no rumblings or tremors, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.
When we stepped out onto the other side of the stone portcullis, we found ourselves back in the lush jungle with the trees hanging over us. The path turned back to dirt and wound onward through the trees.
“Back out into the wild,” Abigail commented in her chipper voice as her soft hand slipped into mine.
“It’s really kind of peaceful out here, isn’t it?” I replied, smiling down at our hands clasped together.
“That’s one of my favorite things about being a Monster Trainer.” Abi skipped along happily next to me. She looked up into the trees with her bark-colored eyes. “You get to spend so much time outside.”
“That was one of the main reasons I became a trainer,” Claudette chimed in. She walked along on the other side of me, leading Bawfa on a rope, who slowly trotted along behind us. “Actually, it’s also the main reason I’m a hunter now, too. I loved being in the wilderness so much that I wanted to spend even more time out here.”
“I bet you can teach us a lot of skills then.” I took a chance and patted her shoulder to see how she would respond.
Claudette smiled at my touch. “I can. What kind of skills did you want to learn?”
“Well, surviving in the wilderness seems super helpful and hunting, too.” I nodded to Claudette.
“I can teach you a lot about both of those. First lesson.” Claudette raised up her pointer finger. “Make sure you always know what you’re working with, whether that’s with your equipment, your surroundings, your situation… you always want to be aware of what you have and what’s around you.”
“Okay, that makes sense,” I replied, but I knew all of this was a lot easier said than done and that it would take me a long time to get to the level that Claudette was at.
“Like this forest, for example, there’s always a lot that could happen from an animal attack to a run-in with hunters even, so it’s always good to know where you could go or what you could do in every situation. Oh! That reminds me!” Claudette stopped and whipped around, coming face to face with Bawfa.
The languid bandon, which was the type of monster Bawfa was, almost bumped his big, shaggy head into his friend but stopped just in time. Claudette pulled on a rope, bringing one of the sacks down to the ground. She dug through it and pulled out a few different items. Claudette closed the sack and heaved it up onto Bawfa’s back, where she secured it.
Claudette picked the items up and turned back to us. “Here. These will be very helpful out here.”
Abigail and I each grabbed leather jerkins and belts with sheathed daggers hanging from them.
“They’re not the best in terms of armor rating, but that leather will give you some protection, and there are a lot of pockets,” she shrugged. “The daggers will probably be the handiest, though.”
“These are great, Claudette!” I exclaimed as I put the jerkin on and checked through all the different pockets. It would actually really come in handy to keep all my important items in my pockets so they would be easily accessible, especially during a monster battle.
Abigail had the same idea and was already stuffing the pockets full of berries, sprays, and bandages.
Next, I unsheathed the dagger and turned it over in my hands. It was a hand-carved, fixed blade made from a beautiful piece of obsidian. It had a sturdy wooden handle with a lashing of braided leather rope woven around the handle for a better grip.
“Wow, this blade is really amazing,” I said as I practiced a few quick slashes through the air, not that I knew much about wielding a blade. “I’ll definitely need some practice with it.”
“Well, hopefully, you won’t need it for defense. That’s part of what Titan is here for, right? But that knife will definitely help you in survival situations. I’ll be sure to show you some things.” Claudette smiled brightly at us.
“Thank you so much for these,” Abigail said, echoing my sentiments.
“Hey, that’s what friends are for. I’m just glad I found some cool people to travel with.” Claudette twirled Bawfa’s rope around her arm and kept walking along the forest path.
“Man, I think I’m the lucky one,” I replied. “I mean, I get to travel with two very knowledgeable and exceptionally beautiful people.”
“Aw shucks, Tyler,” Claudette smirked as she eyed me and gave me her customary wink.
“You dork.” Abigail punched me hard in the arm, which I knew was her saying thanks.
“Ow.” I rubbed my arm but smiled at Abigail. “So, what’s lesson two of wilderness survival?” I asked, returning the conversation to what we had been talking about before Claudette stopped to give us our gifts.
“Lesson two,” Claudette repeated as she held up two fingers, “is to use your senses. This is very important and something you’ll learn to do even better the more you practice, like with most things.”
“Aren’t we always using our senses?” I asked, not fully understanding what Claudette was trying to teach us.
“Yes, of course, you do, but do you ever really think about using your senses on a regular basis?” Claudette turned and grinned at Abi and me.
I sniffled a little bit. “I guess not.”
“When you’re out in the wilderness, you should learn to open up your senses as wide as you can.” Claudette inhaled deeply. “Notice everything that you smell, how the air feels, and use all of your vision. Open up your hearing as much as you can.”
The three of us, along with our happy but still sleepy monsters, wandered along the forest path in silence for the next few minutes. I tried my best to do what Claudette had said, but it was a little difficult, to be honest.
