Title: Lost Door
Deep in the Flooded Forest, a lone Jagras howled. Friends gone, home taken, a feeling of despair was all that's left behind. That, and the Jagras's life, and he planned to keep that at the very least. Rough as it may seem, the Jagras still had the intuition and know-how to traverse this maze of a forest.
Around every corner lurked someone better than him, more powerful than him, Anjanaths, Rathalos, even Bullfango he used to feast on. Safety spat in his face, at what possibility could he survive, was he doomed to die?
The Jagras sprinted in a random direction, circles, zig-zags, wind screamed in his ears, spiky shrubs grabbed his legs, barely missing but leaving a bloody scratch as a mark. The forest casted its monolithic shadow over him, urging him to run faster, deeper into the forest, tugging his legs out of heavy mud to reach somewhere "safe."
Past a few trees and a bitterbug something froze the Jagras in his tracks. It was large. Brown. Rectangular. Much like the wood around him. A spherical object splintered into the side. There was a word for this enigmatic object, however, no matter how hard he tried, the Jagras just could not remember. Should he dwell deeper, his curiosity was crying for him to but his instincts were pleading he leave.
The reptile approached closer, slowly, creeping towards the object and stealing a whiff of… mahogany. Curiosity begged the Jagras to seek further clarity. His tongue rolled out, scraped against the object, absorbing the taste of bark, and it felt coarse like one too. All signs pointed to this object being made of entirely wood. So, why was it so different from the other trees? Was it disfigured at birth? Or perhaps it shaped into this form.
Bumping his tail on the object revealed that it yielded quite easily, sliding away from the force of impact, but more importantly it revealed that the object had a frame at which it was embedded into the ground. And… that seemed to be all. What a waste of time. Upon further inspection this object was about as useless as a Chameleos hiding in bushes or a lone Jagras. That reminded him… he and the object weren't so different.
Reminded of his mortality, although it might have been a fun escape he couldn't stay forever. The Jagras headbutted the object open and stepped through. Then, light struck his eyes, shortly after, a piercing sound assaulted his ears. Disoriented and confused, the Jagras tumbled around with no sense of direction. The floor felt soft and fuzzy on his feet which was completely different from a few seconds ago.
Slowly, his eyes began to readjust and fade in an alien picture: Lights brighter and larger than a lanternbug surrounded him, the lights screamed in hieroglyphics, purring words he didn't understand. He looked to the floor, however, instead of dirt and mud he stood on something black and fluffy. Did he step into a trap, his curiosity ensnared him? Instincts told the Jagras to flee but he was petrified, like a Zinogre clobbered him upside the head with a lightning ball. "Run, run you fool, run!" Thought the Jagras, he scanned around, this place was a maze to him, nowhere seemed safe from the light, that piercing noise would always follow him no matter how far he ran. Either he could accept his fate and die, or fight. The fury inside of him lit ablaze, fight, he would fight for his last breath.
Jumping around, tossing tail sweeps left and right, bang! A crack in the light, he tossed another swing, bow! Crack! "Game over!" The light cried in pain. He was doing it, he was actually doing it! The Jagras took one final raise of his tail and— "Wow, look! It's a Jagras like in those games!"
The Jagras shot his gaze to the source of the noise with fear in his eyes. Before him stood a bipedal creature without fur or scales, pale and a patch of fur on their head. Colourful skin loosely hung from its body like armor. A human. "There's more than one?" That thought rebounded in his honeycomb-sized brain repeatedly. Human, like, the human that slew foes hundreds times their size, that human. "But wait, it's a child," Thought the Jagras, "an easy catch." But then, the Jagras thought, if one fully grown human could kill beasts that eat Jagras like him for a quick snack, how much weaker could a child be?
In the corner of his feral eyes he noticed movement, two tall figures casted their crushing gaze on him. Standing, frozen in time, just watching as the soul leaves his body. Curiosity lured him to the lion of the lion's den. "Holy crap, that looks so real! Hang on, I gotta take a picture!" One human raised a device and with a twitch of his fingers discharged a blinding amount of light, as if a flashbug combusted right in his face. Momentarily blinding him before his eyes adjusted to see that same human clutching a fist over him.
There was no time, the Jagras braced for impact before he got clobbered. Before he— the creature's claws scratched at his hips, slowly yet strongly rubbing to and fro, knocking the Jagras down. "What trick is this?" Asked the Jagras. His hips rolled over as if they had a mind of their own, unintentionally exposing his vital belly for the predator who took no time exploiting it. With sharp claws and a disarming face the human's claws rushed to slash at his stomach, spill his guts, then eat him.
"Who's a good Jagras?" Instead, the human's hand slid smoothly across the Jagras's belly and forced out a purring noise from him. The emerald spikes on his back stood up. From the core of his throat spilled a prolonged purr as the human spreaded his scent all over the Jagras. Soon enough, a crowd of humans circled around him, each one adding on some of their scent, on his wagging tail, his spiky back, even the vitals of his tummy. Throughout the entire time, the Jagras could only cry out a long purr of enjoyment as he was ensnared, tricked by the crowd. It was like he was hypnotized, none of his limbs obeyed him. Before he knew it, he was standing up and following a line of humans, each time they looked back at the Jagras he'd fall over and expose himself, each time they'd scratch at him and then try to flee.
The Jagras didn't understand, why did these humans flee, he was easy prey for them, was he not good enough to be eaten? No, there must've been something he was missing, he could smell no harmful intentions from the humans. Though he didn't understand, he attempted to empathize, perhaps he was being treated like he and his pack used to treat small Bitterbugs scurrying around their den. Personally, he always loved to step on them, never killing but always teaching a mean lesson, perhaps he was the bitterbug in this scenario, but something told him that was not the case. It was more like humans were a great Jagras, and he was like a small Jagras which flock around the greater one, the small ones appease the greater one who, in return, helps with hunting larger monsters. Was the Jagras… appeasing the humans? He didn't know, nothing could be explained.
The confusing day ticked by, slowly lending the reptile more and more knowledge of where he was, humans called this spot an "arcade", the light creatures surrounding them were sort of like the trees of this place, they may seem threatening but actually are quite tricky rather than strong, each one had its own trial a human seemed to have to complete before passing. No wonder how they got so strong, for the humans, traversing this area was a slice of honeycomb. They knew each little convoluted trap the objects hid, some required multiple humans, others required the humans to look at the light for a long time. One trial especially caught the Jagras's eye, it looked like a trial where the human controls a smaller human with a giant weapon and attacks monsters like the Kitzune and Rathalos, not even breaking a sweat throughout the entire fight. A light twinkled in the Jagras's eyes. "Humans are so incredible." the Jagras declared, so much time and dedication used solely to hunt. And yet the humans looked… happy. Everything they did looked so energetic and bold, like their life was never on the line, like hunting was entertainment. Fighting and slaying monsters ten times their size merely served as a pastime.
As he watched, a scent whispered to his nostrils, a meaty smell, the smell of food. He followed the scent around by sniffling until he reached the source. In front of him was a group of humans munching on these triangular slices of steaming food. Quietly the Jagras whined, this prey was already taken, he looked down with disappointment in his eyes. No use fighting, humans were far too strong for that to be an option.
"Hey cutie!" Yelped a human. The Jagras shot his head back. "Want some?" Outstretched was an arm with a slice of its prey in hand. The prey was the humans', yet it looked like they were sharing… much like his old pack used to. The hand loosely held out the slice with little effort and stretched it closer to the Jagras, batting not an eye as his maw opened up and swiped the food.
"Tasty!" The Jagras howled. Taste exploded in his mouth. The mysterious prey tasted so bitter yet so very sweet, it was warm yet not boiling hot, just the right heat to devour. Hypnotized by the taste, he sat down, the human was unstinging with his food and handed out more, more the Jagras bonded with that human. When they stood up he would as well, when they escaped this maze environment, he did so as well, following him all the way to their den. The human looked back confusingly, "uh… where's your owner buddy?" The Jagras dropped to the floor and rolled over, "Yes yes, you're very cute. But… damn… fine, I'll put out some missing posters later, for now you're coming with me."
A sparkle lit up in the Jagras's eyes as he stood up, tail swaying from side to side so quickly he could've knocked a Bnahabra out of the sky.
Sunlight struck the reptile for the first time in a long while. He looked around, noticed a familiar sight of trees, much smaller trees. The more he followed the human the more he got to see, white objects the size of Xeno'jiiva, floor as rough as a barroth's head, moving objects shot past him faster than a Valstrax, humans really outdo everything. Odd, the Jagras was outside, however, this environment was new to him, never has there been a forest filled with only one species. So odd.
Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. "You ready?" Cooed the human, standing in front of a massive object, that same object the Jagras saw in the Flooded Forest, the same object that brought him here.
Without so much as a moment of hesitation, it swung open for him.
Embraced by warmth, a familiar smell of coco tickled his nose, his head darted to each corner of the room, so many bright and vibrant colours, the floor was so very soft, and the entire den was so quiet. "Welcome home." This was home. Curiosity gave him a new home.
