The snow was falling faster outside the building Wincent and his friends were currently in.
Just a few days ago they started their exploration to find any tracks of the Gore magala. Devon let them help out in finding it. Even though he did tell them to not go to far from any of the outposts.
Before they departed a few of the Palicos that were outside in the mountains had rushed back from outside. They frantically told Devon of what happened.
He decided to send a team of hunters there but it was a small chance of it still being there.
After they arrived at the cave they found it empty. Not that surprising considering that when they found it last time it also left that place as well.
That was only a few days ago and ever since then they have been looking for it but found nothing. But since they them selfs haven't ventured further away from any of the outposts ether it wasn't that surprising that they didn't find anything.
And since this species of monster is known to have a higher intelligence than other monsters it wasn't surprising.
They weren't the only ones looking for it ether. There are other smaller groups looking as well.
The main priority is finding it in a way that it won't see them so it doesn't leave that place they found it at, and they can finally hunt it down.
"Hey Wincent! We plan to go out for one last look inside the forest area! You coming?!"
Wincent was shaken out of his thoughts by Jack calling to him.
"Coming!"
Even though it will storm soon they probably have a few hours or so till it arrives at their location. Gathering his stuff he had put down he joined his friends.
' Maybe we will find something before the worst of the storm hits.'
Outside again it was much colder than the day before, the wind wasn't helping in that ether. And the snow was falling a little bit stronger as well.
Ignoring it he joined his friends and started their exploration once more.
The snow was already above their knees so walking was a little tricky. And in the middle of their walk Frank and Jack started a snowball fight, which turned into a wrestling match between the two of them.
' If we don't look at the reason why we are here in the first place this is actually quite nice.'
Continuing their walk while also looking out for the potential dangers the falling snow around them was slowly covering their tracks and other monster made tracks as well.
After a solid hour or so later while the sun was just in the middle of the sky they decided to stop and go back to the outpost. They won't find anything outside with the falling snow covering everything.
On their way back they almost didn't notice that a monster was watching them from the tree line. A Bariot.
Luckily they quickly evaded it's first sneak attack. But after that it was a tricky fight because of the deep snow. But they were of course winning.
Frank was shooting it from a distance while the others were doing their own attacks with their own weapons.
The fighting didn't last for long because the Bariot decided to flee from the fight. They were on guard for a while not knowing if it left because it decided that the fight wasn't worth it or because it saw a nother stronger monster.
Having made sure the cost was clear they lowered their weapons and finally relax enough to catch their breath. The snow storm has let up somewhat so they were able to see further. Which would have been a good thing any other time but not for the fact of what they saw coming towards them.
An avalanche and it was heading their way. Frank was the first to realise this. Looking back towards his friends to warn them about it, but it was unnecessary. They were already hurrying to get into cower from it.
All of them ether managed to get out of the way or find cover behind a sturdy tree. It was a nerve wracking experience for them. But after it passed Frank immediately started to look for the others.
Dorothy, Mary and Jack was easy to find since they were right behind him, but then when he looked for Wincent he didn't see him anywhere. But then he remembered that he was the furthest back from the group after they fight with the Bariot.
"Where's Wincent?!"
At his exclamation the others looked around in a panic as well.
"Let's not freak out now. We need to find him before anything else happens."
At Dorothy's words despite how her voice was slightly trembling the others started to look for Wincent in the area. This incident reminded them of what happened last time he was alone they wanted to find him quick and now.
And no matter how calm any of them tried to sound they knew they were just as worried as the other.
—————————————————————
Further down the mountain Wincent was climbing out of the snow he got half way buried in. Luckily he managed to stay somewhat on the top of the snow, and only he's legs got buried.
Up the mountain he tried to get out from the way of the avalanche but he wasn't fast enough and got caught in it.
So now he was at the bottom of the mountain. Finally being able to free him self from the snow he looked back up to where his friends possibly were. Even though he wasn't able to see the place his friends were anymore because of the falling snow he kind of knew around where his friends are supposed to be.
But before he could think of of a way to get back to them he felt the ground slightly give away under him. And before he could think about anything else he was already falling downwards.
"FU…!!"
And he was once again buried in snow. The fall wasn't as bad as he feared. But getting buried in snow once again, was getting annoying. Luckily the place he fell down to was already covered in snow as well cushioning his fall.
Slowly pushing the snow away from himself just incase, as soon as he was able to see his surroundings he first looked if they're any monsters around, but as he didn't see any he let out a long breath he was holding.
After that he looked where he was currently in. A big cave.
"Of course. Why not?~"
If his luck didn't run out before it's probably going to do that now. Looking up from where he had fallen in he tried to see if he could climb out, but was disappointed.
The walls were not offering any surface he could climb. With that he looked if there's anywhere he could go inside that may or may not lead outside to the surface.
After looking behind himself he saw the continuation of the cave. Having no other choice he carefully went inside. But not before he let out the Scouts Flies from the container to make sure it was safe or not.
"I'm so happy I brought these with me."
With a faint smile on his face he began his journey to leave the cave and rejoin with his friends who was most definitely freaking out about his disappearance.
The cave was not as dark as he thought. So he was able to see infront of himself most of the time. While walking he unfortunately had the time to think about what happened.
The timing of the avalanche wasn't weird. It was probably their fight with the Bariot that caused it while they were still fighting it. But no matter how hard he thought about it for some reason he got back to that mystery hunter he meet before.
He hates that in this moment he still can't forget about that. But after a little bit he managed to put that thought at the back of his mind.
And after he managed to think about anything else other than how this situation made him uncomfortable he quickened his steps.
"Plan. I need a plan. How do I get back to the others?"
"First I obviously need to leave the cave. And then see where I end up and see how to get back to one of the smaller outposts. Yeah, good plan."
With that he continued his walk in the cave.
—————————————————————
In the same cave where Wincent was trying to find a way out Franklin the Gore magala was resting at the moment, right by the entrance.
He was in a new location because the old one was attracting to many other monsters for his liking. The storm that was supposed to happen has calmed down a little bit. The wind and snow died down a bit but he isn't going to try his luck with flying since it can start back up at any time.
Inside the safety of the cave he was looking at the storm that he was experiencing first in this new world. But after watching the snow falling for a while he grew bored and sleepy.
Laying down further he let his own head rest on the ground so that he could have a nap in peace. That lasted for around two hours at max because of what he heard at the back of the cave startled him awake.
Rocks cracking and falling accompanied by a yell. A humans yell.
Staying where he was he weighed his options. He can quickly leave or stay and try to not get into a fight somehow. But he wasn't able to make a decision in time.
Because just a few seconds later he saw a hunter come out from behind the stone wall who was dusting himself of. But as soon as he spotted him the hunter ducked back behind the stone pillar with a muffled scream.
'Really nice first impressions here~. This is going to be a long day that's for certain.'
Having seen the hunters reaction of seeing him a long sigh escaped him.
He didn't wanted to go out into the blizzard just because he was found. And for the time being he decided to stay and see what the hunter will do.
—————————————————————
Up on the mountain Joel was looking down on the slope with binoculars.
He saw the avalanche while he was looking at Wincent and his friends to think of a plan of action when he saw the avalanche.
And to his delight Wincent got caught in it. After the avalanche passed he was looking down in it's path to see if he survived it somehow.
So he had a pretty good view of him falling down into a cave through the snow while his friends were looking for him still up on the mountain.
"Get out of this one if you are able to.~"
With a satisfied smile on his face he packed away his gear he was using and departed from his hideout to go to one of the outposts for the night.
He was happy that he didn't need to think of a plan to get rid of him.
"He's alone in a place he doesn't know, it would be a miracle if he were to survive."