With all those formalities out of the way, we can finally start hunting the beast! "Alright Lucarios, let's get this party started!"

"Very well, let's get going."

But before fighting the beast, I want to gauge how strong I would be in combat, well, really just how strong Lucarios is, considering I don't have any combat skills.

I run up to a boar that is minding it's own business. Another player runs up just when I do, he yells at me, "Hey you! Level 1 no armor noob! This is my prey, so you better scramble like an egg before you get folded like an omelette!"

Ugh, well I figured something like this was going to happen. He probably saw my beginner clothes and figured he could bully me out. Before I step in to argue however, Lucarios steps forward, "Nate, if I may?"

I nod. Lucarios takes this as a green light and steps towards the player, staring him down, "This is master Nate's prey. Please leave or suffer the consequences." 

Ok well that sounded kinda cringe. But it did get the point across so I'm not gonna step in and stop him. The player looks back at me with disgusted eyes, "What's this? Do you have to hide behind another player that you hired?" He then looks at Lucarios, "Did he hire you to do this?"

But Lucarios does not respond, so the player continues, "I'm taking that silence as a yes." He then looks at me again, "You disgust me, this is my prey so you better leave."

Now Lucarios does speak up, "We are not leaving. I'm giving you 10 seconds."

The player laughs, "Or what? You're gonna fight me? I don't know where you got that suit, but it clearly gives no protection! Or even better, you're gonna have that wimp behind you fight me!?" He burst out laughing.

Lucarios doesn't wait for the rest of the ten seconds to pass. He sprints up towards the player and slides towards the players feet.

The player whips out his sword, "Ha! That's not gonna work on me!" He strikes down on where Lucarios is about to slide into, hoping to catch Lucarios mid-slide.

But just when the sword is about to hit him, Lucarios disappears! Wait a minute, he didn't disappear, he right behind the player! With such great positional advantage on the player, a simple jab from Lucarios was enough to take him out. 

The player slumps over. Lucarios walks back over to me, "Don't worry, that wasn't enough to kill him."

I was kind of taken aback by Lucarios' combat, "Could you have killed him?"

Lucarios replies, "Probably. I didn't want to attract attention." 

I can understand not wanting to attract attention, but the armor on that player looked pretty nice. Oh well, I'm sure we'll get better gear soon.

Lucarios points to the monster on the ground, no, not the player, "Do you still want to kill that boar?"

"Not really, the whole point of fighting the boar was to gauge how strong you were. But that was accomplished by defeating the player." 

He nods, "Very well then. Let's get going for real now." 

I nod. "Yup, we have a giant beast to kill!" I look at the map and reorient myself so that I am facing the X, "Alright, I think just 10-15 minutes walking this way should get us to their village."

I start walking for about a minute before Lucarios interrupts me, "This simply won't do. There is no need to walk all the way there."

I look at him blankly, "What? Then how else are we supposed to get there?"

He smiles, "Simple." He mutters something under his breath. Just then a small black circle appeared on the ground.

I look at it, "Uh, Lucarios, what the heck is that."

He starts walking towards it, "Follow me." He then approaches the hole and does probably the last thing that I expected him to do. He jumped onto it.

But instead of hitting his feet on the ground, like all laws of physics would imply, he simple passes through the ground. 

I jump back from the circle, "Lucarios? Where did you go exactly?"

No response.

Ugh, looks like I have no other choice. I back up more from the hole to get a running start, I then run up to it and hop on in.

VROOSH. I don't know exactly where I passed through because all was dark, but it was really cold. I also heard a voice, 'Alright demons, this is it, your final training!'. And just like that I was shot up through another black hole, similar to the one I just entered from. When I opened my eyes I had already landed safely on the ground.

Lucarios is standing next to me, "So, that wasn't too bad, was it?"

I look at him, "Was that one of your 'abilities'?"

He smiles, "Perhaps."

I continue, "And that move used against the player, was that also an ability?"

"Perhaps."

I decide I want to get some answers, "Where do you get those abilities from?"

He stares off, "From the demon realm."

I can't tell if he is joking or not. But it seems clear to me he intends to be vague whenever I ask a question like that. 

I look around my surroundings for the first time. Lucarios wasn't kidding, he really did get me to the village almost instantaneously. From what the old man said, I expected the village to be destroyed, but looking at the village now, that may have been a bit of an understatement.

To start, the buildings and homes of the village were completely destroyed, only the base remains. Speaking of remains, there were dismembered human body parts all around. Probably the families of the homeless NPCs from earlier.

We weren't the first people to find this village though, that much was clear. Not only were there some boar and snake carcasses, but there were even some players milling about the destroyed village, looking for some loot that wasn't already snagged. Luckily, we don't have to talk with or even be seen by these people, mainly because we don't even have to enter the village.

I point towards some tall grass, "That looks to be the place of the beasts den."

Just then we hear a loud roar coming from that direction. Lucarios smiles at me, "Looks like we found our place."