{"title":"Monster Punk Horizon Battle Scarred Books","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"signed-print-battle-scarred-monster-punk-horizon-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT [BATTLE SCARRED]: Monster Punk Horizon (Monster Punk Horizon #1) (Paperback)","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eOccasionally I get weird books in my stock that are generally good quality, but have minor errors that make them not-full-price-worthy. These are some of those books! If you don't mind a copy that's a little less-than-perfect, though - here, have $5 off! :D\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook One in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-book-one-of-monster-punk-horizon\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWANTED: Monster hunters. Practical armor optional.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePix and Jaz are two girls who just want to hunt monsters, craft armor, and pay off their college loans\u003c\/strong\u003e—but when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, it’ll take all their skills to survive it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir skill levels? Slightly above noob.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, they have their oversized swords, a lot of sass…and one giant monster friend who might help them out.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a price…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Series:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-book-one-of-monster-punk-horizon\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from MONSTER PUNK HORIZON\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was the sort to over-prepare, and today she was glad she had.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe was already in her best armor, a combination of sturdy bone, fireproof Ignifex hide, and random metal pieces she’d found at the thrift shop, all obscured under a blue tabard because otherwise it looked mismatched and stupid. She hadn’t expected to need such armor today, but she’d only just carved the materials necessary to craft the Ignifex bits and wanted to break it in, and easy survey missions were perfect for that. Even so, she’d still brought two full flasks of Darla’s green bitterale and a selection of nut breads meant to counteract various adverse conditions, along with doubles of other standard kit components like jerky and bandaging for small injuries. She’d sharpened her grappler, recalibrated her podlauncher, outfitted her cloak with camouflaging Mantis Gems, and filled several pockets with charges for the centerpiece of her ensemble—her capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was about half the size of Jaz’s greatsword, but its primary difference was the cylinder at the base of its blade, loaded with a circuit of mysteric capacitors that would unleash a massive shock of whatever glitter magic she’d loaded. Though it wasn’t as impressive as Jaz’s weapon, it was still made of quality glistiron, and it was the best capacitor blade she could possibly build at this point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor someone of her experience, it was not a bad kit, but it was still lacking one thing …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, we really should consider hiring some Khatoyants if you’re going to go barreling off after colossal undocumented monsters,” Pix said as she and Jaz traipsed through the jungle. “At the very least for the extra eyes. Also, take off your dragon head. We don’t need to be attracting random Nutpidges with a new monster running about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz raspberried and yanked at the mask. Her goofy dragon sock pulled away to reveal a head of dark, sporty shoulder-length hair and skin that was much better suited to the high sun of the jungle than Pix’s pasty mayonnaise tone—but then that was why Pix equipped gems cut to deflect sunlight. Jaz, meanwhile, roamed the jungle in what amounted to monsterskin hot pants and whatever other starter pieces looked interesting at the thrift shop, which put her in a mess of bones, leather, and fur that while equally as ridiculous as Pix’s armor, at least had the good fortune to occur in matching shades of red.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve got too many college loans to be thinking about Khatoyants,” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If we had Khatoyants looking out for us, we’d bring in \u003cem\u003emore loot\u003c\/em\u003e that would help us \u003cem\u003epay off our loans faster\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued. “Not to mention we’d be less likely to die.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If I die, my college loan problem is solved.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Does your dragon line regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNearly every native under the Dazzling Skies had dragon blood somewhere in their ancestry, a consequence of the Elder Dragons being one of the first races to fall from the sky when it had opened. They fell asleep soon afterward, but not before fear of their own extinction led them to reproduce with the other original skybornes (after taking the proper form, of course. Back then, the Elder Dragons frequently spent time in simpler forms for the quaint amusement of it).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dragon line had still nearly died out, as most of the other races had been genetically incompatible, but fortunately for the dragons, there had been one race that wasn’t. Humans, it turned out, were not only genetically compatible with most other skybornes, but would copulate with literally \u003cem\u003eanything\u003c\/em\u003e if they were bored or curious enough, as long as it talked and had bulges in interesting places. There hadn’t been many humans in the early days, but that hadn’t stopped them from contributing their bipedal build, general resilience—and, some claimed, their species’ innate luck—to the vast majority of the now-native population. Between magical dragon blood and lucky human blood, most natives were well-equipped for the extreme situations under the Dazzling Skies, but different lines bestowed different benefits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncluding the ability to \u003cem\u003eliterally not die\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz looked up in rare thought, as if she’d never pondered her dragon line before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come to think of it … I \u003cem\u003edon’t\u003c\/em\u003e know,” she said. “Does yours regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No. My dragon ancestry is so diluted by this point that the only thing I get out of it is pointy ears.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz felt the tips of her ears as if she hadn’t been living with them her entire life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. My ears are \u003cem\u003eway\u003c\/em\u003e pointier than yours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eMy point is\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued, “you should figure out whether you’re going to come back before you start making escape plans that end with dying. Besides, if you actually die, your family’s going to come after \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You say that as if we’re not likely to die together.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point is to not die \u003cem\u003eat all\u003c\/em\u003e.” Pix rolled her eyes for the fifth time in as many minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReally, it was astonishing they’d been partners this long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d met on the mainland at Mysteric University, where an abysmally inaccurate roommate pairing algorithm had placed the level-headed, academically-minded Pix with … well, all that was Jaz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had A Plan. She was going to study Monstrous Ecology with the express intent of researching the monsters and biomes across the Dazzling Seas. Simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz had No Plan. She majored in something random because her interests changed every semester anyway, and when she found out Pix was heading to the Monstrous Continent, she figured she’d come too because why not?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz was from an elite family on the mainland who didn’t think well of her becoming a monster hunter when they’d planned for her to join her sisters in the family business. Monsters on the mainland had evolved differently than those of the Monstrous Continent. The fauna here had been roaming without significant civilized influence for centuries. “Monsters” on the mainland, if one could even call them that, had developed alongside advancing society, and these days the two existed in a close, symbiotic relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere the Monstrous Continent was largely wild and unsettled, the Wondrous Continent had few unexplored corners. Over the centuries, people and their companion monsters had sewn an eclectic blanket of civilization over the land, from the garden of parks and pastel cottages that made up Indigo Town, to the blue-green sprawl of roots, treehouses, and seafront that was Mangrove Beach, to the glowing metropolis of jewel-toned skyscapers that made up Opal City—at the heart of which beat Mysteric University, the headquarters of all monster-related research. The natives and skybornes had worked together to conceive it, of course, but it was all facilitated by the unique powers of the monsters themselves, such that they were inseparable from its success.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose mainland monsters still needed ways to expend their excess mysteric energy, though, and over the years Jaz’s family had built a sporting empire out of that basic need. Team Red was one of several champion franchises, and Jaz was supposed to be one of her family's monster-training champions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProblem was, Jaz was absolute dung at anything that involved strategy. Her family had sent her to college hoping she’d develop some skills that would be useful on the sidelines, but she was dung at anything that involved structure, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe wore her family name like a straitjacket. And when Pix told her about her plans for the Monstrous Continent, that straitjacket broke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome people were not meant to live in organized societies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaspartina Red was one of those people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe thrived on the unpredictable energy of chaos, and that made her perfectly suited to this world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, it also meant she regularly brought chaos with her, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Extreme circumstances often led to extreme discoveries, after all, and though Jaz was unbridled, she wasn’t careless. Not \u003cem\u003ecompletely\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was what kept Pix with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor though Jaz brought her own breed of trouble, she was the kind of person who would merrily go to the Hellpits and back for her friends and somehow bring some demonfey home for drinks afterward so they had drinking buddies for the next time they ended up in said Hellpits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd a person who could turn demonfey into friends was a truly useful one indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was fairly certain Jaz was after this new monster specifically so she could befriend it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut even that wasn’t entirely inconvenient.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs they walked, Pix opened her logbook to a clean page in the back and marked it for future use. The pattern bellowed on the harbor’s Skull Organ was clear: observation only, unless the need for a hunt became obvious. After all, in cases like this, there was always a chance that the monster was not innately aggressive, but rather just scared and alarmed at suddenly being in a strange new world. They could decide whether it was truly dangerous after they knew a bit more about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz, in front, crouched to examine a set of indentations in the soil: four digits radiated out from the central metacarpal pad like sunbeams cresting the horizon, ending in sharp, deep claw marks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ignifex on the field,” she reported. “The print’s still sharp around the edges, so it’s pretty fresh.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh, we \u003cem\u003eso\u003c\/em\u003e don’t need to deal with an Ignifex today,” Pix sighed, as Jaz put her face to the track and sniffed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Smells like he’s amped up his mucus production, too,” she continued. “He’s agitated.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need an agitated Ignifex even less,” Pix groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or we could be lucky this new thing wandered into Ignifex territory,” Jaz replied. “Maybe it’s weak to fire and general whompings.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When have we ever been that lucky—oh, dung!” Pix exclaimed, for just as she said the operative word, a warbling belch of a roar split the air, and a massive, sinuous shape reared from the shadows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, plopped from the shadows. But with an Ignifex, even a plop was the stuff of nightmares and a sudden need for fresh pants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex was most simply described as a salamander, if a salamander was fifteen feet long with muscular, tensile legs that could launch it an equal length; a ripped, red chunky body that could slam nearly any creature into submission with a single blow; and a goofy, goggle-eyed face with a swollen neck-pouch that made one question whether this monster had put on the right head when it left to go to prowl that morning. As if that wasn’t enough, its entire body shone with a thick reddish mucus—and the source of many of the rainforest’s woes. For when the Ignifex felt truly threatened, it clicked a hard plate at the front of its mouth ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t let it click!” Pix screeched, and with one fluid, instinctive motion, both hunters snatched their weapons from their holsters—Jaz her beloved greatsword, and Pix her nearly-as-beloved capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnfortunately, caught off guard and within a foot of the monster’s death plop, they were in no position to stop it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster clacked its bony beak. A tiny spark spat from its mouth—and then flashed across its entire body in an enormous \u003cem\u003ewhoomph!\u003c\/em\u003e of flame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz and Pix threw their blades up as shields, but that didn’t stop odd flecks of flaming mucus from splattering off the creature and onto their armor. Pix didn’t worry; her Ignifex hide pieces were naturally resistant to the mucus flame. Jaz was not so lucky. She still wore her novice leathers because they were comfy and broken in, and only that—but then Jaz had once cooked a corn dog with her bare hand on a dare and came away with exactly one blister, so fire didn't matter to her dragon line as much as it did to Pix’s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth leapt to keep their distance as the Ignifex lunged and rolled, scattering its mucus flames around the underbrush and igniting everything it touched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut less and less as the minutes passed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn Ignifex never burned for more than a few minutes. Usually that was all the time it needed to scare off a threat—as long as that threat wasn’t a hunter hoping to cull the population. Ignifex was considered the apex predator of the area closest to Skull Harbor. Thus far lacking a natural predator and prone to setting the forest on fire, it was one of the few monsters actively culled as a genuine threat to the ecosystem—not to mention a source of useful resources and a fair test of a young hunter’s skill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt took a fairly experienced hunter to bring one down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix and Jaz were \u003cem\u003ejust barely experienced enough\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith another irritated warble-roar, the Ignifex rolled off the last of its defensive mucus, and Pix saw her moment. She queued up a glitterblue capacitor—Ignifex hated the chills that water magic unleashed on the body—while Jaz just wound up to chop the heck out of whatever part her blade hit. Her opal would do the rest of the work for her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey both watched for the Ignifex’s tells—a grunt, a roll, a bumbling crouch. They weren’t fast monsters. In fact, they were rather clumsy, but very often that clumsiness caused them to bumble into a single good hit—and with its fearsome girth, one hit was all an Ignifex needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere came the crouch!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster sprang for Pix. She jumped out of the way, just in time for Jaz to swing her sword into the creature’s head in a spray of magical blue sparkles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSo the opal chose water magic, too,\u003c\/em\u003e Pix observed. It didn’t kill the creature—Ignifex skulls were dense, and made fantastic shoulder pauldrons, for that matter—but the heavy impact \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e addle the beast enough for Pix to leap onto its back and plunge her blade into the red gems that grew along its spine. She squeezed the first trigger branching over her hilt, and at once the cylinder glowed with a great, blinding crack. When the charge was at its brightest, she squeezed the second trigger. The central chamber of her blade radiated pure, glittering blue; a cloud of sparkling magic particles blasted out from the wound, and the Ignifex screeched as if it had just gotten brain freeze all over its body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pix, look out!” Jaz shouted, but Pix knew what she was yelling for. Before she could pull out the blade, the Ignifex rolled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone knew to look out for that sort of move. The Ignifex liked to lure enemies close with the promise of an easy blow, only to turn their proximity against them with a lazy, vicious belly flop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut knowing it was coming and successfully avoiding it were two completely separate things. Especially when one's foot was planted on a weakened piece of gem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex lurched, and the crumbling gem on its back shattered under Pix’s heel. But she was Pix, and as such, she was prepared for this, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe twisted midair, jammed the point of her capacitor blade into the ground, and then pulled her final, special trigger. Her blade split down the middle, revealing a glowing spellglass rod, and with another flick of her second trigger, it unleashed a blinding beam of blue light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combo wasted one of her charges, but it also blew her backward, out of the Ignifex’s reach, and she landed and slid to a solid, practiced stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d discovered that move completely by accident in her first week of hunting, then practiced it over months at the training grounds, and as excessive as it was, it had come in handy more than once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex paused at the end of its roll, confused that it hadn’t felt a satisfying, crunchy squish, and now its goggled eyes looked in Pix’s general direction as if reconsidering the life choices that led it to attack this clever creature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCan we get it to run?\u003c\/em\u003e Pix wondered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr \u003cem\u003ewould\u003c\/em\u003e have wondered, if she hadn’t been interrupted by a brain-shattering screech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProtected by their Earworms, she and Jaz didn’t hear its full terror, but the Ignifex did, and it yowled as if the sound had reached straight into its little walnut brain and pureed it into a nice, smooth spread that would go well on some toasted brown bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled out of the Ignifex’s path and rejoined Jaz, just as another shadow descended over the trees—and sent a sharp, barbed whip of an arm straight through the Ignifex’s skull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex didn’t even cry out. It crumpled like a sad pile of rejected sausage meat, the apex predator of the Skull Harbor Jungle reduced to nothing with a single \u003cem\u003esnik!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Told you it wasn’t a vegetarian,” Jaz whispered through her Earworms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to hide!” Pix spat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt that, the two hunters scrambled for cover. Even someone as freewheeling as Jaz knew, scared or not, a creature that could take out an Ignifex with one blow was serious business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth snatched their cloaks from their kits and flung them over their heads as they waited for it to land, better to obscure themselves for observation and to increase their likelihood of not joining the new monster’s kebab.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had mostly equipped Mantis Gems because she had \u003cem\u003ea ton\u003c\/em\u003e of them and didn’t own any of the really good defensive gems yet, but of all the things she was glad to have packed today, she was particularly glad for these. Most cloaks were at least minimally good for hiding, but once she fastened the two gems in her neck clasp together, her entire image wavered until the details of her form were obscured, as if in a heat haze. No lapidary had yet found a cut that could render full camouflage from a Mantis Gem, but this was good enough to fool most monster eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow safely hidden, Pix nestled behind a large fern and opened her book to her marked page, ready to record once the monster landed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact the next time they heard it screech, it was deeper into the jungle and far enough away that it must have forgotten its kill nearly as soon as it was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not killing for food,” Pix said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that was no accident,” Jaz echoed, separating the gems on her own neck clasp. “You can’t spear an Ignifex brain by accident.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix nodded, and then pulled a little flare gun from her kit and fired three red bursts into the air. Soon after, the resonant notes of the Harbor’s Skull Organ blared out over the jungle, the new tune relaying new orders: \u003cem\u003eThis monster is dangerous. Initiate hunt.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need to research it before we even have a chance of bringing it down,” Pix said, standing and returning her items to her kit. “Wait—what are you doing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Getting my pauldron,” Jaz replied. She’d brought out her carving knife and had begun to slice through the monster’s skin with a practiced hand that had done so many times before. “No point in letting this big boy go to waste. Plus I’m sure we’ll be able to find a fire station that’ll buy the fireproof leather off us. Not to mention all the stuff we can use the fat for.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We don’t have time!” Pix objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You want to leave him for the Waspas?” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, if we had Khatoyants, they could do the carving for us while we continued the hunt.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother screech went up in the distance. Likely another meaningless kill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Jaz huffed, then put away her carving knife and unrolled a little red flag from her pack, sewn with the insignia of the Dragon Pig Pirates. She tied it around one of the dead monster’s horns, then rigged a small trap of stink bombs so that anyone who moved it would get a malodorous surprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrap set, she stood back to admire her work with a smug smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled her eyes, and the two set off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe screeching creature never landed, but despite the lack of tracks, it wasn’t hard to follow. Persistent screeches aside, it left a trail of punctured corpses, mostly Ignifex, all dead by no effort at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe latest hung from a mess of thick vines as if caught there mid-leap and showed no signs of struggle, just a single bloody jab through the skull and a more-goggled-than-usual face frozen dead, mid-confusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s only killing apex predators,” Pix said. “Could be asserting dominance.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh. What’s it going to do when it figures out \u003cem\u003ewe’re\u003c\/em\u003e the actual apex predators?” Jaz groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix didn’t want to think about that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to pursue it,” she said. She tried to sound bold, but the truth was, she didn’t want to think about what would happen when they caught up with it, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were already dangerous monsters in this world, of course—and she and Jaz hadn’t even faced most of them yet—but inevitably \u003cem\u003esomeone\u003c\/em\u003e had, and there were always veteran hunters who had hunted native monsters so frequently they found even the mysterious eldritch variants predictable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut skyborne monsters like this one, with no connection to this natural world ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot even a legendary hunter like the Madmiral would know where to start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55486272733475,"sku":"MPH-DAMAGED","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Monster_Punk_Horizon_Battle_Scarred_Shopify.png?v=1787151260"},{"product_id":"signed-print-battle-scarred-isekai-skies-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT [BATTLE SCARRED]: Isekai Skies (Monster Punk Horizon #2) (Paperback)","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eOccasionally I get weird books in my stock that are generally good quality, but have minor errors that make them not-full-price-worthy. These are some of those books! If you don't mind a copy that's a little less-than-perfect, though - here, have $5 off! :D\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Two in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew to the Monster Punk Horizon series?\u003c\/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/holowriting.myshopify.com\/products\/monster-punk-horizon-ebook\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003eStart here!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/isekai-skies-monster-punk-horizon-book-two\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI Got Engaged and Ended Up in Another World!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn epic convention. An epic cosplay. An epic engagement. It was the best night of Kaito’s life—until the ground opened up beneath him.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, technically, a portal did. Either way, it sucked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow, trapped in another world with rampaging monsters, he’ll have to learn to survive. Fortunately, this world is conveniently similar to his favorite video game. And he’s got monster hunting experts (?) Pix and Jaz to show him the ropes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith their help, he \u003cem\u003emight\u003c\/em\u003e last long enough to find a way home.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut if not, at least he’ll have fun hunting monsters before he dies!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn action-packed GameLit adventure for fans of monster hunting and portal fantasy!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Series:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/isekai-skies-monster-punk-horizon-book-two\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from ISEKAI SKIES\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll the neon and body odor assaulting Kaito’s senses suggested he’d been trapped inside a cyberpunk dystopia. Really, it was just the Saturday night masquerade at Wyvern Con.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe event had done a solid job of capturing its theme. The convention odors only added to the simulated realism. Elaborate holographic displays around the room projected energetic, glowing, futuristic dancers to make up for the crowd of nerds who were too awkward or else too drunk to dance coherently. Bright strips of searingly colored lights wove in technological patterns around the dark walls, and snack vendors wandered around with hovering, ramshackle-looking food carts while a small army of server robots puttered around to make sure everyone was staying hydrated. Occasionally one of them would go rogue and malfunction, in keeping with the theme, and to complete the atmosphere, an even larger army of drones buzzed behind the throbbing industrial-electronic music, red eyes sweeping down in oppressive gazes as if on the lookout for whatever wrongthink threatened the power of this dystopia’s dictator. Really they were just taking pictures for the con’s social media feeds, but if modern history had taught him anything, it was that people were willing to overlook dystopian behaviors as long as they were fun in the moment, so he figured he might as well work that into the theme.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe drones were his work, as were the non-malfunctioning hydration bots. (He’d seen too many engineering jokes go horribly wrong to ever want to \u003cem\u003efake\u003c\/em\u003e a malfunction.) They were a small part of the overall operation, but he was pleased with the work, especially since everything was running smoothly, and especially since Frankie was there to see it, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe stood next to him in their operations kiosk, flipping through several data screens to monitor the status of the night’s operation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, you may want to check the feed from Drone 2,” she said. “I think someone just had an X-rated cosplay malfunction in that area.” She flicked to another screen. “Drone 5’s looking a little drunk, too. I think the one buster sword that bumped it might have jarred its environmental sensors.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Got it,” Kaito said, and ordered Drone 5 to come in as he deleted the unfortunate snapshot from Drone 2 before it could post. “We may want to think about changing out the sensors next upgrade,” he added. “If they can’t take a bump from a cosplay sword, they’re not worth very much.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Already on it,” Frankie replied. “They’re not as consistent as I’d like anyway, so I started researching other options a few weeks ago. Once we have a few more events under our belts, I figured I’d go ahead and upgrade them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Works for me,” Kaito smiled, glad for another small thing to like about Frankie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d met on their first day of class in their first year of college, when both had shown up early to claim the best seat by the holo-professor’s projector. People weren’t required to show up in person for class anymore, professors included, not since the fourth Beer Plague had remade society into the socially distant utopia of every introvert’s dreams—but Kaito liked the intellectual exchanges of a group setting better than the dull distance of a virtual classroom. Especially since most of the students in those virtual classrooms were actually looping videos the real students had set in the gallery to make it \u003cem\u003elook\u003c\/em\u003e like they were present. The people who made the effort to come in person, in contrast, were more likely to put in effort on everything else, and someone who made that effort \u003cem\u003eearly\u003c\/em\u003e, well …  \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was the third thing Kaito liked about Frankie.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first two were that she was 1) a cute girl, and 2) a cute girl in Electrical Engineering 101, which had basically been his only standards at that point. But then she’d recognized the stars and monsters of the Fifth Fleet crest on the keychain hanging from his lanyard, and then shown him the Fifth Fleet gene tattoo growing in the pigmentation on her arm.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito didn’t believe in signs so much as lucky coincidences, but really, in a century where nearly all video games were virtual immersions, what were the odds of finding another person who both enjoyed vintage console emulators, \u003cem\u003eand\u003c\/em\u003e enjoyed the same centuries-old classic game enough to have one of its icons genetically modified onto her body?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was truly the luckiest of coincidences, and now, four years later, it was coming to its first peak.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe had the code for the rings queued up in his internal dataframe. At the right moment, he’d open his palms, and the digital infrastructure coursing through the nanites in his veins would project the images above his hands. One ring would show the sigil of an iconic blue leonine dragon—not her favorite monster, but one of them, and anyway the meaning would become clear with the second ring, and second monster—the red companion to the blue.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe half that completed the pair.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf she accepted, he’d pass the code into her dataframe and her own nanites would project the ring around her traditional ring finger. There would be some to-do afterward as they arranged how much of their dataframes they’d share and whether their post-college expenses could support a full physical wedding or a mere virtual one. (Tradition dictated that significant rites of passage required physical presence, but then, tradition had never had to pay college loans.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTonight, though, was the fun night, and they’d chosen to spend it in the most appropriate way they could imagine.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dancers were Frankie’s. Frankie did not dance. Not well, at least. But she watched a lot of K-Pop music videos, so she knew what good dancing looked like, and she’d analyzed the rhythms of modern dance music to design an animation cycle that could go with nearly any song that would be played at an event like this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNext to him, she bobbed her head to the music as she monitored the datafeed on her glasspad, keeping eyes on all of her holographic dancers. It wouldn’t have been a romantic evening to anyone else, but to them, working together on a mutual project, showing off their work to each other was one of the most romantic ways to pass the time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven more so because it involved cosplay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrankie stood next to him in a costume she’d been perfecting for months before she finally ran it off their hotel’s textile printer the night they’d arrived at the con. The costume looked like a medieval adventurer’s regalia, if that regalia was designed by a 31st century high schooler who loved medieval costume but whose knowledge of said costume was only informed by medieval fantasy anime and assumed that medieval clothiers had access to fashion design resources like AutoCAD and 3D printers capable of infinitesimal detail. There were so many embellishments on her jacket lapels alone that Kaito could never see that coat being practical for an actual adventurer, much less the oversized scythe she’d hooked to her back. But then, he supposed he shouldn’t expect historical accuracy from a show titled\u003cem\u003e Oh Shit! I Killed the Grim Reaper! Now I’m the Grim Reaper!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStrangely, it was one of the better offerings in the re-emerging genre of isekai anime. That particular genre had originated centuries ago, and ever since, every other generation of light novel writers and animation studios had rediscovered it and put a new spin on it, such that it had become as time-honored a genre as mecha, magical girl, or fanservice anime. The original, classic iteration had seen its protagonists transported to other worlds, usually fantasy worlds with video game trappings like measurable stats, skills, and power leveled through experience points. Usually there was also a goddess or equivalent cute female involved in getting the hero’s adventure off to its start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe modern iteration still saw its heroes transported to video game-like fantasy worlds, but the current trend often featured overpowered heroes accidentally killing gods or similar figures and then having to take their place, which led to series like \u003cem\u003eReborn as Zeus! How Will I Find Time To Sleep With All These Babes?\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eMy Little Sister Can’t Be Loki, Can She?\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eFuck You, I’m Satan Now!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito had never really enjoyed the genre because he didn’t buy the trope of a regular guy suddenly becoming OP enough to \u003cem\u003eaccidentally kill a god\u003c\/em\u003e, of all things, but Frankie was all for their general absurdity, and occasionally she’d stumble upon one that handled its absurdities with unexpected panache. \u003cem\u003eOh Shit! I Killed the Grim Reaper!\u003c\/em\u003e was one of those and had become one of their shared favorites, so it was only natural that they chose to cosplay its two leads for their engagement con.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrankie was Persefonii von Totenkopf, granddaughter of the titular Grim Reaper, who’d been next in line for the position until granddad went to reap protagonist Kuro from the site of his murder—and discovered that a sinister force had set \u003cem\u003ehim \u003c\/em\u003eup to be reaped instead. According to the rules of this world, anyone who managed to kill a Grim Reaper had to take that Reaper’s place, so the sinister forces granted Kuro the power to do that, for reasons the show still had yet to clarify. (It was complicated. There were lots of weird anime politics involved.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito had naturally elected to be Kuro and lucked out in that the character was so adamant about not being a Grim Reaper that he refused to wear the complicated reaper’s uniform. Instead, he wandered the obvious fantasy world of the setting in the same white shirt and dark pants of every other generic anime hero, distinguishable from the others only by the cute, stylized skull mask that magically perched on the side of his head. It was the source of his reaper power and had a sentience of its own that refused to let him break it or take it off, except to move it to his face and thus access his reaper abilities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, the mask was the most complicated part of his outfit, both canonically and technically, for when he moved it to his face, it would trigger a program that projected Kuro’s truly badass reaper form onto the dataframes of nearby viewers. Nearly everyone at these cons left their dataframes open to receive cosplay information, especially since so many costumes now had virtual components. He was saving that for the next morning, however, when half the con would be hungover on overpriced, 3D-printed spirits, and the hotel floors would be clear enough to accommodate the visual space the projection took up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy now the alcohol was well into taking effect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito could see it in the way the already awkward dancers were becoming sluggish and stumbling out of the masquerade room to find a bathroom or else the next late night—well, early morning panel, by this point. Soon the DJ announced the last song, the hydration bots shifted to host mode to shoo the remaining hangers-on out, and Kaito and Frankie made to break their equipment down into its nanobot components for reassembling at their next event, whenever that was booked. If they were lucky, word would spread about their work this night and their ambient robotics business would get off to a solid start. It \u003cem\u003ehad \u003c\/em\u003ebeen an excellent night so far.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow only one thing remained to make the weekend perfect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito traipsed out of the masquerade ballroom, his chest suddenly tight with simultaneous nerves and excitement. As if by instinct, he reached into his pocket, produced a little tin, and popped one of the hard candies inside into his mouth. There wasn’t anything special about the candy, except perhaps its taste—a weird combination of spicy sugar and bacon that shouldn’t have worked together but did. Nonetheless it had somehow become the comfort food that he gravitated toward when nervous. He eased the tin back into his pocket like a talisman.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What are you nervous for?” Frankie prodded, eyeballing the tin with a grin. “Everything’s going the way we planned.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito just shrugged. He didn’t know why he was nervous. He knew she’d say yes. Heck, she knew the proposal was coming. They’d planned it, because they were engineers, and that was what engineers did, and he’d specifically planned it for tomorrow, once they’d rested and could fully appreciate the moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I don’t know,” he said. “Habit?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust then, somewhere, a crowd of cosplayers struck up the iconic song from the Season 7 climax of \u003cem\u003eOh Shit! I Killed the Grim Reaper!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe remaining people in the hall crowded over to watch the spectacle—and truly it was a spectacle. A chorus line of thirteen Reaper Maids—well, men dressed as the Reaper Maids—kicked up a performance that could only have been the result of intense practice. Somewhere a companion set of Reaper Maids—actual maids this time—joined in, and the odd glance began to pass Kaito and Frankie’s ways, perhaps wondering if they’d join in.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen Kaito realized Frankie was not only wearing Persefonii’s costume from that season, but from \u003cem\u003ethat exact scene\u003c\/em\u003e, and he remembered what happened after that scene.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe floor around them was clear. There was room. Heck, they were even standing on this particular hotel’s iconic, obnoxious carpet—which Frankie \u003cem\u003ealso\u003c\/em\u003e had tattooed on her in the shape of Wyvern Con’s logo. It was one of those magical moments that just \u003cem\u003ehappened \u003c\/em\u003eat cons, and nothing he’d planned for tomorrow could compare to the absolute serendipity of this moment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have an idea,” Kaito said, heart suddenly pounding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey stood in the center of the carpet, and Kaito pulled his mask down over his face.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe final form of his Reaper—Reaper God Kuro—blossomed over the dataframes of every onlooker. The stylized skull mask transformed into a truly fearsome death’s head; dark smoke poured from its edges and wrapped around his body to form the hood and length of his quintessential reaper robe and then spread over the floor in a roiling sea of black that crackled with red energy. One errant coil of smoke coalesced into his elaborate and wildly impractical but nonetheless hella badass scythe, and when he tapped it to the floor, a massive blast of bright red lighting cracked over him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrankie looked on with eyes wide and manic with excitement—and confusion. She hadn’t seen this costume yet, but she’d seen the show, and she knew what was coming.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This is ahead of schedule!” she exclaimed, with a voice that hated surprise schedule changes—and yet was exploring the possibility of being totally cool with this one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito abandoned his ring plan for later. Instead he did a quick dataframe search for Kuro’s monologue from that scene and recited it, verbatim, his voice booming with newfound acceptance of his authority as the Grim Reaper. He declared the creation of the Kingdom of the Undead and asked Persefonii to join him as his Reaper Queen, all while the Reaper Maids’ song came to a crescendo in the background. (Season 7 had been a weird one.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe manic glint in Frankie’s eyes brightened as she realized the ridiculous truth of the situation. She promptly queued up Persefonii’s reply, as if they’d planned this all along—and then jumped to kiss Kaito—er, Kuro—on his skeletal cheek.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat hadn’t been part of the original scene, but fortunately Kaito had enough brain left in that moment to trigger Reaper God Kuro’s embarrassed emote, which looked intentionally hilarious on his otherwise imposing form, and elicited cheers and squeals of delight from people who recognized the scene and what was happening.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKaito felt glasspads and camera drones on them as onlookers recorded the spectacle for their social feeds, and perhaps Kaito would have been self-conscious, but right now Frankie hugged him like Persefonii did Kuro in the cuter moments of she show, and in this pure, perfect, ridiculous moment, this was all he wanted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was when the world tore open, right beneath his feet.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp style=\"text-align: center;\"\u003e* * *\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe didn’t know what had happened at first.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust that the world was there, and then suddenly not. Then he heard a great, thunderous crack, and he was falling end over end above an ocean that sparkled like a pool of liquid sapphires.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe must have lost consciousness because when he opened his eyes again, it was to the sight of a crowd of cosplayers gathered in what looked like an open-air, jungle-inspired eatery themed, strangely, after the franchise he and Frankie had bonded over. But Frankie was nowhere to be seen. He didn't remember a place like this advertised in any of the thirty Wyvern Con hotels. And he \u003cem\u003ewould\u003c\/em\u003e have known about a place like this. It would have been one of their must-sees.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWas his dataframe glitching, then? Had he overloaded it with his cosplay program?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat wouldn’t be unusual for the cheap student-priced nanites he had running through his veins. Sometimes when their processes got confused, they’d default to opening his last Immersive Video Game file and immersing his senses in whatever IVG he’d been playing, but that was easily handled through a reboot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe sent the mental command for all the nanites to shut down and waited for the dampening of senses that accompanied a reboot. After all, the nanites enhanced and modified every aspect of his experience of the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNothing happened.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was weird, but also not uncommon. He triggered the back-door command he’d programmed in for instances like this.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAgain, nothing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow the other cosplayers were beginning to notice him, as if they somehow hadn’t noticed him before, and he realized he was lying prone on a coarse wooden tabletop ... with a little winged pig glaring down from its place on his chest. Suddenly, too, he realized he could feel the discomfort of the little pig’s weight. It wasn’t altered or dampened by his sensory nanites. In fact, he could feel the pressing heat of what felt like a very real sun—no, suns \u003cem\u003eplural\u003c\/em\u003e?—and smell the uncovered stink of bodies that had been laboring in those suns all day, combined with the absurdly appealing aroma of a gourmet kitchen.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd then, the horrible realization hit him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis had all the hallmarks of an IVG virus.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe’d heard of the perception-altering viruses that spread at cons, usually as pranks. In fact, now that he thought of it, he’d heard of one appropriately-named virus in particular that would plop its victims into what they perceived as other worlds, only to wear off after an hour or two or, for the more complicated ones, once the victim had followed the right interaction tree. Usually it was the tree that suggested you knew you were in a virus—and were thus less fun to watch in the real world. After all, the only reason these viruses existed was for the cruel entertainment to be had watching a victim’s realspace reactions to his dataspace environment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGiven the complexity of the crowd around him, this was definitely one of the complicated ones. Most viral coders didn’t bother coding and animating more than a few virtual assets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe groaned. All the effort he’d put into securing his dataframe, and a stupid prank virus had managed to get through at the happiest moment of his life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, the faster he could trigger the tree, the faster he could get out, so he sighed and said,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh my god. Am I in an isekai?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55486274797859,"sku":"IS-PB-DAMAGED","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Isekai_Skies_Battle_Scarred_Shopify.png?v=1787253834"},{"product_id":"signed-print-battle-scarred-monster-punk-horizon-3-excess-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT [BATTLE SCARRED]: Excess (Monster Punk Horizon #3) (Paperback)","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eOccasionally I get weird books in my stock that are generally good quality, but have minor errors that make them not-full-price-worthy. These are some of those books! If you don't mind a copy that's a little less-than-perfect, though - here, have $5 off! :D\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBook Three in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew to the Monster Punk Horizon series?\u003c\/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/holowriting.myshopify.com\/products\/monster-punk-horizon-ebook\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003eStart here!\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/excess-monster-punk-horizon-book-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLoot Like Your Life Depends On It!\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLosing a trusty weapon is like losing a close friend, and Pix’s beloved capacitor blade is on its last legs.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFortunately, she has a plan to craft a new, even better weapon. \u003cem\u003eUnfortunately\u003c\/em\u003e, her plan involves hunting down a vicious migrating monster that has more teeth than some hunters have brain cells. Even worse, this new creature has riled up the apex monster of Skull Harbor, and both of them are spoiling for a fight.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut Pix has one thing they don’t: a party foolhardy enough to take them \u003cem\u003eboth\u003c\/em\u003e on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’ll need all the help she can get, because it’ll take all their combined luck, skill, and oversized weapons to put down these two monsters. But her friends have her back. After all, there’s awesome loot to be had!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf they manage to survive…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Series:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/excess-monster-punk-horizon-book-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n \n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from EXCESS\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why would anything need this many teeth?” Pix muttered to herself as she studied the sketches and diagrams laid out on the long wooden table before her. A gust of wind from the ocean fluttered her tent’s tarp, but her mind focused on the creature’s silhouette, sketched roughly in black ink on a much-abused and much-observed piece of paper.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo many teeth. Was this really a good idea?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDocuments and equipment cluttered every inch of the table’s surface: detailed maps of the jungle surrounding Skull Harbor, vague reports of mysterious monster sightings, researcher notes on changes in the indigenous monsters’ behavior, and the disassembled pieces of her capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer weapon of choice took up plenty of room, but not because it was big. It wasn’t especially large, at least not when fully assembled. But it was a \u003cem\u003ecomplex\u003c\/em\u003e weapon, a long double-edged blade bisected by a milky spellglass rod, with a hilt comprised of both mechanical and mysteric parts. These interlocked to allow the blade to open and the magic contained within its revolving cylinder to fire. She’d laid out every piece on an unfurled roll of canvas, carefully and meticulously cleaned each one, and set them down in a neat, orthogonal manner. She’d scrubbed and oiled them until the gears, rods, and springs glowed in the lantern light, then sharpened both halves of the blade to a supremely lethal edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery mechanical component was as good, if not better, than when she’d commissioned the weapon …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut there was nothing she could do for the spellglass.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t know about its teeth, Miss Pix,” a bright, youthful voice said from her side. “Would you like me to check my gram’s book? Maybe she’ll have written something down from her adventures!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix grimaced and glanced down at her Khatoyant assistant. Nova’s wide, soulful eyes glistened up at her, their vertical pupils eager for an opportunity to aid her contracted hunter. The young cat person stood only two feet tall, her fur a patchwork of black and white, most of it wrapped in a gleaming blue set of Radiant Scintilion armor crafted to look like a princess’ dress. She may have been short for her kind, but her enthusiasm more than compensated for her size.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nova,” Pix said dully.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes, Miss Pix?” Nova’s ears perked up and swiveled forward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’ve talked about this before, haven’t we?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’m not sure.” Her ears drooped. “What do you mean, Miss Pix?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This ‘Miss Pix’ thing. I’ve told you not to call me that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Buuut!” Nova clutched her grandmother’s hunting journal to her chest and wiggled as if suddenly uncomfortable. “But my gram caught me not using it, and \u003cem\u003eshe\u003c\/em\u003e said I was being disrespectful! I never meant to be disrespectful to you, Miss Pix!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Uhh.” Pix put a hand to her forehead. “Please stop. ‘Miss Pix’ sounds silly, and ‘Pix’ isn’t even my real name. It’s just something Jaz started calling me back in college.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, okay.” Nova took on a thoughtful look. “\u003cem\u003eOh!\u003c\/em\u003e Should I call you Miss Weaver, then?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix narrowed her eyes and glowered down at Nova in a firm, nonverbal “NO.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Maybe not …” Nova hugged her book tighter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSuddenly, someone from outside flung the tent flap open and barreled in with all the majesty and elegance of a drunken debutante who’d never worn high heels in her entire life but had decided there was no time like the present.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What’s up, minions!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Speak of the devil,” Pix muttered under her breath.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hello, Miss Jaz!” Nova said brightly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hey, Nova!” Jaz plopped onto the corner of the table and crossed her arms and legs. “Pix?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yes?” Pix replied without looking up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’ve been cooped up in here all weekend.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know.” This time she did look up.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz and Pix may have been partners and roommates, but that didn’t mean they were anything alike. Jaz wore her raven black mane in an unruly, curling wave down to her shoulders, framing a dark complexion. Pix kept her blazing red hair neat and trim—and out of her eyes during the frantic moments of a hunt—while her pasty, cream-colored skin refused to tan in the Harbor’s sun. Her ears, too, were only subtly pointed due to her dilute ancestral dragon blood, whereas the more pronounced points of Jaz’s ears attested to the rich dragon lineage in her family’s bloodline. Most ancestral natives under the Dazzling Skies had Elder Dragon somewhere in their blood, but Pix and Jaz were on opposite ends of that genetic heritage.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir attire was equally disparate. Pix had traded her old, mismatched, tabard-obscured leathers for a long gambeson made from some of the Pirazhka hides they’d carved last month. The thickness of the padded coat made it naturally good for fending off slashes and puncture attacks—which was how her intended target would deal most of its damage—but the tough, tightly-interlocked scales covering its outermost surface provided an additional layer of defense. The froglike, piranha toothed Pirazhkas might have been low-level monsters, but the way their scales compressed and tightened under direct thrusts meant armor made from their hide would be useful for many levels beyond its origin’s. For additional defense, she’d covered it in segments of Ignifex hide that granted a high degree of both mobility and fire protection (very useful in the Ignifex-dominated regions near Skull Harbor).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy contrast, Jaz’s figure strained against her monsterskin hot pants and bikini top, leaving little to the imagination. Those two pieces of clothing may have \u003cem\u003ealso\u003c\/em\u003e been crafted from Ignifex hide, but they only served to make her butt and boobs fireproof.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot that this advantage mattered to her; Jaz had only chosen the material because she had a lot of it and red was Her Color.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You should come join us at the canteen.” Jaz patted her on the arm. “It’s Waffle Day.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sorry,” Pix continued, “but I still have a ton of work to do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But \u003cem\u003eit’s Waffle Day\u003c\/em\u003e!” Jaz spluttered, as if Pix had just said she didn’t plan to observe Hallowmas this year. (Hallowmas was a weird quasi-religious holiday that had evolved over the centuries. No one remembered what its original purpose was, but everyone still celebrated it because it was one of those holidays when it was socially acceptable to eat exorbitant amounts of candy and rich holiday foods while romping around in sexy costumes and generally being ridiculous. Not that the hunters here \u003cem\u003eneeded\u003c\/em\u003e a holiday to do so, but they weren’t going to turn down the excuse.)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I don’t understand everyone’s obsession with waffles,” Pix dismissed. “They’re just overcomplicated pancakes.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When has a pancake ever been considerate enough to hold extra toppings for you in convenient, specialized pockets?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jaz,” Pix huffed. “\u003cem\u003eI’m trying to work\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah, about that.” Jaz scooched closer and draped an arm over Pix’s shoulders. “You see, the thing about life. The \u003cem\u003ereally important\u003c\/em\u003e thing about life is you’ve got to \u003cem\u003elive\u003c\/em\u003e it. You can’t live it when you hide in a tent all weekend looking at papers and stuff.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Such inspirational words!” Nova exclaimed. “Thank you for sharing them!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“See? Nova appreciates my immense profundity.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I \u003cem\u003eam\u003c\/em\u003e living.” Pix took hold of Jaz’s wrist and removed the unwanted arm from her shoulders. “And I want to \u003cem\u003econtinue \u003c\/em\u003eliving. Why do you think I’ve been ‘cooped up’ in here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because you’re a stick-in-the-mud who doesn’t like to have any fun?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, because of this.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix held up the spellglass rod from her disassembled weapon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Hmm.” Jaz squinted at the clouded rod, slightly darker on the end that connected to the hilt mechanisms. “What do we have here?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A crack in the base. And mysteric degradation.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh,” Jaz uttered. All the joy and sass leaked from her face as the revelation sobered her up. A hunter’s relationship with their weapon was a deeply personal one. It started with the initial selection and training, continued through the daily maintenance rituals and hard-earned upgrades, and sometimes ended in bloody life-or-death moments in the field.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA hunter’s weapon was a dear, invaluable friend. A trusted, unflinching colleague through any trial the Monstrous Continent could throw at that hunter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd Pix had just told Jaz her friend was dying.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah. ‘Oh.’” Pix frowned. “I’m guessing it’s got two, maybe three shots left before the rod burns out.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I suppose we haven’t been kind to our equipment recently, what with the Screecher and all the other dung we’ve had to deal with these past few months.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know. And that’s probably why it’s in such bad shape right now.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can you replace the rod?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Can’t afford it. I’m still paying off loans for \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e one.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. Yeah, that sucks. I’d help you out, but …” Jaz made an emptying-pockets gesture, which would have been more appropriate if she’d actually had pockets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I know,” Pix said. “And I wouldn’t ask for a favor like that even if you could. I appreciate the thought, though.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So, what are you going to do about it?” Jaz asked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Miss Pix has a plan!” Nova inserted brightly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Of course she does,” Jaz agreed, unsurprised. Pix could be relied upon for many things, and one of them was to Always Have a Plan. “Now what’s this super awesome plan you’ve been working on?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s still a work in progress,” Pix stressed cautiously.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, clearly.” Jaz picked up a random piece of paper from the table. “What’s this?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My shopping list.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You don’t say.” Jaz cleared her throat, then began to read. “Six Ex—Ex-iss—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eZess-ee-on\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix corrected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s not a Z!” Jaz exclaimed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s how it’s pronounced,” Pix replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Jaz shrugged, then continued. “‘Six Xession spinal gems, black, large. Twelve Xession teeth, mouth.’” She looked up from the sheet. “Did you really need to specify that last bit?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You’d be surprised.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Seems a little redundant to me. ‘Two Xession claws, front legs. Two Xession claws, back legs. Ten square feet of hide, back or top of head. Three Xession teeth, tail.’” Jaz set the sheet down. “Tail teeth?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah. Tail teeth,” Pix repeated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So … you’re looking to hunt a Xession?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s right.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Quite a grocery list you’ve got here.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The gems are the most important items. I can’t afford a new rod, but I \u003cem\u003ecan \u003c\/em\u003ehunt for the parts I need to commission a replacement, which’ll be much cheaper.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Sounds like a great plan so far.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, there are a few hang ups. The biggest problem is only certain types of gems can be melted down and formed into spellglass, and the monsters native to the Harbor area aren’t exactly replete with this trait.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Which is why you need to go after a Xession?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Precisely.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A Xession, you say. Good old Xessions.” Jaz nodded knowingly, her face serious. “Yes, that’ll be quite a challenge.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You have no idea what a Xession is, do you?” Pix said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Jaz shrugged. “Yeah, you got me.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That’s not surprising,” Pix replied.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eHey!\u003c\/em\u003e” Jaz objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No, I mean, because it’s not in the Hunter’s Handbook yet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Society for the Exploration of the Monstrous Continent had known about the Xession for some time, but researchers had to gather a certain threshold of information about it before it would receive an official entry in the encyclopedia of known monsters, and the society was picky about the quality of information that was released in its publications. There was lots of peer review involved, which meant there had to be lots of hunts to gather information in the first place, and people generally didn’t hunt Xessions unless they had a specific reason to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s a decent amount of research in the Society library, though,” Pix continued, gesturing across the table to indicate the notes she’d spread there. She then grabbed one particular page and smoothed it out so Jaz could see it. The drawing that dominated the page was marked in Pix’s real initials—TW, for Tailer Weaver—and though she was still developing as a naturalistic artist, she’d managed to capture the pants-wetting, terror-inducing presence of the beast. It wasn’t incredibly detailed, just a big black silhouette: long, muscular, and low to the ground.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it had teeth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLots and lots of teeth.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yikes.” Jaz cringed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yeah,” Pix said, not bothering to look. “That’s how most people react.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You want to hunt \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c\/em\u003e thing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“That I do.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You sure this is a good idea?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Nope.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wait a second.” Jaz’s face scrunched up in confusion. “How’d something this mean manage to roam around without me hearing about it?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Because Xessions aren’t native to the Harbor, Miss Jaz,” Nova chimed. “After they fell from the Dazzling Skies, they nested in the Hellpits and stayed there. They seem to like it hot.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, we’re going to \u003cem\u003ethe Hellpits\u003c\/em\u003e?” Jaz beamed. “You know we’re gonna have to visit the demonfey when we go. They’re drama queens, but they throw the best—”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We’re \u003cem\u003enot\u003c\/em\u003e going to the Hellpits,” Pix responded. They’d been to that harsh volcanic region once before—when they’d gotten overconfident in their early hunting skills—and they’d only survived because a passing party of demonfey hunters recognized Jaz from the Team Red fan magazines that occasionally made their way over from the Wondrous Continent. It turned out the demonfey were rabid fans of the monster battling tournaments back home, especially the ones fought by Team Red, and given that Jaz’s full name was Jaspartina Red, they’d joined in the hunt purely for the novelty of helping out a very minor celebrity. (Jaz didn’t have the skills or desire necessary to be a professional monster trainer back on the mainland, but there was still some small fame to be garnered from being one of the daughters of Spinella Red.) In fact, Jaz and Pix now had a standing invitation to come to the Hellpits whenever they pleased, but it wasn’t something they’d ever taken the demonfey up on.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eI\u003c\/em\u003e want to go to the Hellpits one day,” Nova said wistfully, and the tone of her voice was so ill-matched to the danger of that fiery wasteland that Pix had to ask:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Why?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“My oldest brother and sister say they have lots of rare monster cards there. I want to go see them in person!”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh!” Pix remarked. “That makes more sense.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe demonfey were also rabid collectors, and that included the Monster Punk Arena trading card game imported from the Wondrous Continent. Demonfey merchants made special voyages from their shores solely to bring the game’s updates to the Monstrous Continent. In fact, much of the drama that occurred in the Hellpits coincided with the releases of new expansion packs and limited edition collector’s cases, and while it mostly stayed in the Hellpits, word of the 25\u003csup\u003eth\u003c\/sup\u003e Anniversary Special Promo War had reached as far as Skull Harbor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Still a bit dangerous for someone of your skill level, though,” Pix stated.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh, I know!” Nova beamed. “That’s one of the reasons why I want to be a good Khatoyant. Oscar and Ariel said they’ll take me to a release when they think I can hold my own in a crowd fight.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Wait,” Pix said. “So … part of the reason why you’re hunting \u003cem\u003ereal monsters\u003c\/em\u003e is to train yourself to fight so you can survive crowds battling to buy \u003cem\u003emonster cards\u003c\/em\u003e?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Mm-hmm!” Nova said, as if this was reasonable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Makes sense to me,” Jaz added. “If you can beat up a monster, you can definitely beat up another nerd.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix couldn’t even find the motivation to roll her eyes at that. Or rather, she \u003cem\u003ecould\u003c\/em\u003e, but she also knew it would be such a dramatic roll that she’d probably pull one of her vital eye muscles and then be at a disadvantage in the next hunt. So with great effort, she abstained.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Well, I’m glad I can help you achieve your goal.” Pix patted the long, fluffy wig on Nova’s head, and Nova beamed back, happy to help and be helped by Pix. “Anyway,” she continued, then indicated some of the field reports on the table. “You know how the Ignifex population hasn’t been causing as much trouble recently?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I …” Jaz blinked. “Yes?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Just take my word for it,” Pix sighed. “The number of Ignifex assignments being posted is down. \u003cem\u003eWay\u003c\/em\u003e down. Like over fifty percent down.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Oh! Which means something else could be hunting them.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Right. There are a few other indicators, such as reports of unusual injuries on some of the monsters or atypical movement patterns, but the bottom line is I think a Xession has migrated to Skull Harbor. A ‘Wandering Xession’ if you will, and that monster is subsisting on a diet of Ignifex meat. Apparently, he likes his food spicy.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“‘He?’ You sure it’s a male?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Probably,” Pix said. “I haven’t found any reports of female Xessions straying too far from the pack Tyrant, but I suppose there’s a first for everything. I’m guessing competition between the males forced this one to migrate.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And then it settled down once it found the Ignifex buffet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Exactly.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You could be right.” Jaz nodded, then stood up. “So, when do we leave?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t you have waffles to eat?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pfft! Those can wait. My friend needs some new gems.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thanks, Jaz.” Pix smiled warmly. “I appreciate that.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t mention it.” Jaz gestured to the map. “So, where do we start?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Simple.” Pix’s eyes twinkled. “Follow the buffet.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55491663888675,"sku":"EXCESS-PB-DAMAGED","price":4.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Excess_Battle_Scarred_Shopify.png?v=1787253932"},{"product_id":"signed-print-battle-scarred-monster-punk-horizon-omnibus-books-1-3-paperback","title":"SIGNED PRINT [BATTLE SCARRED]: Monster Punk Horizon Omnibus: Books 1-3 (Paperback)","description":"\u003ch3 class=\"p1\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eOccasionally I get weird books in my stock that are generally good quality, but have minor errors that make them not-full-price-worthy. These are some of those books! If you don't mind a copy that's a little less-than-perfect, though - here, have $5 off! :D\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eContains the first three books in the Monster Punk Horizon series.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout this premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSigned by H.P. Holo and Jacob Holo. \u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-d364ed80-7fff-a1ab-7c6d-e9d4ac79ce1b\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWant a personalized signature? Let us know in the comment box when you check out! \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-box-set-books-1-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWANTED: Monster hunters. Practical armor optional.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePix and Jaz are two girls who just want to hunt monsters, craft armor, and pay off their college loans\u003c\/strong\u003e—but when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, it’ll take all their skills to survive it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTheir skill levels? Slightly above noob. \u003cspan\u003eBut when a colossal new monster falls through the portals in the Dazzling Skies, they’ll have to raise their game.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eWill Pix and Jaz defeat The Screecher, or will it be Game Over for the Monstrous Continent?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAbout the Series:\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e is an exciting new fantasy comedy for fans of the \u003cem\u003eMonster Hunter\u003c\/em\u003e games and kick-butt ladies fighting monsters for fun and profit! GameLit readers will enjoy the focus on action over stats.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eOmnibus includes the following eBooks:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eMonster Punk Horizon\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e2. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eIsekai Skies\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e3. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eExcess\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"This book made me want to game in this world. The author has an incredible gift for smart, witty names and vivid description. The characters are appealing and carry you through this light, fun adventure with tremendous energy.\"\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e – Jane Lindskold, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e bestselling author \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Plays with planetary ecology as much as \u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDune \u003c\/span\u003eever did … Anyone who enjoys the monster hunter genre of video games should enjoy this.” – \u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eUpstream Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis product is a premium SIGNED PAPERBACK\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrefer a different format? \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-box-set-books-1-3\"\u003eClick here.\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Depositphotos_4583318_S_100x100.jpg?v=1675805195\" style=\"display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\"\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #00aaff;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEnjoy a sample from MONSTER PUNK HORIZON OMNIBUS: BOOKS 1-3\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was the sort to over-prepare, and today she was glad she had.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe was already in her best armor, a combination of sturdy bone, fireproof Ignifex hide, and random metal pieces she’d found at the thrift shop, all obscured under a blue tabard because otherwise it looked mismatched and stupid. She hadn’t expected to need such armor today, but she’d only just carved the materials necessary to craft the Ignifex bits and wanted to break it in, and easy survey missions were perfect for that. Even so, she’d still brought two full flasks of Darla’s green bitterale and a selection of nut breads meant to counteract various adverse conditions, along with doubles of other standard kit components like jerky and bandaging for small injuries. She’d sharpened her grappler, recalibrated her podlauncher, outfitted her cloak with camouflaging Mantis Gems, and filled several pockets with charges for the centerpiece of her ensemble—her capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt was about half the size of Jaz’s greatsword, but its primary difference was the cylinder at the base of its blade, loaded with a circuit of mysteric capacitors that would unleash a massive shock of whatever glitter magic she’d loaded. Though it wasn’t as impressive as Jaz’s weapon, it was still made of quality glistiron, and it was the best capacitor blade she could possibly build at this point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor someone of her experience, it was not a bad kit, but it was still lacking one thing …\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, we really should consider hiring some Khatoyants if you’re going to go barreling off after colossal undocumented monsters,” Pix said as she and Jaz traipsed through the jungle. “At the very least for the extra eyes. Also, take off your dragon head. We don’t need to be attracting random Nutpidges with a new monster running about.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz raspberried and yanked at the mask. Her goofy dragon sock pulled away to reveal a head of dark, sporty shoulder-length hair and skin that was much better suited to the high sun of the jungle than Pix’s pasty mayonnaise tone—but then that was why Pix equipped gems cut to deflect sunlight. Jaz, meanwhile, roamed the jungle in what amounted to monsterskin hot pants and whatever other starter pieces looked interesting at the thrift shop, which put her in a mess of bones, leather, and fur that while equally as ridiculous as Pix’s armor, at least had the good fortune to occur in matching shades of red.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I’ve got too many college loans to be thinking about Khatoyants,” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If we had Khatoyants looking out for us, we’d bring in \u003cem\u003emore loot\u003c\/em\u003e that would help us \u003cem\u003epay off our loans faster\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued. “Not to mention we’d be less likely to die.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“If I die, my college loan problem is solved.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I wouldn’t be so sure of that. Does your dragon line regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNearly every native under the Dazzling Skies had dragon blood somewhere in their ancestry, a consequence of the Elder Dragons being one of the first races to fall from the sky when it had opened. They fell asleep soon afterward, but not before fear of their own extinction led them to reproduce with the other original skybornes (after taking the proper form, of course. Back then, the Elder Dragons frequently spent time in simpler forms for the quaint amusement of it).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe dragon line had still nearly died out, as most of the other races had been genetically incompatible, but fortunately for the dragons, there had been one race that wasn’t. Humans, it turned out, were not only genetically compatible with most other skybornes, but would copulate with literally \u003cem\u003eanything\u003c\/em\u003e if they were bored or curious enough, as long as it talked and had bulges in interesting places. There hadn’t been many humans in the early days, but that hadn’t stopped them from contributing their bipedal build, general resilience—and, some claimed, their species’ innate luck—to the vast majority of the now-native population. Between magical dragon blood and lucky human blood, most natives were well-equipped for the extreme situations under the Dazzling Skies, but different lines bestowed different benefits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIncluding the ability to \u003cem\u003eliterally not die\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz looked up in rare thought, as if she’d never pondered her dragon line before.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Come to think of it … I \u003cem\u003edon’t\u003c\/em\u003e know,” she said. “Does yours regenerate?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“No. My dragon ancestry is so diluted by this point that the only thing I get out of it is pointy ears.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz felt the tips of her ears as if she hadn’t been living with them her entire life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Damn. My ears are \u003cem\u003eway\u003c\/em\u003e pointier than yours.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eMy point is\u003c\/em\u003e,” Pix continued, “you should figure out whether you’re going to come back before you start making escape plans that end with dying. Besides, if you actually die, your family’s going to come after \u003cem\u003eme\u003c\/em\u003e.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You say that as if we’re not likely to die together.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The point is to not die \u003cem\u003eat all\u003c\/em\u003e.” Pix rolled her eyes for the fifth time in as many minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReally, it was astonishing they’d been partners this long.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey’d met on the mainland at Mysteric University, where an abysmally inaccurate roommate pairing algorithm had placed the level-headed, academically-minded Pix with … well, all that was Jaz.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had A Plan. She was going to study Monstrous Ecology with the express intent of researching the monsters and biomes across the Dazzling Seas. Simple.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz had No Plan. She majored in something random because her interests changed every semester anyway, and when she found out Pix was heading to the Monstrous Continent, she figured she’d come too because why not?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz was from an elite family on the mainland who didn’t think well of her becoming a monster hunter when they’d planned for her to join her sisters in the family business. Monsters on the mainland had evolved differently than those of the Monstrous Continent. The fauna here had been roaming without significant civilized influence for centuries. “Monsters” on the mainland, if one could even call them that, had developed alongside advancing society, and these days the two existed in a close, symbiotic relationship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhere the Monstrous Continent was largely wild and unsettled, the Wondrous Continent had few unexplored corners. Over the centuries, people and their companion monsters had sewn an eclectic blanket of civilization over the land, from the garden of parks and pastel cottages that made up Indigo Town, to the blue-green sprawl of roots, treehouses, and seafront that was Mangrove Beach, to the glowing metropolis of jewel-toned skyscapers that made up Opal City—at the heart of which beat Mysteric University, the headquarters of all monster-related research. The natives and skybornes had worked together to conceive it, of course, but it was all facilitated by the unique powers of the monsters themselves, such that they were inseparable from its success.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose mainland monsters still needed ways to expend their excess mysteric energy, though, and over the years Jaz’s family had built a sporting empire out of that basic need. Team Red was one of several champion franchises, and Jaz was supposed to be one of her family's monster-training champions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProblem was, Jaz was absolute dung at anything that involved strategy. Her family had sent her to college hoping she’d develop some skills that would be useful on the sidelines, but she was dung at anything that involved structure, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe wore her family name like a straitjacket. And when Pix told her about her plans for the Monstrous Continent, that straitjacket broke.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome people were not meant to live in organized societies.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaspartina Red was one of those people.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe thrived on the unpredictable energy of chaos, and that made her perfectly suited to this world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOf course, it also meant she regularly brought chaos with her, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Extreme circumstances often led to extreme discoveries, after all, and though Jaz was unbridled, she wasn’t careless. Not \u003cem\u003ecompletely\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat was what kept Pix with her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor though Jaz brought her own breed of trouble, she was the kind of person who would merrily go to the Hellpits and back for her friends and somehow bring some demonfey home for drinks afterward so they had drinking buddies for the next time they ended up in said Hellpits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd a person who could turn demonfey into friends was a truly useful one indeed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix was fairly certain Jaz was after this new monster specifically so she could befriend it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut even that wasn’t entirely inconvenient.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs they walked, Pix opened her logbook to a clean page in the back and marked it for future use. The pattern bellowed on the harbor’s Skull Organ was clear: observation only, unless the need for a hunt became obvious. After all, in cases like this, there was always a chance that the monster was not innately aggressive, but rather just scared and alarmed at suddenly being in a strange new world. They could decide whether it was truly dangerous after they knew a bit more about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz, in front, crouched to examine a set of indentations in the soil: four digits radiated out from the central metacarpal pad like sunbeams cresting the horizon, ending in sharp, deep claw marks.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ignifex on the field,” she reported. “The print’s still sharp around the edges, so it’s pretty fresh.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh, we \u003cem\u003eso\u003c\/em\u003e don’t need to deal with an Ignifex today,” Pix sighed, as Jaz put her face to the track and sniffed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Smells like he’s amped up his mucus production, too,” she continued. “He’s agitated.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need an agitated Ignifex even less,” Pix groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Or we could be lucky this new thing wandered into Ignifex territory,” Jaz replied. “Maybe it’s weak to fire and general whompings.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When have we ever been that lucky—oh, dung!” Pix exclaimed, for just as she said the operative word, a warbling belch of a roar split the air, and a massive, sinuous shape reared from the shadows.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr rather, plopped from the shadows. But with an Ignifex, even a plop was the stuff of nightmares and a sudden need for fresh pants.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex was most simply described as a salamander, if a salamander was fifteen feet long with muscular, tensile legs that could launch it an equal length; a ripped, red chunky body that could slam nearly any creature into submission with a single blow; and a goofy, goggle-eyed face with a swollen neck-pouch that made one question whether this monster had put on the right head when it left to go to prowl that morning. As if that wasn’t enough, its entire body shone with a thick reddish mucus—and the source of many of the rainforest’s woes. For when the Ignifex felt truly threatened, it clicked a hard plate at the front of its mouth ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Don’t let it click!” Pix screeched, and with one fluid, instinctive motion, both hunters snatched their weapons from their holsters—Jaz her beloved greatsword, and Pix her nearly-as-beloved capacitor blade.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnfortunately, caught off guard and within a foot of the monster’s death plop, they were in no position to stop it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster clacked its bony beak. A tiny spark spat from its mouth—and then flashed across its entire body in an enormous \u003cem\u003ewhoomph!\u003c\/em\u003e of flame.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJaz and Pix threw their blades up as shields, but that didn’t stop odd flecks of flaming mucus from splattering off the creature and onto their armor. Pix didn’t worry; her Ignifex hide pieces were naturally resistant to the mucus flame. Jaz was not so lucky. She still wore her novice leathers because they were comfy and broken in, and only that—but then Jaz had once cooked a corn dog with her bare hand on a dare and came away with exactly one blister, so fire didn't matter to her dragon line as much as it did to Pix’s.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth leapt to keep their distance as the Ignifex lunged and rolled, scattering its mucus flames around the underbrush and igniting everything it touched.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut less and less as the minutes passed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn Ignifex never burned for more than a few minutes. Usually that was all the time it needed to scare off a threat—as long as that threat wasn’t a hunter hoping to cull the population. Ignifex was considered the apex predator of the area closest to Skull Harbor. Thus far lacking a natural predator and prone to setting the forest on fire, it was one of the few monsters actively culled as a genuine threat to the ecosystem—not to mention a source of useful resources and a fair test of a young hunter’s skill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt took a fairly experienced hunter to bring one down.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix and Jaz were \u003cem\u003ejust barely experienced enough\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith another irritated warble-roar, the Ignifex rolled off the last of its defensive mucus, and Pix saw her moment. She queued up a glitterblue capacitor—Ignifex hated the chills that water magic unleashed on the body—while Jaz just wound up to chop the heck out of whatever part her blade hit. Her opal would do the rest of the work for her.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey both watched for the Ignifex’s tells—a grunt, a roll, a bumbling crouch. They weren’t fast monsters. In fact, they were rather clumsy, but very often that clumsiness caused them to bumble into a single good hit—and with its fearsome girth, one hit was all an Ignifex needed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere came the crouch!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe monster sprang for Pix. She jumped out of the way, just in time for Jaz to swing her sword into the creature’s head in a spray of magical blue sparkles.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eSo the opal chose water magic, too,\u003c\/em\u003e Pix observed. It didn’t kill the creature—Ignifex skulls were dense, and made fantastic shoulder pauldrons, for that matter—but the heavy impact \u003cem\u003edid\u003c\/em\u003e addle the beast enough for Pix to leap onto its back and plunge her blade into the red gems that grew along its spine. She squeezed the first trigger branching over her hilt, and at once the cylinder glowed with a great, blinding crack. When the charge was at its brightest, she squeezed the second trigger. The central chamber of her blade radiated pure, glittering blue; a cloud of sparkling magic particles blasted out from the wound, and the Ignifex screeched as if it had just gotten brain freeze all over its body.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pix, look out!” Jaz shouted, but Pix knew what she was yelling for. Before she could pull out the blade, the Ignifex rolled.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone knew to look out for that sort of move. The Ignifex liked to lure enemies close with the promise of an easy blow, only to turn their proximity against them with a lazy, vicious belly flop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut knowing it was coming and successfully avoiding it were two completely separate things. Especially when one's foot was planted on a weakened piece of gem.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex lurched, and the crumbling gem on its back shattered under Pix’s heel. But she was Pix, and as such, she was prepared for this, too.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe twisted midair, jammed the point of her capacitor blade into the ground, and then pulled her final, special trigger. Her blade split down the middle, revealing a glowing spellglass rod, and with another flick of her second trigger, it unleashed a blinding beam of blue light.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe combo wasted one of her charges, but it also blew her backward, out of the Ignifex’s reach, and she landed and slid to a solid, practiced stop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe’d discovered that move completely by accident in her first week of hunting, then practiced it over months at the training grounds, and as excessive as it was, it had come in handy more than once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex paused at the end of its roll, confused that it hadn’t felt a satisfying, crunchy squish, and now its goggled eyes looked in Pix’s general direction as if reconsidering the life choices that led it to attack this clever creature.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCan we get it to run?\u003c\/em\u003e Pix wondered.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOr \u003cem\u003ewould\u003c\/em\u003e have wondered, if she hadn’t been interrupted by a brain-shattering screech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProtected by their Earworms, she and Jaz didn’t hear its full terror, but the Ignifex did, and it yowled as if the sound had reached straight into its little walnut brain and pureed it into a nice, smooth spread that would go well on some toasted brown bread.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled out of the Ignifex’s path and rejoined Jaz, just as another shadow descended over the trees—and sent a sharp, barbed whip of an arm straight through the Ignifex’s skull.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ignifex didn’t even cry out. It crumpled like a sad pile of rejected sausage meat, the apex predator of the Skull Harbor Jungle reduced to nothing with a single \u003cem\u003esnik!\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Told you it wasn’t a vegetarian,” Jaz whispered through her Earworms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to hide!” Pix spat.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt that, the two hunters scrambled for cover. Even someone as freewheeling as Jaz knew, scared or not, a creature that could take out an Ignifex with one blow was serious business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth snatched their cloaks from their kits and flung them over their heads as they waited for it to land, better to obscure themselves for observation and to increase their likelihood of not joining the new monster’s kebab.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix had mostly equipped Mantis Gems because she had \u003cem\u003ea ton\u003c\/em\u003e of them and didn’t own any of the really good defensive gems yet, but of all the things she was glad to have packed today, she was particularly glad for these. Most cloaks were at least minimally good for hiding, but once she fastened the two gems in her neck clasp together, her entire image wavered until the details of her form were obscured, as if in a heat haze. No lapidary had yet found a cut that could render full camouflage from a Mantis Gem, but this was good enough to fool most monster eyes.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow safely hidden, Pix nestled behind a large fern and opened her book to her marked page, ready to record once the monster landed.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut it didn’t.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact the next time they heard it screech, it was deeper into the jungle and far enough away that it must have forgotten its kill nearly as soon as it was made.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s not killing for food,” Pix said.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And that was no accident,” Jaz echoed, separating the gems on her own neck clasp. “You can’t spear an Ignifex brain by accident.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix nodded, and then pulled a little flare gun from her kit and fired three red bursts into the air. Soon after, the resonant notes of the Harbor’s Skull Organ blared out over the jungle, the new tune relaying new orders: \u003cem\u003eThis monster is dangerous. Initiate hunt.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We need to research it before we even have a chance of bringing it down,” Pix said, standing and returning her items to her kit. “Wait—what are you doing?”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Getting my pauldron,” Jaz replied. She’d brought out her carving knife and had begun to slice through the monster’s skin with a practiced hand that had done so many times before. “No point in letting this big boy go to waste. Plus I’m sure we’ll be able to find a fire station that’ll buy the fireproof leather off us. Not to mention all the stuff we can use the fat for.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“We don’t have time!” Pix objected.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You want to leave him for the Waspas?” Jaz retorted.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You know, if we had Khatoyants, they could do the carving for us while we continued the hunt.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother screech went up in the distance. Likely another meaningless kill.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fine,” Jaz huffed, then put away her carving knife and unrolled a little red flag from her pack, sewn with the insignia of the Dragon Pig Pirates. She tied it around one of the dead monster’s horns, then rigged a small trap of stink bombs so that anyone who moved it would get a malodorous surprise.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrap set, she stood back to admire her work with a smug smile.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix rolled her eyes, and the two set off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe screeching creature never landed, but despite the lack of tracks, it wasn’t hard to follow. Persistent screeches aside, it left a trail of punctured corpses, mostly Ignifex, all dead by no effort at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe latest hung from a mess of thick vines as if caught there mid-leap and showed no signs of struggle, just a single bloody jab through the skull and a more-goggled-than-usual face frozen dead, mid-confusion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“It’s only killing apex predators,” Pix said. “Could be asserting dominance.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Ugh. What’s it going to do when it figures out \u003cem\u003ewe’re\u003c\/em\u003e the actual apex predators?” Jaz groaned.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePix didn’t want to think about that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“All the more reason to pursue it,” she said. She tried to sound bold, but the truth was, she didn’t want to think about what would happen when they caught up with it, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere were already dangerous monsters in this world, of course—and she and Jaz hadn’t even faced most of them yet—but inevitably \u003cem\u003esomeone\u003c\/em\u003e had, and there were always veteran hunters who had hunted native monsters so frequently they found even the mysterious eldritch variants predictable.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut skyborne monsters like this one, with no connection to this natural world ...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot even a legendary hunter like the Madmiral would know where to start.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: start;\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Holo Writing LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55491698491683,"sku":"MPH-OMNI-DAMAGED","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0718\/5471\/9267\/files\/Monster_Punk_Horizon_Omnibus_Shopify.png?v=1787255159"}],"url":"https:\/\/store.holowriting.com\/collections\/monster-punk-horizon-battle-scarred-books.oembed","provider":"Jacob \u0026 H.P. Holo ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}