These youngsters are Riders,
continuing their quest to find blackened Kinship Ores
and stop the Black Blight, spreading across the world.
Welcome back, Lute.
Mmm. I like that look on your face.
Your father wore this armor when he was about your age.
My father did?
Wearing his father's armor,
Lute heads off to slay monsters stricken with the Black Blight.
My Kinship with Ratha will stop the Black Blight!
Lute's faith in Kinship gave rise to a brand-new Kinship Attack.
Meanwhile...
I don't believe in any Kinship!
Rathian, I'm done with you!
Cheval tosses aside Rathi, who'd been his constant companion.
And what's more...
Both of you--useless.
You won't betray me, will you?
Be born soon...
Cheval, now more alone than ever,
Lute, fighting to end the Black Blight with the power of Kinship--
and who should sneak onto the scene but Dr. Manelger!
Sorry to keep you waiting, Cheval, my boy!
My Mecha Kinship Stone is ready at last!
Cheval, my boy?
"Monster Hunter Stories RIDE ON"
"Episode 42: Numbers, Assemble!"
Navirou, Lilia's given us info on a Kinship Ore.
Let's head for Mt. Rhyz on the double.
On it! Navirou's so ready!
But that's nothing but donuts!
Let's see... If we're over this lake right now,
Mt. Rhyz should be off to the east.
Navirou's navigation won't steer you wrong!
Here goes: This Mt. Rhyz we're looking for...
--...is that way! --...is that way!
C'mon, Ratha! You could listen to Navirou every once in a while!
Sir!
I've figured out where Cheval might be--
and that's Mt. Rhyz!
Mt. Rhyz?
According to the Scriveners, there's a new Kinship Ore there.
If it's already been Blighted--
That would mean...
...the local monsters will be Blighted,
which means Cheval will undoubtedly make an appearance!
Yes, undoubtedly!
Right now, Cheval's staking his life on slaying Blighted monsters!
Let's set out for Mt. Rhyz at once, sir!
So that's Mt. Rhyz!
And there's a Kinship Ore somewhere in there?
This mountain's huge, all right.
It'd take days for just the two of us to scour the place.
If the Numbers were here, we could split up and search.
Wonder how they're doing?
Fine, Navirou hopes.
Oh, totally! We're just fine!
Ah, yes, yes! You're just fine!
Good to kn--oh?
Huh?
Eh?
They're here!
Nothing burns brighter than my spirit!
Number One:
Beats!
Warm heart, cool breath.
I'm Number Two:
Cryo!
Sparkle-sparkle!
My beauty is almost blindingly bright!
Number Three:
Fifi here!
You don't need glasses to see that I'm the brains of the bunch--
Number Four:
Spex, purr!
Leading you onward to bright tomorrows!
Number Five:
Navirou!
Any time's a good time for a catnap!
Number Six:
It's me, Floof!
All together,
we're the Numbers!
Long time no see, gang!
What the heck are you doing here?
Well, after you all left Naubaka Island,
we got to talkin' about what we could do.
We don't want anyone to go through what we did.
We finally settled on stopping Manelger's scheme.
What scheme?
He'd sacrifice anyone for the sake of his research, purr!
And from what we hear,
he's nabbed the legendary white dragon egg!
We've been secretly tailing him-- and now we're here.
But we wost twack of Manelger while I was yawning.
I know I'll find him in my dweams, too.
Good night...
So that means Manelger has to be around here somewhere!
Turns out we're looking for Manelger as we hunt for the Kinship Ore!
Ya don't say!
Even though we're apart, our hearts are one, all right!
Yep!
All right: the Numbers are back in business!
We'll find Manelger and take back that white dragon egg!
Yeah!
And we'll keep the Kinship Ore safe, too!
Yeah!
Hey, now!
Why are we eating?!
We were so pumped up and ready to go a second ago!
But first, we eat!
And that's...
...a Numbers rule.
But you must be hungry, too, sweet Lute.
"Sweet Lute"? Just "Lute" is fine.
Oh?
Wook! Mmm, so tasty!
Whoa! Looks delicious!
If it's too hot, Lute, I'll blow on it for you.
Oh, uh... I'm good.
Been so long since we've eaten together.
But we mustn't forget:
this is giving us the energy to stand up to Manelger.
Oh, Cryo, no need to go there. Just eat up, okay, purr?
Shall I blow on yours for you, Cryo?
I'll pass, thank you.
Besides, I'm better at it than you are.
See?
Useless.
I have no use for any Monstie that can't slay a Blighted monster.
I'll just move on to the next one.
We're all set, sir!
Mmm! And a fine job you've done, too.
Thank you very much!
I made these little masterpieces per your instructions.
Now no matter who comes after the white dragon egg or when,
they won't be able to pick out the real one!
Once we find Cheval and upgrade his Kinship Stone
with this Mecha Kinship Stone,
the white dragon will be ours!
Oh! Sir! There's Mt. Rhyz!
No black haze to be seen, though.
Cheval will only show up for a Blighted monster.
It appears we don't need to be here.
Oh? Is that Lute I spy?
And the Numbers, too!
What now, sir?
Change of plans.
Ride On!
Rathalos!
Thanks for the grub!
Phew, what a feast!
That topped off my tank, all right!
Now let's find that Kinship Ore!
Yeah!
--Eh? --Purr, purr?
Yoo-hoo, everyone!
How's it going?
Manelger!
Lute, my boy! We meet again!
What are you doing here?!
Hmm. Didn't expect you to be with these Felyne failures.
Ooh, we don't like those scary faces you're all making!
Right, sir?
We won't resort to violence. But--
That all depends on your answer, Lute!
That's my line!
My answer?
The good doctor here is offering you another chance.
Another chance? Ha! How about giving back that egg you stole?!
Yeah! Give it back!
Of course! If Lute here cooperates with us,
we'll gladly give back the egg.
I won't cooperate with you.
But I will get that egg back!
Dearie me! Then it seems I have no choice.
I suppose I'll have to use Cheval after all.
You'd go after Cheval again?!
Unlike you, Cheval's got what it takes up here.
Say what?
Can't deny that. Sorry.
Cheval will be making that white dragon his Monstie before long.
Using this here!
What's that?
Oho! Interested, are you?
This is my Mecha Kinship Stone-- Mechinship Stone for short.
We did try to hatch that egg with Cheval's Kinship Stone,
but it didn't work.
Huh? With Cheval?
It would seem you Riders' Kinship Stones alone
lack the necessary power to hatch that particular egg.
However--
By installing this Mechinship Stone,
that Kinship Stone will be able to display truly tremendous power!
In other words, with this baby here,
you can form Kinship with that white dragon,
and you, too, can be the next Redan of legend!
Hey! That's my line!
And that's the second time today!
Be Redan?
Lute, my boy, this is your last chance and your final warning.
So? Won't you join me?
No way!
I see. So that's your answer, is it?
How unfortunate, Lute, my boy.
You're the unfortunate ones!
Hmm?
Look: we've got the white dragon egg right here!
Hmph. Pretty sloppy of you to leave the egg unattended.
Without this egg, that Mechinship Stone is purely decoration!
Serves you right, purr!
Game over!
That's fantastic, gang! When'd you do that?!
That's Navirou's pals for you!
They fell for it, sir!
"Fell for it"?!
What do you mean?
The real one is right here!
Wha-a-at?!
So this is a fake? Yow!
It's bogus?! No fair! You chicken!
It's only natural that I'd take all kinds of situations into account
and be prepared for anything in the pursuit of my goal!
You're the sloppy ones here!
--Tickle tickle tickle!
--Stop! Hey! --Tickle tickle tickle!
Yoink!
Hey! Give that back!
Lute! Pass it to me!
You got this!
Give it back!
Beats! Over here!
Passin' to Cryo!
And on to Fifi!
Spex! Here!
Take this, Floof, purr!
Floof! This way!
Naviwou!
Got it!
Our teamwork got us the white dragon egg back, Lute!
Talk about your Kinship plays, huh?
Yeah!
Too bad for you!
What a hopelessly sloppy bunch you are!
The real egg is... right here!
Wha-a-at?!
It's still out there?! Rats!
We're not about to leave a legendary egg wide open like that!
Isn't that right, sir?
We're wasting our time. Let's go.
Yes, sir!
Go on and use that fake egg to play Kinship all you like.
Watch out, sir!
Eek!
That's our Ratha!
Oh, no!
Now we don't know which one's the real deal!
What now?
With my glorious craftsmanship, you'll never be able to tell!
Well? Go get the real egg already. We're leaving!
Right away!
What's wrong? Hurry up!
Sir, it seems I made these a little too perfectly...
Even I can't tell which one is real!
Lieutenant Pappan? Lilia?
A word?
Of course.
Based on your reading of this here, you came to the conclusion
that there was a Kinship Ore at Mt. Rhyz, yes?
Yes. Some of the letters were a bit ambiguous,
but we did manage to decipher "Mt. Rhyz," at least.
We sent word to Lute as well.
Why do you ask?
You were mistaken.
Huh?
This says, "In the direction of the shadow
rising from Mt. Rhyz as the sun crosses the meridian."
Which means... there is no new Kinship Ore at Mt. Rhyz...
...but its shadow points toward one instead!
Oh, no! We've got to tell Lute!
Sheesh! What are we gonna do?
Not even the guy who made them can tell them apart!
They weally do wook exactwy awike.
That's top-notch replication tech right there.
In other words, whoever made 'em has some serious chops!
This is no laughing matter!
What do you mean to do, sir?
Stand them on their ends.
Stand them up?
Please. Eggs can't stand up.
See, if you take a close look at an egg,
its shell is covered with tiny little bumps.
There's a position in which those bumps jibe just right
with the egg's center of gravity.
In other words, to put it simply:
If an object has three such bumps,
--it will be stabilized. --Ooh!
Er... If you'll forgive me, sir,
was there a reason you explained that to them?
In short, the egg that can stand up is the real deal!
Oho!
Wow! It stood right up! Leave it to you, sir!
Yeah, but...
...so did these two.
What?!
Those are my eggs, all right.
Well, heck, this won't get us anywhere!
I'll just singe 'em a little with my flame breath.
No! You'll hard-boil them!
Wait--fry them, maybe?
C'mon, what are we gonna do?
This is all your fault!
There is one sure-fire way to tell.
Lute, my boy...
Power up your Kinship Stone with my Mechinship Stone here
and try to hatch all three eggs.
The egg from which the white dragon hatches is the genuine article!
I see! We should have tried that first!
All right, Lute: team up with us. Let's get that white dragon hatched!
Well, Lute, my boy? What say you this time?
Same as last time: no!
Why?
I felt something mystical when I found Ratha's egg.
Like he wanted to be born.
I didn't have my Kinship Stone yet.
But Ratha hatched for me.
There has to be a reason this one won't.
And we can't force an egg to hatch like that!
Utter nonsense.
My inventions have made the impossible possible!
Scientific advances have simply allowed humans
to control the hatching of monster eggs--that's all!
Why not take advantage of that?
Real Kinship just naturally makes two hearts one.
You don't need to manipulate it-- or be manipulated.
It's all about strong emotions binding you together!
Who needs such an unreliable Kinship?!
"Hearts" this, "emotions" that--
who can trust anything that can change with your mood,
your situation?
No matter how unreliable...
No matter how much feelings may change...
I trust it!
I trust my friends--
all of them!
Hey! The eggs!
Sir! Everything's loaded on board!
All right--let 'er rip!
Hey! Wait up!
After him, Lute!
No--let 'em go.
Those two can't hatch the white dragon, anyway.
Besides, we have the Black Blight to contend with.
It's all right, Navirou.
Leave Manelger to us!
We won't let him get away with this!
You just concentrate on finding that Kinship Ore, Navirou.
We'll stay focused on those two for you, purr.
I'll do my vewy best even when I'm all sweepy.
Aw, gang...
Nothing burns brighter than my spirit!
Number One:
Beats!
Warm heart, cool breath.
I'm Number Two:
Cryo!
Sparkle-sparkle!
My beauty is almost blindingly bright!
Number Three:
Fifi here!
You don't need glasses to see that I'm the brains of the bunch--
Number Four:
Spex, purr!
Leading you onward to bright tomorrows!
Number Five:
Navirou!
Any time's a good time for a catnap!
Number Six:
It's me, Floof!
All together,
we're the Numbers!
Hey, what about me?
If you insist.
And Lute, by the way!
What you do mean, "by the way"?
A thousand apologies, sir.
And all because my replication skills were too advanced...
But I've finally figured it out!
This is far too confusing. Lose the other two!
I am interested only in results.
Cheval wasn't on this mountain.
That's all there is to it.
Yes, sir.
Next time, we'll find Cheval, all right--
without a shadow of a doubt.
"Monstie Manual"
The Monstie Manual!
"Monstie Manual"
Navirou here will fill you in on some Monsties!
Get your Media Trigger smartphone app ready!
And you've got your egg with you, right?
Okay, time to form Kinship with your Monstie Egg!
And now, the moment of new life: awaken!
"Monstie:"
Our Monstie this time is Great Baggi!
"Great Baggi"
"Type: Speed"
A real brainy beast--with sharp looks, too!
"Species: Bird Wyvern"
Leading packs of Baggi is right up its alley.
"Overall Length: 326.3 cm"
"Overall Height: 125.7 cm"
And it can put its foes to sleep with a special liquid
"Leg Size: 25.4 cm"
before doing them in!
Wonder how that stands up to Floof's yawns?
What Monstie will hatch for us next time?
"Next Episode Preview"
Our search for Kinship Ores has brought us to a whole new place.
Wait--is that the same road from before?
Don't tell me we're lost!
"Forest of Confusion"
Next time: "Forest of Confusion"!
Ride On!