Stanley didn't know much about Valentines Day, or how it was meant to work, having heard only second-hand reports from the others. But he'd decided that if there was any day that he could take a break from his work to show how much he appreciated Gemma, then that was the day. And if he was going to do that, he was going to do it the best way he possibly could, and in the best way he knew how. Hey, if there was anything he didn't get right, then it'd be the thought that counted, right?
The spot he picked for the picnic was perfect, too - overlooking a lake, the sun in the right position, peace and quiet far away from human habitation. Of course, some of the other hunters had raised eyebrows at his choice, and asked him if he really wanted to go there, but Stan couldn't see why. The place was almost uninhabited! There was no way anything could go wrong with this idea, he was sure of it - and if it did, he'd be more than ready for it.
Well, the day held out when the actual foray began. They reached the place in good time, and Gemma seemed to genuinely marvel at the natural beauty of the place. Stan had laid out the blanket and procured the basket, and the whole thing had proceeded very pleasantly, in the young hunter's opinion. The wine was accepted heartily, the food was complemented and everything seemed set to go absolutely perfectly. There were times where the boy had almost fancied his heart would burst out of his ribs from excitement.
That was when the Brachydios decided to crash the party.
Before either one of the couple could react it had leaped out from cover, it's massive form blotting out the sun, and performed a literal headbutt right onto the picnic gathering. And as if that wasn't enough, the green slime upon its horn detonated in an explosion of orange light, set off by the shock of ramming so ferociously into the ground. Food and wine went flying everywhere, as did Stan and Gemma, the pair tumbling in completely opposite directions as the savage saurian bounded to it's feet and roared defiance at the pair of them.
"Stay away from the arms and head!" Stanley had roared, springing to his feet. "The gel's explosive!"
Gemma was already running towards it, her crystal armor materializing as she tried to run the massive dragon down. The beast swung round to face her, snarling, and had to contend with a ferocious punch to the snout that made it's mad red eyes roll. It then had to take a blow to the ribs, courtesy of a flying hunter, that made it stagger, but managed to retaliate with a tail swipe and smashed Stan's body to the floor. Gemma had tried to throw it over her shoulder in revenge, but it simply flicked her aside into some bushes before taking a boulder to the face, courtesy of explosive decompression by Stan.
The next few minutes kind of blurred together in Stan's memory - all haste and struggle and the occasional bouts of pain, punctuated with roars and explosions. There was an awful moment where the jaws of the azure animal clamped shut around him, and visions of being digested alive filled his head - ironically, the panicked burst of air pressure was all it took to free him. Once, Gemma went so far as to trade punches with the Brute Wyvern, her first striking it's own, and as cool as the result looked it wasn't worth the explosion that knocked both combatants backwards afterwards.
It was when the duo succeed in slamming a boulder into the Brachydios' face, cracking armor and spilling blood, that it finally got fed up with the whole thing. Stanley, hovering in the air, watched as the dragon turned and ambled off into the jungle, growling savagely as it did so. Then he turned and coasted down from the air to land beside Gemma, the crystal of her body dissolving away as she brushed off all the dirt she'd picked up. For a long time, neither of them spoke as they observed the crushed sandwiches, the spilled wine, the scorched cloth and the scattered cutlery now lining the grass.
"...sorry, Gem," was all Stanley could mutter.
Gemma turned and quirked an eyebrow. "For what?"
"Oh, you know," huffed Stan. "The part where the giant monster suddenly came along and ruined our picnic! I should have brought my Charge Blade, I knew I should! But I didn't plan ahead, and now look!"
There was another drawn-out pause.
"Question," Gemma said at last. "Is that animal supposed to be wandering around bothering people?"
"Well... no, not really." Stan perked up, recalling his training at the Guild and what the instructors had told him. "In fact, I don't think one's meant to be down here to begin with. Brachydios prefer hot climates, you see."
"Then why is it down here?"
"Oh, any number of reasons," responded the hunter, warming to his topic. "It could have been an old individual who couldn't catch prey as well. Maybe it's sick, and came down here to be out of the heat. Maybe there's just better food down here. Or," and here his voice became rather low again, "maybe it just wanted to ruin somebody's-"
He was interrupted when two strong arms suddenly wound about him, pulling him close. He stuttered to a stop, going rather red in the face, and then when he realized he wasn't going to be let go of any time soon, responded in a similar fashion. The smell of exotic perfume - one he forgot the name of, the Star People had some strange names for their products - filled his nose and made him relax quite a bit, as did the warmth coming from the person leaning against him.
"Then how the heck could you have predicted that?" came Gemma's voice.
"I couldn't," was the response. And he knew she was right. It wasn't his fault if he didn't know there was a rampaging dinosaur about.
Time passed as they let the moment simmer. And somehow, chocolate or flowers didn't seem neccesary here.
"...I'll tell you what we can do, though," said Stanley at last.
"Mmhm?" Gemma pulled away, and found her boyfriend grinning wickedly back up at her.
"Make it pay for spilling the wine," he finished. "Two thousand Zenny doesn't grow on trees, you know!"
Crackle, went Gemma's body as it turned to shimmering white stone.
"If it lasts thirty seconds, you need to train more."
"You're on."
-------
So there the Brachydios was, sleeping peacefully and dreaming of hunts to come, when it heard the branches creak above it. It looked up, eyes narrowed from lethargy, and saw two familiar shapes plummeting towards it.
It's last coherent thought, before Stanley and Gemma proceeded to cave its skull in, was how much horseshit this all was.
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