Roar of the Anjanath

 As the smoke clears, Evans, climbing out of the now molten crater he has created, looks back at his handiwork. Of the 9 hunters, 3 remained. The shield men, having taking the brunt of the fiery impact, have been reduced to charred bones, smoke sill emitting from some of them. The remaining 2 archers, and Sullivan, protected at the cost of his weapon, lay unconscious, battered and bruised all over.

 "Poor bastards, sent to their death for what? I didn't even provoke them until they decided to send waves of them at me, even some special teams I think. Though those individuals could have just been an eccentric alliance of them, who knows?" Reflecting on his interactions with the guild, he can now guarantee one thing: they see him as a thorn in their side now. And with this he can guess that they are planning for that siege to go as smoothly as possible. "Too bad for them, cause I am here to make myself at home."

 Revising his plan for a bit, Evans heads back to where most of his memories of this life came from - the ancient forest. From there Evans will be able to better keep track of the commission's movements. While its risky, if it plays out, Evans will not only become the biggest benefactor, but hell also delay Astera in taking him out.

Thoughts now sorted, Evans makes his way back to the forrest.

(Astera)

 Hours after Evans' departure for greener plains, The Fleet masters gather. This time however, instead of The Commander leading the meeting, it is the Research division of the Commission, With the Chief Ecologist discussing a topic long overdue. "Thank you for gathering on a short notice. Over the past for years, we have come to a new understanding of certain wyverns. Before we get to that however, I must bring attention to our classification system of them. Do recall how we label wyverns that differ from their counter parts?"

"Course we do. Helps me to figure out what can be eaten and what can nyat." Meowscular chef replies, slightly annoyed from the countless lessons on them.

"Interesting approach, but I'll go over it anyways for those that might be lost. When a wyvern begins interacting with its ecosystem in a unique way, we scholars must observe and record their species. If a group of specimens differ from the rest, and they continue to appear overtime, they are know as a sub-species, as they have genetically changed, whether from the environment or a mutation." As the Chief ecologist mentions this, the scholars behind him step up to pass out pieces of paper. 

 On them shows two Rathians. One of them however, has a pink shell compared to the usual green.

"The other way to classify wyverns focuses more on the individual level. For one reason or another, be it external factors or behavioral changes, the creature changes. We call these variants, possibly more dangerous than the subspecies category, for not only does this change happen in a single generation instead of overtime, but can also make them more unpredictable. Which now brings our attention to new variables discovered over the four years."

 The assistant scholars hand folders out. Some of the fleet masters' eyes light up in recognition while the others seem slightly confused. The chief ecologist holds up the first image. "This is, as you know, the anjanath from 4 years ago. However, this one is a variant, for when we have analyzed the material we were able to gather, it shows that its genes are unaltered, Even though it has grown larger than others of its kind and the fire it produces."

 The material The chief ecologist is referring to is whatever has fallen off of Evans over time. Whether it be the scales he sheds, the fur that molts, or even the boogers he sometimes smears in places he believed the commission couldn't get to, they had it all. The elderly lynian continues, "From now on, this specific Anjanath will be called a [Hell ignitor], due to it's overwhelming use of flame unprecedented in most of the usual fire wyverns." He then stamps a document with his seal of approval, confirming now to the commission of the name approved by the researchers. The other fleet masters don't dispute the choice.

 The second fleet master, however, lifts up the second photo and says, "Alright, I get the anjanath, bugger really puts up one hell of a fight, that's for sure. But what about the Barroth? These things are so low in threat level even a rookie could take one down." If Evans saw the photo in hand, he would be shocked, for it shows Droll, the Barroth that had constantly challenged him.

"That usually is the case, but as mentioned, variants are highly unpredictable. This specific Barroth has been through a lot, as evidence by the chips marring its face. However, recent encounters with it has show that its carapace is harder than any before it, as piercing weapons have no longer been able to pierce it." The piece of info shared has caused those around the table to have their eyes wide open, astonished that most of their weapons, commended for hunting wyverns for over decades, was ineffective. Their are more shocked however when the chief ecologist continues with "Some hunters that have survived the Diablo Disaster have even later described seeing this Barroth, overpowering a diablos later on, a rare feat that leads us to believe that the diet of this creature has changed as well, resulting in increased muscle mass that is hidden behind layers of toughened shell." 

Reviewing the file, The chief ecologist states "We have also designated a name for this landslide wyvern as well. Hunters may refer to it as a [Stone skull Barroth], for reasons blatantly obvious. We are still investigating more on the two however, we are confident that the two are connected in a way, likely the [Hell ignitor] being the cause of this variants change."

"So what your saying is that the damn torchlight we have been chasing is also able to affect the new world's habitants as well?" The chief engineer asks, dreading of a variant Tobi Kadachi, lightning blasting all of his equipment to pieces. "It is possible." The room grows sullen at the possibility of Evans tampering. The commander, having observed from start to finish, finally steps in declaring " For now, these variants will have to be delt with at a later time. We have a bigger target looming over our heads.