Doctor waited for the pack leader to separate.
He was on top of a cliff overlooking a family of dog led by their rabid head. This was after he developed a syringe made from Stout Kelp and Lotus flowers to help expand his air capacity so that he could stay underwater much longer. The results were an astounding success as he dived twice into a sunken temple then a deep trench where he collected two more Shark relics. Coming to shore, he talked to a fisherman who had a problem with his dog contacting rabies. The poor girl left to join the rest, soon becoming their pack leader.
And here he is now. Getting a good look at both the picture her owner had with him and the dog herself, he readied his bow. Nocking an arrow to aim solely at her after he led the others in her pack to a nice cut of fresh deer leg. Letting go of the bowstring his arrow flew to male a clean, quick kill after which he dispersed from the area. He's not in the mood to deal with an army of rabid hounds.
After a considerable distance he looked back to see if any of them trailed him until a...
*Ring*
*Ring*
"Hello?"
"Doctor? This is Doctor, right?"
"You're speaking to him. Who is this?"
"Right, manners. Uhh... Name's Hurk. Heard you help people around the island and I'm gonna need some of that my way. I'm sending you my location if you're interested." The man named Hurk said as Doctor's phone pinged with a message. Once they cut calls he went to his phone to see where Hurk is located. Just a few meters south of Birdhouse Tower.
"Where am I going with this...?"
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"Hey, I'm Doctor. Are you Hurk?"
The Rakyat met up with this Hurk character hiding behind a rock. A slightly paunchy bearded Liberi with a mostly dark brown and white feather and hair beneath his blue head bandana and several tattoos from varying styles painted his arms. He seems to be holding a detonator while looking at the trees as though he was waiting for a good time to press the button.
"Yeah, awesome to meet you, man." Hurk said as he held up his fist, to which Doctor pounded. "Never thought I could work with a Ghost." He looked at his new confidant who only had his hood and sadly, at least for the neurologist, no mask to cover his face. "Missing a few details but I'll see if I can fix a balaclava with a skull design on it for you."
"Heh, if you say so. What are you doing here anyway?"
"Like I said over the phone, I need your help for a..." Hurk briefly stopped. Standing up and exclaimed at the trees in front of them. "Oh shit! Oh no no no no! I lost Coco, man!"
"Coco?"
"Coco! Macaque monkey shortened for Coco! 'Bout yea big..." His Columbian accent and mannerisms revealing as he showed his how small, or big, the monkey is. "Wears a vest..." He went silent for a second and said.
"...and about a pound of C4 strapped to him."
Ehh?!
"You strapped explosives to a monkey?"
"Back in the Navy, heard we did with dolphins. Ursus did it with Manglers during their Civil War recently."
"Not sure about the last one..." He'll have to take that information into account with Patriot. "Anyways, you made a monkey become a walking mine?" Hurk scoffed in a carefree attitude.
"Ahhh... Well... I was hoping Coco could do my dirty work but uhhh..." They looked back at the jungle, and the jungle stared back. Hurk then stared at the detonator. "That was a bust, huh... *sigh* Guess I have to defuse this."
"You're gonna call Coco back?" He shook his head.
"No. He's too far gone behind enemy lines. Gonna blow him up. He'll probably be around them other monkeys and... it'll scar them little dudes but can't have any pirates breathing." With a huff he looked to the jungle one more time and... "FIRE IN THE HOLE!"
*BOOM*
Hurk and Doctor took cover as the former pressed the button. The explosion occured left a large plume of dust that covered the whole treeline.
"Are you sure that was a pound Hurk?" Doctor says as he removes his hands from his ears.
"Pretty sure... 'les the RDX had been tampered with, who knows." As they stood up Hurk raised a fist for his simian friend gone in a blaze of glory. "Vaya con Dios lil buddy... Wait..."
"Is that..."
"No way! There he is!" Doctor saw the little monkey hopping away from the blast site. "Oh man, he must've taken that vest off! That is awesome!" Letting out a sigh of relief the Liberi trainer for macaque suicide bombers sat on the rock. He is absolutely glad that Coco survived being a mine. "So."
"So..."
"I definitely got work for you Ghost."
"Shoot." He pointed his thumb back where the explosion was and explained.
"The pirates got their hands on some contraband conflict diamonds but... our rebel buddies need it more, right?" Doctor nodded when Hurk said about obtaining those diamonds.
"Sure, Rakyat could sell them for supplies."
"Yeah, I've already sent Snowflake and Bubbles II after 'em but they're MIA."
"More monkeys?"
"Can't do this job on my own Doc. So I need you to sneak into that old temple, snag them diamonds okay?" He looked into the distance and brought his suppressor attached sniper out.
"Sneak in, snag the diamonds and get out. Simple enough."
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"Woah woah wait! You're going in quiet?!" The Liberi exclaimed to his comrade with raised hands. Doctor pulled his rifle's bolt back then forward and just looked at Hurk.
"Was I supposed to use heavier firepower?"
"Yeah! I mean... I thought you were gonna go in guns blazin' Schwartzengerman style!" Hurk made air akimbo pistol shots with his fingers as an example of what he expected from Doctor.
"Hurk, I'm called the Ghost of Amanaki for a reason."
"Ohh... You got a point there." Doctor shook his head.
"Anyways, I'll let you know if I got those diamonds." He paused for a bit and came up with a way to . "And if the temple is clear for the Rakyat to reclaim." This put Hurk in high spirits.
"Awesome! Good luck, man!"
He shook his head again as the Ghost ventured into the woods where the temple and its hidden treasures were kept away.
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He crept out of the temple hallways, sometime after stealthily dispatching the numerous outer guards. Landing in the grass as he hid behind the inner walls when he saw two pirate sentries wandering about. The infiltrator snuck behind one of them, stabbing him through the back, bringing out his machete and threw it at the unaware pirate. Setting the body aside he quietly rushed into the main temple structure. Inside was a hung body centerpiece alongside two small macaque corpses with a lamp beneath it and several pirates at other points of entry. One heavy pirate right beside him and two less armored further across at another entryway.
Doctor carefully planted a silenced shot with his sniper rifle behind the heavy first before going on a takedown spree with the other two sitting down. He noticed more pirates from another entryway and began taking potshots with one bullet each for the two extra pirates and a hound. Soon after he climbed inside the temple, going around for another way up but stopped when he saw a sniper. He raised his rifle and took aim. Once that sniper was looking the other way he fired and forced him down the pillar. Continuing on and around the temple to a broken section of the inner walls, getting on a set of ladders, he was now in the summit of the ruins. Getting over he knifed another sniper guarding the top and threw the body down.
Doctor looked down at a briefcase, opened it and secured the bag of diamonds in it. He climbed down and walked out of the now empty temple with diamonds in hand. Returning to the rock Hurk stayed at, he found no one there. So Doctor was all by himself with a bag of possibly the most treasured resource on the island. Scratching his head the Ghost says.
"Now what..."
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"Thank you, my boy, for helping an old man out. Please take a copy of the recipe. It could be helpful to you."
"Much obliged."
Doctor left the house of an ill older gentleman who had him running around in search of medicinal ingredients for his aching bones. This wouldn't be a hassle if it weren't for Alfie's frequent memory loss. So after grabbing several Golden Beehives, Heliconia and finally Screwpine he was given his own recipe as thanks for his intuitive efforts. Intuitive... Right. Taking a look at the recipe Doctor listed the ingredients out loud.
"3 Stout Kelp. Seriously..."
*Ring*
*Ring*
Pressing on the earpiece he answered.
"Hello."
"Hey Doc. It's Hurk, man. Remember me?"
"Hurk? Where have you been? I snagged the diamonds from the temple and you weren't there when I returned."
"Oh yeah, I had to get some stuff for my ol' girl Big Sally. She's been coming down recently."
"Sorry to hear that."
"It's fine. Anywho, since you got them diamonds have you heard anything from Snowflake or Bubbles II?"
"KIA Hurk. No survivors."
"Oh damn... Vaya con Dios lil buddies."
"Right, any reason for this call other than the diamonds."
"Yeah, I tracked three dudes, totally went dark side and defected from the Rakyat. Our rebel bros want them shut down before they tell Hoyt or Vaas anything."
"Tell me where you are and I'll come to you."
"Dudes are holed up in a boat repair yard, man. I'm sending you the deets. Oh, and Dennis wants pictures of their bodies."
"Not again..." Doctor then cursed to the side.
"What was that?"
"Nothing. I'm on my way to you."
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He met up with Hurk hiding behind some trees with a pirates rifle in his hand. The Liberi also happened to be wearing a rough and ready ghillie suit made with whatever materials he found in the jungle.
"Hey...!" He whispered while gesturing the Doctor to come over. With a fist bump and his rifle out the Rakyat asked.
"What's with the leaves?"
"Stealth man. Don't tell me you've never heard a ghillie suit before."
"I do." Doctor plucked one of the Screwpine leaves off his bandana. "Just more advanced versions of it."
"Gotta get me some of them. But check this here." He says while pointing his finger towards the direction of his weapon. "This whole beach is occupied. I thought we were gonna bag three bad guys and call it a day but they probably called for backup."
"They haven't seen us yet. So we're gonna pick them off from a distance." Hurk smiled at that.
"Hehe, yeah. Modern Warfare style!"
They both readied their rifles. Their suppressors in. They developed a plan to not alert the traitors. Several of these pirates are in groups so they have to deal with them first and quickly. From one end of the other. In tandem.
"I got left, you take right."
"Got two moving behind the barn."
"One's near the shed."
*Pew*
*Pew*
*Pew*
The beach was mostly clear. However Doctor had a different plan for the defected Rakyat.
"Hurk. Time to relocate." He pointed to a shed down below where a couple of pirates are outside with one sitting on top of a yellow barrel. "See that barrel? When I take out the traitor, shoot the barrel."
"Huh? I don't get it. Aren't we supposed to be shooting them." Doctor responded with showing his tribal knife.
"Rakyat tradition. The traitors die by knife."
"Oh shit... You're getting hardcore, dude! Alright, I gotchu." Hurk went back to his rifle and aimed for the barrel. He felt something tap his shoulder and saw Doctor giving him the bag of diamonds.
"Before I forget."
"You're wicked stuff, man!" He praised with a fist up full of diamonds.
Doctor descended from the cliffside and went to the back of the shack. Sneaking behind, he grabbed the traitor's neck and impaled him. With Hurk seeing the backstabbing Rakyat being backstabbed he took a single shot at the barrel and the pirates around it were blown away in all places. That made the rest of the repair yard squatters alert.
Doctor rushed to the barn where he lunged at the second traitor and dug his knife through his chest. The final Rakyat turned Pirate tried shooting at him but the dead body of his former absorbed most of the bullets. His carrier unsheathed his machete and threw it straight into the shooters head. Tossing the body down he went to his phone and called.
"Hurk... it's all clear here."
"Awesome work, man! If any director from Wrankwood saw what I saw down there you would get calls worth millions!"
"Heh, thanks. Just come down here and take the pictures for the Rakyat."
"On my way. Oh man, the warriors are gonna be stoked. They'll definitely let me in for sure, now."
"I'll put in a good word for you, Hurk. See you later."
"Later alligator!"
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Dogs. Plant picking. And now he's here scanning bar codes stamped on packages scattered around a river. The reason? A villager had his daughter kidnapped by aliens and now he wants the Doctor's help to find and scan those packages.
"He could've just told me to scan the bar codes instead of telling me this alien nonsense." He said while sitting on the ledge of a rock, the waterfall above him hitting his hood. To the Doctor, he's not sure what's in these packages he picked up and scanned. Drugs? Bootlegged software? Some other form of contraband? This was all a mess to begin with, quite literally. The packages themselves were in various places. From tree branches, shipping containers, behind some random crates and now he's here in the middle of a waterfall.
The downside is that he gained some brand new scars from the river's hidden crocodiles, snakes and a bear that bumrushed him out of nowhere. At this point he wondered if his constitution was meant to withstand grievous bodily harm.
He waited for a few more minutes in the cascading water. Hereinafter it was the moment that...
"Is he not gonna call?"
Usually Hurk calls at this point in time. Conveniently after he was done assisting a random villager with their troubles. Now, he's not doing such a thing. His guess was that once he showed the rebels their, mostly his, work Hurk is now doing more Rakyat trials by himself.
That's how he started.
"Ah well..." Diving into the water, Doctor began his travel back to Citra's temple, remembering that he still had the Silver Dragon with him.
It is currently 24 days since he landed on the island.