User blog comment:Kogath/Monster Hunter Stories Discussion/@comment-26180564-20160812152703

I noticed on the website that there is a monster combining/breeding mechanic. The example showed a Lagombi and a Yian Kut-Ku being combined to create a Lagombi that can shoot fireballs. Below that, several other monsters, such as Kirin and Rathalos, were shown using elemental attacks that they should not know.

The way that it seems to work is that each monster has a 3 x 3 grid. This includes blank spots (no skills), empty spots (skills can be learned), and colored spots (current skills). When you combine monsters, if Monster 1 has a skill on a specific spot, and Monster has a empty slot on that same location, Monster 2 will gain that skill when combined. In the example, Lagombi started with 2 red orbs, and gained a 3rd red orb in the same row when it was bred, causing "Bingo" to appear over it, gaining fire powers.

I don't know how to read Japanese, so I can't say what the captions mean, but I think that this is how the system works.