Warfront: The Blazing Breaker's

&lt;- Previous Chapter

Waking to a new day
Slowly rolling over, Carra sat up from her bed. Her eyes half open, she reached for her glasses on a desk next to the bed. Hearing shuffling from next to her she looked to see Tori curled up in blankets on a bed across from her. "That's right, I bunked with Tori." she thought to herself, remembering that the two of them played with Chico for the remainder of the day yesterday. Out the window, she saw it was still dark out, though the sun could just be seen coming over the horizon. Deciding she was couldn't go back to sleep, she changed out of her pajamas and headed out the door.

Walking through the halls of Phantom Breaker, Carra noticed not many of the members weren't up yet, probably because it was so early in the morning. Walking for a couple of minutes, Carra found herself in the Breaker Garden's, where she heard a loud snoring coming from above her. Looking up, she suddenly grew tense, as Raven was sitting in a tree above her, sprawled out over several branches and his mouth hanging open as he snored. Turning to run, she bumped into someone and stumbled back a bit. Looking up she saw Akane looking down, surprised to see her. "What are you doing here?" Carra asked under her breath as to not wake Raven.

Akane shushed her as she helped her up and led her back into the building, the two eventually made their way to the main lobby, where some of the mages were up early, looking at the jobs while others were simply trying to wake up with some coffee.

"Sorry about that, Raven is an annoying brat, especially when he wakes up, how did you sleep?" Akane said with a smile.

"Fine, we took Chico over to the daycare, it was loads of fun." Carra said, stretching her arms out above her head. "But you didn't really answer my question, what where you doing in the gardens?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, I always wake up this early, though it's strange since we're not even from this region" Akane said chuckiling for a bit, "Anyway I just get up to take in the morning air, that and to get away from Zaraki, I love the man but he snores loudly" She winked at Carra as she and her laughed as a waitress brought them something to drink.

"So how do you think the job's going?" Carra asked after taking a drink from her cup. "So far all we've been able to do is get shipwrecked and start fights."

"You kidding? that's our specialty." A voice said from behind them. The two turned to see Kat walking towards them with a large smile on her face. Her hair was dripping with water, and her bandana was around her neck, allowing her hair to flow down behind her. "I think you guys are doing fine." She said, sitting down next to Akane.

The girls chuckled as they took a sip of their drink, while talking about some random things, a small tug could be felt as Akane looks down to see Chico nipping on her slippers, making her smile as she brought him up to the table. "Wow, only one day and the little guy found his mistress" She said kissing him on the head.

"Yeah, you got yourself a good little companion there." Kat said, patting Carra on the head, making her blush. Doing up her bandana in her usual style, Kat looked at Akane and said, "So you four got any plans for today? Because I think we might not be done with that gang we ran into yesterday." As she spoke, Chico made his way over to Carra, curling up on her lap and going back to sleep.

"Well our mission still stands, we need to explore the region to see what else it has to offer" Akane said looking over to Carra, "But this time, I want everyone with someone of S-Class to be with them, if that stupid gang does have something planned, then we need to make sure everyone is safe" Akane tells Kat as she looks at Carra. "Listen, you and Tori may be mages, but you're still not yet strong enough to handle guys like this, not to mention that with Chico, we won't be able to fight much. I want you to stay here with Tori".

"OK, sure." Carra said without any hint of hesitation. Though whether it was because she wanted to be with her new friends, or because she didn't want to get hurt again was known only to her.

"That's all well and good, but the only one's who aren't S-Class strength are you and your hubby." Kat said looking at Akane, "Plus there's the blond guy from here, so there's really no worry about not getting paired up with an S-Class." Leaning back she looked up at the ceiling and moaned, "Only problem now is deciding who get's stuck with Raven for the day."

The trio thought about it for a bit as they heard a loud yawn and saw the guild ace of Phantom Breaker with his messy hair and black shirt off as he goes to the bar and orders a drink, sitting down as he waited for it to arrive.

"Well, in a way he and Raven do kind of match up" Akane said with a smile.

"Yeah, but don't you think they'll get along a little to well?" Kat asked concerned. The guild had enough problems as it is, throwing those two together couldn't possibly end well for anyone in the same area. "This might backfire rather quickly, though it might be a hell of a show." Kat seemed to like the idea the more she thought about it.

"Yeah, plus I don't think we can pay for anything he breaks along the way." Carra said, thinking back to any job he had gone on.

"What's this about the destruction of the guild" A voice said as the ladies looked over to see the guild master, Jayapura Marsh, looking at them.

"Well Guild Master, after the last incident a few days ago, we thought it would be best to pair everyone with an S-class partner if they decided to go out today, but we still have no clue who to have for Raven. So we suggested Konoha, but..."

Jayapura laughed with joy as the guild looked at him, "Destruction follows this guild like Vulcan after pretty women, I'm sure more won't be so bad as long as it's pushed towards something constructive".

"Sounds like we got a lot in common." Kat said, laughing to herself.

Carra looked up at the guild master confused. "Wait a minute, how can destruction be constrictive?" making the others laugh. Carra looked at her companions, slowly getting annoyed that they kept laughing at her.

"I think he means personal growth." Kat said, leaning back again. "I think this might be for the best anyways, no offence Guild Master..." Looking up at Jayapura, "But I think he's one of the only ones here who could stop Raven if he goes wild." She said pointing over at Konoha.

"He isn't the guild ace for nothing, and to answer your question Carra, Konoha was originally part of the Demolition Group here in Genosha, charged with taking down the still-standing buildings that are not sutible for living in, we still often get requests for them so he goes to help out" Jayapura replied as the sounds of a yawn could be heard, making the group look over to see Tori still in her pj's, rubbing her eyes.

"Well good morning" Jayapura said as the others replied the same as she took a spot next to Tori.

"Morning, I hate having to wake up so early in the morning" She said moving her hand over to Chico's head and gently scratching his head.

"Probably doesn't help that you two were up all night with the dog." Kat said, watching Chico rubbing his head into Tori's hand. Turning back to her companions she continued, "So how should the rest of us be paired up? Because I sort of got my eye on the handsome blond you guys got running around." a playful grin making it's way across her face.

"Hahaha, by all means, I'm sure Taichi would welcome the companionship" Jayapura said with a grin as Kat jumped with joy and ran out of the place, leaving the others in a daze.

"Well, I guess that settles Kat, me and Zaraki will be fine, Tori and Carra, you two stay here, Raven will go with Konoha, but that just leaves Peltin" Akane said wondering who she would pair him up with.

"How about Minerva?" Carra said, piping up. Thinking back to all the children at the daycare, she looked at Tori and said, "I bet she would love to have a day off." Chico barked in agreement with her.

"I don't see why not, I'll have another person take over the duties for her" Jayapura said with a smile as he walked away along with Akane who left to go check on her husband.

"Come on." Carra said, looking at Tori. Scooping up Chico in her arms, Carra ran towards the hall leading to the daycare, with Tori following soon after. This time both of them neather one being dragged by the other, making Kat laugh at how much they had grown.

A Day at the Daycare
Despite how it might have looked on the outside, taking care of a group of kids was a lot harder to do than it appeared. Within the first hour, both Tori and Carra were exhausted, running back and forth after children running in every direction. Even Chico, there secret weapon, had grown tired of being chased by the kids, and was laying in the grass asleep. After organizing a ball game for the kids to play, Carra fell back against the incline of a hill. "Minerva does this every day?" She asked in disbelief. "What is she made of?"

"You're asking the wrong person, I treat these kids and they're usually afraid of me, but this... This is just a work out" Tori said as she wiped the sweat off her brow and looked over to see the kids having fun.

"I can't believe Minerva does this all on her own." Carra said, watching as one of the children scored a goal. Stopping herself for a moment, with a blank expression, she had a thought. "Does she do this alone?" she asked.

"Were you listening to what I told you yesterday?" Tori asked bonking Carra on the head, "We have volunteers who help, they often do it of their own free will. Another person I know of that does this is..."

"Me" A voice said as the two turned over to see a beautiful woman with brown hair and large endowments as she had on a volunteer clothing.

"Speak of, Carra this is Aina Kuudou, Aina meet one of our guests, Carra" Tori said as Aina bowed in respect.

Quickly jumping to her feet, Carra bowed as well, though again she didn't know how long to bow for. Tori sighed as she pulled her friend back to an upright position. Embarrassed, Carra looked over Aina again. "She looks a lot like Kat." she thought to herself. After realising she was staring, she said "Oh-uh, nice to meet you." Quickly looking to change the subject, she looked over at the children again. "So how do you keep them all entertained?"

Aina chuckled a bit as she looked over still seeing the kids playing and having fun, "It's not easy at times, they always seem to be anxious about a lot of things in this land, but after showing them some magic and games, they enjoy themselves" She said with a smile as suddenly a small barking could be heard as the girls looked over to Chico who was growling at her.

"And who is this little guy?" She said picking him up and cradling him as she rubbed his belly.

"That's Chico, I got him a couple days ago at a festival." Carra said excitedly. Looking over at the children again, she saw that some of them had already gotten board with the game and began to wonder off. Thinking for a moment, she muttered "I wonder..."

Tori and Aina looked over as Chico wiggled his way out of her arms and ran to his master's side, wagging his tail and barking at her. "Mind sharing with the rest of the class?" Tori asked wondering what exactly was going on through Carra's mind.

"Remember when we saw Minerva reading to the kids a while back?" Carra asked looking back at Tori and Aina. "Think some story's well get them to sit still?" though as she said it, everyone could tell that even she found it a sceptical idea.

"I don't see why not, though I think they make work better if they had the little guy with them" Aina smiled as Chico licked Carra's hand.

Picking him up, Carra carried him over to a corner and began calling out, "Ok kids, story time! Come on over here!" Chico started barking in sink with Carra's calls, attracting the attention of some of the kids. Though not everyone listened, a handful of children began making there way towards Carra. Siting down in front of her, they looked up at Carra with anticipation, waiting for the story to begin. Seeing all there little faces looking up at her made her realise that she didn't actually have a story to tell. She didn't go out on jobs, so she couldn't tell them of her adventures, and she didn't know enough about magic to just talk about that.

"Uh...W-Who here has mage parents?" She asked, looking for anything to keep there attention. After a couple of kids raised there hands, she thought for a second and remembered something. Rolling up her right sleeve she pointed to her guild mark and asked another question. "Does anyone know what this mark is from?" After waiting for a moment, one of the kids shouted, "It's a Guild mark."

"That's right." Carra said, pointing to the child who answered. "Well, one of my friends from my guild has a teammate who says his dad was a dragon." she paused to see the kid's reaction. Some starred in disbelief, others had there mouths open in amassment. "Yeah, and he's got a talking Cat who can fly." Carra continued, not wanting the pace to drop.

"Wow, I have to admit, for someone like her to open up so much after a few days, it really does my heart good" Aina said as she and Tori looked over to see Carra continue her story.

"Will you be alright when she has to return back to her guild?" Aina asked Tori who realized that she had forgotten that after her mission was finished, Carra would have to go back home. It made Tori a bit sad inside.

"It isn't going to be easy, but in a way I helped Carra become better, not to mention gave Chico a great home to enjoy" Tori replied with a smile, secretly wishing that things didn't have to change, especially now that she found a great friend to have fun with that was her age. She heard the sounds of laughter as they both turned to see Carra telling them something while a little girl held Chico in her arms.

"And there's this other guy who's even taller than your guild master, he can control gravity." Carra said, stretching her arm up over her head to note how tall the person she was discribing was. As she carryed on, Carra seemed to grow more relaxed in her roll as storyteller, even if she wasn't actually telling a story.

"I must say, she will be missed, it usually takes me ten minutes to get them focused on my stories" Aina said chuckiling as some of the kids were awestruck by what Carra had to say. It made both of them laugh as the sounds of rustiling could be heard, out of nowhere some of the other animals came towards Carra, causing Chico to go a bit wild as he wanted to go play with them, but the little girl calmed him down as they continued listening to the story.

"Even animals are draw to her" Tori said snickering.

Looking over to Tori, Carra began waving for her to join in. "Come on Tori!" she yelled from across the room. Several of the children turned around and began calling as well, encouraging her to share her story's with them.

Tori blushed, but laughed as she ran over, getting all of the kids a big hug with her stretch magic as she sat next to Carra and listened to the story she was making. Aina simply looked on, smiling with joy as she knew that the two girls would make great mother's someday.

Tempting Class
In another part of Utopia, Kat and Taichi where traveling through the city, looking for any remnants of Jugo's gang. Though they had a job to do, and Taichi was trying his best to keep on the lookout, it was apparent that Kat had forgotten all about it. She was seemingly more interested in seeing the sights rather then hunting dark mages. With her arm wrapped around Taichi's she kept pointing at restaurants and asking, "How about there? They got any good food?" with a goofy grin in her face.

Taichi looked over at the woman, although he enjoyed the company, it kind of bugged him that she didn't seem to take it seriously. Though in a sense, it kind of brought a smile on his face, since the way she acted kind of reminded him of his mother.

"Yeah actually, it's a grill shop and it has some of the best prime stuff around" Taichi said as his and Kat's stomach's began to growl. "How bout we take a break?"

"You sold me on that one." Kat said, rubbing her stomach. "Let's eat." Pulling Taichi behind her, she ran into the restaurant and ordered a big plate of food for them to share. After scarfing down a couple mouthfuls of food, Kat asked "So Tai, you been doing this long?"

"Ever since I was born, mom and dad were guild members of Phantom Breaker and I just rolled with the punches in a sense" He said grabbing some beef that was finished cooking and ate it.

"I see." she said before taking a couple more bites. Resting her head on her hand, she swallowed, looked over to Taichi with a sly grin and said, "But I ment how long have you been taking women out to restaurants alone?"

After that comment, Taichi choked on his food a bit, chugging down his drink as he looked over to Kat with his face bright red. "Why... Why do you ask that??" He said taking in deep breaths to get his breathing under control and to let out anything stuck in his throat.

"Well, you're a hansom man." she started, trying to make a straight face. Changing to an innocent tone, she turned her head to the side and said, "Don't tell me there's no Ms'Blondie in your life." despite her best efforts, she couldn't hold back her smile.

"Not..not at the moment.." Taichi said with a sigh as he continued on eating, "We broke up a while ago, I haven't had another woman in my life since then" He said asking for another order of his drink as another plate of raw meat was brought and placed on the grill, cooking while the two talked.

"Veeeeery interesting." Kat said, allowing her smile to come forth. Grabbing up more food, she began prying for information. "So you haven't been on a date for a little while then? I think we need to change that."

Taichi looked at her with a still-blushing face as he looked over to Kat with a piece of meat in his mouth, wondering what exactly she had in mind. "So what exactly do you have in mind?"

Looking out the window, Kat spyed an abandoned lot across the street from the restaurant they where eating at. She thought for a moment, then jumped up from her seat and said, "You get the bill, then meet me in that building over there." with a devilish grin. Before Taichi could say anything, Kat darted out the door and disappeared through one of the windows.

At first Tai was a bit suspicious of Kat's plan, but decided to just run with it as he payed their bill and walked out, making his way to the lot as he passed through and entered the building. Walking around for a while, Kat was nowhare to be found, only dust and broken furniture. Just as he was about to turn to leave, thinking he had gone into the wrong building, a playful voice whispered from the shadows, "Taaaaaiiiii. Come find meeeee."

Tai chuckled a bit at Kat's attempt, but what she didn't realize was that his Sound-Make let him hear almost everything at double. He closed his eyes and concetrated, feeling where Kat would be. Waiting for a clue as to her location, Tai didn't notice a black appendage creep it's way off the floor behind him. Just as he noticed it, it smacked him across the back of the head and disappeared, quickly followed by a childish giggling and another whisper, "One point for me." There seemed to be no origin of the voice, like the walls themselves where taunting him.

Taichi focused his mind, being able to hear the sounds of running and jumping between the shadows as he could tell that Kat wasn't in the actual building, but hiding in the shadows. He quickly shouted out an Echo-location that began to cause the area to become disrupted, quickly making Kat appear as he grabbed her.

"One point for me" He said with a confident smile.

"Oooooooohhhhh, your quite good at this." Kat said impressed. Grinning like a child she faded into her shadow and zoomed away to the staircase. "Come on, this waaaaaayyy." she taunted before moving to the next level. Before following her, Taichi heard the sounds of scraping coming from the ceiling, like someone was moving furniture around.

Taichi heard the noise and was a bit curious as he walked up the stairs, waiting in anticipation to see what kind of set-up Kat had done. Reaching the top of the stairs, Tai saw that Kat had set up a makeshift maze out of the furniture their. Though it was only about 3 feet high, Taichi noted that it could make maneuvering difficult, as his hair was only just below the concrete ceiling. Another childish laugh rang out again, "Come on Tai, come find meeeeee."

"You know I can easily pass this right?" Taichi said with a smile as he quickly used echo location to start his way through the maze, watching out for any moving shadows that might try to trip or hit him.

Slowly moving between the desks and chairs, Tai didn't see any movment. Untill somthing movine past his foot causing him to jump a little, resting back on one of the desks. Instently, it jumped up, causing him to bonk his head on the cealing. "Ha ha ha, watch your head." Kat sang out. "Another point for me."

Taichi smiled a bit as he looked back, "You're enjoying this a bit too much" He said with a smile before sending a playful sound roar at her.

Another laugh came out, though this one sounded more sincere. All the furniture began jumping up and down, then settled again. "Round three." Kat said.

"So, what are you gonna do to me this time?" Taichi smiled as he waited to hear what the woman had to say.

"Hehehe, come find out." She said, making the furniture begin to move again. This time, it simply floated into the air, held aloft by shadows reaching from the celling to the floor.

Taichi smiled and used Sound-Make to create a mini-platform to stand on, making him stand a bit closer to the shadow held furniture. However, a figure could be seen behind Kat as suddenly it jumped on her, and it showed to be a Sound-Make dog as it began to lick Kat in the face. "Looks like we're tied".

Pushing the dog off her, Kat rolled up into a sitting position. With a huge smile she said, "One more round", before fading back into the shadows again. Allowing the furniture to fall to the ground gave her a big enough distraction to slip out of sight again. Taichi quickly set up a barrier of sorts around the area, wanting to make sure he could trap her. "Come on, come get me." She taunted from the shadows.

Cautiously moving forward, Taichi watched for any sort of movement. This time felt different, there was absolutely no presence in the room, as if he was alone. Scanning the floor, he found that there was almost no ware to hide, even for someone using Shadow magic. Just as he had thought Kat had ditched him, a pair of hands reached down and grabbed the sides of his head. Kat half immerged from the ceiling, forming only her body above her waist. Hanging upside-down she pulled his face in close to hers and kissed him square on the lips. Holding there kiss for a second, Kat pulled away, smiled, and asked, "How many points was that worth?" still holding the sides of Taichi's head.

"I'd say.. you won the game..." He said blushing bright red as he kissed her again, enjoying the kiss as he grabbed the sides of her head.

"Hold up lover boy." she said. Jumping down from the ceiling, she sprung of her hands and landed a couple feet away from him. "You want more? Then your going to have to play another game." thinking for a moment, she looked out the window, then back at Taichi. "Race ya back to your guild." Without waiting for an answer, Kat leapt out one of the broken windows and took of down the street.

Taichi grinned widely and quickly ran after her, hoping that the day wouldn't end.

A Caretaker's Ambition
Back at the guild in the nursery wing, Minerva could be seen holding one of the babies closer to her as she was humming a lullaby to the child, trying to make her fall asleep. Behind her, the door opened and Peltin strolled in, looking over the other babies as they slept. Despite his rather abrupt entrance, not a single one woke up. "So you really do this for a hobby, don't you?" he asked quietly, though not enough so that he didn't sound condescending.

"These young ones have had rough lives, they live daily in danger of an event that could take their lives, if I can bring some peace and love into their lives, it's well worth it to see their smiling faces" Minerva replied as she placed the little one back in her crib and walked off with Peltin into the hallway. "Though I get the feeling you didn't come here to help me out".

"How very astute of you." he said while leaning back on the wall. "It's about that gang we hit a couple days ago. According to Raven, they still have a base somewhere in the city, and I figure your the best one to ask for help from." Pointing towards the door he grinned and said "So you in or what?"

Looking through the window into the baby's room, she knew that the group would cause trouble and decided to deal with it now so none of the children would be hurt because of it. After telling one of the volunteers where she was gonna go, Minerva returned to her room and put on her normal gear as she came back to Peltin. "It's been a while since I've worn this" She said looking at Peltin.

"Oh, now I remember you." Peltin said surprised. Seeing her regular attire for the first time since arriving jarred a couple of memory for him. "You're that mage who went on a job with our little lion and the bookworm. The one Jaina spent 2 weeks following around." Laughing to himself, he put his hands in his pockets he began walking away, "Small ass world isn't it?"

"Haha, indeed, they were were interesting mages and it really surprised me that their father was the guild master" She said catching up with Peltin as she walked right next to him. "Then again, I'm the daughter of a guild master too".

"Yeah i know." Peltin said, without looking at her, "That's why i figured you where the best choice for this. The two of us got more dark guild experience than just about anyone here." Without stoping, he looked up as if he had remembered something, "Except probably that fire brat."

Minerva chuckled a bit, "All I remember most times was worrying about which person I could use to do the dirty work for me, but luckily, I've changed in more ways than one" Minerva said looking up at the sky while she kept walking with Peltin.

"Good thing you did it before losing something real important." He said while gesturing to his eye patch, though Minerva got the impression he was talking about something else entirely. "Though that does explain why you set off my sixth sense every time I look at you."

"Why's that?" Minerva asked now curious to hear what the S-class mage had to say about her.

Peltin Took a deep breath, as if he was about to deliver some bad news "I didn't give it much thought when you where at our guild, mostly because every S-Class we got was standing 50 feet away from you." Looking over his shoulder at Minerva he continued, "You where a dark mage, and I'm not talking about Sabertooth. Like a legitimate mage of a dark guild." Peltin stopped walking to look her in the eye, "Sorry if I just blew your cover, but I got a knack for these things." This time he spoke as if he was making a joke.

"In my defense, I didn't exactly have much of a choice, if you knew my father, you'd understand" Minerva said glaring at the floor. "Everyday, it was either become stronger or leave, win or fail, every single day was a fight for survivial. At the time, I believed that if I wanted to survive, I would any means, even if I had to use my own guild mates" She said with disqust before looking back on the main road.

Continuing forward, Peltin seemed to be deep in thought. "You know, I probably understand batter than you think." he said, sincerely for the first time. "You don't need to justify yourself to me, you got your reasons, I respect that." then he cracked a smile and began chuckling to himself. "Besides, I ain't ever seen a dark mage playing babysitter before."

"Haha, I've never needed a babysitter before, I don't see why I need one now" Minerva replied with a smile, "So, where is this base you told me about?"

"I'm talking about the kids." Peltin said grinning back at her. " But anyway, there in some part of the city hit with an earthquake a while ago." Moving through the door leading outside the guild he continued. "Apparently the buildings are still safe, but nobody wants to move back in because the looters grabbed everything first. Guess they moved in around that time."

"My guess? With the area widely known for it's looters, it's the best place to hide" Minerva replied as she started to think of ways she could turn this to her advantege.

Peltin nodded in agreement "Probably, at least we won't have to worry about civi's stumbling by as we tare things up." Then he roughly patted Minerva on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry about making plans, they can't be much stronger than that asshole who went after Carra and the other kid. We don't got anything to worry about."

"True, but always be prepared in my opinion" She said as they arrived at the gate, seeing that the city was slowly giving into proverty.

Jumping up to grab the top of the fence, Peltin quipped, "Don't be so uptight. Where's your sense of adventure?" pulling himself over the top, he swung his legs over and landed on the other side. "Just let things happen, you'll have some fun for once in your life."

"Last time I had fun, I ended up almost killing Lucy Heartfilla in the grand magic games" She replied using her magic to switch postion with a trash-can on the other side.

"I got no idea who that is." Peltin said abruptly, "But you said yourself that you've changed. And for some damn reason I believe you." After roughly shoving Minerva he grinned and said, "So loosen the hell up, your sort of depressing to be around."

Minerva saw the straight forward side of Peltin and actually laughed a bit, it was the first time anyone had been so rough with her that she actually found it a nice change of pace. "Alright, so let's find these weaklings" Minerva said with a smile as she followed Peltin.

"Any ideas?" Peltin said, putting his hands on his hips. "Because going through every building could take all day." After thinking for a moment he mumbled, "Screw it.", drew one of his guns and pointed it at the base if an building. Shooting out one of the struts along the entrance brought most of the front walls off the 2nd and 3rd floors, reviling nothing but ruined furnishings and other discarded items. "That works." Peltin said, a little surprised himself.

"Alright eagle eye, before we blow up the entire city, how bout we use one of my "ideas?" " Minerva asked walking towards one of the bars in the area.

Peltin laughed, "Should have said you had an idea sooner." Lowering his gun he watched Minerva walk away. "Figured the noise would get their attention though." he called after her. Though it was true that people had began coming into the street to investigate the noise, Peltin could tell that none of them where the people they where looking for, so he followed after his partner.

Entering the bar, they were immediatly seen by everyone, who simply shrugged them off and went back to their drinks, however a group of them looked nervously at them as they both walked up to the counter and ordered a drink.

"I think we found our group, third section" Minerva said calmy while taking her drink.

"You think?" he sarcastically responded, before gulping down the entire contents of his glass. Throwing the glass into the air as if it where a toy, he caught it, turned, and pitched it like a ball towards the group. It shattered over the head of one of the members, knocking him off his chair. Everyone in the bar turned to see what had happened, while the group stood at the ready to avenge the unprovoked assault. Grinning, Peltin's single yellow eye seemed freeze them in there tracks as he said, "You lot part of that Jugo gang?"

At first, they hesitated then quickly attempted to ran, only to be enveloped by Minerva's magic as they were quickly thrown to the wall and held there. "I'll take that as a yes" She said holding them in place as they attempted to break free.

With his hands in his pockets, Peltin slowly walked towards the group, kicking aside anything in the way as he moved. "I got a story for you before you answer any questions." he said calmly, though he didn't have a smile anymore. "Jugo picked a fight with us, then got his ass handed to him." Scanning over the lot of them, he found the youngest looking of them and looked at him as he continued. "Then he went after someone very important to me, so I'm not in the most forgiving mood." Seeing the young one start to sweat, he looked back over the rest of the group. "Keep that in mind before trying anything cute."

"I'd tell him if I were you, my magic is the only thing protecting you from his guns, and believe me he really wants to use his guns" Minerva said with a cocky smile she once had before.

Though they where all silent at first, Peltin reaching for his waist prompted the youngest in the group to speak. "There's a building at the center of the district." The others quickly tried to shush him, but grew silent once Peltin stood up. Approaching him, Peltin silently encouraged him to continue. "An old casino in the center of the hazard zone, most of us hold up in the guest rooms, and Jugo and the boss run the gang from there too."

Peltin grinned, prompting the young lad to grin as well, though he didn't quite know why. Looking back at the other members he said, "You see? How easy was that?" Grabbing the youngest by the scruff of the neck, he pulled him out of Minervas magic hold and said, "I didn't even have to shot him." Tossing him towards the door he leaned over him and said "It won't always be someone as merciful as me. Remember this next time you think about joining up with another gang." Not waiting for Peltin to change his mind, the youth scrambled to his feet and disappeared into the street.

"So a casino huh, I was leaning more towards the old-fashion empty bank vault as their hideout, but oh well beggers can't be choosers" Minerva said finishing her drink as she and Peltin went outside, making their way to the area that the former gang members had told them about.

"What, you thinking shut the valt and call the cops?" Peltin said sarcastically. Though after giving it some thought he added, "That doesn't sound like a bad idea actually. Could be a little boring though." He then started chuckling to himself as he walked.

The two made their way to the casino, seeing the construction signs and the warnings of "do not enter" plastered all over the walls. "Don't this make you fall all cozy?" Minerva said with a smile as she touched the fence with a stick and saw an electric charge. "Amatures" She wrapped herself and Peltin with her War God Magic and teleported the both of them onto the other side.

"Guess having a skill like that comes in handy" Peltin said looking back through the fence at where they had been standing. "Walls don't seem to mean much to you do they?" he asked sarcastically. Though he didn't really wait for an answer, continuing to walk towards the hotel part of the casino.

"As long as I can see the other side, stuff like that is mearly an distraction" She said stopping him, hearing the sounds of laughter and dice rolling, "Seems like the casino is still open for business" Minerva said slowly making her way to an opening to check out what was going on.

"Oh, well that makes this piss easy then." Peltin said while looking at the front entrance. "We just got to use the front door." he then put his hood up, obscuring his face, and began walking to the entrance.

A wall appeared in front of Peltin as he looked over to Minerva, "Yes that would be successful, if I wore a mask" She said glaring at him. "How bout we try this in a different approch, my way can be fun too" She said with a wink at him as she warped herself to a large hole on the side of the building.

"If you say so." Peltin said, without removing his hood. Following after her by climbing up some reckage next to the building, he landed on the spot next to her and asked, "So what's the plan then?"

"Let's make sure these worthless lowlifes never hurt anyone precious to us again and let's make sure they get the message" She said as Minerva walked up to Peltin and began to explain the plan.

Inside the casino, the gang where enjoying themselves, despite having just lost a lieutenant to the authorities. Everyone was making use of the game tables that still littered the main hall, trading money and other valuables as bets where won and lost. In the center of the room, a man was counting several large stacks of money while grinning to himself. "We got a huge hull this time didn't we boss?" one of the gang members sitting close to the table asked.

"Damn straight." the boss said. "Now we just got to bust Jugo out o' jail and we can set up in another district." a couple of his henchmen laughed. Standing up, he slammed his hand down on the table to get everyone's attention. "Alright you worthless lot, listen up." waiting for everyone to stop and listen before continuing. "We made a huge load o' money after setting up here, and it's time we expand our territory." Every member chirred in response. "But first, we got to look after our own. Jugo got himself caught, and it's our job to bust him out." more chirred, while others remained silent. "So let's go gut that asshole out of the slammer. What do you say?" the entire room was throne into an uproar. Suddenly, every light in the room went out, leaving only the candles on the tables for light, and whatever light the cracks in the celling would allow.

All that could be heard were the sounds of heels stepping on the floor as they all turned over to the stairs to see a figure appearing before them as a spot light appeared on her to reveal Minerva. "Hello boys, very fabulous place you have here, I figured rats would curl up in pathetic holes like this" She said smiling. One of them attempted to charge and slash her, but she simply blasted him with her magic and made it appear as if he disintegrated.

Standing at one of the lighting rigs near the ceiling, Peltin grabbed the man Minerva had just teleported, and kicking him in the stomach, knocking him out cold. "You are one scary chick." he said grinning, watching the other gang members prepare for a fight. glancing back at the man he had just knocked out, he spied his sword had landed next to a pile of rebar. He grinned as an idea came to mind, "But I can play boogeyman too."

The boss of the gang stood up, cold mist falling off his hands. "I'm sorry, I don't remember calling for an escort. But i'm sure we can assist you in some way." he said with a sick smile, while other gang members laughed.

"You may refer to me as Lady, and believe me boys" Sending another blast of energy at one of the members that screamed in horror, "I'm only here to get rid of the worthless, pathetic rats that tried to hurt children is more worthless than dirt" She said walking down the steps.

"Alright then "Lady", my gang numbers over 100 men, what do you think you can do alone?" Minerva only stared at them with disgust. Getting sick of waiting for a response, the boss razed his hand, shouting, "Ice storm" sending a volley of ice spears towards her.

Without moving she simply smiled, as a hooded figure wearing a black cloak jumped down from the ceiling and deflected them all with a scythe fashioned out of a sword and metal bar. After cutting down the attack, the figure stood up and rested the scythe over his shoulder. It's face was completely obscured, the only thing that could be seen was a single glowing eye coming from inside the hood, which vanished after a moment.

"Who said I was ever alone?" She replied glaring at the boss, "This will be your last warning and believe me, I'm really hoping you try something stupid, it'll be fun for me" She said with an evil and sadistic look on her face, secretly making her disqusted inside.

A few of the gang members chose to turn and run, earning jeers from there comrades. though the boss paid it no mind. Ice began to build up on the floor and tables around him as he said, "I don't think your the only one looking for a little fun." some of the other gang members began taking formation around there boss. Slamming his hand on the table again, a wave of ice shot along the ground towards the pair. Peltin jumped up to the banister to move out of the way, then slid down and landed a couple feet away from the gang members.

Minerva looked over to Peltin and nodded, quickly using her magic to manifest another wave as she quickly traded the spot of a loose wall over to the gang and dropped it, causing the gang to scatter. Taking the opportunity, Peltin dropped his makeshift scythe, drew his guns and fired on all the gang members as they where getting out of the way. As they fell, the leader crafted a sword of ice and ran at Peltin, swinging it over hand in an attempt to cleave him in half. Silently, Peltin stopped the sword with the end if his gun barrel, then shattered it with a single shot. In a split second, Peltin delivered a wide kick to there leaders side, followed by another kick to the chest, sending him staggering back a few steps.

Minerva enveloped a large memberane around the boss, hardening her grip on him as she lifted him high with all his might and swung him right into a wall, crashing it down on him as the others looked in shock at what had just happened to their own boss.

"Is that it?" a disappointed Peltin asked. "We had to chase Jugo all the way through the city and this is as far as his boss can go?" Nobody was clear on who he was asking, though the more likly case was that he was just complaining out loud.

"What did you expect? These worthless rodents are nothing more than cannon fodder when they're not in sycronization" Minerva said as she sent her death glare at the others, making them run in fear as everyone of them left the building. Being the only ones in the building, Minerva exhaled a held breath and started to breath heavily.

"Kudos to you for the acting..."Peltin said, removing his hood. "But did you really think you could hold that space thing open over an entire building without a drawback?" Putting his guns away, he began walking over to her to make sure she was ok to move.

"It wasn't just that, I.. I remembered why I hated that other side of me, it made me feel more disqusting than these people" She said grabbing a cup from the table and drinking it.

"That might be a good thing." Peltin said shortly. Seeing her confusion he explained, "You can tell when you get close to who you once where. And that it's not a good feeling." Pulling up a chair, he helped her take a seat and continued. "A reminder every once and a while isn't a bad thing. Though if you ask me, that's proof enough that you've really changed.".

Minerva took deep breaths to calm herself down as she looked over to Peltin and smiled, "This was fun and all, but I think I'm ready to head back to the children" She said with confidence.

"Hahaha, sounds like your out of practice." Peltin said, though it didn't sound quite as insulting as he could have made it. Helping Minerva to her feet, Peltin began walking towards the entrance. "Alright teach, time to return to the nest." This time she was sure he was poking fun at her.

Minerva just chuckled and rolled her eyes, walking besides him as the two headed back to the guild.

Ogre of the Phantoms and the Blazing Hell Spawn
After leaving the garden, Raven had found that his guild mates had paired off for the day, leaving him to fend for himself. Finding the guild boring, he headed into town to entertain himself. Walking for hours provided no alleviation, and soon his stomach began to growl, so Raven wandered closer to the edge of town looking for some sort of animal to kill. The city's outskirts provided several overgrown ruins for animals to hide in, and it wasn't long before he came across a wild bull. Smiling, he surrounded it in flames, cooking it in seconds, and used a jagged piece of metal to carve off the skin to get at the meat.

"I thought I smelt something tasty cooking" A voice said as Raven suddenly went on the offensive, shooting out powerful flames at the voice, only for it to be countered by electiricty as the person was revealed to be Konoha, "Easy kid, we're on the same side" he said glaring at him.

Unintrested, Raven turned his back to him and continued eating. Taking another bite of meat off of his makeshift knife, he asked "Can I help you with something?" without turning around.

"Seeing as how your teammates are all busy, figured I'd better make sure you don't kill off half the people on here just because they looked at you the wrong way" He replied sitting down near the campfire.