The Bronzo Initiative

Introduction
A month had passed since Yuri's arrival into the family, and like with all things, most of the family had gotten used to her being around more and began to see her as Yuri and not Brina. After eating breakfast in the morning, Yuri was seen near her grandfather's tombstone, playing with the kits while the mother kept watch in a close distance as she began to rub the belly of one of the girls.

After a while of playing, she heard the sounds of footsteps as Yuri looked over with a kit closer to her chest as she saw her grandmother. "Good morning dear," Yana began with a smile. Not being one to stall though, Yana cut straight to the point, "You've been here for a while now, but I fear you haven't really formed a close bond with your cousins yet, namely, Duney, Bella, and Byakko. I think I have the perfect opportunity," she said hopefully.

Yuri looked over, letting the kit down on the floor as they followed their mother back to their room, "What is your suggestion grandmother?" She wondered trying to think what she would have in mind. "I'm so glad you asked," said Yana is a perticularly positive tone. From the sleeve of her rodes she pulled out a scroll. She opened it up and turned it around so Yuri could see. It said:

"Dear skilled mages, I am currently in need of your assistance in ridding my town of the nuisance known as the Black Dracon Guild, a group of thugs terrorizing my home. Any and all assistance is appreciated and will come with a sizable reward."

"So?" asked Yana.

Yuri looked up to her grandmother and nodded, "Of course grandmother, I would be honored to help out the family in anyway I can" She said smiling as she gave Yana a hug. "Yay!" Said Bella, emerging from behind a tree and running up to Yuri, with Byakko and Duney following close behind. "Well no use in wastin' time," said Duney, "Let's go!"

Yuri raised her eyebrows at her cousins, looking back to her grandmother who was whistiling, trying to act as if nothing was wrong which made her laugh as they all began their walk back to their rooms to grab their gear. "Why did I get the feeling that it was a trap the moment she came to me?" Yuri asked as their cousins laughed a bit.

"Because granny figured you'd be like aunt Brina and always take up the task if it came to helping the family" Byakko said with a grin.

Once all the cousins had gathered their supplies and said goodbye to Yana, they headed out to complete their job. Bella surveyed the path from above leaving Byakko and Duney alone on the ground with Yuri, which was a bit awkward at times. Finally Duney broke his silence, "I guess this was what it was like when our parents went on jobs together," he said awkwardly.

"Mom didn't really tell me much about the family, to be honest I didn't even know I had an aunt and uncle until I came here, what were they like?" Yuri wondered as the cousins looked at each other.

"Kind of hard to explain it to be honest, well for me anyway, but I'm sure Bella and Duney could" Byakko said to Yuri. The two looked at Duney, who sighed a little and looked up toward the sky, "My mother was a very harsh woman, a workaholic really, but whenever she smiled she seemed to make everyone around her happy as well. As for Uso, he was the most mild in the whole family. He was kind and quiet, but he wasn't afraid of anything."

Yuri was amazed at what kind of aunt and uncle she had, way different than her mother who was always the one to keep things fun and friendly. "I wonder how a normal day for them would be" Yuri thought in her mind as the group continued their way to the place, taking a train there as the trip would last a day.

"Well a normal day would usually include a job, like I said, workaholics," said Duney, "But there was this one time they all went on a job together and it was quite an interesting story."

Flashback to 30 year prior...

Shira, Uso, and Brina Bronzo stood at the gate of the Bronzo Estate, clad in full gear for their mission, waiting for their parents to see them off.

After what seemed like hours, Yana and Ered came out with their grandchildren as they met up with their children at the gates of the family. "Alright you three, I want you to remember to keep an eye on each other, especially Uso, you know how excited he can be when he goes on these missions" Ered said as he held a young Duney's hand while Yana was carrying a young Byakko.

"Don't worry so much dad, we'll make sure that Uso is home safe and sound, if anything I'd be more worried about Shira, you know how she gets when we see a hot Dark Mage" Brina said with a snicker. "Shut up, it's not like I'm some sort of floozy!" retorted Shira.

"Now now, simmer down you two," said Yana with a chuckle, "Just have each other's backs and I'm sure you'll do fine." "Thank you Mother," said Uso with a smile. The three young mages started out the gate and waved goodbye to their family, with little Duney and Byakko waving in their grandparents arms.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave Duney and Byakko with Mom and Dad? You know how mom is when we do something wrong, I can only imagine what she will do when Duney and Byakko get into trouble" Brina said with a worried tone as she shifted her bag better.

"I'm sure Dad can keep Mom under control long enough for us to get back," said Uso with a chuckle. "Besides, who else would we have them stay with while we're gone? Uso's wife couldn't handle both of them while she's pregnant and my husband's out on a job too." said Shira, "Speaking of which, when's the little munchkin due anyway?"

"Next week actually, hard to believe we're gonna have another little pair of feet joining the family" Uso said with a proud grin on his face as Brina elbowed him playfully.

"Just remember, as the Fun aunt, I get to babysit my niece or nephew" Brina replied with a smile as she saw Shira get mad and attempt to punch her, which she dodged easily. After the playfullness ended, Brina sighed as they continued their walk.

"What's wrong sis?" Uso wondered.

"I don't know, just seems crazy that my older sister has a kid and you're gonna have your baby soon Uso" She said moving her hair behind her ear. "I'm just wondering when my time will be..."

"Don't worry little sister," said Shira reassuringly, "Everyone just has there time and place, there's no rush, and I'm sure Dad wouldn't want you to rush into getting pregnant." They all laughed.

"True, by the way, did dad or mom tell us what this mission was about?" Brina wondered as she took her canteen and took a drink from it.

"Come to think of it, all she told us was that we were needed somewhere" Uso replied as well, looking over to his older sister.

"Don't look at me," said Shira shugging, looking as confused as her siblings. They all stopped to ponder this for a moment. Why would their parents have not told them more about the job? Very strange indeed. "Eh well, we'll figure it out when we get there, let's go," said Shira.

The siblings eventually arrived at their destination, all beginning to see that something was going on as the entire area was empty, nothing but closed up shops and trash on the floor. "Is this really the right place?" Brina asked looking around to see if anyone was still around in the area.

"Well I know mom said that this was the right place and there was a festival going on, but something tells me that it ended early" Uso replied seeing a tray of food and going to investigate it, "It's still warm, this place was full of people" He said looking around.

"Look!" said Shira, pointing down the street. In the middle of the road, an injured young man was walking shakelly towards them. The siblings ran up to him and Uso got to him just in time to catch the poor man as he fell to the ground. "What happened here?" asked Shira, who was in awe that the man could even walk at all.

The man grabbed Uso's collar and pulled him down so they were eye-to-eye, then he yelled, "The White Dragons!" but that was all he could say before he passed out.

"What did you think he meant by white dragons?" Brina asked as she helped the man to a bench and began to dress his wounds while adding some medicine on them.

"I have no idea, I've never heard of the white dragons, how bout you Shira?" Uso asked looking over to his big sister who had a serious look on her face.

"I've only heard a couple rumors about them. Nothing that's completely trustworthy, but they seem to be a Pirate Guild that specializes in plunderring small towns without guilds." said Shira with a concerned look.

Just then the siblings heard a noise from a nearby alley. One by one, shadey men and women began emerging from various hiding places around the three Bronzos, and walking down the street with several swords strapped to his back, was a man that appeared to be their leader.

"Were you the one that attacked this Village?!" Brina asked as she was filled with anger and glaring at the man in front of her.

The man drew his four swords, revealing two extra arms, and looked up at the three siblings, "What's it to ya Lassy?" said the pirate as he twirled his four swords. "We're here to stop you," said Shira, stepping forward. Purple energy began pulsing from Shira, along with Uso, who was pulsing with gold energy, and Brina, who was pulsing with blue energy. The three siblings were ready for a fight.

The mages around the siblings began lunging at them. However, Brina quickly turned into her Angelic Flight Armor and began slashing away. Purple energy produced by Shira slammed into several enemies around her, and Uso began shooting bullets of smoke at several enemies.

Brina quickly sent down a powerful energy wave that took out a small handful of pirates as some tried to take the chance and launch a sneak attack at him.

"BRINA!!" Uso quickly used his Smoke Magic, blinding them as he took out a golden key, "Open the doors of the heavenly scales, Libra!" Uso turned the key as a woman appeared in front of him, making her arms glow purple as the gravity became heavier and brought the guys down to their knees.

"Thanks Uso" She said with a smile as she sent out another attack at the pirates. They looked over to check on their sister, who was a flash of purple energy as she shot needles out of all sides of her body. She began working her way towards the leader, but got distracted on a unusually powerful pirate, leaving an opening for the leader to fly at her, his swords poised.

"SIS!!" They both yelled as Brina quickly requipped her Angelic Flight Armor, quickly going to her sister's aid by blocking it with her sword, "HOW DARE YOU!" She yelled in rage, going after the leader herself as she switched to her Angelic Lightning Empress Armor and used her spear to channel some lightning before she attempted a slash at him.

Meanwhile, Uso and Libra were holding off the large group of weaker pirates. Libra pointed her scales at a group of pirates jumping at Uso and said, "Warp Burst!" Black and purple energy blasted the enemies as a sudden gravitational pull sent them backwards. Shira was also taking down enemies one by one, fighting with two extra long needles like swords against a multitude of opponents.

Brina quickly slashed down, but was blocked by the leader's sword as he grinned evily, slamming his fist into her face, sending her flying into one of the nearby houses, smashing through the wall. "Why you!" said Shira, flying at the boss. Four curved needles grew from her back and clashed with each of the boss's swords, while her two hand needles were aimed for two of his arms. However, he jumped in time to kick the needles out of Shira's hands, and knee her in the chest.

Unfortunately for him, Uso had gotten close enough to strike. A twister of smoky fists engulfed the leader, tossing all four swords far away.

"Shira!" The two younger siblings said as they went over to their sister and began to dig her up, finding her as she was breathing heavily from the knee attack  "You okay sis?" Uso said helping Shira up from the rubble and dusting her off with Brina's help.

"I'm fine, though that's gonna leave a big mark, what about the pirate?" She said looking over to see him still on the ground passed out.

Uso and Brina looked around, all the pirates were scattered on the ground either knocked out or playing possum to avoid the wrath of the siblings anymore. Then Shira started laughing, "Well Team, I guess we did a pretty good job."

End of Flashback...

"And that just about sums up our parents relationship," concluded Duney, as he looked to see Yuri's reaction.

"Hahaha, mom always did enjoy messing around with my papa, even when I was still just a baby, though I think this time we'll be a better team" Yuri said with a smile as Byakko wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"You got it cuz, especially since I was always their punching bag every chance they got" He said looking over to Duney and Bella. "Yeah, and you were the oldest, so if you fought back Granny would scold you good too," gloated Duney with a grin. "The spankings you would get," added Bella with an evil chuckle. They all laughed as they came over a hill and saw a small town down below them. "There it is," said Bella, "Let's go!" she jumped into the air and ran down the hill.

"Is she always this exciteable?" Yuri asked as the others followed her to the village, Yuri in front with the two boys following behind her. "Pretty much, yep," replied Duney as he and Byakko caught up with Yuri, "She's always been bubbly and excitable, ever since she was a kid. Granny says she inherits her good nature from Granddad, but she can also be pretty brutal. Just last week she beat up this kid who claimed to be a member of Raven Tail."

"Well, we might want to keep up with her or else we're gonna lose out" Byakko said as he and the others followed Bella to the village, all bursting with excitment, but when they got there, they discovered that there was no one else in sight.

"Now this is strange" Yuri said with curiostiy as she looked around, trying to find any form of life. "Hey Bella, see if you can see anyone from up in the sky," requested Duney. Bella sprouted wings from her Take Over and flew up. She didn't notice anything at first but then suddenly she noticed some movement to her left and was just in time to dodge a blast of fire from down the street her cousins were on. "They're coming down the street towards you!" she yelled.

"Looks like they found us" Byakko said as he focused his magic, creating a large circle from where they were approaching and quickly exploded, taking some of the mages down with ease.

Yuri saw that some had tried to do a sneak attack, but with her powerful Magma God Slayer, Yuri blew them back with ease, "Something tells me that this is only to test our strength" She said glaring around trying to see if there was anyone trying to watch from a distance.

"Well then why don't we pass so the big cats come out," replied Duney as he sent several villains flying with a Water Demon Bullet. Meanwhile, Bella was up in the air, fighting some mages who were using Flight Magic, and winning with ease. "Man this is easy," she said, kneeing a man in the chest and sending him plummetting to the ground.

Byakko focused a circle around his arm as he slammed it into the ground, creating a powerful shock wave that sent away a few of their enemies flying. Suddenly a powerful blast hit Byakko as it sent him slamming into a vender stand, the others looked over to find two power beings there.

"Byakko! So I see the leaders have finally decided to show their faces" Yuri said with a glare as she went to go check on her cousin. "Yuri, cover Byakko, I'll handle this guy," said Duney in a rage. Watery blue aura began forming around him, along with his eyes glowing the same color. "Water Demon's Howl!" he said as a torrent of water blasted from his mouth at the leader.

Yuri quickly ran over to her cousin who was groaning as he got up from the rubble he was caught under, extending his prostetic hand to grab Yuri's as she pulled him out. "These people are powerful, we need to watch each others back with this one" She said as one of the leaders came right in her range, acting on pure instincts, she did a round house kick, sending a powerful magma attack at him.

Bella drew the air-born enemies' fire closer to the ground and fully transformed into her Take Over form. She flew closer and closer to Duney and all of a sudden the two switched places, with Bella fighting the leader and Duney engaging the flying enemies and sniping them down one after the other.

Byakko summoned up an energy ring in the palm of her hand, sending a powerful shock wave throughout the area, knocking down the remaining grunts and even some of the flying enemies as he looked over to see Yuri still tangeling with one of the leaders, "Hold on Yuri, I'm coming" He said running to go help out his cousin.

Meanwhile, Bella and Duney were surrounded, back-to-back, but seemed to be doing a decent job of keeping the enemies off of them. Then suddenly, a large elderly man that looked to be in his sixties was coming down the street. "You can't be here! It's dangerous!" called Duney to the man, but the man all of a sudden seemed to disappeared and reappear only a few yards away. A group of dark mages were about to attack the man, but he defeated them in a flash, cutting them down with four swords, one in each hand, revealing two extra arms.

The old man shealthed his sword and began stroking his beard thoughtfully, "I think it's just about time you scum-bags leave these youngins' alone don't you?" he asked the leaders of the group.

"Who in the hell are you old fool?!" The leader said as Byakko and Yuri found themselves saved by the old man who took down the leader. "You're lookin' at the former Captain of the White Dragon Guild ya Green-horned rookie," replied the old man as he kicked the leader in a nearby shop, destroying most of the wooden furniture inside.

"Whoa, who is this guy?" Yuri asked with amazement, the person had not only defeated the leaders of the gang, but was even able to defeat the entire gang without even trying. Byakko stood in a daze along with their other cousins, simply stared in awe at the sight in front of them.

The old man began chuckling and he continued to stroke his beard. He casually stroled over to the four Bronzo's. "So it really is true huh?" He began, "You yungins' really are the spitting image of your parents after all." "Who are you?" asked Duney, "How do you know our parents?"

"I'm sure you've heard the story of the battle your parents and my Pirate Guild, the White Dragons fought long ago? I was the guild master who fought your parents all those years ago. I had a change of heart since then, and I wanted to meet them again, but then I heard they'd either died or gone missing, so I posted a job to meet their children instead with a little help from your grandmother."

"Well we're here now, but you couldn't have helped the people in this village?!" Yuri said with anger as she wanted to beat up the old man for not actually helping anyone. Byakko and the others managed to keep her calm and held her back until she calmed down.

"Alright so Granny knew we weren't in any real danger?" He asked looking at him. "Oh the danger was completely real," replied the old man with an amused look on his face, "But this town has been abandoned for years now except for me and that gang. You see this was the perfect oppurtunity to meet you all, so Yana threw all caution to the wind and sent you on this job. Who could ask for a better grandmother?"

"Right, hahaha" The group laughed with awkwardness as they smiled back at the man in front of them, In Yuri's mind, she knew it would be crazy to live there, but she just laughed about it as the others joined in the joke, realizing that despite everything that she went through, it was a great bonding experience that brought her closer to her family.

After a brief rest at the old man, who's name turned out to be Gin's, home, they headed back home. Once they arrived back at the estate, Yana and Coma were waiting for them at the front gate. "Hello there" called Yana from up the hill, "Did you enjoy your trip." She said it so innocently, like she had no hand in what had happened, which kind of irked all four grandkids.

"Don't give us that look!!" The four said in a comedic way as Yana simply smiled and looked at their angry faces.

"How could you not say anything about this?!" Yuri yelled with rage, she wasn't the type to get angry at anyone easily, even if they did a joke on her, but she knew that actually making her and her cousins believe that they were in real danger.

"Come on granny, I know you wanted us to work together as a team, but that was way over the line!!" Byakko said shaking his prostetic hand.

"Now now," began Yana, waving her grandchildren's remarks away with her hand, "Who ever said using a bit of trickery and the notion of possible death was so uncalled for?" She began trying to change the subject, "The main thing is that you were all able to work together. Isn't that great?!" The four grandchildren gave her the cold shoulder.

"No! It is not great!" said Duney. He was the quickest to get mad most of the time, but even now he was even more angry than usual.

"What would've happened if we didn't work together, you don't think one of those people would've taken the chance to kill us?" Yuri said looking over to her grandma, taking in a deep breath as she looked at her relatives.

Yana instantly became dead serious. "I am perfectly aware of the kind of risks that come with being a mage young lady. I've been doing it a lot longer than any of you, and I've witnessed first hand what can happen when something goes wrong, but sometimes it's just good to have a little faith and leave it at that!"