Chapter One: Endangered

Akari's hand flew to the handle of the sword wrapped around her waist. She stared at the black-haired man, keeping her hand there. He smiled.

"Calm, kid. I'm not here to hurt you."

She relaxed.

"I'm here to deliver the message. You've been accepted. Congratulations."

He went back out as quickly as he came in. He jumped off a ledge, and a crow flew away, seemingly around the area where he would have landed.

That was two years ago.

Now Akari stood next to her friends. She looked up at the beast, not even quivering.

The Grimm stopped. The thing on its back twitched spasmodically. It suddenly got up, screeching. The four girls covered their ears.

The horse started charging at them relentlessly. Mizudori dashed towards it, taking a leiomano from her belt and crushing it into the beast as it passed next to her. The other three dodged the charge.

But the horse stopped behind her. It kicked her in the back, sending her flying off. She went through a building and decided to stay down for a bit.

The Grimm was fierce. It was mainly a horse with a humanoid creature fused to its back. The head of the humanoid had two large horns and large glowing orange eyes. Its mouth emitted the same glow.

Kimiko trembled slightly, holding the grenade launcher. She shot at the Nuckelavee, jumping away when it tried to kick her too.

Mizudori leaped out from the building's ruins, running up and taking the leiomano from its side. She sprinted to the front of it, slitting its throat but it kept moving. It kicked her again, and her light blue aura cracked when she hit the ground.

Ivy propelled herself to the top of a building. The blade of her scythe lowered, allowing her to shoot at the thing. She removed the magazine, replacing it with one that used red Dust. She started to shoot at it, burning holes into the skin.

Akari took her urumi from around her waist. She started slashing at the Nuckelavee rather skillfully. It turned to face her, but Kimiko shot back at it as a distraction. The rider's arms extended, pinning her against the wall. It tried to destroy her aura by using its other arm to impale her, but Akari slashed back.

Instead the other arm pinned her, too, against a wall.

Ivy jumped down, the scythe blade returning to its original position before changing again. This time the blade went vertical instead of its usual horizontal position. Ivy lunged at it, getting a decent hit at one of its legs. The rider leaned down, screeching right in her face. The strength of the sound waves pushed her back.

It let go of Kimiko and Akari, slapping Ivy out of the way. Her aura was down.

Kimiko grabbed Ivy before she hit the ground too hard. She hauled her over the shoulder. "Akari, get Mizudori. This is too much!"

Akari pulled Mizudori off the ground. She carried her.

"Let's go."

The girls sat in their room. They returned to Higanbana, resting at the inn for the night.

They planned their course in the morning. When Ivy and Mizudori left the room to get food, Kimiko pulled Akari aside.

"Why didn't you use your kagune?"

"I didn't think it was necessary."

"But we would probably have been able to kill it if we used them. It would have been almost too easy."

"Well, whatever. It's in the past. Let's plan for the future."

The other girls walked in, holding trays of food. They placed them on the table next to the map Kimiko laid out.

Kimiko placed a finger over Higanbana. "This is where we are."

She traced her finger over the water and above a symbol – the emblem of Vale. "We're going home soon. Any of you seasick? Afraid of heights?"

No one said anything. "Well, I don't really like airships. We'll take a boat to Sanus and make our way to Vale from there."

Akari picked the urumi off the bed. She wrapped it around her waist and proceeded to take her Scroll from her pocket. She stared at the screen for a moment, checking the team's status.

Mizudori and Ivy still haven't recuperated, and Kimiko was slightly injured. Akari seemed to be in the best condition, although she too was hurt.

"Kimiko, I think we should wait a bit longer. We're not in the best shape for travel."

Kimiko raised her leg onto a chair, pointing at nothing in particular. "Team KAMI is a second-year team from Beacon! We all have good grades, especially in the art of defense! We won't have any problems!"

Mizudori sighed. "Kimiko, this is the real world. Not some sort of simulation."

Kimiko's gray cat ears twitched twice. "I know! But we've got two Ghouls, one of which is a Faunus, and we all have awesome Semblances! Between the four of us, I think we're safe!"

Ivy looked up at her. "You're being more enthusiastic than Akari. And that's saying a LOT."

Akari stared out the window at a trail. "Actually, on second thought, we might be able to set out, but later. We need to rest for now."

The boat ride didn't take too long. The four girls got off the docks and immediately headed to the trail.

–

Mizudori stopped.

The other three turned to face her. Kimiko's ears twitched again. "Is something wrong?"

"I sense something."

Akari reached for the handle of her urumi. "What is it?"

"Something terrible is going to happen. We need to hurry!"

Ivy held her scythe behind her. "Where?"

Mizudori looked up.

"The Relic is in danger."