Chapter Four

The Mechanical Leopard

Mia unclips the cheap guitar case that housed her worn-down acoustic. It was pre-owned, but it still worked well enough for her. She adjusts herself, propping her back against a tree.

She wasn't exactly the best at speaking, but song was probably the only way she could truly express herself. And these weird feelings she's been having…

She strums her guitar, and adjusts the tuning, pulling up her notepad to rest on her leg. Another strum, and it sounded about right.

She moves her fingers to strum a note, but winces as a loud bang rings through the forest. She turns to its direction- the direction of the school, and her eyes widen as she sees a cloud of smoke rising.

She scrambles to put her guitar back in its case, before jumping from her seat, and running back to the school. It doesn't take long for her to reach the entrance.

But, before she can step through the gate, something grabs onto her from behind, tossing her away from the gate. She manages to ease her fall, glancing up at her attacker. It was too dark to see, but its curved blade glistened in the moonlight, and dragged across the ground.

But her eyes catch sight of Abi and Jerry behind the shadowy figure- the former appearing to be righteously pissed.

"M-master Abi…" She grunts out in a quiet voice, lifting herself off of the ground.

"Hey, back off!" Abi yells at the shadowy figure. A black aura surrounds her as she leaps in front of the figure. The figure raises their sword, and swings downwards- and Abi blocks it with her right arm.

The shadowy figure tilts its head curiously, giving their blade another swing, only to be met with the same effect. Abi smirks, using her right arm to punch the figure away, sending them skidding back.

Abi turns to Mia- "You okay, Hermione?" She asks, being careful not to touch her.

"Uh… Mm-hm!" She's only able to give an affirmative nod, catching her breath.

"Good. Stay behind me, okay?" Abi tells her. She glances from the figure in front of her, to Jerry- who had yet another intruder to fight with. He was dodging their strikes with the blade, his arm wrapped in a silver aura as he kept a fair distance.

Abi closes her eyes and takes a breath- in, and then out. The black aura surrounding her body pools up, and takes the shape of a giant black bear that stood between the two figures, stopping them in their tracks.

"Alright. I'll give you one chance!" She yells, opening her eyes and crossing her arms. "Back off, or deal with my friend."

Almost as if on cue, the animal spirit lets out a loud roar. Mia jolts at the noise, but stares in awe. She's never seen anything like it before...

Jerry's eyes widened in surprise. He's heard rumors of Abi's animal spirit. The fierce Black Moon Bear. There was only one person who was able to beat it according to the rumors, Abi's sister...

Abi grins as the shadow figures run towards the giant bear, looking it in the eyes and nodding. With that silent signal, the black beast opens its mouth and roars once more- bullets of energy jetting from its mouth, striking down the mysterious attackers. Before they have the chance to hit the floor, however, they vanish into a faint fog.

"Thanks, Luna." Abi smiles, rubbing the foreleg of her animal spirit affectionately. The bear gives a pur, before vanishing.

She yawns once more, before turning to Jerry. "I thought I told you to go hide in the forbidden room." She growls, giving him a glare.

"Forgive me for being skeptical." Jerry's reply is brief and curt.

Abi sighs- "Whatever." She mutters. "Let's head back inside where it's safe." She turns on her heel, heading into the gates.

Abi walks down the long hallway to the Forbidden Room, peering over her shoulder to affirm that Jerry and Mia were following her. As the title implied, normally she wouldn't let students anywhere near that place, but she didn't want these two in the brunt of the danger...

"Um… Master Abi?" Mia speaks up, walking closely behind her mentor. "Isn't the forbidden room off-limits to students..?"

"I'd have to agree." Jerry says, keeping a fair distance. "I don't like the idea of keeping myself in that room." His eyes narrow, however, at Mia's words. "And how come she gets to call you "master" and I don't?"

Abi takes a short breath. "Firstly, Mia's my… Student, in a way. It sort of comes with it." She begins. "And as to why we're headed to the Forbidden Room-"

The doors in front of them slam open, the weight carried by the body of a master. A gaping, singed hole lied in the center of his chest.

Abi pales. "Both of you, wait here." She says, darkly, stepping over the corpse and into the forbidden room.

Corpses- each of them being the masters that resided in the Order of the Claw. It reeked of blood and smoke. Standing in the center of the chaos was a single student, wrapped in a crimson aura, and covered in sanguine.

Abi recognized the student. "Tina… What did you do?" She hisses.

The young girl turns, slowly, glaring at Abi with a piercing, golden-eyed gaze.

"The one you call Tina is no more." The voice that spoke was deep and wretched, not at all matching the lips it came from. "I am Dai-Shi, and I have returned from my millennia of banishment!"

"Impossible…" Abi whispers, horrified. She takes a step back, as the husk of a student approaches with a burning, bloody claw.

But, before they could strike, a fog enveloped the room and hallway. Abi closed her eyes, bracing for the worse...

Only to open her eyes outside of the school's gates. Jerry and Mia were besides her as well, but there was no sign of Dai-Shi…

Her body felt exhausted, from the fight and what she witnessed… Abi swallows down a bit of bile, before turning to face the two students.

"We're going on a little trip." She simply says.

They'd be much safer in the city she grew up in.