Well folks, in about 5 days I'm leaving for Dragon*Con, as such I am going to be attempting to write as much as I can get done in these last few days I have to write.

With that said, less AN, more story.

[[]]

[David's P.O.V.]

I gotta admit, the new tail was actually pretty easy to sleep with, seeing as I don't seem to have hurt myself at all last night.

The first thing I did getting out of my bed, without harming my wing for once I might add, was grab the morning newspaper and check the headline.

[Sunday is here! Open Market's open today!]

"Well that's something to make note of." I joked smirking at the fact that today was going to be a good one, then making note of any other things.

[All shops running Discounts for Open Market]

[Starter's Tournament announced- Begin's in one week!]

"Well this is all nice to know." I mused, "Question is, do I wanna participate in the tournament?"

Putting that information aside I leave my home to meet up with the others at the same place Mia and I met up at yesterday.

[]

"So, who's excited for Open Market today?" Mia asked grinning as she rubbed her hands together.

"Errrrr." Axel and I said looking at each other, we had similar thoughts, that we were about to get pulled into a long shopping trip.

"I am." Axel admitted holding up a pair of Leather battle gloves, "I wanna see if I can pick up one more Silver Fang and then rush over to the Meld Shop and see if I can get something good from it."

"That actually sounds like something I wanna see." Sadie said as I was forced to give her a piggyback ride, "Onward!"

[]

Reaching the Open Market, we found ourselves staring at the mass of open air stalls in the place, Axel had already gone off in search of his last Silver Fang, and Mia had already dragged off Sadie to look for anything good and cheap.

I simply began to look around to see what was for sale, starting with the stall next to me.

It was run by a man with gray colored eyes with brown hair that stuck up in the back thanks to a cowlick, his attire was green tinted leather armor and he had a staff leaning on the stall, next to him was the monster known as Milla the Temporal Magician.

"Welcome, the names Michael Spellman." The man said, "I've made it a habit to find and sell rare monsters to help out the new guys, see anything you like?"

Looking down at the cards covered by the glass case I saw quite a few monsters cards and even a couple of spell and trap cards. But I noticed two cards that I'd really like to have.

The Mountain Field spell, and the Vanguard of the Dragon monster card.

A new monster for me, and a spell that can find some good monsters for me and Mia, "How much for the Vanguard of the Dragon and the Mountain cards?" I asked.

"20 Gold." Michael said, "You'd be saving 5 gold from the Mountain card than from the regular shop, and you'd be getting a decently rare monster as Vanguards are actually rather difficult to locate in the Mountains."

"I'll take 'em." I said handing Michael the money.

"Thanks you come aga..." Michael said trailing off and looking into the crowd, "Get on this side of the stall."

"What?" I asked.

"Just do it." Milla said taking my cards off the stall as I walked around.

"Get in the chest and don't come out until I say." Michael said, "It's important."

"Okay..." I said crouching down and getting inside the chest Michael pointed out.

There was a small hole in the wooden chest which I could see out of, which gave me a view of who seemed to have scared Michael.

It was a tall man wearing Buster Blader armor and a Black Luster Soldier's helmet. I could already tell this man was a high level from the armor alone.

"So the mighty Dragon Hunter of Black Talon comes to the humble Starter Village." I heard Milla say, "Why?"

"Just having a look around." the man, called Dragon Hunter, said in a surprisingly soft voice, "Black Talon is looking for new members after all and I decided to check the roots of the players."

"Not really the best idea to look around here for new recruits." Michael said, "Most players here are more focused on learning and adapting over joining mafia guilds like Black Talon."

"You always have been pretty brave mister Spellman." Dragon Hunter said, "Though I do suppose you're right, farewell."

With that the Dragon Hunter vanished as he teleported off.

"You can come out now." Michael said as I climbed out of the chest.

"Who the hell was that and why did I have to slip into a chest?" I asked.

Michael handed me the cards I bought and looked me dead in the eye, "No one knows his real name, or his face, everyone just knows him by his moniker, The Dragon Hunter of Black Talon."

"What's Black Talon?" I asked.

"Black Talon is a guild." Milla said, "But it's like a Mafia, minus the Italians."

"A little racist isn't that?" I asked.

"No it's more accurate than racist." Michael said, "And unfortunately they've been playing it safe, so the Admin's can't ban their leader."

"But kid, you need to worry about Dragon Hunter." Milla said.

"She's right." Michael said, "Dragon Hunter has a vendetta against Dragon Monsters and Dragon players and no one knows why, if he see's you then pray for mercy."

"Got it." I said, "I'm... gonna meet up with my friends now." With that, I walked over to the Meld Shop I saw Axel walk into.

[]

"Hey Axel." I said walking into the Meld Shop.

"Oh, hey David." Axel said looking at me, then he noticed my face, "What's got you worried?"

"I'll tell you when we meet up with Sadie and Mia." I said.

"If you say so." Axel said turning back to the counter, "Excuse me, but what can I get out of Melding these?" He asked placing down three Silver Fang cards and his gloves.

"For 100 Gold I can meld you a pair of Silver Fang claws." The Witches Apprentice said smiling, "They have a 60 ATK Point value and are Knuckle type weapons."

"Alright." Axel said rubbing his hands together and slamming the money down on the table.

The Witches Apprentice took the money and slid it under the counter and took the items Axel left on the table and put them on a circular, blue cloth covered table with the Silver Fang cards in a triangle around the gloves, which were placed in the center of the table.

The Gloves began to break apart into glass and flow upward just above the table slowly and form a silver orb, the Silver Fang cards doing the same shortly after to join the orb.

Soon after that glass like shards flowed out of the orb, shrinking as it did. The glass shard forming a pair of clawed gloves with silver fur and a claw at the tip of each finger.

The Witches Apprentice took gloves and handed them to Axel, "Thanks for your business, come again will you?"

[]

"Black Talon?" Mia asked as we regrouped at the restaurant we frequent.

"Yep." I said, "They don't seem to have much care for this area, but when we leave we might want to be careful."

"Got it." Sadie said, "So, can we head to the Mountain's?"

I blinked at how easily Sadie changed the conversation, but seeing as we could all fly and the Mountains were placed on my world map (And giving it more detail to show mountain ranges) I nodded, "Lets do lunch first though." I said.

[[]]

Well, that's the chapter, and the villains of this story have been revealed.

Anyway I'm gonna call it in for the night, I'll see you all tonight (Seeing at it's 5 A.M. for me right now) with a new chapter of Reading Psychic Hunter on my Ao3.

Don't forget to stop by the links on my Profile to either go to my Ao3, or to my character sheet to create your own character for this story.