Disclaimer- I don't own the Power Puff Girls Z, or any other characters that feature in the series, or the team name (which belongs to IcebatofValikinRRBZ8), all rights go to their official owners. I do, however, own the storyline, ideas and whatever else. Hope you like it!
The sun beams sneaked their way through the leaves, illuminating the small, delicate flowers that clung to the branches.
Its golden fingers caressed the faces of three girls, as they silently stood, below the tree, seeming to be waiting for someone.
"What exactly is this 'special training' meant to be, anyway?" Kaoru muttered.
"I think it has something to do with learning how to properly catch or kill oni, or something." Momoko responded, a thoughtful expression in her gaze.
"But at least we get Misora-senpai, Airisu-senpai and Meiru-senpai to teach us! I heard they got back last night." Miyako chimed in brightly, beaming excitedly and looking at the girls happily. "I hope they enjoyed their trip. Too bad they couldn't tell us where they went." She added, confusion sparkling in her eyes.
"-Sigh- You have a point. It's much better than a complete idiot teaching us." Kaoru agreed, leaning against the tree and examining the twin-blades in front of her.
Each of the girls were holding their new weapons, examining them, feeling them and testing them in curiosity.
"You're right, you are lucky to have us!" A voice cracked through the silence the girls had succumbed to while examining their gifts from Chiyoko-sama.
They looked up, slightly surprised, to meet the owner of the voice, green eyed and grinning at them as her two companions beside her smiled, walking towards them and stopping about a metre away from the girls.
They were about three to four years older than the girls, clad in beautiful kimonos, as were the others.
"Thank you for saying such things, girls," another one of them said, her brown eyes flashing happiness at the flattery. She moved a slither of reddish-pink hair behind her ear, her azure kimono sleeve falling to her elbow, then going back to cover her wrist as she put down her hand.
"Meiru-senpai!" Miyako exclaimed happily, skipping over to to the azure clad girl.
Kaoru went over to the original speaking and they fist bumped, grinning. "Misora!" She exclaimed.
"Come on, it's time to start your 'special' training", the last girl said, her green eyes slightly cold, beckoning the others to follow, while turning and walking away, her magenta kimono rustling slightly, but not before flashing Momoko a smile, a silent greeting.
"Sheesh, Airisu, at least say 'hi'! We haven't seen them for ages!" Misora complained, jogging after the brunette, the others trailing along behind them.
"Hey… I've been wondering this for a while, but why are do you guys get to cut your hair?" Kaoru complained, indicating first to Meiru and Misora's shoulder length hair, then to Airisu's neatly cut waist length hair.
The three older girls looked at each other, seeming to think about it for a second, then Meiru responded plainly: "because we can… I guess..."
"Maybe because we're only from a branch family, so they're being lenient. Also, we aren't the heirs, unlike you three. I think it's more important for you girls to uphold tradition." Airisu contemplated, looking ahead thoughtfully, until they came to a meadow, which met with the same forest as the girls had been in the day before, the trees leaves green and fresh with the arrival of spring.
"Huh? I haven't been here in a while. I missed this place." Misora said, starting to stretch her muscles. Her neon green kimono stretching slightly as she did so.
"So… what exactly does 'special' training mean, exactly?" Momoko asked Airisu.
"Well, we need to test your physical ability, first. But then we also need to teach you girls about how to detect oni'." Airisu responded, reaching for a western style, sword hanging from her hip, sheathed in a dark pink sheath. It shone slightly pink in the sunlight.
Meiru reached for a staff attached to her back, a sharp arrow head embedded in the end.
"Well, I guess we should start now." Misora stated, reaching for a giant mace also attached to her back, brandishing it, seeming to stroke it almost lovingly.
"You girls better get ready with your weapons," Meiru warned them, starting to warm up with her weapon, slashing out at thin air and twirling it. The other two did the same, Misora twirling her mace around, the spiked head coming dangerously close to her body, and Airisu also slashed out, jumping around, almost seeming to be dancing, like she was fighting an imaginary enemy.
"Hey, now that I think about it, what's your team nicknamed, anyway?" Miyako asked them, as she started twirling around her spear.
"Yeah! Wasn't it like: The MegaPodwder Girls' or something?" Kaoru joined in, also twirling her wakizashis absentmindedly.
"The MegaPower Girls! Get it right!" Misora answered irritably.
"Ok, ok, sheesh…" Kaoru grumbled, facing her with her weapons in hand, taking a fighting stance, feet spread out under her, hands tightening slightly on her wakizashis, pointed behind her.
Misora copied her stance, wrapping both her hands around her mace's handle firmly.
The other four girls looked at the two, "well, I guess you two are up first, then?" Momoko stated more than questioned, taking a step back with the others to watch.
The two girls smirked, facing each other, before both went sprinting towards the other, Koaru bringing her two blades down upon Misora's head, but just before it made contact, MIsora brought her mace up to block Kaoru's strike, throwing her off after the blow was absorbed.
As Kaoru landed on the ground, Misora sprang forward, swiping at her side, but Kaoru spun around, just missing the spiked head.
She kicked out at Misora's stomach just as she did so, winding her, and causing her to double, and using the chance to move behind her, and place one of her blades on her throat, smiling triumphantly.
Misora growled as Kaoru took her blade from her throat, and moved away from her. They bowed to each other, and moved off next to Airisu and Momoko, as they took up similar positions as Kaoru and Misora had been in formally.
Momoko reached for her bow, and took out an arrow from her quiver, strapped securely to her back and suiting her profoundly, as if apart of her body.
Airisu held her sword steadily in front of her with both hands,
They stood there like that for a moment, then Airisu sped forward, heading forward towards Momoko, who stood there calmly, bow raised, arrow on bow, hand on string.
Just as Airisu was about to strike her, she loosed an arrow, automatically putting another one in its place, and moved to the side.
Airisu held her sword up to deflect the arrow. It hit the blade with a small clanging, then she stopped, turning to look over at Momoko, then sped towards her again, executing a number of blows and swipes that Momoko was only barely able to miss, firing arrows as she dodged, before she managed to get one through, almost grazing Airisu's cheek, which surprised her for a moment, causing he to stop abruptly, and Momoko took this chance to spring forward and point an arrow strait at her heart.
Airisu accepted defeat graciously, both bowing to each other before moving off, to stand next to Kaoru and Misora, as Miyako and Meiru stood facing each other, fighting stance conducted, weapons raised, ready for battle.
Miyako seemed to hesitate for a moment, but then Meiru sped forward, swiping her staff in front her, aiming for Miyako's torso.
Miyako lifted up her spear, blocking, then pushed the staff off, sprinting off towards Meiru, slashing put at her legs, but she jumped over her.
Miyako spun around and sped forward again, bringing her spear head down upon Meiru's head, but was blocked as Meiru held up her staff in defence. The pear struck the staff, and was thrown off by Meiru. But before she could do another attack, Miyako was already, pointing the spear at her throat.
Meiru put up her hands in defeat they both bowed, and walked over to the others.
"Impressive, very impressive," Airisu remarked happily, nodding in approvement to the girls.
"Really?" All three younger girls questioned together in disbelief.
The older girls nodded in response, causing the girls to smile triumphantly.
"From what I can tell, you girls don't even need physical training, anymore. I guess all we need to teach you is about tracking oni, and various other things you may not have been told about with your former training." Airisu stated happily.
"By the way, what're your code names? I don't think we were told. Mine's Sonia." Misora questioned.
"I'm Bubbles," Miyako responded.
"Mines Blossom," Momoko answered.
"What about you guys? What's your names?" Kaoru asked the other girls, somewhat frantically.
"My name's Iris," Airisu responded.
"I'm Maylu," answered Meiru.
All the girls then looked at Kaoru expectantly.
She looked at them, then away, and mumbled a just audible answer: "Buttercup…"
At the sound of the name, Misora burst out laughing. "Bwahahahah, Buttercup! Hahahahah!"
She eventually stopped laughing, to face a red faced Kaoru, looking at her as if ready to kill her.
"Hehehe…..Sorry…"
"So… what exactly are you going to teach us?" Momoko asked.
They were sitting in a semicircle at the foot of a tree, facing Airisu, who stood in front of them. They were still in the field, and the sun was beating down on the lush green grass of the field.
Airisu indicated to a metal cage at her feet. It was small, and rattled slightly now and then, as if a creature was trying to get out.
She picked it up, and opened it, catching hold of a small, rat like creature as it sprung free of its confinement. It was as black as a shadow, and seemed to almost shift like one.
She held it in front of her showing it to the three wide eyed girls ogling at it.
"This, is an oni." She stated simply, indicating towards the creature in her hand.
"Huh?! That thing?!" Kaoru exclaimed sceptically, pointing to the creature. "But, it's so small!"
"Not all oni are giant, carnivorous beasts, some are smaller, and some are even humanoid, there has even been record of some talking. Sadly, however cute some may look, oni are prominently mischief, most of the time blood thirsty, and quite often evil, beings. This little guy had been chewing the residents of a house in their sleep until we caught him." Airisu explained.
All eyes flicked to the creature, wiggling and squirming, trying to get free of its captures.
"So, you're sent to capture troublesome oni?" Momoko questioned.
"Basically. But, sometimes we can't capture them. And we have to resort to violence, and, more often than we wish, death. Of either the oni or our own comrades." Meiru answered, looking sad as she spoke.
Slight worry appeared on the girls faces, and the group lapsed into silence.
"So….. we need to be prepared to kill, huh?" Momoko questioned more to herself than the others.
"I… can't believe they never told us this….. How could they not have told us?!" Kaoru exclaimed, anger rising inside.
"-sigh- Sad but true, it scared us at first, too, but… we got used to it, in the end. It's a part of our duties to keep the onis in check, so there's nothing we can really do about it but try to make sure no one gets killed." Misora stated sadly.
Miyako stayed silent, trying with all her might to process the prospect of killing. Tears threatened to pass from her eyes, but she kept them at bay. She would honour her family, as best she could.
"So, basically, you were instructed by Obaasan to break the news to us that we're gonna start killing for a living?" Kaoru stated flatly, looking at them with slight annoyance in her gaze.
"Basical-" Misora began, but was cut off by Meiru, who slammed her hand over Misora's mouth.
"That's not all! We were also told to tell you how to track them, and to see how high your level of physical ability is!" She defended, looking indignantly (and slightly crossly) at Kaoru.
"Track them? How are we supposed to do that?" Miyako questioned, confused.
Misora pulled Mieru's hand away and answered: "By smelling them. Oni have this really distinct smell. The more you know what to smell for, the easier it is for you to detect it, until you can smell it without looking. It's sort of like learning how to breathe, it gets easier to do it until you automatically do it without trying."
"You…. actually explained it pretty well…" Airisu said, disbelief evident in her voice.
"Oi! What're you giving me that look for?" Misora fumed angrily.
"Sorry, sorry…" Airisu apologised, looking back at the others.
"Misora's correct, you can actually track them by smelling the scent they've left behind. See," she put the squirming creature a slight distance away from their faces, and the girls sniffed the air.
"It's true! There's a sweet sort of smell in the air now that that things close!" Miyako exclaimed, eyes widening. The other two girls nodded in agreement.
"It's sort of ironic that such vicious and dark creatures could have such a sweet smell." Meiru commented, looking at the dark creature thoughtfully.
"It's… it's sort of familiar…" Momoko stated, staring off into the sky thoughtfully.
Miyako and Kaoru looked at each other, and sniffed the air again, thinking hard.
"Your right!" They exclaimed together.
"Maybe an oni was nearby one time.." Airisu contemplated.
A grumbled sounded from a certain green eyed girl's stomach, causing her to blush slightly.
Airisu looked up to the blue sky, now splashed with golds, pinks and reds. "It's getting late, maybe we should wrap it up for today." She said, putting the shadowy creature back into its metal cage.
"Good idea." Meiru agreed, as all five girls got up and walked off with Airisu, back across the field and out of sight.
As the stars appeared in the darkening sky, three figures approached a grave in a clearing of the forest.
"3 years, what a long time..."
"Hmmm…."
"Come on, Meiru, don't be so blue. Ottosan, tell her!"
"Airisu's right, please be more cheerful. I'm still here, if only in spirit."
"Hmmm….."
Come on, we better go, the girls will be wondering where we are."
"….Take good care of them, won't you?"
"Of course!"
"…..thanks you…."
Explainer- Just gonna explain some of the Japanese words:
Oni- a Japanese demon.
Senpai/Sama- both Japanese honorifics.
Kimono- a type of Japanese clothing, often worn by women.
Wakizashi- a type of Japanese weapon, often used by samurai.
Ottosan- Japanese word for 'Father'.
Obaasan- Japanese word for 'Grandmother'.
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