I would like to thank the cowriter of this next arc who is another FanFiction author and a personal friend of mine. Here are a few words from him.

LordoftheRoses: Go read Lunar Knights Guild. It's better. :P

… Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

January 20, X791

"Poison Forest Dragon Mode!"

Sakura was training in the forest on the outskirts of Roseshade, trying to get a hang on her newfound Poison Forest Dragon powers. Flora was sitting against a tree right behind her while she trained.

"Poison Forest Dragon Roar!"

Sakura blasted a tree with a breath attack containing the elements of wood and poison. However, she stopped her attack and started breathing heavily.

"Dammit, I never thought combining elements would be so exhausting." Sakura said as she panted. "But I have to get the hang of this."

"It might be best if we head back to the guild to replenish your magic energy." Flora said.

"But we just started!" Sakura shouted.

"We could stock up on some veggies. That way whenever you run low on magic power you can always eat something to regain some energy."

"Guh, you might be right about that." Sakura looked down at the ground with a sullen look on her face. *There has to be a way to be able to use Poison Forest Dragon Mode without running out of magic energy so quickly…*

Sakura and Flora walked back to the guild hall and saw Jason putting away a flier.

"Hi, Jason!" Sakura greeted as she entered. "Since we don't have a waiter or waitress, would you be so kind as to make me something to eat? And maybe throw in some extra veggies?"

"Couldn't you just go get something at the market?" Jason asked.

"Not after I tried to eat the merchandise at the flower shop." Flora replied.

"Eheheh…" Sakura chuckled nervously. "By the way, what are you doing with that flier? Going on a job?"

"No, I'm just putting it away for now." Jason answered. "Another guild already took the job so it's best if we hold onto it in case whoever accepted it doesn't finish it."

"Can I take a look at it?" Sakura asked, holding her hand out.

"Sure."

Jason handed Sakura the flier and read it out loud.

"'Wanted: Independent Guild Crime Sorcière.' … Jason, who took the job?!"

"Huh?!" Jason was caught off guard by the sudden urgency in Sakura's voice. "Uh, I think it was a member of Sabertooth."

"Where was the last known location of Crime Sorcière?!" Sakura questioned further.

"From what I've heard, they were in Rose Lake, a town not far from where Sabertooth based their guild hall." Jason answered.

"Great! Bye!" Sakura said before dashing out the door with Flora following her.

"Sakura, wait up!" Flora shouted as she flew after Sakura.

Jason sighed in exasperation. "I was trying to hide it so she wouldn't find out. Guess I better go after her."

At the Rose Lake train station, a train had just pulled in with more people coming on than leaving. One of the people coming off was a young lady with short white hair donning a cloak clasped together by a star-shaped clip, with feathery protrusions that cover her chest, shoulders, and mid-back, over her blouse and shorts. The cloak flared at her feet, where it divided into flowing sections secured by ribbons. She also wore a black pair of socks that stopped at her mid-thighs. She looked around the train station, looking for someone.

"Yukino! Over here!"

Yukino saw a hand raised and on it was the Sabertooth guild mark. She ran over to an 18 year old guy sitting against the billboard for arrivals and departures. He was sitting pretty leisurely, with his body open. His hair was long, un-kept and slightly overgrown and he sported a black shirt with a yellow diagonal stripe across it, gray shorts and flip-flop sandals on his feet.

"You're late." The guy, Kyo Vigil said.

"I'm terribly sorry." Yukino apologized. "The train was running late."

"That's no excuse." Kyo said. "If this was really that important to you, you would've found another way to get here on time."

She lowered her head. "I'm sorry."

Kyo just gets up. "Well, now you know not to do it again. The others in our guild wouldn't have waited around for you to show up." He then pulled out a rolled-up job posting. "This is how it's going to work: I got this job here for ya. It's up to you to take care of it. If you impress me enough, I'll recommend you to join Sabertooth."

Yukino lifted her head up. "Thank you-"

She tried to reach for the job posting, but he pulled it back.

"I'm going to be watching you the entire time." Kyo said. "But I will. Not. Help you. Got it?"

Yukino nodded he handed her the flier. She opened it and looked over the job.

"Well, get to work." He said.

Another train had just arrived and unloading from it was Jason, who was dragging Sakura by her arms while she was still suffering from the motion sickness.

"Did we HAVE to take the train?" Sakura asked, still groaning from nausea.

"You wanted to come to Rose Lake the fast way." Jason pointed out. "You did this to yourself."

Flora flew out of the train. "Will you ever get over that motion sickness?"

"How many times have you already asked yourself that?" Jason asked Flora with an eyebrow raised.

"… Good point." Flora replied.

In the center of town was a large lake that was almost like a small ocean and surrounded the entire town. Yukino and Kyo stared out across the lake at the destroyed bridge ruins that spread across it.

"What happened to that bridge?" Yukino asked.

"Ah, some idiot set it on fire to stop some spider wizard guy-It was years ago, I don't remember." Kyo said.

The two continued walking through town.

"We know there are three members of this guild." Kyo said. "We only know the identity of Jellal Fernandes."

"Blue hair and tattoo over his right eye." Yukino stated.

"Keep an eye out for anyone like that and I'll help you ask around." Kyo said.

"But I thought I had to do this by myself."

"No, you just need to show you're strong enough to be in the guild. You can only show that when you fight the guy-BOOF!"

Kyo had bumped into someone and that person dropped a crystal ball on the ground. Kyo immediately picked it up. "Sorry about that. I dropped your-"

Kyo saw the face of the person he had bumped into and saw the face of Ultear staring directly back at him.

"Crystal ball, miss." Kyo said plainly, like he was unaffected.

"Thank you." Ultear reached for the ball, but Kyo pulled it back.

"Mind if I have your name, Miss?" He asked.

"You may not." Ultear replied.

"Well, crystal ball's mine now, I guess." Kyo said. "Thing probably costs a couple hundred Jewel on the black market."

"Fine, keep it." Ultear walked away.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kyo stammered, quickly running in front of her. "I was kidding, here." He handed her the crystal ball. "I'm sorry. Can you blame me for wanting to get thee name of such a beautiful woman?"

"Your girlfriend doesn't seem amused." Ultear replied.

Yukino was not amused.

"Oh, she's not my girlfriend." Kyo clarified. "She's just an old friend. I'm helping her out on a job. Actually, I'm not even really helping her. Just giving her emotional support. You go, Yukino. Get those bad guys and let me talk here."

Yukino said nothing, turned around and walked away.

"What bad guys are you talking about?" Ultear asked.

"Well, I didn't want to worry anyone, but we're wizards from the Sabertooth guild." Kyo said. "There are rumors that Dark Guild, Crime Salsa, was in town and we're here to take them out."

"How many of you are here?" Ultear inquired.

"Just enough, but don't worry." Kyo said. "I'm the strongest in our guild."

"The White Dragon Slayer?"

Kyo's eyes shifted back and forth. "… Yes."

"Oh, thank goodness." Ultear feigned innocence. "I was actually really scared. I heard this guy's power is on par with the Ten Wizard Saints."

"Don't worry. I'll protect you, Miss…"

"Ultear." She grabbed him by the arm. "Ultear. And I'd love to hear more about your guild, Mister…"

"St-Uh… Kyo. White Dragon Slayer Kyo."

"Kyo… I think I can learn a lot from you."

Elsewhere in town, Sakura was sniffing around with Jason and Flora following her around. Since Sakura had met Foster before she was able to familiarize herself with his scent and tried to track it down.

"Are you sure you're going the right way?" Flora asked.

"I haven't caught his scent yet." Sakura answered.

Sakura kept sniffing the air around them like a bloodhound which started to draw attention to them. She suddenly straightened herself up and pointed in the direction in front of her.

"I got him!" Sakura exclaimed. "He's that way!"

As she walked off, Jason and Flora shifted their eyes back and forth at the crowd.

"… Nothing to see here, folks." Flora said to the onlookers. "Just some people passing through."

Yukino was walking down the street with a pouty look on her face, her arms swaying with a firm motion and her movement was aggressively assertive.

"Oh, that stubborn, smug jerk!" She grumbled to herself. "Treating me like a weakling." She then stopped, relaxed her body and looked down at the ground. "Who am I kidding? I am weak. I just want to get into Sabertooth so bad." She then thought to herself. *When I heard Kyo got in, I thought I'd get in no problem. I just need to show how strong I am to him and he'll recommend me. But there's still no guarantee I'll get in. And then he just goes and abandons me to go flirt with an older woman!* "Grrr! I hate him so much!" She furiously scratched her head, messing up her hair.

Nearby, Foster was standing in the middle of the square and Yukino's outburst caught his attention.

"Kyo's just a smug, selfish jackass…" Yukino mumbled. "I have the worst luck…"

*Kyo?* Foster thought after overhearing Yukino's mumbling. *As in Steelbody Kyo? Why is a famous Sabertooth wizard in this town?* He walked up to Yukino. "Something on your mind?"

"Oh, it's… it's nothing." Yukino replied. "I'm just upset at a friend."

"Well, he doesn't sound like much of a friend if he made you upset." Foster said.

"No, he… he does this a lot. Just bad luck."

"Yeah, I know all about those guys. I mean, you're a part of the Sabertooth guild, right? Those guys are all jerks."

Yukino gave him a glare. "What's that about Sabertooth?"

"You're with Sabertooth, right?"

"What makes you say that?"

"I saw your guild mark."

"Just walk away." Yukino took a few steps back. "I don't know what you want, but stay back."

"Like what?"

"I'm not a member of Sabertooth. I'm on initiation. How do you know that and why does it matter?"

"Um, uh, uh…"

Yukino quickly grabbed her two gold keys. "Are you Crime Sorcière?" *I'm taking a real stab in the dark here! I better be right!*

"Forest God…" Foster surrounded his arms in black leaves.

"Open, Gate of the Paired Fish! Pisces!"

Two giant fish appeared and rammed into Foster before he could use his magic.

Meanwhile in a warehouse on the lake, a dark-hooded figure stared out the windows, his hands up and fingers twitching uncontrollably.

"It's been seeeeeeven looong years." His flamboyant voice spoke. "And now the time has come to take my revenge! Heehoheehoheeho!"

A/N: The characters of Kyo Vigil and the figure at the end are courtesy of lordsoftheRoses. I hope you enjoyed this chapter because the two of us will be writing for the next couple of chapters or so. Stay tuned for next time!