Unexpected Saga: Heroes for Hunting 1

(Raphael's Perspective)
It was weeks after our new guild hall had been built and we were feeling pretty good about everything. Of course one night we got a reminder of where we stood in the hierarchy of mercenary guilds.
"Claire, have Hikari and Jin came back from that last job?" I asked our leader that night.
"No, it was a pretty tough one though so I kind of figured they would be gone this long" Claire said as she lay on the floor.
I had a bad feeling but I tried to shrug it off as I continued to catalog our recent jobs.
"Claire, are you not surprised we've been left alone since that last incident?" I asked.
"It was only a few weeks ago and plus, everyone has heard about how Hikari killed Rek. They're probably just scared" She said as she sat up.
"Yes perhaps you're right" I said as I finished filing the last of the information.

As I put away all of the documents of our recent jobs I heard a knock at the front door of the building.
"Who could that be at this hour?" I asked as I walked to the entrance.
I saw Claire poke her head out from the other room as I went to the door, I then listened for breathing or any sign of someone on the other side. After hearing nothing, I opened the door and saw a note on the ground.
I then closed the door after picking up the note and going back to the other room with Claire.
"Oooh a note, what does it say?" Claire asked excitedly.
I sat back down in my chair and looked at the note trying to figure out what it meant.
On there were seven silhouettes all seemingly generic. Below that were the words "The Seven Shadows are coming, you have nowhere to hide."

Claire couldn't help but look excited by this as she read the note from over my shoulder.
"SWEET! This must mean were wanted" She said.
"How is that a good thing Claire?" I asked confused by her reaction.
"It means, were moving up in the world! If the other mercenaries have to form some group to take us out, then they see us as a threat!" Claire said.
"Yes I understand now, but..why just tell us they're coming after us rather than catch us off guard?" I then asked.
"They want to strike fear in our hearts...oooh this is so exciting!" Claire said happily.
I rubbed my face with my hand and gave a sigh to her reaction as I tossed the paper aside.

My mind went to our friends who weren't on the premises at the moment; I couldn't help but wonder if they had already been attacked.
"Claire you do-" I began as I heard two loud bangs at the door.
"Oh boy an attack al-" Claire started to say as I grabbed her and pulled her aside.
"Shh...be quiet maybe we can fool them into thinking were gone" I whispered to her.
She gave me a pouty look as we crouched down and kept quiet for a while.
We waited a few minutes and then I went to the entrance again.
As I opened the door I saw a strange energy field in the door way, blocking the exit.
"Uh oh" I said as I turned and quickly went t the other room.
"Claire get ready!" I said as I handed her a pair of short swords.
She grabbed them with glee as I went into the lobby area and listened for signs of someone.

Suddenly I saw a metal spike fly past me and hit the wall beside me before turning to see a female emerge from the hallway.
"Make this easy for me will you!" She yelled as she shot another spike from her sleeve at me.
I dodged to the left as the spike hit the ground, I looked then to see an energy barrier appear between the two spikes.
At that moment I held my arm out and created a bow made of energy.
She then fired another spike at me and I stepped out of the way as I reeled my other arm back and then let go. An arrow made of energy then flew at the woman.
The woman then let out a grunt as she dodged the arrow and then rushed at me with a spike coming out of her sleeve.
As she closed in she threw a punch at my head and I barely blocked it with my right arm before she swiped me with the spike on her other sleeve.
"Urk.." I let out as I jumped back from the hit before she tackled me to the ground.
She then leaned down above me and reeled her arm with the spike back.
"No hard feelings kid, but I want that reward" She said as she began to thrust her fist towards my chest.

Suddenly I saw a figure hit her from behind, kicking her away from me.
It turned around to reveal it was Claire who had kicked the woman off of me; she held out her hand and helped me up as the woman regained her stance.
"There's no way you can beat us both!" Claire says as she holds her swords in a ready position.
"On one hand you might be right" The woman says as she fires two spikes on either side of us.
"But on the other, I don't want to be known as the one that let two kids beat me!" She yelled as energy burst from each spike and flew towards us.
We both rolled forward just as the beams were about to hit us and looked back to see a large barricade where we once stood.
The woman however was already rushing towards us she gave a hard kick as I dodged just to the left of her.
She then swiped her arm across my face knocking me to the ground; Claire then rushed at her and sliced her torso with one of her swords.
"Haha you really should have given up!" Claire yelled as the woman felt the blood from the last hit on her torso.
"Don't get cocky kid, it's time to show you the Jet Black Eyes' special" The woman then said as she reached into a pocket and took out a strange black ball.

"Oh no you don't!" Claire yelled as she charged at the woman.
I held out my arm to stop her but immediately the woman threw the black ball to the ground and a black smoke began to fill the hallway.
"*cough* What is this!" Claire then said.
It was now impossible to see in front of me as the black smoke blanketed the room thickly.
"Never thought wind magic would be useful until now" I thought as I covered my mouth with one hand and held out the other.
A burst of wind surged from my hand as it blew the smoke away to reveal the woman running straight at me.
"Too late kid!" She said as she was right in front of me when suddenly she stopped in her tracks.
She then let out a groan of pain as she turned to see Claire on the ground with her arm extended.
The woman turned around and her arm out to fire one of her spikes at her.
I, however took advantage of the distraction and kicked her in the back of her leg sending her forward to the ground.
"Let's make sure you can't move again shall we?" I said as I focused my energy.
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*West of the city in a desert like area, Jin and Hikari are camped out by a campfire* (Jin's perspective)
"Easiest job so far, killed a couple of wild animals and that was it..hmm." I said as Hikari and I sat around the fire.
Like usual she remained pretty quiet.
We sat in silence for a good while until I noticed Hikari seemed to be distracted.
"Hey, you know you're..always so quiet it's okay to..." I began as I heard shuffling from behind us.
"Duck" Hikari said quietly as I lowered my head.

Suddenly I saw a strange looking female lumbering above me as I grabbed my axe and quickly stood up.
We looked each other in the face for a good 3 seconds. Her black hair was covering her eyes but I could see her lick her lips hungrily.
"Hyah!" I said as I swung at her and she dodged to the left before swinging a scythe at me in retaliation.
I dodged my head barely enough for her attack to miss before swiping my axe from where I had ended my last attack to her. Somehow she managed to dodge my attack and moved creepily away from me.
"I know you, they call you the Black Banshee. You're the Jet Black Eyes' most notorious member!" I said.
The woman didn't say anything but gave me a cold look before lunging at me for another attack.
"Not big on talking either huh?" I said as I jumped away from her first attack.
She then swung the scythe at me again this time barely scratching my torso.
At that moment I saw two metal bolts fly by the Banshee; she quickly turned away from me and quickly lumbered towards Hikari.

Hiakri's eyes went big at how fast Banshee was approaching her as she reloaded bolts into her crossbow.
Almost in an instant Black Banshee was upon Hikari and sliced at her, barely missing her chest.
"Get back here you quick little bi-" I began as I chased after her.
Suddenly she was right in front of me and struck me with with her scythe; the attack sent me reeling back afterwards.
"I've never seen anyone as quick and spontaneous as this girl" I said as I put my axe to the ground to help me stay standing.
For some reason she stood in place staring at me with a lifeless look as I regained my composure.
"I'll.....kill...you.." she said as she lunged at me again.
This time I met her attack and our weapons clashed; we both put in an effort to push the other back.
I looked into her face as we struggled against each other and something seemed to change; her eyes seemed to be glowing through her hair.
I could feel myself losing leverage and just as I felt I might give in Banshee is struck from behind by a bolt from Hikari's crossbow.
Then I quickly pushed her away sending her flying backwards before she catches her footing.

The desert moon shone above us as Hikari reloaded her bolts again.
However the air around us turned more sinister very quickly as Banshee kept her head down but began trembling.
"I'll....KILL YOU ALL!" She then yelled as she raised her head to show an angry and evil expression.
Suddenly she disappeared from where she was standing; almost instinctively I focused my aura.
I could feel myself getting struck multiple times from her attacks but their full effect couldn't be felt through my protective aura.
Then for a split second I saw her turn around before an explosion took place and turned her permanently visible while sending her to the ground.
As she hit the ground I slumped down as energy left my body and I closed my eyes for a second.
"Are you okay?" I heard Hikari say as I looked up to see her holding her hand out to me.
As she helped me up I looked at Banshee lying still on the ground.
"That bolt you hit her with...." I managed to stammer out as she propped me on her shoulders.
"Explosive tag" She said as she took me to pick up her equipment.
"Were leaving?" I asked.
"It's no longer safe in the open" She said, at that point we both knew someone was after us.
So we grabbed our belongings and headed back to the guild.
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*Back near the outskirts of town, at a scrapyard* (Allister's perspective)
I waited, impatiently, as Pen' took her sweet time going through all the junk.
"I mean, do we really need to do this at night?" I asked.
"What's wrong, you scared Allister?" She said as she looked back at me for a second before going back to rummage through the junk.
"No it's just...I mean..it's just not practical!" I said as I looked around.
"Since when did you care about being 'practical'?" She mocked.
I decided to shut my mouth after that as she sorted through the different scraps of metal and other things.
Suddenly, I heard something hit metal behind us and turned to see what it was.

"Wow, you two made this super easy you know that?" A familiar voice said as I saw Rekika leaning against a heap of junk.
"You? What you here to get your ass handed to you again?" I asked as I readied my arm to summon my sword.
"Oh please, it'll just be you vs us. I know your friend doesn't have a weapon on her" She said as she separated into three of herself.
I heard Pen say "dammit" under her breath so I stood in between her and Rekika and summoned my sword.
"Come on tough guy, this is gonna be good!" Rekika said as she she clutched her axe and, followed by her clones, rushed at me.
As she came close I slammed my sword to the ground and yelled "Terra fissure!" as the ground broke before me.
Unfortunately her clones had moved out of the way and she herself had lunged at me.

I reeled back as she hit my arm making my sword disappear for a moment.
Meanwhile the other two clones had closed in on me and were now attacking me respectively.
One after another I would dodge an attack and then get hit by another until eventually I slowed enough for them both to hit me.
I slumped to the ground as the pain began to get to me.
"Haha done already? How pathetic!" I heard the three say as they stood around me and reeled their axes back.
Suddenly I heard glass shatter as  I saw a flame begin to form on the real Rekika.
"What? No get it off!" She yelled as she reeled back and tried to shake the flame out.
At that her clones disappeared and I slowly stood up as I watched her throat dirt onto her pant leg.
I slowly approached her and as she finally got the fire out she turned to me.
"Terra!" I yelled as I pretended to raise my sword.
She held her axe out to block the attack when Pen hit her from behind with a pipe.
As she fell to the ground Pen grabbed me and motioned me to follow her out of the scrapyard.
"Let's go home" she said as we made our way back to the guild.
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*Back at the Guild building* (Claire's perspective)
After tying the woman up and taking turns guarding her the others eventually came back.
"Is that Sonya Jet?" Jin asked as he and Hikari hauled their belongings back into the building.
"Oh yeah it is isn't it...um who's that?" I said.
"Claire, that's the leader of the Jet Black Eyes' mercenary guild!" Raphael said.
"Oh...really? Not much of a leader if she was the only one of her guild who showed up" I said with a smile.
"That's because her best fighter was too busy attacking us" Jin answered as he sat next to me.
"Oh you guys were attacked too then" I said, feeling a little bad for them.
"Us too" I then heard Pen say as she and Allister walked in.

As we all settled back in, we told the the stories of the events that had just happened.
"So Rekika is part of it too then?" I said as I passed around the note we had gotten.
"Yup, she's sitting in the scrap yard right now....hopefully" Pen said.
A silence filled the room as everyone looked a bit on edge.
"What do we do now?" I then asked.
"Well....we could interrogate Sonya, ask her who the other 4 are so we know what were up against.
I looked back at Sonya Jet and then nodded in agreement.
"Okay then, when she comes to we'll question her"
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Meanwhile at the scrapyard, Rekika and a young man can be seen. Rekika is holding her head as she tries to stumble over to the young man.
"Lucien, god did they give me a headache when I see them again I'm..." She began as a chain thrust into her chest.
Lucien stands there with a cold expression as he holds the chain firmly.
"What...the hell man....you can't..." Rekika manages to say as she begins trembling.
"Can you feel your body trembling? That's your hatred, your vengeance all coming to a boil." Lucine says calmly.
"The hell are you talking about?" Rekika says as she begins to stumble.
"You are too be judged and I will do the judging, this is all part of my plan. Demetri will just think that they killed you....." Lucien said as he yanked the chain away from Rekika who quickly fell face first to the ground.
"...and will be none the wiser to the judgment I administer" Lucien then says as he turns around and walks off into the dark of the night.