A terrifying howl bellowed from the tree line, joined by a cacophony best described as forest battle noises; splintering branches and the flash of blades. Nearest to that chaos, standing on the wooden walls surrounding his home village of Monte Aldé, was a young man armed with a sub machine gun. More a boy, really, as he only recently turned sixteen.

It sounded to him like a pack of Night Howlers ambushed one of those mercenary teams on their way back to the village. They were good at stuff like that. The boy had only once, to his knowledge, seen one of the creatures, although with their powerful Camouflage Arte he could never be too sure. He checked the space behind him.

When he turned back to the forest, he saw a woman had run out, with two bizarre figures on her tail. Definitely Night Howlers. They flashed with kaleidoscopic light, hallucinations made flesh. He raised his weapon towards one of them, wondering if it would help to fire.

That woman was Elvira, and she’d broken away from a group of metas when Hitori told her to run towards the village. He hadn’t elaborated, but they talked earlier about the importance of trust, so she did it without hesitation. Now there was a pair bearing down on her. Was that part of the plan?

In any case, Hitori told her to follow her instincts during their cave side conversation, and right now she sensed an opening. The wolves were split up, trying to encircle her, not expecting a sudden counter attack.

She leapt forward, turning mid air to face the furthest creature, then braced her sword tight against her body and planted her feet. Before she finished skidding she fired off her Dash Tech. She felt as much as heard the crunch of bone when she slammed into her target. The meta tumbled away, its psychedelic visage faded leaving only a large wolf with mottled brown fur.

Her tech was not at all suited for sudden impacts, so she spiraled and stumbled when it finished, barely keeping her feet. The other wolf went dark, making it hard to find in the dim light. She picked it out as it leapt for her throat.

And directly into a silver wall that materialized before her. Hitori emerged from the forest and finished it off with a quick two strike tech. The rest of the team was close behind.

“Nice work,” Hitori said with a smile, pulling her up. “You’re getting a lot of milage out of your first tech.”

“Thanks,” she said. “But I want more of them anyway.”

Hitori laughed. “Probably wise. For now let’s get behind the walls.”

Elvira playfully saluted and sprinted after him towards the wall. This time she built up some forward momentum before Dashing up it. She flipped once, and then belly flopped onto the parapet. A little kid with a gun flinched back when she landed. She gave him a sheepish grin, and then hoisted herself the rest of the way and quickly jumped down the other side.

She released a deep, loud breath and plopped onto a large stone marker. “Sweet Saint Silva that is the most work I have ever done in my life,” she groaned. “I’m hurting in places I didn’t know I had. Chandra, give me some juice!”

“I’m pretty sure you have more Vital Energy right now than I do,” Chandra said with an amused grin as she walked by.

“Come on, come on,” Hitori said, grabbing her hand. “We have to debrief the mission commander and I want us all there.”

“Bah, I knew you were a sadist,” Elvira said, but nevertheless allowed herself to be pulled upright. She joined the rest of the team in a brisk walk back into the center of the village. Once again their evaluator had vanished from sight.