Forest

Imai woke up in the morning staring blankly at the wall. She could sense a headache coming when she heard the loud chattering from outside the door. With a sigh, she decided to check it out.

"What are you guys doing this early in the morning?" Imai asked as the two figures entered her view.

Uta was holding some sort of cannon ball while Rei was holding a bat made of ice. The two seemed to focus on what they were doing and didn't notice her.

"Are you ready? …SWING!" Uta exclaimed as she threw the cannon ball at Rei.

"HAIIIYAH!" Rei swung the ice bat as hard as she could and the cannonball was sent flying into the distance. She placed her palm in a salute position and placed it above her eyes to see how far the ball went. "Ah! It went further than last time!"

"Great!" Uta said as the two high-fived each other enthusiastically.

"Seriously?" Imai said in disbelief at what they were doing.

The two froze and quickly hid what they were holding and stared at Imai innocently.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Uta said.

"Me neither, I just woke up." Rei added.

Imai sighed and said, "Well, I'm glad the two of you are getting along. But don't use the cannonballs, we need those in case of emergencies."

"Okay!" Rei said as she swung her arm around Uta's neck. "Hey, what should we try next? What if I make a ball of ice and see who could kick it the furthest?"

Uta's eyes seemed to glisten at the idea and excitedly nodded her head.

Imai sighed and contemplated if she really did make the correct decision of letting Rei into her crew. She watched as the two played. Rei was definitely strong and her personality seemed to clash well with Uta's.

"Well, I guess it's fine. The two can learn from each other." Imai said, munching on the food. "Mm, as always, my cooking is always the best."

Suddenly, there was a yell coming from the deck of the ship.

"Hey! Look! There's an island!" Rei yelled.

"Hmm, it looks like a forest." Uta said.

Imai leaned over the railing and turned to where they were pointing. And sure enough, there was an island directly in front of them.

"Shall we visit?" Imai asked.

"Of course! There could be many treasures or people to fight! Oh, what if there are monsters?!" Rei spookily said.

"No way, those don't exist." Uta replied.

"Quit your chatting, we're almost there." Imai said.

The ship was closing in on the island in front of them. While Imai made sure their ship wouldn't somehow disappear into the ocean, the two excitedly ran into the forest leaving Imai behind.

"It's like I'm dealing with children…" Imai muttered as she chased after them.

Once she was caught up, the two were staring off into the distance at something.

"Look, there's a monster coming towards us." Rei said.

"I didn't believe it at first, but monsters really do exist here." Uta.

Coming towards them at a quick pace was an alligator three times the size of their ship. Due to its size, they thought it would be quite slow, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Go on, Rei." Imai said as Rei looked at her with a confused expression. "Show off your abilities, I want to see what you'll do in this situation."

A grin formed on Rei's expression as she pulled out her blade.

"Alright, let me show you what I can do!"

Imai watched as Rei dashed towards the incoming alligator. She noticed the way Rei moved, it was quick, and quiet like an assassin but more aggressive. She raised an eyebrow in amusement.

Rei had a wide grin on her face. After traveling countless hours looking for Imai, she had finally found her, but wasn't able to have any fun. But now that they were on an island where she could roam freely, she couldn't waste this change.

"I need to show off to my captain too! Goodbye crocodile!" Rei grinned as she disappeared from her initial spot. "Flash Step!"

A blue burst of flame erupted from where Rei stood. The flame had blinded the large alligator for a few seconds as it blindly charged forwards. Rei grinned at the sight, the few seconds were all she needed as she lowered her blade.

A blue flame had perfectly pierced through the middle of the alligator's body. It kept running until its body had separated and ice erupted from the cleanly cut side of the alligator.

Rei started walking forward without looking at what she had done to the alligator. She swiped the imaginary dust off her shoulder and smirked to herself as she sheathed her blade.

"Ah, I'm just too cool." Rei cooly said.

"Wow, that was amazing." Uta said, surprised at what Rei had done.

Imai was surprised too to say the least, she thought Rei to be strong, and it seemed she was stronger than what she had thought. Rei had surpassed Imai's expectations.

"Look at her trying to act all cool." Imai said, slightly cringing. "Come on, let's catch up."

The forest was full of surprises.

The three were running through the forests while being chased by countless monsters. There were large praying mantises, octopuses, and lemurs. They fought amongst each other and some chased the three.

"JEEZ! WHAT THE HELL DID THEY EAT FOR THEM TO BECOME THIS BIG!" Rei yelled as she threw a blue fireball towards the praying mantis.

"Cover your ears!" Uta yelled as the two did as she said. "The new age, it is us who'll create the new page in the chapter!"

Special effects circled around the giant lemur as it was thrown against the side of the mountain. After training with Imai, she was able to control when she wanted to use her ability. She quickly deactivated it and signaled to the two that they were fine now.

"Good job! You've improved!" Imai said with a wide grin.

Uta returned the smile and said, "Thank you!"

The three made it towards the center of abandoned buildings where the ground started shaking.

"Um, guys? This doesn't look good." Rei said.

"Definitely not, how did we attract so much?" Uta questioned.

Around them were all kinds of huge monsters that were preying on them.

"Well, there's only one option left, and that's to fight."