On a sunny afternoon in a thick and massive forest, a little Nekomata was sitting helplessly as she was binded by a chain wrapped around her in front of a little girl in a sundress and straw hat.

"You fight like a loser!" the little girl exclaimed. "So much for that 'awesome' might of your mimicry. You're a disgrace to all Magicians everywhere!"

"You cheated though!" the little nekomata cried out. "I could've beaten you with my superior power to copy other powers if it weren't for that trap you set up on me!"

"Says the one who needs to rely on copying the Magecraft of one who worked hard to earn it," replied the little girl. "Now sod off and come back when you level up your skills! I've wasted enough time with you, so good day..."

"Hey, wait! You can't leave me tied up here like this! I demand a rematch!"

The little girl in the dress then walked off to leave the forest.

---

Meanwhile, a trio of people were just heading towards the forest themself as if they were in a search for something. The first of the trio an attractive youkai girl with long and black hair dressed in a white, sleeveless tank top that exposed her belly as well as a blue skirt, brown boots and carried a rifle strapped at her hip and a revolver in her waist holster. The second of the group included and somewhat short and stout human man dressed in a a dark brown robe who was entirely bald and carried around a grimoire and a wand-like device. He easily appeared to be the oldest of the three. The last one was a bull man of towering stature who has his hair into a brown pompadour as well as being powerfully muscular built while wearing a dark green duster coat with a black undershirt, a pair of jeans and black combat boots who wears metallic gauntlets.

"Ugh, we've been walking out here all morning, Akira," spoke the woman as she express her growing impatience. "Have we found her yet? On another note, we should do something about the weather once we head back."

"We're already here, Akane," answered the short man as he continued to aim some small and slender device as he grinned. "Right in this forest from what my detector has analyzed."

The woman rubbed her chin and nodded.

"Alright, tread carefully, guys..."

"Hehe, got it!" the big man repied to the woman as he cracked his knuckles eagerly. "My strength is more than enough to let me handle it all by myself."

The three then entered the forest together. Soon enough, they would encounter the Nekomata to their expectation. This forced them to stay hidden in the bushes nearby.

"Ha, you're right, Akira! She is here and all alone!" Akane whispered excitedly. "This is too easy."

"Just as planned," Akira whispered as a big, plotting grin touched his face. "Remember the plan we agreed to? One at a time or she'll mimic all our powers at on- Hey, what are you doing, Ken!?"

"You idiot!" Akane shouted.

Without hesitation, Ken bursted out from the bushes to rush down the Nekomata recklessly. He pounded his fists together with enough force to create a shockwave that could be felt and heard a good distance away.

"You're mine, girly!"

"Huh!?" Kinomi responded in shock.

This event produced a loud scream from the little cat youkai girl that could be heard in a wide vicinity where others nearby could potentially detect.

(This will be the first RP in which I will have used some of my newer characters, just FYI)

Just nearby, two figures would be moving through the forest; one, an above average height and athletic looking girl with blue clothing tucked under some armor, boasting sky blue eyes and bright red hair. She also carried a rather elegant looking blade, strapped on her back. The other, a taller muscular man with leather garb and full facial hair in addition to his white and long braided hair strands in the back and silver eyes.

"So, where is this place anyway? We've been looking for hours! Come on Raz, I want some results here!" spoke the girl

"It should be around here. That's what our informant said. Please be a little patient, alright?" said the older of the two

The girl pouted as she started looking around at the scenery in boredom as she brought her arms up and behind her head.

Just then, a small flock of birds would be dashing through the forest canopy above in a panic.

"Hm...a disturbance in the forest." The man said, seemingly more focused on the birds than anything else.

"Disturbance? Maybe it's those bandits again. We better see to this!" The girl said, readying herself, "Follow me, Raz! Maybe we can sneak up on them!"

The older man still seemed to be in a trance, then snapped out of it, "Hm? Yes, we should find out what's going on out there. But, Pepper....wait!--" Razaeroth sighed and ran after his companion.

"Take this!" shouted Ken.

The big and muscular man charged as he was preparing to throw a brutish overhead punch,charging fire around his fist. The now victimized Nekomata stared intently at the man as she observed his show of power. She nodded.

"Perfect! Fire Magic!"

With that, Kinomi mimicked Ken's flames and used them to unleash an explosion around herself to blow the chains off and blast Ken flying back as he crashed through a few trees.

"I'm free!"

"Pft, I knew this would happen," Akane said as she cocked her rifle. "Akira, cover me!"

"Right!" Akira answered.

Akane began to take aim at Kinomi while Akira casted a spell to enchant her rounds. By the time this was taking place, Pepper and Raz would arrive on time.

Pepper and Raz would be in proximity to the scene as they saw the trio trying to attack the cat-like humanoid. They would conceal themselves behind some trees and terrain first as they would observe the situation.

"Looks like a fight. Those three are trying to attack that cat-like person over there." the scarlet girl said

"We could help her, but we really don't know the situation. She could be a convict and those are bounty hunters," Raz shook his head and closed his eyes, "Still, judging by the vibes I am getting from the forest, I think she is in need of our help."

"Alright, I trust your judgement Raz. You've gotten me and my band out of a lot of tricky situations before. I don't like a gang-up anyway. Let's go."

"That woman and the mage seem to be distracted at the moment."

"Target the mage first then. After you make a good hit, I'll step in and take out the gunner. If the big guy gets in your way, try to hibernate or root him."

Razaeroth nodded, at that moment he shut his eyes and shape-shifted into that of a lynx. Green particle magic swirled around the lynx, causing his image to fade into the background like perfect camouflage and allowing him to move slowly through the area undetected by normal eyes. Raz would approach the mage slowly from behind until he was fairly close.

Meanwhile, Pepper would move closer to the scene, still concealed behind terrain and trying to make no sound.

Kinomi soon noticed that the markswoman was aiming a rifle at her and gasped.

"Hey, what's going on!?" Kinomi exclaimed. "Who are you peop-"

Akane fired off a large round that left behind a glowing white plasma contrail and propagated a shockwave due to its sheer speed and force distorting the surrounding air. Kinomi managed to sidestep and dodge the shot barely on time before retaliating with a fireball.

"Heh, as expected..." Akane whispered.

Akane and Akira both jumped off to the side of dodge the incoming fireball, leaving Raz in the line of fire unintentionally. Meanwhile, Ken managed to get back on his feet.

"Grrr, I'll show ya who's better at playin' with fire, little kitty!"

Raz saw the two sidestepping and leaving him in line of fire.

Raz would swiftly evade the fireball's trajectory by side stepping it gracefully, retaining his camouflage. He would then proceeded to approach the mage from behind.

Pepper would be behind a very close terrain cover as she await Raz's move.

Before Kinomi knew it, the bullet from before came right back at her back as if it completely changed trajectory on its own and struck the Nekomata on the rear side her her head, causing her to fall over onto her face as she was encased in ice.

"Head Shot!" Akane exclaimed.

"Great shot, Akane!" Akira cheered as he fist pumped. "She should be out cold from that one!"

To their dismay, Kinomi simply broke out the ice and got back up and rubbed her head where a superficial wound was made.

"Ow, how did that hit me if it came from the front!?" Kinomi shouted at Akane.

"They're not like what they used to be, Akira," Akane sighed as she took aim again with her rifle. "Cover me again..."

Meanwhile, Ken faced Kinomi and began to prepare a spell as she charged at his foe.

As the trio was distracted, Raz would make his way to Akira until he was close enough. Then, Raz would become visible out of his camouflage right after unleashing a surprise attack at Akira's lower back, slashing deeply with his sharp claws several times.

Just then, Pepper would unsheathe her blade and leap out of the terrain cover toward Akane from behind, aiming to attack her with a Skewer Thrust and impaling her back near her shoulder.

Akira was

"Gyahhh!" Akira exclaimed in pain. "What the hell!?"

Akira staggered forward and tripped as the sudden attack made him lose his balance. This brought Akane's attention, causing her to turn as she kept her rifle aimed at shoulder level.

"What now!?"

Akane spotted Pepper lunging at her and attempted to parry the blade with her rifle.

Kinomi broke the rest of the ice off her and shivered...

"So cold!"

Kinomi then noticed Ken charging after her as his entire body was engulfed on fire, burning the land in his tracks. Seeing this caused the Nekomata to take out her dagger and anticipate Ken's prepared attack.

As Akane would parry Pepper's attack, she would swiftly raise her leg and kick her square in the stomach to stun her.

Raz would pounce on his fallen target and swiftly bite at Akira's neck with his fangs, with enough force to incapacitate, but not kill his target.

Akira struggled helplessly to reach for his sleeve while he was becoming dazed from Raz' assault to his neck.

"Help me!!!" Akira screamed in distress as he struggled to activate one of his charms he had hidden in his sleeve. "Begone, you filthy animal!"

Akane lifted a knee up to block the kick with her leg while readjusting her rifle aim, retaliating by shooting her rifle blank-point range at Pepper's chest.

"Who are you people!?" Akane shouted as she fired. "How dare you interfere with Team Elements!?"

"How unoriginal could a group name get?" Kinomi pointed out through a snarky comment.

"Shut up, you brat!"

Meanwhile, while Kinomi's back was seemingly turned, Ken went for a flaming flying kick that would cause an explosion upon impact with anything it plowed through. He was aiming for Kinomi. Kinomi backflipped to dodge Ken's attack and landed on his shoulders.

"Bye bye!"

Kinomi stabbed Ken's back while riding his flying kick that destroyed trees in the way.

"Ow!"

Ken was too much in pain to focus on landing properly and tumbled violently across the ground as his flying attack ended.

The gash from Akira's neck bite would induce serious bleeding as Raz would attempt to incapacitate him further by raking the rest of his back and neck.

Before Akane had time to fire, Pepper would take advantage of her free weapon to launch a sudden shockwave at the gun from her own weapon, attempting to knock it out of her target's hands.

Akane allowed her rifle to be knocked out of her hand as she started to step back, taking out her handgun swiftly to aim it at Raz so she can fire a round at him nonchalently in attempt to save Akira.

"Get off him already"

Meawhile, after Ken made a crash landing, Kinomi hopped off and started to retreat...

"His powers should be now be sealed away after that good stab I gave him, tee hee!"

With Raz distracted with his target, he had little time to evade the handgun round. The attack made him stagger backwards a bit with damage.

Pepper then launched a series of slashes at the preoccupied Akane, ending with a final powerful strike capable of piercing most armored surfaces.

Now that he was freed of Raz' assault, a weakened Akira activated his charm successfully to teleport himself a good distance so he can hide behind a tree out of sight.

"Damn animal..."

Meanwhile, Akane continued backstepping as before in attempt to get out of the sword's attack range as she aimed her handgun and waited for Pepper to leave an opening.

"Hey, help me out, Ken!" Akane shouted.

Ken got up and placed his attention on Kinomi still, pounding the ground to cause the ground from below to erupt hugely and stop Kinomi in her tracks unexpected. Kinomi was sent crashing through a tree and lying on her back. She then sat up as she looked at Ken in shock.

"Huh, wait! How come you can still use magic!?"

Ken then faced Akane.

"I'll help ya out now!"

Raz noticed Ken was addressing them now. He shape-shifted back into human form, with his gun wound bleeding a little.

"Not quite." Razaeroth said as he then mumbled some words and summon giant roots to sprout from the ground around Ken to hold him in place.

Pepper noticed Akane was keeping out of range of her attacks and used another skewer thrust to kill the distance between the two.

"Hey, what the-!?"

Ken suddenly was captured by the sprout of roots from beneath him.

"What's the big idea!?

Ken tensed his muscles and engulfed himself in a large pillar of flame to burn away the roots in attempt to free himself.

"You pest!" Akane exclaimed.

As she said this, the young woman barely caught the speeding blade on the roof of her handgun to guard herself, staggering and falling into a sitting position.

Meanwhile, Akira remained hidden behind the tree so he can heal himself.

The roots around Ken, although flammable, were thick enough to slow him down for a little while.

Razaeroth was taking a moment to heal his bullet wound with magic of his own.

"Shame on you! Ganging up on someone alone." Pepper exclaimed as she readied her blade at Akane, waiting on Akane's reaction or next move.

Seeing that the enemy group was being distracted, Kinomi started to retreat again.

"Man, these roots are tough," grumbled Ken.

Ken emerged from the pillar engulf on fire in attempt to further incinerate more of the roots off himself as he tried to advance towards Pepper.

"There is no honor when you're in this kind of field!" Akane shouted at Pepper. "You do what's most efficient, haven't you learned that?"

Ken noticed Akane being held at sword point and realized what was going on.

"Not on our watch"

Ken then got ready to pound the ground.

Before Ken commenced his attack, Razaeroth stepped in front of him to block his line to Pepper and change his attention.

"You'll have to deal with me first."

Raz then shape-shifted into a grizzly bear type animal to match Ken's size and strength.

"The difference between you and me is, I never resort to underhanded tactics." Pepper said, "Now, call of the attack and stop this useless bloodshed." With her blade still at Akane, keeping a close eye on her movements.

Ken stopped to take note of Razaeroth suddenly imtercepting his way to Pepper.

"Heh, not a chance, old ma-"

Ken froze briefly as Razaeroth suddenly became a powerful bear. Ken then stood up straight and pounded his fists together, causing a booming shockwave to shake all the local trees from brute force alone.

"Oh yeah? Bring it on then!"

Akane squeezed her handgun's handle as she seemed to have her eyes distracted.

"Who gave you the right to enforce justice anyway?"

As the pairs were busy taking each other on, Akira recovered enough to cast his next spell in order to teleport in front of Kinomi, who suddenly stopped and hesitated a bit.

"Where do you think you're going?" Akira asked smuggly as his wand suddenly transformed into a large maul.

"Uh oh!"

As Kinomi tried to escape, Akira began preparing another spell as he rose his maul skyward.

Razaeroth, as a bear, then gave out a loud roar. At that moment, strangely colored transparent butterflies appeared from the magical aura around his body. The spectral butterflies, about a dozen, floated over to Ken and around his eyes, attempting to blind him.

Meanwhile, Pepper had her blade to Akane still, "Discard the gun and explain yourselves. I want to know what's going on here!"

Akane released the handgun from her hand and sighed...

"I'd ask you the same," Akane replied back with a smirk as she clutched her hand. "Like I said, you and your friend have no business being here!"

As she shouted, Akane engulfed herself with an expanding wind spiral in attempt to blow Pepper away.

"Ooooh..." Ken said as he gawked at the butterflies in wonder and distraction. "Pretty butterflies."

"Help me!!!" Kinomi screamed.

"Haha, you can't escape now!" Akira shouted out. "Time is up!"

Akira then smashed his maul into the ground to summon a portal accurately under Kinomi that would drag her into it.

Pepper's eyes widened as Akane summoned a spiral of wind to knock her back. In response, Pepper held up her weapon at the wind, causing it to glow a bit. Suddenly, the weapon began to suck in all the wind magic like a vacuum.

"Unfortunately for you, this weapon was forged with the heart of a wind elemental lord." Pepper then released all the stored wind energy at Akane in a sudden burst.

As the spectral butterflies danced around Ken's head, keep him occupied, Raz noticed Kinomi's plight a moment too late. "Ah! The girl!" He said almost telepathically in bear form.

"How fortunate of you..."

Akane was sent flying from being knocked back by the counter blast.

Meanwhile, after having dragged Kinomi into his portal spell, Akira's hammer transformed back into a wand as he held it up to cheer in victory.

"Hey, I did it!" Akira called out. "I got the cat in the bag... Errr, well, wand, but still..."

Ken snapped out of it and shook his head to face Razaeroth again after hearing Akira's cheer of victory.

"Heh, looks like I'm done here" Ken shouted furiously. "Time to wrap this up!"

Ken suddenly punched the ground to cause the earth in front of himself to petrude into a huge wall of stalagmite between himself and Razaeroth.

Pepper grinned, "So, they're running away now? Serves them right."

Raz reverted to human form and approached Pepper, "Pepper, they--I think the girl is gone!"

"She's gone? How did she vanish like that?" she said, stabbing her sword into the ground in irritation

"Not sure, they must have captured her in some way. How should we proceed?" Raz said, after a cough

Pepper sighed, "Well, we don't even know anything about that cat girl who was captured anyway. Maybe there's someone nearby who can provide us with information?"

"Should we gather more from headquarters then?" Raz asked

"I don't think that will be necessary. They should be tied up as it is anyway. First, we need to understand what's going on here."

While the three armed people had retreated out of the area with their catch, somewhere around the partially incinerated areas of the forest was a detached name tag left behind...

"Alright, let's see if we can find anyone or anything nearby that might provide some hints." Pepper said, as Raz gave a slight nod and followed her.

The two would begin searching the area for any clues, eventually stumbling upon the name tag.

"What's this?" Pepper said as she picked up the tag to examine it.

The name tag, being suitable to wear as part of a necklace, read in large text "Kinomi" along with a small message stating on the back side "If found, lease present lost item or pet to local law enforcement".

"Kinomi.....that's the name of the girl but..." Pepper started, "sounds like she was more of a pet than a person."

"It also says to return to the local law enforcement too." Raz stated

"Alright, let's see now," Pepper said as she took out a map of the surrounding area, hopefully to locate a law enforcement agency nearby.

The most local law enforcement facility seemed to be a Ranger station located southeastern from the forest they happened to be in... Which was dozens of miles away.

"Here it is!" Pepper said, as she pointed to it on the map.

"Looks fairly far from where we are. How do you suppose---" Pepper then turned silent as she turned to Raz, "Hey Raz? Feeling like carrying me again?"

"Alright....but you know it is a bit tiring for me." Raz said a bit annoyed

"We'll take some breaks if you need it. Comon! Someone is in need of our help."

Raz nodded, "Very well then." Raz shut his eyes and green dusts of magic and feathers appeared around his body. Soon after, Raz had shape-shifted into a large bird, big and strong enough to carry Pepper in its talons.

"Let's go then!" Pepper said, as Raz grasped Pepper's body in his talons. After a few wing flaps, the two were off towards the ranger station.

Once they arrived to the location, they would see it was a large logged building with a bulky and scaling watch tower situated on a plateau in a humid, but cool region that was rather rocky. The building had a sign that read "Okayama Ranger Station" and several people dressed in light brown scout-like barrets and uniforms inhabiting the facility. There was a massive fort wall surrounding the Ranger grounds that had a sign reading "All visitors please go to front gate".

"Settle down right over there Raz." Pepper ordered the druid.

The big bird and the red-haired girl landed softly on the ground near the front gates. The bird then let go of Pepper and landed a few feet away on its talons, becoming humanoid form again.

"This must be the place." Pepper excalimed, "Let's head in."

After a moment's break, the two then walked over to the front gate to enter.

At the entrance was two of those light brown barrett and uniform cladded people, both females, stationed at the front of the gates. hey seemed to be both armed with smooth and slender black clubs in their holsters.

"Welcome, visitor," said the Ranger at the right side. "If you're intending to enter the station, please disarm yourself of all weapons and give them to us to hold on to."

"They'll be returned to you once you leave," the second Ranger said.

"Alright...." Pepper said as she took off her shiny blade from her back and handed it to the rangers.

Razaeroth didn't have any weapons on him in his current form at least.

"Is that all?" The Ranger at the right asked. "If so, you may pass with this on you at all times."

Pepper and Razaeroth received tokens from the Rangers each. As long as they were unarmed, they were able to get through the now opening front gate into the fort unrestricted. The large, wooden building they saw within the fort was up ahead with steps leading into the front door.

"....oh wait," Pepper pulled out a small dagger from her boot and handed it to the ranger. "Alright."

The two waited for the rangers' approval then moved forward up the steps.

The Rangers took the dagger and, along with the sword, placed it into a basket near the front gate entrance podium made of some oak-like wood.

"Thank you and have a good day!"

Up the stairs and inside the building through the front door seemed to be a very spacious and well-decorated waiting lounge with rows of chairs near the center and a receptionist booth ahead. There were a moderate amount of people inside. One of them included a young, little girl with sea green hair that was bluntly trimmed dressed in a sapphire wimple and religious habit. She was walking in circles as she had her arms behind her back while looking down at the floor as she seemed to be waiting for something.

"Hello," said one of the rceptionists at the booths ahead. "May I help you?"

"Hi, are you the person we report thefts to?" Pepper announced to the girl.