The sun seeped through the cracks in the wall of the small hut. Birds were singing in the early morning air that was both crisp and muggy at the same time. Ravus wiped his brow as he lay in bed, his body sore from the unintended dip he took yesterday in the river. He stifled a groan as he rolled over, the muscles in his back tense. This is gonna be a long day.

"Time to get up every one!" This time Ravus did groan as the door to their lodging swung open, flooding the room with light.

"Good morning Olive." Natasha replied, yawning slightly as she stretched on her bed.

"Did you sleep well?" Vivian added, sitting up and pushing the thin blanket off her.

"I haven't slept yet." Olive replied waiting for the team to get up.

"What?" Natasha asked, yawning again as she got up.

"I was up patrolling and protecting." Olive explained, watching Ravus as he physically and mentally struggled to get his feet to touch the floor. He looked over at Aero who was already standing, holding Moonlight in his hand at the ready.

"All night?" Natasha asked again. Olive nodded.

"But this is our mission?" Ravus grumbled, though he admittedly didn't mind sleeping rather than patrolling.

"Listen, I remember my first mission with a Hunstmen." Olive began explaining, glancing sideways at Ravus. "He was rude, over bearing, and practically babysat my team while he did nothing. I was with you all day yesterday. You needed to rest. But," Olive paused, her tone changing from concerned to stern, "that in no way means you will be on the sidelines. I gave you all the time last night to rest but that will not be the case for the remainder of the mission." She looked at each of the members, who nodded in understanding.

"Now, this is what we need to do for today." Olive started, gesturing the team to gather on the floor as she spread out a crude map. "There are currently three bridges that will need to be removed and monitored. As we saw yesterday, Grimm have begun to sense the emotion of the village."

"Which has now gotten stronger due to the villagers knowing about the Ursa yesterday." Vivian added. Olive nodded.

"Most of the bridges are down stream, due to the disassembling and reassembling of the wood." She elaborated, running her finger around areas of the map. "This bridge was there yesterday. We arrived here, and events yesterday produced these two bridges farther down." Olive paused before continuing.

"Aero, you have been quiet, what do you think of all this?" The team and Olive looked at Aero, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"We should focus our efforts toward the final bridge," he began, "the water will be very slow here due to the previous bridges blocking the water. So, if the Grimm are cognizant of that, they will attempt to cross at this point first."

"But won't that bridge be the weakest due to having the least amount of material?" Natasha asked.

"Yes, but what Aero is saying is the actual water, previously the main defense for the island, will not be strong enough to keep the Grimm on the other side." Vivian clarified. Ravus looked over at Olive to see if she would object but she just smiled. "But we cannot have all of our efforts on one bridge." Vivian continued. "I do not want to be rude but this village does not seem to know what to do when it comes to danger. I feel like half the reason they never got attacked by Grimm is because they are just so oblivious to the fact that most Grimm could honestly just jump the river if they really were invested."

"What are you getting at?" Ravus asked, getting bored of the tactics. Vivian looked at him for a moment before sighing.

"We'll need to spread out to each bridge and maybe even to the other side of the village where the water is still flowing. It will slow down the mission slightly but it's a necessary step to keep the village spirits up." Ravus looked over from Vivian to Olive, trying to see what she thought of this. However, she just nodded in understanding. "Tasha, the village leader said that they had some hunters right?"

"Yeah. They normally go after small game though. They wouldn't be much help with a Grimm."

"Maybe we don't need them to fight Grimm." Aero commented, looking over at Vivian. "If we can have them to some of the patrolling, that will not only ease the fear of the village but free up us to actually take care of the bridges and any Grimm that do come."

"Why don't we get the villagers to help with the bridges too?" Natasha added, her voice excited. "It would decrease our time in the village and we can teach them and the hunters how to deal with larger animals, so they don't have to always call Huntsmen."

"So how do you plan to accomplish all this?" Olive asked, her eyes twinkling.

"We first need to get permission from the village leader." Vivian began.

"You can take that Viv. And if they approve, I can start figuring the patrol routes with the hunters."

"I'll talk up the village and see who might be interested in taking a part the bridges.

"What do you think Ravus?" keeping an even face. I think it's stupid but I'm just the leader and you're the huntsman so I suppose there's nothing wrong with everyone else figuring everything out.

"I suppose I'll head to the bridge and, uh, stand guard." He finally offered. Olive nodded and smiled. Everyone sat, though Natasha was practically bouncing, eager to get moving. "So should we get going?"

"I think so." Aero agreed, following Ravus as he stood. The four students and Huntress left the small abode into the heat of the morning. The village was already bustling with the sound of pots and pans in the houses and carts driving down the street. A few children of the village came up to the small party and walked with them, chattering about the day and asking questions about being Hunstmen.

"I won't lie," Natasha whispered to Ravus, "I could get used to-"

"HELP!"

"GRIMM!"

"RUN!" The group stop as the screaming continues, trying to locate its source.

"This way!" Vivian directs, taking point as she runs through a small alley way between houses. The alley way opened to a small garden, surrounded by houses and watered by small irrigation ducts that fed straight from the river just a hundred feet away. In the center stood a large Beowolf, standing on its haunches and sniffing at the air. It turns and looks over to a villager, cowering next to a house and clutching a garden hoe.

SLASH!

The Beowolf yelped as Olive made a cut across its chest with a long, straight edged sword with a ribbon bound handle. As she landed, she dipped her hand into her pants pocket and pulled out a similar handle, though the blade appeared broken. She leaped to attack the Grimm again, slashing at its face with the broken sword and stabbing its back with the other.

"Where did those come from?" Ravus asked out loud. He was not answered but instead saw Aero dashing into the fight, slashing at the Beowolf's legs as Olive landing beside him. Olive then pressed down on the bottom of the hilt on her intact toward, suddenly causing it to snap in half and match her other one. Woah…that's kinda cool.

Another scream snapped Ravus out of his thoughts and into action.

"Vivian, get the villagers out of here. Tasha, keep the Grimm in the garden and away from everyone else."

"On it!" Natasha replied flying over in front of the still trembling villager and blocking a lunge from the now ticked off Grimm with a sound smack to the head with her weapon. Vivian was quickly behind, leading the villager to safety.

Ravus turned as he heard Aero cry out. He leapt above the Grimm, scourging its back as it leaned against the now intact swords Olive held above her in defense. Pushing back, she caused the Grimm to stumble. Natasha then came from behind, striking it again and keeping it from falling into a nearby home. The Beowolf then howled in pain, and as it turned Ravus saw Vivian's ax imbedded in it's form.

"Ravus! Shoot it!" Ravus turned to Olive confused. "Use a dust bullet!" She called again. Not wanting a third demand, he quickly took out Shooting Star and aimed.

"Hey Ugly!" The Grimm turned toward Ravus as his voice, giving him the perfect shot between the eyes. With a final whimper the beast collapsed, dissolving into air and letting the ax drop to the ground.

"Nice work." Olive said, taking in a heavy breath.

"We killed our first Grimm as an official team guys!" Natasha squealed, spinning around.

"You certainly did." Olive agreed. "As a team." Ugh, not this again.

"Well, uh," Ravus quickly said to avoid any more awkward lessons, "we, uh, better get moving to the village leader. Don't want any more mishaps like this again."

"The main civic building is this way I believe." Vivian said, pointing down a side street.

"Take it away." Ravus offered, gesturing for Vivian to walk ahead of him. As the group walked, villagers came upon them, asking about their battle with the Grimm.

"What was it like?"

"Do they really smell like death?"

"What does your weapon do?" As more and more joined on their way to the village leader, Ravus looked up at the sun high in the sky. This is gonna be a long day.