"Stop right there!" A booming voice called out startling me, I swung my head towards the sudden call-out.

"What do yo- oh Zar." I compose myself, Zar wore a shit eating grin after successfully surprising us. 

"Hehe, sorry I couldn't resist, what are you guys doing anyway?" Zar casually questioned, swept into his pace I almost missed the fact he was slyly gathering information, a fearsome opponent, this guard is.

"We decided to take up the life of adventurers!" Koko excitedly declared. Zar raises his eyebrows makes a small nod,

"I thought as much, you two screamed fighters, especially you lady." Gesturing to me and then mom. 

"Thank you, for helping us out I mean, we're off to hunt some naughty wolfies down now." said mom, hurrying us to get a move on.

"Well good luck then, stay safe out there, the wolves aren't the only problems." Huffed Zar, the hint of worry in his eyes.

"Thanks Zar! byyyeee~" Koko shouted out while began making our way down the road.

The forest was sporadic, dense in some places and then open and free in others. After some time travelling through we started to see signs that wolves are or were nearby. Sighting some half eaten carcass' mom whispers out to be on our guard. Suddenly a howl sounds in the distance, we quickly reaffirmed our formation with mom in front and me protecting Koko, ready to aid mom at any moment. The howl must've meant they had found prey, or are about to fight so we hastened our pace.

Passed a small clearing we gained sight of a couple wolves that hadn't noticed us yet. Upon clearer inspection we could see an entire pack of about dozen wolves surrounding a small hooded figure. This is not a small pack and that person is in grave danger, before I could suggest to make our move, ones of the wolves pounces at the individual. They manage to dodge but the wolfs paw pulls their hood off revealing a girl with snow white hair but thats not all! It's... It's... AHH BUNNY EARS! 

...

Badum~

...

Badum~

...

The drums are sounding, my heart quickens despite time slowing down. One of the girls ears remains straight as an arrow while the other droops halfway, the sight of this girl is driving me crazy. Desperately trying to keep myself under control I bite down on my lip, drawing blood. I think it half worked because I now realise that I can hear everything, I mean everything, the smallest break of a twig, the deep breaths of the everyone here even the wolves. However I'm drawn back to slow, shallow breaths of the bunnygirl, almost as if someone has taken control of me. 

Suddenly my eyes darted to a wolf, larger than the rest with dark grey fur, slowly the wolf moved into position to leap. My body made moves without me, before i knew it I was between the girl and the wolf with my hand morphed into a claw. Taking advantage of the wolfs surprise I swing my claw directly into his eye, forcing a harsh landing for the alpha onto its side, robbing its breath. As blood trickled from the socket the leader stumbled to its feet making a defensive stance. A gnarl left... my mouth? What the hell? Am I becoming feral?! Thats when I heard the whimper of wolves behind me, mom and Koko are taking action catching them by surprise. Koko manipulates the nearby vines and roots, tangling the limbs of several wolves thereby grounding them. Shes far better at plant magic than healing under pressure, meanwhile mom swiftly cuts down wolf after wolf with precision, like me she's shifted her hands into claws aiming for the wolves jugular. The teamwork is nothing to scoff about but it does the job for now.

The wolves surrounding me and the bunnygirl make their move, lunging at us in unison. Shifting my weight onto one leg, my body reaches low, throwing myself into a slide. I can feel the smirk on my face as the wolves helplessly dangle in the air before my claws drag down their stomachs, blood and viscera pouring out, lightly painting me in a coat of blood red.

We had taken down several wolves by now when I noticed that the girl was gone. I look back to the alpha to see a short blade swing down into his head, in one smooth strike the poor wolfy crashed to the ground, I guess the bunny is pretty bouncy? We managed to cut down a few more wolves before the last remaining few scattered.

Having watched the bunnygirl obliterate the leader managed to sober my mind somewhat. Confirming no more wolves had gathered I call out to the snow white assassin.

"Hey are you okay? You looked like you were in a tight spot there, you're not injured are you?"

"Eeep- your face- no I'm fine, I didn't need your help in the first place thank-you." The girl defiantly claimed, a slight red tinge lightened her face. Didn't she just squeal then? Nevermind that, I try to apologise and diffuse the situation but before I could even speak.

"Ahhhh, I'm sorry! You really did help I was totally boned there, the stupid quest said it was a small pack! WHAT WAS SMALL ABOUT THAT?! ALSO PLEASE WIPE YOUR FACE" she squeaked out, holy crap shes adorable, she emobdies a fluffy energetic bunny, talking too fast for her own mind to catch up. Wait- my face? Placing a hand there I quickly realise I am indeed covered in blood, I must've looked like a a vengeful ghoul. Glancing at my claws- or a chimera. Cleaning myself up I carried on.

"Alright, alright~ it's okay, we're on the same quest and we got surprised too. Good that you're safe though, it'd be a shame if your cute face got all scratched up." Apparently I was the one who talked too fast for my own good as my face swelled with heat at my own words. I could already see my moms shit eating grin out of the corner of my eye. Sigh. 

The girl's face, equally resembling a tomato stared directly at her feet mumbling out some words I could not understand. Koko awkwardly coughed and spoke out, "Since you're okay, my names Koko, she's Seyu and that reckless idiot is Ava. Do you mind telling us your name?" Yep Koko is mad that I ran in head first, it wasn't on purpose okay? Koko please don't scold me later. Please.

Regaining her compose the bunnygirl nodded to Koko's introduction, puffing out her modest chest she declared, "I'm Astrid! And uhh, thanks again... for saving me." A smile beaming from her adorable button face, I wonder what its like to- nope nevermind. Thankful the attention had been taken off me for a moment, I pulled my party over to ask if we can share the prize with Astrid to which they agreed without much resistance. Astrid was taken back when I offered her a cut, her eyes moist she thanked us over and over, damn this bunny was cute.

Once our spoils of war were collected, we made our way back to the town together. Astrid was quite talkative once you got her going, it didn't take long for mom to start well, momming her, not that it stopped her from giving me sly grins from time to time.

                                                                                                                 ***

Arriving in town we showed off our spoils to Zar, who feigned how impressed he was, and made our way to the guild.

"Alright you guys wait here and I'll go collect the reward for the quest, back in a minute~" Mom cheerfully said. We paitently waited outside the guild, taking a seat on a bench outside. I knew we'd have to part soon but something compelled me to avoid that situation, so I asked Astrid if she wanted to meet up with us again tomorrow at the guild. To my relief she agreed. Mom returned and we split the reward between us all, which was far more than expected due to the questing being false, we were awarded with extra money! Astrid was about to make her own way when mom suggested we celebrate our first quest together and invited Astrid along with us, a fancy looking tavern stood across the street so we made our way there.