Wolf Hunting

## Secret Reunion

In a room filled with a single round table and twelve chairs, a group of six individuals waited in silence after an extensive conversation. Their bodies, hidden in the darkness of the night, could only be told apart due to the faint light of the moon that pierced through the curtainless windows. The quietness was soon broken by two childish voices that talked in unison. "Mabel is the best for this job. Yes, Mabel." - the silhouette of two kids with large ribbons on their heads sitting right next to each other moved in contrast with the light.

"Are you sure you can do it, Mabel?" - another voice, of a woman, with a tone of concern. Her long hair hid any characteristic that could tell her apart from the chair she was sitting on.

"Of course she can do it, it's not like she can't handle it by herself. Am I right, Mabel?" - A boy wearing a beret directioned the talk to the only visible person in the room. A girl, wearing stuffed black clothes with orange and black ribbons all over her body and in her long blonde hair; she carried a bear and a book in her crossed arms. The remaining silhouettes all looked in her direction as she started to talk. "Indeed. Our target is no strange for any of us, especially for me, and I'm certain he has what we are looking for. You don't need to worry about me." - She looked at the moon through the clear glass of the windows. - "A full moon... Der große böse Wolf is on a hunt."

"Ah, the Big Bad Wolf? Scary! Hahahaha." - the two kids laughed sterically, falling together with their chairs and rolling in the dusty floor. The woman with long hair tried to make them stop, but it was in vain. The boy with the barret lit a cigarrete. The other person in the room remained in silence.

Mabel stood up from her chair and walked in the direction of the only door that connected the room to somewhere else. It opened, only to reveal a dark forest that consumed her tiny body as she merged with it. As the door closed, it cut any sound that was coming from inside the room. Walking calmly in the darkness, she opened her book, from where pages started to float and take the shape of a swarm of butterflies that surrounded her body and carried her through the trees and leaves, leaving behind an abandoned wooden house from where she just left. Certain of her objective, she was headed to the only possible place where her target could be.

## The Hunt

A pub. It was rare that Aldrich ever went to a pub, especially one that was very similar to the ones he grew up in. But he found that he was bored, it was best to drown it out with alcohol. And where else to get good booze but at a german pub. As he finished his twelfth bottle that night, he spotted her. She was right outside the pub window. He quickly stood up, and began to leave.

Mabel waited outside as she watched the man walking in the middle of tables and drunk people. The remaining butterflies that surrounded her unfolded themselves, turning into their original paper form and attached themselves to her book. She glared at the man as he passed through the doors, with her blue eyes shining as bright as the stars. With a soft and feminine voice, she greeted him. "Gute Nacht, Aldrich. I knew you would be somewhere around here."

"Gute Nacht, Mabel." Aldrich responded. He took his aviator shades off, placing them into his blazer pocket. His crimson red eyes staring down at Mabel. "I didn't expect you to be here. What brings you out here, to look for me?"

"You're in Japan longer than I do, and you have information that will be useful for Märchen. Since we are... *longtime friends* and you *politely* declined my invitation to join us, I was thinking if you could pass them for me without any costs." She had a cynical smile on her face, an expression that didn't match her childish features.

Aldrich raised a brow. *Straight to the point.*He thought to himself, stretching. "Vergib mir, Mabel. But I can't give you the information at all. The information I have is detailliert to say the least. But I could buy you a jug of beer. This place has some rather good alcohol."

Mabel laughed, slightly throwing her head back and covering her mouth with one of her hands. "Du bist lustig, Aldrich." She said, bowing to pick up her hat that fell on the ground. "I wasn't clear enough, so let me rephrase it to you..." She got up slowly, holding her hat in her head with her left hand, while holding her book and teddy bear with her right arm close to her chest. "You'll pass me the information, or I'll take it by force. There's no middle ground. Which one will you choose?" She glared directly into his eyes; she had a malicious tone in her voice and an mischievous expression on her face.

Aldrich sighed. "My information is sehr valuable Mabel. I can't give it for free." he stated, running his hand through his blonde hair. "However, if there is no middle ground...You can try to take it by force."

"You give me no choice." The book that was in Mabel's arm launched itself in the air as it was thrown by an unknown invisible force. Some of the pages inside it detached in the process, creating a rain of paper that covered the space between her and Aldrich, in quantity enough to conceal her presence to allow her to position herself afar. As she found a good spot, all the remaining pages agglomerated themsleves in a massive ball of paper in front of Mabel. She jumped on it, sitting. The book floated to her hand. "Do you remember the last time we met? Since then, I was so excited with the idea of crushing you until there was nothing but dust... Seems like the day finally arrived."

"Sehr dunkel of you Mabel." Aldrich said, stretching out his body. "It's also sehr blöd of you to think that you stand a chance to defeat me now. Maybe once upon a time, but now? Your fairytale has come to a stumpf end."

Aldrich pulled out his custom-altered handgun, fit with two barrels to fire two bullets at once, and had the capability to contain multiple bullets. "Streik mich, Mabel. Streik mich."

"A gun. That's cute." Mabel pointed her left arm to Aldrich, holding the book by its cover. The pages inside it fell on the ground, leaving the cover empty. They moved in group as they were alive, folding themselves and floating, dividing into two groups, each taking the shape of a large-sized wolf made out of paper. The wolves jumped with their mouths open, showing sharp fangs of rigid paper, directing them to Aldrich's neck from both sides.

Aldrich cursed as he barely avoided the wolves. He didn't want to use his quirk, he somewhat enjoyed this bar and its patrons. "Mabel, mich freund. Are you sure you want to continue this fight? I don't want to...hurt you. You were able to bring me here, and for that I owe you. This is my letze warnung."

The wolves standed behind Aldrich after missing their attack, ready to charge once more. Their *fur* moved with the wind, flapping like the pages of a book. "Eh, you just need to give me the information and we can stop this fight right now. Don't blame it on me, dummkopf. You're the one making things harder than they should be."

"Wait. If I give it to you...Will you stop attacking me?"

"Well..." Mabel put her index finger next to her mouth, looking up as she thought about Aldrich question. She tilted her head to the side, with her hair falling all over her shoulder. "Nein." At the same time, the two wolves charged once more against the man, one going after his neck and the other against his right leg.

"Of course..." Aldrich muttered under his breath, once again narrowly avoiding the wolves. He rolled away from them, pulling out his handgun. "Essen blei!" Aldrich yelled, firing bullets at the wolves, purposefully shooting towards the eyes and legs.

The wolves fell apart; not because of the attack, but because Mabel decided so. The ball she was sitting on also fell apart, scattering on the ground all the paper that she brought inside her book. "You'll just keep running and running... you're not funny, Aldrich."

"Fine, fine, fine. I'll get serious." Aldrich responded, his body beginning to tremble. The area around them began to rumble, the tables broke, the glasses shattered. Aldrich smiled, and an explosion of black light exploded outwards. As the light faded, there stood **Trauma**, the deadlier side of Aldrich. Trauma launched forward almost instantaneously, sending his fist flying right towards Mabel's face.

"That's what I am talking about." Aldrich's Quirk was nothing new to Mabel. She had already faced him once and now she was more prepared than never. She was no match on a hand-to-hand situation, but she had her power over paper to fill her lack of strength and a well-developed sense of perception. As the man moved, the papers on the ground followed the flow of the wind, scattering on the air. Mabel, in a quick response to his approach, moved the paper under her feet, making her do a short dash to the side, dodging his punch.

His body moved on its own, as it usually did while using his quirk. As Mabel avoided the attack, Trauma responded by shoving his palm onto the surface where Mabel had once stood. Using the momentum, he turned his body towards Mabel and launched himself towards her. Before she had reached her intended destination, Trauma was mere centimeters away from her, his fist shooting towards her.

Mabel didn't have the time to dodge again. However, she carried her bear in her hands. The bear was filled with confetti, which allowed her to control him like a puppet. She moved him quick enough to intercept Aldrich's fist, tooking the majority of the damage of his punch, but sending Mabel backwards with the pressure of his attack. In that situation, she moved than intending, sliding with the piece of paper under her feet through the majority of the place, distancing herself from the man.

Trauma stood, staring at Mabel from where he was. Before any logical thought could appear, Aldrich spread his hands apart, and slammed them together, creating shockwaves that destroyed the surrouding bar, and sent shockwaves soaring towards Mabel.

Mabel rotated her wrists, making all the paper scattered on the ground swirls around her until they took the shape of an enormous wolf that stored her inside its belly. It was made of three layers of paper, hardened by Mabel's will, being as hard as a metal wall. It jumped in the air, dodging Aldrich's attack. Still in the air, its mouth opened, regurgitating a lance made of hardened paper that was launched just like a missile against Aldrich.

Trauma cursed as the hardened paper crashed into him, launching him back multiple feet. The Villain stood, obviously angered. He roared something incomprehensible, before grabbing a table, and sent it hurdling at Mabel with the same speed and force of the lance that had just striked Trauma.