Anna should’ve been a track star.

This is what Ace thought at they chased Anna through this thick forest.

“Where the hell is she going?” shouts Terri

“I don’t know but isn’t she strangely nimble and speedy all of a sudden?”

Anna was running deep into the forest and this place was supposed to be naturally filled with obstacles. Rocks, bushes, fallen logs, low branches and protruding roots, you name it. However, she was leaping and dodging through them as though they weren’t any hindrances at all. And if one were to add a description to how she done it, it can be said to be described as “graceful.”

“Hey, she hasn’t been taking parkour while I moved away, has she?” pants Terri as she dodges a tree branch.

“Anna, doing something physical?” huffs Ace as he jumps over a low tree root, “She can barely do any sit-ups!”

As both Ace and Terri were just about in their limits of their endurance, despite being sporty teenagers, Anna suddenly stopped. She stood still while staring blankly.

“She finally stopped!”

“Oi, Anna!”

Nearly out of breath, they finally caught up with her and to make sure she doesn’t go running off again they both grabbed her by the arms.

“Hey! Anna!”

Anna, who had a blank expression was shaken by Ace.

“H-Huh? What? Pablo? Terri?”

“Don’t “huh” me! What the hell was all that for?!”

Anna looked very confused and scared by their exasperated expressions, “W-What are you both talking about? Why are you both grabbing me?”

“So you won’t go running off!”

“Running off?”

“Yeah, you don’t just run off like that into a forest! Thanks to you, we’ve lost sight of that smoke signal!” snaps Ace.

“I don’t think that’s the only thing we’ve lost.” Terri frowns at their surroundings.

Because of their chasing of Anna, they were led deep into the forest. It would be easy to backtrack if they went in a straight line but Anna had been making sharp turns here and there. In order to not lose sight of her, Ace and Terri were unable to leave any tracks to lead them back to the beach.

Now they were officially lost deep in some unknown jungle.

And Ace and Terri were not pleased about this. They were both admonishing Anna for what she did and even questioned her harshly as to why she ran off in the first place.

“I-I don’t know! Please let go of me! It hurts!” she sobbed loudly.

Speaking of which, they still were and they were applying too hard a grip in doing so. They both let go of her arms as it does seem as it was hurting her but they stood close by so she won’t go running off.

“Anna, why did you run off like that?” asks Terri in a controlled voice.

“Sniff* I really don’t know… All of a sudden I blacked out and then I found myself in the middle of the forest with you two grabbing me!”

“You don’t remember running into the forest and dodging everything like a parkour star?”

“Huh?”

She gave them both a confused expression. Anna was a good at pretending and acting, having performed in several school plays since they were little but having known her for a long time, both Ace and Terri had an idea whether she was acting or not. And she was clearly not acting right now.

“Just what is going on with you-”

KABOOM!!!

Ace’s words were suddenly drowned out by a loud explosion!

All three of them jumped and saw a large plume of smoke rise up in the distance.

“W-What the hell?”

“An explosion?!”

The first thing that came to Ace’s mind was…

“Terrorists!” hissed Ace.

Ace has seen numerous news reports of them loitering or having hidden bases in the south-west region of the country. An explosion like that may have been a test run for some new bomb!

“W-What?” gasps Anna in panic.

“Are you sure, Pabby? How can you be certain?”

“What else can cause an explosion in the middle of the forest?! They’re either terrorists or poachers. This is bad! We may have wound up farther south-west! This place is filled with those extremists! And we must be near a base.”

“W-What do we do?!”

“If we stay here, we may be caught by them. And I doubt they’re the people who are going to help us...”

“NOOO!!! I DON’T WANT TO DIE~ Mrpgh*?!”

Anna screams hysterically but in response Ace clamps his hand on her mouth to shut her up. Ace makes a shhh* sound with a tense expression while grasping Anna’s mouth as she was about to cry out.

Ace drops his voice to a whisper, “Are you idiot?! Screaming like that is going to draw their attention! We need to lay low and avoid making a sound.”

Terri looks a little outraged that he laid a hand on a girl but begrudgingly agrees. Anna, who was sobbing from both of fear and being struck in the face nodded with her mouth grasped by Ace’s hand.

Ace finally lets go of Anna’s mouth and makes a hurried steps opposite from the direction of the smoke,

“Let’s head the opposite direction! Quickly!”

The three of them ran.

***

At that moment, at the spot of the explosion, a red-haired, sword-wielding Adventurer was busy tying up an animal in a hammock but in the process it escaped.

***

Believing that they were somehow near some terrorist base, the three teens were running as fast back to where they came from as possible.

Ace and Terri were making far laps with Anna lagging on from behind. It was a sharp contrast from earlier. Nevertheless they kept on running for what seemed like an our.

“Huff*…Huff*…I can’t…run anymore…” pants Anna.

“Come on! Keep up!” Ace says to her.

“We have to keep going…”

“I’m…sorry...Wheeze*…I need…to rest…Huff*…Huff*…”

Anna collapses to her knees and completely out of breath, forcing Ace and Terri to stop.

““Anna!””

Terri rushes towards her and tries to support her.

“Don’t push yourself. Take a deep breath.” she says, helping her up.

(What happened to her amazing stamina just now? Or rather…Anna’s acting weird again…)

Pondering about this, Ace takes a look of their surroundings again and sees a small stream.

“Hey, there’s a stream over there we can rest for a bit!”

“B-But…what about those terrorists?” says Anna, looking pale and frightened.

“I’m sure we put some bit of distance between them for now. We need to rest a bit so we can get back our strength.”

They finally take a breather at the spring Ace found. After all that running they finally realize they were so dehydrated so they drank from the stream. Anna was hesitant at first but her thirst proved to be stronger and finally drank from the stream. While Anna was busy trying to catch her breath, again the other two were wondering what had happened to her stamina from a while ago. But after seeing her so pale and exhausted, they decided not to press her for answers.

They also decided to stay here and rest up for a little longer. While Terri tended to Anna, Ace crouched beside a bush as a lookout.

And so they were in that position for a long time.

***

Ace did not shift from his position for what felt like hours. He remained all the while vigilant for any signs of approach.

“Psst! Hey, Pabby…” Terri nudges at him.

“GAH!”

Ace jumps a foot in response. He was busy keeping watch at their surroundings looking for signs of anyone approaching. So naturally, someone suddenly nudging him from behind would elicit such a response.

“Don’t just suddenly do that!”

“Geez, touchy much? Anyway, I may have asked this before but I guess I can’t help it. Do you notice something weird about this place?”

“Yeah, this forest…it’s kind of…different.”

While Ace finally had the time to check their surroundings, he noticed that the forest itself was just if not even stranger than the beach.

The forest had trees as white as marble and leaves that shimmer like emeralds. It was not just the trees though. Although they caught his eye earlier but because they were chasing Anna he barely had given them a second thought until now. The forest was filled with plants and animals the three of them have never seen before.

There were giant flowers that looked like trumpets, some rocks that looked like huge mushrooms from a distance and even animals that looked familiar but somewhat different.

“Yeah, I thought as much.” says Terri tapping a nearby tree. “At first, I thought that we must’ve wandered into some kind of theme park but that explosion earlier completely trashed that idea. And now that we’ve actually got to take a look it really looks way too real to be a fake.”

“Yeah, I see what you mean-uwah!”

Ace shouts in surprise as a glowing butterfly suddenly flutters in front of him. It was literally glowing as in the wings were shining brightly! Like a lantern in the dim forest!

“A…butterfly?!”

“Is a butterfly suppose to emit light like that?!”

The butterfly flutters in front of Anna who lets was a little surprised but she then stares mesmerized at it.

“Wow! It’s so pretty!”

Anna stands up and tries to approach it as it flutters away.

“Anna! Stay away from that!”

“Yeah, we don’t know if it’s radioactive or something!”

But naturally airheaded Anna who was entranced by its beauty continued following the butterfly until she reaches some bushes. Then, that’s where it appeared!

“BUHIIIIIIIIIIIII?!”

A warthog(?) jumps out of the bushes!

“KYAA~!”

Anna falls back on her backside at that warthog’s(?) sudden appearance.

“Damn! It’s a wild pig! Anna get away from there!” shouts Ace.

He knew full well how dangerous those things really were. Although they were supposed to be rare encounters but there are still some of them that lurk in a forest.

“Err? Is that really a pig?” asks Terri, who looked a little confused.

“What are you talking about? Of course, that’s a wild pig!”

“Then doesn’t it look a little too big?! It’s as big as a car! Plus it’s all white and spiky…and hey what’s with that cloth wrapped around it?” Terri was spouting things that seemed obvious just from looking at it.

And she was right. That pig looked very different form the pigs Ace knew. Not mentioned, that strip of cloth around it. Although there were many questions but what really matters was that that thing looked very dangerous!

And Anna was right in front of it!

The girl was frozen on the ground. Fear had gripped her and prevented her from moving.

“BUHIIIIII!!!”

As though it noticed its prey right in front of it, the warthog(?) attacks!

““ANNA!!!””

Both Ace and Terri ran towards her. But from that distance between them that warthog(?) would get to her first.

“Earthen Wall Rupture”

Someone shouted from a distance followed by a loud bang.

All of a sudden, the ground in between Anna and that warthog(?) erupted and formed a huge wall of jagged rocks! There was a large ramming sound as the warthog(?) slammed right into it.

Both Ace and Terri skidded to a stop. Anna stared dumbfounded at the sudden miracle that saved her.

“Eh?”

““H-Huh?””

Ace and Terri had their jaws dropped.

“What the hell? The ground just-” says Ace, who couldn’t believe his eyes at what just happened.

“Anna! Did you do this?” says Terri.

“N-No! It wasn’t-”

“Oi! Are you kids alright?!”

Someone yelled at them and upon turning at the direction of the voice, they saw a group of three heading right towards them.

“T-The terrorists?” stammers Anna as she trembles in fear.

“No, they asked if we’re alright so I don’t think so. Could they be here to help us?” says Ace squinting at them.

“Or rather…What the hell are they wearing?” says Terri.

The ones who came to their rescue didn’t look like the typical paramedic or search teams. In fact, they were wearing outfits like characters in an online fantasy game! Leading them was a woman wearing light armor and clothes. She was also wearing a pair of gauntlets that didn’t look like they were there for fashion. Following right behind her was a muscled dude with a huge backpack that included a gigantic mallet on his back and…a lady in a cat costume (?) wearing a poncho, wide-brimmed hat and carrying a long bow.

“Is this a cosplay convention?” mutters Ace.

The gauntlet-wearing lady who seemed to be the leader was shouting at them, “You kids don’t just stand there! Move!”

“Eh? What is she-”

From the corner of his eye, Ace caught sight of that warthog(?) which managed to go around the rock wall and was now on the other side.

“Crap! It’s back!” Ace shouts!

“Not good! Liscia! Barton!”

“I’m on it-nya!”

“Right!”

The cat lady holding the bow and pulls on the string.

Wait. Why is she drawing the string with no arrow in it? Ace thought.

It was though shared by the other two girls as well.

But then, to Ace and the others’ utter amazement, air began to circulate on the bow and formed an arrow made of air!

“Wind Arrow”

She releases the arrow and it soars straight at the warthog(?) that blasts it with an explosion of winds and knocks it straight into a nearby tree! The warthog(?) collapses in a heap and struggles to get up.

The muscled man draws his mallet with amazing speed and twirls around before slamming it straight to the ground.

“Sinkhole Smash”

A large crack heads towards the warthog(?) and upon reaching it, the ground beneath it sinks into a deep hole on the earth, trapping it completely.

Ace, Terri and Anna were speechless. They had just seen something unbelievable right before their eyes.

With that dangerous thing finally kept in control, the trio of fantasy-like people approaches the area. The muscled dude and the cat lady both take a look at the captured warthog(?).

“Oi! That’s a Pufferwarthog, isn’t it?” says the muscled dude.

“Are you sure?” the gauntlet-wearing lady frowned.

“There’s no mistaking it-nya!” affirms the cat-lady.

“If that’s really a Pufferwarthog, you better make sure it’s not injured in any way or we’ll be in big trouble!”

“It only looks confused…except it’s wrapped completely in some weird cloth!”

“Ha? Are you pulling my leg here or do you need me to pound those eyes to work?”

“H-Hey! I’m being serious here! Just take a look for yourself!”

The gauntlet-wearing lady takes a look at the sinkhole.

“Do you think its poachers-nya?”

“Hmm…I can’t be too sure.”

“Do you think those kids over there have something to do about this?” asks the muscled dude, casting a suspicious glance at Ace and the others.

Ace and Terri were probably about to protest but the gauntlet lady beat them to the punch.

“I doubt it. Those kids are clearly unarmed, heck they’re probably civilians. And even though a Pufferwarthog is endangered its strength is nothing to laugh at. It probably escaped and ran into them.”

“But why are civilian kids doing in this forest in the first place-nya?”

“Why not we ask them?” The gauntlet-wearing lady who seems to be their leader steps forward towards them. “Hey…You kids alright?”

“Um, y-yeah we are.” Terri nods.

“Thanks for saving us!” says Anna with eyes glittering in amazement.

The huge guy grins at them, “That’s great to hear.”

“Thank Merlin-nya! I thought for a moment that we were too late-nya.” the lady in the poncho sighs in relief.

She was even adding that “nya” sounds like those Anime shows Benny loved to watch. Ace thought.

“Yeah, thanks for helping us…but um…w-who are you?” stammers Ace.

The gauntlet-wearing lady looked at little surprised. So did her two companions.

“Eh? You mean you don’t know us?”

“Er? No…”

The gauntlet lady scratches her head. “Well, this is a first. Ever since we made a name for ourselves everyone seems to know us. I guess we better introduce ourselves. This here is Liscia.” she indicates to the poncho cat lady.

The poncho cat lady named Liscia waves at them with a smile.

“And this muscled muscle-brain is Barton.”

“Yo, nice to meet- Wait! Who are you calling a “muscled, muscle-brain”?!”

The gauntlet wearing lady ignores him as though this was a common exchange.

“And my name’s Alva. And we’re the Adventurer Party Artemis.”

This was the three teenagers from Earth’s first encounter of the Adventures of Mundo Magica.

***

At that very same moment, a red-haired, sword-wielding boy and a glasses-wearing, blue-eyed kid had a fateful encounter that ended with a fainting of the later.