Gary was stalking his prey. They knew that he was around, but didn't know where. When they turned around he rushed forward and at great speed pounced and killed them. Lucy had been kidnapped and taken hostage. The squad sent out to deal with the bandits had been ambushed. Of course Gary had to pick up the pieces. He was a much larger size than he had been before. HE hadn't been idle. Spending practically all of his free time cultivating he was now at the Ideal body stage, the same as Lucy.

Lucy was calm despite the situation. She could feel Gary slowly, but surely making his way closer to her. Killing any bandits that got in his way. He was extremely large for a cat, and could be mistaken for a small panther. In fact that's what most thought he was, including Lucy. Perhaps the pet store owner had accidentally gotten his hands on a panther cub, and sold it to Lucy. She didn't know how she got so lucky, but she thanked the heavens regardless. Gary was close now

Three bandit guards stood in front of a tent. "So who should we have fun with first? I call dibs on the tiefling" Said the gnoll bandit. There were multiple women amongst the hostages.

"You know the boss always gets first pick. He'll probably pick her too." Said the centaur bandit.

"Yea, but after that you know?" Said the gnoll bandit.

"Hey guys, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Said the Eagleman bandit.

"Hells! Is that a fucking panther?!" Said the centaur, before having his Jugular ripped out. Gary quickly cast fog, obscuring the vision of his adversaries. He quickly dispatched the other two. He walked into the tent, and broke the ropes holding the hostages. They heard terrible screeching coming from outside the tent. The hostages armed themselves with what they could. Lucy prepared herself for battle. The fog had dissipated, and one could see some sort of half-wight half-machine four legged horror. It was the bandit leader.

"I show you my hospitality, and you kill my men!" It growled. It began launching fireballs at the group. Gary quickly cast a shield to block the damage. His shield was almost instantly shattered. It was at least a young master stage. The tent had caught fire, and the hostages were on the ground. The horror began to charge towards them. Lucy activated her beast transformation, and charged back. Gary stood himself up Cast haste on himself, and charged at her. They crashed into it driving to the ground and both began to claw, and bite at it. It attempted to do the same in return, but was easily overwhelmed. Especially when the rest of the hostages joined in beating it to death. The battle won, any nearby bandits fled upon seeing their leader mauled to death, and ran off into the woods. The mission was complete, and they decided to collect the corpses of the fallen, and make their way back home.

Lucy decided that she was still not ready to take on missions, and elected to reject any further invitations until she was. She went back into hardcore training bringing Gary along with her. The ranking tournament would be happening soon, and it was beginning to look like even her own friends would be worthy challengers. She had seen them training, and while they were getting better, she felt she could still handle them. It did not one any good to be lazy so she set about making sure she and Gary were in tip top shape.

The day of the tournament arrived. The first round had been a total elimination free for all. All of the weakest students were easily picked off, and ranked on when they fell off. The remaining 64 went on into the singles. Lucy's first battle was against a student that could disappear at will, and cast lasers at her from behind their veil. Lucy elected to freeze the entire floor of the arena. At her stage this was taxing, but allowed Gary to easily find and kill her target.

Her second match was against Joseph.

"Please tell me you've committed a sin recently." Joseph begged.

"Sorry Joe, haven't even hurt a fly." Lucy said. Lucy had gathered that Joseph's technique enhanced his abilities when going against targets that were considered unjust. Joseph attempted to take Lucy down with swarms of wind blades, but they were all weak and ineffectual against Lucy's icewall; she easily dispatched him, and moved on to the next round.

Her next round was against a student that seemed to be made out of pixels. No matter how many times she stuck her with ice boltz, the girl wouldn't go down. Lucy was taking a beating from the girl's golden lighting. She almost couldn't believe that she was about to be bested by an Innate Talent stage adept. Lucy should have had the advantage being at a higher stage than her, but her strange affinity was carrying the girl through the ranks. Just as Lucy was about to be pulled out Gary shielded her, and jumped at the girl tearing at her until he accidentally bumped her core causing her to lose. Lucy went on to the next round to face Jane once more.