8:00 AM,SEPTEMBER 11th,3069

2 DAYS AFTER THE LAST MISSION

-

Diana yawned and smiled as she slowly walked down the stairs. She smiled more widely as she walked into the kitchen. Their wounds were still healing but due to Dragonian technology,even regular humans healed much faster that usual. She laughed slightly.

Nami looked up from the newspaper and smiled at her.
“Good morning.”
“Morning. How's your stomach?”
She smiled more widely.

“Great. I can't believe how fast it healed!”
“Yeah,it's amazing.”

Diana sat down next to her and looked around.
“Hey,where's Sanji?Usually he's cooking breakfast.”
“Oh,he went grocery shopping with Zero!Something about mysterious disappearing cookies.”
She blushed and laughed nervously.
“Eh,eh,eh!M-maybe we got rats!”

The redhead smiled again and raised an eyebrow,looking back at the newspaper.

“Yeah. Right. Rats.”

“Aargh,I'm hungry!”
“Well,I'm not!This...”
She held a cup of coffee and raised it.
“Is enough.”

Suddenly,her stomach growled vionletly. Diana chuckled.

“Is it?”
“Oh,shut up.” said the redhead,getting up and looking around the division.

“What should I make?”
“You know how to cook?”
“Uh,yes,of course!And I'm good!”
“Right. We'll see.”

Nami sighed and closed her eyes,trying to concentrate.

“Pancakes!That can't be too hard,can it?”

“Okay,I'm going to make some pancakes!”
“Good luck.”
Nami glared at her.

“I don't need luck.”
-

After 5 failed attempts at making pancakes,3 failed attempts at making waffles and an unfortunate accident while making a bowl cereal,a certain 18-year old redhead gave up.

“I give up.” she said in complete despair as she fell to her knees,milk dripping from her bright hair.

Diana raised an eyebrow at the older girl and laughed slightly.

“Let me take care of this.”

She walked over to the stove and took out a frying pan.

-

“...You're smart,you're a great fighter and you cook. I feel depressed.”
“I am also a great singer.”
“Hooray.”

Nami stuck half a pancake in her mouth and munched angrily.

Diana frowned.

“Sorry.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
Nami looked at her. The teenager seemed to be really sorry. She gulped as she realized what she was doing.

“No,I'm sorry. I just felt kinda angry with my own skills. Forget this whole deal,okay?”
The blond nodded slightly and returned to eating. Nami smiled to herself.

They turned their heads towards the back door when they heard knocking.

“Come in,the door's open!” shouted Nami.

Prof. Blitz walked in.

“Good morning,girls. Are the boys here?”
“No,they went grocery shopping.”
“Damn it!We have no time to waste!”

Diana raised an eyebrow.

“What's wrong.”
“I need you to go on a mission.”
“What?!But we just returned from the last!We are still hurt!”

“Don't worry!It's just research!You don't have to fight and you still get some money!”
Nami smiled.

“How much?”

“1000 Scales.”
“Are you kidding me?” yelled the redhead.

“That's way too much for a I-Level mission!” said Diana

“That's because...It's not an I-Level mission...It's a G-Level.”
“WHAT?!” yelled both girls at the same time.

“Look,I wouldn't ask you to do it if I didn't think you could do it!”
“We almost got killed on the last mission!” said Diana as she suddenly got up.
“Yes,but that's cause you missed the mission requirements. All you had to do was defeat the monster!”

“So it was our fault!” said Nami,also getting up.
Even though the girls were at least 10 inches shorter than him,the professor couldn't help but feel intimidated by their blazing glares.

He took a step back and cleared his throat.
“Look,girls,don't get like that!It was nobody's fault!You had to do it!But the point is you have to do this favor for me!And if you do you,I will personally promote you to level G!And then,when you're feeling better,you can take on really high paying missions!”
Nami and Diana looked at each other.
“Half-a-team meeting!” yelled Nami.
“Why half-a-team meeting?” said Diana,looking at her,perplexed.

“Because there's only half of the team here!Duh!”

They walked over to a corner of the kitchen.

“Okay,let's see.100 for me,100 for you,100 for Sanji,100 for Zero and the rest for the general purpose of the house like groceries and bills.”
“You're splitting the money already?”

“Diana,let us think. When we are completely healed we are going to be able to get lotsa cash,cash,cash!BUT,only if we take this simple research mission!Following me?”

“Uh,yeah.”
“And we're doing this for the professor!C'mon,he has helped us a lot hasn't he?”
“Well,yeah...”
“Then why are we still discussing this?!”
She quickly turned around.

“We'll do it!”

Diana nodded slightly.

“I just hope we won't regret this...”
“Girls,we're back.”

“And we got MOAR COOKEES!

Sanji and Zero walked in,each carrying 2 grocery bags.

“What's up?” asked Zero as he put the bags down on the counter.

“Is everything alright?” asked Sanji,doing the same.

“Oh,yes. You're all going on a G-level mission.”
For a while there was silence.

And then Sanji fainted.

“Sanji-kun!” screeched Nami as she knelt down next to him.

Diana scratched her head.

“I guess the shock combined with his bad lung knocked him down.”
Zero frowned.

“He's he going to be okay?”
“Yeah,he probably just needs to rest.”

-

He slowly opened his eyes and saw someone sitting next to him.

“...Angel...” he mumbled.

Nami looked at him and smiled widely.

“Sanji-kun,you're awake!”

The blond sat up and looked around. They were in the living room. The white walls seemed to shine as if they were made of light.

“What happened?” he said,lying back down.

“You passed out!We were all really worried about you!”
“Why...Oh,wait,I remember. Nami,can you do something for me?”
“Sure!”

“Can you explain WHY THE FUCK ARE WE GOING ON A MISSION TWO RANKS AVOVE US?”

Nami was taken aback. Sanji gulped and looked sorrowfully into her eyes.

“Sorry,I'm so sorry. It's just that I'm very surprised with all this!Why are we going to do a G-level mission,and right after we almost got killed?!”

“Sanji...Don't worry...It's just a research mission...It's a favor for Prof. Blitz. And he thinks we're able to do it,so don't worry.”

Sanji gulped again as he heard her explain. Her voice was filled with regret and sadness.

“I shouldn't have exploded just like that...”

“Yo!You up,man?”
He glanced over to the door. Diana and Zero walked in. The girl remained quiet as Zero started talking loudly about what they were going to do,so fast Sanji didn't get a single word.

“Calm down,Zero!” said Nami glaring at him.

“S-sorry!We're going to Ursidaw,a small mining town a few miles from here!We're going to investigate some unknown minerals found there!Prof. Blitz friend,Dr. Ricard,thinks they're Dragonian metals that can be used to make some awesome weapons!It sounds really cool!”
Diana smiled and finally spoke.

“We're leaving tomorrow. The climate in Ursidaw is surprisingly hot,so don't take warm clothing. We're taking a bus. Also,I advise you to pack extra clothing,because there's a heavy chance of getting dirty.”

Sanji nodded and got up. He went upstairs to pack. Zero followed him.
Nami looked at Diana.

“Are you okay?You seem to be worried about something...”
“Don't worry,it's nothing. I'm just having a bad feeling about this. But it's probably nothing. Never mind it.”
The redhead nodded and bit her lip.

“I hope so...”

-

Next chapter of Ookami no Monogatari:

This is strange...The whole town seems like a ghost town!What?Dr. Ricard is missing?

Next chapters:The Ghost Town

OOKAMI NO MONOGATARI

Diana:Don't screw with my friends!