Hikari crouched on the edge of a rooftop three blocks from the training center, watching the street below for anything that looked like trouble. She'd left before anyone could tell her no this time. If Sakura was going to respect her, she needed proof — not training scores or practice drills, but a real mission completed on her own. But after two hours, nothing had happened. No creatures. No danger. Just regular people walking home from work. Hikari shifted her weight and scanned the skyline, her eyes settling on the tall building with the ornate traditional roof crown rising above the other structures. That one. If she could get up there, she'd have a view of the whole city — a real lookout point where she could spot threats before anyone else. She jumped to her feet, sparks crackling along her fingertips. Tomorrow she'd claim it as her official training ground. Then when something did happen, she'd be the first one there.

The next morning, Hikari stood at the base of the tall building, staring up at the traditional roof that seemed to float above the city. She'd made it halfway across the lobby before a security guard asked where she was going. No good answer came to mind. She left through the side door and circled back toward the marketplace instead, her mood dark. That's when she saw it — a small creature, no bigger than a cat, crawling out from behind a weathered wooden kiosk at the edge of the market. Its body pulsed with a faint green glow. This was it. A real target. Hikari's fingers sparked as she stepped forward, but then she hesitated. She should call it in. That's what the protocols said. But if she did, someone else would show up — probably Sakura — and she'd just be the trainee who spotted it, not the one who handled it. The creature turned toward a vendor pulling crates from a truck. Hikari made her choice. She raised her hand, lightning already crackling up her arm, and fired. The bolt hit the creature dead-on, but it didn't vanish. It split into two smaller versions, both hissing. Her stomach dropped. She'd made it worse. The vendor was yelling now, scrambling backward. Hikari fired again, hitting one, but it split too. Three creatures. Then four. She backed up, her breath coming fast, and finally pulled out her communicator. Her hands shook as she hit the emergency button. When Sakura arrived two minutes later, Hikari was standing in front of the kiosk with six glowing creatures circling her boots. Sakura didn't say anything. She just raised one hand, and all six creatures dissolved into light. Then she looked at Hikari, and the disappointment in her eyes was worse than any lecture. Hikari had wanted to prove she was ready. Instead, she'd proven exactly the opposite.

Hikari didn't go back to the training center that night. She couldn't face the looks, the questions about where she'd been. Instead she found a fire escape three blocks from the marketplace and sat there until the city lights blurred together. She woke to her communicator buzzing against her hip. Multiple alerts. The same creatures — but the sensor readings didn't make sense. Each one showed twice the mass from yesterday. Hikari scrambled down the fire escape and ran toward the nearest ping. She turned a corner and froze. The creature stood in the middle of an intersection, easily the size of a delivery truck now, its emerald scales catching the early light. It wasn't glowing softly anymore. It pulsed with energy, and when it turned its massive head toward her, she saw intelligence in those eyes. This wasn't something she could zap by accident. This was something that could kill her. She raised her hand anyway, lightning crackling up her arm, but her fingers wouldn't release it. The creature watched her, waiting, and she realized with cold certainty that it remembered her from yesterday. It knew she'd made it stronger. Her communicator buzzed again — Sakura's name on the screen. Hikari hit the button. "I found one," she said, her voice steady even as her hands shook. "I'm not engaging. Sending you the location now." The creature tilted its head, then turned and walked away between two buildings, each footstep cracking the pavement. Hikari stayed exactly where she was until Sakura arrived three minutes later. She'd finally learned what readiness actually meant.