Wendy was sat kneeling on the floor, looking at it in complete disgust. While this would normally have been amusing for the rest of Team Natsu, they were in a mild rush to get to their mission. They were ten meters away when Natsu suddenly turned back and saw Wendy kneeling down.
He cocked his head to the side, "Wendy, what are you staring at?" He ran back and knelt down at her trying to see whatever had insulted her enough to stop their travels.
Everyone turned to look at the two on the floor and Charle just rolled her eyes, "Seriously, Wendy, must we do this again?"
Wendy let out a small whine, shocking the onlookers, and then picked up a small pebble, "It's following me. I swear, this stupid little pebble is following me!" She held it up in front of her nose and glared down at it, causing her eyes to cross, "Mr Pebble, your tyranny shall end." She muttered, throwing it away.
Unluckily for her, the pebble seemed to boomerang back and hit Gray on his forehead. He turned to glare at the small girl before biting his lip and letting out a sigh, "I don't even want to know, nor do I really care." Gray said, continuing on the path. Lucy looked at Wendy as if about to say something, her mouth agape, before she shook her head and followed after Gray.
"It's possessed." Natsu and Wendy muttered in sync, watching the pebble which was now lying on the floor in front of Erza's feet. Erza rolled her eyes and kicked the pebble away, and surprisingly it just rolled.
"See, nothing to worry about, stop making up issues." Erza said with a huff, also turning to follow after Gray and Lucy who were animatedly chatting about how stupid everyone could be over the smallest of things.
Wendy eyed the pebble with suspicion and dread, getting to her feet. She shared an apprehensive look with Natsu, but they then shrugged and continued on their ways. Looking at the pebble as she walked, she let out a sigh of relief when she passed in, punching the air in a small cheer of happiness and skipping to catch up with everyone. Until, not three steps forward she fell to the ground with a shriek.
Everyone turned to look at Wendy, who had grabbed the pebble in her hands and was throwing it on the floor and jumping up and down stomping it into the ground. "Mr Pebble, you have annoyed me for the last time. Stop following me you mean pebble, it's upsetting me!" She then leant over to pick up the pebble and hold it in the palm of her hand.
Happy pointed up to Wendy, "Maybe if you hold it in your hand, you won't trip?" He suggested innocently, letting out a grunt of pain as Charle batted him on the head for silly suggestions. However, Wendy nodded, clasping the pebble firmly in her hand as she began walking.
The team got a little further before Wendy was on the floor again. This time, Gray, Lucy and Erza all sighed, walked to the side of the path and sat. There they would sit until the issue with Mr Pebble was averted.
"It's not in your hand." Natsu pointed out as Wendy looked at her palms in disbelief, the rest of the team looked at Natsu incredulously and Natsu held his hands up in surrender, "What? I was just pointing out the obvious."
Wendy looked around and spotted the pebble, she just stared at it, seething in anger, "Why, why do you do this Mr Pebble, why do you follow me and trip me so? I don't understand." She sighed in defeat, falling to the ground, sitting directly on top of it with a yelp of pain. She grabbed it into her hand and held it out in front of her, "Any help?" She asked the team.
Erza nodded, "Have you considered the possibility, that it is not a normal pebble?" she asked with a sombre expression, earning a look of scrutiny from Lucy.
Gray and Natsu sat next to Erza nodding along, muttering, "Not a normal pebble at all."
Wendy looked at the pebble, "Well, I don't know how. I don't know anyone who can control little pebbles or who I would have annoyed in the last-" Wendy stopped mid-sentence, face turning bright red as she remembered, something she should have kept in her head but had escaped her mouth, "He has a shiny forehead." She muttered, mouth aghast in horror.
"Who has a shiny forehead?" Charle inquired, growing tired of this whole debacle.
Wendy looked up at her fellow team mates, "Jura."
Natsu burst out laughing, falling back and rolling on the ground, "You are so right Wendy. Jura's forehead is so shiny, so freaking shiny, I could cook an egg on it. He's so bald, it's almost unbearable. I got blinded by how shiny it was once and-" He cut himself off from laughing, Happy was laughing jovially alongside him, Gray and Lucy were holding back snickers.
Erza smiled, "What does that have to do with anything?" Then her eyes met with Wendy's and went wide, "You didn't." Wendy nodded, which caused Erza to snicker as well involuntarily, "Oh, you did?"
Wendy's face turned to one of horror and worry, "It's not funny!" She yelled with a red face, watching her fellow teammates roll around laughing, "What if he's cursed me to be followed by Mr Pebble forever?"
Erza wiped a tear from her eye and shook her head, "It'll probably wear off in a week. Don't worry."
Nodding, Wendy placed the pebble on the floor beside her, the hate inside growing as she now knew the origin of stupid Mr Pebble, with a huff she got to her feet. "Let's just go." She said, glaring down at the pebble, knowing it would move and strategize the second her feet left the ground. With a sigh, as everyone else followed, she began to walk. Only to fall face first into the ground again with a loud scream of: "Stupid Mr Pebble!"