It was a rainy, dreary day in the city of Magnolia, and since there weren't too many jobs to be found on rainy days, their number one Guild was currently causing a ruckus with so many of them stuck inside. The Master's eyebrows furrowed as he watched the guild members wreak chaos. It was no wonder the Magic Council had grown more and more intolerant to Fairy Tail. Their destructive nature had even led the newest Chairman to say that, if Fairy Tail caused another incident, it would be disbanded. The third Master would never let that happen, but even so, something would have to change. Mirajane caught his eye and she nodded her head ever so slightly with a small smile.
Makarov, from up on the stage, cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. He was greatly disappointed when no one payed the slightest bit attention but continued to fight and basically destroy the guild and everything in it. In fact, he had to dodge as an unconscious Fairy Tail member went flying past his head - just narrowly missing colliding with his small body. Mustache twitching, he clenched his fists and started growing in size until his head almost brushed the ceiling.
"Listen up brats!" Makarov yelled in his powerful voice. The tone of his words sounded so frightening everyone stopped what they were doing and turned around almost immediately.
Gajeel, who currently had Natsu in a headlock, gave him one last satisfying punch that sent him sprawling headfirst into the ground before turning around to hear what the Master had to say.
"What is it pops?" Natsu asked from down on the floor with his usual grin.
"What I am about to say is for everyone to hear. Even more so for our more obnoxious troublemakers," he said, narrowing his eyes in Natsu's general direction. "Anyway, it seems many of you have gotten out of control and have become careless to the point of starting meaningless fights on jobs as well as around the town, which we all know has resulted in endless days of paperwork for me. I want you to know this behavior can not and will not continue."
He paused for a moment to reach behind him and grabbed a thick stack of papers off the podium. "However," he started to say, untying the string that held the pieces of paper together, "I will not conform to the rules of the Magic Council. They are quite persistent and very annoying " Using both hands he ripped the paperwork in half and tossed them aside lazily which earned a quite a few cheers from the guild members.
The Master sighed heavily before saying, "But don't think me disagreeing with them is going to let you off the hook. Oh no. I have a little surprise in store for you hooligans. A lesson in responsibility."
Lucy raised her eyebrows while Natsu and Gajeel exchanged confused glances and Erza stepped forward commenting, "A good idea Master. I think-"
"You are included in this as well Erza," Makarov cut her off.
"So what the heck are you going to have us do Gramps?" Gray asked before Erza could react.
"Can someone hand Gray some shorts," Cana snorted.
"Yeah. I'm sick of staring at your bare ass," Laxus added.
Eyes widening, Fried immediately started contemplating whether Laxus was attracted to men or not since he didn't have to keep looking at Gray's rear.
Elfman, who had a full frontal view of Gray's naked body, announced proudly, "Gray's a man!"
Levy and Lucy exchanged glances, covering their faces in embarrassment.
"Hold that thought Master! I have to pee!" Natsu said, standing up suddenly only to trip over Gajeel's enormous boot, sending him flying into Gray and knocking him over.
"Gihihi."
"That wasn't very nice Gajeel!" said Happy as Carla shook her head at how immature the guild members were.
Clawing at her face, eyes brimming with tears, Juvia shouted more or less to herself, "Does Gray-sama want Natsu or Juvia!?"
"You just don't get it do you?" Gray muttered whilst kicking Natsu off of him and standing up.
"I hear he and Lucy like to play dress up and use whips," Bickslow laughed as he put his arms around Gray and Lucy squishing their faces together against their will.
Loke's jaw dropped to the floor. "Lucy is that true!?"
"I'll kill them," Gray shouted.
"Someone kill me," Lucy muttered.
"How could you Lucy?" Natsu said pointing an accusing finger at her. "I thought us playing dress up that one time was special!"
"Man, Lucy sure likes to get around," Gajeel smirked slapping Laxus a high five.
"IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Lucy waved her arms frantically.
All of a sudden an oversized fist appeared out of nowhere, colliding with both an unsuspecting Gajeel and Natsu sending them headfirst into the ground. Everyone glanced up and cowered at the sight of the Master; he had grown large again and now his eyes were emanating a bright golden light.
"Now that I finally have your attention brats," a few people took this chance to look at the lifeless forms of Gajeel and Natsu and gulped, "I am here to tell you that over the next however long I say this will last, some of you will be participating in a little competition that I hope will also teach you some responsibility."
Lucy and Gray exchanged glances. Competition?
"Mirajane if you will."
"Yes Master!" she smiled as she exited through the door that led to the backroom. A few moments later she appeared wielding a large bag of who knows what and a huge grin plastered on her face.
Everyone started quietly talking amongst themselves, wondering what crazy idea the Master had planned this time . They quieted down as he opened his mouth to speak again.
"Now this little competition will take place in pairs. But I will partner you with who I think you will have trouble getting along with," he said with an evil smile.
"It sounds like this is more for his personal entertainment pleasures," Gray whispered to Lucy.
"Thanks for volunteering first Gray! Please step forward."
"What! Why me? Ugh," he muttered, throwing the pair of shorts someone handed him down on the floor angrily before walking over to the Master.
"Hmmmm your partner for this will be..." his eyes scanned the crowd until they lit up when they rested upon the person he had been looking for. "Lyon!"
That's when Gray noticed the tall, spiky silver haired mage resting against a pole with a smirk on his face. He instantly started toward him exclaiming, "But-but he's not even from our guild!"
Baffled, Gray looked around at his fellow guild members but no else questioned Lyon's appearance and why he was there. The only one paying Gray any attention was the Master who was gesturing with his hands to get with his partner and Juvia who was violently sobbing because this meant she wouldn't be the one working with him.
Quietly complaining to himself, Gray reluctantly walked over to stand beside his childhood rival and crossed his arms.
"Why are you here?" he hissed.
"For the prize," remarked Lyon, thoroughly pleased at how worked up Gray was getting.
"Ahem," Makarov continued "The rest of the partners will be as follows: Natsu and Gajeel. Juvia and Lucy. Loke and Erza. Evergreen and Elfman. Laxus and Cana. Bickslow and Levy. And Fried with Lisanna. You 15 always seem to cause the most trouble so this will be a fun little test to discipline you."
"I have to team up with Salamander again?' Gajeel complained. "I swear we had better be kicking someone's ass then." He cracked his knuckles while Natsu nodded his head vigorously in agreement.
Levy glanced over in Bickslow's direction wondering why she was unlucky enough to have to be with the perverted one. And wishing she could have been partnered up with a certain iron dragon slayer.
Fried was silently crying to himself for not getting paired with up Laxus.
"Wait. Why me? I'm a celestial spirit!" Loke sputtered.
"You're still technically part of our guild! You still have the guild mark on your back," Mirajane smiled.
"Of all the women I could have been paired up with. Of course it had to be the scary one who hits people when they piss her off," Loke muttered bitterly.
"What did you say!?"
Loke sweat dropped and held up his arms as if that would prevent Erza from punching him, which, alas, it did not.
"Natsu. Gajeel. Step forward please." Begrudgingly they followed orders. Makarov reached inside the bag Mirajane had placed on the stage and pulled out something that surprised everyone in the room. It was a very real looking baby doll. He handed it to Gajeel who just stared at it in shock.
"Congratulations to the new couple! Natsu you may kiss the bride!"
Erza stepped forward. "Master, what's the meaning of this? I don't understand."
Smiling gleefully he answered, "For the next week and a half or so everyone who was paired up will have their very own kid to take care of. It even has a little sensory chip inside it to know how well it's being taken care of. This is a little task you will all have to complete by learning something called responsibility as well as working together."
Everyone let those words sink in for a few seconds before protesting. Gajeel, who still held the doll in his hands had turned red and looked livid. "This is messed up!"
"I agree! What's the meaning of this pops? I don't want to be married to Gajeel of all people the rest of my life!" complained Natsu. Right as Gajeel was about to throw the stupid doll Makarov put a hand on his shoulder and whispered pleasantly, "If you destroy or neglect to take care of your new daughter, there will be severe consequences." Turning back to others he said, "Alright everyone. Come line up and grab a kid."
Elfman proudly took his baby from Mirajane proclaiming,"It's a man!"
"It's a girl you idiot," Evergreen said in disgust.
Levy face palmed as Bickslow started controlling their doll with his magic, making it float around the room annoying other people.
The Master had tears welling in his eyes as he handed a boy baby doll over to Laxus saying, "I've finally become a Great Grandpa."
Laxus shook his head. "I still can't believed your making us do this old man. What the hell's the point?"
After every group had gotten their "kid," the Master explained one last thing. "Remember, this is a test of responsibility so you must work together to keep your new daughter or son happy. Because they are programmed to cry if they are being neglected in any way. I won't say what the prizes are yet but I will have you know that if you fail this test you will be severely punished." He smiled at everyone. "Make sure to have fun. I am having Mirajane and Jellal oversee your progress which will help me determine who the winners are. Good luck brats!"
"Jellal!? Since when was he part of our guild? Didn't he try to kill everyone!?" Gray asked with astonishment. Again. No one answered him.
Natsu glanced at the doll resting in Gajeel's hands. "Well, we may as well have fun with this. I'm going to take Igneel to the park!"
"You moron his name is Metallicana! And no you can sit your ass right back down because we are staying here. Besides, it's raining out you idiot!"
Lucy giggled. "You guys do realize you have a girl right?"
"Worry about yourself," Gajeel remarked, pointing behind her.
Confused, Lucy turned around and saw to her horror that Juvia had placed a black wig on their "son" and was already calling it Gray-sama.
On the other side of the room, Gray, who had yet to put clothes on, stood staring stupidly at his former comrade, still completely in shock that everyone was fine with Jellal standing in the vicinity as well as not questioning why Lyon was there.
"Look Gray! It's our baby!" Lyon smiled, cradling it in his arms as it were a real child. Unable to handle the situation anymore, Gray passed out.
Loke, looking sweaty and uncomfortable, was seriously considering running away to the Spirit World when Erza grabbed him by the collar. "Don't think you're getting out of this that easily," she said, dragging him along the ground, chatting about how this will be a fun and interesting experience to see what it's like to be a parent, Loke protesting the entire way.
Laxus glanced at Cana's drunken state and sighed when Fried and Lisanna's baby started crying.
'This is going to be a long week and a half,' he thought bitterly.