AN: Been thinking of writing another story while in the middle of Fighting Redfox for a few days now, and this is just another -most likely shorter story- in addition to my other GaLe one. I'm making most of this up to be able to combine it into Fairy Tail form. My main story, Fighting Redfox, will take priority over this one.

Storyline: An elite division of the Marines known as Devildog has been assigned a dangerous mission. Gajeel with his team of five must brave enemy lines to retrieve their objective - an individual who isn't going to follow them willingly. Marines G. Redfox, L. Dreyar, G. Fullbuster, N. Dragneel, S. Eucliffe, and R. Cheney, SOCOM unit, reporting for active duty.

Possible GaLe, haven't decided yet, but there's some hints

*Rated Mature - There is intense language and violence. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

*I do not own any of the pictures.

*I do not own any of FairyTail - that's all Hiro Mashima.

Uh, if you don't like abusive language, don't even read further.*

Devildogs

by CapAleran2

Chapter I

"You call yourself a Marine, fuck nut?!" The instructor shoved his face mere inches from Gajeel's, shouting in his ear as loudly as he could. He pointed to the ground and got even closer as he shouted, "My granny can do better than your shit job, and she's dead!"

Gajeel stared straight ahead as he dragged himself through the mud under a barbed wire barrier. His olive colored shirt was thoroughly soaked with the brown slosh. He couldn't care if his face was covered in it either, he would be considered a pink pansy if he didn't get his face in it.

The instructor back away from him and addressed the whole group. "Move it! Move your asses, now! If you were any slower, you'd all be fucking dead where you lay!"

He made it to the end of the row and shot up to his feet as quickly as the mud and wire allowed. He sprinted for the tall wooden wall several yards away. When he reached it, he jumped and grabbed the thick rope that dangled from the top. He could hear the men behind him, and moments later, another man had done the same thing.

Using only his arms as he was supposed to, Gajeel pulled himself up and over the top, dropping down to the platform on the other side. There as a short drop after that one, and sixty yards away on flat ground, was the end of the course.

He quickly looked up above him and saw Laxus dropping over the tall wall. As soon as the other man's feet landed on the shorter platform, Gajeel lept from it, hitting the ground with a thud and touching the grass with his hands. He shot up, his thick legs driving him forward as the beginning of his long sprint began.

Right behind him Laxus sprang to a run, his body in as top condition as Gajeel's. Both men ate up the ground as their arms pumped at their sides. They glanced at each other and focused on the end, where the rest of them were waiting. Gajeel dug and pushed himself, his legs burning with the sustained effort throughout the long course. Sprinting to the finish after straining muscles for several minutes straight beforehand was pure torture for anyone.

Laxus squinted and he dug further, willing his legs to move faster against the pain. He came up even with Gajeel, matching him stride for stride with only fifteen yards to go, they were both on the brink of breaking down. Sweat and mud literally poured from them.

Both Marines crossed the line, essentially a spray painted line in the grass. They could hear their fellow Marines call out to them as they laughed, and they ran at a slower pace until they came to an eventual walk. They circled back to the group, panting and gripping their sides.

Grey tossed a water bottle to Gajeel as he approached, holding up a stopwatch. "Good time. Still didn't beat Laxus."

"Fuck!" Gajeel gave a short growling shout, closing his eyes with a grimace.

Laxus laughed as he glanced towards him, squeezing a water bottle into his mouth. He swallowed the water and then squeezed it again, only to spit out the second mouthful.

More Marines that had been behind them ran across the line. They received water from their teammates as well. Another instructor marched over to them, his face scowling. "You have time to stand around checking your dresses for rips?! Move it!"

The men hurriedly gathered their gear and started to jog to their starting positions, clear around at the other end of the course. Grey led them down the well worn path, his identical olive drab attire was crusty with drying mud. Bits of it broke off with his quick steps. Gajeel and Laxus trailed behind him, starting to recover from their long haul. They approached the larger group.

Natsu turned around from facing the waiting men, his muscular arms crossed over his chest. He saw their dirty clothing and chuckled. "Gajeel didn't beat Laxus then. Sting owes me."

Grey gave a short laugh before Gajeel came to a halt near them, holding his water bottle and wearing a scowl. "You Jackoff bet on the results?"

"No," Natsu gave him a straight face. "It's not betting when you already know who'll win."

That earned a darker scowl from Gajeel. Laxus smirked and knocked Natsu's elbow with his. "How much?"

"Hundred bucks and one of those magazines that are always out at the PX."

"The ones with Mirajane in them?" Laxus asked, his eyebrows rose. He prefered his reading material to be non standard issue if he could help it.

Nastu grinned. "Yep. They've added some new girls."

"Sweet. I wanna borrow that when you're done."

Gajeel pushed past them, ignoring their gloating and drooling over the thought of barely clothed women. He just wanted a shower and to sit down. His legs felt like jello from the extensive exercise. And then when he felt normal, he'd feel like doing the same thing. "If you two are done, we gotta head back and clean up before chow. Fernandes requested us in his office at 1930 hours."

They went back to their building to grab their clean changes of clothes, washed up at the shower house, and headed for chow hall for dinner, which had begun a few minutes before they arrived. Each of them walked through the line and grabbed whatever they thought looked good, and found themselves a table.

They four of them found Sting and Rogue. The two had just sat down, a tray with food in front of them. The blond haired man looked expectantly up at his friends. Seeing Natsu's expression, he frowned and turned his blue eyes to Gajeel, stating harshly. "You fuck tard."

"What?" He asked defensively as he took a seat across from him.

Grey and Laxus sat on either side of him, with Natsu taking the open seat beside Sting. They all snickered at the exchange, knowing Sting knew Gajeel had lost him the bet.

"You told me you could beat him this time, said you finally got the course down in under seven minutes." Sting said, then took a bite of his sandwich. "I put down a crisp Franklin on you!"

"I did." Gajeel grumbled, opening his bottled soda. He was about to take a sip and then slammmed the bottle back down on the table, growling. "You know what, I don't see you busting your ass to get better. It's been awhile since the last deployment."

Sting snorted. "I don't need to." He flexed his right arm, and the muscles tightened against the snug fit of his short sleeve t shirt.

"Grey can show you up." Natsu said with his mouth full, holding his hand out towards Sting, who promptly slapped his money into his hand. He faced Sting. "Another hundred says Grey can out carry your weight in the mock field mission tomorrow."

"Are you kidding? I'm not taking that." Sting shook his head.

Leaning on the elbow resting beside his tray, Grey felt his dogtags tink against the table. He gave Natsu a look, his eyes showing no emotion. "Why do you feel the need to drag me into your shit?"

"You know how I feel now." Gajeel commented, then swallowed a mouthful of food and washed it down with his drink.

Rogue was quiet, eating his food while listening to the others with interest. He didn't speak much, but when he did, they all listened. On last deployment, the six of them were on patrol in a dusty open area close to enemy territory. Rogue voiced that something was off within their surroundings as they drove through the road, and made them all halt their progress. It turned out that Rogue had diverted an ambush attempt. Instead of driving up on a planned trap, all six of them and the rest of their small convoy engaged the hostiles right there in a firefight, exposing the enemy positions. It could have turned out worse than a few minor injuries if Rogue hadn't warned them. And they poked fun at him for his constant observations.

When they finished their dinner, they headed for the large building where all the higher ups had their offices. They walked in and told the reception they were expected, and they were told to go ahead and wait in his office.

Natsu stood by the book shelf that loosely held a bunch of texts involving military history and war tactics. He touched the bookend in the shape of the Marine emblem, and his fingers then wandered to the figurine next to it.

"Don't touch anything, dumbass." Laxus chided from his seat in front of the large oak desk.

Grey looked out the window, watching the personnel go about their business. He knocked his elbow on Sting's arm to get his attention, grinning and pointing outside to a group of enlisted females on a PT run. Gajeel sat back in the other chair next to Laxus, while Rogue stood alone at the back.

They waited for about five minutes before the door abruptly swung open. All six men immediately stiffened into attention, standing straight with their arms at their sides. Laxus and Gajeel were a bit slow, as they had been seated when the Chief Warrant Officer walked in.

Fernandes wore the dull tan button up shirt issued by the Marines, the colored insignias of rank attached to the left side of the buttons. He rounded to his desk and without looking up, said, "At ease, gentlemen."

The six of them relaxed to fall in around the desk in a line. They were all curious as to why they were called into an office. To their knowledge, they hadn't done anything to bring about unnecessary attention to themselves. Silence followed the Officer's words, and he took his time preparing what to say.

He brought his gaze up to them. "I brought you in here for a special assignment. It's a delicate situation, and the top brass wanted only the most capable men at the helm."

The six of them stayed expressionless as he spoke, each of them trained to keep their excitement -whatever it may be- under wraps. The confidence radiated from all of the solid, tested Marines.

Fernandes continued, pointing to the map he spread out on the desk. The others bent around to look down at it.

"There's a makeshift hospital out on the outskirts of the desert, here. One of the Sergeant's daughter is running it, but when its sister site on this side," He moved his finger a ways to the left, "evacuated due to a mortar explosion on half its wing, she issued an evac of the able bodied patients, but refused to abandon the ones in critical care. The area is thick with hostiles, and the remaining hospital is the next target."

"Permission to speak, sir?" Grey spoke up.

Fernandes nodded sharply. "Granted."

"They evacuated it, so wouldn't our birds have gotten them out?" Grey asked, referring to the large transport helicopters.

"Two were on their final passes back to the site, and were shot down with anticraft missiles. We lost radio contact with the crews."

The six of them were silent. It was a bad day when two of their CH-53E choppers went down from enemy fire. All men present knew the risks of flying in hostile airspace. They had done it before. And would again if it meant to rescue their fellow Marines, and the occasional civilian. The risks came with the job, but no one wanted to hear that their airborn transports had been terminated.

"Search and rescue of their crew?" Laxus asked.

"As we speak." Fernandes answered. "Hostiles know the easiest and most direct way for us to collect the rest of them is from above. They've effectively shut down the airways in the vicinity. The only viable option is ground ops. The Sergeant's daughter is the top priority here. Permission to evac the remaining patients is granted, but it's at-will. Use your best judgement, but do not -I repeat- do not compromise the mission. No matter how your objective reacts. Your mission is to bring her home." He paused and handed Gajeel the mission information file.

"Pack up, men. You leave in less than two hours."

They understood at that point. The Chief Warrant Officer was telling them they were now deployed for a tactical assignment.

AN: WILL add onto this shortly. This is probably going to be a shorter story than Fighting Redfox, dunno yet.