Chapter 2
The next morning the group got packed and started going on towards their destination. Mid-way through the walk, as they passed through a market place in one of the villages, Gajeel pulled Stone aside into an alley way out of view of the people in the street. Gajeel turned to face him and said in a low almost whisper "you ever bring up her again and I'll hurt you twig boy. Last night it was late I was tired and I didn't feel like beating you senseless so don't think you'll get off as easily as you did then" Stone simply nodded in understanding not wanting to anger the iron dragon slayer anymore.
Later that day they made it to the third village and meet with the man who had posted the mission. He told them that there was a group of bandits to the north that kept ambushing travelers along the roads and that this was hurting his business as less and less people came to town. As they left the old man's shop Gajeel turned to the others and explained his plan. First Stone would begin walking down the road to act as bait with Gajeel and Lily some distance behind him waiting for the group to attack and then Gajeel and Lily would come from behind and help fight them off until they found the leader. Agreeing to the plan, reluctantly, Stone set off as Gajeel and Lily waited for him to be some distance away before they started following. As they walked Lily perched himself on Gajeel's shoulder and sat intently watching the sides of the road for any movement. After some time Lily broke the silence by saying "you know you don't have to treat him like shit simply because he had the balls to call you out on it" "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU SAY CAT?" Gajeel exclaimed as he swung wildly at the exceed who was now flying just above his head. "Oh calm down you, besides I think he might be a good addition to our team here depending on how strong he is obviously" "you can't be serious" Gajeel replied annoyed at the mere suggestion of this guy being a permanent addition to their team. "No seriously think about it Gajeel it wouldn't be bad to simply have an extra pair of hands around sometimes" as their conversation drew to a close Gajeel stopped. He could sense something was wrong but what? He could see Stone in front of them walking normally as the plan entailed but something was amiss. Just then Gajeel felt a sharp sting hit his arm and then a second he looked down to see two darts stuck in his arm "w-what the" before he could finish his sentence he fell to the ground paralyzed as his vision blurred he say Lily turn into his full battle form only to be tackled to the ground by about 15 men who appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
He heard footsteps rustling in the distance behind him. Footsteps that had no business being there. Footsteps that weren't Gajeel's following him. He turned and saw in the distance a large mass of about 50 men surrounding where Gajeel had been. "Shit" and without hesitation he took off at full speed to where Gajeel had been. When he got close he jumped into the air and landed in the middle of the group of bandits next to Gajeel. Upon landing and surveying the situation Stone shouted "EARTH RAISE" and sand around the area was thrown into the air creating a smoke screen confusing the enemies. Stone used this confusion and threw his tan cloak over Gajeel and quietly chanted a spell over the dragon slayer that was hidden under the cloak. Slowly the cloak started to change colors and eventually perfectly matched the ground around the area making the now unconscious Gajeel almost invisible. Stone looked around to find Lily and saw a large pile of men trying to hold him back. Suddenly the dust began to settle and about 20 men noticed Stone standing there. All at once they charged him "now that was a mistake" he whispered under his breath "EARTH PILLAR" then multiple pillars of ground shot up sending the assailants into the air. As this happened suddenly Lily overpowered the men holding him down sending them into the air as well. Many hit the ground and refused to get up the few that did manage to get to their feet simply ran for their lives. Roughly 15 enemies remained standing. "so who's up next?" Stone replied with a grin. The remaining members made a desperate attempt to leave. "now hold on where you going? We aren't done here. EARTH PRISON" Stone shouted as he touched the ground with both hands and four large walls rose form the ground entrapping the remaining bandits.
As Gajeel awoke he felt warm and unsure of his surroundings. He rolled over on his side to see a fire glowing not far from him. Gajeel looked to his right and saw in the distance Stone and Lily standing over one of the bandits who was pinned against a tree by three pillars of earth, unable to move. "so what I want to know is where is your boss, that simple" Stone said to the man. "Fuck you" the man replied. Stone let out a sigh of disappointment "earth pillar" Stone muttered under his breath. A pillar of earth rose from the ground smashing the man square between the legs Gajeel winced at the thought of the pain. "oh shit" the man groaned. "it's in your best interests to cooperate with us" Lily chimed in. "I can always just put you back into the box with the others and we can then do the same thing in the morning one of you is bound to crack at some time" the man said nothing to this "fine suit yourself" Stone grabbed the man by his shirt and picked him up, removing the pillars that were previously holding him in place, and through him up about 15 feet into the air. He then fell into the nearby box that housed the other bandits. Stone turned around now noticing the awake Gajeel "hey man how was your nap? That's some potent shit now ain't it?" he said with a large smile across his face. Gajeel laughed "yea I guess you could say that so what the hell happened here anyway?" the road and surrounding forest were torn apart as if a major battle had occurred. Stone laughed at this remark "well you see after you passed out we kicked the shit out of the remaining bandits and we captured a few over in this box I made. But the majority of the damages you see here are from interrogating them. Me and Lily took turns and well it slowly escalated as we attempted to one up each other" "as it turns out Gajeel, Stone is a very capable and powerful mage and he actually helped out quite a bit" Lily said to Gajeel almost as if he was referring to their previous conversation. "don't tell salamander that all he'll want to do is fight you then" Gajeel stated with a smirk across his face. There was a long pause then Gajeel eventually said "well I guess I owe you one for saving us back there". Gajeel then said "hey you do know you were supposed to be the bait right? Not us" Stone just laughed at this comment and then prepared camp for the night.
In the morning they got up and went back to interrogating their captives but this time after sitting for a day with no food or water and now with Gajeel helping the interrogation they were much more willing to cooperate. They identified a man that was trapped in the box as their leader and turned over all the loot they had on them. Gajeel then tied the leader's hands behind his back while the others were released. "you sure we should just let the rest of them go like this Gajeel?" "the old man only asked for the leader to be turned into the police so I don't see any reason to keep the others" Gajeel replied bitterly. Upon returning to town they turned in the man to the proper authorities collected their reward and started the long journey home. As they walked down the road silently Stone said "you know if you didn't think about her so much it might be a little bit easier on you" Gajeel turned around "what did you say twig? I thought you said you can't read my immediate thoughts so what are you blabbering on about anyway?" "well if she's not in the back of your mind there's only one other place she can be Gajeel" there was a long silence and Stone then smirked "if she's not in the back of your mind she must be at the front" Gajeel grunted in annoyance and continued walking not saying anything.
After they reached the guild they sat together and discussed the prospects of forming a new team. "I can't believe I'm saying this but I guess it'd be alright if you joined us" Gajeel said through gritted teeth. As he said this a certain short blunenette came walking through the front door. When Gajeel saw her his eyes lit up but he quickly hid his emotions by returning his gaze to his drink. "oh so that must be Levy" Stone stated aloud "I can tell by the way your eyes lit up like a kid in a candy store" after this remark Lily began laughing at the now enraged Gajeel. "LISTEN HERE PUNK WHAT DID I TELL YOU THE OTHER DAY HUH? NOW YOU'RE GOING TO GET IT" as Gajeel got ready to leap across the table and tackle Stone a small voice came from the end of the table. "oh hi Gajeel been awhile since I have seen you at the guild you're always out on missions whenever I come by. And who is this new face I see with you?" Gajeel stopped what he was doing as he turned to where the voice had come from. Upon realizing it was in fact Levy who had approached the group Gajeel sat back down attempting to look as indifferent and emotionless as possible. "this is the new guy Stone. I'm showing him the ropes for now" after this Levy introduced herself and then hurried off to meet with her team before heading out to a mission. After she left a large smirk appeared on Stone's face. Gajeel paused for a second wondering where he had seen that devious smile before. "hey now hold on a second you we don't need another matchmaker like Mirajane over there so don't go getting any ideas ok" Gajeel said nervously. Stone just laughed and replied "I'll see you tomorrow Gajeel" and stood up and left the guild.
