After one punch to the ground, the floor gave in, and Natsu and Gray plummeted down through the ground.
Shocked, Natsu and Gray looked around; only to find rubble, and debris.
"Look, Gray! Where the hell are we?!" Natsu was quick to point fingers at Gray.
"So all this is my fault now?" Gray retorted back angrily.
"We wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you and your anger management issues!"
"Oh, so I have anger management issues, who destroyed the floor in the first place, Flamebrain?"
"So if you're the smart one, why don't you get us out?"
"Fine! I will!"
The two Mages turned their focus back to the long, worn out, tunnel ahead of them, and a long, prosperous journey was born...
After a few minutes of walking down the crumbling pathway, Natsu began to whine.
"Are we there yet?"
"Where? We don't even know where we're going, baka!"
"Well, you're the one who suggested us to go this way!"
"Because there was no other way!"
"Just get us there!"
"Oh, suck it up and find your masculinity! Whoops, my mistake, you have none!"
"Stop your jabbering, and just get us somewhere!" Natsu grumbled back in agony.
They continued walking for half an hour, before they took a stop. They noticed that the walls of the endless tunnel were getting narrower and narrower by the second.
After a few hours, they reached a forked path. Unsure of their next move, they began to bicker...again.
"Let's go to the right!" shouted Natsu.
"No flamehead, we're going to the left!"
"Why do you get to choose where to go next?"
"Well because I'm the smart one."
"Ya, the only thing you're good at is stripping!"
"Well, at least I am good at something!"
Once the two Mages got tired of arguing about every little thing, they decided to go their separate ways.
As the two started to go their own ways, a few minutes later, the path became one once more.
"Really, I'm stuck with you again!" Gray shouted as he threw his hands in the air, frustratingly.
"Well, I'm not too overjoyed about it either! Do you actually think I want stick around with the guy who stole Lucy from me?!"
"Again, I'm telling you; she came to me!"
They decided to put up with each other for the sake of Lucy, and they were really trying hard. However, they were making progress. Minutes passed without a single insult. Unfortunately, that didn't last long. Up ahead of them were five paths. they could only go through one, which one would they go through.
"Oh great mother of-" Gray mumbled when he noticed the five paths ahead.
"I say left. The very left," Natsu pointed to the rugged path to the left.
"No no, the one to the far right!" Gray injected.
"No! Left!"
"Shut up! Right!"
And their bickering began. Again. While the argument worsening; with Gray atop Natsu, beating him senseless, the Flame Mage noticed something shiny in the middle path. Despite the lack of light in the cave he managed to walk toward it like a moth to a flame.
"WTF man!" Natsu squirmed on his side trying to recover from their small fight, and heave Gray off. "Hurry up and get the frick off! How much do you even weigh? Anyways, I think I see something!"
"You always manage to "see" something," Gray replied back, as he got off of Natsu.
"Hey, this is one of Lucy's earrings!" Natsu exclaimed, as he approached the shining object. "The person must have taken her from here."
"Good job!" Gray said sarcastically, with a tinge of annoyance in his voice, clearly disappointed that he didn't see that clue before Natsu did. "For once you actually proved to be useful..."
"Come on, slowpoke!" Natsu called.
"At least I'm not totally useless and a worthless piece of-," Gray retorted back before he was interrupted by Natsu's laughter.
"Just hurry up, man!"
Meanwhile with Lucy..
"Let go of me, you creepy stalker!" Lucy struggled against the ropes that were binding for limbs together, as she writhed around the back of the truck in pain. "I don't know what your motive is, but you better unhand me, you freak!"
"No," the driver smirked darkly.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Everything."
"Shut up, you're not helping this situation!"
"Nor was I attempting to."
"Where are we going?"
The driver refused to answer her question for the fifth time, "Somewhere."
Lucy sighed loudly, "Can you not be so vague with directions?"
"No."
Then, as discreet as possible, Lucy strained her fingers to her key pouch and fingered Loke's key. Since he was the leader of the Zodiac Gate keys, Lucy had absolute faith that he would win this battle.
"I know what you're doing back there, missy, but I'm sorry to say that magic doesn't work in this Jeep. This Jeep, and your ropes are magic-proof. My boss specifically scattered the spell for that, so don't try opening any Zodiac gates. If you do, it will backfire, and one-fourth of your magic will be drained. I suggest you not to do anything out of line behind my back," the driver informed her, treating her like a toddler.
She grumbled in dismay. The ride was so long that she started wondering when were people going to realize that she was missing. Were they coming for her? Or were they just fawning over the new arrival of "Lisanna"?
In the meantime...
Natsu and Gray ran through the long, twisting tunnel, but they soon came to a stop. In front of them was a brick wall. Their path lead them to a dead-end, and they couldn't do anything about it. Or could they?
"Let's break down this wall! I bet there's something at the other side that someone didn't want us to see," Natsu jumped excitedly.
"Are you crazy? In case you haven't noticed, we're under our guild building! What if the explosion triggers something above, and the entire thing could crash down on us! Needless to say, our guildmates will be at risk! They could even die!" Gray argued, "Remember this isn't one of your adventurous TV shows you watch endlessly on Sunday mornings. Unlike you people respect me and so, I want to live!"
As Natsu shrugged off gray's ultimate failure to insult him he said,"We might be under the building, but this tunnel sure is long, and I bet we're not even close to the guild anymore! I mean, think about it, Gray. This tunnel goes straight with a few occasional turns, but it's mainly straight. Our whole guild's dimensions aren't that long! Plus, the tunnel's getting narrower and narrower, so that means that we must be close to the end! And I bet that we're now right under the paved road outside of the guild's entrance," Natsu debated.
"Wow, you're actually thinking. That isn't like you Natsu; are you feeling fine today? It took sixteen years, but you finally thought of an understandable theory! I'm shocked; I thought your head was as hollow as your heart! Anyways, we should test if your theory's correct. If it isn't, you owe me, Lucy, and the whole guild an explanation. Plus, you'll have to reconstruct our guild. Still up for it?"
"Hell yeah! I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted. He took a deep breath, cupped his hands in front of his face, and breathed out... fire. That was his signature move, Fire Dragon's Roar, and it was quite effective. Too effective, actually. The wall crumbled down like he wanted, but so did the tunnel's walls.
"Baka! You overdid it!" Gray threw his hands up in frustration. "I am never trusting you next time! Well, actually there will be no next time, because now we're going to die here alone with no one knowing that we're down here!"
"What's wrong?" Natsu asked meekly.
"Everything! Just look at it! These walls may collapse anytime soon!" Gray touched them, and he jumped back in panic. "Look, it's practically ashes!"
"Then you freeze them!"
"You think that'll work? No, it won't. Because you're an idiot, an idiot! You overdo things and expect others to fix it for you!" Gray fumed.
"No, it will! Ice will mold anything, and it can meld anything together!"
"Exactly! The same way with Lucy's heart! You just admitted it yourself! Fire can only burn, while ice can meld. More proof why I'm a better choice for her!"
"Leave Lucy outta this, okay? Just fix this up so we can finish our journey to find her!"
"You created this mess."
"And you fix it! I certainly can't!"
"For Lucy's sake, I'll put up with you. But in return, after this, I have every right to beat you up!" Gray shouted at Natsu. He extended his hand and slapped his fist on top of it. In an instant, the tunnel was frozen, and Natsu was leaping with joy.
"I knew you could do it after all!" Natsu gave Gray a toothy smile wider than the Grand Canyon.
"Let's just go," Gray stumbled ahead.
"Works for me," Natsu shrugged and ran to catch up with Gray.
At the back of the Jeep...
Lucy still tried to struggle against the strong ropes that were binding her in place, but her remaining strength was failing her.
"Havin' a rough time back there without any magic, or strength? You havin' fun? I would kill you, but I can't. Not because of my boss' orders, though," the driver called back to her.
"Yeah. Like having magic-proof ropes tied around you in a magic-proof truck is considered "fun". Let's see you try it!" Lucy replied sarcastically.
"It's a Jeep, not a truck!" the driver retorted. "There's a huge difference!"
Now that she said it aloud, a light bulb clicked in her head. It was magic-proof, so she couldn't use any magic at all. Though that might seem like her downfall, it was more like the enemy's disadvantage. She always carried a normal whip around with her. It was a normal whip, and it used no magic at all. Of course, since she was a Mage, it was only logical for everyone to think she plainly relied on magic; but they were wrong. Lucy was also an expert whip specialist, and she was very skilled. With the speed of lightning, she grabbed her whip, and unleashed it. It cut through the ropes easily, and it caught the driver's attention. He stopped the Jeep, came out, and with a flash, Lucy was out cold. Carefully, the driver took away her whip, but he didn't notice her keys. As she laid there unconscious, he decided to gag her with a cloth, and tightened the ropes around her.
"That should do it, 'till my next stop!" he said cheerfully, before he got back on his truck and started the engine.
In the tunnel...
The two Mages continued to run towards the end of the passage, and before long, they saw a light at the end. With much anticipation, they raced towards it, not caring what would happen if they found out where the exit would lead them to. They just wanted to get out. When they arrived at the light, brightness showered upon them, instantly blinding them both. When the dazzling light cleared away, they were surrounded by... trees. It was daylight, and they were outside, but where were they? Natsu looked back, and he almost had a heart attack. He could see the guild, but it was only a speck in the distance.