A black-haired boy in ragged trousers scrambled across a rooftop, clutching a loaf of bread. He stopped just short of falling off the edge.

"Stop now!" an angry female voice yelled. The boy looked back and saw the captain of the guard running after him, her long red hair flying out behind her. "I'll cut off your hands for this, thief!"

"It's only one loaf of bread," the boy muttered. To be fair though, it wasn't the first thing he'd ever stolen. He jumped from the roof, sliding along a line of clothes hung out to dry. The clothesline ended at a window with closed shutters, and the boy dropped to the street. He dug himself out of the pile of clothing he'd picked up on the trip and looked around.

Up on the roof, the captain was still watching the thief as he fled. However, she was not about to try reaching the ground by the same route he took.

"You won't get away so easy!" yelled a guard beside her.

"Don't worry. It's not as easy as it looks," the young thief called up to them.

"Baka!" roared the captain, slapping the other guard's head. "Don't waste time talking to the vermin! Get down there and capture him!"

"Yes, Captain Erza," whimpered the guard. Two more guards showed up.

"You two go that way!" barked Erza, pointing. She grabbed the first guard by his collar and headed in another direction. "We'll catch him sooner if we split up."

The boy noticed a group of women nearby, chuckling at him. Quickly he used the pile of clothing to improvise an outfit like theirs, and scurried over. "Good morning, ladies," he said casually.

A sweet-voiced woman with white hair shook her head in amusement. "Are you in trouble already, Gray?"

"But, Miss Mirajane, I'm not in trouble if they can't catch me!"

"I have you now!" A hand grabbed hold of Gray, jerking him away from the women. His disguise slid off.

"Okay, now I'm in trouble," Gray said wryly as he found himself face to face with Erza.

"That's right," started Erza, only to be interrupted by a face full of clothes.

"Good job, Happy," said Gray, squirming out of the captain's grip and running for it. "Let's get outta here!"

"Aye, sir!" replied his blue cat pal, scampering after him.

They proceeded to lead the guards on a crazy chase through the city of Magnolia. Their escapades included stealing one of the guard's pants, and a shortcut through a harem where the girls all acted as though this was a normal occurrence.

"Hi, Gray!" called one of the girls, who had wavy brown hair. "Bring me that wine on your way through, would ya?"

Gray snagged the bottle as he passed, and handed it to her. "You drink too much, Cana," he scolded.

She just grinned. "You steal too much."

"Gotta eat to live, gotta steal to eat."

Back on the street again, they tried to hide behind a strong man, matching his poses as he flexed his muscles for the crowd. They couldn't keep it up for long.

"Hiding is not manly!" yelled the strong man as Gray took off after being spotted.

"Speaking of not manly, look out for Master Bob's door," the blue cat warned Gray.

"Right," said the thief, making a quick change of direction. "We don't want to him to catch us again. He's almost as bad as the guards..."

The chase continued through a flock of sheep and into the more bizarre part of the bazaar, where people played with fire and swords.

Happy scrambled up to the shoulder of the sword swallower. "Excuse me, I need to borrow this, sir..." The cat pulled the sword out of the man's mouth and hopped down, then brandished his new weapon at the pursuing guards.

They cringed and cowered before him. "He's got a sword!" one squeaked, for which he received a smack from Erza's fist.

"Idiots, what about your own swords?!" She drew hers and pointed it at the cat.

Feeling much braver now, the other guards drew their swords too.

"Okay, I guess that didn't work..." Happy dropped the sword and raced after Gray.

Gray started up a stairway. Some guards blocked his way. Back down the stairs. More guards. It looked like they were stuck, but Happy led Gray through a window in the wall beside the stairway.

The guards came through the window after them, but Gray snatched a rug from the floor, raced across the room to a window on the other side, and dove out. He drifted slowly to the ground, holding the ends of the rug so it caught the air.

The guards didn't look before they jumped out too, and they fell straight into a cart full of manure. "This stinks," groaned one of the guards.

"Aye!" Happy said cheerfully from his perch on Gray's shoulder.

Erza appeared in the window and started yelling at her subordinates for their stupidity.

"I think that's our cue to exit," said Gray, smirking.