Alright, now for reviews!
ShiningStellar: Thanks. It's actually really hard to get Natsu's character right. While he is dense and lacks common sense in most affairs, he shows aptitude in taking care of his nakama.
Beta5200: Yeah, I plan to implement Jellal into the story in the next arc. He will still be locked up in the Council's cells, but a certain Guild hopes to free him soon enough. ^^
Next chappy!
Once Again
Lucy glanced around frantically, searching for a particular blue cat. She and Natsu were on their way to the Magnolia train station, but Lucy hadn't seen Happy since he had taken her book. Understandably, she had been fretting for a while now. "What if he scratched the papers? What if he got drool on them? Even worse, what if he read them?" Lucy muttered to herself while pulling her hair dramatically. Natsu rolled his eyes at her never-ending fretting.
Natsu locked his hands together and rested them on the back of his head as he walked, taking rather large steps. "I only wish he would have let me read it," Natsu mumbled.
Lucy slapped the back of his head. "And don't think I forgot your role in taking my book! If you weren't in the way, I could have murdered that cat!" She snapped.
Natsu, looking for an excuse to change the topic, kept at a faster pace when he saw Erza and Gray at the train station. "We're here!" Natsu whooped, raising his hands high above his head like a child.
Gray cringed at Natsu's childish tone, while Erza raised her eyebrows at Lucy and Natsu coming together, but she refrained from commenting on it. Lucy noticed Happy hovering in the air above Erza's head, and she immediately began to dive at the little pest, but stopped when she realized that that would mean diving on Erza.
"Happy! Where's my book!" Lucy snapped.
Happy licked his paws. "I left it at your house!" he stated as if it were obvious. "When you two went to sleep, I snuck in through the window and left your book under your bed, just like Natsu told me to," the cat said happily.
Natsu, meanwhile, had been standing behind the Celestial Spirit Mage, waving his hands frantically in inclination for Happy to stop, but the cat had continued talking as if oblivious to the world.
Lucy's head slowly turned to face Natsu, and her face contorted into a feral snarl. "Nat~su!" she enunciated each syllable with the tone of death.
Natsu paled before picking up his things and running onto the train. "Let's go!" He shouted quickly.
"I've never seen Natsu so eager to get on a train," Erza noted confusedly.
"Aye! Lucy is mean!" Happy chimed in.
"Shut up cat!" Lucy snarled back.
As they went into the train, Gray rolled his eyes at his team's antics. When had they become so annoying?
(On train ride)
Lucy had sat next to Gray, which Erza had decided was the safest option to prevent the Lucy from murdering Natsu in a slow, painful death. Erza had knocked Natsu out midway through the trip and allowed the pink-headed dragon slayer to rest his head on her lap. Lucy secretly wished that Natsu was awake so that he may enjoy the ride on the train. The train ride itself was very long, taking almost twelve hours to reach the town of Gladgeon. By the time they got off the train, it was starting to get dark out.
They arrived into the town of Gladgeon, which was a very large port town. Houses were scattered haphazardly throughout the districts, and the entire place looked as unsafe as an angered Erza, maybe even more so. Team Natsu exited the train and walked down the center of the city, looking for a weapons' shop called Favorite Steel. Apparently, the bandits that rob it come in at around midnight on nearly every night.
They found the shop rather easily; it was the only one without a door. Erza wondered if they knew that Natsu was coming and had specially removed the door from the hinges properly before Natsu could get the chance to dislodge it with a single kick.
Upon entering, each team of Team Natsu showed the tattoo of Fairy Tail. Finally, Erza spoke up. "We're here for the mission," she proclaimed, and her voice echoed throughout the shop. There were bookshelves and bookshelves of hung weapons. The weapons ranged from small ones like daggers to ones rarely used like flails. Like the houses in the town, they were all hung haphazardly, and Lucy pondered how one would go about getting a weapon down without getting cut in every direction. Before Natsu could mess with one, Erza grabbed his earlobe and dragged him to the register.
A rusted bell lay on the counter top, which Erza rang once every few seconds. When a minute has passed by, she crushed the bell under a fist and shouted, "Is there anyone in here?"
A slight cough was heard in response, followed by a short man's head suddenly bobbing over the top of the counter. "I've been here the entire time," he said, rather annoyed. His voice was a curiously high pitch, sounding familiar to a whisper. No wonder Erza hadn't heard him. The Titania peeked curiously over the counter top to see that the man was standing on a stool that was half his height so that he could see over the counter top.
"Erm, yes. We are here for the mission," Erza repeated, slightly embarrassed for indirectly insulting the man.
"Ah, yes, of course you are. But why are you here?" the shopkeeper questioned. He was a stout man with a curly white mustache grazing his upper lip, and the only hair on his head was sideburns that traversed the side of his head.
"To get information about the mission," Gray quickly retorted, sounding irritated.
Lucy grimaced. Why else would they be here? That old man was being rather foolish.
"All of the information is on the job sheet! Now, I'm paying a million Joules on this thing, so hurry up and deal with those bandits!" He shouted.
Normally, Team Natsu would get rather angry at his tone and incompetence. However, when the increased sum reached their ears, all hostility was forgotten. "A m-million J-Joules?" Lucy stammered, hoping against all odds that she had heard right.
The old man nodded with a small grunt. "The price was increased due to some information we just found out."
We? "What was the information, if you could please share it with us?" Erza asked cautiously. She glanced at their group, registering the looks of shock on all of their faces. Lucy, Gray, and Happy all seemed surprised. Erza turned back to the man and waited for the response to her question when her eyes suddenly widened. She glanced back at their group, and the silhouette of a certain Dragon Slayer was blinking in various multicolors. "Where is Natsu?" Erza snapped, looking around the shop.
Lucy gasped, and Gray face-palmed his forehead. "Your friend left as soon as I mentioned the current price," the old man said smoothly.
Erza glared at him coldly, knowing that before would have been a better time to share this information. "I have failed our group. I let go of Natsu when I knew full well that he would run off," Erza said sadly. She turned to Lucy. "Lucy, please hit me. As hard as you can as well."
Lucy sweatdropped. "Let's not be hasty now," she tried to calm Erza down, but Titania had already ran out of the shop. Gray followed closely behind. "Wait! Don't leave me behind!" Lucy whined before running off, Happy flying next to her head.
The old man behind the counter shook his head. "Youth can be so energetic, yet so...foolish," he murmured before exiting the shop through the back door. A lamp that sat on the counter top was the only light illuminating the room other than the gray skies that filtered a small bit of light through the cracked windows. Nevertheless, a tattoo flashed in response to the light being flashed upon it; a tattoo on the back of the old man's neck.
Erza spotted their hotheaded friend running through the town, yelling "Where the hell are you bastards? Come out and fight!" And he destroyed whatever was in his sight. Erza caught up to him and held him in a headlock.
"Didn't I tell you to wait for the old man to give us information?" She snapped. When she was met with no answer, she tightened her hold. "Well? Answer me!" She added, unaware to the fact that she was choking the life out of Natsu and that he, in fact, could not talk when under such circumstances.
"Erza! Natsu can't speak when you are choking him," Lucy accused, slightly irritated with both Natsu for leaving and Erza for over exaggerating.
"Ah, right." Erza said before loosening her hold, but Natsu was already out cold. She bent down and began slapping Natsu's cheeks lightly. "Natsu, wake up! Now is not the time to be sleeping!"
Lucy sighed, shaking her head. So hopeless she thought with a small smile. Erza lifted Natsu up, throwing him over her shoulder. "I guess there's no other choice. I will have to carry him," she said. "Lucy, what is the time?"
Lucy pulled pulled out a silver pocketwatch she had recently purchased. It flipped open, and she read the time. "It's almost midnight," she answered, closing her watch and slipping it back into her pocket.
Erza nodded. "Then they should be here soon." She surveyed the entrance to the village. However, ten minutes passed with no activity, then twenty. Half an hour went by, and Erza stomped her foot in frustration. "Where are they?" She looked around the town.
Lucy refrained from laughing. When it came down to it, Erza and Natsu weren't so different; both of whom eager for a fight. She frowned at the unintentional meaning that became clear when she thought this. Surely they didn't have a thing for each other?
Erza frowned. "Alright, the rest of you go to sleep. I will take first watch," she said. However, just as the said that, the doors to various homes around her began opening rather suspiciously. Erza immediately was on guard and she re-quipped a sword, holding it with her other hand while she held Natsu over her shoulder with the other. It would be one thing if only one or two doors opened to different houses, but nearly every door in the town was open.
People walked out of the houses, almost every one holding a weapon. The ones that didn't were undoubtedly wizards. Erza quickly made the call. "We were set up! Get ready to fight" She shouted and she dropped Natsu to the ground with a thud. Lucy immediately reached for her keys, and Gray lowered his fist onto his open palm. Natsu, upon hearing the word 'fight', immediately pulled himself up and enveloped his fists in flames.
However, just then, a massive white light illuminated the area, and each member of Team Natsu was teleported to a different part of the town, left to fight on their own.
Hrm, a trap, I say? I wonder if everyone is in on it, hm? Thanks for reading!
