I'm back.
I'll go straight to the point: Enjoy!
The Bird and The Lizard
It was a strange sight as four adults sprinted on the street of Ryuuzetsu Land as if they're doing an Olympic race, and it was utterly shocking that Lucy beat Natsu, the real Salamander, to reach their scarlet-haired friend who's sulking on the edge of the street in absolute despair. Beside her was a crying Sherry in Ren's arms and a panicked security guard. The other visitors stared at them in confusion.
"Somebody please kill me!" Erza wailed in extreme guilt.
"Calm down, miss!" the guard pleaded, "Rather than blaming yourself, please follow me to our office so you can tell us the chronology of the kidnapping."
"Kill me then I'll tell you."
"…"
"Erza!" Lucy tackled her to the ground, startling the already speechless guard. She brought her face close to hers so Erza could see her demanding eyes, "Tell. Me. What. Happened!" Lucy shook her shoulders in every word she said. No one could ever guess that Lucy had the guts to do that to Erza of all people. Natsu had to pry her off Erza to give some space, "Lucy! Lucy! Calm down!"
"I AM CALM!"she went hysterical. The only one with a working brain was Levy as she ordered Gray to call his dad, who's working at the police. Then she decided to ask Ren, the one with enough sanity remained. "Ren, tell me what happened!"
"There's a parade here a while ago," Ren began, though he's shaking, "The street was crowded with many people. Sherry and I spotted Erza and the girls on the crowd. When the girls ran towards us, two bastards suddenly grabbed them out of nowhere! Shit, that happened so fast," he cursed, "They're bringing them separately. Erza chased the bastard who got Wendy while we chased the one with Chelia. It's fucking hard to find them because we're totally crowded. Erza got arrested by the guard because her way of chasing was brutal. When the parade ended… they're gone," he gritted his teeth angrily.
"A joint kidnapping," Levy gulped at the thought, the tension rose to the fullest. Lucy's face was in total anguish. "My pops' on his way!" Gray reported after he closed his phone, "What do we do now?!"
"Kill me!" Erza suggested.
"Like I said, follow me already!" that came out from the guard who shouted to get their attention, even he lost it. "I'll tell what happened to the manager and he'll send a signal for Sky Maiden to help out!"
Everyone blinked. Sherry stopped bawling her eyes out, but her mascara already ran down her cheeks.
Oh right, there're in a city where superheroes existed! Just send them a signal to help! Gray immediately recalled that Ryuuzetsu Land was in Magnolia, Sky Maiden's domain. This was her time to shine.
Lucy slumped to her knees, her eyes watered, "…Will she save them?" she whispered and trembled a little. It's not like she didn't trust Sky Maiden, she's the hero who guarded her home. But one of the kidnapped girls was her 'baby' and it really crushed her.
Levy knelt down beside her and rubbed her back, "Let's put our faith in her, that's the only thing we can do. Now, let's go to the office," Levy offered her best friend a hand. The guard decided to drag Erza with him because she clung to him. Ren took care of Sherry.
Gray's anxiety still killed him. That couldn't be helped, the kidnapped girls just became friends with him and he liked them already. He pitied Lucy and Sherry, they must've had it worse than him. "Oi, Natsu," he whispered to the disguised superhero, "How are we supposed to signal the Maiden-"
He turned around to find no Natsu.
Realization hit him hard, "That goddamn moron-!"
After gaining the info he needed, Natsu wasted no time to rush to a nearby alley then put off his shirt and pants, revealing the Salamander suit hidden in his civilian clothes. His scarf was still intact and he pulled out his mask to wear it. Then he turned his hair crimson as the last touch. Finally, Natsu went Salamander.
The Lizard Man smacked his head to the ground, rubbing his enhanced nose on it to sniff Wendy and Chelia's scents desperately. He felt half-relief and half-distress because he only found Chelia's. Thinking that's better than finding none, Salamander jumped over the theme park at extreme speed that everyone only spotted a flash of red over the sky, thinking it was an attraction, to find the pink-haired girl.
What he's doing was extremely reckless and insane. He knew he's not in his domain but Sky Maiden's. His action would break the heroes' domain agreement! The wind-user would blast him off to Jupiter or even worse; forbid him to 'check on' Lucy forever. But who cares about domain?! The girls in trouble were his friends and he blamed himself for this mess because one: if he didn't force Lucy to ride the wheel but stayed with her to watch the girls this wouldn't happen; two: if he listened to Lucy about waiting for Sherry this wouldn't happen; and last: if only he didn't raise the damn flag.
His superhuman speed finally brought him to a 'Do Not Enter' area of the theme park. There's a wall made of wires between that area and the farthest reach of Ryuuzetsu Land. Salamander recalled there's a cancelled attraction in the theme park that got abandoned since the park had too many projects. Maybe this was the place. He noticed a small hole on the wall, enough for a person to crawl in.
Salamander bent the wires effortlessly and got inside. He found a small building there. His ears caught the noises of talking men, and he sensed malice on their voices. He smelled an unfamiliar scent that got mixed with Chelia's, that must be the kidnapper who took her away. He also smelled another that got mixed with Wendy's; even though she's nowhere to be found.
Anger boiled inside him as he though any kind of harm those kidnappers might inflict upon Chelia and what they had done to erase Wendy's scent. Unable to hold his wrath any longer, Salamander slammed the door open with his fiery fists then roared, "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF-"
BOOOOOOMMMMM!
That was certainly unexpected.
Salamander never guessed that he'd be greeted by a tornado once the door opened. The door flew back to him and they slammed onto each other, the huge whirl of wind sent him flying to the wall of wires. Dusts clouded his eyes and throat moments later. After he landed roughly on the ground, Salamander coughed then removed the door from his sight and saw something utterly unbelievable.
Ten unconscious men scattered on the ground in front of him, the building was ruined to dust. Then there was Chelia, standing at the centre of the ruined building unharmed as she cheered, "You rock, Wendy!"
"Seriously," the dust slowly cleared off and there was none other than Sky Maiden, "Kidnapping little girls in my domain is utterly stupid," she landed smoothly beside Chelia, "But kidnapping me is advanced stupid," she ended her statement as she flipped her pink hair that turned blue, removed her mask and revealed none other than Wendy Marvell.
"Thanks for keeping my clothes, Chelia," Wendy said. Chelia smiled, Wendy's clothes were in her grasp, "No problem!"
Then everything clicked in, why Salamander did not find Wendy's scent… because she went Sky Maiden all this time.
A moment of silence for Salamander's brain to function. 3, 2, 1-
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Salamander flipped the door because there was no table.
"Whazzat?!" Wendy and Chelia chorused, the first one hurriedly went Sky Maiden but forgot to wear her mask then gaped her mouth at its widest at the sight in front of them.
There was Salamander who removed his mask and turned his hair back to salmon, revealing a very sweaty Natsu Dragneel, "I-I-I-I-I-I'll reveal myself as well s-s-s-so we're even-!"
"-SALAMANDEEEEERRRRRRRRR!"
The police surrounded the destroyed forbidden area, followed by a crowd of curious people, the manager of the park, and the girls' relatives and friends. Gray's father Officer Silver ordered his men to capture the kidnappers who were half-conscious.
"They're Eisenwald, a wanted gang who kidnapped girls for cash," Silver informed Gray and his friends, "So they've been hiding in this abandoned park all this time! It's all thanks to Sky Maiden's bird that guided us to this place," he lifted up his head to see a small bird flying around the crime scene in circles. If Salamander had the ability to talk to lizards, then Sky Maiden had the same ability but to birds.
"Sherry!" a girlish voice caught everyone's attention as Chelia emerged from the police who stood in front of the police line, waving her hand to her cousin. The woman threw herself to the little girl, crying out loud about how glad she was to find her, "Oh, Chelia! I thought I'd never see you again!" she cried.
Touched by her cousin's concern, Chelia dropped a small tear on her eye, "I'm fine now, Sherry. Thanks…"
Lucy had to stop looking around for a little blue-haired girl to watch the heart-warming scene. Like everyone, she could not help but smile warmly. Then unconsciously she's also moved to tears because how she wished to find Wendy as well-
"Yo, Luce!" a familiar voice startled her, "You okay there?" then she turned around to find Natsu beside her. "Natsu? Where have you been?" Lucy asked then covered her nose hurriedly, "Why do you smell like garbage?" she asked, no offense.
"Oh, this? I guess I ran into a trash bin a while ago," Natsu replied. In truth, he accidentally threw his clothes to a trash bin when he went Salamander and was forced to wear them again to hide his suit. "But who cares? Look, I find somethin' good!"
"Please don't be another lizard."
"Nah," Natsu stepped aside and smiled, "It's a little blue bird!" Lucy widened her eyes to find-
"Oh, quit it Natsu-san," the 'little blue bird' Natsu referred to.
There's Wendy, standing behind him all this time.
"Wendy!" Lucy cried, kneeling in front of the girl then hugged her as tight as she could. Wendy wrapped her tiny arms around Lucy, enjoying her warm embrace. Natsu wished he could do the same someday.
"You're okay…" the blonde ran her fingers to her blue hair and rubbed her cheek to Wendy's, sobbing on her shoulder as well, "Oh thank God you're okay…"
Everyone turned their attention to them and cheered, all kidnapped girls had been rescued. Natsu grinned widely beside Lucy and Wendy as his other friends approached them with smiles on their faces. Gray decided to ask Natsu where had he been later.
"I'm okay," Wendy assured her one more time, "Let's go home, Lucy," she requested as Lucy removed herself from her shoulder so they could look to each other's eyes but still held Wendy in her arms. The beauty nodded her head as a response.
"By the way, where's Sky Maiden?" Levy wondered, "Why did she leave already? We haven't thanked her enough."
"She must've fought so hard to rescue the girls," Erza added in admiration, "I mean look at this place, it's all in shambles as if two superhumans had fought here."
"Yeah, right..." a certain blue-haired girl and pink-haired man replied nervously.
Chelia rolled her eyes, recalling the moment when she had to save herself from a super chase between an enraged Sky Maiden and a scared Salamander that destroyed the area. Fortunately, they stopped after they formed a deal to keep each other's identity a secret, especially from a certain blonde beauty.
Natsu gazed at Wendy, whose hand was being held by her babysitter to guide her home. As if realizing his gaze, Wendy gazed back and nodded without words.
There's something… or someone they really need to discuss later...
Next: The Dinner Discussion
