Note: Gaaaah this one took a while. Busy busy and all that. Hope ya'll enjoy. Also, my reviewers are awesome. Thanks to you, I now have more confidence in my writing again. I love ya'll.

"WAIT! ERZAAAAA!"

But she was already gone. Lucy sighed; it looked as if she had no choice. Somehow, Erza had a sort of habit of roping Lucy into many of her nonsensical schemes. At times, Lucy wondered whether or not Erza was completely sane... But, then again, if she was sane? Then she just wouldn't be Erza, would she? With much effort, Lucy managed to haul herself out of the sewer, only to be greeted with, once again, utter pandemonium - well, it was Natsu, Gray and Erza, after all.

"Erza!" Gray growled "What do you think you're doing? Let go of me!"

"No!" she snapped back. "As I have already pointed out to you, dating etiquette requires that you link me until we reach our destination! What part of that do you not understand?!"

"But Erza! You're gripping way too damn hard! I THINK MY ARMS BROKEN!"

Sure enough, Gray's arm was was twisted and bent at angles previously thought unreachable for the human skeleton. His face was contorted in pain, and that pain only increased by Erza's tight grip on him. His arm was broken, alright.

"Honestly Gray, are you some sort of weakling? I'm barely touching you!"

"Erza!" Lucy shot up out of the sewer and rushed over to them. "His arm really is broken! Look at it!"

"W-What?" she stepped backwards and observed her handiwork(?). She froze, then looked down at the floor in shame. "...Oh. It seems I don't know my own strength."

"YA THINK?!" Gray screamed, clutching his arm.

"Hahaha! You loser, letting Erza give you a broken arm like that, hahahah-!"

"KEEP LAUGHING AND YOU'LL HAVE ONE TOO!"

Natsu instantly fell silent.

"Now, go get Wendy from the cafe - IMMEDIATELY!"


"Ugh... I feel so terrible for interrupting Wendy and Romeo's date..." Lucy groaned as she trudged down the street.

"Wait, they were on a date?" asked Natsu, raising an eyebrow.

Lucy gave him a rather quizical look; how could he not notice? "They were holding hands, Natsu. What did you think they were doing?"

"I dunno, exchanging magic or something?"

She sighed despairingly, but she couldn't stop the small smile that was spreading upon her face. He was so innocent, it was like being with a child sometimes. But, at the same time, that was probably what she liked the most about him; Natsu was simple. If he didn't like something, he'd tell you. If you asked him something, he'd give you a straight answer. If you needed him, he'd be there to help you out, in a heartbeat. He was a great friend that way.

All of a sudden, he stopped, just as they'd reached the doors to the arcade. His muscles tensed. His nose twitched. His eyes narrowed.

"Natsu..." Lucy said his name quietly, worried and confused at his seemingly random change of behavior. She looked at him, her mouth turned down in a slight frown, the concern showing on her her face. "Natsu, what's wrong?"

"This place... It's..."

"...It's what?"

"IT'S SO FREAKING AWESOME!"

He began to sprint inside, dragging a sighing Lucy behind him, as if he was a toddler and she was his reluctant and overworked mother. His eyes were flickering with exitement, and his mouth was open in a mix of awe and happiness. Once again, he reminded Lucy of a child - only this time, on Christmas morning. He ran around wildly, jumping from one amusement to the next, spending his hard-earned money before Lucy could even open her mouth to say "...Don't you need that for, y'know, food and stuff?". Although, despite the distinct un-romanticness of the 'date', she had to admit, she was having a fun time.

That is, until they ran straight into Gray and Erza.

"Watch where you're going, Flame Brain!"

"You're the one who just walked straight into me, Ice Princess!"

"You wanna go?!"

"You bet!"

"CEASE YOUR FIGHTING THIS INSTANT!" Erza snapped, punching the pair of them in the jaw, sending them flying off in opposite directions. A resounding BOOM! could be heard from both sides of the room at the exact same second, followed by roars of pain and screams from onlookers. Eventually, Natsu and Gray made their way back to their 'dates', whilst grumbling and nursing their (in Gray's case, 'new') wounds.

"Alright, alright..." Natsu groaned.

"We won't fight anymore..." Gray finished off.

"Excellent." Erza commented with an evil smile. "Now, shall we head to the grab-machines? There is a certain ritual you boys must complete."

"WHAAA-?" the boys trembled in unison.

"Come with us." she smirked.


The grab-maching stood tall before them, a glass, transparent giant. The crane was looking unusually sharp and threatening, and the stuffed dragons seemed to be staring at both Natsu and Gray simultainiously. They gulped. From the sounds of it, they had only a few shots to get this right, and if they failed, then... *shudder* They didn't even want to think about the consequences, but judging from the look on Erza's face, they couldn't be good.

It was Natsu's turn first.

"Natsu!" Erza addressed him. "Your mission is to use each of your unique skills to the best of your ability in order to retrieve-"

She pointed at a pink and red stuffed dragon toy.

"-that item! If you succeed, then you will be rewarded with a feast!"

"So, I get food?! I'M ALL FIRED UP!"

His whole body became alight with fire as he tightened his grip on the control. He let out a low moan as he concentrated, and got louder and louder with every passing second, until a mighty dragon roar could be heard from all corners of the arcade. Onlookers wailed as hey clapped their hands over their ears in futility; there was no escaping the ear-shattering sound. When the crane missed the toy (or 'desired item' as Erza would put it) by approximately a millimeter, things only got worse.

"WHY YOU... WHY DON'T YOU WORK YOU STUPID CRANE?! I'M NOT GONNA LET MYSELF BE BEATEN BY A DUMBASS MACHINE! I'M ALL FIRED UP!"

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

He was pounding on the glass with his flaming fists whilst he cursed all amusements in Earthland. Erza was yelling at him, screaming at him (in accordance to dating etiquette, she was screaming "HELL HATH NO FURY LIKE A WOMAN SCORNED") and Lucy was begging him to stop, but as everyone knows, there was no stopping Natsu when he was all fired up like this. The tiniest crack appeared in the clear glass. Then another. And another. After a while, the glass looked like a beautiful yet delicate spiderweb made of crystal ice. However, like many things of beauty, it only lasted a few seconds. The glass shattered, and now instead of crystal ice, each piece resembled deadly snowflake that was raining down on dozens of innocent civilians.

Then, blackness. Blackness, with the occaisional flash of searing white. A heavy weight crashed down on each of our 4 heroes, causing them to cry out in pain. There was one scary moment where they wondered 'what's going on? Is this the end?', before the weight lifted and their vision cleared. They opened their eyes to find probably every single person in the arcade staring accusingly at them, and their hands tied behind their backs.

To make matters worse? Gray was completely and totally butt-naked.

"So, you're the kids who have been doing nothing but stir up trouble all night in here? I'm afraid the 4 of you are going to have to come with us."

Note: DUNDUNDUUUUUN. Backfired on them, the poor girls. Oh well. Next time, some new men will appear on the scene! :D