"Bhluuurgh." Natsu clamped his mouth shut as he gagged spasmodically. "I. Hate. Trains." Indeed, he was currently occupying a seat on the express train, with Happy faithfully by his side. The blue cat patted his head as he was keeled over.

"There there, Natsu, we're almost there," Happy soothed as he petted Natsu's head. Natsu dry heaved and let his tongue loll out of his mouth.

"Good to hear," he grunted. He held in another heave and let his head rest against the seat. "Just wake me up when we get there." Natsu had a reason he was riding this particular train, despite his dislike of vehicles. After his mad rush out of the guild, and the later realization that he had no idea where Lucy had gone while he had been brain-dead for the past few hours, he had back-tracked to the guild and asked around. As it turned out, she had left the guild for a job with her new team (the very thought of it still made him shocked). So, after learning the town the job was in, he had run off and caught the very first and fastest train to there. In his rush, though, he hadn't stopped to consider his motion sickness.

"So, what're you gonna' say to Lucy once we see her?" Happy asked as he munched on a fish. Natsu turned away from the sight of the fish (one of the few times he couldn't stand to look at food), and answered his friend.

"Easy, I'm gonna, hurgh," he paused to allow a wave of nausea to pass him, "I'm gonna' ask her to re-joing our team. What else would I ask her?" Happy tilted his head to the side.

"You sure? You don't wanna' apologize to her like Erza said to?" Natsu would have shrugged, if he could.

"What's to apologize for? All I was saying to her was, blegh, that Lisanna was already a part of the team, and going with her would be just like, ugh, me going on a mission with her. I was just asking why rrb, she went with them instead of waiting for us to get back." Happy shrugged and munched his seafood.

"Whatever you say, Natsu," he said with a shrug. Natsu heaved again and pressed his face into the seat.

"Blagh, I'm gonna' die before we even get to the station."

Finally, though, it seemed the torture was over and the train pulled to a stop. Natsu stumbled off of the train and immediately flopped onto a bench.

"Thank goodness, it's over," he muttered. His ears twitched when he heard a familiar voice some ways ahead of him. "Is that..." He lifted up his head a bit, and saw a familiar head of blonde hair. There was Lucy, smiling and laughing as she was talking energetically with Freed. As she was following them onto a train opposite of the one he had just gotten off. Seeing this, he tried to get up, though the motion sickness kept him down. He held out a shaking arm, trying to force himself up as she boarded with her, how he hated the idea, new team. "Lu-ulgh- Lucy. Waiiit." Alas, he couldn't do it, and had to flop back down and listen as the train started up and sped off to its' destination, Magnolia, exactly where he had just come from. "Man I hate trains."

–

"Excellent work out there, Lucy," Freed complimented. The new member of their team blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "I mean it, the way you work with your celestial spirits is absolutely phenomenal. How about a little dinner with all of the team, you know, to celebrate your first official mission as a member of the Thunder God Tribe." Lucy smiled and politely shook her head.

"Thanks, but I can't. I already made plans with a friend for this evening, and I don't want to break them." Freed nodded understandingly.

"Very well then, perhaps another time."

–

Erza sighed as she leaned her head against her hand, her fist pressing into her cheek slightly. To think, her plans for today were ruined because her teammate had joined another team. She had planned to go shopping for new armor with Lucy today, but it seemed that, thanks to Natsu, that wasn't going to happen. So, weighted down by her disappointment, she had opted to just stay at the guild for the evening.

"Hey! Erza!" Erza shot up and turned around at the sound of the voice. It was Lucy walking towards her, smiles and all.

"Lucy," Erza said with a bit of shock.

"Hey, where were you?" she asked as she came up to where Erza was standing. "You said to meet outside the shop, but you weren't there, so I came here to look for you. What's up? Do you need to cancel?" Erza shook her head.

"No, I mean, I thought... I thought that you had made it clear you wanted nothing to do with us earlier." Lucy blinked, eyes wide, and waved her hands in front of her.

"Oh! No no no! It's nothing like that Erza. I was coming over to talk to you earlier, but Evergreen just got over-excited and pulled me away before I could, that's all." Erza felt a bit better, but voiced the thing that had been on her mind before the stellar mage had walked up.

"But, you quit the team..." Lucy smiled reassuringly to her red-headed friend.

"Just because I'm on a new team doesn't mean I don't want to see my old friends." She pointed at the door with her thumb. "So, we going to get you some new armor or what?" Erza stood there for a moment, but then returned the smile.

"Sure, let's go." With that, the two friends headed out the doors and hit the streets to do some shopping.

–

Levy was sitting at the bar, sipping juice and reading, when she heard someone stumbling into the guild. She looked up and was surprised when she saw Natsu staggering around, tongue lolling out of his mouth and looking positively green at the gills. Happy was comfortingly patting him on the back.

"Natsu," she said with shock, "what's wrong?" He seemed to hold in a burp for a moment, then raised up a hand to pull himself up onto the counter.

"Is-blugh- is Lucy here? I need t' talk to her." Levy thought for a moment before she answered.

"Um... I think she went out shopping with Erza a little while ago, don't know where, though." Natsu let his head bang against the counter before dragging himself up and back out the door.

"Why me?" he muttered as he hobbled out, still recovering from motion sickness. Levy watched him go and sipped her drink.

"Hm. Weird stuff lately, huh?"