That night, the Hirugashi family van pulled up to a nearby gas station to get some fuel before going to Zodiac Planet. "Can I help pump the gas?" Ken asked his mother, as he unbuckled his seat belt.

"Sure! I'll even let you drive," Mrs. Hirugashi nodded. The two exited the van, leaving Natsu behind in the back seat, with Maka sleeping up front in her car seat.

"Really?" Ken beamed with hope.

"Yeah. When you're sixteen," Mrs. Hirugashi smiled slyly.

"Very funny, Mom," Ken chuckled sarcastically at the joke.

With Ken and his mother out of the way, Natsu sprung to life and looked up at the top of the car, sighing heavily as he thought back to the incident. Except for Happy, Wendy, Erza, Mirajane, and Lisanna, the toys all hated him now. He was loathed, despised, blamed for shoving Gray away from the room. Did they really think that he could something so underhanded out of jealousy? Somehow, someway, Natsu had to do something to get out of the mess he brought upon himself. He grimaced, "Oh, great. How am I gonna convince those guys it was an accident?"

And just when things seemed to be hopeless, a figure appeared from the edge of the sun roof, illuminated by the gas station's lights. It was someone Natsu never thought he'd see again.

"Gray!" Natsu gasped. The space toy jumped into the car, landing on the back seat in front of the salmon-haired toy with a bug splattered against his helmet. Natsu laughed, genuinely overjoyed to see Gray again. Now he had a chance to redeem himself!

"Gray! Ha! You're alive!" The feeling obviously wasn't mutual, as Gray glared at him. If looks could kill, Natsu would've keeled over. He didn't notice, however, as the salmon-haired toy went on, "This is great! Oh, I'm saved. I'm saved! I thought you were a goner. I thought I was a goner! But I'm saved! I'm really saved! Ken will find you here!" He removed the bug from the helmet and cleaned it up, "He'll take us back to the room, and then you can tell everyone that this was all just a big mistake. Huh? Right?" Natsu's smile disappeared when he noticed Gray's furious look. "Buddy?"

Gray was calm at first. He replied, "First of all, only a guy with white hair using Active Ice-Make Magic can call me buddy. And second, I just want to let you know that even though you tried to get rid of me, revenge isn't something we're too keen on in my planet."

"Oh. Well, that's good," Natsu confirmed.

"But we're not on my planet…" Gray leaned forward and grabbed Natsu by the collar of his waistcoat, pulling him so that he could look him right in the eyes. "…are we?" His tone was dangerously quiet, and Natsu immediately knew that he was in trouble.

"No?" he whimpered.

With a fierce yell, Gray tackled Natsu, sending both of them off the seat and out the open side door of the van. The two hit the ground and rolled under the van, struggling until Gray kicked Natsu off him. The salmon-haired toy was sent flying into a tire, and it only took him a few seconds to pull himself up. It's on!

"Okay, c'mon! You wanna piece of me?!" Natsu growled. He charged at Gray, only for the space toy to punch him, causing his head to spin around. Letting out a furious scream, Natsu tackled Gray to the ground, opening his space helmet. He continuously punched Gray's face, cushioning every blow with squeaks. The space toy retaliated by closing his space helmet, which caught Natsu's hand in it, causing him to yell in pain.

Natsu uncontrollably pounded Gray's chest with his free hand, activating repeated samples of the space toy's voice simulator. "Gray-Gray-Gray Fullbuster to the Rescue!" Gray managed to escape from under Natsu and gave him a full nelson. It would seem that the fight could go on forever, when…

"Next stop…" Mrs. Hirugashi announced.

"Zodiac Planet! Yeah!" Ken cheered.

And just like that, the van's doors slammed. And the vehicle drove off.

"Ken!" Natsu cried. He got off Gray and ran after the van, only to witness it pull out of the gas station and drive out of sight.

"Doesn't he… Doesn't he realize that I'm not there…?" Natsu asked himself. It was at that moment when the shocking realization struck his heart, his face contorted with despair. He realized a horror even worse than being less favored over another toy. Something that was meant to happen. "I'M LOST!" Crushed by the devastating tragedy, he trembled and fell to his knees, driven by depression. "I'm a lost toy!"

The pull-string Dragon Slayer doll sobbed, all alone with Gray as his only company. He was lost, stranded, left abandoned in the middle of nowhere by his owner, who was blissfully unaware of what happened to him. Ken failed to notice that Natsu was gone until it was too late. The sobbing soon turned into similarly anguished yelling, then howling, then frustrated screaming. He pounded his fists repeatedly onto the ground, futilely trying to break the solid beneath his feet, before he continued sobbing.

Things had been different before Gray's arrival, before the anger, before the sadness, before the jealousy, and before the accident. Now, things were even worse than before.

Natsu had become a lost toy.

Unaware of the salmon-haired toy's dilemma, Gray checked his surroundings and flipped open his wrist communicator. He spoke into it, "Gray Fullbuster Mission Log. The local Pyro and I seem to be at a huge refueling station of some sort…"

Hearing Gray's voice, Natsu stood up and turned to him. The despair quickly began to ferment into seething anger. His temper quickly picked up the anger and caressed it, fed it, and let it grow into an inferno. It was his fault. He was to blame! His life was ruined because of him!

"YOU!" Natsu roared, charging towards Gray. He no longer cared about returning the space toy to the room to prove his innocence. The only thing he wanted right now was to tear him apart.

Just then, a loud honking sound broke the silence. The two toys looked up in time to see a behemoth tanker truck pulling into the station. Gray dove off to the side, while Natsu collapsed right where he stood on the pavement. The truck roared over, about to crush the pull-string Dragon Slayer under its tires, only for it to come to a complete stop. One of the tires stopped just millimeters from Natsu's nose, much to his relief.

Natsu scooted away from the tire, moving back under the truck until he bumped into Gray, who continued speaking into his wrist communicator. "According to my navi-computer, the…"

"Shut up!" Natsu hissed at him. "Just shut up, you idiot!"

Closing his communicator, Gray groaned, "Natsu, this isn't the time to panic."

"This is the perfect time to panic!" Natsu bellowed, completely ignoring the first part of Gray's statement. "I'm lost, Ken's gone, they're gonna move from their house in two days, and it's all your fault!"

Gray exclaimed angrily, "My fault?! If you hadn't pushed me out of the window in the first place…"

Natsu countered, "Oh, yeah?! Well, if you hadn't shown up in your stupid little cardboard spaceship and taken away everything that was important to me…!"

"Don't talk to me about importance," Gray snapped. "The only thing you should be worried about is the security of this entire universe in jeopardy!"

"WHAT?!" Natsu blurted out in disbelief. "What are you talking about?!"

Gray walked over to the edge of the truck tower, staring at the night sky. He explained, "Right now, poised at the edge of the galaxy, the Tartaros Empire has been secretly building a weapon with the destructive capacity to wipe out an entire planet. My friends and I have information that reveals the weapon's only weakness." Turning to Natsu, he pointed a finger at him, "And YOU, my pink-haired friend, are responsible for delaying my rendezvous with Lamia Scale!"

Natsu couldn't believe his ears. That dumb toy really believed that he was the real Gray Fullbuster! His right eye twitched once. Twice.

"YOU! ARE! A! TOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYY!" Natsu exploded at the top of his lungs in front of Gray's face. "YOU'RE NOT THE REAL GRAY FULLBUSTER! YOU'RE A… YOU'RE AN ACTION FIGURE! YOU ARE A CHILD'S PLAYTHING!"

"You're a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity," Gray said sarcastically. "See ya!" Giving Natsu a mock salute, he walked off.

"Oh, yeah? Well, good riddance, ya loony!" Natsu snorted, as he walked away in the opposite direction. He no longer cared if Gray came back with him or not. All that was important was getting back to Ken. He said mockingly to himself, "'Rendezvous with Lamia Scale.'"

At that moment, however, Natsu heard a screeching noise, followed by an unfamiliar voice. "Hey, gas dude!"

"You talkin' to me?" another voice chorused, which belonged to a gas attendant.

"Yeah, man, can you help me? Do you know where Yasogami Blvd. is?" the voice asked.

"Just a moment," the attendant replied.

Natsu looked to where the voices originated, and his face lightened upon seeing a truck. But not just any truck…

"Zodiac Planet…?" The vehicle turned out to be a Zodiac Planet delivery truck. If he could trace it back to the restaurant… Yes… He might still have a chance! "Ken!" Natsu cried excitedly as he took a step forward. He then stopped, realizing he forgot one important detail. "No… I can't show my face in that room without Gray. As much as I hate to admit it…" He added with a deep sigh, "…I need him."

Natsu rushed back under the tanker truck and called out, "Gray! Gray, come back!"

"Go away," Gray called back, still walking away.

Natsu shouted desperately, "No, Gray! You gotta come back! I…" He looked back at the Zodiac Planet truck, about to pull away at any moment, and with it, Natsu's one chance of reuniting with Ken. He then spotted a rocket decoration on top of the truck, and immediately, he got an idea. Natsu called back, "I found a spaceship!"

It worked. Gray stopped in his tracks and turned to look back at Natsu. The salmon-haired toy called again, "It's a spaceship, Gray!"

Gray grinned with interest. That's what Natsu was going for. Sucker!


A few seconds later, the two toys found themselves watching the delivery truck from an oilcan dispenser. The pizza deliverer called, "C'mon, man, hurry up. The pizzas are getting cold here."

"What a strange-looking ship," Gray commented. "You sure about this?"

"I'm positive, Snowman," Natsu nodded. "That's the ship we're looking for."

Gray asked, "Are you sure that space freighter's gonna return to its port of origin once it jettisons its food supply?"

Natsu smiled, "Uh-huh! And when we get there, we'll be able to find a way to transport you home."

Gray smirked, "This just keeps getting better and better. A mission's no fun if it's easy. C'mon, let's climb aboard!" He made a beeline for the passenger side door of the truck.

"No, wait! Gray! Stop!" Natsu yelped. The space toy couldn't hear him or wasn't listening, and the salmon-haired toy was forced to chase after him. "Let's get in the back. No one will see us there."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Gray replied. "There are no restraining harnesses in the cargo area. It's much safer in the cockpit." In a flash, he scaled the front tire, grabbed the rear view mirror, and swung himself up and into the cab.

Natsu whispered, "Gray, get outta there! Gray!"

"Okay, so that's two lefts, and then a right, huh?" the pizza deliverer asked the gas attendant.

"Yeah," the attendant replied.

"Okay, thanks for the directions," the pizza deliverer confirmed.

"Gray!" Natsu whispered loudly. Needless to say, the engine of the truck revved up. The pull-string Dragon Slayer doll ran to the back of the truck, scrambled up the bumper, and threw open the hatch to climb inside. However, the hatch slammed Natsu's rear, causing him to fall into the bed of the truck.

After recovering, Natsu peeked through the dividing window. He saw Gray hiding from the pizza driver's view by a stack of pizzas in their insulated covers. The space toy prudently fastened his safety belt, buckling himself in.

"'It's safer in the cockpit than in the cargo bay.' What an idiot!" Natsu said in annoyance.

The driver shifted into gear and hit the gas, propelling Natsu to the back of the truck. The pizza deliverer drove like a maniac, taking sharp turns at high speeds. Natsu was helplessly thrown around the truck, smacking into a lot of objects along the way. As the truck drove up a steep hill, the toolbox went sliding down, and Natsu barely had time to scream before being crushed by it.

The pull-string Dragon Slayer doll went through a painful, wild ride. Perhaps Gray had the right idea after all. Nevertheless, he just hoped that he'd still be in one piece by the time he got back to Ken.