This chapter was intially going to the first part of the prank war between Sage and Fairy Tail, but I ended up expanding my idea for them keeping the snakes so much that it ended up being chapter length. So this chapter they go to the zoo. and the boys end up in some trouble...
Oh, And there is another cameo...of sorts...with a certain...lion.
"Grapms let us keep them." Natsu pleaded running after Makarov.
"No, I'm not having such vile beast in this house." He said walking away.
"But there not vile. They are actually kind of cute." Natsu said.
"What?" Makarov turned around and found five snakes shoved in his face. "Get those things out of my face!" He snapped pushing Natsu, Gajeel and Gray back.
From the pool table Max, Warren, Reedus and Alzack all looked up from their game grinning.
"They are actually really tame gramps." Laxus said holding one of the snakes in his hands.
"Not you too Laxus." Makarov clapped a hand to his brow.
"We'll take really good care of them. We promise!" Natsu said.
"Alright, this is only the first week of the summer. Tell me my shitty children, when you leave at the end of the summer who will take care them."
"You will and Laxus." Gajeel said matter of factly.
"One, I'm not taking care of twelve snakes. Two, Laxus leaves for college in the fall. Three, I am not taking care of twelve snakes!"
"What about if we just keep a few?" Erza asked.
"No!"
"Please!" Came a chorus from the entire common room.
"NO!"
"Please Grapms." Romeo said, "You might find it nice to have a pet around the house."
"I also thought it would be nice to have a bunch of teenagers running around my house. I was wrong on that one."
"If you don't like us here then why do let us come here every summer."
"My great, great, great…a lot of greats grandmother opened this house before I was even in the notion of being born. Who am I to go against her wishes?" He paused for a moment. "Only one."
"What!?"
"You can have only one."
"Gramps you rock." Natsu hit the old man on his back causing him to go stumbling forward.
Grumbling to himself, he walked towards the door.
"I'll be gone for the day…or maybe more." He left mumbling about shitty children.
"Which one should we keep?"
"I want this one." Natsu said holding a python.
"That's the one that bit me." Gajeel said.
"I know. That's why I want it. It's obviously a good judge of character."
"Dragoneel what's that supposed to mean?"
"Wait, why does the pink head get to choose which one we keep?" Gray said.
"Well who gets to choose then." Lucy said.
"I caught the most snakes. I should choose." Laxus said.
"You caught one more than me. That doesn't give you power to choose." Natsu said.
"It gives me better claim than anyone."
"No way. You'll probably just take that yellow one cause it's your favourite colour."
Erza put two fingers in her mouth and let out a piercing whistle. Everyone stopped talking and looked at her.
"Everyone just chill. Need I remind you the last time we had a fight in the house we had to replace one of the walls." She said. "Now if we're going to take a snake then we should let the person who got us the snakes in the first." She turned to Lucy.
"Me? But I didn't…Sage he sent…"
"Yeah, he did send them. And even if it wasn't meant as a gift we can still turn it into one. That will probably just annoy him all the more." Erza said.
"I don't know."
"If we leave it to them they'll destroy the house."
"Well, I guess I like that one." Pointing to the one in Natsu's left hand. It was a Kingsnake, but almost pure white.
"This little guy? He's so tiny." Natsu said holding up the snake. It was definitely the smallest one of the bunch.
"I know, that's why I like him so much…or her…how do you tell the difference between a guy and girl snake?" Lucy asked taking the snake from Natsu. She smiled as it wrapped around her wrist. Natsu smiled too.
"I'm not sure, but I think I know a place we can find out." Lisanna said. "The local zoo."
"That sounds good, we can ask them if they will be willing to take the other snakes off our hands." Evergreen said.
"Alright, I guess we are going to the zoo." Gray said jumping to his feet.
"Oh boy!" Romeo jumped up and ran outside. "The zoo!"
"What are we going to take the snakes in?" Fried asked.
"How about some card board boxes? We can punch some holes in the top." Mira said opening up some cupboards looking for the boxes.
"I can't remember the last time I went to the zoo." Natsu said.
"Really?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah, I remember a little, not much thought. Dad was the last person to take me to a zoo." Natsu said. Lucy took his hand in hers. He gave her small smile. She smiled back and squeezed his hand gently. The entire ride to the zoo she held onto his hand and he didn't seem willing to let go. When they got to the zoo Laxus went to find someone to talk too about the snakes while everyone else walked around the zoo.
The second Natsu was inside the zoo he was running around like a mad man, pulling Lucy behind him.
"Natsu, slow down!" She called. "The zoo isn't that big, I'm sure we can see everything." She laughed as he his head swerved back and forth at a fork in the path.
"Hey, smartass. It makes a loop, it doesn't matter which way you go." Gajeel said walking pass. Lucy noticed he had his hand around Levy's shoulders. She caught the girl's eyes and gave a questioning look. Levy just shrugged, but she was smiling slightly and had a faint blush on her cheeks. Lucy gave her thumbs up. Gajeel didn't notice, but Natsu did.
"What was that about?" He asked.
"Oh, nothing." She said smiling. He looked between Gajeel and Levy and Lucy.
"I miss something?"
"You boys always miss something." She said walking in the direction that Levy and Gajeel had gone but Natsu suddenly grabbed her hand pulled her the other way.
"Let's go this way." He said.
"You know it doesn't make a difference."
"Yeah, but everyone is going that way. I'd rather see the zoo by myself."
"But why are you taking me with you then?"
"Let me rephrase, I'd rather see the zoo by ourselves. Just you and me."
Lucy didn't know why her heart suddenly started pounding in her chest. He took her hand in his and pulled her along (albeit, slower that he had at first). They walked along stopping by each animal so Natsu could get a good look (and in some cases so he could annoy the hell out of the animal). They stood by the lion enclosures for a good ten minutes as Natsu tried to get them to move. For their part they didn't seem to want anything to do with Natsu.
"You can holler all you want. They ain't going to move unless they want too." A zoo keeper said walking over to them.
"Can't they just move a little bit?" Natsu said.
"Sure, when they are good and ready. Not a moment before." He said.
"Come on Natsu. If you want, we can pass back before we leave." Lucy said. As she started to speak one of the male lions got up and staked over. It stopped right in front of them.
"Oh, looks like he likes you."
"Whoa, he's so big." Lucy said in wonder.
"He's name is Loki. Pretty weird guy, for a lion." The zoo keeper said. The lion kept steering at Lucy. Natsu pulled her back steering back at the lion.
"She's not food, or anything else." He said. The lion yawned at him. "What kind of name is Loki anyway?" Natsu mumbled walking off pulling Lucy behind him.
"Bye Loki." Lucy called.
"Don't tell a lion goodbye." Natsu said.
"Why not? You said goodbye to almost all the other animals."
"I don't like this lion. He was looking at you funny."
"It's a lion Natsu."
"So? Was still looking at you funny."
Lucy chuckled and fell into step with him. They stopped at the next enclosure which was coyotes. There was a small family in the corner. Two adults and three pups.
"Oh aren't they so cute." Lucy said gushing.
"Yeah...pretty cute." Natsu said but he wasn't looking at the coyotes but at the look on her face. The zoo keeper walked over and chuckled.
"That's our very own Belle and Beast."
"Belle and Beast? As in the fairy tale couple beauty and the beast?" Lucy asked.
The keeper nodded.
"Interesting story, those two. They were separated at first. First we found Beast, he was injured about ten miles from here, so brought him in for treatment. But the first couple of days here he acted to crazy he only made his injuries worst. He ran around the place smashing into things. That's how we gave him the name. For a while he couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. Then suddenly he stopped running around so much. Instead he started howling all the time.
"We were at a complete loss. Then someone called in a female coyote, not far from where we found him. When we got there we realized that she was pregnant. At the time we brought her back for treatment too, but we had them where they couldn't even see each other. But for some reason when ever Beast started to howl she would get all worked up. Then someone finally put one and one together, they were mates. I'm not really sure what it would look like when a coyote is happy but those two were defiantly happy to be back together. We were going to name her Shelly, but we changed to Belle to go with Beast."
"That story is so sweet," Lucy grinning.
"They could actually tell it was each other?" Natsu asked.
"Oh yeah. Coyotes are monogamous."
"Mono – what now?"
"Monogamous, it means that they mate for life. We figured they missed each other that why they acted so erratic. We've had them about three months now. Once Belle and Beast are fully healed we'll be releasing the whole family up in the mountains."
"That is such a romantic story." Lucy said with a sigh. Natsu smiled and took Lucy hand in his. Lucy looked down at their linked hands then up Natsu.
"Yeah, it is romantic." He grinned causing Lucy to blush and look away. But she didn't let his hand go.
They walked hand in hand until they reached the reptile and fish house, it was a long hallway, divided into different rooms. When they walked in they found most of Fairy Tail in there.
"Hey guys, come over here for a moment." Laxus said calling out. He was standing near the back of the room. They walked over and saw he was standing with a young attractive woman. She had short black hair and grey eyes and an extremely curvy body.
"Everyone this is Dr. Rose Diaz. She's the head herpetologist here and she said they would be happy to take the snakes from us." Laxus said. Suddenly Max was at the front of the group.
"Dr. Diaz allow me to introduce myself. I'm Max Alors. Can I s –" he was suddenly pushed out of the way by Warren.
"Hi, I'm Warren…"
"Dude, I was talking to her." Max pushed him back.
"It's not like you are the only one who can talk to her." While the two of them argued Nab stepped forward and introduced himself, but he had barely gotten out "N – "when Vijeeter had taken his place.
"Since when did the guys become like the ones in Blue Pegasus." Cana asked out loud. Most guys were in a small scuffle now and they ones that won't were all looking at Dr. Diaz.
"I can see what you meant now when you said your friends were….energetic." Dr. Diaz said.
"I didn't use the word energetic." Laxus said.
"Yes, but I don't think it's appropriate to use the word you used." She said smiling. "Would you all like to come to the bag room and see the behind the scenes stuff?" She asked the ground. The boys suddenly stopped fighting and all yelled yes.
"Oh, boy this should be fun." Mira said frowning. She wasn't the only girl frowning either. Dr. Diaz led the way through a door and they came out into a white wall room. A stark difference to the darken hallway from before. They all crowed around a metal table where their snakes were laying out.
"It's not every day we get a donation of eleven snakes. We'll have to keep them isolated for a while, make sure they don't have an disease and we'll have to work out some new enclosures for some of them, but this is a really beautiful set."
"They aren't the only beautiful thing in the room." Reedus said. Several of the boys nodded at that comment and several of the boys paid the price for nodding at that comment (let's just say there were a lot of crushed feet at that moment).
"Laxus mentioned you wanted to keep this one." Dr. Diaz said holding up the white kingsnake.
"Would that be okay?" Lucy asked.
"Of course, the kingsnake is actually a very docile species. Perfect to have as a pet. It's just really rare to come across an albino."
"It's an albion? How did we miss that?"
Now that she had it pointed out they all saw the vast difference in the coloring on this snake compared to the others.
"She is a beauty."
"It's a she?" Lucy asked, Dr. Diaz nodded. "How can you tell?"
"Oh it's very simply. Snakes have a slit in between the scales on the bottom of their bodies towards the tail. We call it the vent. What we do is take a probe and stic –"
Everyone in the room started to make noise and covered their ears.
"I think we get the picture." Lucy said. Dr. Diaz laughed and handed the snake to Laxus. "Well I'm sure she'll be happy with you all. I gave you list of things you'll need and of her diet so you should be all set."
"Thanks Doc." Laxus said. "We'll get out of your hair now."
"Come on, we don't have to leave yet. I want to find out more about snakes." Warren said. they was a lot of pushing and pulling and they ended up in the aquatic section of the reptile and fish house. The girls walked to the head of the group.
"Is it me…or are they angry." Natsu said.
"How should I know, they go through mood swings all the time." Gray said.
"I thought girls only mood swing when they are PMS-ing." Alzack asked.
"Are they?" Max said.
"Like I know how to tell that kind of stuff." Warren said.
"Ask 'em. Hey are you all PMS-ing!" Gajeel called out loudly drawing the attention of everyone in the room. He had to duck as half a dozen shoes and sandals flew at his head.
"Dude, not something you just yell out." Laxus said.
"Well I don't know about girl stuff."
"Knowing how to tell whether or not a girl is pissed is a guy thing. And you just got every girl in Fairy Tail mad, except maybe Wendy."
They all looked around and was the girls steering daggers at them.
"Oh, crap. They are mad." Gray said.
"Oh you think." Natsu said.
"We should probably run." Jet said
"We should defiantly run." Droy said. The guys all turned and ran from the reptile room ducking and weaving through the footwear that was being aimed at their heads.
Almost an hour and half later the girls were walking back to Fairy Tail. The guys were in the cars driving next to them, the ones who won't in the driver's seat were sitting on the doors themselves hanging out of the cars pleading with the girls.
"Tell us what we did wrong." Gajeel said leaning out of his jeep driving next to Levy. No one answered him.
"You can't walk all the way back. If you want we'll give you the cars and we'll walk back." Natsu said. He was in the back of Gray's truck hanging over the side next to Lucy.
"Are you going to give us the silent treatment forever?" Gray said. Again no answers. Since they driving so slow there was line of cars behind them honking loudly. Gajeel finally snapped and let go of the wheel and turned around. Alzack was shotgun and grabbed the wheel.
"HEY! STOP HONKING YOUR FREAKING HORNS!" He yelled at the cars behind them. "WE CAN HEAR YOU! BUT WE HAVE A BUNCH OF PMS-ING GIRLS HER–" he was hit in the back of the head by five different shoes.
"Oie! What the heck?" He turned back at started yelling at the girls. "What the hell is wrong with you? I was driving, I could have run off the road!"
"You won't driving. You let go of the wheel, if it wasn't for Alzack you would have run off the road! And you just don't yell stuff like that in public! Or at any other time!" Levy yelled at him.
"Stuff like what?" He asked confused. Every girl face palmed themselves.
"Erza you are so lucky to have Jellal." Mira told the red head.
"Seriously…what did we do?" Jet asked
" What ever it is we'll make up to you." Fried said.
"Like hell you will." Mira said.
"But what did we do?"
The girls all sighed again, but this time it was because they saw the fairy Tail turn off. They were all looking forward to locking themselves in their rooms and have a round of serious boy bashing. The boys drove ahead hoping to cut the girls off at the door, but all the vehicles stopped half way down the sand road.
"Guys, what's the deal. Move the cars." Lucy said. She now noticed that they all had gotten out and were looking at something. The girls looked up and gasped.
On the front of the building someone had painted a huge Fairy Tail symbol, except they had profaned it in a way that would be too horrible to record here. Above the image were the words
'How do you like us now,
Fairy Bums?'
"That barstard is going down." Natsu said gritting his teeth.
"He'll be six feet under when we're thought with him." Erza said.
"Six feet? He'll be praying for something so sweet." Lucy said. "No one does this to Fairy Tail."
I know a bunch of you were looking forward the prank war, and I promise it will be in the next chapter.
Nardragon~ until the page.
