"Wait a minute! Why do I have to sit here while they get to do all the fighting?" Natsu complained, clearly dissatisfied with Shikamaru's plan.
"It's not like that at all. If they fail, you're Plan B," Shikamaru tried to soothe him.
"Alright, let's go to Plan B already!" the fire mage responded quite excitedly, pumping his fist in the air.
'Sorry Natsu, there's no Plan B. I can't have you destroying the place now,' Shikamaru thought, sighing inwardly at the last part.
With Shikamaru's plan in motion, Naruto, Gray and Sakura raced towards Erza and Sasuke.
"Oi, Naruto!" Gray shouted over his right shoulder, "You better get Erza out of there before—"
"I got it already," Naruto interrupted, running a few paces behind the mage.
"Sakura," Naruto signaled, receiving a nod in agreement from his fellow comrade at his side.
"Gaah, my chakra is running low, dunno if I can hold out," Shikamaru stated, showing signs of exhaustion.
"Hang in there, buddy," Natsu encouraged the tactician, patting him on his back.
Grabbing Naruto by the wrist, the kunoichi single-handedly tossed him towards the Scarlet warrior, "Shikamaru!"
"Alright, way to go guys," Shikamaru whispered, the two dark lines dwindling into nothing.
Stumbling a bit, as if an after-effect from the shadow technique, Erza gripped her sword, ready to attack again.
"Oh no you don't!" the blonde shinobi shouted, closing the space between him and Erza, before tackling her to the ground. It wasn't much but at least some distance was gained away from Sasuke.
'What the heck! ' Naruto winced in pain, 'I feel like I'm knocking down a wall or something… Is she even human?'
At the same time, Sasuke was about to gain some distance between him and everyone else. But not everything goes according to plan, right?
"Don't think that we've forgotten about you," Gray smirked, spreading a layer of ice on the ground, claiming the hands and feet of an exhausted Sasuke.
"Ice-Make Prison!" the ice mage commanded, conjuring up an ice-made cage for the rogue nin.
"No hands signs, no power, right?" Happy inquired, awaiting a response from Shikamaru.
"Well…" Shikamaru started.
"Who cares, we won!" Natsu grinned, showing much fervor for everyone else.
"Hey Happy, where's Frank?" Lucy questioned, displaying a puzzled look on her face.
"Frank? Who's that?" the blue exceed asked, a bit lost in thought.
"Frank the badger," Lucy supplied.
"Oh, you mean Frank the badger," Happy grasp at the words.
"That's exactly what I just said, Happy," the celestial mage sighed.
"I don't know," Happy stated bluntly.
"You're hopeless," Lucy groaned, hanging her head in defeat.
"Frank the badger?" the dragon-slayer thought out loud, "That's…a weird name, Frank the badger, Frank the badger, hahaha!"
"Oh!" Happy beamed, stretching out the word, "Erza's angry now."
"And you're getting a thrill out of this?" Lucy spoke quite baffled.
"At least we're not gonna be the ones to get beat up or scolded," Natsu supplied, folding his arms in the process.
"Good point," Lucy said, coming to an agreement with the fire mage.
"You dare attack me!" the Scarlet warrior roared, a menacing aura forming around her.
"Umm, wha— it's not like that at all," Naruto trembled, flailing his hands in an act of defense, 'This feeling, why do I feel so cold all of a sudden?'
"Oi, easy now, let's not get crazy about all this—"
"Gray, don't you dare get in my way!" the Great Titania scolded.
"Yes sir, ma'am!" the ice-mage returned quickly with a salute, stiffening his form in fear.
"Wait a minute Erza," Lucy said soothingly, trying to calm the enraged scarlet-haired woman, "Shouldn't we try to find a way out of this place and back to the guild before fighting…again?
"I suppose you are right," Erza agreed, nodding to herself.
"Very well, let's find our way back home," Ezra faced the direction of Lucy, a smile gracing her lips.
Turning back her sight on Naruto, clearly still trying to compose himself from a few seconds ago, "We will settle this then."
'Still not off the hook,' Naruto came to realization.
"Don't tell me you got cold feet fighting Erza," Gray said smugly, staring down at the Uchiha whose hands and feet were encased in ice. "No answer huh? Well that's expected," a grin taking form on the ice mage's lips, "After all; they are covered in ice!"
After that being said, Gray burst out in laughter at his joke, the words 'cold feet' heard in between ever so often.
Naruto picked himself up from the ground and turned to face Sasuke trapped inside the ice cage. His eyes widen when a crack on the flawless ice sculpture appeared.
'It cracked already?' the blonde thought.
More cracks appeared, the sound of it crackling, drew the attention of everyone nearby, especially Gray.
With confusion arising, the ground began to shake and clouds gathered in the night sky, blocking the moon from view. The wind picked up speed and leaves spun around in the air as its prey.
"This is just like before," Naruto whined, trying not to fall flat on his face.
"No, this is different," Gray corrected, trying to find his balance.
"Everyone, find level ground!" Erza commanded, "The ground here isn't stable."
At her command, they fled the area. The ice on surface shattered away as the rumbling got more intense, setting its captive free to make his next move.
"He's getting away!" Lucy shrieked, pointing in the direction of Sasuke and the remains of the ice sculpture.
"Time for Plan B then!" Natsu jumped at the chance to get at Sasuke.
"There is no Plan B Natsu, there never was!" Sakura yelled after him.
"Wait Natsu, don't rush into things. We don't know what's going to happen now," Shikamaru joined in after Sakura.
The ground opened up, forcing the Natsu to jump back and Sasuke to leap off the ground, revealing the source of all the tremors. A badger, the size of a house, popped up from beneath the ground.
"HUGE!" Natsu and Happy exclaimed in union, gaping at the spectacle before them.
"What a ferocious monster," Erza commented, awestruck at the creature.
"It's a badger," Sakura noted.
"A badger?" Naruto and Gray said together turning their heads to the kunoichi, shock evident on both their faces.
Its paw shot through the air, grabbing the first thing it could get hold of; and what did its paw grab? Sasuke.
So...here's another chapter after what seems like forever...I'm so sorry .
Anyways...when I started this story a long time ago -_-'' I had a hard time coming up with a name for the badger.
So, I asked my uncle and tadaa! Frank the badger was born. :D
So do the usual R&R ^^