The next morning, Baron yawned and got out of bed. Within a few minutes, he flew all the way to the guild and sat at a table, a little worried. "She should have come back last night. I'll just sit here and wait for Nelly to come back."

~In the forest outside Plume Valley…~

"ERZA! HELP!"

Nelly screamed as she ran from the gigantic reptilian bird breathing fire and wind magic at her. She barely managed to dodge all of the attacks from the angry mom. Erza, however, was on the sidelines. Earlier that morning, she had shown her true colors that she was not going to help the young Dragon Slayer with this job. She was merely going to be a supervisor and the only reason she would help is if she sensed Nelly's life was in danger.

~Earlier that morning..~

Nelly started freaking out. "I'm supposed to do what?!"

Erza handed her the red, orange, and yellow egg. "You are supposed to return this dragonbird egg to its nest without hurting it or the mother. It's the reason this town is under attack."

"You're not even going to help me!"

Erza's expression didn't change. "You said you wanted to become a stronger wizard. This job would be no problem for me."

"Then tell me how to do it!"

"I can't. This is something you need to do on your own." Her face became very serious. "And should you fail-"

Before she could even finish, Nelly had already taken off into the forest.

~Back to the present..~

Erza was watching the fight from a distance, and so were the townspeople. (This is her test. Should she succeed or fail, she will gain a lot of experience from this.)

Nelly ducked just in time. The dragonbird's tail had flown past her head and snapped the tree behind her like a toothpick. The dragonbird mother was about two stories tall and five stories long. Complete with her magical abilities and her size, this mama was not to be messed with. The town elder's words still remained in Nelly's head.

("If the mother sees the egg in the nest, it should stop attacking. But until then, be prepare to become a human barbeque!")

Nelly took a deep breath. She knew she wasn't supposed to hurt the creature, so she had a plan. "Sun Dragon Roar!"

The attack hit the ground in front of the bird's feet and a storm of dust appeared. Nelly took the opportunity to run for it. She spotted the gigantic nest on top of the biggest tree in the forest. She was almost to the tree when the egg started thrashing around. Nelly's eyes widened, knowing what was happening. She dove under the tree's huge root, narrowly avoiding the dragonbird's beak.

Nelly took the egg out of the bag and it glowed brilliantly before the eggshell flew apart. The Dragon Slayer stared at the tiny, orange, dragonbird in her lap. It was super cute with big round blue eyes. It peeped and looked at Nelly curiously. Nelly breathed a small sigh of relief. "At least you don't take after your mama."

Nelly tucked the hatchling back into the bag fighting to urge to 'Aww!' She took a deep breath before dashing out from under the roots of the nesting tree. She narrowly avoided a nip from angry bird mom and started to scale the tree. Nelly knew the mother wouldn't burn her own home tree down, but kept in mind she could still bite.

Nelly had never been a good climber, even as a kid. She had always had Baron to carry her where she needed to go. Her shoulders slumped a little. She missed her furry friend. The guilt of leaving Baron behind had started to catch up with her. She heard one of the townspeople shout 'Watch out!' and barely avoided being crunched by the dragonbird with a cry of surprise.

She shook her head hard and muttered. "I need to pay more attention. I wish Baron was here with me. This would be so easy.." After another minute or so, Nelly had made it to the top of the tree where the nest was. She poked her head through the leaves, looking side to side for the mother, but she was nowhere to be seen.

She breathed a sigh of relief and jumped into the nest. She knelt down and let the hatchling out of the bag. It squeaked before curling up comfortably with its mother's stray feathers which emanated warmth. Nelly pet the tiny dragonbird. "You're home, little guy."

With a loud screech, the mother appeared out of nowhere and knocked Nelly onto her back then pinning her down with her razor sharp talons. It screeched with victory. Nelly panicked. "I brought your baby back! Why are you still mad at me?!"

The mother dragonbird prepared to bite down when the hatchling hopped onto her foot, chirping harshly. The mother was stunned at the little ball of feathers. It even spewed a little fire, determined to protect Nelly. The mother sniffed the baby before nuzzling it. She lifted her talons, allowing Nelly to sit up. Mother and baby reunited, the two shared a tender moment.

Nelly was still sitting and the baby ran over and hopped on her shoulder. Nelly chuckled, looking at the mom. "You know, we may be different species," she lit her hand with her sun magic, which resembled golden flames. "but our magic is very similar. Yours is a perfect mix of fire and air. Mine is fire and light. You dragonbirds are amazing creatures."

The dragonbird bowed for what Nelly could see as a thank you. Nelly stood up and bowed as well. "Thank you for not eating me. It was nice meeting you." She set the hatchling down and moved to leave the nest when she stepped on a weak spot and fell through the nest.

"Ahh!" She hit just about every branch before hitting the ground face first. Sitting up, the young dragon slayer spit up the dirt in her mouth. "Ouch… That one hurt."

A hand was extended towards her to help her up. It was a smiling Erza. Nelly took her hand and Erza pulled her onto her feet.

"Congratulations, Nelly Zera. You just completed your first solo job."

The girl blushed. "Stop calling me by my full name!"

The town's elder laughed. "Come, young wizards. Let us give you your reward!"

~Sometime Later~

The town was in a very good mood and had thrown a small banquet as a thank you for the two wizards from Fairy Tail. Nelly grinned. (Just in time for lunch!) She picked up one of the sandwiches and took a bite. It was the most delicious sandwich Nelly had ever taken a bite out of. The townspeople were laughing and cheering. Erza however, looked suspicious. She kept looking at some nearby bushes.

Just as Nelly was about to take another bite of the sandwich when suddenly an arrow pierced right through it, forcing it out of her hands and into a nearby fence. Erza's eyes widened. Everyone at the table then heard a voice.

"Ready? Fire!"

In an instant Erza flipped the table over and shouted "Everyone take cover! Quickly!"

Everyone dove behind the table which was assaulted by dozens of arrows. Thanks to Erza's quick thinking, not a single person was injured. She summoned a sword and stepped out from behind the table. "Show yourself, cowards!"

Nelly was still depressed about her lost sandwich when about a dozen men came out of the forest. "Who are you? Why do you attack us?" Erza demanded. The biggest of the men stepped forward, carrying a nasty looking bow. In fact, they all were wielding the same, terrifying bows. Erza glared at them. "Answer me!"

The man chuckled. "Relax, sweetheart, we weren't aiming for you. We only wanted to get our revenge on the upstart who stole our egg!"

Nelly stopped sulking for a moment. (Wait, they're after me?!)

Erza summoned more swords. "You'll regret trying to harm a member of Fairy Tail. You'll be lucky if you walk away with your lives."

Nelly walked out from behind the table. "Erza."

Erza paused.

"If they want to get to me, then let them. I can take them."

Erza gave a small surprised look. "Are you sure?"

Nelly walked between Erza and the group of thugs. "Absolutely. Besides."

Nelly faced the men with an extremely angry look on her face, one Erza had never seen before. "They. Ruined. My. Sandwich."

In the blink of an eye, Nelly started thrashing the group of men with her dragon slayer magic. After a moment of being initially stunned, Erza sent her swords back and chuckled. "Seems I wasn't needed after all."

In minutes, the entire group, save for the leader, was completely defeated. The other men were in a pile, unconscious. The leader was left. He hadn't even moved for most of the fight. When Nelly finally swung at him with her Sun Dragon Claw, he blocked the attack almost effortlessly. Nelly was then slammed into a tree. She winced. (Oww… That hurt. A lot.)

That was when the leader drew a sword. "Say goodbye princess! This is what you get for nabbing our dragonbird egg!"

Nelly's eyes widened. "You were the ones who took the egg?!"

The man grinned. "Gotta problem with thieves, girly?"

Nelly braced herself. "As a matter of fact, I do."

The guy opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a familiar roar of anger. Nelly looked up and spotted the dragonbird mother growling angrily. She landed just shy of the leader and roared in his face. He screamed with terror as the mother crushed him under her talons. Now that he was immobilized, the police arrived.

As it turned out, the group of thieves were actually the Starsky Raiders! Nelly breathed a sigh of relief. "That's two whole jobs in one day…"