Hiya! I feel like the fight with the knights was more laid back I guess than I first thought it to be. It's probably like it is right now since I can't make good fighting scenes. Oh, well, I hope you enjoy it anyway! Thanks for those who reviewed, favorite, and followed! Please leave a review and favorite! Farewell and Enjoy!

-Let there be midnight

ME NO OWN FAIRY TAIL

Goose Chase

"How are we supposed to fight them?!" Lucy screeched, hugging Happy tightly to her chest as she ran around trying to dodge every attack aimed at her. "I don't have my keys!" she cried, running behind a pillar only for one of the knights to slice through it clean.

"Just use all the weapons you got!" Gray called, fighting off his own three knights with his ice sword. Lucy looked around the stump of the pillar with large watery eyes.

"B-but they got spears!" she whimpered. "And swords! And—and talent along with training! While I got bombs and poisons! THERE'S A HUGE DIFERENCE!" Happy looked up at her, eyes also large and watery.

"At least you got weapons! I'm left with juggling balls!" he cried, pulling the three colorful balls from his hat and looking at them sullenly. Lucy also stared at the colorful balls, getting an idea.

"Give me them!" she said hurriedly, grabbing the balls away from Happy. The blue cat only whimpered at the loss of his juggling balls. Lucy quickly set him down, dodging a spear that swung by her head by an inch. Happy wailed, giant tears running down his face as he desperately ran away from the largest knight in the room that carried a sword and a spear.

"LUSHY!" he cried, his tail almost getting cut by the large knight. Lucy ignored him as she dug through her brown pouch, trying to find the right vial. She pulled it out and looked at it to see the yellow bubbling liquid inside.

"Hope it does what I think it does…" she muttered under her breath with furrowed eyebrows. She untied the string that was around the vial and tied it to a green ball in her hand. Making sure that the top on the small vial was loose, she turned around with a small smile. "Catch!" she yelled, throwing the ball with the vial tied to it in the air. The top fell of the vial and sprayed all the four knights who chased after her with its yellow liquid. They all cried out in pain as the yellow liquid splashed onto their faces and arms, steam instantly rising from where the liquid hit the knights. Lucy looked at them in triumph. "I'm so glad that that turned out to be acid!" she said cheerfully. Happy looked behind him, still trying to dodge the knight while holding his tail close to him.

"Help me then!" he whimpered. Lucy looked once more at the four knights, making sure they won't be able to fight her since they were into much pain from the strong acid, running after Happy.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size!" she screamed, unhooking the whip at her side. The large knight stopped and slowly turned around to look at Lucy, pointing his sword and spear at her instead of Happy. "I-I didn't mean me!" she exclaimed, running away from the knight in fear.

Erza sighed as she watched the second knight to fight her pass out, looking at Lucy and shaking her head.

"You did say to pick on someone your own size." she said to herself more than to the blonde. Lucy still seemed to hear her.

"That still doesn't mean me!" she whimpered as she passed Erza, going in a circle around the throne room with panic. With all the running she had done today, she swears she could run a marathon without breaking a single sweat. Atleast she was in shape though! That was a good thing, right?

Erza chuckled, bringing the third knight to his knees, and eventually his face to the floor as she then faced the fourth and last knight to fight her. The knight seemed to question if beating her was even worth it as he stopped in mid swing with his spear. He did watch just three of his companions fall in not even ten minutes since the fight had begun. Is it even worth going to the infirmary for probably months on end or dying? Sure he loved his queen but he had a wife and child at home! Screw this! He's going to run!

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked him darkly, grabbing the back of the knight's collar when he had dropped his spear and turn to run. "I'm not done with you yet." she growled as she raised her fist.

"Mommy…" he whimpered when the fist collided with his face, knocking him out. Erza dropped him, wiping her hands with a smile.

"Looks like we only have one knight left." Gray remarked once the last of his three fell right after Erza's knight. Erza nodded as both she and Gray watched the largest knight chase after Lucy around the throne room. "Should we stop this goose chase?" Gray asked, watching in amusement as Lucy hid behind a broken pillar, only for the knight to shatter it within a second. "I mean, Lucy looks like she's holding out okay." he remarked. Lucy glared at him.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU." she growled. Gray sweetdropped nervously, taking a step or two back.

"E-Erza, why don't you deal with the knight? He seems more up your lead…" Gray suggested shakily. Erza didn't respond as the knight was about to run past her. Before he had passed her, she hit him on the back on the neck with the butt of her sword, knocking him out quickly. Both Gray and Lucy sighed in relief, their shoulders drooping. Erza just looked up at the throne where Natsu sat at, her onyx eyes narrowed dangerously. A delicate finger tapped the cheek her palm held up, as if she had disapproved her knight's failure.

"We have beaten all twelve of your knights," Erza said in a booming voice. "Now you have to hold up your end of the deal." Natsu didn't say anything for a few moments as she watched the four closely. Finally she stood up, but stiffly as if she rather not do so.

"Fine," she said briskly, her jaw clenched as she spoke. "I'll go home with you." She held her head up high as if she was trying to protect her dignity, walking down the steps of her throne room slowly. Behind her Vincent smiled and snapped his finger, Natsu stopping as if someone had pressed paused.

"Well done!" he congratulated, clapping as he started to descend the stairs just the same as Natsu did, stopping on the step before her. "You have won the game and defeated the twelve knights, getting Queen Natsu to do your bidding!" Gray, Lucy, and Erza narrowed their eyes suspiciously at Vincent. "But you have only won one of three games." he added nonchalantly, shrugging innocently. Lucy, Happy, and Gray started at that.

"What do you mean 'one of three games'?" Lucy asked outraged. "You never mentioned two other games we have to play! You only mentioned one!" she shouted.

"Aye, this isn't fair!" Happy agreed just as mad as Lucy was, paws in fist as if he was just about ready to punch Vincent if he did something else that was totally unfair.

"Give us back Natsu!" Gray chimed in, equally as angry as the other two. Erza remained silent, her glare never leaving Vincent as she watched him, daring him with her eyes to make once move.

"Ah, ah, ah," Vincent tisked wiggling his finger in front of him while shaking his head like he was scolding a small child. "I never said that there was only just one game." he pointed out. "But I will warn you. If you lose just one game, then I won't give back this lovely lady." He gestured toward Natsu, making the group before him growl protectively. "On to the next, shall we?" he asked innocently, changing the subject quickly. Before the four could hurl an insult at him or protest loudly against it, their surroundings had changed with one blink of an eye. Instead of the throne room or any part of the castle they were in, they were in a forest with tall dark trees.

Lucy looked around in surprised. "Where are we?" she asked softly as she tried to distinguish their surroundings.

"Don't know." Erza replied, catching a glimpse of her outfit. She was dressed like a bandit in all black, a violet ribbon around her waist. Gray and Lucy were also dressed as bandits, but Lucy had a brown ribbon around her waist and a mini-skirt while Gray had a dark blue ribbon around his waist and some kind of bandana around his mouth. Happy was dressed how he normally was though, no bandit outfit on him.

"Some kind of forest," Gray muttered as he pulled the bandana down from his mouth so it hung loosely at his neck. Suddenly a small sparrow swooped down and landed on a low hanging branch, opening its mouth.

"Greetings," came Vincent's voice from the small sparrow, surprising the four as they whirled around and stared at the bird with open mouths. "Welcome to the Ritcheree Forest! Here you'll be working along with Natsu instead of trying to get her." he explained. "She will be dressed as a gypsy in disguise, but will be a bandit like the three of you." Happy let out a loud protest at this, but Vincent ignored him. "Your first job is to find Natsu who will be going under the name Umi while she is a gypsy. Once you find Natsu she will explain everything else about the game. But there are rules, must I remind you, though these are different rules then the ones before. Rule one: You must not tell your friend Natsu who you really are, you must play along or you instantly lose.

"Rule two: If any of you are to die during this game, then you will be sent to the real world where you will stay until the last two games are finished. If all of you die, then you lose both games and Ms. Natsu will die. So be careful.

"Rule three: If you don't find what is supposed to be your goal in the game in a week and five days' time, then you lose and you start the other game even though Natsu will die afterwards. If you do somehow find what the goal is supposed to be before the week and five days is over, then you win. Do not worry though. In the real world time has basically slowed down you can say you won't actually be gone for a week and five days.

"Rule four: The cat must not talk at all times; you must act like a normal cat. If you don't then you lose.

"Rule five: There is no magic in this game, so you will lose if you use any form of magic. Understand? Great! Have fun!" Vincent cheered as the sparrow closed its mouth and flew away and out of sight. The four exchanged slightly nervous glances.

"So…" Gray started awkwardly. "let's go find Natsu! Er… Umi?" he corrected himself uncertainty as he scrunched his nose up.

"But which way do we go?" Erza asked, looking around. "If Natsu is disguised as a gypsy then he will be in a town or some kind of village." Lucy nodded in agreement, her finger on her chin as she thought.

"And since Happy can't use his magic and fly to have a look around, we'll just have to move around blindly." she replied glumly. "But that could take forever just to find a single village! And one that has Natsu in it too!" she whined, hunched forward.

"Guess we'll have to work fast then." Erza remarked as she turned and walked away with a shrug.