AN: Three things made this chapter late. First: Kitty had a headache Saturday night. Second: We both had big exams on Monday, and we had to study for them on Sunday night. Third: We had a biiiig debate about whether or not to do a "dream / flashback / false memory / real memory / you name it" scene in this chapter, mostly because it's an opportune time to do it but you're not going to get the answers until something happens that isn't going to happen for at least a few arcs. We went with the yes and then we had to write it. Y'all are probably ecstatic at all the new hints we're dropping like bombs, aren't you? But here's the fun part: guess WHO it is, and WHY the scene is written as it is (we are looking for something in particular). The first person to guess it correctly at any point in time before we reveal it will get ONE question answered in whole (meaning no trolls - and it will be answered in a PM so only YOU know). If you get it wrong, Foxy will troll. Good luck! XD

And we hate to do this, really do, but we just realized that it's impossible for us to do one of the Hooligans in Edolas. We could suck one of them up to Edolas, and we knew we'd have to be really careful about mentioning a few things about them, but all of them are currently in possession of something that … well, would spoil the plot a little too early for our liking. So Moonless Eclipse, JohnTitor, Black Blood Alliance and Masked Bard of Chaos, if you would kindly recast that one vote? Thank you and once again, sorry. Foxy'll answer this time (she's the psycho one).

Edolas Poll: Gildarts – 10*, Erza – 6*, Mirajane – 4*, Lyon – 4*, Lucy – 2*, "Earth Witch" Julianna – 2*, Freed – 2*, Juvia – 1, Porlyusica – 1*, Romeo – 1*, Shou – 1, Ichiya – 0, Hibiki – 0, Ultear – 0, Bickslow – 0, Evergreen – 0, Macao – 0, Wakaba – 0, Alzack – 0, Bisca – 0, Other – 0. A "*" means potential Remember you can change your votes later on if you want to (some developments might make you want to, who knows?). Please read and review!

Disclaimer: If we owned Fairy Tail … there would probably be a lot more angst and a lot less screaming about comrades.


Under the Flames

A Fairy Tail Fanfiction by Kitty & Foxy

Chapter Twenty Nine: Slippery Slope


Bluish hair, a tattoo under the right of two dark eyes, tall, lean, and the image of a leader. So this is 'Jellal.' Gray kept his calm composure, but in truth his mind performed summersaults. Everyone present froze in their places, waiting for what would happen. Gray wasn't sure if he could make the first move after making eye contact, but unlike Jellal, a million thoughts trekked inside his head. He's definitely the Jellal Erza and Shou described, and he's exactly like Siegrain … but what is he doing here? He's supposed to be dead, incinerated when the Etherion exploded. Not only that, but why is he here? Of all places? Maybe he's related to Oracions Se— Not many more of his thoughts had the time to manifest, for external time bent for no one.

"I am certain your magical power is as impressive as it was before, and surely greater." Brain complimented the man who had conquered death, walking up behind him. "Now, if you would use that power to eliminate that ma—"

With a stoic face, Jellal turned to look at the dark-skinned man whose name he did not know. He had no recall of this man who seemed to recognize him, nor of the others within the chamber. But the air was tense and he knew that until he knew what was going on, he could not risk putting himself in such a situation. He swept his hand upwards, a flash of a golden light – purely a reflexive call, a physical memory he so commonly used before that the magic followed without him ever needing to remember it – rocked the caverns' walls, breaking the stone slabs comprising of the ceiling and floor. A great cloud of rocks broken into dust arose as the floor of the chamber began to collapse downward into a great underwater stream below, the very stream fed by the rivers above.

"What are you -?" Brain began but quickly sidestepped to avoid being crushed as the floor gave way. He looked over to see Jellal calmly walking for the exit while he and the alliance mages were distracted. "Where are you going?"

Gray, on the other hand, charged past Jellal as the floors began to crumble, knowing he had a greater problem than the enemy mage slipping away. He saw the small form of Wendy sliding into the hole below, and Charle couldn't fly her away with the ceiling collapsing down on them. "Oy, Wendy, wake up!" She did not hear him. Damn it! Gray dove past another falling boulder and grabbed a hold of Wendy and Charle, but not before the floor gave away entirely, the three of them tumbling into the darkness, where the sound of furiously churning water echoed tirelessly below.

Brain waved his skull cane at Midnight's carpet, ordering it to retreat to the outside. Midnight was still on his carpet, softly snoring as it zoomed out into the light. He made it to the entrance before it was sealed off entirely, ruined by the one attack Jellal used inside. At least a few of the alliance mages were dealt with, but even so … he looked back outside to find Jellal nowhere in sight. The way Jellal had attacked … I didn't plan for this. No, I suppose it is my fault for not restraining him. But I'm sure he never used to hold such hostility towards me. Was he able to overhear everything I said about Nirvana, despite being unconscious? Damn it, Nirvana belongs to us! Does he plan to use it for himse—

He momentarily paused as pain seared across his face in a trail, one of his tattoos shrinking away. He clutched at his face in anger in surprise. This can't be … Angel was defeated? By who? Brain grew furious: the alliance was interfering too much with their plans. Jellal would likely claim Nirvana for himself. They needed to act, and act quickly. It seems I have underestimated our enemies.

"Midnight, wake up." Brain ordered. "Are you awake?"

"What is it, Father?" Midnight asked with a yawn, his eyes opening to reveal red pupils.

"Go and seek out Nirvana in Angels' stead. Cobra! Can you hear me?" Brain roared, slamming his staff down once. "Track down Jellal! He very well might lead us to Nirvana!"

*
Cobra looked over Cubelioss' jaw carefully, doing his best to seal the snakes' fang back so the pain wouldn't be too great. Damn them … hurting Cubelios like that. He wanted to get them back, that was certain. But he would have a higher chance of winning if he found Nirvana first. Still, he wished Brain had let him complete his battle. Still, Brain understands best what we ought to do. Following his orders is our best chance of winning this.

Yet he could tell his snake, his friend, was far from happy. He could hear the heartbeat, the slithering of its tongue, every twitch and muscle in its being … yet he could not hear its thoughts nor its words. His one friend remained mute to him, and all he could do was attempt to refine his abilities to eventually hear Cubelioss' voice. Perhaps Nirvana will solve this too.

He walked through the forest with the snake wrapped around him, its head over his shoulder. He stopped when he heard the commands of his commander, and nodded ever so slightly.

"Right, right, I can hear you loud and clear, Brain …" Cobra sighed, standing up as he continued to stroke under Cubelioss' jaw. "And I can hear his footsteps too."

*
Hibiki monitored Natsus' pulse while Gajeel looked inside Natsu's mouth for any signs that the poison might've slipped in. Heh, this guys' got extra teeth. After about a minute, Natsu fell completely still, but by no means was he dead.

"It looks like the stroke ended, but he's unconscious." Hibiki decided, though he did not feel all that relieved. He had been behaving relatively normally beforehand … what set this off?

"It doesn't look like the poison, otherwise we'd see it in the veins closer to the skin by now …" Lucy couldn't figure it out. What happened? Was it random? The Celestial Mage shook her head, biting her bottom lip. "Nothing like this has ever happened before … Gajeel, how was Natsu behaving earlier?" She inquired of the Iron Dragon Slayer.

"'Normal' I guess, but …" Gajeel frowned, scratching his chin. "He was behavin' strangely for a bit. A kind of anxiety over this sense we got …" Enough he felt the need to trip me and try to lock me in a cage. He felt a tinge of desire to knock the sh*t out of Natsu for that, but even he had no desire to beat him when he was in this state for reasons he couldn't fathom. He had to wonder what set him off earlier, and if it had been the same thing from earlier that did this to him now. He knew what it was, and he didn't want us goin' there.

Ren shuffled uneasily from where he was. "So what should we do about it?"

"I don't have a clue. It might be the poison, it might be an external influence, or maybe something inside of him just happened to go off. But for now we'll monitor him." Hibiki answered, nodding to Lucy as he stood up. "It doesn't appear life-threatening right now, and thanks to him we've bought ourselves more time for Erza and Ren. I'm going to resume tracking down the others." He snapped his fingers once again (How many times have I been interrupted trying to do this? He wondered) and called forth his archival screens, typing as efficiently as he could manage.

Lucy cautiously moved Natsu over to the side once she worked up the courage to move him, keeping her eyes on both him and Erza. Natsu, what happened? Did we somehow do this to you? Lucy inwardly panicked; she was almost certain that she had somehow dragged him into something that triggered the stroke.

After a long few minutes, Gajeel perked his head up from his looping thoughts, hearing someone approaching them. He recognized the scents, and could feel the hesitation in the footsteps. So he crooked his neck sideways and called out into the woods. "Over here!"

Lucy jumped, stuttering. "Who are you calling to?" She demanded.

"You'll know soon enough, Bunny Girl."

"Stop calling me that!" Lucy fought the urge to chuck something at him. Knowing their current luck, she'd end up putting Gajeel out for the count and then they'd have four alliance members down. Before she could continue her verbal rant, the rustling and sound of footsteps became known to them all. Emerging from the forest depths came a bare-chested and slightly winded Lyon, carrying a slumping Eve in his arms.

"Eve-kun!" Ren grew alarmed at seeing Eve unconscious upon arrival, seemingly sick. "What happened to him?" Hibiki's fingers momentarily ceased typing as he and Lucy too waited for an answer.

Gajeel kept a steel face on his exterior. When one could turn their skin to iron, it was actually quite easy to fight facial twitches and movements that would betray ones' thoughts or emotions. He knew their situation right now was dire, but inwardly he could not avoid laughing a little. Geh hee, the pretty boys are gettin' their just deserts! That dark one gets bitten by a man and this one gets carried back by a half naked man! Yes, all while wearing that steel frown with the glowering red eyes, the Iron Dragon Slayers' day continued to get better and better.

"Cobra and Racer intercepted us. They captured Wendy; Gray and Charle went after them." Lyon explained the situation in as few words as possible, knowing that in being direct they could act faster. He set the unconscious snow mage on the ground carefully, Ren pushing himself over to look. "Cobra released a kind of poisonous gas, Eve inhaled some of it. I don't believe his life is in danger but he needs attention."

Hibiki knew if he hadn't been concerned before, he should be now. 'Cobra' has already harmed three of our mages, possibly Salamander-kun indirectly as well. Something needed to be done about him before he came across their base. It doesn't help that he has extremely sharp hearing. If anything, he might be heading here as we wait.

Lyon pulled an object out from his back pocket, holding it up so they could see.

"Is that a snake fang?" Lucy asked, mildly bewildered.

"Gray broke it off. Some of the original poison is sealed inside it, so Wendy can take a look at it later if it will help." As if on cue, Lyon realized that someone extra was lying with the others. A shock of rose-colored hair, slit eyes, and heavily cloaked … "I presume that this is 'Natsu' from earlier?"

"Yes. But he suffered from a stroke earlier – I'm not sure if it was a stroke, as we don't know the cause." Hibiki answered as he started shifting the various windows on his screen around, honing in on someone else – he hoped it would be another member of their alliance. "He drained most of the poison from Erza-san and Ren-kun so we've bought ourselves some time."

"So what should we do now?" Lucy asked hesitantly. "We've got four down and they've got Wendy, right? Shouldn't we do something?"

"We should, but I'd rather attempt to track down the others before breaking us up." Hibiki answered, concentrating the best he could. "If I keep getting interrupted by sporadic battles, it would be handier to have you fight it off again while I focus on locking the tracers."

Lucy would have argued, but even she felt the immodest pride inside her. That's right, I fended off Erigor! But it still interrupted his work … at least Gajeel and Lyon are here right now.

"We'll give you some time, Hibiki, but not a lot. They've captured Wendy and it was clear they had their own intentions." Lyon answered sternly, crossing his arms and leaning back against one of the trees.

"Yes, I understand that."

"Plus it's going to get dark in a few hours, we should search for them while there's natural light." Lucy added, looking up at the sky. We're going to be battling each other at night? Ugh. This keeps going from bad to worse.

The Iron Dragon Slayer was still thinking. Most didn't think him capable of thinking – and it was true for when he was feeling bolder than usual – but when something deeply concerned him he could strategically sort it out (most of the time). His eyes were trained on the pink haired Dragon Slayer, the boy that really irked him. He acted weird earlier. Something about that presence earlier. I don't feel it at all now, but maybe here's a bad position for it. He really didn't want me going there, he was nervous about it. So was this stroke caused by the poison? By that presence? Or by something else entirely? Why did this bug him so much? He hated being concerned. But that's exactly what he was. If he hadn't seen Salamander go into a panic earlier he wouldn't give a second sh*t about his current state. Maybe a little, but it wouldn't nag at him like this. Growling, he abruptly stood up, causing Lucy to jump again.

"Uuh, where are you going?" Lucy asked. Gajeel's got me on edge, I'm jumping every time he does something!

"Geh, it's botherin' me." Gajeel grumbled, stretching out his limbs in preparation. "The brat acted strange when we felt a kind of presence in the forest. It's possible that his stroke was caused by it … I'm gonna go and see if I can find it!" And with that, he bolted off into the forest.

"W-wait, are you sure you should go alone?" Lucy called, but Gajeel had vanished from their sight. "And just like that he's gone." And we were just talking about not splitting up yet!

"Let him go, it's better he head off our opponents away from here." Hibiki replied as one of the screens in front of him zoomed in. "I'm tracking him so he won't get lost."

"What presence was he talking about?" Lyon questioned.

Lucy shook her head. "I don't really know."

Hibiki heard beeping from his screen, and looked up to see a tracer had locked down on a particular signature. I think I've traced someone! From its signature, it appears to be Jura-san.

"Jura-san, is this you?" Hibiki asked, raising his fingers to his head in an attempt to establish communication.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, a man grunted as he heard a voice speak inside his mind. But he did not go insane over hearing it, knowing whose magic it was.

"Hibiki-dono, right?" Jura gave a slight nod of his bald head as he waited for his enemy to finally come out into the open. He could hear the mages' voice speaking into his mind. He is highly skilled with his Archival Magic, that is certain.

"Aah, I'm glad you can hear me." Jura heard the sigh of relief. "Communications are being interfered with. Do you know the locations of anyone else? Sherry, Gray, Wendy and our cat-friends are still untraced."

"Sherry and the male cat departed for the West earlier. I am waiting for one of our enemies to come out of hiding. He appears to be waiting for me to make the first move." Jura answered boldly. As a priest, he felt it his duty to keep a calm, but strong composure for others around him – even in battle.

"We know they've captured Wendy. If you can, try to find the exact location of their base. To alert me, raise your fingers to your head and I'll reconnect with you."

"Very well." He nodded again, then looked around, unblinking and unwavering. It was time to call out his opponent from hiding. "I know that you are here. Show yourself."

On cue the ground began to rumble, and parts of it ripped upward and around, curling back up at an alarming rate in an attempt to catch him within its mouth.

"As expected from one of the Ten Great Holy Mages, ですね!"

Jura raised his fingers, sending the rock forms hurling at Hoteyes, who had emerged from his hiding place. The other priestly character raised his own fingers and his magic blocked the projectiles, breaking them down into their most basic particles and having them stream in dusty waves, to and fro like an octopus' arms.

Jura kept his stern expression as he examined his enemy carefully, waiting for the enemy to speak. Mages who were full of themselves would often describe their own magics and unwittingly release a weakness, and he believed Hoteyes was no exception.

"My magic works by softening the earth!" Hoteyes outstretched his arms before him, his ledger in one hand. "And your magic works by hardening the earth, ですね! So the question is, which one is stronger, ですか?"

"Hmph!" Jura pushed one arm forward, one back, prepared to take either or even both offensive and defensive measures. "Naturally the attributes of the magic will matter not, for the one with stronger convictions will prevail!"

"That is incorrect!" Hoteyes laughed. "Since olden times, victory has always been granted to the rich, ですね!"

*
Angel awoke slowly, grunting as she rubbed at her forehead. Her magical energy restored gradually and she could now focus. She'd been defeated. It was hard to accept, but it was true. And now all she wanted to do was sort out what happened.

What was he? Clearly he was a celestial mage, but those strange 'keys' he held were far too foreign. Were they some kind of special assortment that she did not know of? He seemed foreign himself, perhaps from an entirely different land altogether. It wouldn't surprise her if different kinds of contracts existed, but she had never heard of it being like that. Celestial mages in Fiore were rare for a reason: there weren't that many contracts to begin with. Most celestial mages were lucky to have three or four contracts. And that kind of spirit she did not understand. Scorpio was ill-matched, and Gemini did not have a cloned form of the right type to overcome it.

But that mans' spirit was only one of her worries. Who was he? What kind of magic did he use against her? He has offensive capabilities of his own as well … celestial mages usually use only their keys, perhaps a physical weapon, but he used a magical power to take me out. He was stronger than she initially believed, and that did not bode well. I don't think he's even part of the alliance.

She unconsciously slipped her fingers past her own keys, but noticed something strange. A key was missing. She picked them up, examining them carefully. She still had Gemini, and she still had Aries, and even Caelum … but the Zodiac key of the Scorpion was gone.

"Scorpio …?" She felt her heart stop when she noticed the key missing from her assortment, and suddenly felt her anger boil over. Did he sign a contract with my Scorpio? She knew the rules of the spirit contracts, and it infuriated her. She couldn't believe such a thing could happen to her! She, the one who had killed many celestial mages before to obtain their keys, had been defeated – not even honorably killed – and one of her contracts stolen away! She still had Gemini, an essential for her arsenal, but losing Scorpio left too large a power vacuum.

"That guy … that guy, I swear I'll get him!" She cursed, pushing herself off the ground and readjusting her feathery dress before her breasts could slip out from it. She sharply looked around, and took off in the direction her heart told her to follow. She would kill him if she could! An Angel's wrath was nothing worth messing with.

*
Jellal walked calmly, quietly through the forest at a steady pace. He had robbed an unconscious man of his clothes, exchanging his own because his own reeked of a decaying stench. He wasn't sure of where he was headed, who the people were around him, what his causes were or even of his destination. He wasn't even sure 'Jellal' was his name. But that is what they called him … but is it what he could call himself?

He felt odd … as if he'd done something terrible. He couldn't remember anything behind it, but it was there. He needed to let his feet carry him to wherever he needed to go. He needed to know. He would go to where he felt he was being called.

*
He stared blankly up at the blues and grays swirling in the skies above him. He could see gold hazes of the leaves and bark, and knew he was outside. His mess of golden hair spilled out on the grass, which he could feel pressing against his back. Someone pulled him up, and he saw his vision blur. Deeply brown eyes stared back at him.

"You should know by now that facing them head-on is idiotic. Even immortals know that. It's a wonder you walked away at all." He felt the stinging shoot through his spine as the gauze tightened, blood running down from the wounds that still needed mending.

«I wanted to.»

"That doesn't change the stupidity of it. But, if you hadn't, you'd be dead by now." He felt a slap on the back of his head as the other got up, the slap a child receives from a formerly-distressed, but now-relieved adult, for making someone worry. "Tell me why you really did it."

«Because I wanted to.»

"That's not enough."

«Since when is anything ever enough?» He hated this feeling … the feeling that now he needed to rely on his magic for doing even the most basic of bodily functions. «I raised him from the start … I didn't want to see him or the others perish.»

No answer. Instead he felt himself slung being carried like a toddler, with his chin resting on a firm shoulder. The blue hair tickled his nose, and he fought sneezing. He watched the world around him. He was told the world was prettier than he saw it but he never knew how to imagine it. The world he saw looked good enough to him so long as there were things he loved in it. But now he wasn't sure if he would ever enjoy the world like he had before.

«Where are we going?» He asked quietly.

«Where else?» Came the reply, back in the thoughts only their kind could share. «To make things easier for you. I'm not going tote you around forever.»

He didn't fancy that either. «So you're not mad?»

«I am. Anyone would be. But he attacked you first, and so goes our code you could kill them without consequences.» A bitter response. He supposed he couldn't ask for better. «But I can't be mad at you either. You're one damn annoying godson.»

He couldn't fight the smile, even if his body ached (and he knew it would only get worse, especially if they were going to see her). There was no need for him to answer. His world, to him, would forever be coated in gold.

*
Water. It was everywhere. Gray held his breath tight as they were pulled away by an extremely strong water flow, pinching Wendy's nose so she wouldn't accidentally drown. God damn it, we have to get out now! Any moment they could easily slam into a boulder they couldn't see in this underwater river, and who knew when they'd hit the next air pocket.

Acting the next possible moment he could, he wrapped his legs around Wendy so she wouldn't slip away in the undercurrent as he brought his arms up, slamming them together and forcing his magic to work. Even in the rushing water all around, his magic formed the circular platform and in an instant created an iced wall, blocking the flow temporarily. He coughed as half the water rushed away, throwing him, Wendy and Charle back with it. He caught the rocks below with his fingers to keep the vacuum of water from sucking them back, dripping wet in the salty cave waters. He couldn't see around him except for the faint magical energy fading from his ice. He had no idea how far or how fast the river swept them away.

"Wendy," he coughed, feeling around and grabbing the girls' shoulder. He could feel her breathing, but she was still out of it. "Come on Wendy, now's a great time to wake up!" He felt around again and found the furry cat, who too was unconscious. Damn it, now we're wet, lost, unable to see and the two of 'em are unconscious! They needed to get back to Erza and Ren, damn it!

Crrrriiiick! Shiiink!

His eyes popped open, looking back up at the river he plugged. He knew that sound … the ice was breaking. The water pressure from the rivers is too great. It's going to kill us if it unloads.

"Damn it!" For one laid back guy, he couldn't take this with ease. He grabbed Wendy and Charle by their wastes and began running blindly down the rivers' walls, doing his best not to fall into any strange holes. At one point he stepped into nearly a foot of water. He cursed, but bent down and forced it to stream forward in a jet of ice, the magic of the spreading ice sweeping across the floor so he could get a faint outline of his surroundings. Good thing he did: nearly seven feet in front of them was a giant drop. He forced the water further, and it hit another platform across the way. He molded it into a sturdier bridge, and hurried it when he heard something disturbing behind him.

CRRRRRIIIIICCCCK! SSSSHIK!

Then came the sound of explosive rushing water.

He dashed forward, tightening his grip around the two Cait Shelter members as he leapt up and forward. Gray barely made it across the hole before the water exploded their way. From the sounds of it, most of it dropped into the giant hole below, but part of the upper jet of water shot its way across to him, knocking him flat onto his back. He waited for it to pass and resettle before sitting back up, his body in shock from the sheer force of it. Gray loosened his grip on Wendy and the cat slightly, panting as the roar of water covered the sounds of everything else. He couldn't see it. He couldn't see a damn thing.

He told himself to calm down, but even he couldn't be entirely laid back at this moment in time. We're trapped in an underground river cavern system of some kind, and we can't go back the way we went … no, they couldn't. Jellal had made sure he blew up the whole cave. So we've got enemies on the run, including Jellal which none of the alliance knows about yet. I'm stuck in an underground cave with Erza's and Ren's chance of survival, and I can't see a god damn thing. I'm drenched and I have no way of knowing a way out.

"Damn it!" He shouted, though the roar of the water covered his yells. What the hell could he do? He felt so incredibly useless. What the hell could he do now?

He took a deep breath, knowing that getting angry wouldn't solve anything quickly. Calm down … first priority is waiting for these two to wake up. He felt around before laying Wendy and Charle down entirely, making sure he wouldn't accidentally roll them over into another hole or knock their heads against an unseen boulder or stalactite / stalagmite. He pulled off Lyon's coat, wringing it out and forcing the water away. He must've waited fifteen or so minutes, but even that was too long for him to tolerate. He stood up, blindly feeling around for the ceiling. He couldn't feel any. I'm going to have to use my magic to freeze everything to even get a sense of where we are, which means I'll have to keep plenty of water with us.

Gray froze the bits of water underneath his feet, measuring the size of the platform. They couldn't go back the way they went, but they could travel backwards and to the far left of the platform, where a dry tunnel existed. He had no way of knowing if it would lead him to the surface, but he had to keep in mind that the Worth Woods were atop numerous mountains and valleys: other cavernous holes were bound to exist somewhere.

I can't wait here. He knew he couldn't. He used more of the water to make a makeshift ice container, using his belt to fasten it like a strap. He let the roaring waters' spray fill it up before pulling it across his chest. He carefully picked Wendy up and shifted her onto his back, then tied Lyon's jacket to keep her on and still let him use his arms. He tucked in Charle as well. Grunting, and bending forward, he slowly made his way across the platform, knowing it wasn't that sturdy. But he made his way to the dry tunnel easily enough, and he knew his time would be dangerously limited. Best scenario would be if someone else realized they were stuck down here. Worst … he knew better than to think about it. As a Fairy Tail mage, looking to the better sides of things is what pulled them through. And Gray intended to follow it.

*
"Do you really know where we're going?" Happy asked playfully as he followed Sherry, who walked uncomfortably in her high heels.

"We're heading West. That is where their base should be." Sherry answered, not really fond of the male cat.

"You can let me fly you!" Happy offered, his wings stretching out as if to prove a point.

"… I think not." She was wearing a telling dress, she didn't want to chance anyone seeing up it.

"But we'd get there quicker if you didn't stand on sticks!" The blue cat protested. "Lemmie fly you, Lucy doesn't mind!"

"Hmph, it goes to show that she doesn't have much taste. But that too is a form of love." She sighed; she missed being with Lyon. Why did the cat come with her instead?

Happy grinned sheepishly. "You're strange, lady."

"I am not stra—" she started, but a glint caught her eye. She jumped back in time before they were nearly run over, a man in a white jacket and yellow tinted Mohawk stopping before them. She knew him already: Racer.

"Oh? You're in my path … Well, Brain won't mind if I eliminate you quickly." Racer cracked his knuckles, preparing to race forward once again. His orders were to find Nirvana and take care of the mages, and he could easily take this one out. Sherry barely sidestepped in time, and she knew if she had to deal with speed she needed to be speedy herself.

"Wood doll!" Sherry cried, crossing her arms together as a wooden tree danced forward from the broken trees, attempting to catch Racer. But he was insanely fast: her eyes couldn't keep up. Before she could blink, he was in front of her, ready to aim a kick.

"Look out!" Happy grasped his paws on the back of her dress, flying her off to the side as quickly as he could. They dodged a near blow, but neither dodged the next. They were both thrown sideways, and Sherry struggled back onto her feet. Damn it, how do we handle him?

*
Gajeel raced forward in a hefty run, grinning like the metal fool he was. He still couldn't pick up the presence Natsu had kept him from going to, but he had a general idea of the area he needed to be. He wasn't finding it for Natsu. Maybe a little, but not because of his well-being. The earlier thing had frightened the Salamander. If it frightened him, then it had to be worth encountering. That was his logic. But as he charged into a valley, he nearly slammed into a blur in front of him, jumping back as he blinked in surprise. "What?"

The blur solidified away from him. It was that Racer guy from before. The one who ran so fast that barely anyone could see him. "Another one? It must be my lucky day."

"Gajeel!" Happy cried in relief, helping Sherry stand back up. Gajeel could see them from his peripheral vision.

So the blue cat and that 'lovey' girl are here, eh? Fighting this guy? Well, now the fight's mine.

"Geehee … looks like I've gotta take care of yeh first." Gajeel grinned, his red eyes glinting with excitement. Finally, a worthy fight he could enjoy.