On the official document Levy wrote later that day, Gajeel Redfox had briefly detained Rogue Cheney due to suspicious behavior and later released him back to Saber Tooth's custody when his innocence was proven.
In reality, Gajeel had gleefully arrested Rogue and would have been delighted to join Sting in "interrogating" the Shadow Dragon Slayer if only the Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit hadn't been dragged away kicking and screaming by Panther Lily.
"One nap was all it took to fall behind him?" Rufus inquired curiously.
"I only closed my eyes," Rogue grumbled, nursing the ice pack to the black eye that Sting gave him earlier.
"He's a literal ninja, Rogue!" Sting growled, pacing the floor before the table. Rufus noticed that Sting was starting to develop a habit of it. "Everyone knows that ninjas are sneaky little shits!"
"Fro thinks so too!" Frosch chimed in, poking his fork into his fish lunch.
"So where did you finally catch up to him, Rogue?" Lector asked through a forkful of fish.
"Just as he was tearing into an herbalist selling phony herbs."
"The midget was arguing with an herbalist?" Orga asked.
"Somehow that description doesn't line up with my memories of Dobengal," Rufus commented with a frown.
"Ooh ooh!" Lector quickly pulled his fork out of his mouth and swallowed. "No really, Rufus! You should have seen Dobengal last week with the fake Caelian sea salt merchant!"
Sting let out a sputter before he doubled over in laughter, earning confused looks from his friends. "Caelian sea salt, my foot! That merchant was in tears by the time Dobe-nii was done!" The White Dragon Slayer howled, clutching the table for support.
"When it comes to strength, Sting-kun is by far superior," Lector bragged as he stuck his fork into his fish and lifted a piece, "but Dobengal is the one to look to get your money's worth at the market."
"And he's a gigantic nut for teas," Sting admitted once his laughter died out, straightening up again.
"So he's got a sharp eye, we already knew that," Orga said, putting his feet up on the spare seat next to him.
An evil gleam appeared in Sting's eyes as he chuckled darkly, his back turned to his minions. "We're going to use that to our advantage, and it all starts with you, Orga." Sting whirled around, fangs bared in a wide grin. "You are going to challenge the ninja to—"
"A shooting contest?" Dobengal repeated, eyes narrowed like he knew what Sting was up to this time. He probably did if, "What's this all about?" was anything to go by.
"This isn't your ordinary shootout!" Sting insisted while Rogue came out of the kitchens with a covered platter in his hands. "You and Orga can't use darts or knives here!"
"What did you just say?!" Orga bellowed while Dobengal looked intrigued by the rule.
"…Go on."
With a familiar evil gleam in his eyes, Sting reached into his back pockets and slapped a deck of cards each into Orga's and Dobengal's hands. "You'll be using these," Sting explained cheerily as he pointed behind the two men, where Rogue set down the platter, "and your target—"
On Sting's cue, Rogue lifted the cover to reveal a watermelon cut in half with its flesh facing the contestants. "—will be that," Sting finished.
"You have got to be kidding!" Orga protested.
"Fro thinks so too!"
Dobengal removed one card from the deck, staring intently at the ace that he flipped between his fingers. "…what are the rules?"
"Both of you are going to take turns throwing cards at the watermelon from two meters until you run out," Lector stated, patting the watermelon rind. "Loser has to follow the winner's orders until midnight."
Frosch tilted his head. "Why midnight?"
"The whole deck, though?" Orga complained.
"I'm giving you guys a fair shot here!" Sting defended, looking off to the side. "I mean, I doubt even you could get even one card on the watermelon, Dobe-nii," he added offhandedly.
Sting grinned inwardly as Dobengal narrowed his eyes at the challenge to his marksmanship. With the trap set, they were going to see the ninja's face in no time. "I don't see how this will further our efforts, Sting," Rufus confided as the two contestants opened their respective decks.
"I gave Orga's deck a little boost just in case," Sting hissed back.
Orga was about to remove his silver deck from its box but paused when he noticed writing on the inner flap of the box.
There are 12 metal sheets sharp
enough to cut and designed to look
like cards. Try to "accidentally" hit
Dobengal every now and then.
Make it count!—Sting
Orga looked back at Sting, nodding in approval whereas Sting gave him a thumbs up. "What did you do?" Rufus asked sharply.
"Orga's deck has several knife cards," Sting explained behind his hand. "All he has to do is throw them at Dobengal and tear that mask off."
"So you told Orga to lose on purpose?"
"Not on purpose! There's no way Dobengal's going to hit the watermelon with those!"
All of this went unnoticed by Dobengal, who tried to throw his first card at the watermelon only for it to suspend briefly in the air when he let it go. "That's cute," Orga chortled with a card in hand. "Now watch how the real men do it."
The Lightning God Slayer reeled his arm back like he was throwing a ball and released the card the same way. Unfortunately the card barely traveled three centimeters before it joined the blue card on the floor.
"Well, I hope to never become a real man like you," Dobengal said dryly, holding his hand sideways before he flicked the card out from his fingers. This one actually traveled a good distance before it fell a yard away from the fruit.
The card that Orga reached for dug into flesh, indicating it was one of the blade cards Sting had packed into his deck. "Try saying that again, Midget!" Orga didn't even bother aiming for the fruit, choosing to throw the false card at Dobengal. The ninja ducked as the card soared over his head, landing in somebody's lunch.
"You couldn't make it look like an accident?" Sting muttered under his breath.
The resident Teleportation mage stood back up with his right hand curled inward before he flicked the card to his target. "What are you, a Vulcan? You're supposed to aim for the fruit!" As he finished, a wet sound drew all eyes to the watermelon, which had a blue card sticking out of it.
Rufus turned to Sting with a look of smug annoyance. "No way indeed," he mocked.
"That's one for blue!" Lector announced, drawing a tally under 'Blue' on a blackboard that had been brought out.
"I think the winner's already decided," Rogue said.
"Who cares about the fruit, ninja!" Orga threw another knife card at his opponent, who dodged it at the same time he flicked another card into the watermelon with more ease than his previous attempts.
"Two for blue!" Frosch cheered as Lector marked another point for Dobengal.
"I don't remember Orga being this short-tempered," Rufus trailed off, looking more and more concerned with each card Dobengal successfully threw at the watermelon.
"Blue-nine, silver-one!"
"At this rate, Orga's going to be the loser," Rogue added as the ninja decided to send three cards flying, each striking the watermelon in rapid succession.
"Forget the contest, he totally forgot about the plan!" Sting hissed between his teeth. Were the screeching sounds coming from the platter scraping across the table or from Sting's clenched jaw? "At this rate, he's going to run out of ammo!"
"Fifteen to three for blue!"
"Couldn't you try to make this interesting, Orga? I could drop dead and still hit the melon!"
Rufus' face paled in color while a vein seemed to twitch in Orga's temple. "It seems from the beginning, Dobengal was goading Orga into losing his focus."
"You think?!" Sting barked.
"Then by all means, be my guest!"
The next card Orga threw soared in an arc through the air, slicing the occasional strands of hair it met along its way. At that moment Minerva appeared at the bottom of the stairs, having teleported there with a bag of essentials for her trip. "I'll be going on a mission, Sting. Try to keep the guild in order while I'm—"
Snip! Thunk!
"—gone."
Jaws dropped, eyes widened, and silence fell over the guild. All while Minerva stared blankly at the thin blade on the wall that had sliced off one of her braids, now lying limp on the floor.
"Haircut," Frosch mumbled. Lector frantically shushed him in the hopes that Minerva hadn't heard him.
Slowly—eerily so—Minerva turned in Orga's direction with a totally fake smile on her face. "Orga," she sang in a hauntingly sweet tone that would likely haunt the guild's nightmares, "it's not nice to throw things at your friends~"
Orga immediately dropped the deck and held up his hands to defend himself. "I wasn't aiming for you, milady! I was trying to get the ninja!" The Lightning God Slayer shrieked, reaching for Dobengal's shoulders—only to grasp thin air. The Twin Dragon Slayers, Rufus, and Orga all gaped at the space that had been occupied by the resident ninja, who had mysteriously vanished.
The sound of metal singing through the air barely registered until a knife card whizzed past Orga's face and hit the pillar behind him. All eyes went to Minerva, who held all of the knife cards Orga had angrily thrown earlier in a spiral of magic in her hand. "Why don't I show you how to use these properly?" Minerva suggested sweetly.
The terrified screams of Orga were unanswered by the guild, who wisely decided to take cover under whatever surface with space underneath to do so while Minerva exacted her revenge.
