A/N: Hello there lovelies! It's been so unbelievably long, blame my hectic semester for this super late update.
So….I lied.
I decided to break up the giant chapter I promised you into four chapters, just so that there can be more chapters in the story, and you hopefully won't have to wait as long as you would've for the update of the bigger chapter. I thought you'd like more chapters as opposed to things all ending in one swoop, so sorry about that! Nonetheless, the shipping trash is all too present. We're staring off with a mini section of events, then we dive into the Gruvia section in the next chapter! Once again, I apologize for this incredibly long wait. This chapter isn't as long as the others, but I wanted to give you guys a much needed update. Enjoy!
Charmed
o-o-o
Chapter Five: Catch Me If You Can
o-o-o
"Half of the day is almost over, and we still haven't found all of the girls!" Bixslow grumbled incessantly as he crossed his arms over his chest, annoyance firmly formed on his face as his babies fluttered around his head, chanting Girls! Girls!
Freed shook his head and sighed disdainfully. "We still have time, and while we haven't found all of them, let's be thankful that we haven't encountered Erza yet."
The two men stopped in their tracks to shudder at the thought of encountering the red headed mage in all her glory, picturing the beating she'd give them if they even attempted to tag her. Out of the question.
"Yeah well, I wouldn't be too fond of finding some of the others either." Bixslow commented, looking off towards the stream of water that flowed freely between the paved pathways. "We've got some scary girls in our guild."
"What? Like who?" Freed questioned, all the while scanning his surroundings for any signs of his female guild-mates. While he certainly wouldn't admit aloud that he was getting frustrated, it began to show in his slower pace and the boredom seeping out in his voice. Mavis, he wished that somebody would just put him out of his misery-
"Lisanna!" Bixslow suddenly exclaimed, while Freed frowned at the cloud he was admiring.
"Lisanna? Sure she's incredibly talented, but scary? What are you-"
"No!" Bixslow exclaimed, cupping Freed's chin and earning a surprised grunt from the runes mage all the while turning his head to his left. "There! We got one!"
Both Men's eyes landed on Lisanna's bright blue eyes as she'd just leapt down from the roof of the bakery, at first completely unaware of their presence. It wasn't until a few seconds later that her eyes connected with theirs, and they widened immensely as she clutched onto a piece of red fabric tied to her hip.
"Now, Freed!" Bixslow exclaimed as he took off after the white-haired female.
"Right!" Freed exclaimed before summoning his magic to his aid, grinning when he felt his magic practically pour from his fingertips. He knelt down upon the ground, and with just a blink of an eye, he activated his runes.
A bright flash of light suddenly appeared before a startled Lisanna, who immediately skidded to a shaking halt as a transparent wall of clear light blocked her path with a sudden burst. Freed watched with amusement as her horrified face was reflected in the wall. Gritting her teeth, she turned around to face the smirking pair of boys.
"Nice play, I guess." she mockingly complimented her guild-mates, taking a fighting stance. "It still won't be enough to catch me though!"
"Oh? And where will you go?" Bixslow laughed, his babies bobbing in the air joyfully. "Nowhere! Nowhere!" they chanted.
Yes, it was all over, they'd finally found someone to lower the girls' numbers in the game. Victory was sweet indeed.
And suddenly, the victorious feeling that the men held suddenly dropped into their stomachs as Lisanna abandoned her angry expression for an amused one, her eyes shimmering with mischief and relief.
Freed frowned at this, and glanced at Bixslow, who returned his questioning look.
All was answered when the path beneath their feet began to shake, and with one glance behind their backs, their eyes widened in horror.
The sky was ablaze with the oranges and golds of the impending sunset, wiping away the clear baby blue palette of day, signaling the close proximity to its end.
The guys had refused to abandon their energy or sense of purpose from the start of the game to the present moment, picking apart the town brick by brick in order to seek out their female guild-mates, in which they were only partially successful.
Alzack had managed to find Bisca rather easily, though his superb tracking skills weren't the only thing that helped him with his task. He'd taken the liberty of heading back to the guild to take his little Asuka out for a walk, who'd been kept under the watchful eyes of Kinana. The little girl had immediately run up to a cluster of trees and jumped up onto her hiding mother, who fell from behind the bark at the surprise force of her daughter.
"I gotcha mama!" the toddler had yelled, completely proud of herself for her small accomplishment, to which she was rewarded with a cluster of playful kisses from both of her parents before her husband tagged her, ending her participation in the game.
But, not before she's managed to place her lips upon her husband's cheek, all with the help of her daughter, who wrapped her small arms around her daddy's neck, keeping him in his place.
"Kiss him mama!"
Needless to say, a kiss on the cheek soon evolved into a kiss on the lips.
A few hours later, Elfman had managed to track down his sisters with the help of the almost complete Raijinshu, cornering them behind a bakery in town that was famous for their blueberry scones. Much to the macho mage's dismay, Lisanna had slipped out of his grasp, thanks to her kitty instincts, and traded her claws for wings as she flew off and away from sight. After that fiasco, Elfman went with Freed and Bixslow to search for Evergreen.
Mira and Laxus were still missing.
Natsu ruffled his hair as he let out an annoyed sigh, glancing up at the failing sky with a frustrated glare. He thought that they'd have found the majority of the girls by this time, hell, he thought that he himself would've had a bunch of girls found and out of the game under his belt. Sure, during the strategy meeting with his teammates, a handful of them complimented the girls' strength—not to mention their beauty—and their seemingly phenomenal magical ability, even he himself knew this. Put them all together, and they could be a deadly bunch. Nobody knew that better than the men of Fairy Tail, and even the women themselves. And, regardless of the high ego of the men's team, they still searched for loopholes in the listed rules, since they knew that the girls would do the same, and that fact was confirmed once Juvia had revealed herself with a red flag similar to the ones Laki and Kinana held.
Back when he'd visited Lucy's apartment, Natsu had swiped a tank top that was draped over her vanity chair. Sure, Lucy would have called it cheating, but the rules never prohibited stealing the others' clothing, and if he so happened to use it to enhance his chances of picking up her scent, well, there was no harm in that. He hadn't counted on the use of scent blocking perfume however, so that plan was a bust.
They'd started by writing down the names of the girls who would be the toughest to track, following by where they'd most likely head to. Juvia had been a cinch to decode, they all knew without a doubt that she'd take cover in an area with water. Erza, for all they knew, would probably take the liberty of hiding out in a bakery and have a sweet or two while she waited to be discovered. Wendy would pick the highest elevated spot, and Levy…well…Natsu decided to leave her up to Gajeel. They all did.
And then there was Lucy…
Natsu couldn't count on his single hand the number of places he thought she would head for first. There was always the new shopping center that she adored, but with the employers gone, the stores wouldn't be open. So that was a complete bust. Option two would lead him to the hot springs, and while that establishment was closed, the wall was low enough to climb over. It was even easier with the help of an exceed, or even a celestial spirit. But that didn't seem right either...
Natsu closed his eyes and did his best to abandon his usual instinct of sniffing her out, and instead, tried to get into his partner's head. He knew that she wouldn't stay too close to the guild, but she wouldn't be too far from it either. She wouldn't be in any area without action. Knowing Lucy, she'd be close by one of her teammates…just in case something bad were to happen.
"Tell me again why we let Elfman go by himself?" A familiar voice grumbled suddenly as the sounds of heavy and sloshing footsteps filled Natsu's ears.
"Because he's got am obvious and impeccable crush on Ever, and he probably feels that it's his duty as a man to be the one to find her on his own…like he's forgotten that you and I have been with her longer." another voice replied dryly.
Frowning, he turned towards the source of the voices only to find two sopping wet members of his team, their faces grim and their arms shivering.
"Freed? Bixslow?" Happy chirped with concern as he perched himself upon Natsu's right shoulder. "Why're you all wet like that?"
Natsu shook his head in amusement. "I think that the two of you would be far more coordinated to avoid falling into the river like this, but hey, there's a first time for everything right?"
The two wet Fairy Tail members looked at Natsu as if he were utterly insane, and while Freed began to speak, he was brusquely interrupted by his sopping wet partner in crime.
"What in the hell?! We're not stupid enough to fall into the river!" Bixslow exclaimed, crossing his arms and nodding his head behind him. "The girls ambushed us at the last second. We almost caught Lisanna, then a big ol' wave stormed onto the path and swept us right into it! Then Lisanna turned herself into some sort of angelfish and disappeared into the water!"
"And that was after she'd kissed the two of us." Freed frowned as he squeezed the sleeve of his maroon coat, a plentiful amount of water dripping down onto the once dry ground. "Well, we've always known her to be very stealthy at evasion." he said as he rubbed a flushed portion of his cheek.
"But that can't be true!" Happy suddenly exclaimed, grabbing the attentions of Freed and Bixslow.
"You calling us liars, cat?" Bixslow snarled.
Happy shifted his position on Natsu's shoulder and held out one of his paws, moving it around in air circles to exaggerate his speech while Natsu watched him with a curious eye. "That river's made up of freshwater, and angelfish need saltwater to live. So she couldn't have been an angelfish." The exceed reported. "You better get your facts straight."
"Wow, Happy! You're so smart!" Natsu praised his partner as Happy placed his paws on his hips and nodded in satisfaction.
"I know my fish facts. I consider myself an S-class fish expert." the exceed said in an as-a-matter-of-fact voice, while Freed and Bixslow glanced at each other with dry expressions, which seemed to be the only dry thing about them at the moment.
"But anyway," Happy continued, dropping his smug appearance for one of interest. "A wave hit you?"
Something clicked together in Natsu's brain, and he began to smirk in approval. "You'd think that bastard would've found her by now, since he practically boasted about it all day yesterday. I gotta hand it to Juvia, she's pretty sharp."
"And slippery!" Happy chirped, nodding his head in approval. "Juvia's just cool like that!"
Well, now they had an idea of where Lisanna and Juvia were, though Natsu doubted that they'd stay there for long. Knowing Lisanna, she'd find a way out of that river in a discreet way, perhaps she'd change into some sort of bird that Natsu couldn't pronounce and fly away, or seek refuge inside one of the buildings. Either tactic was practical.
And Juvia, well, she basically blended into any body of water that she had access to, so Natsu doubted that she'd leave the water that soon. Then again, Gray seemed pretty eager on finding her himself, not that any of them were surprised.
"Oye, we haven't seen Juvia at all."
Something weird sank into Natsu's stomach as he directed his attention towards Bixslow, something that felt like a small twinge of confusion. He frowned at the mage, who had followed Freed in squeezing the water out of his sleeves.
"What do you mean?" Natsu asked him, crossing his arms.
"I mean exactly what I said." Bixslow growled as he shook out his arm. "We haven't seen her. She hasn't shown her face since this morning when she was in the fountain throwing water at her boyfriend."
Natsu let the boyfriend comment slide for the moment, saving later for Gray as he shook his head. "You're telling me that it wasn't Juvia?"
"Wasn't her! Wasn't her!" Bixslow's babies chanted in the air insistently.
"Besides, we all know that once Juvia hits water, it's all over." Freed nodded to himself, wringing out his long green ponytail. "You won't be able to find her, let alone tag her. It's like trying to set fire underwater. Not possible."
Natsu shrugged skeptically as grinned, envisioning himself igniting his flames while submerged in the deepest ocean. While in the past, he may not have been able to accomplish this. But a solid year of intense training could result in some pretty serious flames, as Natsu had figured out once he'd accidentally evaporated an entire lake at the park one day. Needless to say, Lucy gave him complete and utter hell for it, and ended up refilling the entire lake by herself.
Natsu's grin suddenly dropped as he recalled the memory as clear as day, remembering the movement of her hands and the sparkling blue water that erupted from them, filling the empty void with liquid once again. He remembered watching in awe as the water level rose upwards and splashed onto the tips of the grassy shore, small waves rolling over green. She'd acquired a new outfit as well, substituting her skirt and blouse for her...what did she call it again?
"If ya ask me, that wave wasn't really Juvia's style." Bixslow pointed out. "Reminded me more of-"
"Hey! Natsu!" Freed exclaimed suddenly as the pink haired mage took off suddenly, sprinting away from Freed and Bixslow with Happy hot on his trail. "Where are you going?!" he yelled to him.
That's right, he thought to himself, lightly scolding himself for forgetting such an important piece to the puzzle. He wasn't the only one who'd gotten far more stronger over the past year. After all, the intensity of his flames grew immensely.
Who's to say that those waves couldn't have grown in size too?
Natsu looked over his shoulder for a brief moment, and flashed the pair a grin. "To finish this game!"
A/N: Next chapter consists of Gruvia...and lots of it my friends! Once again, your patience is well appreciated xx
Big hugs to my reviewers!: thesirenserenity, nominomi-chan, Snavej, Guest, fanficlove2014, bebelynn, trans am king, Blueberry10, MissySullivan, LuvThisFanFict, KristyKakes, iheartpickles, waffleham, Ashnmarley, papayachan, OgaxHilda, and Kaneki'sSpicyThigh's
You're all so amazing and your reviews make me happy :)
Until the next chapter, which I hope won't be long! Peace and love xx
Love you to Fiore and Back! xx