A week had passed, both Ryker and Wendy had barely attended the guild. They spent their days training on the beach, going to the salon just to eat once in a while, when they didn't eat out. For most Fairy Tail members this had become normal, but for some it was new. Especially the members of Team Natsu, who have recently returned.

Titania was at the bar, feasting on her piece of strawberry cake when she found her little friend missing.

"Looking for someone Erza?" Mira said, noticing her rival was looking around the room, as if looking for something.

"Yea. I haven't seen Wendy since we got back. Did she go on another mission by chance?"

"No," Mira replied. "She's been training with Ryker all week."

"What!?", the redhead said in surprise. "They are training! ... Oh yes, I understand", she smiles . "That's really good. Training never hurts, it improves movements, makes us stronger and we always learn new things. This is very good for Wendy", Titania was all excited and had stars in her eyes of excitement.

"Apparently those two are getting along very well," Mira added.

"That is great. Members of the same guild should always get along," the redhead said with her arms crossed and an air of authority that only she had.

"Like you, Natsu and Gray?", Mira teased her maliciously.

Erza gave her a death glare upon hearing those words. "What do you mean by that Mirajane," she replied firmly.

The white-haired woman put her hands open in front of her body in surrender and said, "Nothing", but she gave her a mischievous look and smile.

Erza let that situation go, clearly a mild tease from her childhood rival. "Anyway, where are they training?" .

"On the beach, behind the Guild".

"Very well. I think I'll take a look at what they're doing," The red-haired mage said getting up from her seat and heading towards the back of the building. "Inspecting what others are doing is my duty, so that nothing gets out of hand," she said at the end.

"It is clear. Have a good view," Mira teased her one last time. Erza just shot a reproachful look at the other mage in the bar, drawing a smile from her.

Erza headed for the beach where Ryker and Wendy were training, it wasn't long before she saw two figures in the distance, which she immediately assumed were her guildmates. Moving closer, she confirmed her suspicions and noted what kind of training they were doing. It was a strange thing, they, as far as she could see, were using bamboo sticks, where one tried to attack the other in various parts of the body and the other defended and counterattacked, using hand and arm movements, with and without the stick. .

It was clear that the older mage was more experienced than the younger, his movements were more fluid and dynamic, the little one's harder and more uncertain. The Requip mage watched in awe, she had never seen those moves before, but she liked it. He deduced that they were moves to be made with some kind of blade. She stood there watching them for a while, not wanting to interrupt her practice right in the middle.

Ryker and Wendy, meanwhile, were oblivious to the newly arrived observer and were training Kali Silat. They had been at it for a few hours and both showed tiredness, the little Dragon Slayer even more so.

"It's good for today", said the mage stopping his movements and relaxing, his little apprentice did the same. "You've improved quite a bit in this short time, Wendy," he said with a slight smile.

"Thanks Ryker," she replied in half-weary sighs. "It's been a lot of fun," she laughed graciously.

"Fun! This is something my instructors never thought of," he told himself thoughtfully, but with her sensitive ears the young bluenett listened perfectly.

"Didn't you have fun in your training?", she asked.

"What ?" , he was surprised that she had overheard, but he remembered Mira having once said that Dragon Slayers have superior hearing and sense of smell than ordinary people. "Oh, forget it, it was a long time ago. And now it was fun", she said trying not to worry her little companion, what a nod .

"What are we going to do next?", Wendy was all excited.

"Calm down girl! We're not going to do anything. Rest is as important as training. We've been training all week, let's give the body time to recover", he said seriously.

"Ah! Of course", the young mage opened a beautiful smile in agreement.

"Well then, let's just sit here and rest," said the magician who was already sitting on the sand on the beach and sighing with fatigue. Wendy and Carla followed him and sat beside him. The three of them just stood there, resting and enjoying the view.

This lasted until a shadow fell over them, a shadow in the shape of a person. All the mages looked up and back to see who was there.

"Erza- san !" yelled Wendy, getting up immediately and hugging her friend.

"Hello Wendy. Are you okay ?" said the redhead with a smile on her face.

"Yea. We were training with Ryker, he showed us a lot of new things", the little girl was smiling.

"And even? What did he teach?" Titania asked looking at the mage still sitting on the sand with a disinterested face.

"Nothing big," he said without interest. "I've been out of action for some time and decided to go back to training a little. It's good to have training partners and the little one is one of the good ones".

"Yes, I understand", the redhead looked at him for a moment. "Well if you guys finished training why don't we all go back to the guild?", she said with mild excitement.

" Yes!" , replied Wendy, and looked at Ryker, who saw her and gave a slight smile.

"That's fine with me," he said. Everyone went back to the guild, which was starting to get noisy as the late afternoon and early evening arrived, indicating some sort of party or celebration for any apparent reason.

Wendy and Carla were sitting at a table along with Erza and the other magicians having fun with conversation and jokes, at a far table Ryker was alone staring into space.

A few hours passed and the soldier mage was still sitting alone and preventing, with an unfriendly look, other people from joining him at the table. This, however, did not stop a mage from doing so.

"Why aren't you sitting at the bar?" Ryker, upon hearing it, looked in the direction of the voice and saw the red-haired mage standing beside him. One of her hands on her waist, she had a questioning look in her eyes.

"You're usually just sitting there, talking to Mira and her brothers," Erza said as she settled herself on the bench across from him.

The magician looked at her sitting down and smirked. "It's good to change from time to time and Mira are very busy today distributing beers for these idiots. I don't want to disturb her anyway"

"I noticed," said the redhead looking around and at the wizard in front of her.

"Mira said you went on a mission," said Ryker, who was confirmed by the mage with a nod. "So how was it?" .

Erza couldn't contain her enthusiasm. "As always fine," she replied.

"Didn't you destroy anything?" he said smugly.

This caught the attention of the magician Requip, who looked at him with disgust, with little shame and a slight shyness. "Some things, maybe…" she said, Ryker smiling slightly, enjoying the expression of the all-powerful mage in front of him.

"Of course you destroyed it," he said slyly. "Even I, who have been here for a short time, know about your team's fame…and the guild in general", he couldn't contain a slight smile.

"It was just side effects", she said crossing her arms and frowning, blush was visible on her cheeks. He really liked her way. She could go from a warrior, bossy and bossy with no patience, to a sweet and innocent girl in two seconds.

Across the guild hall other members were looking at the table where Erza and Ryker were standing.

"Dude that's weird. That guy glared at everyone who made a move to sit at the same table as him, but for Erza he didn't do anything."

"Of course not an idiot. It's Erza Scarlet, what could he do?" .

"That's true there. Or is there something else going on there. They seem pretty entertained with each other"

"And I don't know. I'm the one who won't mess with Titania and that guy."

And at this moment a strong thud was felt on the table, startling the magicians who were talking, when they looked they saw a glass of beer on the table with some of the liquid spilled and Mirajane looking darkly at Ryker and Erza's table. The magicians at the table, let's say they pissed themselves.

Returning to Erza and Ryker's table...

Ryker was looking at his mate and her way, he'd heard a few stories about her, not quite true, but he still had no idea why the other wizards were afraid of her. She indeed commanded respect and had a presence that was hard to ignore, she was powerful, he could feel it, but fear…never, not hers.

"Hey Erza", she called her. "What you want? You sat here for a reason didn't you ?"

The redhead looked at him, he was shrewd, she had to notice and I smiled. "You're right. I was wondering if I didn't want to go on a mission."

"Mission? What kind of mission?" he asked getting curious.

Erza took the flyer from work and handed it to the wizard. "It's a hunt, some Troll is destroying a village and we have to go there and finish him off."

"Troll eh ! Yeah, sounds interesting. But why don't you go with your team?" , the magician said handing back the paper from the work.

Erza looked to the side blushing a little, something not typical for her. "Well Natsu left with Lucy for one job and Gray went with Juvia for another. So I thought you could go."

"So, I'm just a stand-in for your friends, is that it?" he said, though not seriously, but the redhead didn't notice.

"No, no, that's not it," Erza held her hands out in front of her shaking vigorously trying to clear up the misunderstanding. "I saw what you can do and I know you would be perfect for the job and that..."

"Hey, hey, calm down, it was just a joke", he interrupted her and gave a light laugh at the situation. Erza saw what he did and glared at him.

"I accept the job. As Natsu says…", he made a thoughtful face, "…it will be fun".

"He says 'I'm on fire,'" she corrected him, and he shrugged.

"When do we leave?", the magician asked seriously.

"We leave tomorrow morning."

"OK. I think it will be interesting work with you, Erza Scarlet", he looked into her eyes, and the mage turned red as her hair.

She stood up immediately, showing all her grandeur. "We meet tomorrow morning here at the guild, be prepared, I won't accept failures, understand?", said authoritatively.

Ryker smiles fiercely and confidently looking at her, "I'll do it, I'll be prepared."