The morning of August 3rd…
Somewhere near the headwaters of Peace River...
When Natsu stopped walking and sank into a crouch, nose twitching, most of the party followed suit. For Gajeel and Ryos it was instinct that had them dropping into defensive positions and scanning the trees around them for threats. Happy's long years of working as Natsu's partner had him well trained to observe the slayer's behavior and react accordingly if he wanted to keep his tail. For Frosch and Wendy it was something between survival instinct and imitating the more experienced of the group out of logic, but they also stilled and fell silent.
Carla, however, had no such inclination, not even paying attention to the more experienced dragon slayers. She objected very strongly to this pointless meandering through the woods with a lot of uncultured, ignorant, violent males. The better pace she set the sooner she could get her poor Wendy away from such behavior and back to somewhere civilized. Frosch, the poor dear, was so young she shouldn't be taking missions at all, let alone hunting like the louts had done last night. That poor rabbit. The poor girls! There had been blood for heavens sake!
The older female glanced over to check on her charges and hissed in frustration when she found neither of them were with her. Her tail twitched in agitation as she turned back to scan the underbrush. The children had been so easily distracted lately. There. Natsu's messy pink bedhead hiding in the shadows. She propped her paws on her hips and laid her ears back in her best 'unhappy mother' pose.
"What on earth are you all doing? We don't have time for this." She narrowed her eyes when she saw Wendy shake her head at her. These ruffians were such a bad influence. "Stop lollygagging! We have places to-"
A roar sounded beside her and she screamed as huge white teeth erupted from the undergrowth, heading straight for her. Another roar sounded and Natsu's flaming fist just barely managed to knock the wyvern's head off course enough that Carla didn't vanish down it's maw. Iron and shadow rushed past her into the fray, followed by a snarling and enraged sky dragoness. Blood splattered on Carla's feet and she fainted.
…………….
High in the southern mountains...
Erza could feel her eye twitching as she watched these three supposedly respectable wizards guffaw over a frankly horrendous joke. She and Lucy had worked so hard to make Macao presentable before visiting the great Wizard Saint Warrod...and it had all been for naught. Turns out he's just a quirky old man with a terrible sense of humor and a deplorable fashion sense who just happened to have an extremely powerful green thumb.
"I can't say I'm actually surprised." Lucy sighed. "I mean...Gramps is a wizard saint too. I just expected a little more dignity from one of Ishgar's Four Emperors. But when you think about it...we should have known better."
"But… He's one of our guild's founding members…" How was this not shockingly horrifying?
"Exactly." Lucy pointed at the chuckling green haired man who had just made an extremely inappropriate comment about Vulcan reproductive habits to a man who spent more than a week as a Vulcan. "He's a Fairy Tail Wizard, Erza." Erza gave that a moment's consideration before her shoulders drooped in defeat.
"Think about it, ladies. For Fairy Tail to be what it is today we had to grow from roots that would bare fruit like Makarov, whose father was best friends with Warrod in their youth." Erza blinked at Loke where he was lounging against the wall. Sometimes she forgot he had a head on his shoulders with how often he seemed to prefer being led by the other one. She shook her head to dislodge that thought and nodded. He did, after all, have a point.
………..
North-eastern Fiore near the Boscan border...
Bisca breathed slowly as she watched the water slowly surge back and forth, each pass bringing more water up onto the banks of the swampy lake. Mystogan stood in the open, staff waving slowly as if he were conducting an orchestra through a particularly slow, sweet song. Getting to watch their secretive S class mage in action was a real treat as far as she was concerned. She could feel the magic power he was channeling as he pushed and pulled the water.
Mystogan's stance shifted and Bisca could feel herself tense in anticipation. The next surge of water brought a pair of eyes surrounded by long spines bursting forth. An orange and blue claw the size of a small house shot forward and only then did the other half of the team move. Laki stepped forward, feet braced as a giant wooden foot formed from the ground. It rushed upward just in time for the heel to knock the claw off it's trajectory and send it harmlessly over Mystogan's head.
While the claw was knocked up between the crab's eye stalks and his hiding place Alzack took the chance to take three shots. Bisca recognized his explosive shot, and the precision of those shots, placed with only a split moment to prepare, pulled an almost silent moan from her. All three had landed in the flexible, soft joint where the claw met the body.
She didn't have time to appreciate her partner's work because the crab's reeling back from the injury gave her the opening she had been waiting for. She let the rest of the air flow from her lungs and squeezed the trigger. One eye down, One and half a dozen feelers to go. At this rate they'd have all they could eat crawdad tonight for sure. Maybe the boys would be more willing to strip off layers with full bellies.
…………….
Autumn City. Quatro Cerberus Guild...
Now these. These were men's men. They spoke from their hearts and backed those words up with their fists. The Guildmaster here was an old friend of Master Makarov's so Cana would be perfectly safe with Goldmine, and nobody who valued their manhood tried to 'protect' Mickey Chickentiger, so Elfman was free to enjoy himself.
Quatro Cerberus was a far more combat oriented guild than Fairy Tail. Where the center of guild activity for the Fairies was the bar, here the social interactions were focused primarily on the sparring ring in the center of the hall. Men crowded the ropes and shouted encouragement and advice to whoever happened to be engaged in the ring.
"Hit him where it counts, Rocker!"
"Quit letting him dance around you!"
"Go Wild!"
"WILD!"
Really Elfman was far too focused on trying to catch the drilling punches that kept being thrown his way to incorporate any of their advice. He did notice Gray jeering at him though and that just wouldn't do. He'd catch this little man and hang him by his stupid hair if thats what it took.
"I'll show you what a real Fairy Tail man can do!'
………….
On a boar-drawn wagon heading West from Onibus...
Troy rarely got the chance to really talk about his magic. Normally people were too busy with their own issues and far more interested in talking about their own magic and interests. Alanza seemed to really be interested in hearing about the different types of plants he could grow.
"Fly traps are a cheating plant. Plus they want a lot of water. Levy's jobs normally don't take us to wet places. That's why I prefer sturdy vines. They're tougher and more cooperative. Means they demand less of my magic."
"So things like Ivy?"
"Ivy makes a good binding plant if it has places to sink it's roots. I like Morning Glory. It's really hardy! The main problem with it is that it can be invasive if I leave seeds behind, especially since those are poisonous so they don't get eaten by birds."
"Aren't those flowers?"
"Yeah!" He couldn't keep the grin off his face as he dug through his pockets for his seeds, sending the sprouting vines curling up his arm to show off. "They come in different colors. I like the blue ones best." He glanced sideways to see if Levy noticed that the erupting flowers were the same color as her hair. She didn't. "Sadly they don't last long." The flowers quickly faded and seed pods formed. He carefully caught them when they burst, keeping the seeds from scattering everywhere.
"They're pretty. You said they're easy to grow? Could I maybe have one?"
"Sure!" He grinned as he handed a few over to the orange haired girl. "Just give them a little earth in a sunny spot and they should spring right up!"
"Awesome! I've never actually grown anything before."
"Oh, well in that case…" He riffled through his pouches again. He had some other things she might like to try.