Chapter 13

The Dark Woods is what they call these woods. It is an apt name for this place. The trees obscure the sunlight so well it is difficult to see. The mage group are not daunted by this though. Natsu's magic is more than enough to illuminate the area, and with two dragon slayers, they could also rely on scent to get them through.

"I wonder what kind of monster it is?" Natsu says excitedly.

"I hope it's nothing too scary." Wendy replies.

Erza puts a reassuring hand on Wendy's shoulder. The younger mage still needs to learn how to fight, but for now she can rely on her allies. They had already agreed that on their off time, they would work with her to learn some offensive spells.

Natsu suddenly stops and looks over to a tree. Wendy follows suit and recognizes the same scent Natsu does. The fire dragon slayer brings his hand closer to the bark to reveal slash marks against it.

"There was a fight here." Mard Geer observes.

Anna takes a closer look at the area around them and notices that the terrain was ripped up in some places.

"It must be from that monster." Erza concludes.

"Yes and no." Natsu informs her, "I do smell a scent I don't recognize, but there's another."

"And you recognize this other scent?" Erza asks, coming up closer to Natsu.

"Gajeel." Wendy answers.

Natsu nods his head.

"So, you think he did battle with whatever monster is in these woods?" Mard Geer asks.

"Or he is the monster."

Mard Geer shakes his head in disagreement.

"Gajeel wouldn't do that!" Wendy shouted in defense, "I mean he is scary…but he wouldn't do that!"

"Who's Gajeel?" Erza asks.

"He's the Iron Dragon Slayer." Natsu answers.

"And him and Natsu don't exactly get along." Mard Geer continues.

Wendy chimes in, "They fight a lot."

"Saying that, Gajeel would be a good addition to our team."

Erza looks to Natsu, who does not look thrilled at all about the prospect of Gajeel joining them.

"I don't think we need any more members on our team." She says, much to Natsu's relief, "Either way, we should finish this mission and move on."

The group continues through the forest. Natsu and Wendy have an easy time leading them, thanks to their ability to track Gajeel by scent alone. Looking around, Mard Geer silently acknowledges how difficult it would be to make it through the forest without the Dragon Slayers. They are lucky to have found the cuts in the first place. If they were to try and follow a path of cut marks, it would be extremely difficult.

Natsu and Wendy lead the group to a large open cave. Unfortunately, with the dark shading meant they have very little visibility inside the cave.

"Gajeel's scent went in there. Along with the monster." Natsu informs everyone.

Erza and Mard Geer step forward, with Mard Geer gently pushing Wendy back. If they encounter a fight, he doesn't want to risk the young Dragon Slayer getting hurt. She still has a lot of training ahead of her before he is confident that she is ready for combat.

Erza requips a sword and keeps herself at equal pacing with Natsu. She takes on a defensive stance, ready to parry an attack at a moments notice. Mard Geer stands behind Erza, intent on striking whatever she parries along with Natsu. Behind them, Anna summons Pisces to protect herself and Wendy.

With their positions settled, the group ventures into the cave. Natsu's flames illuminate the dark cave and they see a bunch of crates and provisions strewn about. It definitely looks like a fight broke out as they go deeper into the cave. That's when they hear the clashing of metal.

True to Natsu and Wendy's noses, before them is a young man with wild black spikey hair with iron studs adorned on his face. They recognize this person to be Gajeel. Fighting him is a large cow man with a metal mask bearing a two-sided axe. Back against the wall, scared out of his mind, is a lean man in a ripped-up coat.

Gajeel is smiling eagerly as he slashes at his adversary with an iron sword born from his arm. The monster parries the sword-arm with his own weapon. Before he can react though, Natsu jumps into the fray and sucker punches the monster into the wall.

"What?" Gajeel asks with confusion before realizing who just joined the fray, "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing!" Natsu shouts back.

"Well I asked you first!" Gajeel replies, "Doesn't matter, stay outta my way!"

"No way, we were asked to stop the monster attacking people."

"Well I'm already handling it!"

The two Dragon Slayers butt heads and stare each other down. Natsu takes the first punch and throws a flaming fist at Gajeel. The force of the impact launches Gajeel back into a wall. He quickly recovers though and shoots an iron pole at Natsu and launches him into the opposite wall. Erza and Anna watch in shock as the two Dragon Slayers duke it out. Mard Geer and Wendy look unfazed by this though.

"Help me break this up, please." Mard Geer pleads to Erza, before turning to the other two girls and Celestial Spirits, "Could you four secure the monster and that man?"

"Oh, he's not a monster." Mother Pisces informs Mard Geer, "That's Taurus."

"Either way, it looks like he just about beaten. Can you handle it?"

"No problem!" Son Pisces says with a thumbs up.

With that settled, Mard Geer and Erza jump in to break up Natsu and Gajeel. Erza swings her sword at Gajeel, while Mard Geer uses his thorns to restrain Natsu. Unfortunately for both of them, these attacks prove to be ineffective. Gajeel covers his arms in iron just before Erza's sword makes contact, and he proceeds to destroy said sword. Natsu meanwhile simply ignites the thorns on fire and breaks free.

"What're you doing!?" Natsu shouts at Mard Geer.

"Why are you two fighting?" Mard Geer asks in response, "We both have the same objective and he's not the enemy!"

Natsu stops for a moment but quickly sidesteps Mard Geer and jumps at Gajeel, who is pulling back to hit Erza. Natsu intercepts him and manages to stop Gajeel's attack. Erza requips another sword and charges her magic into it for some reinforcement. She trusts that they can end this peacefully, so she opts to not change to another armor.

"Both of you knock it off!" Mard Geer shouts at them, "Now is not the time!"

"Let me finish this monster then!" Gajeel shouts back.

"Um…Gajeel, we already finished him." Wendy shyly informs him.

The four combatants look over to see Anna tying up the scared man. Taurus is nowhere to be seen.

"Dammit!" Gajeel says in defeat.

"Man, you really did a number on him too." Son Pisces confesses, "He went down without a fight."

That seems to have lifted Gajeel's spirit, "Well duh, he didn't stand a chance."

"Either way," Anna begins as she finishes tying up the man, "I think we found our culprit."

Anna pulls a key out of the man's pocket and flashes it to everyone. It's Taurus's Gate Key.

"Gihihi, another crime solved by the Great Detective Gajeel."

The group meets Gajeel! Will he join them on their trip to Mount Zonia?

Thank you for reading and please review!