Ch. 6 - At the Mermaid Fountain

Day: 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Genre: Humor, Family

Summary: My Next-Gen. Asuka Connell, now 23, gets wrapped into babysitting the twins of terror — Iggy and Nashi Dragneel.

Asuka Connell scanned the Request Board, twirling the bottom of her long, dark braid with one hand and mouthing the words as she read them. Find Missing Necklace — 2,000 jewel. Predict Future — 10,000 jewel. Detect Demonic Activity — 50,000 jewel. Nothing really up her alley. Then her eyes fixed onto a slightly burnt piece of paper. Babysit Children For a Night — 200,000 jewel. Asuka could do that. She was good with children. And the MONEY. Soooo much money.

She ripped the request off the board and walked towards the bar where Ivy Dreyar was working.

Ivy was the younger of the Dreyar siblings at 14 years. Her hair was pulled up into a messy bun, and one large, black strand hung over her face. Her large blue eyes smiled as she leaned over the counter to hand Ross Fernandes, the 10-year-old son of Jellal and Erza Fernandes, a drink. He whispered a thank you, then walked towards an empty table.

It really was surprising how shy that kid was, considering his parentage.

"Hey Ivy, I'm gonna take this job request. Can you mark me up?" Asuka asked.

Ivy looked skeptical. "You sure, Asuka? All the others have been avoiding that one like the plague." She nodded in response, and Ivy shrugged, taking the piece of paper from the gunner's hand. "Alright," she said, reading it over quickly. "It says here that you have to meet your clients at," — she paused, squinting at the paper — "the mermaid fountain at 8:00 tonight."

"I can do that." Asuka smiled. "Thanks." She walked to the table where Ty and Ulli, the other two parts of Team Rapidfire, were sitting. Or rather, Ty was sitting, and Ulli was holding onto his arm and refusing to let go. The poor boy looked torn between horror and ecstasy.

Tyler Dreyar was Ivy's older brother. His white hair stuck up at random angles, and his gray eyes were wide as he stared at Ulli.

Ulli Fullbuster was the daughter of Juvia and Gray Fullbuster, and the older sister of Silver Fullbuster. Her dark blue, almost black hair hung loose in tangled curls, framing a pale face.

"Ulli! Leave the boy alone! He looks like he's about to have a heart attack!" Asuka yelled. As the oldest member of her team, she was often in charge of keeping order.

"No! Ulli will never let go of her Ty-sama! Love Rival will take him!" Across the room, Gray glared at a proud, smiling Juvia.

"This is your fault, crazy woman." He muttered.

"Ulli," Asuka said in a warning tone, "I am six years older than you. I am not about to start dating Sparky over there."

"Hey—" Ty started, but was silenced by a glare from Asuka. He pouted. She had no right to call him that — his magic was not exactly like his father's. Ty's magic was Takeover: Storm Soul. It allowed him to take the power of large storms like hurricanes and tornadoes and convert them into magic. It also worked with other peoples' magic, if it could be related to storms in some way. For example, he had a takeover called 'Firestorm' from when he had absorbed some of Natsu's flames as a child, and one called 'Blizzard' from when Gray found out that Ulli had taken a liking to him.

"Oh. Right." Ulli let go of Ty's arm, a embarassed blush growing across her face. The female ice-make mage had to be reminded about every other day that Asuka was not a threat.

"Good. Moving on. I found us a big, well-paying job." She explained the request she had found on the board. With every word she spoke, the terror on her friends' faces grew. "…why are you looking at me like that?"

"That job was put up by the Dragneels, Asuka."

Asuka stood, fidgeting and alone, at the base of the mermaid fountain. The stone statue hadn't worked since she was a kid, and there was no water in sight. The pool was cracked, and weeds grew up in between fractures, striving for even the tiniest bit of light.

Her so-called teammates had refused to come with her, but the gunner was obligated to go. It would dirty Fairy Tail's name if she did not.

And trust me, one did not want to dirty Fairy Tail's name. Especially if they lived in the same town as most of the guild's members.

So here she stood, in this park, all alone at eight o'clock, waiting for her clients to show up.

TO BE CONTINUED!

DUN, DUN, DUN! Now you have to wait 'till Tuesday for the end of this. What do you think of my Next Generation kiddies? Please tell me in the comments! I also might make a guide to my characters if you guys want it. Please review! Cookies for all who do :D

Natsu: K-kids… *blushes*

Erza: …kids? *runs off to hide under a rock*

I'll see y'all tommarow!