Chapter 3

"Ice make... Hammer!" Gray yelled as a huge ice hammer appeared over the heads of several unsuspecting mages. A few gasps were heard as the hammer did its work.

"They just keep coming!" Lucy yelled, as she summoned out another one of her spirits. "And all of them are strong..." Erza mused, blocking an attack with her sword before striking the enemy in his weak spot. 'This does not look great... They aren't going down without taking 3 or 4 powerful shots...' she thought.

Meanwhile, Natsu held his own on the battle field. He was pretty fired up and was taking them down with just 1 or 2 shots. "Hah! Is that all you
got?!" he asked, while punching another one. But given the way they kept coming and considering the fact that they were fighting for a while now, Natsu knew he couldn't keep this up. It was only a matter of time before he ran out of power. That won't be any time soon, but they still hadn't taken down their leader... And considering how strong his men were, he was sure that he was pretty powerful himself.

So, he did the only sensible thing that could be done at that point and attacked their leader. He knew the other 3 would be able to take care of the other men.
"Fire dragon's... Roar!" yelled Natsu as he roared, expecting his mouth to spew fire. But before he could actually carry out his attack, a man stood in his way "Oye oye... You still haven't defeated us yet... You only get to fight him after going through all of us..." he said.

Natsu was about to punch him too, but he sensed his power and knew that just a punch wouldn't be enough to take him out... He was going to have to take him more seriously than the others... Natsu closed his eyes, took a breath and exhaled. "Okay then. Bring it on."

The man smirked and ran forward, with one arm ready to punch Natsu. With Happy's help, he dodged the attack and seeing his enemy's back wide open, launched a quick kick, aiming for his back. The man ducked as Natsu's kick went over his head. He smirked and Natsu being wide open, punched his thigh. The punch connected, sending Natsu a few feet in the air. "Damn...you aren't half bad." Natsu said, getting serious. "Thank you, but I'd appreciate it if you fought me seriously. And if that's the best you can do, then I suggest you surrender right now."

"Nah...I was just warming up. I'm all fired up now." Natsu said, punching his right fist on his left palm. "Fire dragon's roar!" Natsu said as he attacked his enemy. He dodged it easily and somersaulted into the air and got ready to attack. But before he could get ready to attack, he found himself staring at Natsu's face. 'So fast!' he thought before Natsu's flaming fist connected with his face, sending him into ground, not to get up any time soon.

'Well that was certainly easier than I thought' Natsu thought, as he turned towards their leader. "Happy, you can rest for a bit. I'll be needing you later." Natsu said to Happy, who was hovering over his head. "Are you sure?" Happy asked. Natsu nodded. "Okay then! Do your best!" Happy said, as he flew over a tree and sat on it's branch, resting.

Natsu could see the others from the corner of his eyes. Lucy had summoned three of her spirits while she herself was fighting with her whip. Her whip was wrapped around the legs of a guy as she lifted her whip and slammed the guy into his comrade. Both of them fell down almost instantly, having bashed their heads with each other. Suddenly, another man sneaked behind her, ready to hit her. Natsu was about to shout her name, but she turned in time to give him a powerful Lucy kick. The man flew, who knows where. Natsu smiled a bit, but he could see that she was panting loudly, exhausted. After all, fighting while having summoned out three spirits, could not have been that easy for her. However, he believed in her and was sure that she would be able to fight until the end.

He saw her lips move and realised she was saying something to Erza, who was standing a few feet from her, her sword in her hand. There were a few dozen men lying around her, no wonder, defeated by her. He saw her resolved face and pitied the men who were facing her. In a swift move, all of them were down, a surprised expression on their faces. But he knew that even she was exhausted. They had been fighting for quite a while now and yet they just kept coming.

He could hear Gray, freezing people and battling the others with his ice sword. The people creeping up behind him all went down as pointed ice spears hit them. He would never admit it to anyone, but Natsu knew he was strong. But right now they needed to take all of them down and fast.

Grinning, Natsu yelled at Gray "You really are an ice princess, Gray." He pointed to the dozens of men lying around him and continued, "Are those all the men you took down? Is that the best you can do?". "Huh? What'd you say, flame brain? At least I took down more that you did or probably ever will." "Oh yeah? Want to bet?" Gray asked, smirking. "Fine. If you're that eager to lose, I don't mind. And by 'lose', I did not mean your clothes." Gray looked down, confused. "Aah! Where is my shirt?!". "So I take it that you're ready?" Natsu asked him. Gray, having finally found his shirt, smirked. "The first one to reach 50, wins." He said, putting his shirt on. Natsu nodded, attacking the first guy he saw, bringing him down with a punch. "That's one for me." "Make that one for two!" said Gray as he took down two guys.

Lucy could feel her magical power draining down with every shot, she knew she wouldn't last long. She looked over to Erza and saw her taking on a bunch of guys and defeating them with two strikes. Erza was stronger than her and could probably last longer than her but she had limits too. They had to end this quickly. For once, she was almost glad of the effect that their constant bickering had on Natsu and Gray. She had overheard about the bet and could see them taking down twice the guys than before. They would reach 100 in no time. That should be the last of the men, leaving just their leader. She was glad but he seemed strong.

"That's 50!" Natsu and Gray said, punching their 50th guy together. "I touched him first!" Natsu said. "No you didn't!" Gray said. "Well then there's only one way to settle this..." Natsu said, turning to the leader.

"Are you two brats finally done bickering? Because I've got a schedule to keep" he said, glancing to his watch on his left wrist. "You guys took a lot of time getting here anyways and you were even slower in taking my men out... "

"What schedule? And why are you doing this?" Natsu asked, pissed. "Don't you think it's a little late for that question?" the man said. "I'll answer you anyways... One should know why are they being thoroughly screwed, don't u think?" the man asked. Natsu stared at him, confused.

"After taking care of you guys, m supposed to go to your guild, meet up with the others and destroy it and all... You know... The usual..." he said, nonchalantly.
"The guild? But why? Who are you? And Not that we'd let you." Erza said, tightening the grip around her sword.

The man had a look at his watch again and said "I know I said that you should know the reason but I really don't have time. I'll explain it in short for your sake- I'm Lucifer from the guild 'Rouges of Hate'. And we've decided to end the annoying existence of your guilds which pose a threat to our evil plans. It's that simple." He said.

"And now, I believe it's my que to take care of you four". Yawing, he pulled something out of his pocket.
Aiming the gun at the ground near them, he fired four shots near each one of them. The gas spread before they could blink and the gasps boosted the process as the four of them fell, unconscious.

Meanwhile... At the guild...
"Minna!" Juvia yelled as she and Happy burst into the guild hall. "Gray-sama and the others... They're in trouble! "

R & R please!