Hello guys, I'm sooooo sorry. I know I'm only making escuses, but believe me…combined with my natural laziness and my computer crashing. It's been hectic lately. And don't think that I haven't been burned for that. I have a very faithful friend at school whose been pushing me to upload a new chapter…I'm sorry this chapter is short. Until I can get the compu stabilized… YAY done with EOCs!

Looking out of the window, Lucy could see rolling green hills and an ever-blue sky. It was picturesque, like the scene should've been on a mural in some heiresses house. She would've loved to just relax and sigh…but the mission was heavy on her mind. The dark guilds have been bolder lately, not to mention powerful. It was as if exile made the mages stronger.

Of course no one could enjoy the scenery much, Natsu being his normal motion-sick self vomited out the window. Lucy cringed. Natsu turned towards her, his face an unhealthy green tint.

"I told u…Blearghh….that we should've ran" Natsu choked out before rushing his face over the window again.

"RUN? You want to run across half the country?" Lucy shrieked. Natsu just looked hopefully at the rest of the cabin mates.

"Patience Lucy, and Natsu you shouldn't exhaust your teammate like that." Erza place her hand on Lucy's shoulder. She gathered a steely look which Natsu knew it meant the final word.

"And we've already bought these…overly priced tickets. It's as if the world wants to beggar us." Jake sighed.

The train jolted as it chugged across a bend. The fairytail band grabbed onto the red cushions of their seats…but to no avail. Several mages dropped painfully onto their rumps (lol XD). Natsu dirtied the environment with throw-up with new vigor.

"Believe it or not, for once, I actually AGREE with that flame-headed idiot. The sooner we get off this train, the better." Gray patted his behind and winced. "Do we even have a place to stay?" He looked at Black who held the mission description…as well as the meager budget the guild provided them. Sooner or later, they'd have to work in order to sustain themselves…and the inevitable debt they'd land themselves in with the destruction they brought.

"Well, I'd highly doubt our beloved…CARING…THOUGHTFUL… guild master would abandon us with no place to sleep for the night." Black spat. "But seriously, master was a bit nearsighted this time…apparently us and another group of mages from Lamia Scale are going to room in ONE house. Our 'client' as we apparently need a cover-up reason to be there."

"Cover-up" Lucy asked.

"Yes, cover-up. You can't expect us to waltz into the dark guild's territory without them being suspicious…and we can't investigate freely. It would raise the villager's awareness of how dire of a situation the country is in."

Lucy, Gray, and Jake gulped and exchanged glances. Erza sat neatly in her Heart Cruz armor, like she'd heard this once before…and Natsu was too sick to respond.

"Whose house are we staying at?" Gray asked.

"An old friend of Master's … Jessica Flow. She owns quite a big mansion and is known as the local "jack-of-trades". In fact, I'd say she's the most famous one."

The train rambled along as the group sat in silence. Slowly small houses and scattered ranches were coming into view…they were nearing their destination.

"And our 'cover-up' job/story?"

Black got up and gathered her belongings. The conductor had just called the last station of the day, Enzaria.

"We're supposed to be researching element stones, lachrymal, and precious metals. We'll also be under the pretense of a reality show…"

"…" You can imagine the shell-shocked faces of the mages gathered in that tiny booth.

Hello guys, I'm SOOOOO sorry I didn't update. Just a warning, I'll be going to Korea for the Summer starting from June 14. I'll still update…but I dunno when. BUT I"LL TRY REALLY HARD!