After climbing numerous ladders and rocky edges, the two stood on a small edge of the mountain. Wendy held her nose through the whole way. So many scents, all differ, interfere with her strong sense of smell. The red haired woman looked down at the small child with sympathy; she knew too well of their strong sense of smell, especially one time she walked into Crocus with the pink haired and she sniveled up from all of the different scents.

"You alright?" she asked; even her voice was giving away hints of her emotions.

Wendy slowly nodded and lifted her shirt over her nose. That was all she could do while rock climbing. She needed both of her hands for that so she had to pull through with all of the scents following her up the mountain.

"We will rest here tonight. In an hour, we will not have any more daylight," she observed. The sun was going behind the mountain, and soon everything on this side of the mountain would be covered in shadows. "There's some trees over there to use as firewood for now." The scarlet haired woman started walking over to the prickly bushes and trees. She grabbed a branch and broke it over her knee.

Carla sat down next to Wendy. She suggested she could fly one of them up there, but they needed to stay together.

Soon the red haired came back with an armful of branches. Wendy started placing the branches into a pyramid, while Erza grabbed a lighter from her bag. The lighter flared and touched the branches.

The small cat pushed Wendy away as the fire flared into the air. "Looks like someone poured gas over the branches," Erza started. She slowly leaned back in her seat. Just enough for Wendy to see the woman's charred face. She hid her mouth behind her hand and giggled at Erza's burnt face.

If this was anyone else, Erza would have taken no time and smacked them with her armor covered fist. Instead, she returned a friendly smile as she patted her hair back down over her shoulders. "You thought that was funny?" she uttered.

Imminently, Wendy halted her breath of giggles and her eyes widen as she stared at Erza.

"Then how about this?" She pulled a flashlight from her bag and lite up her face. Her frizzy haired turned into unruly fur shadows on the rock behind them. Her eyes lite up as they beamed down upon Wendy.

The girl screeched in fright.

Erza flicked the flashlight off and looked around for the small girl, "What's wrong? I thought that was funny..." she slumped her shoulders and leaned back on the rock. Soon Wendy's head poked back into view as she regained her seat on the other side of the fire.

"That was scar-"

"It was what?" she demanded.

"Uh-n-nothing!"

Carla gazed at Erza with a disproving stare.

Erza looked up into the sky, "I grabbed some candies from the city, would you like a share?" It was as if she knew she went over board with the small girl and wanted to repay her back. She grabbed a bag of small goodies from inside of her sack.

"No, I'm good," Wendy lied as she looked down at the fire.

The red haired didn't listen and divided her stash into two piles. She handed Wendy one pile and kept the rest for herself.

...

Sting looked back at the two and groaned. Why was he stuck with these two out of all of them?

Juvia was half in her water form as she tried to keep Gray from melting in the intense heat. It would only seem that Juvia was sent along with them to keep the two from turning into sand themselves.

"He's not the only one hot," Sting moaned.

The water girl paid no attention to him. And while Gray was in her mitts, he was cursing. "Get off me!" he grumbled under his breath. Unlike the other two, he was close to melting for being an ice mage. He wasn't use to this type of weather.

And, much to Juvia's annoyance, he wore desert clothes. Juvia wrapped herself in what seemed like a sheet. They all wore headgear to protect them from intense sunburns. Even if they only just entered the country, the effects were already wearing down upon them.

Sting blamed the volcanoes that appeared everything he glanced in a different direction. "What's with all of the damn volcanoes?! It's bad enough this place is like a giant oven!"

"I can...see Flamebrain lovin' this," Gray stated in the middle of heavy breaths.

"Gray-sama, drink," she held up her finger as if he was going to suck on it. While, inside she was thinking of Natsha, as well as Lucy, as her rivals. They were making her Gray-sama come all of this way for that pinky. Would he do the same for her?

"Get that away from me!" he grumbled, yet it did no use.

"Maybe that's the reason that Rune User pinpointed this," Sting thought out loud. "Only fire mages could live out here without problems..." He glanced back at Juvia, "...plus water mages..."

"Juvia-san is not good under hot temperatures..." she looked up a moment with watery eyes, "Juvia-san will be hot water and Gray-sama won't drink from Juvia-san!"

Sting flicked a heave of sand forward. At least he knew next time to deny a request from Fairy Tail. He's a Guild Master, and yet sent out to dehydrate while this girl gets her panties wet. Other than Natsha and the other dragons, he had little to no reason to come along; well, they were all still his friends. His dragon was good as gone, but he was still lured into coming to find out what has happened to all of the other beasts.

And he couldn't allow his idol to go amiss.

Unlike the other two, he had no clue about Laxus' raging crush on the pink haired, nor did his own Exceed who walked in front of him.

...

The group of six continued their journey through Minstrel. Unlike the other two groups, their destinations were longer than a day pass. Mirajane's fingers combed through the small exceed within her hands, while he purred in delight. Rogue looked over with a faint grin as he watched the two get along. Fro imminently taken a liking to the shape shifter.

The other three in the group weren't as quite talkative.

Gajeel lead the small group as the city finally reached the woodlands.

Levy breath the forest air through her nostrils and smiled. Finally they were out of that city, or a mingle of cities all together.

"Should we stop here for tonight, Gajeel-san?" Rogue questioned the eldest Dragon Slayer. He gestured to a spot that was shaded by a ring of trees. For now, that looked like a nice place for the few to rest for the night.

Before the Iron Dragon Slayer answered, he took a big sniff of the area. The scents of the city still cluttered his nose. He looked up into the sky, there was still at least an hour left of sunlight, enough for them to march on, but after a heavily breath from Levy he decided. "Sure," he slumped his shoulders and threw his pack on the ground.

The others started laying down their blankets and pillows. Fro was placed onto the ground with a small pat on his head while Mirajane started her own share. The cat in the frog's suit smiled cozy and hugged himself in warmth. A small hand placed on his shoulder and he looked back, expecting his partner, Lector, but instead it was Pantherlilly. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"Fro will sleep with Rogue!" he smiled.

Pantherlilly shrugged and took his extra blanket back to his blanket that laid on the ground a few trees away from Gajeel's humming body. The two girls placed themselves with the boys on the end: Pantherlilly, Gajeel, Levy, Mirajane, Fro, and then Rogue.

Rogue looked through the leaves at the starry night. The same sky his partner was looking at. Unlike other times, this was their first journey without each other. But, he was sharing it with his idol, Gajeel. He could only keep himself calm instead of declaring a battle. At least with Mirajane and Frosch presences, he had elsewhere to look.

Even Fro was trying to slide closer to the sharp shifter as she laid down on her blanket. His advancement halted once Mira uttered something, "Tomorrow, we will be parting paths." Fro shifted his lips together to form a pout. He disliked the idea of spliting up, even if Mirajane was still in their group.

"I wish the other two Shadow Gear came along...it feels strange going on a mission without them," Levy confessed. She itched the side of her head as she pulled her pillow closer to the tree trunk.

"It would be faster if I wen-" Gajeel paused in mid-sentence. He had a feeling if he finished that sentence, the shrimp would give him the silent treatment for the rest of the journey. But if it was only him and Pantherlilly, the two could fly to the volcano without much problems. Even in Pantherlilly full form, exceed can only carry one person at a time.

"I wonder what awaits us in Midi..." Rogue stated out loud.

"Fro thinks it will be scary," he snuggled back with Rogue. Ending his quest of getting to Mirajane's side.

"Everything's scary at first," Pantherlilly stated, "This is the first time for all of your to be heading outside of Fiore.

"And not yours?!" Gajeel snapped.

"While my stay in Edolas, I've traveled the world with Prince."

"Sounds like a lovely story," Mirajane giggled.

"These lands aren't only unknown to us, but even the citizens don't know about these places," Rogue added to Pantherlilly's statement. "I have never once heard a story about Midi that didn't end with them coming up as missing."

Well, I'm surprise I could actually write these groups without much problems. Though, Sting's group was the hardest since Sting had very little connection with those two. Well, the same is for Mira as well, since the other three has already bonded in some way (Rogue adores Gajeel, Levy crushes Gajeel...man Gajeel, you got a following). Oh, before I forget, Rogue's group is traveling with Gajeel until the volcano comes close.

rinpup14: Well, Midi may just be where they were looking for.

darkhuntressxir: Laxus and his team are on their way to Midi, with the other groups at least a day behind them, maybe longer since Laxus didn't stop to rest. The others groups only just arrive, yet they are making good progress.

EpicAsianOrangeTiger26: I guess this would be an Ace moment. I wasn't thinking about that much while writing that scene. But, from what we seen in One Piece, Lava is greater than fire...maybe after a few powerups she could withstand it? I have no clue...

Danizinhachan: Heh, it's alright! Everyone has their own lives to tend to! I think Gray is more focus on trying to not drink Juvia to think about Natsha, but Sting...he may be taking to take Laxus' girl... Let's just hope Laxus will find an awesome way to admit his crush! Thanks for the review!

general yumi: Laxus, when it comes to feelings, it probably the last guy you think of when it comes to boyfriends. Yeah, but he knows for a fact there are at least a few in Desierto, he didn't know where (not on the map). In Sting's section, we now know there are lots of volcanoes in that part (they shall have fun looking!). But with Midi, he's only assuming since no one entered the place and lived.

Thanks for all of the reviews, and once more, I'm making up the landmarks within the countries (because we have only been shown Fiore); since they are only names on the Fairy Tail map.