SailorStar9: After getting Chapter 4 out, this is Chapter 5 of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?
Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny and my OC.
Chapter 5: Father's Memento
"You're late, Lucy!" Natsu chided, Lucy and the newly-arrived Michelle entered the Guild Hall.
"Time's a wasting!" Happy agreed.
"I would like to see this job." Michelle beamed, Alzack having informed them that Natsu had picked a request from the request board.
"No way!" Lucy protested, looking at the request. "It's dangerous!"
"But, I would like to see what it's like to be a mage." Michelle remarked.
"It's a blast." Natsu beamed.
"Especially the part about never knowing what'll happen with this team." Happy agreed.
"Me?" Gray echoed. "I don't mind."
"But, what will Master say?" Ami wondered. "Gray, your clothes…" she sighed.
"Motherf…" the ice mage stifled his curse.
"V!" Makarov gave the go-ahead.
"4th, what do you say?" Alzack turned to Marco.
"Sure, I'll let you go." Marco gave the all-clear.
"I have no objections, either." Erza added. "Everything is an experience. And you get the most out of things that other people say you're not ready for. Remember how you went off on an S-class quest right after you joined, Lucy?"
"Now that you mention it…" Lucy chuckled. "Okay. Well, why don't' you come along? Everyone will be together, and if anything happens, I'll protect you."
"Alright." Natsu grinned. "This'll be the 'Bandit Hunt in Honor of Lucy Getting a Little Sister. I'm all fired up!"
"Great Waterfall!" Ami's water wave, not only doused Natsu's flames, it also swept him away.
"When all else fails, drown him." Gray joked.
"According to the request flier, the victims now all suffer from nightmares." Gray recited from the leaflet.
"Sounds like they had a number done on them." Natsu mused.
"The soldiers from the kingdom scoured the mountains." Gray continued. "But they all came back crying like babies, it says."
"I knew this sounds dangerous…" Lucy sighed.
"It's amazing that you're more reliable than the kingdom's soldiers." Michelle remarked, biting into a muffin she brought along.
"When you put it that way, I suppose." Ami noted. "Michelle, do I even want to know where you were keeping that?" she pointed to the cupcake.
"I borrowed this from the client." Erza came in on a carriage.
"Your driving is nuts." Natsu sweatdropped.
"Is that a boar?" Ami wondered.
"Here's the plan." Erza started. "First, in order to catch the bandits off guard, Lucy and I will ride in the front to provide the illusion of two women travelling. Natsu, Gray, Ami and Michelle, who is here to observe, will hide themselves in the back. After they surround us, Lucy will use her sex appeal to distract the ones in front, and in the meantime, Ami will use her illusions on the guys in the back, giving Natsu and Gray the chance to take them down. For the rest, Ami will cast a wide-spread illusion to distract them and we'll attack on both sides."
"Hold on a sec!" Natsu cut in. "I can't go riding in no carriage!"
"Oh?" Erza glared. "You have an objection to my plan? Some nerve you've got."
"I'm not budging from this position." Natsu stood firm.
"Figured it out yet?" the unamused Gray inquired.
"Put your clothes back on!" Ami exclaimed.
"If you'd like, I can handle the reins." Michelle offered. "It'll be easier if we concentrate our attack power in the back, right?"
"Here they are." Lucy cautioned, Michelle pulling the boar to a stop, Natsu having taken to the skies with Happy. "Here we go, Erza Plan, step one! Well, hello there." She put on her charms.
"All set?" Erza asked the pair with her.
"I'm ready." Ami was ready to cast her illusions.
"And what's this Erza plan, again?" Gray asked.
"We're totally lost." Lucy winked.
"Enough with Miss Ugly." The bandits ignored Lucy altogether. "Let's get the cargo. Maybe they've got cosmetic supplies." The gang pulled the cover open.
"Sorry, but we're the cargo." Gray grinned, sending the bandits back with a wave of ice.
"It's a man!" the gang gushed. "He's cute!"
"Fools!" Erza roared, kicking the crooks off. "How dare you make a mockery of my plan I stayed up all night thinking of. I'll arrest you all at once!"
"Stayed up all night?" Gray echoed. "Sheesh…"
"And yet another plan down the drain." Ami sighed.
"This is unforgivable." The bandit head stepped in. "How dare you defile our pure maidens with your filthy deceit? How dare you look down on us just because you were born a woman?"
"I see now…" Ami muttered.
"I guess this is what people were having nightmares of." Lucy agreed.
"It's time for your punishment!" the bandit leader declared.
"Illusion: Dusk Crow!" Ami cast her hallucination, trapping the leader in a wave of crows. "Lucy!"
"Alright!" Lucy took out her whip. "Fleuve d'Etoile! What's the deal?" she wailed, the whip failing to materialize.
"Here we go, Happy!" Natsu flew in, his flames releasing Ami's illusionary magic. "Dazzling Blaze of the Fire Dragon!"
"Illusion: Sheer Cold!" Ami's area illusion knocked the rest of the bandits out, allowing the rest to tie them up.
"I really need to learn that." Gray muttered, impressed.
"Are you okay?" Lucy blinked, Michelle tripping over her feet and dropping the clock hand on the ground, the group having returned the next day.
"What?" Gray gasped.
"What in the world?" Erza was stunned as the clock hand started floating in the air and spun around, before stopping upright as engravings appeared on the clock hand.
"Those ancient letters?" Natsu echoed.
"In that case, get Levy to…" Lucy suggested.
"She's not here." Makarov explained. "She's off far away with Shadow Gear on a job. And so is Fried."
"It's trying to tell us something." Michelle looked at the writings.
"Can't you read those characters, Gramps?" Natsu asked.
"Lucy, you're better off no getting involved in this." Makarov advised.
SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.