"Let's go, Luce! We have to start training right away!"
The Celestial mage screamed in shock as she was grabbed by the wrist and dragged from the guildhall. She had been wandering around talking to their friends and being congratulated for being chosen for the S Class trials, and then Natsu popped out of nowhere, latching onto her arm and bolting out the door.
"Natsu! Hang on a sec, I can run on my own!"
The blonde shrieked at her teammate, her left hand clinging to the keys on her belt to make sure they didn't fall off as she lurched after the Dragon Slayer. He finally let go, grinning back at her over his shoulder, although he didn't slow down any at all. Flashing a brilliant smile of her own, Lucy poured on all of the speed that she had to catch up to the pink haired mage running in front of her.
"Where are we heading? Do you have a particular place in mind?"
Lucy was proud of herself for the fact that she was only slightly out of breath at this point, even though they had been running for almost ten minutes already. The conditioning that they had already been doing was definitely helping her endurance! Natsu simply nodded, his scarf flapping behind them as the road disappeared in their dust. Without any warning to his partner, the Dragon Slayer suddenly split off to the left, cutting her off as he blitzed down another path. She yelled angrily, swinging a slap at him as he ran in front of her, but he just laughed and ducked under her arm. She lurched after him, laughing and attempting to jump onto Natsu's back. They made a little game of it as they careened down the trail, their laughter and flailing around scaring birds and small animals as they went.
The game ended when they finally burst out into a clearing, Natsu sliding to a stop immediately and turning to look at the blonde girl. Lucy however, hadn't been expecting the abrupt change in speed and launched herself at the Dragon Slayer, wrapping her arms around his torso as she tackled him to the ground. The couple tumbled into the clearing, Lucy's shrieks scaring even more birds out of their roosts, but Natsu just laughed again as he caught her in against his chest and made sure he was between her and the ground as they fell.
Lucy lifted her head up, breathless from their run and the laughter, giggling softly. Natsu grinned up at the girl, pushing her hair back off of her face, but froze as his ears picked up a sound nearby. He rolled quickly, hissing at her to hush when Lucy squeaked, caging the Celestial Mage against the ground between his arms as he pushed himself up, his eyes narrowed as he looked around.
"So that's the kind of training you've been up to lately, 'ey Flamebrain? There's no way you're going to be able to beat me like that."
Growling, Natsu lurched to his feet as the blonde girl under him covered her face to hide the intense blush that had spread across her cheeks. The other pair was standing at the edge of the field, Juvia covering a giggle while Gray smirked over at them.
"We were here first, Ice Princess! Piss off!"
Lucy rolled up off the ground to stand next to her partner, resting a hand on his shoulder for a moment to remind him that she was there.
"We're not going to just walk away. This training area is the best for Juvia with the river right there. You can train anywhere, you want, Hothead! YOU piss off!"
Juvia blushed as she grabbed Gray's arm, smiling to herself that he was thinking of the best training for HER first.
"Gray-sama, Juvia can train anywhere, she doesn't need the river. Juvia can find another training area."
The ice mage looked down at his partner, mouth turning up in a slight grin as he gently pulled her hand from his arm. He squeezed her fingers in his own for a moment, and the Rain Woman looked at him. She had noticed his body temperature dropping and knew what was coming. Turning slightly, Juvia dropped the bag she had carried with towels and extra clothes, starting to pull her overshirt off. There was no way this was going to end without a fight, and if Gray-sama was fighting, Juvia would be by his side. For his part, Gray had already shucked his shirt and was clasping his hands together as he strode towards the other couple. Lucy sighed, reaching for her keys as Natsu let out a great laugh and, fire erupting around his arms, he bound forward to meet Gray.
Lucy collapsed to the ground, her sides heaving as she dismissed her spirits. They'd been training for four days already, and she was exhausted. But aside from taking this short break, she wasn't going to admit that to Natsu. After all, he was the one fighting the spirits she was summoning, he should be tired too. He didn't seem to be though. The Dragon Slayer was sat on the ground, laughing hysterically at the way he'd just beaten Virgo. Taking a deep breath, the Celestial Mage rolled up to her feet, glaring over at her partner.
"Alright, are you ready? Let's go again."
Natsu leapt to his feet, slamming his fist together with a bright grin on his face.
"Yeah! Come on! Let's see how many you can get up to today!"
Lucy nodded, pulling Loke's key from the ring on her hip. He was always the easiest, so she summoned him first. Up until now Lucy had been able to summon three spirits before it caused too much of a strain. Light shone around them and Loke stepped through, thankfully refraining from flirting. They'd been through this pattern enough times in the last few days that he'd dispensed the pleasantries and just started coming out of his gate swinging. Natsu squinted against the light of the summoning and stepped to the side as the lion spirit lunged forward. The Dragon Slayer immediately slammed a fist into the back of his opponent's head, but Loke simply rolled forward, coming up on his feet to face Natsu.
The pink haired man spun on his foot to face the spirit, and Lucy took the opportunity to whip her hand up with Virgo's key, trying to be quiet about the fact that she was summoning her. She didn't see the maiden right away, but she wasn't concerned. Her spirits knew what they were doing, and had their own way of trying to help with the couple's training. A second later Lucy had to stifle laughter as Natsu yelled, the ground opening up underneath him. Virgo popped up out of another hole next to Lucy, bowing slightly at the waist. The blonde girl smiled, holding out her fist to bump it against her spirit's, grinning at the other's choice of clothing. Virgo was wearing a bright pink tank top and a pair of grey track pants, apparently having decided that was more fitting than her normal outfit.
"Do I deserve punishment, Princess? You can hit me harder than that."
Lucy just rolled her eyes and focused on the fight in front of her. Natsu of course hadn't been delayed by the hole appearing under him by more than a few seconds, shooting out of the ground with flames from his feet. He'd immediately turned that into an attack on Loke, spinning in the air to slam his right heel down on the spirit's head. Loke had tumbled to the side, eyes wide at the divot in the ground where Natsu's foot landed.
"Aren't we just sparring?! Geez, Natsu!"
Virgo leapt forward at that point, and the fight devolved into a two-on-one fist fight. Lucy took a deep breath, this time grabbing Gemini's key. She hadn't tried this yet and wanted to see if it would work. The twin spirits appeared, having discussed this strategy with their owner the night before, looking exactly like the Celestial Mage. From the bright pink shorts to the white tank top, their hair in a high pony tail, Gemini clenched her hand and grinned at Lucy, holding out her hand for the key to the Gate of the Goat. Lucy figured if she could get Gemini to call one of her spirits, it would give Natsu an extra opponent and save her own magic a little. Maybe.
Capricorn, for his part, stepped through and looked immediately to Lucy, trying to gauge her stamina and well being. He nodded at her, grinning slightly before turning to join in the fight. He'd opted for more practical clothes as well, loose pants and no shirt instead of his usual suit. Capricorn took advantage of a moment's distraction and hooked his arms around the Dragon Slayer's, lifting the shorter mage into the air just a little to give the others a way to attack. He muttered something that Lucy couldn't hear, only see that he was talking, but before she could try to make it out, Loke went flying into the trees lining the training area. He'd rushed forward, just to be kicked square in the chest by Natsu.
The Celestial Mage stood watching still, debating having Gemini try to summon another of her spirits. She didn't think that the twins could handle that strain though, so she tucked that idea away for future reference, as an emergency tactic. Closing her eyes for a moment as Loke came running back to the fight, Lucy took a few slow breaths, assessing her own energy. She was surprised to realize she didn't feel all THAT much of a strain, and her eyes flew open as a huge grin split across her face.
"Gemini, go ahead and join the fight! He doesn't look like he's struggling enough!" The spirits in question smiled as well, beginning to glow as they ran forward, changing form as they moved. When the light faded, they had copied Capricorn's appearance, hoping to add a little confusion to the mix. Lucy turned to the side, sprinting over to the river. Thankfully she'd managed to talk to this particular spirit as well, so she hoped Aquarius would remember their agreement and that this was necessary. Not that she was holding out for the spirit to be happy to see her. Lucy plunged her hand into the water, noticing the heat that was building behind her. Natsu yelled, a burst of flame erupting as all of the spirits she'd already summoned went flying.
"Open, Gate of the Water Bearer!"
Lucy screamed out the summoning words, her vision starting to blur a little. She assumed it was from the heat, since her magic had been fine a moment before, and let herself slip into the water a little further to protect against the flames. The spirits had assured her that they'd be fine against his flames, but Lucy's own skin was still subject to burning. The water was cool and brought her relief, and she found herself slipping further into the river. But… where's Aquarius? She tried to lift her head and see what had happened, but she found that she just didn't have energy anymore. All she could hear was a roar, not Natsu, but this rushing sound, and she started to panic when she realized that she couldn't open her eyes to look for its source.
"You miserable idiot. I can't believe you would be so stupid. And YOU! You should have known better."
Lucy opened her eyes slowly, squinting against the light above her as she heard Aquarius yelling and a low rumbling sound. She was aware of Natsu sitting nearby, rubbing the back of his head and grumbling about it being taken too far. He somehow looked angry and embarrassed at the same time, glaring at someone just behind Lucy. Turning her head slowly, the blonde girl squeaked and started to blush when she realized her head was laying in Loke's lap. For his part, the lion spirit was very subdued, not making any jokes or trying to flirt or behaving in a way that would have made his owner more uncomfortable.
"I'm sorry, Lucy. I should have switched to my own power sooner. You put too much strain on yourself."
The Celestial Mage blinked a few times, struggling to sit up and look around more. Loke wrapped an arm around her shoulders and lifted her, supporting her just until she was stable and then scooting a few feet away. As soon as there was that distance between them, the rumbling stopped, and it was only when she glanced at Natsu and saw the anger leave his face that she realized he had been growling. She reached a hand up to tuck some hair behind her ear, covering the small laugh that escaped. She always found it cute when she caught Natsu being jealous. He didn't even always realize it, and when someone said something he would adamantly deny it, but she thought it was adorable.
"So… does someone want to tell me what happened?"
Both of the men sitting next to her looked away, their faces darkening in identical blushes. Aquarius just shook her head, tossing her blue hair over her shoulder.
"You are all idiots, that's what happened. Don't call me again for a few days. I don't want to see their stupid faces."
With that, she pushed herself off the rock she'd been perched on, disappearing back into the Celestial Spirit Realm and ignoring the sputtering protests of the males. Natsu started growling again, but Lucy reached for her bag that she'd noticed laying next to her. She pulled out some protein bars and a lighter, opening the first and setting the end of it ablaze before throwing it to her partner. He caught it with a grin, watching the flames grow for a minute until it was big enough to be appetizing.
"Well… when Capricorn showed up, he told me you were likely to try and summon someone else since the trick with Gemini had worked. I didn't want you to be strained too much, so I let Natsu kick - YES I LET YOU - me from the training area. I let it send me back and then came through my Gate on my own power to free you up a little. I should have done it sooner, I didn't realize you were already so drained. Aquarius… uh… she, well, she took exception to coming through her Gate to see you sliding into the river. None of us noticed - you didn't tell anyone if you did notice! - because we were so engrossed with the fight. Well, Cap noticed, but he wasn't able to get to you fast enough. He's probably going to sulk about that for a few days. Anyway, she screamed at us, drowned the whole field, washed Natsu onto a boat…I don't even know where she got it, actually. I think she pulled it down the river."
Lucy covered her laughter again at Natsu's complaints thrown in throughout Loke's narrative, and the mental image of the Dragon Slayer being stuck on a boat. She did feel bad about Capricorn beating himself up, she'd have to call him later and talk to him about that. Looking around them, she could see puddles of water in the training field and nodded, seeing the amount of water her spirit had doused the field with. Natsu's flames hadn't even had time to do any damage to the grass.
"Thanks Loke… I think we'll be done for today. You can go ahead and go back."
The spirit nodded, glowing for a moment before disappearing from sight. Lucy pushed herself shakily to her feet, holding out her hand to the Dragon sitting on the ground in front of her.
"C'mon Natsu. Let's go home."
A/N - I am so sorry I didn't upload this last week but, hey, have two chapters this week! *less than three* Thank you for all your wonderful comments, we really do enjoy every single one you leave!