"This is just great." Gray complained as the gang was driving through a desert at night. "We go to New Mexico to check out an art exhibit and we get completely lost."

"Don't blame me for getting lost. I just thought it would be nice to see wonderful pieces of art." Lucy said.

"It was, but it's getting late and we don't even know where we are." Erza said.

"Why don't we just use a GPS on our phones? This wouldn't have happened." Natsu said.

"I told you that I don't need it." Gray said, but the others were having a hard time believing that. While they were driving, Natsu spotted something strange up ahead as he could see some sort of cloud coming right at them.

"Hey. How often does it rain in the desert again?" Natsu questioned.

"There's a less than ten percent chance of it." Lucy said.

"So what's with that that?!" Natsu said as he pointed ahead. They could see the cloud and there appeared to be something in the cloud. It looked just like a rhino and it was charging right at them. They all got a little freaked by the rhino with Gray instantly pulling over and nearly went off the road. They all braced themselves for whatever might happen, but that strange rhino just went right over them. They waited until that strange cloud passed right over them and saw it was safe. "What was that?"

"It looked like a rhino in that cloud." Lucy said. "I've never seen anything like it."

"More bad news. We have a flat tire." Gray said. All of them stepped out and saw that they did have one.

"Now what do we do? We don't have a spare." Erza said.

"Look there." Lucy said as she spotted a house out in the desert. "There's a farmhouse. Maybe someone there can help us."

"A farmhouse in the middle of nowhere when something creepy just happened. If we find an old married couple with a cowardly dog, I might lose it." Natsu said with how too familiar this scene was. All of them went up to the farmhouse for help and they were glad someone was home when they got there. The farmer was dressed with green overalls and blue shirt and brown hair.

"We're sorry to bother you, Mr. Redwood. It's just that we had nowhere else to go." Erza said.

"That's quite fine. At least no one was hurt." Redwood said. "What exactly happened?"

"Would you believe a rhino in a storm cloud?" Natsu questioned with Happy acting like a rhino for emphasis.

"You saw the Tempestuous Rhino?!" Redwood said.

"Tempestuous Rhino? Isn't that just a figure from an old children's story?" Lucy questioned.

"I thought so too until I saw it myself." Redwood said. "It just showed up one day and there mere sight of it gives people a good scare. It's been scaring people away from these roads for days. No one knows where it came from or what it even wants."

"Well, sounds like we got ourselves another mystery." Gray said as he ended a phone call. "I called about our flat tire, but it's going to be while before anyone can get here at this time of night. While we're stuck here, we can look around and see what we can learn about this Tempestuous Rhino."

"Be careful out there. There's a chance you might not make it out of there." Redwood warned, but that's not going to stop the gang from rounding up that rhino.

...

The Gang

Since help can't come for a while, the gang is using their time to walk through the desert and see if they can find anything about the Tempestuous Rhino. Luckily it was night and that made it cooler to walk around.

"Nothing seems out of the ordinary." Erza said.

"What would a rhino of any kind be doing out here in the desert?" Lucy questioned.

"Maybe it doesn't care. Don't rhinos just like charging at things?" Natsu questioned.

"They don't do it because they like it, but there must be something that's keeping it here." Lucy said.

"Just keep your eyes open." Gray said as they looked around, but failed to notice something behind them. As they were looking around, Happy did look back and did see a cloud coming at them. Happy took a closer look and could see the rhino coming at them. Happy tried to alert Natsu about it, but Natsu just brushed it aside.

"Not now, Happy." Natsu said, but the rhino was coming closer. Happy actually used his nails and got his attention. "Ow! What?!" He said with Happy pointing right at it. "Oh boy! Here it comes!" He alerted the others with it coming right at them.

"Run for it!" Gray said as they all tried running as fast as they could, but the rhino just kept coming.

"I don't think we can outrun it!" Lucy said.

"Quick! Take cover in there!" Erza said as she pointed to an opening in a rock formation. They all dived inside for cover like from a storm. They expected the rhino to attack, but it just kept charging and kept going. All of them looked out to look at it and saw the cloud just kept going with the rhino gone.

"Odd. Why didn't it attack?" Gray said.

"It's been scaring people away, but it doesn't really do anything to attack them." Lucy said.

"You think that's odd? Take a look over here!" Erza called as she found something else. They took a look and saw tire tracks in the sand. "Look all these tire tracks, and it looks like whatever left them has been here multiple times."

"You think that rhino left them?" Natsu questioned.

"Whoever heard of a rhino that can drive, let alone one leaving tire tracks when it can move through the sky?" Lucy said.

"There's something fishy about this rhino and we need to find out what it is." Gray said. "The girls and I will follow these tracks to try and find where they go. Natsu and Happy, follow after that rhino and see if you can find anything."

"Us? Go after the living storm that looks like the animal that could smash through solid stone? I'm starting to think we need a change in career." Natsu said with Happy agreeing to that.

...

Gray and the Girls

Gray and the girls followed the tracks to see where they have been going to constantly. They kept on going until it seemed like they reached the end of the trail.

"Well, this is where it ends." Gray said. "There's got to be something around here."

"And I think I see what it is. Look at that." Lucy said as she spotted a lot of holes in the ground.

"Wow. Someone or something must love digging." Gray said. "Do you think some kind of animal could have caused something like this?"

"What animal uses a pickaxe?" Erza said as she showed that she found one.

"That means that someone has been here a lot. They're digging for something, but what could they be looking for?" Lucy asked as she looked around one of the holes and tried to find another clue. She might just have as she spotted something a little unusual. She grabbed it and it was some sort of stone, but the material it was made of was rather strange.

"Find something?" Gray questioned.

"Maybe, but I don't see what this has to do with Tempestuous Rhino." Lucy said.

"I wonder if Natsu and Happy have found anything." Erza said.

"I just hope that rhino hasn't found them." Lucy said.

...

Natsu and Happy

Natsu and Happy went through the desert to try and find where the Tempestuous Rhino could be. You think it would be easy to find a rhino made out of clouds, but it was like it wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"You see anything, Happy?" Natsu asked. Happy even tried using his paws like a telescope, but there wasn't anything around. "That's what I thought. How could that thing just disappear? Oh well, might as well head back to the others. We can't seem to find it." Natsu and Happy were on their way back, but then Happy noticed a cloud heading their way. That means that the rhino could be coming at them. Happy alerted Natsu about it and he saw it coming. "A cloud in the middle of the desert heading out way. Do you think it's really that rhino?" Both of them looked towards the cloud and could see the rhino emerging from it and heading their way. "It is. Run for it!" He called as and Happy tried running for their lives. The rhino was coming at them again with Happy and Natsu trying to getaway from it. "We better figure out how to lose it. I'm not sure sure what happened with it in that story Lucy mentioned, but I don't think we're gonna like it!"

"Natsu! Happy! Over here!" They heard their friends call for them and dived to the side behind some rocks. "Quick, head in the other direction before it sees us." Gray said. All of them in the direction Natsu and Happy just came from and kept going with the rhino passing them and it seemed like it didn't even see them. Once they did that, the Tempestuous Rhino just kept going and going with them doing the same until they couldn't see it anymore.

"That was close." Natsu said.

"Are you guys okay?" Gray asked.

"Yeah, but something is off about that rhino." Natsu said.

"We already know that, but what we don't know is how it fits into anything around here." Erza said.

"Hold that thought." Lucy said as she spotted something else. "Look over there!" They looked towards another rock formation. They could see someone climbing down a ladder and then just took off. "Who is that?"

"I can't tell. He's wearing black and I can't see anything." Erza said. "I don't think he spotted us."

"Let's take a look to see what he was doing up there." Gray said. "Happy, you go first to make sure the coast is clear." He said, but Happy wasn't keen on going over there. "Really? Not even for some fishy treats?" He offered as he handed the box. Happy just couldn't resist a good treat like that. Happy took the treat and then headed for the rock. Happy acted as quietly and stealthy as a cat could and made sure not to be seen. Once he reached the ladder, he made his way up until he reached the top. There was no one there, but there was certainly something. Once Happy saw that, he gave off a whistle.

"Looks like it's all clear." Natsu said.

"Great. Now let's get some answers." Gray said. All of them made their way up the ladder and found themselves a small cave up in the rock. That was when they noticed a couple machines in there.

"What are these things?" Natsu said. Erza tried the bigger one and flipped the right switch with smoke coming right out of it.

"It's some sort of smoke or fog machine." Erza said.

"More like a cloud machine." Lucy said as she turned it off and studied the cloud. "That looks like the same kind of cloud the Tempestuous Rhino comes from."

"And check this out. It's a projector." Gray said as he studied the other machine. "Look at the image that comes out when it turns on." He aimed it at the wall and turned on the projector to show the image of a rhino. "What are the odds that this thing projects a rhino."

"Now it's all starting to make sense." Lucy said.

"Right, Lucy. The Tempestuous Rhino is nothing more than an image projected on the clouds that other machine makes." Gray said.

"And I'm willing to bet there are other machines like these two around the area to make it look like the rhino is in more than one place." Erza said.

"We have almost all the answers. We just need to find a way to catch the mystery guy now." Lucy said.

"But how are we going to do that when we don't know who he is or where he went?" Natsu questioned.

"I have an idea. Let's give him a taste of his own medicine." Gray said as he's got a plan.

...

The Mystery Man

Whoever the mystery man was, he made his way through the desert as he was driving a truck off-road. He was just driving around until something stopped him. He looked and saw clouds were starting to form and blocked his path. Not safe to see, he pulled over and got out of his truck.

"What the heck?" The mystery man questioned as he looked around to try and make his way through. Soon, he found himself surrounded by the clouds and couldn't tell which way to go. "What's going on?" He had no idea what was happening. Then, he saw his own rhino was blocking his path and running in circles. In fact, there was more than just one. The mystery man was surrounded by five Tempestuous Rhinos and had him surrounded as they were running circles around him. "Okay! Knock it off and just show yourselves!" He called as he knew he was being tricked.

"Bombs away!" Gray called. Suddenly, a net came straight down on the man and got him all tangled up with him unable to shake the net off. "We got him! Shut it all off!" All the machines were shut off and everything cleared away now that the gang had this guy.

"We got him now." Erza said.

"Pretty smart using his own devices against him." Lucy said.

"Now let's see who's been brewing this storm." Gray said as he reached for the guy's mask and pulled it right off to show the man's face.

"It's Mr. Redwood!" Natsu said as the clouds of this storm were clearing away.

...

The Gang

Just when the gang caught Mr. Redwood, the local sheriff and help arrived with their van getting fixed. With that, they handed Mr. Redwood right over to the sheriff.

"So this man here was responsible for the Tempestuous Rhino?" The sheriff asked. "Nicely done for uncovering the truth, kids, but what exactly happened?"

"Mr. Redwood used an image of a rhino and projected it onto clouds to make it look like some sort of rhino spirit was around these parts." Gray said.

"But that was only a cover for what he was really doing. He was really running his own private excavation for a metal that's found right here in this desert." Lucy said.

"What metal?" The sheriff asked.

"This metal." Lucy said as she held up the stone she found earlier. "It's actually tin."

"Wait. Tin? He did all of this just for tin? That doesn't sound that precious." Natsu said. "Is tin really that valuable?"

"Sort of. Finding pure tin is actually quite rare to find here in America." Lucy said. "Of course, he didn't share his finding with anyone because he wanted to share any profit of it."

"I get it now. He created the Tempestuous Rhino so he could scare people away and no one but him would know about the tin." The sheriff figured. "That way, he would be free to sell it or do whatever he would have liked with it without anyone interfering."

"And it all would have been mine if it weren't for you meddling kids." Redwood claimed.

"Nicely done, all of you. Now, let's get that van of yours fixed so you can hit the road." The sheriff said. Once the van was fixed and Mr. Redwood was taken into custody, the gang was hitting the road again and was now on the right path that could take them home. As they were driving, Natsu still didn't get it.

"I still don't get that he did all of this for just tin. Again, it doesn't even sound that valuable." Natsu said.

"It was a rare find, Natsu." Lucy said.

"He probably made some decent money out of it." Erza said.

"He probably doesn't get it because his head is more dense than that metal." Gray joked. "And you complained earlier about rhinos being dumb." Happy even indulged in that by trying to tap his head.

"At least I'm not going to get us lost." Natsu said.

"We're not lost. The sheriff pointed us down the right way." Gray said as a fork in the road was coming and Gray took the right turn.

"Uh... Weren't we suppose to go left?" Erza questioned. Here we go again.