Hot and Cold

Odd Jobs

~*****~

While the potion seemed to work for me, it did absolutely nothing for Natsu. "Stop the wagon-- I'm dying--" Natsu whined.

"I just don't get why your tolerance to motion sickness potions and spells is so strong." I sigh loudly. "Kinda makes me feel bad I'm makin' you go through that awful pain." I pat at his head as it flopped onto my lap in an attempt to stop the horrible swaying. My gaze snaps up as I see something familiar that makes my skin crawl. "That better not be what I think it is--" I stammer.

"Did you see something?" Happy asks curiously.

I start rubbing at my arms. "I totally think I saw First Master Mavis crossing the road!" A rough shiver runs up my back. "I guess I imagined it. It's not like seeing the First Master at the games was super normal."

"Maybe you're traumatized," Ballad suggested cheerfully.

After about another hour of patting at Natsu's head, the cart finally pulled to a stop. "Well, this is as close as I can get to Dromar, kids," The cart driver explained.

We peer out of the opening and gape. "Whoa!" Happy and Ballad chirp.

"What the heck happened?!" Natsu cried.

"As you can see, the town's been having some drainage issues lately. I have to take a pretty big detour around it to get to the next stop!" The cart driver exclaimed.

"Wonder if people are still livin' here," I mutter as I leap out of the carriage.

"Course they do! The place looks awesome!" Natsu chirps. "There could be a bunch of fish in there, too!"

"Probably not, I think that used to be regular ground." Happy states.

"That's too bad, I'm kinda hungry," Ballad mentions.

"Hello there!" An old man calls out as he boats to the edge of the brown water. "You youngin's must be the wizards from Fairy Tail! I'm the village elder, pleasure to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you, old man!" I call back.

~*****~

The village elder takes us to a tower high above the water, safe from the water below. "One mole did all this damage?" I ask curiously.

"Yes. That god-forsaken beast has been tearing up the ground and ruining our lives." The elder explains.

"One of its tunnels got into the ground water under the village. That'd be what caused the flood." One villager mentions.

"We can't work in the fields like this, but we think the water problem will solve itself," Another states. "That is, if you can get rid of the mole."

"Please!" A woman pleads. "We don't care how, just get that mole out of our lives!"

"No problem," I chirp. "Leave everything to us! C'mon, Natsu, let's go mole huntin'!"

"Hell yeah!" Natsu exclaimed.

Natsu goes to one of the trees while I soar above the water, peering around for any sign of it. "See anything yet?" I call out.

"No, but I'll let ya know when I see it's dirty face!" Natsu chirps.

"Should a mole be this hard to find?" Ballad asks.

I shrug. "I dunno. A mole's a mole, I don't think it should be too hard to sniff out." Just as I utter the words, the water rises and forces me backwards, my wings beating furiously to stay away from the water. From it's murky depths, rises a strange looking, yet very large frog. "Hey! This isn't a mole!" I bark loudly. "Brace yourselves!" My wings snap against the force of the wave being knocked towards me, sending me hurting into the air. There's a frozen patch of water just below the tree, and Natsu, of all that is dumb, jumps onto it, declaring he'll help. The giant frog swats him with the slab of ice, sending him tumbling into the dirty water.