Brain and Brawn

Chapter Six: Round One

Gajeel could determine several things from what he smelled. First, the person was traveling alone. Second, the person was male. And third, he was heading straight towards Gajeel. It's probably a scout. He thought to himself. He crouched in one of the bushes and waited with his nose still in the air. Suddenly the sent was gone and Gajeel stood up in confusion.

"I see you!" A voice behind him shouted as Gajeel felt a hard blow to the head.

Gajeel snarled, turned his arm to an iron club, and sent it in his attackers direction only to end up punching a tree. "What the hell," he muttered as he retracted his arm.

"Missed me!" The voice shouted again, slamming another hit to his head.

"Damn it show yourself and fight me you coward!" Gajeel roared.

"How can you fight what you cannot see?" The voice taunted, seemingly coming from all around Gajeel.

Gajeel smiled as his ears picked up a noise and he sent another iron club flying in the direction of the noise. There was a satisfying smack and the voice was revealed. He was just a few inches shorter than Gajeel and pretty thin. His face was hidden as his cloak was hooded.
    
"I may not be able to see ya but I can still hear ya!" Gajeel yelled. The man turned invisible again and Gajeel stayed still to listen. He brought arm up just in time to block a hit to jaw and countered by punching the man in the gut. They toyed like this for a few minutes. The man would turn invisible, Gajeel would hear him, block his attack, and counter with an attack of his own. Gajeel could smell blood and knew he was doing good damage to the scout.
    
"Your vanishing act isn't working buddy you should try something else," Gajeel taunted and sent another iron club at him. Suddenly it wasn't the man standing in front of him, but Levy. Gajeel quickly retracted his arm before it made contact with it's target.
    
"You think you can protect her," it was Levy's body but the man's voice. "We've gotten rid of every translator that came here and she's not the only one to come with a body guard," the man sent a Solid Script: Fireball straight at Gajeel, knocking him over.
    
He can copy her magic when he changes into her! It's exactly like Gemini! Gajeel thought as he stood up and put out the flames on his clothes. He growled because he knew the man had changed into Levy instead of some other Mage because he knew Gajeel wouldn't hurt her.
    
"What's the matter big guy lost the will to fight?" The man in Levy's body laughed as he sent more Solid Script magic at him.
    
Gajeel dodged what his could but what did make contact with him hurt like hell. He had burns on a third of his body, a long gash over his left eye was making it hard to see as blood dripped into his eye, and his right ankle was throbbing, Gajeel hoped it was just twisted. Mira was right. These guys are tougher than they look. He thought as he sat there, doubled over on one knee, holding onto his stomach from the last attack.
    
"I'm not going to do away with you completely," the man as Levy said. "I think you should see how much you failed to protect her first. I'm going to make you watch as I tear her apart little by little."
   
Gajeel felt something wet fall down his face and was shocked to find himself crying. He was going to fail her. He had one job, to protect Levy, and he was failing at that. The images of her beaten down and crying flooded his mind again and be punched the ground in anger.
    
Suddenly a faintly familiar voice echoed in his head. "Get up boy! I didn't raise you to be a blubbering weakling. You're stronger than this don't let his illusions trick you. Get up and do what you were sent here to do. Protect her!" The voice was Metalicanna's. Gajeel hadn't heard his voice in so long he almost forgot what it sounded like but he knew he was right. The horrible images of Levy faded away and we're replaced with different ones. Fighting with her on Tenrou Island. Dancing together at the guild hall. Sitting at the bar with her and Lily enjoying a drink and laughing. Finding the clock piece together. Her smile, her laugh, her face, her voice, it all flooded into his mind and Gajeel smiled.
    
"You know you almost had me there," Gajeel said as he stood up, feeling his skin harden as his scales appeared. "But there's a flaw in your illusion." The fake Levy backed up and shimmered for moment, briefly revealing the man. "You may copy her face and her magic but you can't copy her voice." Gajeel then closed his eyes and let his hearing do all the work for him. If he couldn't see her and the man didn't sound like her then he could fight and not be tricked into thinking is was her. He sent an iron club towards his opponent and heard the man grunt as he was hurdles backwards into, what Gajeel guessed, was a tree.
    
"This won't end with me!" The man shouted. Gajeel could hear him stumble up. "The others will follow soon enough. You will not be the ones to receive the treasure!"
    
"So that's what this is all about?" Gajeel growled, using a combination of smell and hearing he limped over to the man, grabbed him by his cloak, picked him up, and slammed him into a nearby tree. "You bandits are out here beating on translators and old archeologists just for the sake of some old treasure room!"
    
"The old man didn't tell you then did he," Gajeel could hear the man's smile. "We aren't chasing them off idiot. We found that they eventually came back or gave their work to someone more capable. So we decided it'd be better to just kill them instead!"
    
"You listen here runt," Gajeel growled so menacingly that he could feel the man start to shake a little. "If you think you're going to lay so much as a finger on her you're wrong. I don't care how many of you I have to go through to make sure she stays safe but you can bet your sweat ass that I will keep her safe." He then head butted the man and felt him go limp. As his scales disappeared he opened his eyes, relieved to see that the man wasn't wearing Levy as a disguise anymore. He took the mans cloak and the Jewl he had on him for himself. He then searched the man and found a scroll with tally marks on them. He didn't need to be told what it was he knew. It was a kill sheet and according to the tally marks he had killed thirteen people. Gajeel hissed and kicked the unconscious man's still limp body. "Round one goes to me assholes," he then threw the cloak on and headed back into the cave. "Your move."

Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to write this chapter I've been a little swamped the last few days. The next chapter will take place at the same time as this one and Lily finally gets the answers to some of his questions.