The Golden Exceed

Chapter 7 - I want my friends back!

"Calm down Natsu, we'll get them" Gray reassured him, "Gray's right" Erza agreed, because of Natsu outburst the bandits had all started to attack. Some of the bandits shot some beams of magic, "seems some of the bandits are wizards as well" Erza concluded before requipping a sword in each hand. "Ice Make: CANNON!" Gray chanted shooting down a bunch of bandits. "FIRE DRAGON BRILLIANT FLAME!" Natsu taking out a bunch of bandits of his own.

The three battled bandit after bandit when Natsu raised his attention to a certain scent "I smell Lucy!" "Where?! Damn they are just keep coming!" Gray said as he battled more bandits. Natsu ignored Gray and bolted to follow the scent, "DON'T IGNORE ME!" Gray shouted.

Natsu ran all the way to the grand hall following Lucy's scent. He slammed open the big, heavy wooden doors knocking them off their hinges. As he stood in front of the now broken door he was greeted by seeing Lucy and Happy tied up with ropes. A cloth gag circled around their head, clenched between their teeth. No one was in the room besides the three.

Without thinking, Natsu was about to run towards his tied up friends when he sensed a fist about to hit him in a surprise attack. He quickly dodged the punch and jump back, "very good" the owner of the punch, Kotaro, said. "I won't let you touch my new pet" he continued, "what pet?!" Natsu exclaimed back in a fighting stance. "I've decided the gold one is to be my pet while the blue one will be sold on the black market" Kotaro explains smirking, "I WON'T LET YOU!" Natsu exclaimed back throwing a punch igniting his fist.

Before Natsu could hit him, Kotaro casted a spell and dodged the punch as Natsu's flame disappeared. "What the hell man!" Natsu said, "I possess nullification magic, I must warn you though I'm an expert at hand-to-hand combat" Kotaro replied in Natsu's confusion.

Both Kotaro and Natsu stood in a fighting stance a little away from each other. They ran to attack the other, punch after punch and kick after kick. Natsu still tried to use his flames in each punch though Kotaro kept nullifying his magic. From the sidelines, they looked evenly matched. At one point, they both pulled back for a breath, "excellent I haven't had an opponent who could keep up with me in a long time, I'm impressed" Kotaro said out of breath. "I don't care if you're impressed, I WANT MY FRIENDS BACK!" Natsu replied glaring at him.

Natsu again leaped at Kotaro, grabbing his neck and flying through the wall with him. Taking their fight outside, they exchange some more punches and kicks using their magic. Both of them were getting more and more tired as the fight raged on.

Suddenly Kotaro knelled down to the ground holding his head. Natsu stood in front of him, flame engulfing his fist. "What the... how could I run out of magic energy before you?" Kotaro questioned, "you can train your body all you like, but if you don't train your magic as well it will disappoint you when you need it the most" Natsu replied glaring.

"Even so..." Kotaro started saying, "...I won't give up!" he continued as he leaped towards Natsu, his fist raised. Natsu dodged his punch, throwing his own in return "FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" hitting Kotaro right in the gut. "Gah!" Kotaro exclaimed as he cough up blood before becoming unconscious. Kotaro's limp body fell to the floor, Natsu exhaled in relief that it was over.

Natsu then walked over to where the two tied up exceeds were and untied them. "Natsu!" Happy shouted happily flying into Natsu's chest, hugging him with tears in his eyes. "I'm happy to see you're ok Happy" Natsu said letting go of Happy. He then picked up Lucy bringing her into a tight hug, "I'm happy you're ok as well Lucy, don't ever worry me like that again." "I won't" Lucy replied returning the hug.

Erza and Gray came into view, running towards them "Natsu, Happy, Lucy!" they shouted together. Natsu, still holding Lucy, turned her around in his arms so she was facing away from him. "Natsu you can put me down now" Lucy said to him, "I don't want you out of my sight" he pouted in reply. Lucy blushed at his comment, "alright only till we complete the job" Lucy sighed, Natsu returned a wide grin to her.

Erza and Gray came closer to them stopping in front of them. "I'm glad you two are alright" Gray said, "I am too, now that we have rounded up the bandits we can pick up our reward and go home" Erza said before contacting the Rune Knights.

All of them exited out of the cave, heading towards Sekoto. On the way, Lucy and Happy explained what happened to them. "I can't believe he wanted you as a pet Lucy" Gray said, "yea, he was creepy" Lucy replied "by the way thanks everyone for rescuing me and Happy also thanks for trying to protect me Happy" Lucy said to everyone then to Happy. "No problem Lucy" Happy smiled to her, "anyway Natsu would kill me if anything happens to you" Happy continued snickering to Natsu, Natsu stayed silent looking away with a small blush showing on his face. "Yea flame brain went crazy when you two went missing" Gray teased Natsu, "you were as crazy as I was ice stripper!" Natsu retorted angrily. The two then butted heads, only to be separated by Erza.

By the time they arrived to the village it night time so they decided to go back to their campsite and talk to the chief tomorrow. Natsu finally released Lucy from his arms when they got to the campsite. After eating a filling dinner, they all went to bed except Gray who was on first watch.

The next morning, Team Natsu headed back to Sekoto to receive their payment. They arrived at the Chief's tent "thank you so much! Here is your payment of 100,000 jewels, please stay for the party we are having tonight" the chief said happily. The boys looked at Erza with a 'please!' look on their faces. "We would gladly accept" Erza replied to the Chief, to which the boys started jumping and cheering.