The Love of Nekos

Chapter 8 - Earth Wolf

Lucy's POV

"Watch out wolf. You've got me to deal with. Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Natsu battle cried as he slid down Gray's arm, jumped to the ground and ran towards the huge Earth Wolf. "Natsu, we need to lead the Earth Wolf to its pack not fight it!" I shouted after him but as usual, he wasn't listening. "Argh that Flame Brain" Gray grumbled and Erza sighed. "I have a plan to lead the Earth Wolf to Moonstone Meadow" she said. "What do you have in mind?" Carla asked.

While everyone else was discussing Erza's plan, I turned to Natsu to check how he was doing. He 'Neko Roared' the Earth Wolf, crashing it into the pile of dirt. The Earth Wolf got back up onto its feet and growled at Natsu before digging. "Where did it go?!" I exclaimed which gained the attention of the others. We all looked at the ground for where the Earth Wolf might pop up.

A rumbling sound came from where Natsu was standing and I noticed the ground he was standing on was vibrating. "Natsu look out!" I shouted and then Natsu was thrown into the air as the Earth Wolf popped out of the ground. "Natsu!" I screamed as he was falling down towards the Earth Wolf's open mouth. Just before the Earth Wolf could snap him up in its jaws, Happy used his Max Speed to snatch him up first. "Thanks Happy" Natsu sighed from Happy's paws.

Now that Natsu was high out of the Earth Wolf's grasp, its attention switched to us. "Split up and stick to the plan!" Erza shouted and then we split up. I stayed with Gray since I was still on his shoulder. The Earth Wolf started chasing after Wendy which I guess was because she looked the weakest but it was dead wrong. Wendy ran towards the forest and the Earth Wolf chased after her. Just before the Earth Wolf could bite her, Carla swooped in and flew her to safety. "Your turn Erza!" Wendy called out from the air.

Erza ran a few metres behind the Earth Wolf and force it to keep running by throwing swords behind it. Aiming to not hit the Earth Wolf of course. Gray and I were right behind her. When the Earth Wolf started to turn off course Gray made ice spikes shoot up from the ground to force the Earth Wolf to keep running in the direction we wanted. I could see what the plan was. One person needed to lead the Earth Wolf out of the village and then the whole team would direct the Earth Wolf towards Moonstone Meadow.

"We're almost there! I can see the meadow up ahead!" Happy shouted from above but our excitement was short lived because the Earth Wolf dug itself underground. "Not again. We were so close" Natsu complained. "Where is it going to pop up?" Wendy asked, "it's either going to pop up underneath Erza or Gray and Lucy" Carla replied.

Luck wasn't on my side today because it popped up underneath me and Gray. Gray was able to jump out of the Earth Wolf's jaws while I was thrown off his shoulder. Instead of a crash landing, I landed on my feet. "Huh, cats really do land on their feet" I said impressed and then noticed the Earth Wolf's attention was now on me. "Ah oh" I said before running in the direction of the meadow. "Run Lucy!" Natsu shouted and then I had a plan. I knew I couldn't outrun the Earth Wolf so I made a sharp u-turn and run underneath it. As soon as I was behind the Earth Wolf, I breathed in for an attack. "Neko Roar!" I chanted and throwing the Earth Wolf towards the meadow. I wasn't aiming to hurt the Earth Wolf, just a friendly 'nudge' in the right direction. The Earth Wolf stood back up, shook its fur and then noticed the meadow. It gave us one last glance before running towards the meadow where its pack was grazing the Moonstone berry bushes.

"Well this job ended with a happy ending" Gray said as the group crowded behind me, looking at the pack of Earth Wolves. "And we didn't destroy any buildings" Wendy said as Carla put her down on the ground. "That's because there weren't any more buildings to destroy since the Earth Wolf buried them" Carla replied. When Happy put Natsu on the ground, Erza flicked the back of Natsu's head. "Ow what was that for?!" he complained. "For trying to fight the Earth Wolf. Didn't you hear what Mr Omen said? Our job was to move the Earth Wolf from the village to its pack" Erza replied. Natsu grumbled while rubbing the back of his head.

"Anyway, we should head back to the village to collect the reward" Erza said. Gray put his hand down in front of me for me to climb on. I was about to climb on when I was suddenly pulled back by Natsu. "You're not sitting on Frostbite's shoulder" he growled and wrapped his arms and tail around my waist. "Why not Lava Breath?" Gray asked with a smirk and crossed his arms. Natsu just replied with a big hiss. Gray jumped a bit in surprise, "I didn't know you guys can hiss" he said. Natsu ignored Gray's surprise expression, "Lucy's riding with me on Happy" he said and dragged me over to Happy. I was in too much shock over Natsu's behaviour that I couldn't make a word come out of my mouth until he sat me on top of Happy's head. "What the hell was that about?" I asked, "nothing" he mumbled back, looking away from me. He looked like he wasn't in the mood to talk about it so I decided to keep my mouth shut.

With the Earth Wolf safely back with its pack, we returned to the village where Mr Owen and the villagers were waiting. The villagers instantly cheered as soon as they saw us. "Thank you so much for your help Fairy Tail. We appreciate what you've done for us. Here's your reward" Mr Owen said and handed the bag of jewels to Erza. "Thank you" she replied and we started our trip back home.