Venturing deeper into the forest, me and my friends hear a noise in the distance, a sound that you wouldn't usually hear in a forest, the vulcans must be near by.
We approach a clearing and see two vulcans sat down on the ground together, the stone we seek is right there in front of us.
"That's great, all we need to do is grab it and run." I say excitedly.
"Don't be so naive, there's no way the four of us could escape unscathed. If we're not careful, those vultures could easily squash us." Laxus warns.
"How do we go about this then?" Bickslow asks.
"Well, we beat them up surely?" Evergreen inquires.
"We can't do that straight away. We need a plan. What we should do is approach them peacefully, let them say what they want to say, then beat them up." Laxus explains.
"What on earth would those dumb apes possibly want to say to us?" I ask.
"They'll say that they want to beat us up and possibly laugh at how small we are." Laxus replies with certainty.
"Well, we'll insult them back." Evergreen comments.
"No. We mustn't do that, if you insult those apes then they will get super angry, the rate of survival will be slim." Laxus warns.
"Right." Me, Evergreen and Bickslow say in unison.
We peek through the bushes and see no change in the vulcans position, this is our time to attack. Together, we emerge through the bushes and stand in front of the vulcans. The apes stand up and cast shadows over us as they are so much taller than us, I must admit, it's quite intimidating.
"Look, puny humans." One of the vulcans say with a massive grin as they laugh with their friend.
"We don't want to cause a scene, we just need that stone back." Laxus says calmly.
"Would you look at that, the little kid wants his stone back." One of the vulcans comments.
"Go away human." The other vulcan adds.
As the vulcans continue to insult Laxus, I begin to feel more and more wound up, how dare they speak about him in that way; Laxus is strong and caring and just... he just makes me so happy. I know Laxus says not to insult these beasts, but one more mean word out of their mouths and I'll show them what I can do!
"Lightning Dragon Roar!" Laxus shouts as a burst of lightning shoots from his mouth towards the vulcans. It gives them a shock, but doesn't knock them down.
The vulcans laugh together as Laxus becomes annoyed and my fist is clenched with anger.
"Ha, is that the best you can do? That was just static electricity." One of the vulcans jokes, continuing to laugh with their friend.
They've just crossed the line.
"Hey! You big fat stupid ape! How dare you insult my Laxus like that!" I shout angrily.
"Freed! You donut! I told you not to insult them!" Laxus whispers loudly.
"Oh, look who we have here, a little weed." The other vulcan chuckles.
"You've asked for it!" I yell, drawing a rune quickly to trap the vulcans.
Before I could finish my spell, one of the vulcans picked me up by my collar as I dangled in the air, seeing my friends below me calling my name.
The vulcan wrapped their hand around my body and began to squeeze me tightly, like getting the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube.
"Owww! Let go of me!" I yell as my legs squirm and I try to slide my body out of the vulcan's tough grip.
"No. I think you will become my dinner. Isn't that right-"
The vulcan stopped speaking suddenly when they turned to talk to their friend, who is now a stone statue.
"What the- what's going on?" The vulcan questions.
"We are taking you down to take back the stone and save our friend. Be prepared you punk!" Laxus declares as Bickslow and Evergreen stand next to him.
"Ha! Don't make me laugh, what are you going to do, throw sparkles at me?!" The vulcan laughs loudly.
"Dragonslayer Secret Art: Roaring Thunder!" Laxus yells.
A huge wave of lightning comes hurtling towards me and the vulcan. The lightning is so bright that I shut my eyes tightly and feel a sharp, burning sensation rush past me. The intense light fades and I open my eyes to see the vulcan shaking from the electric shock. I smell the burnt fur on the vulcan as I still recover from the attack myself. I try to wriggle out of the vulcan's clasp, but it is no use, it still has enough strength to hold me captive.
"Freed is still trapped up there!" Evergreen exclaims.
"Not for much longer. Shield your eyes Freed!" Bickslow commands.
I close my eyes like Bickslow asks; however, I'm still very tempted to open one eye to see what is going on.
"Don't open your eyes Freed! Bickslow is using his figure eyes!" Laxus warns.
Of course! That's really clever, I hope it works.
I wait with anticipation and slight worry as to when I will drop out of the vulcan's hand. I wonder whether the others have realised that I will hit the ground as soon as I am released.
I feel gravity pulling me towards the ground as I open my eyes slowly and see myself slipping out of the vulcan's hand. The good news is that Bickslow has managed to control the vulcan, the bad news though, I'm falling!
I shriek as I plummet towards the hard forest floor, my eyes squeezed shut as I prepare for a heavy landing. I stop falling suddenly, yet I'm still moving. I turn my head and open my eyes, Evergreen's face being the first thing I see. I observe my surroundings and notice that Evergreen has wings! We're flying! I look down below and notice Laxus delivering the final blow to the vulcan and retrieving the stone that we needed.
"You ok there?" Evergreen asks with a smile.
"Yeah... how are you flying?" I ask.
"It's all thanks to you, this is one of the fairy spells that I have learnt by reading that book you recommended to me." Evergreen explains as she lowers towards the ground.
Evergreen puts me down and I try to get my balance back, my legs still a little shaky from the whole ordeal.
Laxus runs towards us with Bickslow and he places his hand on my shoulder.
"I will have to have a word with you later, but I'm glad you're safe." Laxus says with a serious tone, until he starts laughing, Bickslow joins in too.
"Huh? What's so funny?" I question.
"Your hair, your bangs have turned into properly shaped lightning bolts." Laxus replies with a smile.
Evergreen gets a compact mirror out of her bag and hands it over to me. I open the mirror and notice the new hairstyle that amused Laxus.
I pat my head to squash the strands of hair down, only for them to spring back again.
"Are they permanent?" I question.
"Let's see." Laxus replies.
Laxus strolls closer to me and tries to flatten my lightning bolt bangs. Every attempt Laxus made failed every time, it was quite funny, but it also felt nice as Laxus was stroking my head.
"They're not going down." Laxus comments as he puts his hands on his waist.
"Oh no. Does it look horrible?" I ask with worry.
"No, I think it really suits you actually, I can't believe that my lightning did that." Laxus compliments as he continues poking the strands of hair.
"You think so? Thanks." I reply happily, blushing a soft pink from Laxus' comment.
"Aw, isn't that cute." Bickslow and Evergreen say in unison.
"What is?" Laxus asks.
"Well, you two, it's like you're inseparable." Evergreen replies with a smile.
"I guess we are in a way." Laxus agrees as he wraps his arm around my shoulders and looks at me with a kind smile that makes my heart beat twenty times faster than normal.
The greatest part of this job request is finding out that Evergreen secretly ships me and Laxus together; moreover, Laxus didn't directly deny anything, meaning one of two things, he's either very oblivious or there's a greater chance that he might feel the same about me.
All of us take the stone back to the tribal camp and although I was very happy with the outcome of today, I briefly forgot that Laxus still had a bone to pick with me.
"Freed, I specifically said for you not to insult the vulcans, so why on earth did you completely ignore me?" Laxus questions.
"I wasn't going to just sit back and let those horrible assholes insult you." I defend, crossing my arms as I walk alongside Laxus through the forest.
"You swore!" Laxus exclaims with a look of shock on his face.
"So what, you've said a lot worse than that." I giggle.
"You're right, I have; however, I wasn't expecting swear words to come out of your mouth, or for you to be mean to anyone." Laxus says with a grin.
"I don't like being mean to people, but if anyone upsets our group, you especially, then I get very angry, I care about you a lot, more than you realise." I explain.
"That's really thoughtful of you, but next time I create a plan on these job requests, please try to follow it, if my lightning did that to your hair, imagine what it could've done to your head." Laxus advises.
"I know." I sigh.
"Hey, don't worry about it too much, we're all fine, we've completed the job, we just need to work better on the next job request." Laxus reassures.
"Yeah." I reply with a smile.
We continue wandering through the forest until we see the forest clearing where the tribe has set up camp. A couple of the tribal guards charged towards us with spears, but stood on the spot when Laxus pulls out the sacred stone and presents it to them. The guards put their spears down and gave us permission to enter the camp. As we approach the chief's tent, I suddenly remember that we will be encountering Aja again. As long as she doesn't touch my Laxus again, I'm sure I can call a truce with her.
Entering the tent, my worst fear is realised as Aja prances towards Laxus and hugs him tightly, admiring his looks as well as praising him for bringing back the stone.
"Ah! I knew you could do it! Well done Laxus." Aja praised.
"Excuse me, group effort." I comment, annoyed.
"Oh yes, sorry about that." Aja giggled.
"No worries, I'm just glad that we could get the stone back for you." Laxus replies.
"Thank you! I really can't thank you enough for this. This stone has been passed down my family for centuries, it's really rare." Aja says gratefully as she wraps her arms around Laxus' arm and grips onto him tightly, making my blood boil.
"Hey! Hands off him!" I exclaim, pointing at a surprised Aja.
"What? I'm not hurting him. Am I hurting you my love?" Aja questions.
My love? She has got some nerve!
I grab the stone out of Laxus' hand and hold it high up above me.
"What are you doing?" Aja and Laxus ask in unison.
"If you try flirting with Laxus one more time, then you can say goodbye to your precious stone." I warn.
"Have you gone nuts?" Laxus exclaims.
"No! I am protecting you from that temptress! We agreed to get the stone back for her, not for her to spring herself upon you!" I shout.
"There's a love triangle happening right?" Evergreen whispers to Bickslow with a grin.
"Yeah... I should've seen this coming..." Bickslow whispers back, shaking his head in disbelief.
"If I let go of him, will you give me back the stone?" Aja asks with a soft voice.
"Yes." I reply.
"Very well, he's all yours." Aja says as she rolls her eyes, but grins at me to confirm my suspicion that she was playing games.
"Yes! I won! See Laxus, you can always count on me." I say proudly as I stand tall with my arms crossed, sparkling with pride in the sunlight.
"Yippee." Laxus says sarcastically.
Aja places the stone back on its pedestal before handing us our reward money and sitting back down on her throne like chair.
"Well, thank you all for helping me and my tribe. I have one extra little reward though if you choose to accept it." Aja mentions.
"What is it?" Laxus asks.
"It is tradition for our tribe to give a tattoo to every new member that joins; however, because you four have honoured our tribe by bringing back the stone, I want to honour you four with our tribal tattoo if you wish." Aja explains.
"No thanks." Me, Evergreen and Bickslow say in unison.
"Guys! How can you be so disrespectful?" Laxus questions.
"Are you getting one then?" I question bluntly.
"Of course I am, I wanna look cool and manly." Laxus replies happily, stretching out his arms and showing off... well, attempting to show off his muscles.
Laxus already looks cool and manly as he is, but if he got that tattoo, wow, he would look dreamy.
"Alright then big guy, go to the tent next to mine and we'll get your tattoo sorted." Aja says with a smile.
All of us present in the chief's tent moved to the tent next door where a chair and ancient tattoo tools we're set up. I won't explain the details of the procedure, only because Laxus squealed like a girl, but we were sworn to secrecy to keep his pride intact. The black tattoo with lots of curves was placed on the right side of his chest and travelled along his shoulder to the top section of his back; an extra part of the tattoo was placed below his Fairy Tail guild mark, I must admit it really suited him (and made me almost bleed out of my nose), but Master Makarov was not as impressed as we were when we came home...
"What the hell is this!" Master shouts.
"It's a bad ass tattoo, Gramps. No one is gonna want to threaten me now." Laxus says with a massive grin.
"It makes you look like a thug!" Master exclaims.
"I knew he was going to say that." I say with a snigger, trying to hold my laughter back as I was sat with the Thunder Legion.
"This is an honourable gift from the tribe we helped out, I couldn't possibly turn it down, plus it makes me look manly." Laxus persuades.
"Manly? You're 15 for goodness sake." Master sighs.
"Age doesn't matter." Laxus retorts as he crossed his arms.
It's fair to say that this argument lasted for a good half an hour, Master caved in and realised that the tattoo couldn't just be magically erased, therefore the argument was pointless. I still found it entertaining though.