My Little Kitten

Chapter 5 - Going on a Job

While I was patting Lucy's fur, Erza and Gray came over to where I sat at the bar. "We need to discuss how we are going to pay Lucy's rent" Erza said. "We obviously can't take Lucy while she's vulnerable" Gray said, "but who would take care of her?" I asked. "I can take care of Lucy while you're gone" Mira spoke up from behind the bar. "Are you sure that will be alright?" Erza asked. "Of course!" Mira replied cheerfully as I felt movement underneath my hand.

Lucy was waking up from her catnap, she rolled over and pawed at my dangling fingers above her. 'She's really playful' I thought as I felt like I was going to miss her on this job. "Alright. Happy, go pick a good job!" I said happily and Happy replied "aye!" as he flew towards the request board. Happy soon came back with a flyer, we read the paper and saw it was a request to get rid of some bandits that have been attacking travellers. The reward was 150,000 jewels, perfect for Lucy's rent and a bit extra for us.

We accepted the quest and prepared for our mission. Happy and I went home to pack our things and we met up with the others in front of the guild. I wore my usual backpack, Gray carried his satchel and Erza had her trailer of stuff. I can never get over why she takes that much stuff. Maybe it's a girl thing? Anyway, before we left I kneeled down to pet Lucy who was sitting beside Mira's feet at the door. "Be a good kitten while I'm gone, ok Lucy?" I said and she responded with a "meow."

We left the guild and decided to walk to our destination since I HATE trains. Also, if the bandits make an appearance we can finish this job sooner. The flyer said we didn't need to check into the client until we finished the job. As we walked through the forest, I started missing Lucy. How she would call Horologium to walk for her when she was tired. How she would complain about every little thing. 'This job isn't going to be as fun without Lucy here' I thought.

During the walk, we discussed different strategies. I thought if Lucy was with us we could lure them out with her wearing a bikini. I'm disappointed I had to throw that idea out the window, I thought it was a really good idea. We decided the best strategy was to pretend to be travellers and lure them out into the open.

"Hey guys" Gray spoke up as he was staring at the flyer intently. "What's wrong Gray?" Erza asked, "did anyone read the fine print at the bottom?" he asked. We crowded around him looking at the flyer and the fine print read 'these bandits have powerful magic, good luck!' We had a feeling we weren't going to like this client. "Why did the client write it in fine print?" I asked, "don't know but we can find out once we complete this mission" Erza replied.

We continued our journey till we ended up in Wisesteel forest that the bandits have been spotted. Walking around for three hours, we still haven't found any signs of the bandits. "Where the hell are they?!" I shouted frustrated, "chill Ash-for-Brains, they'll show up eventually" Gray said. I smelt a strange smell but I was to frustrate to give it a second thought. "Bandits come out and fight me!" I shouted and Gray rolled his eyes.

"Gladly" an unknown voice spoke up behind us. We noticed about 100 bandits surrounded us. 'So that was the strange smell, 100 stinky bandits' I thought. The man who spoke up seemed to be the leader. He wore navy blue pants held up by a thick belt with an orange trench coat over his dark grey top. He looked around our age and he had spiky charcoal-coloured hair. A giant sinister dog stood beside him, a spiked collar wrapped around his neck.

"Who are you?" I asked, "I'm Vex, leader of the Shadow Demons" he answered proudly. For some reason, his dog came towards Erza's trailer. The dog sniffed the back of the trailer and started growling. We couldn't see what he was sniffing when suddenly the dog whined loudly and I saw a bleeding scratch on his nose. "Look boys they brought a chew toy for Dexter!" Vex laughed and the rest of the bandits laughed with him. The dog's name must be Dexter and I wondered 'what chew toy?'

We walked around the trailer to see Dexter growling at a golden kitten who was hissing while swatting her claws at him from between the luggage. "Lucy?!" we exclaimed, 'wasn't Lucy supposed to be with Mira?!' I thought. Dexter was about to bite Lucy but I quickly ignited my fist and punched him away from her.

I instantly took Lucy out of the luggage and into my arms. She purred and snuggled into my chest. "Get them!" Vex shouted, angry that I punched his pet. As his band of bandits charged at us, I put Lucy inside the gap between the luggage where she hid before. I couldn't risk her getting hit by magic flying all over the place. "Stay there" I said and she meowed back.

Once she was safe, I joined the fight, punching all the weak bandits around me with my flames. We may have been outnumbered 25 to one but they can't take down Fairy Tail's strongest team. Erza was wiping out each bandit with her swords, Gray was freezing each bandit with his ice and Happy was shoving magic mushrooms he found nearby into the bandits' mouths.

Vex was standing in the distance watching the whole fight. We were almost finished with the bandits when Vex shouted in pain. We turned our attention to what he was staring down at, a golden ball of fur. "Lucy?!" I exclaimed, 'I told her to stay!' I thought. "Tsk, damn furball" Vex said as he raised his foot back and kicked Lucy. "Meeeew!" Lucy screamed as the foot slammed into her side.

My mind froze as I watched her bounced and skidded across the rough ground. Her body stopped a few metres away from Vex. I noticed Lucy wasn't moving, anger boiled up inside me. 'He hurt Lucy' was circling my mind as I charged at him. He dodged my first flaming punch but I quickly twisted my body so he could have a taste of my flaming foot. My foot smashed into the side of his face. I let my rage take over me as I beat Vex up for hurting Lucy.