Phoenix

Meeting Team Natsu

Team Natsu had arrived at the town of Hargeon, making their way to the house of the people who made the request. Erza and her carriage of luggage led the way, and Natsu and Happy came up at the tail end, as Natsu was still recovering from the train ride. Wendy, Lucy and Gray were chatting in the middle. Lucy turned back to Natsu.

"Hey, Natsu. Isn't this the town that you destroyed that day we met?"

Happy was the one to reply, as Natsu was still in no mood to talk: "Aye, sir! Natsu completely beat up that Bora dude and took out the port with it!"

Natsu grumbled in response. He suddenly stopped, his nose catching the scent of someone familiar.

"Hey guys, do you smell that?"

"No, Flamebrain, you're the one with the nose around here."

"You wanna go?!"

Erza decided to intervene, giving the two wizards a frightening stare. Once they were settled down, Erza questioned Natsu: "Now, which smell are you talking about? And do you know who it belongs to?"

Natsu thought for a moment, eyebrows furrowed together in concentration.

Lucy interjected: "Wow, I haven't seen Natsu this deep in concentration since that food-eating contest."

"Aye, sir!"

Natsu finally looked up and made eye contact with Erza: "Nope! Not a clue! I just know it's someone we know."

Everyone looked down in defeat.

Lucy was the first one to speak up, saying, "Well, so much for that discovery."

Team Natsu followed the directions given to them by the request board, and it led to an old house near the ports. The job request sounded easy: capture the giant squid haunting the ports. Apparently, this squid has been stopping ships from leaving the port, and the fishermen's trading industry was hurting because of it.

The team quickly dealt with the squid, taking out a section of the port along the way, and made their way back to the house of the person who made the request to collect the reward. As they were making their way back to the train station, Natsu's nose picked up the familiar scent again.

"There it is again!"

Happy flew towards Natsu and questioned, "There what is again?"

"That scent! It's near here!"

Erza was the one to speak up: "Well, we have extra time because the job was so easily taken care of. I wouldn't mind if we tried to figure out who it is. I am very interested in this."

Lucy looked at the pair cautiously, saying, "I don't know. Don't you think the master will want us back soon?"

Gray added, "Yeah he said that he wanted us back for a meeting or something."

"I'm sure," Erza continued, "that we will be back before that meeting takes place. This seems like a rather simple quest, yes?"

Lucy and Gray quickly responded, "Yes, ma'am!"

Natsu looked at Wendy suspiciously, "Hey Wendy, do you know who's scent it is? You can help track it!"

Wendy looked down, saying, "I'm sorry, Natsu, but I'm not picking up on a familiar scent. It must be someone that you know and I don't."

"Well," Erza started, "let's go. We must make it back for the master's meeting."

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After a few minutes, Natsu had successfully located the direction of the scent. The team followed Natsu's nose to an alley between shops. In the alley, there stood a person in a cloak. They seemed to be cutting through the alley as a shortcut, so the team stayed where they were to not blow their cover.