Vivi let out a groan as she plopped down on a rock. Around her, her guildmates came to a stop. It's been days since they left Clover, and now they seemed lost in Web Valley. She felt exhausted from all this walking, and she wasn't the type to shy away from exercise.
She rubbed the back of her neck as her music continued to play in her ears. She had pulled out her lacrima headset a few hours back hoping the music would distract her from her grumbling stomach. So far it wasn't doing as she'd hoped it would. She pulled down her headset to rest around her neck as she wondered how much longer it'd be until they reached home.
"Ah geez!" Was the first thing she heard after her headset came off.
Vivi looked towards the blonde of their group as she was frowning at Happy who happened to be their guide out of here.
"Come on, Happy," Lucy said. "Don't tell me you got us lost again! We've been walking for forever and a half, and we still haven't found Magnolia yet! Why are we following a cat anyway?!"
Vivi sweat-dropped at Lucy's ranting though supposed she couldn't blame the blonde. It was hot out here and they were going on empty stomachs. That's enough to make anyone irritable.
"What do you mean again ?" Happy questioned. "How rude! I wasn't lost last time, so this is the first time I've gotten us lost!"
"First time or not—let's just try to make it our last, okay?" Lucy suggested.
Vivi could agree to that one. The less time she spent wandering around lost in some hot canyon the better.
"Man, I want some food." Natsu complained as he rubbed his empty stomach.
"We all do." Gray retorted. "Talking about it makes us hungrier."
Natsu growled, turning to glare at Gray, which had Lucy sighing. Well, she's sure of what was going to come next.
"I can't help it if I'm hungry, jerk!" Natsu snapped as he got in Gray's face.
"No, but you can stop running your mouth, can't you?!" Gray demanded.
Vivi rolled her eyes at Gray before putting her headphones back on her ears. She then slid down the rock she was on to sit on the ground to use the rock as a back rest. She had a feeling this argument was going to last a while, so she might as well get comfortable. As she leaned back, closing her eyes, Makarov snapped at Natsu and Gray to shut-up. Once they were silent, Makarov gave a sigh.
"We need some food." Makarov whined.
"Yeah, we know that!" The boys snapped.
Lucy sweat-dropped guessing everyone was a bit irritable. She then blinked looking to Vivi who's been pretty quiet for a while. She saw the bluenette resting against a rock with her headset on, and Lucy could kind of make out music coming from the headset. She just couldn't tell what was playing.
"Enough." Erza said glaring at the boys and Makarov. "Can't you all take a page out of Vivi's book and remain calm?"
She pointed at the bluenette who was lightly dozing as she waited for her friends to quit bickering. Gray almost envied her. He wished he could rest so easily, but with his growling stomach, he highly doubted that'd happen. He then blinked when another growl entered the air. Everyone looked towards Erza with wide eyes as the redhead blushed in embarrassment.
"Your stomach's trying to tell you something, isn't it?" Natsu asked.
"No, it's not!" Erza said firmly. "You're hearing things."
"Yeah, real convincing, Erza." Gray said sarcastically.
Happy then gave an excited squeal that even reached Vivi's ears, which had the bluenette sitting up and sliding down her headset. She frowned in confusion at the cat as he was gawking excitedly over the side of the canyon. What was up with him?
"What's up, Happy?" Vivi asked as she stood up.
She walked over to the side of the canyon to stand with the blue feline as he gave a happy giggle.
"Down there!" Happy said pointing. "Look, Vivi, look! You too, Natsu!"
Natsu, who joined Vivi beside Happy, looked over the edge with Vivi. They both blinked in confusion as they saw fish flying around the canyon while singing merrily. Vivi frowned, feeling as if those fish were mocking them. Stupid fish.
"Those are winged fish!" Happy said. "They're a legendary delicacy, and they're super yummy from what I hear!"
As Happy did a little dance and cheered for his discovery, Vivi looked to the others as the boys started grinning.
"A legendary delicacy?" Gray asked.
"Winged fish, huh?" Erza murmured.
"Sounds good to me." Natsu said.
He was almost drooling at the thought of getting something in his stomach right about now. Makarov went over to Happy to place his hands on the young feline's shoulders.
"Well done, Happy." Makarov said as his stomach continued to growl. "You make this old man very proud."
Lucy sighed, hanging her head wondering how much longer she could take of this.
"Guys, enough with the growling stomachs." Lucy said.
She then blushed in embarrassment as her stomach growled loudly for everyone to hear. Vivi and Gray stood on either side of her as they looked at the blonde.
"You were saying?" Gray asked.
"Yeah, that kind of sounded like a growl to me, Lucy." Vivi added on.
"Shut-up." Lucy grumbled.
She kept her head low, unable to meet their gazes, but honestly she was pretty hungry. She could probably eat five of those stupid singing, flying fish.
"Now!" Happy, who suddenly had a fishing pole in paw, began. "Time to fish! Vivi, get ready to do some cooking."
Vivi quickly pulled out a pan and spatula from her bag—causing Lucy to gasp in shock—as she nodded to Happy.
"You got it!" She said ready to cook.
"How did you fit that in your bag?" Lucy asked. "Wait, can you even cook?!"
***
… A FEW HOURS LATER…
Vivi gave another groan as she hung her head low. They wasted so much time on those stupid winged fish, and her stomach was still empty. She can't believe they only caught one, and Happy didn't even enjoy it when they gave it to him. Apparently those legendary delicacies weren't worth a hoot.
"Man, luck is just not on our side today." Vivi complained as she walked alongside Erza.
The redhead hummed her agreement with the two actually able to be within two feet of each other without Vivi being pissed off about it. Honestly, Vivi didn't have the energy to be annoyed by Erza even if the redhead started bugging her.
"Yeah, and I hate it say it," Natsu began, "But,"
"All that fishing," Gray continued.
"Made me hungrier." Makarov finished.
Vivi silently agreed with the guys as she wondered if they'd ever catch a break today. She knew that the second she returned to Magnolia that she was going straight to Fairy Hills to raid the fridge before going to her room for a nice hot shower and a well needed nap.
"A village!" Erza said, getting the others's attention.
Everyone looked with wide eyes at the village in front of them. It looked like a pretty well-kept place too despite being in this hell hole.
"Houses." Gray said.
"And that means there must be—!" Happy was cut off.
"Food!" Natsu cheered as he ran into the village.
The others were right behind while ready to find something to eat to silence their growling stomachs. Vivi was sick and tired of listening to hers. They made it to the center of town before stopping as they started to realize a few things seemed off. Vivi frowned looking around since it all seemed too quiet for her.
"There's no one here." Gray said.
"It does seem awfully quiet, doesn't it?" Lucy asked.
Vivi didn't like it one bit. No village should ever be this quiet. Unless it was abandoned, and this village didn't strike her as an abandoned village.
"Maybe they're taking an afternoon nap or something." Natsu suggested then shouted, "Hey, anybody here?!"
"We're starving like crazy out here!" Happy shouted as well. "Someone cook us some dinner!"
As Lucy rebutted Happy for his lack of manners, Vivi exchanged a look with Erza. Both female wizards didn't like this quiet. Something had to be up.
"Do you really think the entire town is taking a nap?" Gray asked.
"Well, it's either that, or they all got drunk and passed out." Makarov said.
Lucy frowned because she highly doubted the entire town had gotten drunk. That seemed a bit ridiculous.
"I think that only happens back at the guild." She said aloud.
Makarov chuckled, not seeming to be able to deny that fact. It wasn't like he felt the need to either.
"We do like our spirits, don't we?" He asked.
"That's one way of putting it." Vivi said as she walked over to one of the village houses.
She knocked a few times on the door before it swung right open. As she stepped in to look around, Natsu, Gray, and Happy poked their heads in after her. Vivi stopped at the table while looking down at the prepared food in front of her. She put a hand over the bowl of soup on the table to feel warmth coming off of it. This was freshly made. Someone had to have left in a hurry after making this.
"Well, anyone here?" Gray asked.
"No, but someone left a prepared meal." Vivi said as the others stepped in. "It was just recently made. They had to have left right after preparing it and quickly, but there's no sign of someone having done so."
There would have been some mess left behind if someone had been in a rush to leave.
"That's true." Erza said. "Something isn't right here."
"Who cares?!" Natsu said. "This stuff looks good! Let's eat!"
However before he could even touch the food, Erza whacked him upside the head.
"No, Natsu!" Erza said. "No one is to touch the food in this village until we know what's going on."
Natsu pouted, wanting to just dig in into the good smelling food. Normally Vivi would be right with him, but all this didn't sit well with her.
"I'm heading out to look around the village." Vivi said. "Maybe I'll find someone or at least a clue as to what's going on."
"That's a good idea." Erza said. "Everyone, the Master, Vivi, and I will look around the village for clues. The rest of you look for mushrooms or anything edible."
As the boys gave a half-hearted "aye-aye", Vivi rolled her eyes. She didn't like Erza getting bossy, but she didn't have the energy to snap at the redhead. As the group headed out, Lucy frowned.
"Why mushrooms?" She asked herself.
She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen. Something bad concerning mushrooms.