Note: Heeey, remember this story exists? XD A couple months ago I finally decided to write another part that had been floating around in my head for a while, and it turned out a little differently than expected. But ta-da, surprise second part! It does reference the original story, obviously, and play off it, so hopefully you remember or have time to reread lol Man, it's been a long time since I first posted this story.

Natsu and Gray were up to something. Lucy was sure of it. She watched them suspiciously as they bickered back and forth across the table from her. It all seemed so normal, but she knew something was up. They'd been acting a little strangely ever since that incident with the accidental unison raid.

Some things had gone exactly as expected. The guild had owed massive reparations for the flooding Gray and Natsu caused, but those two took the fall with Lucy and the others managing to squeak by nearly unscathed. The boys were, of course, cranky at each other and spent days fighting and bickering and generally trying to never work together on anything else ever again. Juvia had, predictably, been furious and heartbroken upon hearing that Gray had done a unison raid with someone besides her. She had also taken to calling Natsu a 'love rival', which had made Gray turn quite literally green and started up a new round of fighting between the boys. Juvia's delusions knew no bounds, and Lucy shuddered to think of what her fantasies might consist of now.

On the other hand, Juvia, however deluded, had a point. After the expected tantrums, Natsu and Gray had begun running off together quite frequently. When questioned, they rolled their eyes and acted like anyone who hadn't guessed was an idiot. Of course, they were working to figure out how to never do a unison raid again.

This could be an acceptable explanation—if rather discouraging, since of course the two people who could accidentally perform great magical techniques were going to make sure it never happened again just to prove that they never worked together—given that the strange phenomenon had reoccurred. Gray and Natsu could use their magics just fine most of the time, but every once in a while they would be fighting near each other and their magics would suddenly combine into those watery mini unison raids. And once they were on the same wavelength, they could stay that way for upwards of a day before settling back down again.

Lucy could understand why they wanted to control that disconcerting new quirk, but she was convinced there was something else going on too. She couldn't exactly put her finger on why she was so sure of it, but there was just something a little too smug and secretive about those two these days.

Gray snickered loudly at something Natsu whispered, and Lucy narrowed her eyes at them.

"What are you two up to?" she asked.

"Up to?" Natsu gave her a look of wide-eyed innocence. "Why would we be up to anything?"

"I don't know, but you've been strange lately."

He snorted. "You're the strange one, Lucy."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"She's right," Happy complained, frowning at Natsu. "You've been weird."

Gray rolled his eyes in the general direction of something behind Natsu. "Only one thing has been especially weird lately."

Natsu snuck a glance over his shoulder and then turned back with a fearsome scowl. "She's watching me again!"

"Welcome to my life," Gray muttered.

Lucy spotted Juvia glaring at Natsu's back and stifled a laugh. "Better you than me!"

One good thing about Juvia's new intense jealousy of Natsu was that it took the heat off of Lucy for once. This might have been the first time ever that Lucy had lost the status of primary love rival, and she reveled in it. No glares or rude comments or attempted drownings in sight. If Natsu had to deal with it instead… Well, Lucy wasn't too picky about who else might be the recipient of Juvia's tender attentions, as long as it wasn't her.

"It's so annoying," Natsu complained. "She's always glaring at me. And I do not want to be the subject of her perverted delusions."

"I notice no one cares that I'm stuck with her perverted delusions," Gray muttered. "Quit whining. You've had to deal with it for a couple months. I've been stuck with it almost since I first met her."

"I'm actually kind of offended," Natsu continued as if he hadn't heard.

Gray's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "You're offended? Please. If anyone is offended, it's me."

"Why?" asked Happy.

"For one, I'm offended that she's still harassing me even though I've told her I'm not interested multiple times. Two, I'm offended that she suddenly thinks I'm gay, as if that's the only possible reason why I might not like her. Three, I'm offended that she suddenly thinks I'm gay and is still pursuing me anyway, as if she'd somehow change my mind if that were the case. And four, I'm especially offended that she thinks that if I were suddenly gay, I'd want anything to do with Natsu of all people."

"Hey!" Natsu protested. "I'm offended by that!"

Happy rolled his eyes. "That's what you're offended by?"

"I'm a real catch! I'm way out of the ice princess's league!"

Gray snorted derisively. "You have pink hair."

"It's very manly pink hair!"

"And now you sound like Elfman. If he had pink hair."

Lucy decided to put an end to the brewing argument before Erza materialized beside them to start yelling. "Well, are you sure?" she teased Gray. "I mean, poor Juvia has been trying to get your attention forever."

"Poor Juvia," Gray muttered scornfully. "No, I like girls." Rolling his eyes in Juvia's direction again, he added, "I just don't like that girl."

"What if people start thinking I actually like you just because Juvia does?" Natsu asked in horror.

"No one takes Juvia's fantasies seriously. Anyway, we all already know that you're in love with Lucy."

"W-what?" Natsu spluttered. His face turned as red as a tomato and he shot a panicked look at Lucy, who began choking on her own spit. "Gray!"

"What?" Gray looked between Natsu and Lucy with an almost puzzled expression. "What are you so worked up about? I mean, we all know that she's in love with you too. I don't see how it's a big surprise."

"Gray!" Lucy wailed, wanting to sink through the floor and die. "Where do you get these ideas from?"

"Call it a shot in the dark," Gray deadpanned, voice dry as the desert.

"Everyone knows," Happy added. "It's really obvious that you lllllike each other!"

Lucy was about to either die of embarrassment or strangle her horrible friends, but she was saved from having to decide when the doors to the guild flew open with a loud crash. She nearly jumped out of her skin and toppled to the floor as she whipped around.

Lyon rushed inside, face red with exertion and breaths coming in panting gasps. "What happened?" he demanded past his wheezing breaths. "What's wrong? I came as fast as I could."

"Huh?" Happy asked blankly. "Nothing happened, as far as I know."

A predatory smirk spread over Gray's face as he stood up. "Showtime," he muttered gleefully.

He, unlike everyone else, did not seem surprised by Lyon's sudden appearance. Lucy was sure this did not bode well.

Lyon ran an appraising look over Gray. "What was so urgent that you had to call me down here on such short notice?"

"I want to show you something."

"Show me…? Show me what? You said it was an emergency!"

"It is," Gray said. He wore a smug grin and strolled over until he was clear of the tables spread out over the hall. "I'm going to prove once and for all that I'm the better mage."

Lyon snorted derisively. "As if. I'm older and stronger, and you'd best get used to it." He crossed his arms over his chest and leveled an unamused look at his friend. "I'm not impressed that you thought it was appropriate to call me down here for an 'emergency' when you're just up to your usual hijinks."

Natsu snickered loudly. "But it's super cute how you came running all the way down here in a panic the second you thought he was in trouble."

Lyon flushed. "I-is not!"

"Well…it kind of is," Lucy mused. He glared at her.

Lucy glanced over at Natsu and Happy. Happy met her gaze with an equally puzzled look and a shrug. Natsu was too busy watching Gray and Lyon with a wide grin to even notice. Conversations around the guild were dying down as everyone waited with bated breath to see if they'd get a free show today.

Gray, for once, did not get in on the action. Apparently he had more extravagant plans than simply teasing Lyon today, and he was eager to get the show on the road.

"Watch this," he said.

His hands fluttered through the air like pale birds, forming a series of surprisingly delicate and intricate maneuvers that resembled his normal molding technique but seemed far more complex. His magic built up in the air like the chilly touch of a coming winter, but there was something a little different about his normal signature. Lucy couldn't put her finger on it, but there was something warmer and wilder to the normal chill and precision.

He swept his hands out in a dramatic arc, and ice exploded from his fingertips with a howling blast of frigid wind. A huge dragon made of ice towered above the gathered mages, pressing against the rafters and filling every inch of available space at the front of the hall. Every detail was in place with Gray's usual precision, except perhaps even more exquisitely so. Every scale was carved delicately and glimmered like crystal, the glittering wings swept out as if a second away from flight, the horns and spikes were fearsome in their realism, and the tail swept out in a graceful curve tipped with a deadly spike. It was a creature both so beautiful and so deadly that it took Lucy's breath away.

And then it moved.

The wings folded snugly against the huge body and the tail swept around to curl in a loose arc around Lyon, settling on the floor a few feet behind him.

"Holy crap," someone breathed from behind Lucy.

"Whoa," Happy agreed, eyes wide.

Lucy was equally stunned, although she noticed that Natsu was looking rather smug as he slithered out of his seat and strolled up beside Gray.

"I-impossible!" Lyon sputtered. His eyes bulged out of his head as he stared at the beast. "You could never master dynamic ice-make!"

"And that's why I win," Gray said smugly. "You haven't figured out static, have you? So it looks like I have you beat."

"You have to be cheating! Do you have another ice mage hiding around here?"

"Nope."

The dragon dipped its head, its neck making a swanlike curve as it bent to get a closer look at Lyon. It stopped at the eye level of the ice mage and puffed out a chilly cloud of condensation from its nostrils. Lyon's mouth worked soundlessly as he examined every inch of the beast's head.

"Even its eyes move!" he said in awe.

Gray smirked. "Pretty cool, ain't it?"

"But how?"

The dragon opened its mouth, jaws spreading wide and sharp crystal teeth yawning menacingly. Lucy was almost as entranced with watching its movements as everyone else, but her eye caught a flicker of color and movement deeper in the dragon's chest. At approximately the location where its heart would be, a spark of fire flickered to life and glittered beautifully within its icy cage.

In the blink of an eye, the dragon snorted out a small jet of flame that sent Lyon scrambling backwards as he cursed and clutched at his face. Gray and Natsu broke into raucous laughter and high-fived.

"What the hell?" Lyon roared. He flapped his hand to direct smoke away from his singed eyebrows. "How did you do that?"

"Ooh, good thing Yuka has enough eyebrows for the both of you," Gray said with a chuckle. "You're going to look a bit silly for a while."

"You figured out how to do something besides water with your unison raids!" Happy said excitedly.

Lucy shook her head, torn between delight and exasperation. "I like how the only way you two can stand to work together is to pull a prank."

"It was a good prank, though," Natsu said proudly.

"You're doing unison raids?" Lyon dropped his hands from his face—Lucy had to wince at the smoldering remains of his eyebrows—and glared at Gray and Natsu with a face like thunder. "And you decided it was a good idea to use them to call me down here for an 'emergency' so that you could burn off my eyebrows? Seriously? Are you five years old?"

"Well," Gray said seriously, "Lucy told us to do it."

"What?" Lucy screeched. Everyone turned to look at her and she gaped back, not sure how she had gotten pulled into this.

"After the first time we did the accidental water thing," Natsu said, as if that cleared everything up.

Gray nodded and met her gaze with eyes that were a little too earnest and solemn. "You said that we should make an ice dragon that breathed fire, remember?"

Lucy…did remember that. She had thought that if only Gray and Natsu really worked together, they could do amazing things. After all, they could practically make tsunamis on accident. Really working at it could make something even more impressive. And yes, she might have specifically mentioned that it would be cool to see an ice dragon that breathed fire. And, to be fair, she had been right. This was a fearsome and majestic and beautiful ice dragon, and she didn't doubt that it could torch a whole city if they really wanted it to.

But really? That's what they had taken away from her comment?

"I said it would be cool to see an ice dragon that breathed fire!" she protested, throwing her hands up. "I didn't say that you should make an ice dragon that breathed fire just to prank Lyon and singe his eyebrows off!"

"Oh." Gray scratched at the side of his nose in a way that might have been sheepish if his eyes weren't so smug. "You should be clearer next time."

"Yeah," Natsu agreed. "How were we supposed to know?"

"You– Uuugh." Lucy buried her face in her hands so that she didn't strangle anyone.

"You're going to regret that," Lyon said in a voice that was deadly calm.

His hands flew through the motions and an ice tiger sprang at the troublesome boys. Gray and Natsu reacted to the attack with magic of their own.

And produced a solid wave of water that swept the tiger away and crashed over Lyon.

"What the hell?" Gray cried. "Natsu, stop it!"

"Hey!" Natsu protested. "It's your fault too!"

"I thought we figured this out!"

"Crap, we must still be too 'in tune' after doing the other unison raid…"

"Well, stop! Lyon is for me to beat up."

"I can beat him up too!"

Lyon staggered back to his feet. "…Water? Really? Nothing is making sense today."

Gray and Natsu snapped magic back at him at the same time, which only resulted in another jet of water. And, of course, more fighting as they yelled at each other.

"…Maybe not as impressive after all," Lucy said dryly as she watched them. "Looks like they still haven't figured it all out."

Happy shook his head. "I want to say that I'm surprised, but this is Natsu and Gray and this is exactly like them."

Juvia charged over and shoved Natsu aside to throw herself at Gray and hug him tightly. "Gray-sama does not need love rival for water! Juvia will make him all the water he wants!"

"Oh my gosh, get away from me!" Gray wailed.

He shoved Juvia away, and the ice dragon still taking up half the guild swept its tail around to knock her to the other side of the room. This distraction only lasted half a second before Gray and Natsu were back at it again. Not only were they attacking Lyon when he popped back up, but also each other. With the same results. Water, water everywhere, and their poor dragon was practically shaking itself apart in confusion as both its creators tried to turn it on the other.

And as Lucy became aware of the rest of the guild running around and shouting, she suddenly realized the danger.

"Oh no!" she cried. "They're going to flood everything like last time!"

"Sure looks like it," Erza said, materializing beside Lucy. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was watching the chaos with a flat look in her eyes.

"Where have you been?" Happy asked. "We could've really used you a couple minutes ago."

"I saw it."

"You have to stop them!" Lucy said quickly. She shuddered as another thought struck her. "The Master! He's still at one of those meetings with the other guild leaders. He's going to come back and find the guild flooded. Erza, hurry and stop them before they flood the guild!"

Erza considered that for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't think so."

Both Lucy and Happy blinked at her in incomprehension. "What?" they said in unison.

Erza was normally all too happy to break up Gray and Natsu's fights and discipline them for all the damage they caused. It was unthinkable that she might let such a huge transgression slide.

"The Master seemed to find their flooding entertaining last time," Erza said with a straight face. "He even said that the Council summons was worth it. I think he would find this amusing."

Lucy and Happy exchanged a horrified look and gazed upon Erza in abject horror.

"I think this is different," Lucy said weakly.

But no matter how much they begged and pleaded, the water kept rising and Erza stayed firm. She was impossible to budge once she'd set her mind on something. And although she was remarkably smart most of the time, she could be distressingly naïve and oblivious at others. Lucy did not think Makarov would be pleased to come back and find that the guild had become a lake in his absence, but Erza had clearly taken whatever conversation they might have had before and run with it.

"Fine," Happy huffed, finally giving up on talking some sense into their stubborn friend. "I'm getting out of here before I drown."

"Take me with you!" Lucy said, grabbing him. "The water is ruining my shoes!"

"But you're heavy!"

"I am not!"

"You can take me as well," Erza said, clutching Lucy's arm.

Happy's eyes widened. "I don't want to have to carry both of you!"

"Too bad."

So, with much grunting and straining and complaining, Happy managed to flutter a few feet above the ground and drag the girls through the war zone. They raced for the back door to avoid the fight that was still raging in the front, and Lucy caught one last glimpse of another little tsunami before they made it to safety. Anyone who hadn't joined or been caught up in the fight had already evacuated the building, and they all stood in a bedraggled cluster and gazed mournfully upon their flooding guild.

Lucy kicked off her wet shoes with a sigh. "I should have known better than to suggest that they work together."

Makarov gazed upon the ruined guild hall in despair. He left for one day to go to a meeting and came back to a sea where his guild had been? Honestly, did he need to supervise his brats every hour of the day?

He watched as Gray and Natsu, accompanied by some less guilty guildmates, worked at hauling out all the water-damaged property on the other side of the hall. Some of it might be salvageable, but a good deal of it would have to be replaced. And they would have to keep an eye on the building to make sure that the water hadn't damaged the wood and structure too badly. What a pain.

"It seems to be going well," Erza said, materializing at his shoulder as if by magic.

Makarov gave her a sidelong look. "…Why?"

She blinked at him innocently. "Why…the repairs are going well? I've been very harsh on Gray and Natsu. I'm making sure they work hard to fix what they ruined."

That was true. Erza had taken great delight in cracking the whip and working the troublemaking boys into the ground. She always had found a little too much enjoyment in punishing them, although it could never be bad to take them down a notch.

It was just that she was usually just as strict about keeping them out of trouble in the first place.

"Why didn't you stop them from flooding the guild?" Makarov clarified. "I know you were here. Everyone saw you and you admitted it yourself. I expect those two to get into trouble, but I trusted you to keep them in check during my absence."

Erza tilted her head and studied him with something like curiosity. "I thought you would like it."

"You… What?"

"Well, you seemed amused when I first told you about their problem with the accidental unison raids. You laughed about the flooding and said you didn't care about the summons because it was worth it. So obviously you should find it amusing if it happened again, right?"

She stared at him with earnest, self-assured eyes. He frowned back. Was she serious? She honestly thought that was the same thing?

Makarov eyed her with new suspicion. Was she trolling him?

But her expression was so serious and earnest, as if she truly didn't understand why he might be upset. That was a little hard to believe, but… Well, Erza had always had a bit of an odd way of looking at the world, and this wouldn't be the first time she and the others had failed to see eye-to-eye on something that seemed obvious to both sides.

Makarov sighed and turned away. "Next time, don't let them damage the guild."

"Oh. Alright. Understood."

"Why don't you take a break? You've been working the boys hard. They deserve to put some work into fixing this, but you don't need to take on so much responsibility for them."

"Oh, I enjoy keeping them busy."

"I've noticed, but take a break."

"Well… I suppose I could use a piece of cake."

"You do that." Makarov shook his head as she walked away with a bounce in her step. She might be the most mature of that team, but clearly she still had a ways to go.

But maybe this had been partly his fault too. Retribution for having laughed about the other flooding incident instead of being the mature, responsible guild master he was supposed to be. But really, it had seemed a lot funnier when it was someone else being flooded out.

Erza disappeared out the front door, and Makarov cracked his knuckles as he turned on Gray and Natsu. Time to get to work.

Erza made it all the way outside and halfway down the street before she burst out laughing.

No one out-trolled Erza Scarlet.

Note: And somehow Erza won the whole story even though it was supposed to be about Gray and Natsu XD Idk, I just couldn't overlook the pranking potential and Lyon is an easy target. And the poor girls just always get stuck with their antics, ha ha.

emmahoshi: Erza is the best troll lol Her personality is practically made for it. Well, the more we can shove Juvia aside, the better! Thanks lol It was a pretty fun story to write, even if I don't usually do pure humor XD