"Oh sweet land," I cried as I fell onto the ground with Wendy and Natsu. I literally had tears of happiness flowing out of my eyes as my arms embraced the sandy beach.

"I swear I'm never taking land for granted ever again," Wendy sobbed. 

"Never again," Natsu added. "Never again will I get back on that death trap. We live here now,"

"Calm down and get dressed," Lucy scolded. She threw a small bag at Natsu and he instinctively caught it. She had already changed into her pink starred bikini top and denim shorts. 

"Here Nashi," Gale tossed me a bag. "I packed your swimsuit for you," I opened the bag and found a yellow bikini top and a pair of light blue athletic shorts. "Gotta blend in with the tourists," She winked. 

When I came back from getting changed, Gale was wearing an olive green bikini top and black shorts. I flopped onto the beach and waited for everyone else to finish changing into their swimsuits. 

I tightened my ponytail and sighed.

"Hey Gale," Storm asked. "Why did you pack the same swim trunks for me and Reiki?"

I looked over at my teammates. Sure enough, Reiki and Storm were wearing the same pair of pink flamingo swim trunks. I couldn't help but burst into laughter at the sight of the twinning wizards who gave me a dirty look.

"If you wanted different swimsuits, you should have packed your own bags," Gale lectured. "I can't do all of the work myself, otherwise this is what happens. Maybe this will teach you to pull your own weight," She huffed.

When we were all dressed and ready to go, Wendy gathered us together and used her enchant magic to disguise our guild marks as the mark of her former guild, Cait Shelter. I suppose it was a good idea, but it still made me nervous wearing a guild mark. What if they imprisoned us anyway? I didn't have time to voice these thoughts before we got in the line and the guards informed us to have our identification ready.

"Natsu, promise me you'll behave," Erza warned.

"Yeah yeah I promise," He retorted.

Finally, it was our turn to enter the island the guards ordered us forward.

"Nashi," Lucy started. I looked at her with curious eyes as she bit her lip. "In times like this, sometimes you've gotta do what's necessary to get out of tough situations. That being said... I'm sorry you have to see this,"

I was confused at first. Was my mother about to do something crazy and dangerous? That was when she and Erza stepped forward to the guards with big naive smiles. 

"We're a couple of fun-loving girls on a sight-seeing vacay!" Lucy announced with a high-pitched voice. 

"We'd love to sample some a Caracol's famous star mangos," Erza added.

Suddenly my motion sickness returned and my face turned blue. My eyes were shocked white orbs as I witnessed my mother using her womanly assets to charm the guards into letting us through. 

The guards seemed unphased until they saw Lucy's disguised guild mark.

"Is that a guild crest on your hand?" They asked.

"Yes sir," Lucy smiled. "We're wizards from the Cait Shelter guild!"

"Never heard of that one before," One of the guards said.

"Don't look at me, I only know a handful of guilds from Ishgar to begin with," The second guard responded.

"What should we do about this? They told us to be especially thorough with wizards,"

I clenched my fist, ready to fight if I needed to. I felt Reiki grab my wrist tightly and he gave me a stern expression that told me not to start trouble. 

"Excuse me," Lucy pleaded. When I looked back to my mother, she was carrying herself in a position I never wanted to see my mother in again. I quickly slammed my hands over my ears and turned around to avoid the conversation that she and Erza were having with the guards. Reiki quickly joined me as his mother entered the fray with words much worse than Lucy's. 

We both kept our ears covered and eyes pointed away until the guards finally let us enter the island. 

"Thank you," Lucy called out sweetly once we were past the gates. 

"I never want to witness that ever again," I croaked.

"I know how you feel," Reiki shivered with wide eyes.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Erza offered. 

"Well that worked out," Natsu said with a slightly confused tone.

"Putty in your hands," Gray added. "Nicely done ladies,"

"I'm scarred for life," I cried.

We quickly moved throughout the boardwalk of shops. The place was covered with guards stationed every 15 feet and I couldn't help but feel anxious around so many soldiers. 

"We need to be on our best behavior," Mest determined.

"Yeah, so don't do anything stupid Natsu," Lucy warned.

"Why is everyone picking on me?"

"Because you're the only one who doesn't grasp what infiltration means," Erza explained.

"I know what it means!" Natsu corrected. "Like being sneaky! I think you're forgetting something Erza. I am ninja!" 

We all stared at him with dead expressions.

"You're sure it's him?" Lucy asked me. I shrugged nonchalantly.

"There's still time if you decide to change your mind," I offered. Reiki and Gale slapped the back of my head and told me to shut my mouth. 

Just then we heard a little boy crying. We looked down the boardwalk and saw a little boy in tears, pleading with the guards to bring back his father.

"Please where did you take him to? I want my daddy!" He cried. 

"The little brat must get this from his mouthy old man," The guard said. 

I watched the scene unfold and out of the corner of my eye, I saw my own father tense up like he wanted to attack.

"Stand down Natsu," Erza advised. "It's hard to watch, but we can't interfere,"

"Please," The little boy sobbed. "Bring my daddy back right now!"

I felt my muscles tense in anger as the child pleaded for his father. Then the guard drew his sword and pointed it at the crying child.

"Shut the hell up or I'll kill you!" He shouted. The crowd stirred with fear for the child and I could no longer hold myself back. My heart kickstarted and I leaped into action, punching the first guard in my sight, knocking him to the ground. When my heart steadied, everyone in our group was standing over an Alvarez guard they had knocked to the ground. 

Wendy held the crying child in a tight hug and assured him that everything was going to be okay as more soldiers swarmed on our position.

"Stop right there!" The soldiers ordered. 

"Oh, are you talking to me?" I challenged.

"Wendy and Carla take the child to find his father," Erza ordered. "Mest go meet up with the spy. We'll distract the guards,"

There were fifty soldiers headed our way with weapons drawn and ready.

"Try to keep the damage to a minimum," Reiki advised. 

"Yeah yeah," I smirked. "I've been craving some exercise since we got off the ship,"

"Bring it on!" Natsu roared.

Hand-to-hand combat was all we needed to take down the soldiers. It only took less than ten minutes for the eight of us to take down 50 of them. I managed to knock out six or so before they were all out cold and there was no one left to fight. 

"That was easy," Gale cheered. "All that training really paid off," She high-fived me and I smiled happily.

"Don't celebrate too soon," Erza warned. "They'll likely send for reinforcements any minute now," She was sitting at a shack that advertised Star Mango Gelato. "Listen up," She said with a mouthful. "We have to stay alert."

"There's a pretty big difference between staying alert and stuffing your face," Lucy pointed out.

"Nashi you gotta try this!" Natsu declared with a face-full of the fruity dessert. I smiled and joined him and Erza at the shack where I was given an orange gelatinous serving of the food on a wooden plate. I plunged a forkful of the dessert into my mouth and my eyes lit up with stars.

"Wow!" I beamed. "It's so good!"

"I know right!" Natsu added. "It's like all of my taste buds are smiling,"

"I need this every day for the rest of my life," I drooled over my already empty plate. 

"Well I appreciate the business, but try not to cause another scene like that," Said the man running the shack. He was wearing a floral print shirt and cargo shorts, but his smile was genuine.

"I am sorry about that," Erza apologized.

"I gotta say man," Storm piped in. "Even with all this trouble, you seem to be doing pretty well,"

"That was definitely not the first brawl we've seen around here, but I'm never gonna let go of my dream," He smiled. "Saving up and then Ishgar here I come!"

"Cool," Lucy cheered.

"You guys are from there aren't ya?" He asked.

"We are," Kali grinned.

"Mark my words, the star mango is going to be a massive hit in Ishgar, and my shop is gonna be the number one place on the whole continent to get some. All I've got right now is this one shabby little shack, but I dream of a bunch of shops in Ishgar. I'm not gonna let this roughhouse-"

Just then the shack exploded in a cloud of dust and broken wood that sent us flying off our seats. I landed on the ground with a skid as the sand slid across my bare back, cushioning the blow. When I brought myself onto my elbows there was a man in a purple suit clapping his hands and walking towards us. 

"You are an A-plus!" He marveled. 

"Who are you?" Erza demanded angrily.

"That fire in your eyes is stunning! Yeah! Maybe even an A-plus-plus!" He was standing across the boardwalk from us with wild hair, but a deceivingly sweet smile. "My name is Marin Hollow," He greeted. "I'm a member of the Alvarez Imperial Army: Brandish Division,"