"The entire village is empty."

"It's really quiet too. The air is still."

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Don't worry, my love. Should anything happen I will be right here to protect you."

Juvia snuggled closer to her beloved Gray. He somewhat awkwardly pushed her away.

The further Lucy's group ventured into Poppy, the more uneasy they became. As was pointed out when they arrived, no one was outside. It was as if the entire town had been abandoned. Even still the wizards could feel eyes watching them from the homes around them.

"I think they're watching us." Wendy uneasily noted.

"Question is why?" Gray wondered. His hand began to exude a freezing mist. "If they want to ambush us then they should just get on with it. I've been itching for a fight."

Juvia's readied herself for battle as well. "I agree. Let them come."

"Calm down, you two." Lucy said. "They're more than likely scared."

"Of us?"inquired Wendy .

"Probably, or maybe they're afraid of the Harpy."

"Hey you!"

The wizards heard a voice and saw a indigo-haired woman poking her head out from one of the house doorways. For some reason she was irritably motioning for them to come over. They did.

Without warning a large arm reached through the darkness and pulled the wizards into the house. They piled on the floor with a thud. They looked up and saw that they were surrounded by a family of four: the woman that called to them, the man that pulled them in, and a set of twins.

"What are y'all thinkin' standin' out in the middle of the dang road like that?" The woman scolded. "You kids gotta death wish or somethin'?"

The Fairy Tail wizards were rightfully confused by the sight of this strange woman yelling at them.

"What the hell? Who are you?" Gray demanded.

"Name's Emily." The woman finally introduced. "The big lug that saved y'alls hides is my husband Adam and those are our kids Johnathan and Maria. Also watch your mouth. There are children here. Understand?"

The look in Emily's eyes was a fierce one. Gray saw flashes of Ur and quickly backed down.

"Y-yes, ma'am."

"Now tells us why you've been skulkin' around town. You four are awfully suspicious."

"Says the woman yanking strangers into her house." Gray muttered under his breath. When he felt Emily's eyes on him again, he went silent.

"W-we're here for a job." Wendy timidly answered.

"A job?" the fiery woman raised her eyebrow in suspicion. "What kinda job brings you all the way out here? You merchants or somethin'?"

"No. We're wizards from the Fairy Tail guild." Lucy explained, showing the family her guild mark – the others did the same. "We're here on a job from the Magic Council to investigate a Harpy that was sighted near this town."

Emily's eyes widened. "A…harpy?"

"Yeah." Gray nodded.

"Would you happen to know anything about?" Juvia asked.

Emily snatched Lucy's hand. "You mean Papi, right?!"

"W-what?" The blonde was startled by the woman's sudden mood shift. One minute she was grilling them like she was interviewing with the custody enforcement division, and now she looked as if one of her children had been taken.

"Papi? I don't-"

"Please tells us she's alright!" Adam pleaded.

"Is Papi ok?!" the kids implored.

The Fairy Tail wizards didn't know what to do, but it was clear that whatever they thought was going on the village was being called into serious question.

Happy and Carla soared through the forest as fast they could, looking every which way for the elusive Harpy said to be terrorizing the village of Poppy.

"See anything yet?"

"Nothing. This forest is much bigger than I originally thought. The creature could be anywhere. Perhaps it would be better if we soar a little higher and get a better look of the area."

"Aye."

Just as they prepared to ascend, they heard an angry yelling in the distance coming behind them.

"What in the world is that?"

"I don't know, but it's coming closer!" Happy panicked. "Is it the Harpy?!"

"Calm down and prepare yourself." Carla transformed into her human form. "We may be in for a fight."

"Aye." Happy grabbed two fish from his pack, wielding them like clubs. It probably wouldn't do much against the monster, but it was all he had to defend himself. He also had an obligation as man - rather cat - to protect Carla.

As the noise drew ever closer, Carla and Happy could feel the hairs on their bodies standing up. They tensed when they saw the outline of the creature come into view. Instead of travelling through the air – which is what they assumed Harpies did – whatever was coming after them slithered like a snake along the ground.

Wait…a snake?

"Come back here!" Miia the lamia sped past the exceeds, ignoring them completely as she blazed a trail in the dirt. "Bring back my darling right now, you bird-brain, darling-napper~!"

"She's fast!"

"Don't just stand there, Tom Cat! We have to follow her!"

"A-aye!"

Natsu had no idea what to make of the situation he currently found himself in. After a rather confusing introduction – in which she forgot her own name at least three separate times – Papi the Harpy brought him to a lake in the center of the forest.

He didn't know why she brought him here, but at the very least she didn't seem like she wanted to hurt him – despite her less than gentle way of carrying him through the air. So he chose to observe her for the time being. Perhaps he would find out just why she was causing so much trouble in the village. He could also stand to get off his feet for a little while.

He sat on the lake bed, watching as the excitable Harpy splashed around in the clear waters of the lake as if she were a child of Asuka's age.

"Why did you bring me all the way out here anyway?"

Papi stopped splashing and looked to the dragon slayer quizzically. "To take a bath."

"Wha-" Before Natsu could utter another word Papi somehow threw her tube top and shorts at his face. "What's the big idea?!"

Tearing away the clothes from his eyes, Natsu noticed that the strange Harpy was now completely nude. His cheeks flushed red.

"Why are you naked?!"

"I told you I was taking a bath." Papi answered matter-of-factly "You don't listen very well."

"You're one to talk!" Natsu shielded his eyes and quickly turned his back to her, if he had learned one thing throughout his life it was that women never liked to be peeked on when they were bathing – numerous beatings from Erza, Lucy, and even Mirajane hammered that point home quite well. "W-whatever. Just do what you want."

Without warning Papi grabbed Natsu by the collar with her talons and pulled him into the lake. She sat on his chest, her naked body shining in the sunlight filtering through the canopy of the trees. Her chest really wasn't much to write home about, but her bottom was much fitter and bigger than Natsu expected.

"Bathe with me!" she chirped, unknowingly rubbing her butt on his crotch. "You're sweaty from running away from the waffle too right?!"

Natsu came up for air, his cheeks red from both being under so long, and Papi's bouncing.

"I don't need a bath! I-wait…waffle? What waffle?"

"There you are!"

Miia - followed by an exhausted Happy and Carla - burst out of the tree line with a very angered look in her eyes. Papi was confused at these new strangers, but Natsu could tell that something bad was about to happen.

"So that's the Harpy?" Happy asked. "She's not as scary as I thought she was going to be."

"Why in the world is she naked?" Carla wondered. She looked over to Natsu, whose face was still red. "Just what were you going to do with her?"

"Nothing!" The dragon slayer fiercely defended. "She just grabbed me and-"

"You, chicken-legged brat!" Miia shouted, her finger firmly pointed at Papi. "First you steal my darling away, and then you bring him to this romantic lake to have an erotic bath with him?! You...You...I'm so jealous! I wanted to bathe with him too! But he always rejects me! Well not anymore!" she started to take her top off.

Natsu's eyes started to widen when he saw Miia's bra, but Carla transformed and immediately stopped the lamia before she went too far.

"Here you go. It ain't much, but it should help settle your stomachs for the time bein'."

Emily placed a plate of sandwiches in the middle of the table where her family and Fairy tail wizards all sat.

"Thank you." Wendy bowed her head in appreciation.

"It was no problem, darlin'. Eat up."

"So you were saying this Harpy-" Juvia began.

"Papi." Emily corrected.

"My apologies. Papi. She's a resident of the village?"

"Not exactly. She just sort of showed up outta the blue a couple of months ago. There we were, harvesting crops like we do every fall when this girl with wings and bird legs literally falls from the sky and lands in the pumpkin fields. Suffice to say we were all a lil shocked by it."

"You weren't scared of her?" Lucy asked.

"A lil bit, but when she flashed those big white teeth at us and introduced herself we knew she didn't mean any real harm."

"Where did she come from?" Gray inquired. "It's not every day you see something like that."

"She said she came from a village in the middle of the mountains and was flying around looking for humans to play with. Said she'd never seen any before."

"That's…odd." Lucy noted.

"That's Papi in a nutshell." Emily chuckled. "Soon after that a lady in a real fancy suit came 'round and told us Papi was somethin' called a 'Liminal'. She asked us to take care of her until she could find a way to return her home."

"A woman in a fancy suit?" Wendy questioned. Somehow that description sounded familiar to the young dragon slayer.

"They must mean Ms. Smith." Lucy surmised.

"Yeah her." Emily remembered. "Nice lady. A lil scatterbrained though."

The Fairy Tail wizards couldn't argue with that assessment.

"Anywho we agreed to let Papi stay in the village. While the adults worked in the fields she would keep the little kids occupied." She hugged her own children. "They couldn't get enough of her."

"She sounds really nice." Wendy smiled. She was relieved that the Harpy wasn't bad.

"Papi's a little on the naïve side, but she's a sweet girl. Really helped us out a lot" Emily's smile slowly gave way to a sullen frown. "That is until the wyvern came knockin' at our doors."

"Waffle?"

"Mhm! A bif mondhf djfhwps hdnf-"

"Please swallow your food if you must talk." Carla sighed.

Papi finished the piece of fish in her mouth and spoke again. "A big monster with wings came to the village and scared everyone! Papi moved it away...but she got lost and can't find her way back."

"Do you really have to sit in my lap to explain all this stuff?"

Natsu, while empathetic of the harpy's plight, felt his legs start to go numb from supporting her weight for so long.

"Papi likes it here!" she smiled. "It's nice and warm like a nest!"

Miia's jealousy started to boil over again. "You little-"

"Judging by your description I think you mean a 'Wyvern' not a waffle." Carla stated. "But the fact still remains that the situation is pretty harrowing."

"Aye." Happy nodded while chewing on his own fish. "What should we do?"

"Well it's obvious that we should inform the others of what is going on, but we should stay low to the ground. We wouldn't want to attract the creature back to the village."

"We're going back to the village?! Yay!" Papi exclaimed, rocking back and forth in Natsu's lap. Once again her butt was rubbing his crotch.

"Would you get off me already?!"

"I'm so jealous!" Miia whined.

"This really isn't the time!"

"So the Wyvern came, Papi lured it away, and you haven't seen her since?" Lucy clarified.

"That's pretty much the long and short of it." Emily confirmed with a nod.

"Where's the Wyvern now?" inquired Juvia.

"Its cave is inside the forest. It swoops down every couple of days and gets into our crops. It's gotten to the point where we can't even plant anything new because we're scared it'll attack us."

"That's terrible." Wendy sympathized.

"Without those crops the village won't be able to sustain itself very long." Adam explained. "We depend on them to not only feed ourselves, but to sell to merchants as well."

"What are we going to do?" Lucy looked to her friends for options.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Gray replied. "We gotta get rid of the Wyvern."

"Yeah, but how? Wyvern's aren't exactly the friendliest creatures in the world. We can't just talk it down."

"We'll just beat it up until it stops coming through town."

Lucy sighed. "Looks like we're going spelunking. Glad I didn't wear anything too nice."

"Hello! Anybody here!"

A familiar voice rang out in the empty town. Lucy and the others looked out of the window. Sure enough they saw Natsu, Carla, Happy, Miia, and a mysterious blue-haired girl with wings and talons.

"Is that…?"

"It's Papi!" Emily's children exclaimed.

"Nobody's here." Papi said sadly. "Did they leave Papi behind?"

"I think it's more likely that they are hiding from the Wyvern." Carla surmised. "I can see people peeking out of their windows."

"They must be really frightened." Miia said. She held onto Natsu's arm. "I don't blame them."

"Could you ease up a bit?" the dragon slayer requested. "You're gonna squeeze my arm off."

Happy echoed Miia's concerns. "What are we going to do?"

"That's easy!" Natsu answered. "Well meet up with the others and take that thing down!"

"Aye!" Happy's mood suddenly elevated.

"Quiet, you dolts!" Carla hissed. "You're attracting more unwanted attention to us!"

"Hey, Papi!"

The Harpy looked ahead. When she saw Emily and her family poking their heads out of their house her eyes lit up.

"You're still here!"

"Course we are." Emily boasted. "No overgrown lizard was gonna run us outta town without a fight."

Lucy's group stepped out of the house as well. "We're here too."

"Gotta admit I wasn't expectin to have so many visitors today."

Emily chuckled. In addition to her own family, the number of people squeezed in her home's common area now included five wizards, two exceeds, a harpy, and a lamia. Raising the body count from a modest four, to a crowded thirteen. As expected there was barely enough space for all of them to fit. In fact it was so bad that Miia had to hang her tail out of an open window.

"Sorry for imposing so much on you all." Lucy apologized.

"It's quite alright. We're just glad that Papi is safe and sound." Adam smiled.

The Harpy in question was playing with the kids in the kitchen.

"Where'd you find her anyway?" asked Emily.

"In the forest." Natsu answered. "Said she got lost after luring the Wyvern away from town."

"That sounds like her. Girl's so scatterbrained."

Miia couldn't help but feel a tad uncomfortable as she watched the others converse in front of her. She opted to stay outside, but Natsu wouldn't hear of it. He practically forced her inside with the rest of them.

"Somethin wrong, darlin?"

Miia was brought out of her head by Emily's question. The woman looked the lamia directly in the eyes, her gaze showing no hints of fear or hatred.

"You want somethin' to eat?"

"N-no." Miia politely declined. "Y-you're not…"

"Not what? I can't hear you if you don't speak up."

Miia's tail waved apprehensively out of the window. "You're not...afraid of me?"

Emily cocked her head to the side. "There a reason I should be?"

Miia was taken aback. Emily saw this and elaborated on her question.

"I admit I was little scared when I saw ya for the first time, but truth be told I don't care what you look like. As long as you're good to me an mine, we'll be good to you. That's one of the cardinal rules of this here village. Besides it'd be kinda unfair to be scared of a nice girl like you when you're not that different from Papi. So I'll ask again, do I needa be scared of you?"

Miia started to smile. "N-no, ma'am. You don't."

Emily grinned. "That's what I thought. Now let's get you somethin' to eat."

"I-It's ok you don't have to! I-"

"Nonsense. You're a growing girl and guest. One of the ironclad rules in this house is all guests eat. No exceptions. Now what ya hungry for?"

Miia saw no point in arguing anymore. She resigned herself to her tasty fate. "E-eggs please."

"Scrambled?"

"…Boiled."

"Two boiled eggs comin' up."

Lucy smiled as she watched Miia fidget around. "It's nice to know that there are people out there who accept people like Miia and Papi."

Wendy agreed. "Ms. Emily and her family are really nice."

"So how will we deal with the Wyvern?" Juvia asked, brining Lucy and Wendy's attention back to their strategy meeting. "Should we wait until it returns to town?"

"Not a good idea." Gray shot down. " We don't know when it'll show up. Besides if things escalate into a fight then we'll just end up causing damage to the town. We should go to its cave and deal with it there."

"Yeah." Natsu punched his palm with a flaming fist. "We'll take the fight to it."

"Calm down, pyro. I said if we have to fight it. Wyverns have roughly the same intelligence as humans. We might be able to convince it fly somewhere else."

Natsu instantly deflated at his rival's plan.

"That's no fun at all. I wanted to punch some stuff."

"Punch yourself then. We came here to investigate the Harpy, not fight monsters. In case you forgot this was your job in the first place."

"You calling me stupid, you droopy-eyed punk?"

"Took you long enough to notice, you pink-haired jerk."

"Hey! No fightin' in the house! You wanna feud, take it outside!"

Natsu and Gray quickly settled down when they saw Emily's death stare from the kitchen. It was like Erza had come along with them.

After a somewhat brief discussion the plan was finally decided upon. Natsu, Gray, Juvia, and Papi would go into the forest and investigate the Wyvern's cave, while the rest stayed behind to look after the village in case the creature made an appearance.

"Are you sure you don't want us to go?" Lucy asked for what would be the third time. It wasn't that she was worried about the safety of her friends, it was more like she didn't trust Natsu and Gray to complete the task on their own without starting a brawl along the way. It wasn't an unfounded concern to have in the least.

"You guys to stay behind in case Natsu screws up." Gray told her.

"You wanna go, Ice Pop?!"

Lucy sighed roughly. It had already begun.

"Please be careful, you guys." Wendy's concerns were actually for their safety.

"You too, Papi." added Emily.

"Don't worry! This guy will protect Papi!" The excitable Harpy clutched Natsu's arm, much to Miia's annoyance.

Miia quickly slithered to Natsu, her eyes showing her worry as she yanked Papi away from him.

"Hey!"

The lamia ignored her shout.

Natsu gave Miia a thumbs up.

"We'll take care of that monster and be back in no time. Look after everyone alright?"

Miia accepted this with a short nod. "Ok."

After a few more well wishes the group set off on their hunt for the Wyvern. Papi took to the air, leading the others into the forest.

"It only seems to get denser the further we go." Juvia commented as she batted branches out of her path. "It's hard to see anything."

"You're right." Gray agreed. "Is she sure the cave is around here?"

"I don't see a one." Happy commented.

"Yo, Papi!"

She Natsu answered from above. "Yeah?!"

"You sure the cave is around here?! We can't see anything!"

"Papi is sure she saw it here! But you gotta be quiet! If you wake up the Waffle we'll get in trouble!"

"You're the one yelling the loudest." Gray muttered.

"Papi sees the cave!"

The Fairy Tail wizards came upon a large cliff that towered over the entire forest. Papi landed next to Natsu.

"You sure this is the place?" inquired Gray. He didn't really doubt her but it never hurt to be sure.

"Papi followed it here one time. This is where the waffle lives."

"We should be careful going in." Juvia advised. "Wyverns can be very nasty creatures when provoked."

"Yeah. We need to be-"

"You guys coming or what?!"

Much to the astonishment of the others Natsu was already halfway inside the cave.

"You idiot!" Gray ran after him. "We told you to wait!"

"Hold on, my love!" Juvia chased Gray.

"Wait for Papi!"

Natsu lead the trail into the Wyvern's lair using his hand as a torch. All around the dank cave were the bones of animals no doubt consumed by the Wyvern, as well as the broken remains of wooden carts that the villagers used to transport their vegetables once they were done harvesting them. They counted themselves lucky that they didn't see any human bones yet. Juvia tightly clung to Gray. The cave was much deeper than they had previously anticipated.

"It is certainly dark in here."

"Caves usually are, and could you stop squeezing my arm so hard? You're gonna pull it off."

Papi was scared as well, holding onto the back of Natsu's vest with her claws. It was as if she felt he would disappear if she let go of him.

"Papi doesn't like it in here. It's scary."

"You can wait outside if you want." Natsu suggested. "We just needed you to find the cave for us. You didn't have to come in."

"No, Papi had to come!" the Harpy asserted. "The nice town people did so much for Papi when she couldn't go home. She has to help them!"

"That is very brave of you, Papi." Juvia praised. She could relate to being taken by the kindness of strangers. The guild mark on emblazoned her thigh was proof enough of that.

Natsu's nose caught a somewhat putrid scent in the air. "I smell something. I think we're close."

"You have a good nose. Are you part dog?" asked Papi.

"No. I'm a dragon slayer."

The Harpy tilted her head. "A dagger sayer?"

"No! A dragon-"

"Shh!" hissed Gray.

The group were approaching a room at the end of the cave, inside they finally saw the wyvern they had been searching for. Its shimmering lime-green scales glistening from the light created by the gems that illuminated the area. Its back was to the intruders, it's breaths slow and steady. It was currently sleeping.

Juvia whispered to Gray. "What do we do?"

"I don't know. Waking it up wouldn't be a good idea, but if we leave it be it'll more than likely try and attack the village again when it wakes up."

As Gray weighed their options, he felt Juvia tug on his shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Um…over there."

She pointed to the Wyvern, or more accurately to Natsu, who was collecting the gems close around the beast's feet.

"I bet these would look great on the wall." he said with a smile. "We could probably sell a couple too and get a bunch of money. I could really use more training stuff."

"What are you doing, you idiot?!"

Natsu's eyebrow twitched at the sound of his rival's voice. Her whipped around, his eyes full of fire.

"Who are you calling an idiot, you frozen pervert?!"

"Who do you think, you flame-brained moron! You're going to wake up the wyvern! Get back over here!"

"Please, you two, this no time to argue." Juvia pleaded.

"Do they hate each other?" Papi muffled.

"Something like that. It's…what's in your mouth?"

"Eggs."

Juvia saw some of the jewels from the cave inside the Harpy's mouth.

"Those aren't eggs." She sighed.

"You wanna go right now?!"

"Bring it!"

Natsu and Gray continued to argue near the Wyvern. As their squabble intensified, Juvia and Papi noticed that the Wyvern was beginning to stir from its slumber.

"Beloved? Natsu?" Juvia meekly called.

"Hit me! I dare you!"

"Why?! Are you scared to throw the first punch, pinky?!

"Boys?" Juvia put a little more force into her call. It once again went unnoticed.

"Try me, Popsicle!"

"Bring it on, charcoal breath!"

"Boys!" Juvia finally screamed.

"What?!"

"The waffle woke up." Papi pointed.

Natsu and Gray slowly turned around, coming face to face with an angered wyvern. The creature exhaled hot breath from it's nostrils before letting loose a mighty roar that covered both Natsu and Gray in globs of saliva.

Within seconds they started running, Juvia and Papi not far behind as the Wyvern started to give chase.

"Nice going, Juvia." Natsu blamed.

"You two were the ones arguing!"

"We can talk about whose fault it is once we make it out alive!" Gray shouted to them.

"Papi sees the exit!"

"We won't make it before it catches us! Let me fry it!" Natsu suggested.

"Dummy, if you do that you'll fry all of us. I can get us out."

ICE MAKE: SLIDE

Gray created a patch of ice for everyone to slide on. He and Juvia were able to traverse the path somewhat comfortably. Natsu and Papi, however, were a different story.

"Get off me! I can't see!"

"Papi can't! She'll fall!"

The energetic Harpy was sitting precariously on Natsu's shoulders as they slid down the path, her wings covering his eyes.

"It's almost reached us!" Juvia shouted as she looked over her shouder.

"We're almost there!" yelled Gray. "Brace yourselves!"

The slide sloped down the hill, allowing the group to narrowly escape the Wyvern as it soared out of the cave. Gray created a wall at the bottom of the hill to stop their momentum.

"Everyone alright?"

"Yes." Juvia answered as she rubbed her head. "I'm fine."

"Papi is ok." The Harpy dizzily replied with her butt in the air.

"What about you, Natsu?" Gray looked around but he didn't see the Dragon Slayer anywhere near them. "Natsu, where are you?!"

"Hel~p!"

A screamed echoed from high above. It was Natsu. He had been captured by the wyvern was currently trapped in the beast's claws.

"Of course he got caught." Gray sighed.

"Oh no!" yelled Papi.

"It's heading towards the village." Juvia pointed out.

"Come on! We gotta catch it!"

In the village, Lucy and the others were anxiously awaiting their friends' safe return from the Wyvern's lair.

"Will Natsu really be ok?" Miia asked for what seemed like the hundredth time. Her worry steadily grew with each passing second. All she could think about was Natsu getting eaten by the creature.

"Yes." Lucy answered for what felt like the millionth time. "Natsu, Gray, and Juvia are three of the strongest wizards in Fairy Tail. One Wyvern is no problem for them."

Emily entered with a steaming pot of soup. "Dinner's on. Get it while it's hot." Just as she placed the food on the table, a blood-curdling roar ripped through the air.

"W-what was that sound?" Wendy asked.

"It's horrible." Carla shuddered.

"Aye." Happy agreed, quaking in his seat.

"That's the Wyvern." Emily answered with a touch of fear.

"Stay here." Lucy ordered. "Wendy. Carla. Come on."

The pair followed the blonde out of the house. Looking to the sky, they saw a shadowed figure diving towards the village.

"Get down!"

The trio ducked as the Wyvern swooped back into the air.

"Lucy~!"

"Natsu?!" The blonde finally noticed her friend in the claws of the creature.

"How did this happen?!"

"Oh no!"

"Natsu~!"

"Darling!" Miia dashed out of the house and stretched out her tail as far as she could. "Grab on!"

Natsu reached with everything he had, but was only able to rub his finger against the tip of the Miia's tail as the Wyvern soared back into the air.

"No! Natsu!" Miia cried.

"We have to get him down." Wendy panicked.

"I know," Lucy said. She thought of using Sagittarius' Star Dress and shooting him down, but the sun obscured her view and an errant shot could end up hurting Natsu. "But I don's know how."

"Hey!"

Gray, Juvia, and Papi returned to the village.

"I'm so glad you guys are ok." Lucy said.

"Yeah." Gray returned. "You see Natsu?"

"The Wyvern still has him."

"Dammit! Let me go!" Natsu punched the Wyvern's toe with a flaming fist, finally forcing the creature to drop him. "I didn't really think this through!"

"Natsu!" Happy sprouted his wings, but Papi was just a split second faster.

She soared into the air, catching Natsu before he hit the ground.

"Papi's got you! You're safe now!"

"Thanks, Papi. I owe you one." As the Harpy held him in mid-air, Natsu saw the Wyvern circling back to the village. "Hey, do you think you can drop me on its back?"

"Papi will try! Super speed!"

Papi raced to the Wyvern, Natsu barely being able to hang on.

She's even faster than Happy! He saw the creature coming closer.

"Drop me!"

"Okey!"

Papi let go and Natsu landed on the creatures back, rolling back and grabbing one of its spiked protrusions as it took another pass at the village.

"Oh no you don't!"

Natsu made his way to the creature's head and yanked the metal collar around it's neck, forcing it upward and away from the village.

Gotta get it away from the village!

Natsu tugged on the collar again, forcing the Wyvern back over the forest. He spotted the lake that Papi had brought him too earlier.

There! He drew back his fist, flames licking around it. "Time to go to back to sleep!"

FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST

Natsu smashed the wyvern on the top of its head, knocking it out. The now unconscious beast took a sharp dive towards the lake.

"Oh crap!"

Natsu held onto the metal collar for dear life, bracing himself in a thin layer as the Wyvern crashed into the lake with an earsplitting splash that could be heard all the way from the village.

"Natsu!"

Lucy and the gang arrived as fast as they could to the lake. All around them the water that once filled the lake was coming down like rain - Juvia shielding from it with an umbrella made of water - but when the downpour stopped all they could see was the Wyvern's unresponsive body lying in a crater. There was a mix of emotions.

"Where is he?"

"Is he ok?"

"Do you think he…?"

"Natsu~!"

"Darling!"

Slowly the wyvern started to roll over. When it was lying on it's side, Natsu emerged from the crater, his clothes and scarf dirtied from the fall.

"That was a close one, but my clothes still got all dirty." He smiled when he saw his friends. "What's up, guys?"

A wave of relief washed over everyone.

"Thank goodness." Juvia sighed.

"Don't scare us like that, idiot." Gray grinned.

"Seriously. You almost gave me a heart attack." smiled Lucy.

"I completely agree." added Carla.

Wendy and Happy cheered.

Just as Natsu was close to reuniting with the group Miia and Papi tackled him to the ground.

"Darling, I'm so glad you're alright!"

"Papi is happy too!"

They both nuzzled to his as closely as they could too.

"Ok! Ok!" Natsu laughed. Papi's feathers were tickling his nose. "I get it. I'm glad you guys are ok too. Can I get up now?"

"Good work, everyone! I knew you could do it!" Smith laughed uproariously as she praised Natsu and company for a job well done. "Looks like the village is safe now. You wizards sure are a big help. I should ask you guys for help more often."

"Not a chance." Gray murmured.

"Wait. Did you know about the wyvern?" Lucy inquired.

Smith instantly started sweating. "I mean I wasn't unaware of it…it's just that I didn't-I mean couldn't really do anything about it at the time because of all of the open cases on my desk. Running a division of the council is hard work you know."

Smith laughed again.

"She was just using us to do work she was assigned." Carla muttered.

"What a lazy woman." Juvia commented.

Smith cleared her throat. "Moving on. Thank you again, Fairy Tail, for helping us out. You don't know how much it means to us."

"You're welcome." Gray said. "But try and give us a little warning next time you throw us into something dangerous."

"Will do."

"What's going to happen to the wyvern?" Wendy asked.

"I have people working on that." Smith pointed behind her to the creature in question. It was being scolded by what appeared to be some sort of lizardwoman and an Oni woman in suits.

"Are they liminals too?" Carla asked.

"Sure are."

"I didn't know you employed them as well as find them places to live." Juvia said in shock.

"Why wouldn't we? They're just normal girls like you and me. Now, Papi."

"Yeah?" The Harpy looked to the coordinator.

"You have two options. Do you want to stay here among us humans? Or do you want to go back to the Harpy village?"

"You know the way back?" Natsu asked.

Smith nodded. "We've known about it for a little while now. I just wanted Papi to experience life among humans for a little bit longer, but after this whole debacle I was thinking it would probably be the safest thing to return her home. So what'll it be?"

Papi thought for a moment. "Papi…wants to stay."

Smith smiled. "I gad a feeling that would be your answer. Alright then. You can stay-"

"But!" the Harpy interrupted. "Papi wants to stay with this guy!" She wrapped her wings around Natsu and smiled, much to the anger of Miia.

"Get off of him, you bird-brained brat!" She pushed Papi away from Natsu.

"What was that for?! Do you want to fight?!"

"Bring it on!"

"This looks familiar." Lucy said under breath.

"Aye." Happy agreed. They both looked to Gray.

"What?"

"Hey, cut it out!" Natsu seperated the pair. "You're gonna hit me too!"

"I'm sorry, darling." Miia apologized.

"Papi is sorry too."

"Well, Natsu?" Smith prompted. "Are you ok with Papi staying with you?"

Natsu looked into the Harpy's big orange eyes. They were almost begging him to say yes. His defenses worn down, he smiled and shrugged.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Yay!" Papi hugged him again.

"What did I just say about touching him?!" Miia shrieked. "Get off!"

"Now, Papi, Natsu is the boss of the house." Smith told her. "So you have to listen to everything he says ok?"

"Okay! Let's go home, boss!"

"Hold on!"

Papi grabbed Natsu with her talons and flew off, and angry Miia chasing after.

"No! Stay away from me!"

Far away from the renewed tranquility of Poppy village. A frightened woman was being chased by a gang of bandits under the burning light of the moon.

"Don't be like that, honey. We just want to have a little fun."

The woman tripped on a rock and fell into the dirt. She was quickly surrounded by her pursuers.

"Please don't hurt me." She begged, her arms covering her body. "Leave me alone."

"I told you. We just wanted to have a little fu-"

A swing of a sword stopped the lecherous man in his tracks.

"Halt, foul villains!"

The bandits jumped back. Having appeared between them and the woman looked to be a knight in shining armor on horseback.

"What the hell kind of get up is that?"

"You think it's one of the Rune Knights?"

"I've never seen Rune Knight armor like that before. Besides why would a Rune Knight be all the way out here in the middle of the night? Must be some jerk playing dress up."

The knight pointed their blade at the bandits. "I shall offer thee one final chance. Leave this fair maiden be or face my steel."

"In case you have noticed it's four on one." The leader of the bandits smirked. "Maybe you're the one that should be taking a hike."

"A knight never flees in the face of injustice."

"Fine. Don't say we didn't warn you. Let's get 'em boys!"

The bandits raised their weapons and charged. The assaulted woman cowering near the knight's horse.

"Do not fear. I will protect you."

In one swift motion the knight parried the lead bandits axe, disarming him, and sending him face first into the dirt. His comrades were felled just as quickly, all of them either being knocked away or knocked out by the bottom of the knight's sword.

The woman sat in awe of the display. Not only did the knight directly use the blade of their weapon, the way their horse moved was as if it was a part of their own body rather then a separate creature.

All of the bandits laid beaten in the dirt. Writhing in pain from being utterly bested by the knight in shining armor.

"Had enough?"

The injured bandits used one each other to prop themselves up. When they saw that the knight was not backing down, they made a hasty retreat into the night.

"You haven't seen the last of us!"

Once they were gone the knight helped the woman to her feet.

"Are you injured?"

"N-No. I'm fine. Thank you so much for your help."

"Twas no trouble at all. Tis the duty of a knight to aid those in need. Are you able to walk?"

"Y-yes. My home is in that village over there." She pointed to a lacrima lamp lit village not far from the path. "I was getting water from a spring in the forest when those bandits attacked me."

"Then twas a good thing I arrived when i did." The knight bowed from atop their horse. "I bid thee a good night."

The knight galloped away, returning to the forest from whence they came. Leaving the woman in a state of confusion.

"Just who was that knight?"

Inside a lone stable not far from the forest spring, the knight removed their armor. Starting with the helmet, long golden yellow hair cascaded down the back of the knight's breastplate. Removing the breastplate, the knight was revealed themselves to be a beautiful young woman with horses ears stick out from the side of her head. For you see, the knight in shining armor was in reality, a centaur. One of the few left of her kind.

Her arms toned from years of training in the ways of a knight, she was easily able to remove the rest of her armor. Her sizable bust heaved from being freed from its metal confinements.

"Twas a good day."

She placed the armor along with her sword in the corner of the stable and stepped around the hay she used as bedding for a moment before setting down.

"I wonder what the morn shall bring."

She closed her eyes, her mind filled with thoughts of what further adventures may await.

FINALLY A NEW CHAPTER! Sorry for the long wait. This one has been in the pipe for a while, but I was stumped for months on how to finish it out. Ultimately I think I did a good job, but I will let you be the judge of that.

The Lizardwoman and the Oni talking to the Wyvern are known as Liz and Kinu respectively. They're characters that work with Smith in MonMusu and they'll more than likely show up later in the story, they won't join Natsu though.

I remember someone asking or maybe leaving a review asking if I was going to be adding characters from 12 Beast (Okayado's other monster girl manga) into the story and the answer is...maybe. I'm not that far into that series so I don't have a firm grasp on the personalities of those girls. That being said if I do integrate some of them I don't want to use the ones that are the same species as the MonMusu girls (for example one of the main girls, Aero, is a Harpy. Since I already have Papi I don't need Aero. The rest are fair game though).

Next time we get a look at the stalwart centaur knight, Centorea Shianus and Erza comes back! (Hopefully this one won't take me as long).

As always leave a comment/review letting me know what you think. Thanks for reading! :)