Hello again! I know this is quick for me for updating, but as I said before, I would really like to get this story done so that I can focus on other things (like a new chapter of Asuka lol). Anyway, here is part two! Still hoping for three parts in total, but knowing me it might turn into 4!
As always I don't own Fairy Tail or the Characters, they belong to Hiro Mashima and I thank him for their use in my own creative expressions *bows*
A slow two hours passed as the zoo started to fill up with people, but Gray could tell that it wasn't the large crowd that would normally gather here on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Even those that did brave coming looked wary and didn't get too close to the cages and tanks just in case.
"Juvia feels so gloomy in here,"she commented as they watched people stroll around the aquarium. The main lights in the building were kept low to amplify the glowing of the tanks which made everyone's face a shadow. Gray and Juvia had been to every room so far and saw nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary except for the mood of the patrons.
"Let's move on," Gray suggested and they followed a family of four out into the largest room, which had a sign above the entrance telling them they were entering the "Shark Tank". One wall was entirely made up of clear glass and you could see a Blue Shark lazily swimming around the enclosure, its body glowing from the blue lights inside the tank. A little girl from the family who had entered before them, who looked no older than 3 years old, was gazing through the glass with wide eyes. She reached up a hand to touch the glowing tank but her mom pulled her back gently. "No honey, we must not touch," she pointed to a sign on one of the walls that read PLEASE DO NOT TAP ON THE GLASS, "Just watch the big fishy swim around his home. Look at how big his tail is!"
"Juvia does not feel so gloomy anymore," Gray had forgotten that she was standing next to him. "It makes Juvia sad that there are not more little girls enjoying the zoo."
"I hear you," Gray agreed with her and they watched the family move on to the next room. "So far though, nothing is happening here today. This might be a bust, the mages might have gotten spooked that there aren't as many people here for them to blend in with." Juvia nodded in agreement and they were just about to move on to the next exhibit when they heard somebody call out behind them.
"Hey you two!" Kendra was walking towards them waving her hand.
"Has something happened?" Gray asked urgently but the zoo keeper shook her head quickly.
"Oh no, nothing like that, I just came to tell you that I was checking in with the other groups and no one has seen anything suspicious so far. Although, we did have to stop that pink haired boy from starting and elephant stampede by trying to ride them." Gray rolled his eyes, he was used to hearing about Natsu's clownish antics and Juvia stifled a giggle.
"I also wanted to let you know that we have decided to close the zoo early. There just aren't a lot of people here and the ones that have come don't look like they are enjoying it that much, they're too afraid from the rumors of crazy animals." Kendra's voice was sad and it made Gray think about the little girl and the shark tank. Whoever this was had gone beyond just stealing, they were putting the entire zoo at risk of closing down and that made Gray angry.
"Don't worry Kendra," he replied. "If they are here, we will find them."
Just then a voice crackled over the loudspeaker system. "Attention, due to unforeseen circumstances the zoo will be closing in one hour. We are sorry for the inconvenience and please enjoy the rest of your day." Kendra smiled and waved goodbye as she made her way towards the exit.
"Juvia thinks that the zoo closing early might be a good thing."
Gray raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Why do you think so?"
"Because, it will make the thief act earlier than they wanted to, Juvia thinks they will be more likely to make a mistake then."
Gray nodded in agreement, "You have a point there, lets made another lap around."
Just as Juvia predicted, it wasn't ten minutes later before they heard yelling coming from outside.
"Let's go!" Gray called to Juvia and they both ran towards the commotion.
"Juvia thinks it is coming from the monkey house," she pointed towards a domed building and Gray noticed the people rushing out of it.
"What is going on?!" Lucy and Natsu came running up behind them.
"I don't know," Gray replied, "But we have to go help Wendy and Charle." They ran into the monkey house, racing passed people who were trying to get out as quickly as possible. It was impossible to tell which enclosure was in trouble since everyone seemed to be panicking.
"Excuse me," Lucy snagged one young man by the arm just before he could exit. "What is going on here?"
He stopped when he saw Lucy's outfit and seemed to forget about the impending doom.
"Hey, eyes up front mister!" Lucy gave him a glare.
"Oh, sorry," he looked sheepish for a second and then shook out of it, turning towards the exit again. "Somebody said one of the gorillas is trying to break out of it's cage, if I were you I would run the other way." He took off with the crowd and the Fairy Tail mages made their to the gorilla's enclosure.
"Is a gorilla even a monkey?" Gray asked as they raced past the other cages in the monkey house.
"I don't know, why are you even asking that now?" Lucy sounded annoyed.
They finally came to the scene and stopped in their tracks, a big black gorilla was going crazy in it's enclosure, ripping up grass and throwing things at a flying Happy who had somehow made it into the cage with him. Charle and Lily were also in there with their wings out, floating in the air and some of the zoo patrons were still standing around watching the scene, despite the zoo attendant's efforts to usher them out.
"Happy!" Natsu cried and ran at the bars. "Let me in there!"
"Natsu!" They turned and saw Wendy standing by a side door marked Staff Only. "I'll show you how to get into the cage." Natsu followed her through the door, Lucy right behind him.
"Juvia," Gray turned to the water mage who he knew would be by his side. "We should stay here and help evacuate the people and in case the gorilla breaks though the cage." She nodded and then joined one of the frightened zoo staff who was still trying to push people towards the exits. Gray started walking towards another group of staring people when he saw a flash, as if somebody was running towards him at high speed. He recognized it as the same kind of magic that Racer of Oracion Seis used during that group assignment they had so long ago. Gray was so shocked that he let the mage race by him into the group and as the blur flickered from person to person he realized that this was the unknown thief that took advantage of the confusion to pick the pockets of the zoo's visitors. Gray braced himself for the figure to whiz by him again; he had figured out the weakness to Racer's magic once before and managed to beat it. He could also tell that his mage was not as skilled as the fervent speedster had been; obviously they were still new at magic and didn't realize the potential of such a rare type. He didn't have to wait long since most of the people were making their way to exit, being ushered along by Juvia and the zoo staff to make sure no one ended up trampled or hurt. The mysterious mage tried to run past Gray on their way out of the monkey house and he used his fast reflexes to grab what he thought was an arm as they sped by. He nearly lost his hand hold as the force threw them both against a wall and in a tangle of arms and elbows Gray managed to subdue the thief.
"Hey! Let me go! Let me go!" The voice from beneath the black hood was the high pitched wail of a pre-teen girl and Gray nearly let go in shock but regained his grip once they started to fight harder against his hold.
"We need to get out of here before the gorilla breaks through his cage" he heard a zookeeper call from the door. Gray glanced up and saw that the room was now empty except for the Fairy Tail mages and zoo staff, Natsu was still in the gorilla enclosure that was being destroyed by the crazed animal.
"If you guys would just let me use my fire-" Natsu started as he dodged a big rock but was cut off by a chorus of NO!s from everyone watching.
"Time to go kid, no arguing," The girl gasped in shock as Gray scooped her up over his one shoulder and followed everyone out the exit.
"No!" The girl started to kick her legs in frustration. "You can't take me anywhere, that's kidnapping! Let me go!" Gray held her easily, ignoring the thrashing as he stopped just a few feet from the entrance to the monkey house to wait for everyone else. "I caught you stealing fair and square kid. I'm not taking you anywhere, just going to hold you until the police come."
The girl stopped fighting immediately, "The p-p-police?" She asked in a shaking voice. "Why w-would you c-call the p-police?"
Gray sighed, he hated scaring the kid, but she had to learn the responsibility of misusing her magic. "I just said I caught you robbing those people in there and I am guessing that isn't the first time either. Plus the zookeepers are going to want to know what you did to the animals to make them go all crazy like that and how to fix them before they hurt anyone."
"But that wasn't-" the girl started to speak and then quickly snapped her mouth shut.
"Wasn't what?" Gray asked suspiciously.
"Nothing," the fear was all out of her voice but Gray could still feel her body shaking over his shoulder. "You can put me down now, I promise I won't run away."
Gray snorted, "Do I look like an idiot to you? As soon as I put you down you'll bolt."
"Please mister? Please, pleases, please?" The girl begged him. "I promise I won't run, my legs are falling asleep and I hate the tingly feeling you get in them when they fall asleep."
Gray could feel himself relenting, he knew what it was like to be a kid who made a bad mistake. "Fine, but if you run…"
"I won't run!" She repeated and Gray swung her down off his shoulder, keeping a firm hold on her right arm as he set her down.
"There you g-OW!" He didn't even finish his sentence before the girl swung a leg back and kicked him right in the ankle. He managed to keep his grip on her arm as she started to pull against him to get away.
"Hey!" He yelled, trying to shake the pain out of his foot and keep hold of her at the same time. "You said you wouldn't run."
"I can't let you take me," she ground out between clenched teeth as she fought to get free; lifting her leg again she stomped down hard on his remaining foot. Gray let her go in his moment of painful surprise, almost no longer caring that the girl was going to get away. She went to take off running but before she could even turn around she ran right into Juvia who wrapped her water arms around the girl.
"Juvia cannot let you get away with hurting Gray-sama," Juvia told the girl calmly, but Gray could see the glint of malice in her eyes.
"Don't hurt her!" Gray called out, his foot and ankle still smarting from her lethal kicks. "We have to get her to tell us what she did to the animals." The girl's eyes were wide with fear and it made her look even younger. Gray could imagine how scared she would be now, when you first encountered Juvia's water body it could be a bit unnerving.
"EMILY!" All three of them turned, although the girl could only move her neck, to the sound of the cry that came from near the main enclosures. Gray was surprised to see a boy standing about ten feet away from them, not running away like the others. His face was covered in shadows from beneath his ball cap but Gray could see a green glow coming from his eyes and feel their glare on him.
"Elliot!" The girl called out. "Run! They are going to call the police; you have to get out of here!" The girl started fighting her invisible water bonds but Gray knew without counter magic there would be no way for her to break free of them.
"Green eyes…" Gray muttered to himself, trying to think of why his brain thought that was important, and then it hit him. "Juvia," he looked over the girl at her. "He has green glowing eyes, just like Bixlow."
Juvia frowned and glanced at the boy who was still watching them fiercely, "Juvia does not understand what Gray-sama means."
"Bixlow uses Seith Magic and his Figure Eyes to manipulate people. What if this kid does the same thing, only with animals instead? Animal Possession…" Everything was coming into place in Gray's head. One kid makes a diversion with the animals and the other one steals things, but he since he knew the girl was not very good at controlling her own power he could imagine that the boy would not be either, especially with one that was stronger and much harder to master.
"Juvia, you keep her here until the others come back. I have to go after that kid before he causes more trouble." He took off running, ignoring Juvia's surprised cry of "Gray-sama, wait!" The kid realized his intent and started to run away as well, but not towards the main exits to the zoo, he was leading Gray back to the murkly darkness of the aquarium.
Two mysterious children OC's, I don't usually create OCs but these kids aren't that bad, honest. I think they will find they have lots in common with Gray and Juvia. Watch for part three! I hope to have it up soon. Thanks!
