"Why do you and your guild want to cause so much trouble for the townspeople?" Lucy questioned cautiously.
The green haired girl raised her eyebrow. "Why not? This is an old town; many of the folks here own a valuable thing or two. Many of their houses have lots of antique furniture and artifacts! Imagine the amount of money we can get from those…." She drooled.
Lucy's eye twitched in annoyance. She looked around once again, hoping that Erza or Happy would appear. All she saw however, was just more trees and debris.
"Where do you think you are looking? I'm right here, blondie!" A roundhouse kick was sent to Lucy's stomach, causing her to sprawl over to the side.
An excruciating pain pulsed from her already-injured back. She let out a shout of pain and surprise, but wasted no time to pull out another key.
"Open, the gate of the Scorpion: Scorpio!" another chime was heard, and the celestial spirit appeared with a golden flash.
As if on cue, the celestial spirit immediately crouched into position. "Sand Buster!"
A swirling vortex of sand spiraled from Scorpio's tail, and winded towards the opponent.
The green haired girl simply raised her arms upwards. "Nature's shield!"
A wall of trees and vines sprouted from the ground, blocking Scorpio's attack. The sand sprayed in all directions.
Lucy gasped in shock. She uses plant magic?
Scorpio looked back at his owner. "We are! Lucy, what are we going to do next?"
Lucy opened her mouth to answer, but was cut off when the vines on the wall started to grow again and flew towards them at a blinding speed.
Scorpio grabbed Lucy and jumped away at the nick of time, as the plants converged and crashed into the ground right where they were standing. Before Lucy could recover, the vines sprouted yet again and reached for Scorpio, binding him up.
Lucy squeaked in surprise. Another group of vines slithered their way towards her legs, but she dodged them and sidestepped away.
With Scorpio's key in her hand, she slashed it front of her. "Thank you Scorpio! You go back first!"
The celestial spirit, struggling from the vines, shimmered in golden light and faded away.
Lucy placed Scorpio's key back in her keypouch and pulled out Taurus's key.
"Open, the gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!" Another chime was heard and Taurus' humongous form appeared in front of the vines.
"I won't let anyone hurt Lucy-chan's a-moo-zing body!" the celestial spirit exclaimed, punching the vines that were reaching for Lucy again. The said person sweatdropped at that statement.
Taurus advanced, swinging his axe forward. With a clean execution, the wall of plants were sliced away. Remnants of vegetation crashed down onto the forest floor.
Before Taurus could reach the green haired girl, she snapped her fingers. This time, a row of sunflowers burst out from the ground, stopping the celestial spirit in his tracks. The sunflower petals turned into deadly yellow blades and shot out towards Taurus and Lucy.
Before Lucy could react, Taurus reached out and lunged for her. Grabbing her shoulders, they fell down onto the ground, evading the course of the blades. Lucy gritted her teeth. At this rate, she will never reach the green haired girl!
Through the chaos of the hordes of flying blades, she reached for her keypouch again. Feeling for Virgo's key, she pulled it out and held it out.
"Open, the gate of the Maiden: Virgo!" With a chime, Virgo appeared with a clinging sound of her chains. She crouched down next to Lucy.
"Princess, what do you need me to do for you?" Virgo asked monotonely, expressionless as always.
Lucy pointed to Natsu and Gray. "I need you to bring Natsu and Gray to safety! And if you still have the time, come back and help us!"
"You got it, princess." Virgo drilled into the ground.
Still lying on the ground, Lucy and Taurus inched towards the green haired girl slowly. A few stray blades sliced across Lucy's skin, causing her to wince in pain.
The girl noticed them, her eye glinting dangerously. However, she did not seem to notice Virgo pulling Natsu and Gray with her into the ground.
"Before you can reach me, you would be dead. Don't even try," The green haired girl snapped her fingers once again. "Fruit bombs!"
This time, another row of bushes sprouted behind the sunflowers. A second later, different fruits of various colours and sizes appeared on the bush and shot out towards them. Upon impact, the fruits exploded, expelling acid and fire.
Taurus swung his axe's blade downward to block the bombardment. However, acid continued to splatter towards them, damaging Lucy's clothes and burning her.
"Lucy! I don't think I can hold on much longer-!" Taurus informed his owner, gritting his teeth. His axe slowly corroded away from the acid and the flames.
Lucy turned back towards where Virgo and her friends were, desperately hoping that the celestial spirit is done dragging them to a safe place.
A rustling sound was heard from that exact same location, and the green haired girl immediately turned her attention to that direction. Lucy mentally cursed as Virgo's pink hair became visible among the grass and shrubs in the undergrowth.
"So you think your two friends can escape? Think again, blondie." The green haired girl smirked. Motioning her arms, more fruit trees sprouted out, facing the undergrowth. The same deadly fruits appeared, ready to strike.
"NO!" Lucy's pupils dilated in fear as the fruits catapulted into the air.
All that can be heard after that was Virgo's scream of agony.
A sharp pain on Erza's left abdomen stirred her awake. Opening her eyes tentatively, she felt the source of pain cautiously. Apparently, shrapnel from the missile has buried themselves in her waist area. Pulling the fragments out slowly, she heaved a sigh of relief when it wasn't too deep. However, blood started to trickle into her hands.
Ripping out a part of her sleeve, she pressed the piece of clothing onto her side to stop the bleeding. She stood up with a stumble, looking around. She expected to find Kuro nearby, but the black haired sniper was nowhere to be seen. Looking out for Lucy or any of her friends, she started walking aimlessly.
The sunlight was turning warmer, indicating that it was already afternoon. Erza trudged along the forest path, calling out her friends' names.
"Gray! Natsu! Lucy! Happy! Are any of you around here?!"
The only sounds of reply was the chirping of birds and her own footsteps.
She clenched her fists in frustration. What is she going to do? She needs to find help immediately, but what can she do in the middle of a forest? She should have listened to Cana's advice and brought along a call card…
Her thoughts were interrupted when a certain blue flying cat crashed onto her from behind.
"Erza! I'm so glad to have found you!" Happy declared, sobbing animatedly.
She turned around, holding the cat in her arms. "I'm happy to see you too, Happy. Did you see any of them just now?"
Happy shook his head. "No, I think we all got separated after the missile blast."
Erza pursed her lips. "Well, let's go and find them together!"
Hello friends,, hope yall liked the new chapter! Whats going to happen to Lucy? hmMmMMm we will never know ;)
Thank you to that one person who reviewed this story, really appreciate the kind words!
Stay tuned :D