AN: Chapter 4 has been edited, but only to a minimum. You would've notice the writing style has changed. :D well, please leave a review and ENJOY!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail!
Chapter 4: The Test
Sweat trickled down on Gray's forehead as he struggled to stand on his feet, standing a few meters from him was the girl – which he figured was about his age, and Juvia standing unconscious while a small tornado spins around her, guarding her figure. Right now, they are currently trapped inside another dark room and the fog has completely disappeared.
The girl chuckled. "What's wrong, handsome? Tired already?" she said in a sweet, melodious voice. Had she not bombed him, he would've mistaken her as an innocent girl.
'Shit! This isn't good.' thought Gray.
"Tired? Me? Hah! I was just getting started" he wiped the intruding sweat that was blurring his vision.
"Well, then give me your best shot!"
'Dammit! If this keeps up I'll run out of magic sooner or later'
He averted his gaze to the water woman who was unconsciously being a prisoner to the girl.
'Juvia…'
He closed his eyes and focused once more on his remaining magic energy and then prepared to release a spell.
"ICE MAKE – !"
"Too slow!"
Just then, a surge of wind pierced through Gray's chest causing great injuries on his torso.
"Gah! What the –?"
Gray clutched on his bare chest trying to stop the bleeding and fell on his knees once again.
'How did she – ?'
As if she was reading his mind, the girl stated.
"That was my magic, PIERCE. It can pierce through anything in a blink of an eye."
"Dammit!"
"I told you earlier didn't I? You can't win, no one has ever dodged my attacks before."
"Shit! ICE MAKE LANCE!"
But once again the girl dodged it.
"ICE MAKE HAMMER!"
Dodge.
"ICE MAKE CANNON!"
Dodge.
"DAGGER"
Wind-like daggers pierced through Gray's arms.
"Agh!"
Seeing his battered form, she scowled at him and regarded him with disappointment.
'Huh. And rumor has it they're from the strongest guild in Fiore. Pathetic!'
"Tch. What weak magic, you're no fun at all!"
The mysterious girl then proceeded to her signature stance – which is connecting the tip of all her fingers making a tent, before releasing her magic.
"Guess fun time's over." She said looking bored. " I'll finish this quickly for the both of you."
"Damn it!"
Gray tried to escape but surprisingly he couldn't move his arms no matter how hard he tried. That's when he noticed small wind-like chains piercing through his biceps, restraining him. He stared in confusion when he remembered the wind daggers that attacked him.
'Don't tell me!?'
"You finally noticed them eh?"
"Damn you!"
She let out a sadistic laugh, one Gray would describe as horrifyingly cute and scary at the same time.
"I told you, you can't win, now I'm gonna send you and your girlfriend to the other world."
"You bitch! That's not fair!"
"Life's not fair charming, you should know that as a mage. Well, have a safe trip!"
"Wait!"
"Bye-bye!"
Before Gray could even struggle to escape, the girl slowly lifted her arms above her head making a crisscross pattern while chanting an incantation.
"Bring them to the Twilight…"
"Shit! No!"
"AUTUMN BREEZE!"
A strong breeze surrounded the whole area creating a somewhat like tornado covered with red and orange leaves. Then a piercing scream echoed throughout the darkness.
Gajeel abruptly turned his gaze to where the scream came from, the same with the other mages.
"Dammit…" Gajeel muttered under his breath.
"Gray-san, Juvia-san…" Wendy cried, tears welling under her eyes.
"Oi Wendy! Now's not the time to cry!" Charle scolded.
"B-but…"
Lucy gently patted Wendy's head, calming her.
"It's alright Wendy, I believe in them."
Wendy looked up to her, tears still spilling over her eyes, and finally realizing that Lucy was right she wiped her face and smiled at her, feeling more confident than before.
"Un!"
Just then, a cloud of smoke started forming in front of them, shaping into a human-like appearance
" Lucy-san!"
"I know…"
'This must be the test that girl is talking about'
Unbeknownst to them, the same thing is happening to their other comrades.
"Gajeel, what-?"
"Lily, get ready"
"Natsu!"
"Yosh! Bring it on! I'm getting fired up!"
The mages watched as the cloud of smoke started to take color and form. Over at Natsu, the cloud took the shape of a woman with very big assets and a curvy body, then the hair color turned yellow, and then clothes were formed – a caramel-colored mini skirt, brown knee-high boots and a green tank top, hooked over at the belt was a whip and a key pouch.
"What the heck?!" Natsu exclaimed, shocked.
When the smoke disappeared, standing before him was an exact replica of Lucy. Natsu's cheek twitched, never had he imagined there would be a day where he would face off Lucy in a battle. The fake Lucy smirked at him, sensing his discomfort and gestured to come at her. Happy – who was ignorant as ever, dashed towards Lucy and greeted her in his usual manner.
"Lucy!"
"Wait! Happy!"
Before Happy could even touch her, fake Lucy unhooked her whip and slashed it across Happy's face, while shouting "Baka Neko!" that sent him crashing across the wall.
"Happy!" Natsu rushed over to his side and took a quick check on his injuries. Happy lay sprawled across the floor with a big red lash on his face, unconscious. The impact must have knocked him out, but Natsu had never anticipated how strong Lucy was.
"Shit! You'll pay for this!"
Natsu then charged at her, fists flaming with fire, while the fake Lucy shifted her voice to the actual Lucy and changed her facial expression as if she were in pain.
"Natsu! Stop!"
Natsu's eyes widened, different emotions suddenly filled inside him and felt his stomach twisting into knots. Anger? Worry? Frustration? Guilt? He couldn't describe these emotions that suddenly filled his chest as he came to a stop when his fist was only inches away from her face.
"L-Lucy… I – "
"Stupid!"
The fake Lucy then gave a sinister laugh as she pointed the canon spirit at his chest.
"What the – ?!"
Fake Lucy flashed him a sadistic smile and Natsu gasped in horror.
"Die…" she muttered before firing the full-powered chisel at the horror-stricken fire mage.
Over at Lucy's side, two pillars of smoke were starting to take shape in front of them. One looked like a little girl while the other looked like a man. Then the figures started filling some color and clothes in them. For the little girl figure, the hair turned into blue and a small dress with complex patterns was formed, then a pair of sandals was materialized with small wings sticking at the sides, for the man figure, the hair turned into pink and it donned a black blazer with an orange hem, white baggy shorts that goes just below the knees, black sandals and a very familiar white scarf with scale-like patterns wrapped around his neck.
The two mages and exceed watched in horror as the smoke surrounding the two figures dispersed revealing an also exact replica of Wendy and Natsu. Wendy trembled as she saw herself smiling sadistically at her as if she wanted to eat her alive, but then she shifted her gaze to Lucy who was also staring at her in horror. Fake Wendy's smile grew wider revealing sharp-edged teeth and started laughing maniacally. Fake Natsu did the same thing as well, eyeing the little girl, trembling beside Lucy with fiend interest.
Both mages shivered at the sound of it. They never anticipated that the so called test would be battling against their own friends (well, it's not like they're real anyway), of course they were expecting something worse but this idea didn't even crossed their minds, and it was totally unexpected.
Lucy looked over to the little blue-haired mage beside her – Wendy is trembling in fear. Well, who could blame her, even she was a bit shaken when she saw a sadistic version of Wendy and also the fact that they had to face a demon-like Natsu. The fake Wendy was the least to her problems since she can let Wendy and Charle deal with her – I mean, what's the best way to defeat an evil counterpart than to match it up with the original one? Her only main problem is dealing with Natsu. She had seen his fighting skills countless times and had witnessed his monstrous powers, there is no way she could defeat him, she's gonna have a hard time thinking up a plan in order for them to win, but what had the white girl meant?
As if on cue, both fake copies dashed forward ready to give out their first strike. Acting on instinct, both mages dodged. Wendy already regained her composure and prepared to attack but not before fake Natsu gave her a major blow in the stomach which sent her crashing through the wall. She felt as if all of the oxygen escaped from her lungs as she crashed and choked up a handful of her own blood, before she could even get up, fake Natsu grabbed a fistful of her shirt, lifted her up and then gave her another punch.
Right. In. the. Face.
"Wendy!" Lucy was about to run to her when the fake Wendy swung her leg to Lucy's stomach making her cough up blood and fall in her knees. She tried giving the imposter a punch in the face but the fake one was too fast for her and ended up getting punched at instead, she heard a terrible crack as spots danced around her eyes and everything in her vision started to look red and blurry, but that didn't stop the fake Wendy from giving her another powerful punch square in the face, did she fell limply across the floor. She could hear Wendy's scream as Natsu mercilessly kicked and punched her battered body over and over again. Tears started to well up in her eyes, she felt so useless that she couldn't do anything to save her. She tried fumbling for her keys but was already gone the moment fake Wendy punched her.
'Damn it!' she thought. 'How could I have let this happen!'
Though admitting, she's not the strongest mage there is, she could hardly match her strength with any of her teammates, and she'd been defeated countless times by different mages and her friends would always be there to save her, but this is the worst humiliation she could have ever received in her entire life. Being defeated by a little girl, a fake one! And what's worse, the little girl that she regarded as a sister! Could this be any worse?
"Get up!" shouted fake Wendy and stomped on her foot. Lucy winced at the sharp pain but continued to ignore her while thinking of a plan on how to deal with this situation.
"I said get up b*tch!" this time fake Wendy kicked her in the shins trying to drive her patience.
Despite the pain, Lucy tried her best to get up, when she did she was met by another fist to her cheek. Her vision blurred and the world swayed before her, she could feel blood trickling down her nose and was having a hard time breathing as fake Wendy punched and kicked her over and over again. She could hear Charle screaming in the background as she watched both mages being beaten up into a pulp. Once again she fell to the floor having all of her strength sucked out of her and her body was too hurt to even move. She watched through half closed eyes as fake Wendy was about to deliver the final blow and whispered her last plea before her world goes dark.
"Loke…"
AN: Their ages are the same in the anime during the Edolas arc if any of you are confused. Just saying. :D