Sorry for the wait.
Took me a while to write this chapter compared to the others, been busy and stuff. Well at least it's finally done.
Disclaimer: I don't Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Everything belongs to Hiro Mashima.
Enjoy!
Chapter 4 – Beast Arm
Pain flowed from my thigh to my arm, yet the limb felt like heaven compared to the attack from earlier. I gripped my glowing limb tightly to cope with the pain, most of my body trembling from the physical earthquake I endured.
The plan I concocted was to use rock bear to burrow me underground (it is a ground-based beast after all) in order to buy me enough time to summon the spell, then I will burst out from the earth to punch the vulcan in the stomach.
It hurts even trying to move, let alone travel at a fast enough velocity to build up the sufficient final blow. At this very point, the Vulcan perched over me, its arm held above its head, ready to slam my already pathetic body into the ground.
Confusion struck the beast's face as it saw the somewhat hopeful look on my face, thus angering it further.
"Hey! Over here!" a voice that caught me off guard. The vulcan immediately snapped towards the noise, growling with steam blown out through its nose. I peered around it to see the client performing an odd signal. A sweat drop appeared on my forehead after witnessing the businessman's idiocy. The client actually came to help me; I thought he was too busy cowering behind a tree trunk a couple feet away.
I shook my head hastily to focus myself on the advantage. "Perfect" I announced. I used my left arm to snap out my bear vial. Cracks in the ground immediately formed around me, creating a small hole for me to fall onto my ally's back. It then started to drill through the forest soil at an alarming speed. I was scared to be attempting a new stunt like this in a life-or-death situation.
I could feel the frequencies of the vibrations being sourced from the Vulcan, and also the frightened exclamations of the client. Making a reverse turn, I prepped myself to perform my move as my arm was just about ready. The bear then dipped upwards. I pierced through the ground like a bullet fired from the earth itself. Throwing my arm with all the force I can muster, I shouted with struggling in my voice.
"Beast Arm! Beast King!"
I buried my arm into the gorilla's stomach, causing the monster to whimper with a goofy sounding groan. I sent the monster flying upwards, after witnessing my victory, my body felt non-existent. I stumbled to the ground grasping my lungs onto more oxygen. My arm burned like I just laid it into a volcano, it was a mixture of numbness and concentrated neural response.
Getting more air, I rose up triumphantly, my arm reverting to its original form. After wiping off the blood around my mouth I retrieved the fallen bandages from the tree I was hit into and covered my thigh with it instead. "You OK over there?" I heard the client shout, realising his sarcasm.
"Ha ha, very funny" for someone who nearly died, I sure seemed kind of jokey; maybe it was the adrenaline. "What the hell were you doing back there?!" I yelled back just now memorising his earlier actions.
"Look man, you was about to die, what else could I have done?!" he yelled back. I sighed in a way which basically said "I give up."
"Well, let's keep going then." I said walking off with limp arms and legs.
"Ummmm…" I heard the client say with a very prioritising tone.
"What is it now?" Turning around with completely no interest left in fighting whatever monster was next. I stood there with a stunned look on my face; the comatose vulcan was disappearing into turquoise particles. I slowly said my next words in fear of what was happening "T-that's not meant to h-happen"
I didn't even attempt the retrieval, why was the soul still being extracted?
The particles flew around, and then travelled towards a tree a couple feet away from the location I fought in. I focused my eyes on what seemed to be a human hand sticking out behind the oak. There was a soul shelter being grasped in the stranger's hand, when the soul was collected, the figure stepped out for us to see.
"Elfman?! What the hell are you doing out here?!" I exclaimed.
"Friend of yours?" The client asked me.
"Yeah, if you look at his neck, he's from Fairy Tail too." I replied back.
"I was just strolling through the forest." Elfman said with a mischievous grin.
"I'm not that gullible, give back my soul shelter." I demanded with a hand opened up in front of me. Elfman thankfully obliged. "So it was you all this time, huh?" I said knowing that Elfman summoned the vulcan. So that's what he had in his hand back at the guild.
"Just checking that you had things under control." Elfman answered.
"Just checking?! I could have died, you know?!" I yelled back.
"Why do you think I stayed that close to you during that fight?" He replied with a smug smile. "If you couldn't finish it off like a real man, I would have just summoned it back anyways." So I gave it my all just for a sick joke.
"You shouldn't treat those animals as manly punching bags! They're my pets after all." I said with major concern for my allies. I looked down at the vulcan soul shelter I held in my hand. Elfman must have noticed how sincere I was about their welfare.
"Your friend is fine, he's resting up well in there" Elfman remarked as a sign of comfort. The client finally intervened in the man-to-man conversation.
"Not to be rude or anything, but can we get going now?" The businessman politely asked.
"Sure, this is an escort mission after all, you coming too Elfman? Or do you have better stuff to do?" I enquired, slightly bitter from his actions.
"We're just on the edge of the forest, I might as well." He replied. After his answer, he matted my messy hair with his huge hands, making me feel a little short. I've placed my vulcan soul shelter where it was missing all this time.
With the ordeal now over, we continued through the patch of nature. On the way, Elfman took over the role of pulling the cart, I felt sorry for the client, he must have felt exhausted hauling so much stock over this distance. What alarmed me was how easily Elfman pulling the package was, he made it seem like a toy. All I did was felt down about not being that strong. "A real man should be doing this job." He proudly stated.
"Yeah, we know" Both me and the client said in synchronisation.
Eventually, we came up to a little clearing. Noticing this open space up ahead of us, I started speeding up my walking since I couldn't wait to bask in the sunlight for once. Suddenly, I felt Elfman's hand placed on my hoodie, tugging at my shoulder. "We should head through here, it's quicker that way" he said pointing towards some trees placed around the clearing.
"Oh come on, we're not in a rush, are we? Can't we just walk through this lush opening just here?" I whined. Elfman's grip on my shoulder tightened, causing me to look up to see his saddened, serious face, almost like he didn't even want anything to do with this place. Recognising how he looked, I decided to not object to his wishes. I was slightly confused as to why Elfman felt this way. Did something happen here or something?
Following the shortcut, we finally arrived back at the entrance to Magnolia, not a single scratch on the client or the stock. Mission accomplished! "Thanks for the help getting this here; I can make my way from here." The manager informed us. He reached into his pocket. "Here's the reward, you deserved it.".
"It's fine, you didn't need protecting anyways so I don't really deserve it" I said being modest.
"You risked your life for me, which is more than what I can say for lots of other people, besides you need the money don't you?" He explained.
"When you put it like that, I feel bad refusing. Thanks." I accepted the pay whilst also giving the client a firm handshake. "Good luck with your business."
"You're welcome to stop by anytime. Farewell." He started heading into town.
"See ya" Me and Elfman said in unison. "I'm impressed, your first mission was a success." Elfman gave a smile. I simply chuckled.
"By the way, why were you testing me like that back there?" I wondered. Elfman's smile turned into a serious gaze.
"Because I'm going to make you a real man" I looked at him with an enlightened look, like I was witnessing greatness.
Continued in Chapter 5 "What Makes a Real Man?"
Whew, I'm glad I finished writing this first mission. It's time for Rai to actually settle into his new home. But wait, he doesn't have one….yet.
Please PM me if you have any suggestions!
See you in the next chapter!