"Hey, slow down, Erza!" Gray shouted from the roof. Lucy wondered why he was still up there, but on further reflection, it was better than hanging out with a persnickety cat and a motion sick Dragon Slayer. "Powering this thing takes a lot of magic energy! Even for you, Erza!"
"I have no choice but to press on!" she shouted back, eyes on the road. "We're running out of time. If Erigor gets his hands on this death magic, trust me - lives will be lost!" Curse them, she thought. What is it they hope to accomplish? This is madness!
"Oh, Macky," the guild master of Blue Pegasus - Bob - crooned. "Your wizards are so full of life and they're such cutie pies! In fact, I hear you've got a girl that gave some big shot quite the spanking!"
"Oh," Makarov said, putting down his beer. "You must mean Lucy! She just joined! She's our newest recruit… and she's got a body that won't quit!"
"So naughty!" Bob exclaimed.
"This is no time to be laughing, Makarov," Goldmine, the master of Quatro Cerberus said. "Your wizards may be spirited, but they always go too far. I hear some of the guys on the council are worried that Fairy Tail's gonna go and obliterate an entire city one of these days. Can't say that I blame them."
"Ah, let those blowhards worry," Makarov exclaimed. "What do I care? They're just jealous my wizards are hot!"
"Oh Macky," Bob said, "you shouldn't talk about your wizards that way."
"Master Makarov! Master Makarov!" a messenger bird called. "A letter from Miss Mirajane!"
"Ah, thanks a lot." He opened it as the bird flew away.
"Hi, Master," the message Mira said. "I'm glad you made it to the conference safe and sound."
"See?" Makarov said. "This honey's our poster girl. A cutie, ain't she?" The men all stared.
"Oh, Master. You're not going to believe what happened!" Mira smiled. "It may be the greatest thing in the history of Fairy Tail!"
"Really?" he said in surprise.
"Erza, Gray, and possibly Natsu have teamed up together. An amazing combination, huh? I think they might be the strongest team in Fairy Tail now! Sorry to bother you, but I just had to let you know!"
"N-Not those three!" Makarov cried.
"I guess the council has a good reason to be worried," Goldmine snickered.
I can't believe this is happening! he thought. Those three really could destroy a city… goodness knows Natsu's almost done it enough!
Erza, Gray, Lucy, and Happy watched the commotion down at Kunugi Station as Natsu recovered from his motion sickness.
"I can understand cars and boats, but why would they want to hijack a train?" Lucy said.
"It doesn't really seem to make much sense," Happy agreed, "since it can only follow the tracks."
"Yes," Erza said, "that's true, but they are fast."
"Then I guess it's up to us to figure out where those Eisenwald guys are going in such a big hurry and why," Gray said.
"You're naked, Gray!" Lucy shrieked.
"Keep it down," Natsu pleaded.
"Am I?" the ice wizard asked.
"Still, the army's already taking action, so it's only a matter of time until they're caught," Lucy said.
"Let's hope so," Erza agreed. Natsu groaned as Erza started the car again.
"Stop, Erza!" Gray shouted. "You're going way too fast! You're gonna overload the SE plug."
"Scores of people will die if the Lullaby flute is played!" she shouted back. Yeah, no kidding, Natsu thought. "I can't slow down; we have to stop Eisenwald before it's too late!"
"But at this rate you're gonna use up all your magic before we even start fighting!" he protested.
"If that happens," Erza said with a grim smile, "I'll just have to rely on hand-to-hand combat. Besides, I've got you and Natsu as back-up." That's why she dragged me here? Natsu wondered. Then again, it has to do with Lullaby, so it shouldn't be too bad.
"I feel like there was something important that I was supposed to tell you, Lucy," Happy said, watching Natsu splayed out on the floor groaning.
"Really?" Lucy replied, eager to get her mind off Lullaby. "Well, what is it?"
"I forget. All I remember is that it had to do with you."
"Totally sick for real," Natsu groaned.
"That's it!" Happy announced.
"Are you kidding me?" Natsu attempted to throw himself out the window, but only got the upper half of his body out.
"Careful, Natsu, you're gonna fall out!" Lucy cried, grabbing on to his belt.
"That's what I'm aiming for," he grunted.
"Hmm… if it's not 'Lucy is totally sick', then what the heck was it?" Happy wondered. Lucy struggled to pull Natsu back into the car, but his dead weight made it hard. "Something weird like that. Lucy's weird? A fish? I like fish! Weird… Weird…"
"Why are you saying that I'm weird?" Maybe it's because you are, Natsu thought.
"What's that up ahead?" Erza asked. Smoke was rising from the Oshibana Station. If Lullaby gets loose in the city… well, there won't be a city once I'm done with it. "Excuse me," Erza told a train conductor. "What's going on?"
"Why would I tell you, lady?" the foolish man said. She punched him and knocked him out.
"What's going on?" she demanded of another one. When he didn't answer promptly -probably out of fear - she head-butted him and moved on to the next one. "What's going on?"
"It seems like her questioning method is a little counter-productive," Lucy noted, carrying a still sick Natsu with Gray's help.
"Erza's got her own way of getting things done," Gray explained.
"Where are your clothes and how did you take them off while carrying Natsu?"
"Eisenwald is inside," Erza announced once she was she was done 'questioning' the various conductors. "Let's go."
"You mean I got to drag this heavy lump inside?" Lucy complained.
"Sorry," Natsu muttered.
"A small army unit stormed in earlier," Erza informed them while they ran in, "but hey have yet to return. I'm guessing that they've been caught in battle with the Eisenwald forces. To their shock, they saw said army unit on the stairs, dead.
"They've been completely wiped out!" Happy gasped.
"They were up against an entire guild of wizards," Erza noted. "A small contingent like this never stood a chance against such power." Entering the main area, they saw Eisenwald, with Erigor perched like a bird on the top of the train.
"Welcome to our parlor, Fairy Tail flies!" he chuckled. His guild laughed evilly.
"Oh, wow," Lucy whispered. "There are so many of them!"
"You. Are you Erigor?" Erza demanded. He laughed in response.
"Come on, Natsu," Lucy begged, shaking him. "We need your help!"
"Forget it. He rode a train, a Magic-mobile, and then you," Happy said. "It's a motion sickness triple combo!"
"I'm not a vehicle!" Lucy shouted.
"Hey, you," the man from the train said. "I got in trouble with Erigor because of you." Natsu shifted.
"I know that voice," he muttered, pushing himself up.
"What is your aim?" Erza growled. "What are you planning to do with the Lullaby?"
"You mean you don't know?" he mocked. "What do all train stations have?"
"He flew!" Lucy gasped.
"It's wind magic," Happy explained. Erigor perched on the top of the speaker system.
"You mean you plan to broadcast the Lullaby?" Erza gasped. He cackled.
"Thousands of nosy onlookers have gathered around this station. Who knows, if I raise the volume enough, the melody of death might just echo throughout the entire city…"
"What reason do you have to commit such a heinous crime?" Erza shouted.
"This a cleansing of fools who preserve their livelihoods by flaunting their rights, ignorant of those who've had their rights stolen away. It is a sin to live oblivious to this unfair world. Therefore… the reaper has come to dish out punishment!"
"Killing them isn't going to give you your rights back!" Lucy shouted. "Besides, you were kicked out of the wizard league because you kept doing bad things!"
"At this point," Erigor said, clenching his fist as if to grab something in front of his face, "we don't want rights. We want power! With power, we can wash away the entire past and control the future."
"You're insane!" Lucy shouted.
"So sorry, flies," the man from the train said, powering up a magic circle. "You're going to the afterlife without getting to witness the age of darkness!"
"I don't think so," Natsu said, finally getting to his feet. He punched the shadow fist things before they could touch Lucy. "I knew that I recognized that voice!"
"You're back to normal!" Lucy said happily.
"Oh, looks like we've got ourselves a party here," Natsu smirked. He slammed his fist into his palm. "Ain't this gonna be fun?"
"Natsu, these are the guys we have to fight!" she said. Natsu rarely know, in her experience, who was an enemy and who was an ally.
"Like I said," he said with a feral growl. "It's a party!"
"This is the strongest team Fairy Tail has to offer," Lucy shouted. Yeah, no thanks to you. And since when did I team up with Tin can and Ice Prick? "You'd better be ready!"
"I leave them to you," Erigor said, rising from his perch into the air. "Show them the terror of the dark guild Eisenwald!" He vanished.
"He disappeared!" Lucy and Happy gasped.
"Natsu. Gray. You two go after him," Erza ordered. "If the two of you work together, not even Erigor the Reaper can beat you." He couldn't beat me alone if he tried. "I'm leaving him in your hands." Gray glared at Natsu. "Are you listening?" she shouted.
"Aye, Sir!" Gray yelped and ran off.
"Let's get one thing straight, Harpy," Natsu growled, walking up to her. The reflection of her face was jagged in his cracked visor. "I don't take orders from anyone. Not even you. But… just this once, because you've got sensible orders, I'll do it. If I feel even for a moment that your… orders aren't useful, I will abandon them without a second thought. Got it?" She nodded sharply. She would never admit it, but Natsu was terrifying, even to her. He followed Gray.
"Hey, they're going after Erigor," someone shouted.
"I got it," another said, pulling out whip like things. He launched himself to the second floor. "I, the great Rayule, will take them down."
"I'm coming with you," the man from the train said. "That armored dimwit's gonna pay!" He sank into the ground and vanished.
"We'll catch up with them once we've finished of the rest of the men here," Erza asserted.
"Two girls against an entire magical guild?" Lucy gasped. The men made remarks about destroying them.
"I'm sorry, ladies," one said, "you're not gonna be as cute when we're done with you!"
"Without my stunning beauty, I'll be totally helpless," Lucy fretted.
"This is no time for daydreaming, Lucy!" Happy said.
"Let's do this!" Erza announced. A magic circle appeared at her outstretched hand. A sword came out of nowhere and landed in her hand.
"That came out of nowhere!" Lucy yelped.
"Try insulting Fairy Tail again!" Erza shouted, bearing the sword against them. "You won't live to see tomorrow!" The enemy shouted all sorts of bravado as they jumped towards them. With two slashes of her sword, she knocked several of them back. Lucy watched in awe as she annihilated Eisenwald. The sword vanished and became a spear. The spear vanished and became twin swords. Happy explained requiping to Lucy. After being determined to fight too, Lucy summoned Cancer.
"Open, Gate of the Giant Crab: Cancer!"
"You need me to fight these dudes, baby?" he asked her.
"Take 'em out with style!" she grinned. Cancer would destroy these guys. He did.
"Like the new style, baby?" he asked.
"That was impressive," Erza said.
"Thanks, but it was no big deal," Lucy blushed. "All right! I totally scored points with her!"
"That's what you were going for?" Happy asked.
"However, this crab-spirit of yours… the way he calls you 'baby'... I find it rather insulting."
"Points unscored," Lucy complained.
"Whoa, ba- uh, ma'am."
"There are still so many," Erza said to herself. "How annoying. I'll take them all out at once." Happy told Lucy about Erza's specialty in magic - requiping armor.
"Dance, my swords!" she shouted, rising up in the air. She took them all out with a single blow. She returned to her normal armor.
"Forget this, I'm outta here!" the last guy said as he fled.
"I imagine that he's going to follow Erigor," Erza said. "You should follow him."
"Who, me?" she gasped.
"Just do it!" Erza said with a scary look.
"Yes, ma'am!" she shrieked and fled. After she left, Erza swayed and fell to one knee.
"I was right; I overdid it on the Magic-mobile. Please boys… Please don't fail me."
Little bit of Natsu in this chapter... Gray appears a lot in the next chapter... maybe chapter after next we'll see Natsu. Review please!
