The Regal Key
Chapter 3
The Golden Bull
"It's too damned cold!" Gajeel shouted. They were heading up into the mountain, which was under a thick blanket of snow. The scene was snow-covered rocks, snow-covered pine trees and snow-filled skies. At least for the moment, the sky was clear where they were. It was beautiful, but it was a nightmare to traverse.
"You didn't have to come!" Natsu snapped, further up the mountain trail. "If you can't stop complaining, then go home!"
"Now, now," Lucy said placatingly. "We're all here to have fun! So let's get along, yeah?"
Everyone was wrapped up against the chill save for Gajeel who disliked wearing heavy clothing. Real men braved the elements! While complaining incessantly about them, of course.
"It shouldn't be too much further," Levy advised, her voice muffled by the scarf wrapped around her face. She had a map that she'd marked as best she could with the directions she'd divined from the book. "We're not heading to the top; just about halfway up."
"Higher than you've ever been! Gihi!"
"Yes, a height joke. Very amusing."
"It's not fun if you're gonna be like that."
"Arrrrrrgh!" Natsu screamed. "Why is he even here!? This is Lucy's mission – it has nothing to do with him! All you do is complain about the hotel, complain about the train, complain about the cold!"
"You complain about those things too! Except you're made of fire!" Gajeel yelled back.
"I said that everyone should get along!" Lucy shouted, making both boys suddenly shut up, pout and continue on up the trail. The tried to ignore the Exceeds giggling together. They went on for about another hour, until Levy called a halt.
"This it?" Natsu asked, eying the mountain scenery. "There's nothing here."
"Lu-chan, can you feel the pieces?"
"Yes," Lucy murmured, her eyes closed. She began to shine with a golden aura. "I will call them to me."
Holding her hands aloft, three golden shards erupted from the ground, hovering in the air. They began to slowly float towards Lucy, but at the last moment a new impetus controlled them and they flew away to hover over a small crag. They began to glow brighter and brighter until they resolved into the forms of Aries, Taurus and Gemini.
"It's true!" Levy cried. "They are using the key shards to summon themselves without Lucy's help!"
"Mooooooo! That's right, girl-without-a-nice-body!" Taurus agreed, making Levy rage impotently.
"Sorry, sorry!" Aries cried. "But we're supposed to test you if you want the shards!"
"If you're ready…," Gemi began.
"Then we'll start," Mini finished.
"I'm ready, but what about my friends?" Lucy asked.
"They can help you," Taurus confirmed. "But no flying magic, so the Exceeds will sit this one out. This is a race between me and you, Lucy-sama-with-a-nice-body! MOOOO! So nice!"
"Taurus! Focus!"
Taurus pointed at a distant mountain spire. "If you beat me there, then you can have our shards. I'm off! Mooooooo!" With those words, Taurus leapt down from his rock and started running. Natsu took a step forward, planning to bring him down but he smashed to the ground first, another Natsu standing over him.
"Gemini copied Natsu!?" Lucy gasped.
"Their power is boosted by the shards!" Levy stated. "We have to hurry, Lu-chan!"
"He's not Salamander, but I get to punch him in the face, right? Gihi!" Gajeel charged towards Gemini, but was sent bowling back by an expanding cloud of pink wool and the distant cry of sorry could be heard. "Gah, it's so fluffy! I can't cut through it! Shrimp, burn me down!"
"But-"
"Do it! Iron Scales!"
"Got it! Solid Script: Fire!" Levy's word burnt away the wool, leaving Gajeel untouched in his iron skin.
"Lucy, Levy! You two have to hurry!" Lily advised from the sidelines.
"You're so fat you don't run fast!" Happy sang.
"You little…," Lucy simmered as she took off after Taurus, grabbing Levy's hand to hurry after her. Natsu surged to his feet, knocking Gemini back as they tried to turn on the girls. Gajeel roared at Aries, simply to distract the spirit's attention long enough for the girls to get away.
"Switch, Gajeel! I can burn her wool, and-"
"I can thump you in the face! Gihi!"
===][===
"Hurry up, Levy-chan!"
"I'm trying, Lu-chan!"
Taurus wasn't fast exactly, but he moved like a freight train, relentless, unstoppable. Levy sent an 'Iron' into him, but it barely slowed him down. So she wrote 'Oil', cascading it down beneath his feet. To both girls' amazement, Taurus slammed his axe into the rock using it as a way to steady himself as he pressed on.
"I didn't know he was so clever!" Levy puffed, out of breath.
"Me neither," Lucy said.
"Come on! Moooo!" Taurus lowed, leaping up a nearly vertical rock face with his axe as a climbing tool.
"How do we get up there?" Lucy gasped.
"Leave it to me! Solid Script: Spring!" Levy threw the word on the ground as Lucy pondered what it was. Levy shoved her on top devilishly and laughed as Lucy screamed, the word catapulting her high into the air.
But she was going straight up! She'd just fall back down unless…she drew her Flueve D'etoile, ensnaring Taurus' leg as he crested the rock wall and dragging herself after him. She could see the peak not too far in the distance now and raced as fast as she could after the bovine spirit.
Damn it, but he was too fast, too sure on the snowy slopes. There was no way that she could catch him. No way at all…
"Taurus, if you let me win I will show you my boobs!"
===][===
Gajeel and Natsu were panting. Damn, who ever would have thought this pair of spirits would be so tough? Aries in her more powerful state produced blackened wool that resisted Natsu's fire and trapped him utterly in an embarrassingly fluffy prison.
Gajeel grinned, enjoying the violent beating his was receiving. This was much more preferable than looking as silly as Salamander! Still, it was frustrating that he couldn't overcome the spirit. He refused to believe that Salamander was stronger than him, preferring to believe that it was Gemini's power boost from the shard.
But then, both spirits began to shimmer with golden light. Gemini poofed back into its two halves.
"I think Taurus was stupid," Gemi stated.
"Stupid pervert," Mini agreed.
"Sorry! It looks like Lucy has won the race!" Aries gabbled, bowing. "Please entrust our shards to her!"
As they disappeared back into the celestial realm, their shards flew out and were deposited in Gajeel and Natsu's hands. Gajeel inspected the tiny sliver of golden metal, holding it up to the light.
"A lot of trouble for these little things," he noted.
"So don't eat it! The spirits were stronger with this inside. Imagine combining all thirteen pieces into one thing! The king must be so strong!" Natsu smiled and laughed. "I wanna fight him!"
"We should wait here for the girls to return," Happy said.
"No, we can fly; we should help them down," Lily corrected the lazy cat. "We'll be a couple of minutes!"
===][===
"We did it!" Levy cried, throwing herself into Gajeel's arms joyfully as they returned to the group.
"My chest is cold," Lucy mumbled.
"Can we get off this damn snow-ridden asshole of a mountain now!?" Gajeel asked loudly.
"Let me see the shards," Lucy asked, and the slayers gave her the two pieces. She studied the trio of key pieces, but they didn't seem to fit together. If these were the pieces of a whole key, she'd need more to find touching bits. Still, even like this she could feel power from them – the whole thing must be a sight to behold.
"This is so great, Luce!" Natsu beamed, smiling broadly. He embraced her loosely. "You're going to be so strong soon, like I know you've always wanted."
"DRAGNEEL!"
The shout was so close, so loud and angry. Natsu had just enough time to shove Lucy away as a human slammed into him, wreathed in flame. He went over the side of the plateau, sliding down the slippery mountainside like a fiery bullet as the man tried to overpower him.
I can't eat these flames!
Natsu kicked the man away, getting a brief look at him. He was dressed in a deep crimson bodysuit with armoured panels in a brighter blood red. His cultured features were twisted with hate.
"Alexander!"
===][===
"Natsu!" Lucy screamed from atop the plateau. Was he okay?
"Eyes front!" Gajeel snapped, noticing the mages opposing them. The four mages of Twilight Jaguar they'd fought in the dragon ruins a while ago. Erutan the earth dragon slayer, Lyria with her electric hair, Rakarth the beast summoner and Melk the null mage. How had they gotten out of prison? "Trust Salamander! Fool's strong! Now, what do you assholes want? Didn't you have a change of heart or something?"
"Don't be too angry, I just wanted to fight a fellow slayer! Earth Dragon's Talos!" A spear of rock erupted out of the ground at Gajeel's feet and he roared in pain as he was hurled backwards.
"Gajeel!" Lily shouted, storming forward as he activated his battle form.
"I know your weakness! Thunder's Call!" Lyria shot a beam of lightning into the sky. Not damaging, but the crack and flash set off Lily's phobia and he stalled, trembling. Rakarth moved, summoning a rhino-like beast the size of a mammoth. Horn lowered, it tossed Lily aside and charged at the girls.
"Solid Script: Hole!" Levy collapsed the mountainside with a word, making the beast crash down and banished it. "This is bad! The magic cancelling mage is right there! He'll shut us down!"
"It's all happening too fast! We're wrong-footed!" Lucy shouted. Melk, the magic-cancelling mage charged forward, easily flipping over the hole to strike with his bo staff. Levy tried to cast, but the spell failed to materialize and Melk knocked her aside with a yelp.
"The Shards!" Melk demanded of Lucy, hand outstretched.
"What!?" Lucy's eyes flashed. They knew about the shards? How? She could see Gajeel had his hands full with the earth dragon, the elements granting similar fighting styles as they brawled with reinforced bodies. She cracked her whip, momentarily driving Melk back, but unless Lily got back in the fight, it was two on three, and Levy didn't look too well off.
Lucy…
"Huh?"
You have the shard.
"Taurus?"
Use it! You are the chosen mage, chosen to wield the king's power! You are our queen! Show them the power of the celestial royalty!
"Yes!" Lucy cried, drawing his key in one hand and the shard in the other. She began to glow with a titanic golden aura. "Open Greater Gate of the Bull: Taurus!" Taurus was…different. Clad in a suit of ornate golden armour, laden with magical runes and with two huge horns sweeping forward.
"I don't know what you just did," Melk hissed, "but I'm going to nullify it!"
But Taurus didn't vanish.
"Mooo! My armour has the power to absorb magic!"
"Wait…you absorbed nullifying magic!?" Melk shrieked. "How does that work!?"
"Fuck you, that's how! Axe of Aldebaraan!" Axe lowered, Taurus waited patiently as the Lyria discharge lightning at them. Melk saw what was going to happen, but it was too late. The lightning was absorbed into the axe and armour, glowing with power. He swept the axe down, striking the rocky ground to discharge a thunderbolt. It engulfed Melk and threw him backwards into Lyria.
"Lu-chan," Levy said with awe as she got back to her feet. She was amazing!
"God damn it!" Rakarth swore. "We weren't informed of this power! Is this what the shards are for? Erutan! We've overstayed our welcome for the moment!"
The earth dragon was going back and forth at blistering pace with Gajeel, both with enormous, silly grins on their faces. Forcing the iron dragon back a step, Erutan took the moment to leap back and join his comrades. "Give the signal!"
Lyria shot another thunderbolt into the sky and the quartet disappeared in a flash of green light. Gajeel ran over to the spot for no discernible reason other than to check that they were in fact gone. Teleportation magic.
"Taurus, thank you!" Lucy cheered.
"No problem for my nice-bodied queen! Your power is growing and we spirits will grow to match it, Queen Lucy!" Taurus lowed again as he vanished.
"Wow," Levy emoted. "So every shard will grant power to that spirit! Amazing! Ah, but what about Natsu?"
"I'm fine," Natsu said, seething with anger as he clambered up to them. "Alexander just vanished into thin air."
"Alexander? You mean that Alexander? Edolas Igneel?" Lucy asked.
"The bastard has fire dragon magic. How? You cancelled the link!"
"I don't care about that!" Gajeel shouted. "More importantly, why did they attack us?"
"Twilight Jaguar is a dark guild," Levy guessed. "If Alexander organised a jail break, maybe he offered them a job for revenge?"
"But they wanted the shards," Lucy objected. "They knew about my mission."
"Raven Tail!" Natsu roared, cloaking with flames. Lucy balked, not used to seeing him this angry. "They gave them the information! We should kick their asses!"
"You're assuming," Gajeel stated. "And even if you're right, there's no way to prove it."
No one spoke for a while, and Levy suggested going back to the inn to rest. Gajeel knelt down, checking that she wasn't injured, ignoring the two beatings he'd had this day.
"I'm fine!" Levy asserted, fairly sure that her winter clothes must be hiding a livid purple bruise on her left shoulder and bicep from where Melk had struck her. "Just got knocked down, that's all!"
"I'm sorry Levy," Lily said sadly. "I froze when I heard the lightning."
"Don't be silly," Levy said brightly, hugging the Exceed. "I'm a Fairy Tail mage as well! Now, let's head back to the inn! We can rest up, get some food and discuss this more." On the way back down, Levy slowed a little to allow the other three in front of her. She watched their backs with admiration.
The Dragon Slayer of Fire.
The Iron Dragon.
And Lu-chan, whose power was burgeoning, becoming much stronger.
She felt small, tiny and weak.
===][===
"You called us back too soon!" Alexander raged on board the Corvus' bridge. "I was just getting started!"
"I made the call to protect my team," Erutan snarled. Even with the Corvus completely stationary he looked a little green. "There was a complication with Lucy Heartphilia's power."
"Indeed," Ivan moderated. "This is fine, Alex-chan. I promise you that you will have your revenge, but we will advance in baby steps. This fight has helped you get more used to your Lacryma, and it has given us intel. In that regard, it is a success. And they do not know that my guild is involved yet, which is essential."
"When the final attack happens, you will have Raven Tail with you," Kurohebi rasped. "But for now, we will stick with the plan. If we can locate some of these shards before the Fairy Tail mages, it will give us an advantage."
Alexander started to object, but Ivan cut in. "Do not worry, Alex-chan. My favourite tool is psychological warfare. They will soon be afraid of the shadows, expecting attack at any time. I promise you, we will destroy them utterly."
