Chapter Ten

AN: I have to apologize in advance for the fighting; I'm still learning how to write it. So, we're gonna meet a new Spirit! Anyways, as always: I do not own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does. Enjoy!

Lybica could only stare in revulsion as Julia/Sparkles laughed. 'This girl is completely insane,' she thought for the umpteenth time since she was forced to train with the psychotic fire mage. The feline mage looked around the circle of fire to find the reason why the Princess of Flames had used her fire to teleport them. They were on a beach, which would have been beautiful in the daytime, and directly across from the two females was the team of Fairy Tail mages it had been Lybica's job to monitor. 'No… She wouldn't really pick a fight with these guys. Not after we were specifically told to leave them alone until the Celestial mage finds her.'

"Who are you?! What do you want?!" demanded the redhead. "What was her magic again? Oh, right. Requip magic, The Knight.' She looked the armored girl up and down, assessing her. 'She's strong, but Polylepis would wipe the floor with her.'

"Why are Sparkles and this one here?" questioned Julia/Sparkles. "This one" is what she had taken to calling Lybica after their first training fight. Needless to say, the little girl was not impressed by Lybica's display of magic. "Sparkles and this one are here to visit, of course! It would be rude to fight someone without being introduced first, right?"

"Sparkles," Lybica sighed. The feline mage had quickly agreed to call her by her nickname. The woman did not want to be fried. "Most people don't call a fight a visit."

"They don't?" the flame-haired girl asked, turning her identically colored eyes on her partner. "Why not?"

"I don't know. Probably because it's not considered very polite to intrude on someone else and then beat them up."

The petite girl frowned at this and crossed her arms. "Sparkles thinks that's stupid logic. Sparkles thinks a fight is a perfect visit. Sparkles is bored of talking, so now this one will join Sparkles in the fight!" And with that, she created two whips out of flames and snapped them at Team Natsu. The mages scrambled to dodge, barely making it out of the way before they would have been cooked to a crisp.

Lybica shook her head at the flame princess's impatience and activated her magic. Her eyes glowed, her nails lengthened into claws, a pair of cat ears popped up on top of her head and a tail appeared behind her. She wasn't wearing any shoes, so it was possible to see that her feet had grown the same claws as her hands. The wildcat woman bared her teeth in a grin, showing off a mouth full of canines, and sped off towards the ravenet Ice mage. She easily leapt over the shield he had created and launched herself at his face, not giving him any room to get into another Ice-Make stance. They exchanged blows, their bodies blurring together as they fought. Lybica's pupils widened to catch every detail and she never hesitated to take an opening.

Gray was panting hard. He had had reservations about fighting hand to hand with an opponent whose strength he could not evaluate, but quickly dropped them as he discovered just how powerful her attacks were. He was scratched up and bleeding; her claws were sharp enough to cut through muscle with one swipe. The Ice mage had been lucky so far, dodging most of her assaults, but his endurance was fading and he began making mistakes.

Lybica took full advantage of her adversary's waning strength and wrapped her tail around one of his legs. She pulled him off-balance, and sent him straight into her waiting fist. Gray finally fell down, completely dizzy, and found he did not have the power to get back up. The feline mage cut off her flow of magic and sank back on her heels, as she had a tendency to hold herself on the balls of her feet when she fought.

She gave a long sigh then flashed the defeated mage a smirk. "I have to say that I'm impressed, Fairy Tail mage. You gave me a better fight than I had anticipated. Of course, next time I won't be so nice." She winked at him and turned to see what disaster Sparkles had created while Lybica had been preoccupied fighting. The mage was surprised at herself; other than that moment at the end, she had been fighting fair and holding back most of her attacks, making her claws only glance off the Fairy Tail mage's flesh instead of ripping it from his bones. She stared, slightly shocked, at the sight which greeted her.

Sparkles barely glanced once at her partner. The cat seemed perfectly fine, so Sparkles turned her attention back to her new toys. She grinned at them, feeling it stretch her face almost painfully. She cracked her whips again, but she knew they were expecting that. What they had not been expecting was that balls of fire would shoot at them from the ring she had made. "Come on!" she pouted. "Play with Sparkles! She loves breaking in new toys!"

The one she had been informed was a fire mage scratched his head. "Hey, Luce! What does she mean? Why's she talking so weird?"

The blonde one she was not allowed to touch at all sighed. "Natsu… How am I supposed to know? I don't know who she is or why she's attacking us."

"Lucy," called the other red-haired one. Sparkles glared at her, comforting herself with the thought that her own hair was much prettier, as it was the same color as her beautiful flames. "I think it's safe to assume they are the enemies we have been waiting for, don't you?"

Sparkles felt her flames whisper to her. 'Burn,' they hissed. 'Destroy. Burn them all. Kill them all. Hear their pretty screams as they burn. Feel the power rush through you. BURN!' With that, Sparkles let out another crazed laugh and sent out rolling waves of flames toward the three mages. At the last moment, she remembered to order them not to touch the blonde one and to avoid the cat's fight. If the cat got injured or killed, she would be punished.

The pathetic fire mage tried to swallow her flames. The flame-haired girl felt a deep rage flicker within her. 'How dare he?! No one puts out Sparkles' flames! They would burn forever if she ordered it! He will pay!'

As he coughed and choked, the flames sticking in his throat, forcing him to spit them out, Sparkles created a floating ring of balls of fire around him and had them charge at him all at once. As he ducked and rolled under, she screamed in frustration and snapped her whips quickly to wrap around the other red-head as she tried to sneak up on Sparkles. The girl failed in doing so, as the flames making up the circle around the battle whispered a warning to Sparkles. The flames did not seem to affect her and the flame princess took a closer look at the armor she was wearing, only to feel her rage grow stronger. 'She thinks fire-resistant armor will protect her from Sparkles?! Sparkles will show her!'

The fuming girl increased the heat of the flames in her whips, super-heating the air around the foolish knight. Sparkles released her when she saw her go limp, passed out from air deprivation. 'Sparkles will let her live for now. She's supposed to be Polylepis' prey.'

She turned her attention back to the other fire mage. He had recovered from trying to eat her flames and had placed his hands at his mouth. She cocked her head and waited to see what he was doing. A wall of flames quickly sprang up in front of her and turned the arrows heading for her into ashes. Sparkles did not even turn her head to acknowledge the blonde one's interference, too absorbed in the other fire mage. She was not disappointed as he drew in a large breath and yelled out, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" A stream of fire burst from his mouth and sped towards Sparkles.

She stood her ground and bent the fire, forcing it to become part of her whips, which she then sent lashing towards the fool who thought to use her own slave against her. He dodged and raced towards her, fury plainly written across his face. "Who do you think you are?! No one can control my fire! It's mine! Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

The angry idiot threw a flaming punch towards Sparkles face, only to have his flames wrap themselves around him, holding him in place. The petite girl cocked her head as her glittering red eyes stared at him. "Who does Sparkles think she is? Sparkles doesn't have to think! Sparkles knows that she is the Princess of Flames! No fire can be used against her and all fire bends to her will! She wields the Flames of Destruction, the gift that was given to her to take her revenge, and no soul can touch them!"

Since she had bound him in his own fire, she used it drain him of all his magic, only releasing him when he was too weak to fight back. Her flames protested at the lack of death and destruction, but she pushed their voices away. She turned to see her partner staring at her.

"Come. It's time to go back." Sparkles looked beyond the wildcat to see the other mage laying on the ground. She held out her hand and Lybica took it. They disappeared into her flames.

*The Next Morning*

Lucy sighed sadly as she picked at her food. She was upset with herself for not helping last night when Team Natsu was attacked. Whoever the two female mages had been, they were strong and ruthless. After they disappeared, Lucy had summoned Virgo and the two had bandaged up Gray, Natsu, and Erza. Virgo also left them a tent, sleeping bags, clean clothes, and some food. They had spent the night right on the beach and planned to leave today, right after they finished eating.

"Lucy, it's not your fault," said the red-haired knight gently. "They were incredibly strong mages and caught us unprepared. Next time, we'll have a better idea of what we're getting into, and can prepare a better plan of attack." She looked hopefully at her blonde friend, and sighed in defeat when she saw that her friend remained unconvinced. "How about you summon your new Spirit?" the Titania suggested, hoping it would lift the Celestial mage's spirits a little.

Lucy brightened at this and nodded happily. She pulled the black key out of her pocket and studied it. The symbol was that of a delicate powder-blue petal and she frowned as she tried to remember which Spirit it represented. Her eyes lit up when she finally figured it out and she stood up.

"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate! Open, Gate of Cheer, Crocus!" There was a flash of darkness and a man with pink hair and powder-blue eyes stood in front of the Fairy Tail mages, grinning. He wore simple black shorts and a bright green T-shirt.

"You must be the Princess! I am Crocus, the fifth Celestial Dark Spirit! I use Poison Magic! My poison has no antidote! Depending on the strength of the spell and the will of my holder, the poison has different effects! It can blind, paralyze, numb, burn, or even kill! Whatever my Princess wishes!" He bowed low. "I am entirely at your service!"

Team Natsu stared at the energetic Spirit, working to adjust to his exuberance. The other four Spirits had all been rather calm and collected, so Crocus' bright cheeriness was unexpected. Happy was the first to get over it and immediately turned to tease Lucy. "Lushy! What did you do? This one's almost as weird as you!" And with that, the rest snapped out of their shock.

The Stellar Spirits mage glared at the blue Exceed for a moment before turning to her newest Spirit, mumbling "Idiot cat" under her breath. She fixed her sunniest smile on her face and replied, "Nice to meet you, Crocus. You don't have to call me Princess, Lucy is just fine. I'm so glad to welcome you into my family."

The pink-haired Spirit smiled again. "Don't worry. I like calling you Princess. It suits you, and your bright personality. Rose mentioned you're collecting the whole set?" With an affirming nod from his Master, he continued. "I'm glad. There's only one more holding left, because the last two Spirits rest together. They are the sisters, Lily and Magnolia. Lily's my wife." He smiled a soft, loving smile at the thought of her, before shaking off his thoughts and turning serious. Well, as serious as the Spirit of Cheer can. "Be careful with them, Princess. Lily and Magnolia are very powerful spirits. Magnolia… Well she's our equivalent of the Celestial Light Spirit King. When you meet them, please be kind. Their magic is considered unnatural, and dark, but they are actually kind and loving."

Lucy gave Crocus a sweet smile. "Don't worry, Crocus. I will take good care of them. You can return to the Spirit World now." He gave her one last bow and vanished in a flash of darkness. 'On to the last two,' she thought.

AN2: That was way longer than I thought it was going to be. I hope the fights weren't too disappointing. And Crocus... The guy is just too cheerful. Weirds me out to even write him in, but he's necessary. We learned a little more about Sparkles and her past. I wonder what she's getting revenge on... Maybe we'll find out!

Until next time!

Mia