Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)
Lucy could only look surprised at Minerva suddenly appearing in the women's bathing area of the hot springs, and Sting being there right now made the situation really awkward. To make it even weirder, Minerva had seen them frolicking around in the water the entire time, but she didn't hear everything that they had said. Still, Lucy blushed a deep shade of red before going into the water and hiding behind Sting for safety.
"Sting, you filthy pervert! I know she's your training partner, but you have no right to be teaching her techniques in a place where you have no business being! I know you two were getting frisky and having your little warm-up session, but don't be so disgraceful to do it in a place where others must bathe!" Minerva shouted with a reproving glare on her face, as she narrowed her green eyes when she was chastising Sting and Lucy.
"Don't be so harsh on Sting, Minerva! It's not his fault that he's clingy towards me, but he just didn't want me to be in here alone and possibly drown!" Lucy shouted with a defensive facial expression while talking in her more mature and sultry voice as Reināre. She always came to Sting's defense, even when the situation got awkward like this one.
"Look, let's just all agree that I shouldn't be in the women's hot spring. I followed Reināre because I didn't want any other guys trying to harm her when she was going to be in the changing rooms by herself. She's the darkness to my light, and I want to be there for her when she needs me." Sting explained calmly, glaring back at Minerva like he would kill her for interrupting a peaceful moment.
She teleported Sting back into the women's changing room where she had seen his clothes in a stall, prompting Reināre to gasp in shock at the sight of her lover vanishing right before her eyes. Clenching her teeth and growling a little, she went out of the hot water and on to the concrete floor before dashing at Minerva with her left fist prepared to hit her.
As she pulled it back and released it, Minerva caught Reināre's fist and held it in place while smirking evilly at her opponent and beginning to chuckle a little bit. After all, if Sting had been training her for a month, how could she honestly start things off with an attempted punch?
"Why so direct, Reināre? Are you angry that I sent your boyfriend back to the changing room, so he could get his clothes on and leave? Did I interrupt your lovemaking? Was he turning you on with his hands and charm while groping you? Did he mark you with a bite yet to claim you as his?" Minerva asked in a taunting manner, continuing to smirk at her opponent who kept glaring angrily at her.
"Shut your mouth, Minerva! My relationship is none of your concern, and we were having a nice time before you showed up and spoiled our chance at getting a second official romantic kiss! He didn't mark me yet, but I'm about to leave a mark on your face!" Reināre retorted harshly with anger in her violet eyes, as she tried to strike Minerva with her other fist.
However, Minerva caught that hand as well with her left hand and she held the violet-eyed girl's fists in place before sadistically crushing them a little bit. Reināre winced in pain from Minerva's impressive brute strength, and she had fallen to her knees in front of the tiger lady who held her fists captive while continuing to crush her hands as punishment for defending Sting.
"Yes, kneel before the one who is superior to you and know your place. I do wonder what I would've gotten to see if I had stayed hidden. Perhaps you would've been moaning Sting's name if he took your virginity and made your entire body feel good. Still, when it comes to style, smarts, strength, sexiness and sophistication, you're nowhere near my level. You really shouldn't try to fight someone when you have no chance of winning, sweetie." Minerva told Lucy while she smirked and had leaned in close to where their lips could almost touch when she was giving her that condescending speech.
Lucy was getting really tired of people looking down on her, and her anger had welled up from inside her. She had been cheated on by Natsu, replaced by Lisanna, scolded by Erza, shunned by Gray, and now ridiculed by Minerva. Refusing to take anymore abuse, Lucy clenched her teeth and her black hair covered the look of anger in her violet eyes.
"If I have no chance of beating you, then let's prove it! When we get back to the Sabertooth guild, I'm going to fight you! If I win, then you have to let me join the guild!" She shouted fiercely with determination in her voice, as she used her wet hands to loosen Minerva's grip and free them from her captivity.
"Well, a lady must accept a challenge even if it's from someone who appears to be really pathetic. This will definitely make me laugh, and you'll have to do whatever I say after I win." Minerva replied while smiling deviously, her green eyes twinkling to match her smirk. The sunlight shined on her tan and oiled skin, as she dove into the hot water to relax while purposely making one of her feet kick Reināre in the face.
Simply rubbing her bruised right cheek, Reināre walked back to the changing room to put back on her clothes and retrieve her spell book. After what Minerva had done and said, Lucy was not going to have a repeat of the Naval Battle where Minerva had beaten her to a bloody pulp and tortured her. Confidence found its way into her violet eyes, but how would Sting react to this news?
At the picnic area in Nimbasa Town…
After getting dressed and getting the book, Lucy found the white dragon slayer sitting alone at a picnic table under a tree on the green grass eating an entire cheese pizza and drinking soda from a large-sized cup. There were some hot dogs and cheeseburgers on the picnic table, too, most likely saved for Lucy. She took a deep breath, and she had to summon up her courage to say this.
"Sting, I got into an argument with Minerva and we're going to fight when we get back to Castelia Town!" She told him with both nervousness and confidence in her voice while smiling a little.
Sting spat out his soda and nearly choked on his fifth slice of pizza before coughing and looking appalled at what his companion told him. Was Lucy seriously going to take on Minerva, someone who was even stronger than Sting and Rogue combined? Either she thought she was ready and skilled enough, or the steam from the hot spring had fogged up her brain while the water leaked common sense from her ears and out of her head.
"Not that I doubt your abilities, but please tell me you remember the Naval Battle from last year. You got completely pulverized by Minerva when she took your keys from you, and she'll probably do worse to you after she takes that book! You should just tell her you'll forfeit while you're still in one piece and have your life intact!" Sting shouted while looking extremely concerned for Lucy and showing obvious worry in his blue eyes.
Lucy replied while sitting down and locking eyes with Sting as she looked completely determined, "The odds of me winning are probably slim to none, but I still have a small chance of beating her! I won't give up, after what she said about us! I won't let my pride and dignity fall so easily, and I refuse to look bad in front of you!"
Sting widened his eyes in amazement at the last thing Lucy had said. She refused to look bad in front of the person she probably admired the most? Was she doing this because she cared about Sting more than proving anything to Minerva? Was he the thing that was giving her such a strong resolve to beat Minerva?
He said nicely with his frown changing somewhat into a little smile, "We've been working as a team, so I should act like we're a team and encourage you in this instead of tearing you down. Sorry about that, Lucy."
She giggled happily at Sting beginning to see her reason for wanting to fight Minerva, and she felt totally ready to take her on. However, the growling of her stomach put a halt to her plans for now. She started eating a cheeseburger, and filling herself up with food to be energized for the fight later on. While Lucy and Sting were eating, they were unaware that the spell book changed to an orange color while having a pulsating and radiating orange glow shining inside of it.
Lucy ate fast to keep her high metabolism from digesting things quickly because that occurred when she ate slowly, and she smiled while feeling full of unbridled energy at the moment. She knew that there was still time for her and Sting to have fun, so she giggled in a happy manner and grabbed his hand before running off with him to one of the amusement park's attractions.
They made their way to a go-kart raceway, and Lucy was in a pink car while Sting was hesitant to get into the blue one next to hers. When the light turned green, Lucy looked surprised to see Sting and his zooming off fast at 150 miles per hour while he laughed excitedly and wasn't feeling motion sickness at all. Lucy went at 50 miles per hour for safety, still looking in awe at Sting having fun with that high amount of speed.
"Is he seriously making it go that fast with just his excited spirit?" Lucy wondered, as she saw Sting drifting around curves with sharp turns while he still looked like this was a great thrill. The members of Team Quatro Puppy would definitely say he was wild, that's for sure.
He crossed the finish line 20 minutes before Lucy did, and he won the prize of 40,000 jewels for pulling off such an impressive feat. Lucy got 10,000 jewels as a consolation prize, but she was still satisfied that Sting got to have some fun after the awkwardness earlier that day with Minerva.
As they were going to get some cotton candy, Sting heard the sound of wings flapping from behind and he looked a little bit frustrated while perfectly knowing the sound. He turned around quickly to see his red Exceed named Lector land on top of his head and smirk arrogantly.
"Sting-kun, you left me behind at the guild! I wanted to come along, too! I guess you didn't want me to barge in on your date with your girlfriend!" Lector told him while pouting and taking a quick bite of a little girl's cotton candy when she passed by.
"Wow, he's cuter than Happy and Carla!" Reināre said with a happy smile on her face while hugging Lector and accidentally putting his face in between her cleavage. He shouted for air to breathe, prompting her to release him from her grasp.
"As you can see, Lector, Lucy Heartfilia is using Transformation Magic to be disguised as a girl named Reināre. Too bad she only has enough energy for the transformation to last three days straight, unless she dispels it during those 72 hours." Sting explained to his best friend while smirking at Reināre's orange skirt being lifted up a little by a passing breeze that came through Nimbasa Town.
Sting also told Lector to keep quiet about Reināre's true identity, because he didn't want Minerva to find out. She would obviously throw a huge fit about it, which is what Sting wanted to avoid the most. The newly formed trio got some large and hot salty pretzels instead of cotton candy, but their delicious taste was satisfying enough for Sting to buy more for later.
While Lucy was having fun at the arcade, concession stands, the roller coaster, and the Ferris Wheel with Sting and Lector, she also knew that each passing minute would draw her closer to her fight with Minerva. Her heart began to beat fast with some nervousness, having remembered her extraordinary abilities to teleport her energy wave attacks and manipulate the spatial matter around her. Hopefully, something in the spell book could counter that type of Magic. Although, she thought it was highly unlikely that Erza's Nakagami Armor would be a spell in the book.
Back in Castelia Town…
The group of Sabertooth mages had made it back to the guild, prompting Reināre and Minerva to immediately glare daggers at each other. They stood across from each other in the wide space between the guild and the fountain, and both women were ready to start this fight.
Reināre quickly opened the orange book, and noticed that spells of Earth Magic had been written in the book. The first spell, Earth Bulldoze, made a brown drill of rock surround her left hand and she slammed it into the ground while it began to drill underground.
Minerva ran towards Reināre with a smirk on her face, but stopped when the ground beneath the women began to crack into many large chunks of earth. She made a large energy wave surround the falling chunk of earth Reināre was standing on, and it exploded into tiny pieces!
The violet-eyed girl was thrusted up into the air by Minerva's attack, and she gasped in shock when her opponent teleported behind her and brutally kicked her in the back. Reināre coughed up a little bit of blood, and she winced in pain when Minerva slammed her fist down on her back to send her crashing into the ground.
"Are you going to give up now?" Minerva asked while smirking evilly, as she saw the medium-sized crater down below with Reināre appearing to be unconscious. She still clutched the orange book in her hands, and she managed to stand up.
"Are you going to dodge this?" Reināre asked in a confident tone before throwing a ball of mud at Minerva, who simply redirected its path to curve around her and fire back at Lucy. That was no ordinary mud ball, unfortunately. When it struck the area a few inches in front of her, a brown blast of energy occurred which blinded everyone's eyes for a few seconds.
When all the smoke cleared up, Minerva immediately seized the opportunity to strike Reināre with energy waves from all directions in only a matter of seconds, causing the violet-eyed girl to fall to her knees and tremble a little bit from the pain. Her body began to shake with fear and her legs lost the will to move. There was no doubt about it. With her spells being countered and torn through like this, Reināre had no chance of winning.
Her breathing became anxious and tears filled her eyes, as she imagined herself in a dark void with Minerva smirking evilly in front of her and towering over her while she was beginning to shrink to the size of an ant. She couldn't move at all, and Lucy felt like she was backed into a corner. Just like in the dream that she had about Natsu and Lisanna burning down her apartment for their own pleasure, before proceeding to burn her to a crisp.
Upon remembering the pain that Natsu had caused her, and upon feeling the burning pain of Minerva's attacks, Lucy saw them as one and the same. She wasn't going to let Natsu burn away her happiness, and she wasn't going to let Minerva hurt her and Sting in any way possible. Her trembling stopped, and her tears desisted.
She stood up slowly with her black hair covering the determined look in her violet eyes and told Minerva in a confident tone while smiling a little, "I absolutely refuse to lose here, especially in front of the person I admire the most! He's not seeing the crying girl that he saved from a fall anymore, Minerva! He's seeing the girl who likes his smirk and can't bear to look bad in front of him!"
"For someone who probably can only stand up one last time, you've got a lot of smug confidence! Let's see if it gets you anywhere, Reināre!" Minerva yelled fiercely, as she had a sadistic look on her face and sent an extremely large energy wave at her opponent. The violet-eyed girl slammed her palms down on the ground, almost as if she was absorbing the hardness of the earth and using it as strength. Would she have rock-hard resistance?
Minerva's powerful attack surrounded Reināre, causing her to feel pain from the burns, but she didn't feel as much pain as before. Absorbing the resistance and toughness of the hardest minerals in the earth was a smart move, and also the third spell known as Rock Drain.
Lucy could feel her strength being not only revitalized, but increased from the power of the third spell. Her offense, defense, stamina, and speed had ascended to the levels where she could dash towards Minerva and send her into the air with a punch to the face.
She sprang up high into the air to deliver a series of punches and kicks that were dense as the hardest rocks in Fiore, prompting Minerva to get bruises, cough up blood, and scream in pain. Lucy put her arms around Minerva's waist, and began spinning at an extremely fast pace while they descended towards the ground.
When they hit the ground, it exploded into large chunks and made an extremely large crater appear in front of Sting, Lector, Rogue, and Rufus. They all looked amazed at what Reināre had done, but had she defeated Minerva?
The smoke cleared up, and both girls stood across from each other while panting heavily and looking bruised and bloody all over. Minerva's blue dress and Reināre's black shirt were nearly torn off with all the fighting they did, causing both girls to glare at each other viciously. They each only had enough energy left for one last attack, and the determined looks in their eyes could tell anyone that they would make this last shot count.
When Minerva's earlier attack surrounded Reināre, it also made contact with the orange spell book. However, instead of being damaged, it began to emit an orange glow again. The fourth spell had been written, and Reināre's violet eyes were filled with strength, confidence, and determination. What would come from this new spell, after it seemingly absorbed some energy from Minerva's attack?
The fourth spell created an orange sphere of spiraling energy in Reināre's right hand, and it had the kanji for 'Earth' appearing in white in the center of the sphere. She ran towards Minerva, who also ran towards her opponent with an energy wave containing a large amount of magical power.
Sting immediately gasped in amazement when Reināre and Minerva locked eyes and struck each other in the chest with their respective attacks. An orange blast of energy occurred immediately, and it made the sound of a large explosion! The guys covered their eyes, and the noise was loud enough for Jiemma and other members of the guild to come outside and see what happened.
"Man, that girl had some wicked attacks. I don't think anyone could've seen so much power coming from that last spell, not even a person who had Psychic Magic." Orga said to himself, as he still looked stunned like the others did.
After all the large clouds of smoke faded away, everyone could only hear Reināre and Minerva panting heavily while they were barely standing. They had both taken tremendous damage from each other's attacks, and they both managed to form confident smirks on their faces before falling to the ground and losing consciousness.
Sting caught Lucy, as she fell, and Rufus managed to catch Minerva. That fight really was intense, and both girls were burnt, battered, bruised, and bloody from all of that fighting. The white dragon slayer held Lucy a.k.a. Reināre in a bridal-style fashion while smiling down at her, and Rogue picked up the orange spell book.
"Don't you worry about a thing, Reināre. You and Minerva are going straight to the infirmary for a good rest, after a battle like that. I was wrong to initially doubt you today, and who would've thought you would be a match for Minerva? Even though it was a draw, to me, you're the winner." Sting told her while smiling calmly, as he carried her into the guild and headed to the right elevator to get to the infirmary.
Rogue thought to himself with a stern look on his face while the orange glow from the spell book faded away, "The fourth spell, Mud Molding. It molds any attack into the user's current thought, and it uses the power of the last attack used by either side, except power is exponentially increased. This language is very old, and it seems eerily familiar."
At the Fairy Tail guild…
Wendy had seen the explosions coming from Castelia Town, and she looked worried about the thought of a guild war starting up soon. Speaking of strange, she hadn't seen Lucy for a while now. Where was the blonde mage of Fairy Tail?
"Chaos in Castelia Town, I guess." Cana said while chuckling, as she had been watching everything while drinking booze from a bottle before heading up the stairs into the guild.
"Things have been strange lately." Wendy thought to herself while following Cana into the guild, and letting out a small sigh.
How was Chapter 10? Pretty much filled with action, am I right? Lucy's got quite the arsenal of spells now, and she'll revert back to her original form sometimes. What will happen when Lucy finds herself as a member of Sabertooth with Sting? Will she leave her old life behind? Will Wendy and Cana begin putting the pieces together? Standby for Chapter 11!