The time has finally come for the spirit orb to be destroyed. Sabertooth and Fairy Tail were suppose to protect the orb until then, but Tranquil Mind attacked. Sting and Natsu raced back inside to help out Lucy and Minerva. However, just before they went up to the top floor where the girls and the spirit orb were in, they heard Lucy and Minerva. It sounded like they were facing against each other and that's just what was happening. In the burning building, Minerva faced off against Lucy. Lucy jumped up and tried to attack, but Minerva blocked it easily and pushed her back.
"How did you know I wasn't really your friend?" Lucy asked.
"It's not enough to change your form." Minerva said. "Every person has distinct mannerisms. Though, that's probably wasted on people who like to play with puppets."
"Perhaps….of course there are SOME that would never know the difference." Lucy said.
"Natsu Dragneel!" Minerva said.
"Lucy! Minerva! Are you two alright?" Natsu and Sting came running in and the imposter decided to take advantage of this.
"Natsu, help me!" Lucy pleaded. "She's an imposter. She tried to kill me."
"Seriously?" Natsu said.
"That can't be right." Sting said.
"It's true. I did attack her, but I'm not the imposter." Minerva said.
"Look lady, no one attacks Lucy." Natsu said as he was getting angry.
"Natsu, hold on. Minerva is saying Lucy is the imposter." Sting said.
"Don't be fooled, Natsu." Lucy said. This was difficult. Neither of them could tell which one was lying and which one was really a fake.
"I can't tell them apart." Natsu said. "They both have the same scent they've always had. There's no way either of them can be an imposter."
"That's just what the enemy wants us to think." Sting said. "They know we have enhanced senses. They might be using something that has Lucy's or Minerva's scent so we can't tell one of them is the fake."
"I'll prove it." Minerva said. "If you're really Lucy Heartfillia, how come you haven't summoned any of your spirits yet?" All eyes were on Lucy and she was looking a little nervous. "The real Lucy would have summoned her spirits to aid her or perform the Star Dress. However, you don't even have any of her keys on you. A real celestial wizard doesn't go anywhere without them." Both of the boys looked and noticed Minerva was right. Lucy didn't have her keys on her. "My guess is that the REAL Lucy refused to give her keys up. Not that it would matter because you still wouldn't be able to summon any of them if you're using Transformation Magic."
"All of that are some good points." Sting said. Natsu knew Lucy better than anyone and he was starting to see it.
"Imposter!" Natsu said as he grabbed her by the arm and tossed her back, but Lucy was able to flip from the floor and stood back up with the boys standing next to Minerva.
"So much for this trick. I did warn you not to be fooled." Lucy said.
"How dare you mess with my head!" Natsu said.
"How dare YOU mess with my plans." Lucy said.
"A fake like you doesn't have any room to complain." Sting said.
"Are you so sure about that?" Lucy asked.
"What do you mean?" Minerva asked.
"This body MIGHT be real. I MIGHT just be controlling it from afar thanks to Tranquil Mind's magic." Lucy said.
"No way!" Natsu said as he couldn't bring himself to actually fight Lucy of all people.
"So do you still think you can stop me knowing you might hurt your friend?" Lucy said as Natsu was actually losing the will to fight.
"What are we suppose to do now?" Natsu said.
"Even if what she's saying is true, we have no choice, but to try and stop her." Sting said.
"Prepare yourselves….here she comes." Minerva said as the fake Lucy went on the attack. She swung her legs at them, but all three of them moved out of the way. Lucy jumped towards Sting and gave him a strong kick in the gut that made him slide back.
"Whoa! That's some kick she's got." Sting said.
"Yeah. Lucy always had a strong kick to her." Natsu said.
"Stay focus." Minerva said and got the two of them back in the fight.
"It doesn't matter. I'll be taking that orb." Lucy said as she tried to get to it.
"Lucy!" Natsu said as he grabbed a hold of her. "Lucy, if you're really being controlled, look into my eyes. It's me." Lucy's face soften up and Natsu thought the control over her was breaking. He was shown wrong when she smirked and banged her head against him and he moved back. "So much for that idea." Lucy was about to attack again, but Minerva caused a small spot of space combust and pushed her down.
"Careful, Milady. We don't want to hurt her if she is under control." Sting said.
"I'm aware of that. Sting, get her to stop moving and everything will be settled." Minerva said.
"How am I suppose to…." Sting was about question, but he figured out what Minerva was saying. "Oh! I get it now."
"You got nothing." Lucy said as she got back up and went to attack them again.
"Not this time!" Sting said as he slammed his hand against her and a magic circle appeared on her.
"What?" Lucy said as she tried to move her body, but she was almost as stiff as a board. "What did you just do to me?"
"I just branded you with my stigma." Sting said. "When that happens, you won't be able to move until I say so. Maybe we can get some answers from you now."
"Come on, Lucy. You've got to fight whatever control they have over you." Natsu said. "You've got to hear my voice. It's me, your precious Natsy." Sting tried to hold back laughing from hearing that. "Shut up."
"No matter what you say or do, it's pointless. Just hand over the orb." Lucy said.
"Are you even aware of the situation?" Natsu said. Lucy, fake or not, was trapped and that became a problem. A wooden beam with fire on the end came down and hit Lucy on the back. "Lucy!" He was about to save her from the fire, but Minerva held out her arm.
"Wait. Take a look." Minerva said as they saw Lucy was beginning to fade with magic power being release.
"What's happening?" Natsu questioned. Lucy faded away and turned into a lock of hair. "Hold on. That's a lock of Lucy's hair."
"I see. They used Personification Magic." Minerva said. "By using her hair, they had us believe she was the real thing. Though, it was sloppy. She didn't act like Lucy and they obviously disregarded her spirits."
"They must have been afraid her spirits would tell us what's really going on." Sting said. "Of course, they needed someone to make sure the puppet was working right. Come out! I picked up on your scent when I was kicked in that direction. I know you're there."
"Curses." The enemy decided to stop hiding as Mona showed herself.
"You again!" Natsu said.
"So much for your little trick." Sting said.
"That does it! Deceiving me with that trick did it! I'm not holding back anymore!" Natsu declared.
"Oh, is that right?" Mona said as she prepared to fight. "Very well. I accept your challenge. We should have done this in the beginning. Like I said last time, I'm going to slice you up eight different ways!" She shot out a blast of two tornados that blasted Natsu and shoved him into the fire.
"You think that will stop Natsu? You're going down!" Sting said as he charged in to attack, but Mona jumped over him and kicked him in the back. Natsu pulled himself up and ate some of the fire.
"Sorry, sweetheart. All you did was throw me into a snack." Natsu said.
"Perhaps, but you don't have that little girl this time to help you." Mona said as she shot out blasts of wind at him, but Natsu moved out of the way. "The orb is mine!" She charged directly towards the spirit orb, but she was surprised as she and Minerva switched places.
"I'm afraid you'll have to do much better than that." Minerva said. She had one of her orbs appear in front of Mona, but she flew out of the way before it exploded.
"Where are you going?" Sting said. "White Dragon Roar!" Sting unleashed the roar. When Mona noticed it, she tried to block it as the roar blasted her through the roof.
"I'm not done! I'm taking that orb!" Mona said as she dived back in, but Natsu met her at her level.
"Fire Dragon Talon!" Natsu gave her a strong kick and kicked her to the floor. "You really think we need Wendy to handle you? You're up against some pretty tough guys all on your own."
"That doesn't matter." Mona said as she tried to get up.
"You should have just surrendered when you had the chance." Minerva said as she used her magic and had Mona trapped inside a sphere.
"What is this? What are you doing?" Mona questioned.
"This is what happens when you stand against Sabertooth." Minerva said. She caused a series of explosion go off inside the orb. Minerva had the sphere vanish and Mona shot into the air. She hit a beam and landed on the ground in defeat with a series of injuries.
"Curses. Why can't I win?" Mona said as she didn't have the strength to get back up.
"Just give it up. There's no way you're going to make it out of here." Sting said.
"Where's the real Lucy? Answer me!" Natsu said.
"That girl? By now I suspect she's no longer in this world." Mona said.
"What did you say?!" Natsu said as his fury was growing.
"Answer us…or you'll meet your end here." Minerva said.
"Why are you so concerned about that one girl?" Mona asked.
"Lucy is an important part of Fairy Tail. She's important to me! Now tell me where she is!" Natsu demanded.
"Alright. That girl…is most likely…." Mona said. All of them stepped closer to hear her. "Now!" Mona used the last of her magic to create a powerful twister that carried the spirit orb away. All of them raced over to try and reach it, but they were too late.
"What an evil witch." Minerva said as they all turned back around.
"What did you just do?" Sting said.
"I just sent the spirit orb in the same direction Ishida is. It's in his hands now." Mona said.
"Call him back right now!" Sting said.
"Sorry, but this is my choice." Mona said as she reached behind her and pulled out a switch. Minerva saw what she was doing. "I'm taking you all along with me!" She pressed the switch and caused a series of explosion around herself and the tower to go off.
…
Outside
Rogue and the others heard the series of explosions and they saw the entire building starting to collapse.
"Sting/Natsu!" Lector and Happy called out.
"What happened in there?" Gray said as they were all concerned for their friends. They thought none of them made it out until they saw Minerva using her magic to teleport all three of them out of there.
"That was close." Sting said.
"Are you all alright?" Erza asked.
"What happened and where's Lucy?" Wendy said.
"The Lucy there was a fake. Tranquil Mind captured the real one on her way here." Sting said and that was a shock to all of them.
"We also lost the spirit orb." Minerva said. "The enemy wizard was willing to sacrifice everything for her guild and she succeeded." Natsu got right up and took off.
"Natsu, where are you going?" Rogue asked.
"Where do you think? I've got to save Lucy." Natsu said.
"Calm down. You guys should probably inform your guild about what has happened." Sting said.
"But something could happen to her." Natsu said.
"I'm with Natsu. We've got to rescue her if she's been captured." Gray said.
"So go back to your guild. Having their help would be better than going in all by yourselves." Sting said.
"How can you be so calm?!" Natsu said.
"I've watched your guild and you always put your comrades' lives first." Minerva said. "Just stop and think what might be the best way to save her right now." Erza saw what she was talking about and she knew what they needed to do.
"We'll head back to Magnolia. Master Makarov would want to know of one of us being captured." Erza said.
"In the meantime, we'll try to track them down." Rogue said.
"Once we found something, we'll give you guys a call." Sting said. With there being nothing else to do and their mission and goal gone with the win, they all have choice, but to go back.
….
The Guildhall
Natsu and the rest of his team made it back to Magnolia. They informed Makarov of what has happened and it wasn't great for him at all.
"No!" Makarov said as he slammed his hands on his wheelchair. "The spirit orb has been stolen AND Tranquil Mind has Lucy!"
"Alright, we told him. Let's get going and save Lucy now!" Natsu said.
"No, Natsu." Makarov said.
"What?!" Natsu said.
"Natsu, think about this. The enemy knows about your enhance sense of smell." Makarov said. "They would have hidden Lucy's scent so you can't track it. Until we're able to track her down, there isn't much we can do."
"But…" "Natsu!" Makarov interrupted.
"You just need to have faith in Lucy. She is a member of our guild and can take care of herself." Makarov said. "Perhaps Levy can trace her down. I'm not asking you to abandon Lucy. I'm just as upset as you are. I'm just asking you to have faith and wait for her."
"Blast it all!" Natsu said. All of them have suffered a major lost and matters might only get worse.
Next Time: Destruction and Tranquil
