Chapter 12: Sabertooth's Fight-Off

Normal POV

"What the hell do you want now, Minerva?!" Sting hissed at her.

"Is that how you talk to someone, now Sting?" she purred at him in a rude voice. Lucy was getting tense at the moment. She tugged on Sting's sleeve, signaling him to leave it alone. But he brushed her off, Sting wanted to settle things with Minerva once and for all.

"Come at me, you wrench." he said meanly.

"Oh ho-ho-ho. Now you call me wrench huh? Well, a battle was what I was waiting for!" and snapped her fingers in the air. A dark magic circle appeared above Sting, Minerva and Lucy's head. Devouring them quickly, but Rouge was fast and tried to pull Lucy out of the magic circle before anything else happened to her again. BUt he ended being taken in by the magic too. A flash of light shone for a brief second and when Natsu, Gray, Erza and the three Exceeds opened their eyes, they found Sting, Rouge and Lucy's body lying on the floor, unconscious. Natsu and Gray tried shaking them awake but there was no response at all. Erza noticed that Minerva's body was the same and her thoughts only came up with one reason of what happened.

"They were sent to a different dimension. Something Minerva must've planned while waiting for us." speaking, with her arms crossed. She knew something was going to happen, something bad. Gray spoke up, "So, you're telling us to wait?!" Shocked at what seemed to be the truth, Erza could only nod and picked up Lucy's body and placed her in the cave.

"Best to keep them warm when they wake up. Trust them. I'm sure that they'll be able to bring back Lucy safe and sound." she smiled at the two worried mages. Lector and Frosh were especially worried about their partners. Lector gave Frosh a reassuring pat to the back.

"Don't worry! Sting is with them, don't underestimate him at all!' he said proudly about his best friend.

"Yeah..." was the only reply from the teary Exceed.

Natsu and Gray brought in Sting and Rouge.

"What should we do about her?" Natsu scoffed at Minerva.

"Guess, we have to." Erza sighed and took in Minerva too. They all sat down by the sides of the walls and rested, awaiting their return. But Lector and Frosh had other plans and when everyone was sound asleep, they walked through the blue portal that brought them here and back to the tree. With important things stuck on their minds. Their only partners.

In Minerva's dimension.

Sting and Rouge were standing back to back with each other, staring in the endless pit of blackness.

"Where's Lucy? Weren't supposed to take her out of here?! Not get yourself stuck in here with me!" Sting yelled stubbornly.

"Sorry, I lost a grip on her when we were sent here..." Rouge apologized to her friend.

BAM! A single beam of light broke the dark and revealed Minera, standing in the middle, wearing her usual clothing and her hair done up elegantly.

"Welcome! The Grand Show for tonight will be... THIS!" the light pointing at Lucy who was tied to a chair. Lucy struggled to get out but the restraints just got tighter, Minerva waved her finger in front of her.

"Try too hard and your life will be SQUEEZED! AHAHAHAHA!" she laughed as if it was nothing, killing one of her old guildmates.

"The rules are simple, if you win. You get Lucy back... But if I win, then consider her Dead!" she announced to the two Dragon Slayers standing there. Sting was shocked at what Minerva was doing.

"The game tonight is a GRAND BATTLE! Between the Sabertooth members," pointing at a dark place where no one could see. Walking into their field of vision, Orga and Rufus strided in.

"Yo! Where have you been?" Orga teased. It seemed like the news reached all the way back to the guild. Minerva headed back to the guild after facing the others in the cave earlier in the day.

"So... You guys helped Fairy Tail, huh? Thinking that you guys would hate them." Rufus snickered, twirling the feather stuck in his hat.

"Against the Traitors!" Minerva shouted loudly. Sting and Rouge were both lost at what she was saying.

"What the hell Minerva! How in the world are we even traitors, huh?! You got a problem, don't you!" Sting cussed at her. He hated Minerva for a long time, but he had to respect her since it was her father's guild that he was in.

"True... But we can't help someone in pain? You're thinking the wrong way Minerva." Rouge said calmly. Thinking about why they would be considered as traitors.

"Too late for that now." Minerva said flatly, not even listening to the protests from Sting who was literally just yelling about Minerva.

"Battle... START!" Minerva shouted, not a moment later.

"What..?" Sting confusingly was lost as their battle was beginning already without the answers he wanted. Orga and Rufus started moving and Rouge and Sting could only brace themselves and finish the battle. Lucy didn't want to watch the battle.

"Minerva... Don't do this. Please." Lucy pleaded. Minerva only turned her head around quickly, glaring like daggers and the side of her mouth curled up into a smirk.

"No. It has already started!" and Lucy's restraints got tighter, she let out a quiet yell of pain. Lucy silenced herself before she hurts herself anymore and her eyes watched Sting as he fought with Orga. Sting was being pushed back as Orga strikes his lightning from a distance along with singing into a mic that he happened to bring along.

"Oh yea baby! No. 1!" he sang loudly, really off-key.

"Ah! Shut up already Orga!" Sting talked back, spitting out blood from his mouth. Standing up, he shot out a beam of light, his Holy Roar. The laser-like hit was able to glaze Orga's arm, making a deeper cut than expected. Blood streamed out at a moderate speed.

"Tch. Thanks a lot Sting." Orga sighed. When blasts of light came from behind, Rouge and Rufus were dueling out at each other. But Rouge had the upper hand in the area, since shadows were his speciality. He could move around Rufus more easily, smacking attacks on him. Obviously, Rouge was winning for the while... Rufus was remembering all the light attacks from opponents, even Sting's but it was a risk to use it. Since Sting was right behind them, fighting with Orga.

"This isn't getting us anywhere." Minerva sang and looked into Lucy's frightened eyes. "Let's have some fun, shall we?" her hand was holding the same heat-like ball.

"No... Don't do this Minerva." Lucy said firmly. She didn't want to act weak when she shouted out one of the sprits name, the only one that he was sure about...

"You better hear this..." taking in a deep and quick breathe. "LOKI!" screaming at the top of her lungs.

"What the?!" Minerva cursed as Loki appeared in his usual attire, showing up in a swarm of lights.

"Lucy! Are you alright?! I'm sorry that I couldn't come help you... No, actually I should be ashamed of myself of not being able to come out." Loki blamed himself as he saw where he was. "Where in the world are we...?!"

"Ah... Welcome." Minerva sneered and sent the heat ball at Loki. With his quick reflexes, he dodged it easily. At the same time, he sent a punch at Lucy's chair, making all the restraints fall and releasing Lucy.

"Thanks Loki, now let's get this battle finished!" Lucy declared. Loki was ready and their battle began too. In the dark dimension, battles were going on furiously.

Erza, Natsu and Gray waited patiently, watching for any movements from any of the four people.

"Lucy..." Happy whined as he sat beside the sleeping-like mage.

"There has to be a way to get in there. Somehow... Erza don't you know a way?!' Gray asked anxiously, he was getting impatient and worried about the current situation that was going on with the four of them. But Erza could only shake her head. When Lector and Frosh appeared at the mouth of the cave.

"We found a way to get to them! Hurry! Bring one of them." Lector ordered, walking back to the portal. Natsu picked up Lucy gently and they went back to the tree.

"So you brats are finally here.. " he huffed. But their glares were enough to shut him up.

"You say there is a way to go to the dimension where they are?" Erza asked, confirming what she heard.

"Yea. But you won't be able to last long in there. About two hours, tops." the group nodded and waited for further info. "Each of you drink a mouthful of this tea that your little friends had just created with my help. Quickly or else the magic wears out." Erza drank it first, followed by Natsu and Gray while the Exceeds were told to look after the bodies. "Now. Stand close to the girl and the magic will work by itself." Within a few seconds, Natsu, Gray and Erza fell to the ground with a thud and they were standing in Minerva's created dimension to find that everyone was injured as individual brawls were going on. Of course, Minerva sensed their magic first.

"Hmph. Seems like we have guests. Ok guys, now's the time." Minerva signaled Orga and Rufus. They nodded as a response and were standing in by Minerva, Sting and Rouge stood by the group of Fairy Tail members.

"Bye-bye." Minerva smirked and they raised their hands, a gigantic blast of their magic was shot at them in seconds. Lucy's eyes were shut tight, when she opened it. There was only smoke that was surrounding the whole place.

Tada! Chapter 12 is finally done, I've got such a writer's block... Rawr. Frustrating. Well, thanks for reading and review! :)