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CHAPTER 14
THE LIGHTNING GOES DOWN

As we ran through the streets of Magnolia, I saw people looking at us, confused about what was going on. They probably overheard some of the things that had happened in the guild hall. Not to mention the fact that the majority of the guild was combing the city, looking for Laxus.

In the distance I saw two Fairy Tail members caught inside a cage made of enchantments. What was going on? What's worse is that it looked as if they were fighting each other.

But we didn't have time to stand around; the guild master had sent us on a mission to go to the East Forest, there was no time to lose. However, just around the next corner we encountered another Fairy Tail wizard. He lied on the ground, all beaten up. He explained to us what happened to him. Apparently, these enchantments were made to trap members of Fairy Tail and force them to fight each other if they want to escape and continue their search for Laxus. How could they do this to their fellow guild members, I wondered. This goes against everything I've been told about Fairy Tail. We were supposed to be friends… family. Whoever this Laxus guy was, he sure as hell would pay for his crimes against the guild.

Sadly, we had to leave the guy behind; I hoped he'd be fine. It surprised me how little trouble Reedus had running all this time. Despite his huge body he was keeping up with me well. After the explanation we got of how the enchantments were working, we had decided to keep a fair distance between the two of us to prevent getting caught in a trap together. After a while, we finally made it outside the city. We'd probably be safe, this far away from the action. A little further out of the city, however, Reedus bumped into another invisible wall… letters appeared where the wall should have been. Oh, no, they placed a wall around the entire city?

We both looked around, but saw no one else. Then, Freed showed up out of nowhere, between the two of us.

"My rules will not be disobeyed." He said, facing Reedus. Had he even noticed me standing behind him? "If you're a wizard, then fight. Demonstrate your strength to me!" Freed was challenging Reedus to a fight. This was the reason I had been sent with him… And so, I prepared myself. With some luck I could catch him by surprise from behind.

I silently cast Prequip onto myself, then concentrated on casting a Lightning Shock spell from my sword. Freed was still focused on Reedus who was backed against the invisible wall and had nowhere else to go. This way my chance! I fired off a Lightning Shock, but it went right through Freed and landed only centimetres away from where Reedus was standing. In an instant, Freed appeared behind me and slashed me with his sword.

"You posses Lightning magic, just like Laxus does?" Freed showed some surprise in his eyes. "…No, yours is different." He said to himself before I could reply.

I was lucky I turned around just in time to have my armoured shoulder pad protect me from his slash.

"I don't know who you are, or who this Laxus guy is. But I won't let you hurt Fairy Tail." I said, trying to sound brave, even though I felt outclassed by my opponent.

"What would you know about Fairy Tail, rookie?" Freed responded, not impressed with my talk. He then swiftly attacked me using his sword again. I had trouble keeping up with his movements. I managed to block some of his incoming strikes, but I was still getting hit way too much, I wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer. Suddenly, I felt as if something pierced through my head, it lasted for only a split second. It was just like before… during that fight with those thugs.

"New technique! Photon Shield!"

As I spoke those words, a bubble of electricity appeared all around my body. Freed, who was right in front of me, got caught inside my shield and suffered damage from the electric particles continuously shocking him. He quickly jumped back to free himself from the pain. However, that was not the last of my new technique.

"Detonate Shield!"

I spread out my arms and the shield shattered in an explosion of light. The particles that previously formed the shield were now shaped as a large ring around me that quickly expanded outwards, growing weaker as it travelled outwards. Freed was caught by surprise in the shockwave of my spell and suffered from paralysation caused by the particles that had struck him.

"Get him now!" Reedus shouted at me while he was painting something. Seconds later, a second sword, similar to the one I was already wielding appeared in my other hand. Was this part of Reedus's magic? I felt more powerful with two swords in my hands, and made a charge at Freed. Right before my attack would land, he vanished again, then reappeared behind me, kicking me in the back. I was completely off-balance and fell face down onto the ground.

"Not even close, but nice try nonetheless." Freed said with a calm voice, not showing any signs of being hurt from my previous techniques. He pointed his sword at me, but I was out of energy to fight back. Reedus had also given up hope on being able to stand up against Fried and surrendered himself. With our defeat, Freed teleported away.

"Hey! Can you hear me, everyone!?" A voice in my head said.

I opened my eyes; I found myself lying on the ground… The exact same spot where Freed had defeated me. Had I been unconscious? How long had I been down for? Reedus was sitting on a rock nearby, he looked like he was concentrating on something. Had he heard the voice, too?

"Everyone who's down for the count… get up now!" The voice continued.

I didn't understand, but I assumed this was one of our guild members speaking to us telepathically somehow. We were told to look up at the sky above the city, where a huge ring of floating lacrimas could be seen. "Laxus is going to use these to attack the city! There's no time! We need to destroy them all together!"

More voices started to talk telepathically in my head. Apparently, the Fairy Tail girls had been turned back to normal during the time I had been unconscious for, and they were all doing fine. What a relief!

The fact that everyone was able to participate in the telepathic communication began to backfire when the guild members started to use it as a method to complain to those who had beaten them up inside the enchantment cages earlier. Not seconds later, my head was filled with angry voices, blaming their fellow guild members for getting hurt. This wasn't working out well.

"Listen, everyone!" I could hear Lucy's voice speaking. Everyone else went quiet. "This is no time for arguing! The citizens will be in danger unless we do something! We all have to work together to protect the town of Magnolia!" She paused for a moment. "I only joined Fairy Tail just recently, but I'm confident I love this guild as much as everyone else. Fairy Tail has always been my dream! I looked up to it. And I still do… Please, let's all work together and protect our guild… and our town!"

Everyone seemed to be convinced by Lucy's speech. She was totally right… about Fairy Tail, and about the situation. The only way we could win this fight was if we all worked together. Everyone was getting ready to deal with the lightning lacrimas.

I Prequipped myself with Lightning Battler gear and charged up multiple Lightning Shock spells. Fire! I shot several bolts of lightning at once to destroy up to three lacrimas with. That same moment, I saw hundreds of other weapons, magical projectiles and beams coming from everywhere in the city, destroying all the other lacrimas. It looked like we were successful in our mission. Sparkling dust caused by the destruction of the lacrimas was raining down all over the city.

Seconds later, my whole body was struck by a powerful electric shock. What was that all about? I was lucky to have some sort of resistance against electric type attacks, thanks to my magic, or else that would have hurt me a lot more. I saw lightning strikes appear everywhere in the city… Were the others getting hurt by the same kind of shock? Reedus, who was nearby and had also helped destroy a few lacrimas, seemed like he got hurt as well. He looked happy, though. I couldn't help but smile, too. We showed Laxus that Fairy Tail is not to be messed with! Now that I was thinking of Laxus, what had happened to him? Weren't we supposed to defeat him in battle?

With the girls having been cured from petrification, Reedus and I decided to return to the city, as there was no longer any need for us to go to the East Forest. It looked as if we arrived late to the party; Laxus had already been defeated by the time we made it back. Natsu and Gajeel were both in bad shape, but at least they were still alive. Apparently Gajeel had played a major role in taking down Laxus, and the guild members, for once, were showing their appreciation to him. I was glad to see him becoming more accepted with the other members. Despite him being in such bad state, he looked more alive than I had seen him like since I joined the guild. He must have really enjoyed that fight.

Aside from Natsu and Gajeel, who both got wrapped in bandages from top to toe to cover all their injuries by Mirajane, most others in the guild were doing reasonably fine. I had some bruises and scratches from my fight with Freed, but nothing really bad.

The guild hall was filled with people celebrating the victory over Laxus and his crew. People were drinking, laughing, and, for once, no one was starting a fight. I wasn't really in the mood to participate in the festivities and sat at a table by myself in one of the corners. Thoughts of my fight against Freed were popping up in my head and wouldn't leave me. I had not really done anything that deserved celebration. The guild master had trusted me, despite my rookie status, with the mission of protecting Reedus from harm, but I had failed in doing so. What good was I if I wasn't able to do anything… By having Freed left standing I had others having to clean up behind me.

I looked up at the crowd partying in the centre of the guild hall; everyone seemed to be having fun. I had been member of Fairy Tail for only just over one week, but I loved this guild and its members. If I wanted to become a worthy member of the guild, I needed to become stronger. I wanted to be helpful, like the others.

Still, strength wasn't the only thing that mattered as a member of Fairy Tail I remembered when I looked at the others again. Then, what was I doing here, sitting all by myself, thinking depressing thoughts. This wasn't the time for such things… I was part of the guild, too. I got up and joined my guildmates, replacing my gloomy thoughts with happier ones. Today was a day to be celebrated.

That same evening, there was a huge parade going through the city. All of the Fairy Tail members joined, including Natsu, despite his poor condition and being covered all over in bandages. I was asked to provide fireworks using my Lightning magic. It was great to be a part of this event, seeing all the citizens laughing and cheering. So much had happened today, that I felt like I was going to pass out at the end of it all.