Maiden of the Sky
James groaned as he struggled to get back up. The entire coalition force had been wiped out in a matter of minutes after Christina had been destroyed. Brain had been about to cast a powerful spell before he caught sight of Wendy. Now the man seemed fixated on her.
"No doubt about it. That's Wendy, the Maiden of the Sky," Brain stated as he coldly regarded the blue-haired girl.
"Not good," James growled. He had heard the name before and he knew the Oración Seis couldn't get their hands on her. Wendy cowered behind her rock trying to keep out of sight.
"To think we simply stumbled upon her here. We've made quite a find my friends. Grab her!" Brian ordered. He lowered his staff again and fired a sickly green tentacle of energy at poor Wendy. It grabbed and dragged her back to Brain, the young girl screaming the entire way.
"Help me!" Wendy shrieked. James growled and staggered to his feet. He said he'd protect Wendy and wasn't about to go back on his word. He tried to reach Wendy but Hoteye made the ground surge and roll tossing the allied wizards about like ragdolls. James saw Wendy and somehow Happy get sucked into a swirling green vortex and disappear into Brain's staff.
"I have no use for the rest of you. Be gone!" Brain barked. "Dark Rondo!" He unleashed a vicious blast of magic bolts from his staff aimed at the wizards.
"Jaeger!" James barked as he quickly turned into his thirty foot tall blue mech. He tossed himself over his allies, using his body as a shield to try and save them from the worst of the assault. However the assault never came. James glanced over his shoulder to see a series of rock pillars had formed out of the surrounding ravine walls to form a protective barrier over him and the others.
"Made it just in the nick of time." James looked forward to see Jura standing there.
"Thanks," James growled, returning to normal.
"Okay, let's take them down," Natsu growled, referring to the enemy wizards.
"They're long gone," Gray stated.
"Damn it," James growled. Then he spotted Erza.
She wasn't moving.
While the others bickered and whined over how the enemy had whipped the floor with them and how their plan had fallen through, James rushed over to his girlfriend and held her. He barely registered what the others were saying as he saw the blue poison working its way through her system.
"What happened?" James asked.
"Cobra's snake bit me. It hurts so much," Erza hissed.
"It will be okay. I swear," James breathed as he brushed her hair from her eyes. "I will do everything I can to fix this."
"Hey you okay?" Natsu asked. James looked up and saw that Erza and he were now the center of attention.
"I'm no doctor, but even I can tell that's not good," Lucy whispered. Erza cried in pain and it tore at James' heart.
"I know what you need my honey; little painkiller perfume!" Ichiya unleashed more of his perfumes and James noticed that his wounds were hurting less but Erza was still withering in pain.
"The perfume has a cleansing effect that will expel any toxins," Hibiki explained. However the poison seemed to only spread more causing Erza to shriek in pain.
"Put that away!" James roared. He slashed the air and Ichiya cried in pain. One of James' Schneider blades and the bottle of perfume fell to the ground. "You're only making things worse!"
"I need your belt," Erza groaned to James. He looked at her perplexed as she fumbled around with the clasp and then ripped it off. She then tightened it around her upper bicep, just above the poison forming a tourniquet. James immediately realized what she was planning.
"No," James breathed.
"It's harsh, but it's the only way," she explained. "I need to keep fighting." She stuck a piece of cloth in her mouth and threw her sword into the ground amidst her allies.
"Somebody cut it off," She ordered.
"Are you insane?" James breathed.
"At least give us time to find an antidote!" Gray snapped.
"We don't have time!" Erza hissed.
"Very well," Leon stated, grasping the sword. "I will do it!"
"Put down the sword," Gray snarled.
"Do it!" Erza snapped.
"Erza, think about it," James breathed, trying to hold her still. "This will affect you for the rest of your life. I will love you no matter what, but please don't make any rash decisions."
"We can't lose one of our strongest when we're facing such a powerful foe," Leon rationalized.
"Your friend is going to die if we don't do something to help her," Sherry stated.
"Leon's going to die if he doesn't lower the sword!" James snapped
"Just cut it off before the venom spreads to the rest of my body!" Erza ordered. Leon brought down the sword but Gray stood in the way, his ice encapsulating and blocking the weapon.
"Her arm is more important to you than her life?" Leon chided. "Where are your priorities?"
"This will affect her for the rest of her life. There's got to be another way," Gray reasoned.
"Wendy," James breathed suddenly remembering where he'd heard her name. "She can do it." However Erza didn't hear him as the pain finally became too much and she went limp in his arms.
"Indeed," Carla stated, appearing at his side. "This is no time to be bickering amongst ourselves. We need to work together to come up with a plan to rescue Wendy," she said to the others, chiding them for their brash behavior.
"I could tell she was strong, "James stated looking at Carla. "She's a powerful healer isn't she?"
"She can cure fevers, relieve pain, and heal wounds," Carla elaborated.
"But I thought healing spells were a lost magic," Sherry argued. "There's no way she could use them."
"Does it have anything to do with the whole 'Maiden of the Sky' thing?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah," James nodded. "She goes by another name, but I forget what it is. It's been a long time since I've heard of her."
"That little girl is the Sky Dragon Slayer," Carla explained. "She's Wendy the Sky Dragon."
That got everyone's attention.
"She's a dragonslayer too!" Natsu gasped.
"I'll give you the details later. But there's really not much more you need to know," Carla sighed. "Wendy is the only wizard capable of saving your friend; we need her right now. Unfortunately the Oración Seis feel they need her too for some unknown reason."
"In that case we need to rescue Wendy," Gray said.
"For Erza," James stated. A resounding roar of approval went up and the wizards divided up into teams to search for the Maiden of the Sky. James made sure Erza was comfortable and that the tourniquet was tight.
"I won't be long," James whispered. He took off his black dress shirt and balled it up under her head, leaving him in just a white undershirt. "We'll find Wendy and bring her back her to save you." He kissed her forehead and turned to Lucy.
"Watch her for me, please," James pleaded. Lucy nodded firmly and James took off after Natsu, Gray, and Carla. James hated himself for leaving Erza in her time of need but he knew he would be of more value trying to find Wendy.
"So if she's a Sky Dragon Slayer, what she eat for power?" Natsu asked after they had been running for a bit.
"Air of course," Carla stated. She was flying along using her wings to as to keep up with the long-legged humans.
"Does it taste any good?" Natsu asked.
"I don't know," Carla replied.
"I don't see how that's any different from breathing," Gray murmured.
James just shook his head at the whole affair.
"You know the only reason she applied for this mission was because she wanted the chance to meet you," Carla said to Natsu.
"Why me?" he inquired.
"Because you're a fellow dragon slayer; there's something she wanted to ask you about."
"Did she tell you?"
"Yes. Apparently the dragon who taught her Dragon Slayer Magic mysteriously disappeared seven years ago. She was hoping you might be able to tell her its whereabouts."
"I need more info. What's the dragon's name?"
"I believe Wendy called her the Sky Dragon Grandeeney," Carla elaborated.
"The Sky Dragon Grandeeney. Seven years ago," Natsu mused. Until he ran headfirst into an arching tree root.
"Maybe Laxus knows!" Natsu exclaimed.
"He's not a real dragon slayer, remember?" James countered.
"What's happened here?" Carla gasped. James' eyes went wide as he saw the dark haze that enveloped the forest ahead, turning everything black.
"That is creepy," Natsu whimpered.
Then the gang heard footsteps behind them. They turned to see two large men walking towards them. One had a purple afro and white disco suit while the other had blonde spiky hair and wore shoulder pads and brown cloak. Both had large ears, mouths, and noses, but beady eyes.
"Word on the street is it's caused by Nirvana. Ain't that right Big Bro Zato," the blonde explained.
"Oh yeah. Magic so powerful the planet can't take it," the disco one added. "Everything it touches withers up and dies, Big Bro."
Suddenly the trees came to life with the hoots and howls of dozens of monkey like people.
"This is bad," Carla breathed. James, Gray, and Natsu stood with their backs to each other. "They've got us surrounded," Carla stated.
"Those two have got to be the dumbest monkeys I've ever seen!" Natsu squealed as Big Bro Gato repeated himself and Zato yelled at him
Then a little bald guy started having a conniption. "You guys are from Fariy Tail! You're friends with that blonde girl!"
"That one's an angry monkey!" Natsu smirked.
"Don't go messing with Naked Mummy!" Gato barked. "Were with the Oración Seis!"
"That's right! You got a death wish pal?" Zato asked.
"Any other day, maybe," James smirked. "But I have things to do today. Gray, Natsu when I give the signal, jump." Both wizards nodded.
"It was a trap!" Carla exclaimed. "They tricked us into thinking we'd only be fighting six wizards."
"The more the merrier," Gray smirked.
"Bring on the monkeys!" Natsu cried gleefully.
"You guys are insane! We should run!" Carla snapped.
"That would be rude," Gray argued. "Especially after they came to us."
"Besides, they could tell us where their base is," James added.