A/N: Short look at what everyone else is up to. I'm posting the continuation of the Rogue vs. Edo-Rogue today, too since this is so short!
"What the hell are these things?" Elfman yelled. He transformed into his beast mode and swiped away three of the semi-solid figures that surrounded them. The fight with the dragon was not going well, and now they had a mass of shadow people to deal with, too. Some were almost entirely solid, while others barely maintained a visible form.
"They're motherfucking souls!" Bickslow replied.
"Can you do anything about them?" Evergreen asked as she tried to petrify a group with her stone eyes. The souls continued advancing on them.
"Maybe a few, but this is way too many for my magic to deal with alone," the seith mage said. "And I don't even know if it will work since they don't have actual bodies for me to manipulate."
"Do what you can," Erza said. "Master and I will continue handling the dragon."
"I think her definition of 'handling' is a bit loose here," Evergreen muttered as she launched her leprechaun spell.
Cobra nearly keeled over from the sudden cacophony. Despite blinding the poison dragon, the thing was refusing to die. He couldn't afford this distraction, but the sound of so many souls in the city was deafening. They weren't even actually thinking; they were screaming. Wordless shrieks of pain, anger, sorrow. The screams swirled through Cobra's mind. Normally the sounds of suffering were music to his ears, but this was ludicrous. He tried to drown them out, but they were so loud…
"What's that?" Lisanna asked worriedly from the hilltop. The stadium had been fully evacuated, and she was helping to herd the last few out of the city and into the surrounding hills. Levy came up to join her. Her face scrunched up into a frown as she watched the gray figures pouring from the dragon's mouth.
"I don't know," she said finally. "There are so many figures down there now. I feel like I've read something about a dragon like that, but I can't seem to remember."
"I hope the others are alright," Lisanna said with a sigh.
"They'll be fine. Gajeel's with them. Plus Laxus and Wendy. And I'm sure Natsu's down there somewhere. Even without the dragon slayers, Fairy Tail won't go down without a fight. Come on; let's get the rest of these people into the forest."
Lisanna offered a weak smile and nodded. Her sister and brother were both down there fighting, so she knew she shouldn't really worry. Yet, she did. Her thoughts turned to her unofficial twin who was now covered in darkness. Mira will get her back, she thought. She turned to follow Levy. She paused as she heard two new voices on the ground near her.
"I bet Sting and Rogue are down there kicking some major dragon butt!" A red Exceed said excitedly.
"Fro thinks so, too!"
"I recognize you," Lisanna said as she crouched down by them. "You came by the inn to warn us."
"That's right," Fro said.
"And you must be Sting's friend."
"My name is Lector. There ain't no greater dragon slayers than Sting and Rogue. Natsu just got lucky. They'll beat all those dragons in no time."
Lisanna giggled. She hoped the Exceed's faith in his friends would pay off for them all.
"Was this really necessary?" Lucy grumbled as she watched the members of Fairy Tail, except the two dragon slayers, abandon the fight with the dragons in order to concentrate on the figures that had been released from the Dragon of Souls.
"Talk about overkill," the blue cat agreed. "Although, that iron guy does seem to be chipping at Glacien pretty hard."
Lucy turned her attention to the ice dragon and Gajeel. His iron club was fairing far better against the crystalline hide than it had against the metal that was currently being liquefied by the fire dragon slayer. She idly thought about adding to the confusion below, but she was too irritated by Rogue's second interference. She tried to tell herself that she was definitely not pouting, but she knew that's exactly what this reaction was. She didn't get why Rogue had requested her help if he was just going to make her virtually irrelevant to the fighting.
She glared down at the battlefield. Lucy decided that when this was over, she was going to kick his ass herself for being such an overbearing prick.
Laxus zipped around the water dragon almost gleefully as he landed hit after hit. The dragon roared in pain and anger as it tried unsuccessfully to strike back. It almost got in a good hit as yells from Blue Pegasus below distracted him. Gray figures in various states of solidity attacked the other guild. Laxus turned his attention back to the dragon. They would have to deal with the new threat on their own until he took out this guy. Despite his element's obvious superiority, the water dragon wasn't going down easily.
Mira and Wendy attempted to deal with Yukino above, but the shadows surrounding her constantly deflected their attacks. Both Fairy Tail women tried to talk to her, hoping to break through whatever Rogue had done, but she refused to even acknowledge their questions and pleas. They just hoped she would run out of magic soon, if the shadows were even powered by her own magic. Until then, they alternated ineffectual attacks with attempts to remind Yukino of who she really was.