Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.


Passionate Mages and Punkish Musicians, Part 2


Lucy and Minami managed to get into the museum, running while the pink-haired guitarist felt like she really needed to find Kiriko, and the two girls soon reached the basement's entrance. Minami narrowed her emerald green eyes as she could sense someone's immense magical power down there, making her assume that Kiriko fell into the trap that was set by some thieves, and the rocker groaned in frustration as she began to walk down the stairs. Kiriko had instructed her to keep the sculpture safe, but she couldn't even keep herself from getting hurt.

Lucy walked down the stairs that led into darkness, staying by Minami's side, and she wondered about who that magical power belonged to. Minami hadn't exactly told her about any thieves showing up, but the guitarist herself assumed that this museum job would entirely lack excitement. She didn't think that the museum curator was actually a thief, and going off to get food for Kiriko was the perfect chance for that fake curator to be alone with the orange-haired artist. Minami could only continue to groan, since she'd probably get a heavy scolding for taking her own sweet time with getting lunch, but Lucy felt like any blunders could be fixed.

The two females were quick with reaching the basement floor, and they saw Kiriko turn around to give them a surprised look. The two art thieves also heard their feet touch the ground, and they were somewhat surprised to see another pair of women come down here. Yukata initially assumed that more art thieves were after the Astral Sculpture, but her friend who wore the cherry red skirt could only smirk at the fact that Lucy and Minami wasted no time with going into combative stances. They clearly weren't going to let the thieves just take the statue, so they'd have to battle for it.

Minami's eyes shifted to the black briefcase that was still suspended in midair by the pink aura of Heavenly Body Magic, and she could see that the leader of the two thieving girls could use it. Minami felt like it would be interesting to fight her, but she also thought that the thief could intentionally make the briefcase hit the ground with a harsh fall. That would break the sculpture, and the thief would probably do that as a mean-spirited move if Minami managed to beat her. As the protagonists walked towards the thieves, Minami also got a glimpse of the pedestal.

"I don't know what you thieves entirely want with the sculpture, but you're going down. I'll make you wish that you didn't come here to see it." Minami stated sternly to the thieves, before clenching her fists.

The pink-haired criminal responded in an amused manner, as she looked at Lucy and Minami, "You two must be Kiriko's bodyguards. You're pretty incompetent, if you leave her all alone just to get food. You both intend on defeating me, Chisato Touzoku, but you'll be sent to heaven very quickly. Also, don't advertise your fancy statue in a newspaper for everyone to see how it's valuable."

Kiriko asked Minami as she comically looked angry, "What the hell took you so long to get lunch, you punk?! Also, who is the girl that's next to you?"

Lucy calmly introduced herself to Kiriko, stating that she was a wizard from the Sabertooth guild who came to see the statue, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard turned her attention to Chisato while confidently saying aloud that her day would get more fun. After all, Lucy could feel that this wouldn't just be a fight to stop the thieves. She had a great feeling that something just as nice as the sculpture would be involved with the fight, hoping that the seventh Rainbow Crystal would be here, and Lucy seemed ready to fight. However, she felt like her hopes would have to be confirmed.

As Lucy opened up the purple spell book and grinned, she broke the situation's seriousness for a moment by calmly asking Chisato if she had a rhombus-shaped crystal. Lucy continued on by nicely asking her if she would ever hand it over to her, and Chisato nearly fell over in shock. She snobbishly stated that Lucy was obviously talking about those Rainbow Crystals that had gotten lots of attention, but she rudely said that it would be stupid to just hand a crystal to someone who didn't have the skills to earn it. Even though Chisato was calm enough to say she did not have one, Minami was shocked at Lucy's questions.

She was asking about an object that was shaped like a rhombus, something that the guitarist actually put into the Astral Sculpture, and Minami could guess that it was actually a Rainbow Crystal. She may have thought it was cute, but Minami would be willing to put it in the hands of someone who had experience with other Rainbow Crystals. With that being said, however, how could she involve it in this battle? Lucy most likely wouldn't fight her for it, since they were friends, but didn't Chisato have the briefcase levitating in midair right now?

Chisato was the one who Lucy would have to fight, and she wielded Heavenly Body Magic. That almost made her be like Minami's substitute, and both girls actually wielded some great spells that were filled with heavenly energy. Minami also remembered how she once took a job where she had to fight someone who was filling in for the leader of a dark guild, and that job during her days as a Fairy Tail mage was officially completed. Substitutes were allowed for battles, but they were really only meant to be used if the substitute and the original person wielded similar magic.

"I've actually got a nice idea. Lucy, you would've actually had to fight me for that crystal. However, I hereby appoint Chisato as my substitute for this battle. We use the same elemental magic, so it's completely legit. It would be the same as if a god slayer filled in for a dragon slayer who wielded the same element." Minami explained to Lucy with a clever smile on her face, before giving Kiriko a thumbs-up gesture to assure her that everything would be fine.

Lucy replied with a grin of confidence on her face, before looking down at the book's first spell of Darkness Magic, "I have no problem with that."

Chisato responded in a cocky manner, motioning Lucy to come towards her, "I'm fine with being the one who will make you become the museum's next piece of history. You'll be known as the girl who died in the museum's basement today."

Instead of charging in at Chisato, Lucy used her first spell of dark magic. It was known as Dark Reisu, and that spell simply caused Lucy to shoot out a purple ball of dark energy from her mouth. The ball quickly struck Chisato in the chest, before it created a miniature explosion, and its side effect made Chisato feel a harsh burn sizzle against her stomach. The burn mark was surprisingly purple, but the heat itself only lasted ten seconds. The burn could return if that spell hit Chisato again, though, so she couldn't be too comfortable.

Chisato retaliated with a move known as Heavenly Wave, and she slashed her right hand at the air to create a pink wave of energy. It headed straight for Lucy at high speeds, striking her directly, and a pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic occurred! Lucy screamed in pain, before the spell's power made her slide backwards, and something odd happened when she attempted to use Dark Reisu again. The space around the purple orb was filled with heavenly energy, twisting the Dark Reisu, and Lucy leaped back to watch her attack explode before her eyes. Not only did Darkness Magic have its tricks, but Heavenly Body Magic also had added effects of its own.


Meanwhile, outside the museum...

Sting and Rogue had recovered enough of their energy to where they could walk and use magic, so Kira decided to take them to the museum. Seeing the Astral Sculpture would not be possible right now, however, and the trio would probably have to go check out the other exhibits. Sting actually thought about seeing some of the giant fish, as that would help him remember the names of the fish that looked appetizing enough to eat. Despite wanting to check out some exhibits, Sting's nose had alerted him to the fact that something was happening in the museum.

Sting could also sense that some people were using magical power, guessing that Lucy ended up fighting against someone who was attempting to steal art, and the light dragon slayer felt like it would be good to help Lucy with that fight. He also didn't want to be left out of a great fight, since he would enjoy beating up some enemies with his Holy Nova attack, but Sting still stood outside of the museum with Rogue and Kira. They both gave him looks of uncertainty, letting him know that they couldn't just rush into a fight, and Kira proceeded to turn her attention to Rogue.

"Rogue, we should be pretty careful. After all, you never know if Lucy's enemy could have allies hiding in the other areas of the museum." Kira stated calmly to him, as she looked at the museum's entrance doors.

The man with red eyes responded kindly, also thinking about the situation, "There may also be innocent people who are inside the museum, so we should definitely think about rescuing them first."

Sting told his friends in a confident manner while he began walking up the stairs, "Well, let's go give some merciless beatings to some art thieves!"

As Sting's walking speed quickly changed to where he began running, Kira simply ran up after him while Rogue ran by her side. The merchant who wielded Fire Magic was not only happy that she'd get to see the different exhibits with Rogue, but Kira also thought about how the museum's workers would be thanking the mages from Sabertooth for keeping their great works of art from being stolen. Getting some nice recognition before the Grand Magic Games would help Sabertooth not really be viewed as the biggest losers from last year's tournament, and it would certainly strengthen everyone's bonds.

Kira felt like it would be great for herself and Rogue to start by checking the art gallery for anything that looked suspicious, as thieves would probably deface paintings that they perceived to be stupid, and Kira also wanted to look at some nice artwork with Rogue. He was actually a fan of classical and modern art, liking how paint and different materials could be used to create art that was incredibly beautiful, and Kira would certainly love to hear his opinions on paintings or statues. After all, Rogue was quite a smart guy who could explain in detail about what made him love certain pieces of art.

Kira continued to run up the steps, going as fast as she could, but the fact that her left foot roughly touched the next step instead of going on to it was enough to shockingly stop her movement. Kira's right foot was on the second-last step, making her almost be at the top with Sting, but the girl with hazel eyes screamed for a moment as she was about to fall backwards. Falling down a flight of stairs could really make someone be seriously injured, and Kira definitely did not want to feel the pain of rolling down the stairs. She closed her eyes, hoping that her head wouldn't hit the stairs very hard, but let's just say that this fall would make something else rise.

The quirky girl soon felt Rogue put his arms around her waist, keeping her from falling, and the shadow dragon slayer also let Kira's left foot go up to the second-last step. He smiled while helping Kira fully regain her balance, and Rogue soon removed his arms from around Kira's waist. The merchant's cheeks blushed light pink from how Rogue held her tightly, being so caring, and Kira also liked how Rogue was quite fast with getting to her. He may have been on the other side of that step, but Rogue knew to move fast with keeping any of his teammates from getting hurt.

"Rogue, thank you for not letting me fall." Kira kindly told the black-haired male as she nicely smiled at him, her cheeks still being pink.

He replied in a calm tone, before chuckling, "You're welcome, Kira. Don't be so hasty with wanting to see some nice exhibits. The butterflies won't leave their trees."

Kira told him in a playful tone while looking into his eyes, "If some of them fly on to me, I hope you wouldn't let your hands have too much fun."

Rogue's cheeks actually became pink from Kira's comment, as she was clearly referencing the day where Rogue touched her chest when he attempted to grab a yellow butterfly, and he had began to wonder what he'd do if a cute butterfly did decide to gently rest on Kira. His eyes glanced at the brown khaki shorts that she was wearing, seeing her hips nicely sway back and forth as she walked up to the final step, and Rogue hoped that one of those butterflies would not decide to take a nice rest on her rear. After all, that would certainly make Rogue blush.

He wouldn't exactly slap the butterfly off of Kira, as that would probably make her hit him in the face with a slap that was infused with Fire Magic, and Rogue would probably just let the butterflies flutter through the air. Seeing Kira feel happy about the fish exhibits would probably make Rogue also feel happy, and the chemistry in their friendship could possibly be just as large as the amount of water in some of the huge fish tanks. Rogue wouldn't be so quick to rush their chemistry, however, and the shadow dragon slayer decided to just let things happen naturally.

Kira nearly falling was something natural that would happen to anyone, and she really liked it when Rogue caught her. That was certainly a nice little way to boost their chemistry, and Kira smiled as she felt like the favor would definitely have to be returned. After all, Rogue did deserve a nice little reward for preventing Kira from getting badly injured. Kira began to think about how she could thank Rogue, but her mind shifted to the museum when her hazel eyes caught sight of its entrance doors. Innocent people were probably in the museum, and they'd need to be evacuated out of the building.

Rogue was also going to help Kira with rescuing any civilians who were inside, as it was always bad for townspeople to get caught in a fight between wizards, and the male with black hair narrowed his eyes as he hoped that Lucy was okay. Rogue could strongly detect her scent while his enhanced hearing allowed him to hear that Lucy was in the museum with some other people, and he watched Sting hastily push open the entrance doors. Kira and Rogue were quick with getting inside and heading down the hallway to presumably reach the main art gallery, and Sting was going to try joining Lucy's fight.


Back in the basement...

Lucy decided to activate her second spell that was known as Solemn Flame, and this spell caused a large purple flame to appear in front of the Celestial Spirit Wizard. She decided to touch it, causing the large flame to split into many smaller flames, and Lucy ordered them all to go straight towards Chisato. Lucy watched her flames move through the air at high speeds, preparing to bombard Chisato with their power, but Lucy's opponent was quick enough to dodge those flames by using her Heavenly Body Magic to slightly levitate in midair.

The purple explosions from the flames striking the ground were powerful enough for Chisato to actually be propelled high into the air, and that was perfect for her counterattack. Chisato unleashed a spell that looked somewhat similar to Jellal's Grand Chariot, but she only fired seven projectiles from her hands. They were pink while appearing to resemble meteorites, and Chisato closed her eyes for a moment while slowly moving her hands in a psychic manner. She was controlling the paths of the meteors, and it wouldn't be easy for Lucy to evade them.

Lucy watched the meteors fly straight towards her, before they all curved off into different directions, and her brown eyes attempted to keep track on each projectile. Chisato began to move her hands faster, causing her meteorites to get great boosts of speed, and Lucy was surprised to see one of the attacks strike her from behind! It made a pink blast of heavenly energy occur, before being followed by the other six projectiles that came down on Lucy, and Chisato smirked evilly from hearing her scream in agonizing pain. Not only were those attacks very powerful, but their secondary effect made a pink aura surround Chisato to charge up her energy.

Minami watched the pink clouds of smoke clear up to reveal that Lucy's skin was charred from those blasts while she was on her knees, and the pink-haired guitarist was quite surprised to see that Chisato's spells were similar to her own attacks. Minami looked quite concerned for Lucy while seeing her get up, but Lucy's eyes were filled with determination while she was not intending to lose this fight. Lucy panted heavily as she was pretty bruised up from that attack, but the sight of her purple flames still being on the field had given her some hope for winning.

"Do you really think you'll win? Aren't you going to just die soon, you loser?" Chisato asked Lucy in a snobby tone, before rudely laughing.

Lucy replied with a confident smile on her face, as she walked over to some flames and picked them up with her right hand, "I'm just getting started, and you'll be the one who loses."

Everyone was surprised to see Lucy eat the flames that were in her hand, consuming that Darkness Magic, and a purple aura began to engulf her body. Lucy gasped at the sight of this, and she simply hoped that it would help with her third spell. This new spell was called Crescent's Night, and it simply made a purple blade shaped like a crescent moon appear in Lucy's right hand. She wasted no time with throwing the blade up at Chisato, watching it begin to spin at incredibly rapid speeds, but something happened before Chisato could even react.

Three of the purple flames on the ground sprang up into the air, getting caught in the spinning air current of the blade, and the flames began to spin rapidly as well. The flames soon flung themselves towards Chisato, creating three violet explosions that were quite powerful, and the antagonist let out a pained scream as she harshly fell to the ground. Chisato was about to stand up, only to find that gravity was massively forcing itself down on her, and that was the secondary effect of Crescent's Night when it was used creatively. Not only could it attract the dark flames of a previous spell, but this spell could take the power of those flames and turn it into gravity that would force opponents to no longer be in the air.

Minami was quite surprised to see Lucy hit Chisato with that much fierceness, not thinking that someone could use their spells in ways that were incredibly unorthodox, and she merely folded her arms while proceeding to smile. Crescent's Night by itself was supposed to just slice through iron or large spells, if the latter was possible, but adding flames into the mix was Lucy's way of painting her nice comeback on the canvas that was the battlefield. She was getting ready to unleash her fourth spell, but Lucy would be merciful enough to see if Chisato could stand up again.

The antagonist clenched her fists tightly while growling in anger, saying that there was no way that a great thief such as herself would be stopped by a low-class mage from Sabertooth, and Chisato activated her next spell. It was named Heavenly Sirius, and this spell caused Chisato's eyes to become cherry pink as she began to smirk. Some pink auras began to appear in midair, simply floating in a slow manner as they took the shape of stars, and Chisato could control them with her psychic powers. There were seven stars in the air, looking rather simplistic, but Chisato sent her charged-up power into this move. What would its effects be?

"That's not going to stop us at all, and we'll-" Lucy stated in a stern tone as she ran towards Chisato, only to see one of the stars create a pink explosion.

Chisato replied in a condescending manner as she looked smug, her psychic energy creating another star, "You said that my attack wouldn't stop you, but there's no way you'll ever be able to touch me. This attack is quite a powerful barrier, and you should think about surrendering. After all, this is just my third spell. I could do worse to you, if you wish to continue."

Yukata told the protagonists in a calm tone as she giggled, pulling out a black dagger from the left pocket of her green skirt, "Let's heighten the stakes, girls. If you don't surrender, then we'll kill Kiriko. You want your precious sculpture, but the artist will be dead."

Upon seeing Yukata turn this into a hostage situation, Lucy could only narrow her brown eyes as she slightly stepped back. Yukata put Kiriko in a strong headlock that was quite painful, having the blade of the dagger a mere inch away from the skin of Kiriko's neck, and even using one spell to destroy all the stars would result in Kiriko losing her life. Lucy sighed as she looked down at the ground, wondering how she could beat Chisato and not make this situation end in tragedy, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard also wanted that Rainbow Crystal.

Minami turned to face Lucy while telling her that this was a really bad situation, as she would not be able to retrieve the sculpture, and she also began to face the ground while saying that they could just take the artwork. It seemed really meaningless in Minami's eyes, being art that she didn't even really care about, and the pink-haired guitarist felt like she would never be able to earn Kiriko's respect at any point in time. Surrendering may have been a very cowardly thing to do, but Minami didn't want Kiriko to die. As she was about to give a declaration of defeat, however, the fierce glare on Kiriko's face prevented her from speaking.


The orange-haired artist felt utterly appalled at the thought of Minami surrendering artwork to thieves, openly calling her a stupid fool, and Kiriko clenched her fists tightly as she glared at Minami. After all of the hours and passion that went into making the sculpture, Minami was really going to just let thieves take it because they had a hostage? In Kiriko's eyes, that was a very nonsensical thing to do. The artwork was incredibly precious to her, being more than just a sculpture, and something that was so precious did not deserve to be taken away by criminals.

Kiriko continued to glare at Minami, who was simply astounded by how she still wanted that artwork to be protected, and the guitarist felt like it was not worth losing Kiriko's life. There was no way that she could let Kiriko die for the sake of a sculpture, and Minami frustratingly stated that a sculpture could just be remade. That only prompted the woman with orange hair to glare at her with more intensity, feeling like Minami still did not understand how art needed to be appreciated just as much as music, and she decided to give her and Lucy a stern speech.

"Minami, you punk! Never say something so stupid ever again, and don't worry about my life at all! If these criminals get away with the sculpture, it will be sold for tons of gold in the black market and no one will ever be inspired by its beauty! Art makes people feel all kinds of emotions, and it's valuable!" Kiriko exclaimed angrily to Minami, as she startled Yukata by moving the dagger closer to her neck.

The female rocker replied in a worried tone, "I can't choose between the Astral Statue and you, though!"

"I gave you the job of protecting that statue, punk! Guarding artwork is a kid's job in your eyes, so you don't you dare try to make me think you're an idiot who can't do a kid's job! As for you, Lucy, you're a wizard! Don't worry about a barrier spell, since your confidence in this fight has made me assume that you've seen spells that were much tougher to deal with!" Kiriko sternly told the girls, not wanting them to give up.

Lucy sighed while thinking that there was no way for her to strike Chisato, but then she widened her eyes in amazement at that. There was no way for her to hit Chisato right now, but wouldn't she still be capable of striking everything else? Lucy kept looking down at the ground, mainly focusing on how Chisato would be using her telekinetic abilities to control the stars, and the powerful thief didn't seem like she could fire off multiple spells at one time. If that really was the case, then Lucy could take her time with tearing down that barrier in a creative way.

She activated her fourth spell of Darkness Magic, and it was simply known as Ruinous Hex. This move oddly caused a group of ten purple hands to rise up from the ground, passing through it while they appeared to be ghostly, and the hands all looked feminine while their long nails were purple. One of the hands quickly moved toward Chisato's barrier, before being struck by one of the stars, but the pink explosion that occurred was soon followed by the strange sound of something sizzling on the ground. What in the world had happened?

The clouds of smoke faded away to reveal that the explosion's crater was now filled with a purple substance that bubbled, and Chisato gasped in horror at the sight of another ghostly hand rising from the purple substance. That hand aggressively grabbed one of the stars, before pulling it down into the violet pool of what seemed to be acid, and an explosion could faintly be heard. This Darkness Magic was actually quite scary with its hexes, as this spell would make any obstacles or foes experience hell down in the darkness, and everyone was quite surprised to hear the sound of a woman's evil laughter echoing up from the crater of acid.

Dark magic was not exactly as innocent as Lucy's previous types of magic, as this type of magic was known for being used in bad ways by evil wizards, but Lucy was going to make this somewhat evil attack be used for a good purpose. After all, Chisato and her friend threatened to kill Kiriko. They were just as evil as this spell, and Chisato began to lose her focus from seeing another hand move away from the group to harshly slap a pink star. As another explosion occurred, Chisato looked quite frustrated while knowing that she'd also have to use her fourth spell. She actually liked using it, as that spell of Heavenly Body Magic was one of her favorites, but Chisato felt like she needed to send Lucy to heaven. She also didn't even care that Minami was now starting to smirk like she was ready to fight, and the guitarist was certainly ready to rock in this battle that was about to get even more awesome.


How was Chapter 28? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! :)