Ninja Tail
Time to continue my little rendition of the Fighting Festival Arc…as you can probably guess by the chapter title, our protagonists are up against Freed this time. And yes, I like to make puns. Granted, you probably won't consider them all to be good…but I like making puns nonetheless.
Let's see how Lucy and Shikamaru are going to do against Freed…
Chapter 54: Glorious Freedom
Realizing that she no longer had an opponent, Juvia decided to help her teammates defeat Laxus.
Suddenly, a gas began to seep into the room that she was in.
"It smells funny in here…" said Juvia.
As it turned out, it was a knockout gas.
Quickly, Juvia fell asleep.
"Heh heh heh…" said Naraku (who was wearing a gas mask, of course), satisfied at his victory. At this rate there would be nobody left to stop Laxus from taking over Fairy Tail.
Personally he wondered if he should try setting up a crazy tournament himself. It didn't seem like a bad idea to be honest.
Then again, where was he going to get a ninja that could turn people to stone?
Meanwhile…
Lucy and Shikamaru searched for Laxus, hoping that they would finally find him.
"Laxus, where are you?" asked Lucy, putting her open hands between her lips.
"Come on out wherever you are so that you can face vigilante justice!" bellowed Shikamaru, doing the exact same thing that Lucy was doing.
However, at that very moment, they heard a door being locked behind them.
"Huh?" asked Lucy.
As it turned out, it was none other than Freed.
Immediately, he cast a rune spell on the door to ensure that Lucy and Shikamaru could not escape.
"Looks like he's got us right where he wants us…" acknowledged Shikamaru.
"Right you are. It's nothing personal…Laxus just wants you out of the way so that you won't interfere with his scheme…" answered Freed.
"That makes us feel better…I guess." stated Lucy.
"Let's get this over with, shall we? I want this battle to end as quickly as possible…" said the rune mage.
"I think we're on the same wavelength." agreed Shikamaru. They had to find Laxus before he did anything that was crazier than what he had already done…which admittedly would be tough to do.
Immediately, Freed started off with a rather painful rune spell on Shikamaru.
"Ow! Ow! Ow!" screamed Shikamaru.
"Shikamaru!" bellowed Lucy.
"Make it stop already! It hurts!" screeched the teenage ninja.
"Well, I think I might have gotten one of the-"
Freed's train of thought was cut off when suddenly he found himself being whipped by Lucy.
"Let's see how you like being tortured!" bellowed Lucy.
"Ow! Quit it!" demanded Freed.
This freed (again with the puns) Shikamaru of his pain and suffering…well, that and he decided to take an Advil.
"Thank goodness that's over with…" answered the teenage boy.
However, Freed had more than one rune to fight the duo with.
"Oh my god! I broke a nail!" exclaimed Lucy.
Immediately, she began to run around the room screaming.
This time, Freed had used a fear rune.
"Way to make a girl stereotypical…" thought Shikamaru. Personally he thought that Lucy was braver than that.
But maybe he had thought wrong.
"Why are women afraid of everything?" pondered the shadow ninja.
Suddenly, he noticed a spider.
"Aah! Spider!" screamed Shikamaru, leaping into Lucy's arms.
"Wait, what?" asked Lucy, suddenly snapping out of her induced fear.
Freed shrugged. Personally he wondered how that spider had gotten in the room with them considering that he had sealed the door with his rune magic.
But he could solve that mystery later. For now, he had a job to do. Granted, it was a rather dirty job…but he didn't want to let Laxus down.
He was counting on him…especially since Evergreen and Bickslow had already been defeated. If he went down, there would nobody left to defend Laxus…except for maybe Naraku.
Now that he thought of it…why did he get a ninja to help him when Laxus openly displayed his contempt for allowing ninja into Fairy Tail?
It was rather…ironic.
Now that he thought of it, Laxus himself was reminding him of a ninja for some strange reason. He wasn't quite sure why.
Perhaps he should talk to Laxus about that later.
For now, he needed to finish the fight…even if it ended with blood on his hands. Granted, he was likely going to save that for a last resort, but still!
"What runes should I use next?" asked Freed.
Perhaps he should try doing something that will help him get out of Lucy's range…specifically her whip.
Fortunately, he had an idea.
Activating his runes, he began to fly into the air.
Of course, now he had to worry about them throwing things at him…but it would at least make the fight a bit easier.
Sure enough, Lucy was now having a hard time hitting him with her whip. Perhaps she should leaping? That was what ninjas were good at.
On the other hand, she hadn't been a ninja for nearly as long as Shikamaru was…so she probably couldn't jump as high as he could.
Still, it was worth a shot.
Immediately, Lucy leaped into the air…
…but tripped and fell on her face.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Lucy.
"Whoops!" bellowed Shikamaru.
Shrugging, he decided to try tossing paper bombs at Freed. He had no idea what they were, but he got the feeling that they were dangerous.
So, he decided to avoid them as best as he could…though one of them grazed his shoulder.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Freed.
Fortunately for him, it was only a first-degree burn. However, he got the feeling that he might not be so lucky next time.
Suddenly, he found his shadow being grabbed.
"Let go of me!" demanded Freed.
"I assume you want to live up to your name right about now?" asked Lucy.
"Very funny." answered the rune mage.
Just how was he going to get out of this? He couldn't simply separate himself from his shadow so that he could break free from the technique…
…and speaking of the technique, it looked like that there were hands heading straight towards him.
He got the feeling that if they reached his neck, he was going to be throttled…and he did not want that.
He needed to break free…and fast.
Meanwhile…
"Who are we up against now?" asked Droy.
"I'm not sure…" answered Cana.
Curious, she looked around, and noticed it was Sakura and Gajeel.
"Oh…I guess we're up against these two…" said the alcoholic.
She found this to be rather surprising. Up until now, it had been one on one…but now it was two on two.
Apparently, Laxus thought that he wanted to try something different. Speaking of which, she hoped that they could find him soon. Granted, she didn't think that it would be long before the Fairy Tail guild was able to confront them…but she wanted their guild back already. This was Fairy Tail, not Laxus Tail.
First Phantom Lord, and now this.
Well, she might as well start fighting, since Gajeel and Sakura did not appear to be attacking yet.
Immediately, she began to toss cards at them, which the duo of them dodged.
"This reminds me of our battle with Sho…." said Sakura.
"I know…" answered Gajeel. Was Sho secretly Cana's long-lost half-brother or something? That would make, he supposed.
Unfortunately for the duo, this was then followed by Droy inflating himself like a wrecking ball and coming straight towards Sakura and Gajeel.
"Oh boy…" murmured Sakura.
Immediately, they scrambled out of the way so that they didn't end up being flattened. It was rather unfortunate that Droy was Cana's interdimensional partner…to say the very least.
Once again, Gajeel and Sakura were forced to play defensive. Personally Gajeel was already starting to get sick of it.
Surely there had to be a way to fight back against the duo, but how?
Fortunately, Sakura had an idea.
Immediately, she began to set sharp icicles across the arena.
Droy ran into them…and he ended up being deflated.
"Uh-oh…" said Droy.
This gave the opportunity for Sakura to punch Droy in the face and send him flying.
"Uh-oh…" thought Cana. It looked like Sakura and Gajeel might be thwarting the tables.
Fortunately, she had a technique to counter that
Suddenly, she pulled out a bottle of beer and shoved it in Gajeel's mouth. Magical beer.
Shortly afterward, Gajeel began to act strangely.
"Are you feeling OK, Gajeel?" inquired Sakura.
Out of the blue, Gajeel jumped on top of Sakura.
"Be my boyfriend, you shiny monkey!" screamed Gajeel.
"Wha-what?" asked Sakura.
Curious, she wondered what was going on.
Suddenly, she remembered the bottle that Cana had given him.
"Oh great…Cana made Gajeel drunk…" said Sakura.
This was not going to do her any favors. Gajeel probably didn't even realize that he was fighting anymore…though he was probably going to get into a barfight later. Was he even the legal drinking age? She heard that Cana had started drinking long before the legal age limit.
Maybe she should be arrested.
Unfortunately, while Gajeel was pinning Sakura to the ground, Cana was getting ready to attack once again.
"What should I choose?" inquired Cana.
Immediately, she began to examine her deck to see what she could find.
She found a joker card.
"Let's see what this does…" stated the teenage girl.
Immediately, Cana played the joker card, and a clown appeared.
"A clown? Alright! I love the circus!" exclaimed Cana.
Immediately, the clown gave them some cotton candy.
"Delicious!" bellowed Droy. It was nice to get a snack while they were in the middle of a fight.
However, Cana was wondering if the clown was able to put up a fight.
"You wouldn't have to have fighting prowess, do you? We're in the middle of a battle…granted, so far we seem to be winning…but we would appreciate the help." stated Cana
The clown nodded, and he pulled out a rather large clown ball.
"Look at the size of that thing!" exclaimed Droy.
Immediately, the clown began to bounce around towards Sakura and Gajeel, hoping to flatten them much like Droy had done earlier.
Sakura noticed what was happening, and immediately pushed Gajeel out of the way.
"Look out!" bellowed Sakura.
"Huh?" asked Gajeel.
Fortunately, Sakura managed to avoid being crushed. However, the clown was still bouncing.
"How am I going to stop him?" asked Sakura.
Immediately, she came up with a plan.
Suddenly, she remembered how she managed to stop Droy from charging at her.
"Oh yeah, that's right." answered Sakura.
Tossing a few icicles, Sakura managed to deflate the clown's ball. Now he was fighting them on foot.
"Darn it! You ruined my ball!" exclaimed the clown.
"Enough clowning around." said Sakura.
"Fine!" bellowed the joker.
Immediately, he pulled out an acid squirting flower and squirted Sakura in the face.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Sakura.
He then followed by tossing a cream pie in Gajeel's face…which was fresh from the oven.
"Ow!" screeched Gajeel.
Fortunately, this snapped him out of his drunken stupor.
"What's going on? Why is there a clown attacking us?" asked the iron dragonslayer.
"Cana summoned him so that she didn't have to do the job herself…" answered Sakura.
"Alright then…" stated Gajeel.
With one punch, Gajeel punched the clown away…right out of an open window.
"It looks like his circus act was over!" exclaimed the iron dragonslayer.
Curious, Cana began to examine her deck to see if there was anything else she had.
"Hmm…" thought the card mage. There had to be something else that she could try.
Fortunately, she managed to find another card.
"Here we are!" exclaimed Cana.
As it turned out, she had a credit card.
"Now I can go shopping!" bellowed the card mage.
"Aren't we in the middle of a fight?" asked Droy.
"Oh, that's right…now I remember." stated Cana.
Immediately, she used the magical credit card to buy weapons online.
Sure enough, several grenades appeared in her hand.
"Let's get dangerous!" bellowed the alcohol lover.
Quickly, she began to toss grenades at Sakura and Gajeel, whose eyes began to widen.
"Look out!" exclaimed Sakura.
Immediately, Sakura and Gajeel leapt out of the way to avoid being hit by the grenades.
"This is too easy…" said Cana.
Once again, she tossed a grenade…
…or rather, she tossed the pin.
"D'oh." spoke the card mage.
Immediately, the grenade exploded in her face, making it black.
"Darn it! Now I need a first aid kit!" exclaimed Cana.
Using her credit card, she managed to heal herself.
Back where Lucy and Shikamaru are…
Freed was still thinking of a way out of his nasty situation…at this rate he was going to end up like Bart Simpson whenever his father got angry with him.
Suddenly, he remembered rather important.
"Oh, that's right…I can teleport…" remembered Freed.
Immediately, he used his magic to transform himself into runes.
"What the-" exclaimed Shikamaru.
Naturally, this allowed him to break free of the spell. He had successfully lived up to its name.
Somehow, Shikamaru got the feeling that the battle wasn't going to end this quickly.
In retaliation, Freed pulled out his sword.
"You have a sword?" asked Lucy.
"As a matter of fact, I do." answered Freed.
Quickly, Freed began to charge towards the duo.
Shikamaru and Lucy both did their best to stay out of range. Shikamaru tried grabbing his shadow again, but since Freed knew how to free himself, this did not hold him for long.
"If only if he couldn't teleport…" thought Shikamaru. At this rate they were going to end up being sliced to ribbons.
Personally he wondered if he should get a sword himself. On the other hand, he wasn't sure how he was going to wield it. He hadn't any swordplay lessons.
Fortunately, Lucy managed to knock the sword out of his hand using her Rasengan.
"Yes!" cheered Lucy.
Suddenly, Freed teleported next to her.
"Huh?" asked Lucy.
He then inscribed yet another rune on her head.
All of a sudden, she began to dance uncontrollably.
"Is this a danceoff?" asked Shikamaru.
"I can't stop dancing!" bellowed Lucy.
Fortunately, Lucy managed to summon some clones to help her avoid being caught by Freed and his blade.
However, they were all dancing as well. Specifically, they were doing the conga line.
"I would want to join in if I weren't in the middle of a fight…" acknowledged Shikamaru.
Lucy wondered how she was going to get out of this mess this time.
Shrugging, she decided to try doing the tango with Shikamaru since she was her boyfriend.
Immediately, the two of them began to tango.
"What are you doing?" asked Freed.
This gave Shikamaru an idea.
Immediately, he spun Lucy around like a top, and then tossed her at Freed.
She crashed into him, causing him to lose his concentration and for the rune forcing Lucy to dance to disappear.
"Yes!" cheered Lucy.
"Not bad. I can see why Laxus was worried about you…but don't assume that this is over yet." warned Freed.
"Of course not." nodded the female member of Fairy Tail.
Once again, Freed attempted to swing his sword at them.
However, Shikamaru and Lucy were proving to be too quick for them.
Immediately, Lucy summoned a hippopotamus, which proceeded to attack him.
He tried to run away…but he discovered that hippos were faster than humans.
"Who would have thought it?" asked Freed.
Fortunately for him, he was able to stab the hippo with his sword, causing it to explode into smoke.
However, he found himself being whipped again once more.
"Would you cut that out already?" asked Freed.
"It's what I do best. You don't tell Cana not to drink booze or Levy not to read books…" stated Lucy.
"True…" acknowledged Freed. Still, he was getting really sick of that
Suddenly, Shikamaru tossed some kunai at his head, causing him to gasp.
He then followed by writing the word "Fire", which ruined his beautiful hairstyle.
"Aargh!" exclaimed Freed. Well, he needed to visit the barber anyway.
"Are we winning?" asked Lucy.
"It looks that way." answered Shikamaru. Still, nothing was for certain…Freed just might a few more tricks up his sleeve.
"Perhaps it's time for me to put on some armor…" said Freed.
Suddenly, Freed was covered in darkness.
"Now then…" said the rune user.
Immediately, Freed summoned an electric orb and launched it at Lucy and Shikamaru.
This ended up frying Lucy and Shikamaru's hair.
"Now it's personal!" exclaimed Lucy.
"Really? I do not have anything personal against you…I just don't want to defy Laxus's wishes…" stated Freed.
"Maybe you should listen to someone else…" suggested Shikamaru.
Once again, Freed tossed an electric orb.
However, this time, Lucy tossed a Rasengan to counteract it.
Immediately, the two of them began to cancel each other out.
"Maybe I need to make a bigger Rasengan…" thought Lucy.
Curious, she summoned more clones to see what they could do.
As it turned out, they were able to make quite a big Rasengan indeed.
"Look at the thing! It's huge!" exclaimed Lucy.
"Are you talking about me and my-"
"No, I am not talking about that." answered the embarrassed teenage girl.
This time, the electric orb was no match for the Big Ball Rasengan, and it hit Freed dead-on.
"Aah!" screamed Freed as he collapsed on his feet. In the process, his shadow armor wore off. Personally Shikamaru wondered if he should try getting armor like that.
However, he was able to get back up, though he was clearly injured.
"He's a real fighter, isn't he?" asked Lucy.
"I would imagine so since he's part of Laxus's Thunder God Tribe…" acknowledged Shikamaru.
"I didn't want to use this...but I have no choice." said Freed.
"What are you talking about?" inquired the shadow ninja.
As it turned out, Freed was starting to transform.
"What the-" said the kunoichi.
Much to their shock, Freed had transformed into a demon, much like Mirajane could.
From the looks of it, Freed was much stronger than before.
Lucy tried tossing a Rasengan at him, but Freed quickly deflected it.
"I've only used this once before, and that was during a fight with Laxus…I suppose I should applaud you for pushing me this far… " admitted Freed.
"Maybe we should applaud you for putting on such a show…" stated Shikamaru.
"Let's finish this, shall we? Laxus is counting on me…" stated the demonized member of the Thunder God Tribe.
"I suppose all good things have to come to an end…" admitted Lucy.
Unfortunately, it appeared that the transformation had made him much more powerful. Freed could break free from Shikamaru's shadow techniques (surprisingly enough), and he could deflect Lucy's Rasengan with a flick of his hand.
"We are up a creek without a paddle…" acknowledged the shadow ninja.
"Maybe I could try using the nine-tailed fox's power?" suggested Lucy.
"Do it! I don't want to lose against another demon! It's poetic justice! And I hate that!" bellowed Kurama.
"I suppose that would be an embarrassment." acknowledged Lucy.
Immediately, Lucy began to draw power from the nine-tailed fox, causing an orange shroud to appear. You knew chakra was powerful when it was visible.
"So, you have the power to transform as well, don't you? I have to say this is rather interesting…" acknowledged the demon.
Personally, Lucy wondered if it would be enough to take Freed on. Granted, she felt a lot stronger in this state…but she wasn't quite sure if it could the job.
Perhaps she would need to unlock yet another tail…
…but how would she do that?
Meanwhile…
"Here we are! Let's try my Thunderbolt card!" exclaimed Cana.
"Aargh!" bellowed Gajeel. Unfortunately, since he was covered in metal, he attracted electricity pretty well.
Perhaps he should have tried becoming a different kind of dragonslayer. Then again, considering his upbringing, maybe it wasn't his fault.
Fortunately, Sakura was able to heal Gajeel.
However, Cana had a card that she could use against Sakura too.
"A Fireball card? That ought to be useful…" said Cana.
Unfortunately, the fireballs were able to melt Sakura's ice sculptures, much to her chagrin.
In retaliation, she began to summon slugs to attack Cana.
"Gross!" exclaimed the teenage girl.
One of the slugs swallowed Cana whole. Hopefully for Sakura, this would make her fall unconscious so that she could spit her out shortly afterwards, thus leaving them alone with Droy.
However, Droy was not happy that Sakura was trying to have her slugs eat Cana.
"Hey! I'm the one who does the eating!" exclaimed Droy.
Immediately, he began to try to pull Cana out of the slug's stomach…
…and he succeeded.
"Darn it…" murmured Sakura.
Though Cana was covered in slug spit, she was otherwise unharmed.
"Ugh…" murmured Cana.
However, they still had a bunch of hungry slugs to deal with.
But Droy had just the thing to deal with that.
Suddenly, he pulled out a salt shaker, causing the slugs to scream in horror.
The slugs then disappeared, leaving Sakura and Gajeel alone.
"Why did you have a salt shaker again?" asked Sakura.
"I find it to be a good idea to salt my food before I eat it…I in particular like salty potato chips…" explained Droy.
Sakura shrugged.
Once again, Droy used his abilities to his advantage, stretching out his arms and grabbing onto Sakura and Gajeel.
"Hey!" bellowed Sakura.
"Let us go!" exclaimed Gajeel.
It looked like he had them right where he wanted them.
However, Sakura and Gajeel realized that there was one thing left they could try…the Unison Raid that they had used back at the Tower Of Heaven.
"You want to try using our unison raid again?" asked Sakura.
"I suppose we could do that…I'd hate to say it, but we're running out of options…" acknowledged Gajeel.
Who would have thought that Cana and Droy were so strong? On the plus side, they did not seem to have a unison raid of their own…though admittedly the two of them seemed to be rather strong.
At this rate they were going to try to do a unison raid together and use it to attack their enemies. Undoubtedly, it would be a rather effective technique…though Sakura and Gajeel wondered what it would be like. Most likely, it would involve cards and plants somehow judging from Cana and Droy's field of magic.
Or maybe it would involve them becoming sumo wrestlers…since, you know, Droy was Choji's interdimensional portal. Personally they got the feeling that Cana wasn't interested in being morbidly obese however, so she probably wouldn't enjoy using that technique.
Well, here went nothing.
Sakura and Gajeel pressed their hands together, and once again they were inside a suit of armor with an icy sword.
"Have you used this technique before?" asked Cana.
"As a matter of fact we have." nodded Sakura.
Sakura and Gajeel slashed them with the icy sword, and Cana and Droy were frozen solid.
"Have we won?" asked Sakura.
Curious, they began to hear Laxus's voice counting down. Apparently, if Cana and Droy did not thaw themselves…then they've managed to win.
Sure enough, Cana and Droy couldn't free themselves from the ice. Immediately, Sakura and Gajeel were released from the thunder barrier.
However, they couldn't think of a way to free Cana and Droy from their icy prison. The ice looked rather…thick. Something told her that not even sticking them in an oven would thaw them out. Just how strong had they become, anyway?
"What should we do?" asked Sakura.
"Well, I don't think they're going to get hypothermia…maybe we can send them to archaeologists?" inquired Gajeel.
"Very funny, Gajeel." answered the teenage girl.
Suddenly, Sakura began to strip down, causing Gajeel to drool.
Immediately, Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you droolin-wait a minute…" said Sakura.
Sakura slapped Gajeel in the face as she put her clothes back on.
In retaliation, Gajeel slapped her back…starting a slapfight between them.
Unfortunately, since they were distracted, they did not notice Naraku sneaking behind them. Apparently, he was looking for the interdimensional portal so that he could head back to Konoha and take over the Hyuga clan from there.
However, since they were distracted, why not try a sneak attack?
Sure enough, he managed to hit down them both with the Gentle Fist technique.
"Not again!" screamed Gajeel. This was just like when he had faced Hinata for the custody of Naruto.
"How I wish that I could train my soul to resist that technique…" stated Sakura. Unfortunately, she could not.
They were both knocked out cold, and their role in the conflict had ended. It was sad but true.
Smirking with satisfaction, Naraku used his Byakugan to search for an interdimensional portal.
As it turned out, it was in Laxus's secret lair…the Kardia Cathedral. Why he would hide out in such a place when he was not a particular religious person he had no idea.
"So that's where it is…" stated Naraku. Personally he wondered why Laxus had not told him about his evil lair before.
Perhaps he could talk about that with him before he left to go see Hanabi Hyuga. Maybe he could bribe him to hand over ownership of the clan with a lollipop? Something told him that she had a sweet tooth.
On the other hand, from what he knew about her, she wasn't like most preteen girls. It was kind of crazy.
Off to the Kardia Cathedral he went. He couldn't wait to finally wait to overthrow Hiashi Hyuga once and for all.
On the way there, he encountered the unconscious Naruto…and decided to kick him a few times.
"Heh heh heh…" said Naraku.
Well, it was time for him to stop playing around He needed to meet with Laxus pronto. Personally, he wanted to know how his Thunder God Tribe was doing. Something told him that they weren't doing so hot at the moment…
Elsewhere…
For a moment, it seemed Lucy in her initial jinchuriki form could hold her own against the demon.
But unfortunately, the demon had a rather nasty trick up his sleeve.
Immediately, he breathed darkness on Lucy.
"Ugh…" murmured Lucy.
This made Lucy feel rather weak.
Apparently, it was time to sprout a tail once again.
Personally, Lucy wondered if she could try sprouting another tail. The more power she could harness from the nine-tailed fox, the better.
Still, she wondered if she would end up losing control of herself if she used too much of the nine-tailed fox's chakra.
Maybe she needed to be careful. Wouldn't want to end up wrecking Fairy Tail…the Sound Four had already done that.
As before, she sprouted a tail and whiskers appeared on her face.
However, Freed countered by making a bomb out of darkness…and detonating it in Lucy's face.
"Yeowch!" exclaimed Lucy.
"It'd be awfully convenient if you could sprout another tail…" answered Shikamaru.
"Yeah…" nodded the teenage girl.
"How does Naruto typically draw power from the nine-tailed fox, anyway?" inquired Lucy.
"Well, it usually happens when something makes him mad…like the time someone insulted his dead parents…" explained Shikamaru.
"Oh dear…" remarked Lucy.
"But how will we do that?" asked the teenage boy.
"You smell like manure!" bellowed Kurama.
"But I just took a shower…" pointed out Lucy.
"I spied on you while you were in the shower?" asked Shikamaru.
Lucy began to blush…though oddly enough she didn't seem particularly angry about it.
Oh that was right…he was her boyfriend.
"I cheated when I played shogi with you?" inquired the teenage boy.
"Why would you need to do that?" asked Lucy.
"I played with your underwear?" asked Shikamaru.
"That's more embarrassing to you than it is for me…" stated the teenage girl.
Shikamaru sighed. He just wasn't good at making Lucy mad.
Fortunately, Kurama knew what to do.
"Your mother is ugly and fat!" exclaimed Kurama.
"My mother is deceased!" screamed Lucy.
Sure enough, this did the trick, and another tail sprouted from Lucy. In addition, she began to sprout fangs.
"Did I just turn into a vampire?" asked Lucy.
"Do you want to suck my blood?" inquired Shikamaru.
"No, I don't." answered Kurama's latest jinchuriki.
"I guess not then…" acknowledged Shikamaru.
Suddenly, Freed picked up Shikamaru, lifting him above his head.
"you had better hurry and use your new found power, Lucy!" warned Shikamaru.
"On it!" exclaimed Lucy. Wouldn't want to have to change her social status to single.
Immediately, she launched a Rasengan at Freed's arm, forcing him to drop Shikamaru
"Urgh!" exclaimed Freed
She then followed by preparing a Big Ball Rasengan.
"This is going to suck…" stated Freed.
This seemed to do the job, as Freed screamed very loudly once he was hit by it.
Shortly afterward, he turned back to normal.
"You beat me…" murmured the rune mage.
"I guess that's the last of the Thunder God Tribe…" stated Shikamaru. Now all that were left were Laxus and Naraku.
"Thank goodness…I need to take a nap…" said Lucy.
Immediately, Lucy fell asleep.
"Good night, Lucy." said Shikamaru. Personally, he thought that he deserved it after his long battle with Freed.
He was starting to feel worried, to be honest with himself. He didn't think that there were many mages left to confront Laxus now.
Would they be able to stop him? Since he was Makarov's grandson, he was probably really powerful. Not to mention all his powerful lightning techniques…
Personally he wondered if he should have brought a lightning rod.
All that he could say is, whoever decided to confront him…they had better watch out.
Now that he thought of it…maybe he should take a nap too.
Immediately, Shikamaru fell asleep next to Lucy.
Let's check on someone else aside from Lucy, Shikamaru, Sakura, and Gajeel now…
"I have to admit, you've proven to be a rather tenacious adversary…" acknowledged Erza, who was now in her hakama outfit, causing her fanboys to squeal.
"I'd have to say the same for yourself." acknowledged Mirajane, who was now in her demon form.
"Unfortunately, I happen to know your weaknesses…" stated Erza.
"What the-" said Mirajane.
Suddenly, Erza splashed holy water on Mirajane.
"Gah!" screamed the demon.
"What can I say? It's called logic…" stated Erza.
All of a sudden, Mirajane wondered if being a demon mage was such a good idea.
Erza then pulled out a crucifix, causing Mirajane to turn back to normal.
Finally, she tossed a bible at her head to knock her out cold.
"Maybe I should try slaying demons…" acknowledged Erza.
Now freed from her containment, Erza decided to see what the other girls were doing.
As it turned out, they were trying to find a way past the Thunder Palace barrier.
Ino accidentally bumped into the barrier, only to get zapped and knocked unconscious for her trouble.
Bisca tried shooting it…only to get shocked and knocked unconscious too.
"I guess the only way to destroy the barrier is to defeat Laxus…" stated Levy.
Off to his evil lair she went.
Fortunately, it was in plain sight.
As it turned out, Naraku was getting ready to head to Konoha along with several members of his group.
"Time for me to make my leave." stated Naraku.
Laxus bid farewell.
Suddenly, Levy showed up.
"What the-" exclaimed Naraku.
She then used her shadow to trap the traitorous Hyuga ninja so that they could not move.
"Gotcha!" exclaimed Levy.
However, she missed Naraku.
"Oh." said the letter mage.
Naraku attempted to hit Levy with his Gentle Fist technique…
…but Levy put him at a distance, attacking him with several man-eating books.
"Ouch!" exclaimed Naraku.
She then followed by writing the word "Fire" so that she could barbecue Naraku, which he narrowly avoided.
Levy then followed by writing the word "Lightning"…but Laxus ended up eating it.
"Not bad…" said Laxus.
"Darn it!" exclaimed Levy.
This time, she wrote the word "Ice", which almost hit Naraku.
"How am I supposed to take her down?" asked Naraku.
"Well, she does happen to be a bookworm…" noted Laxus.
Curious, Naraku remembered the cursed book he had picked up in the Fairy Tail library. Makarov had put it in the dangerous book section so that no unlucky soul would be cursed…but he had decided to check it out for himself to see if he could find weapons.
As it turned out, he had just found one.
"This book is made to order!" exclaimed Naraku.
Immediately, he tossed the book at Levy.
"Huh?" asked Levy.
Curious, she decided to take a look.
As it turned out, the book was called The Best Book in the World by Brooke Worm.
"I must be in heaven…" thought Levy as she began to read the book.
But as it turned out, she was actually in Hell.
Immediately, Levy began to scream as the cursed book began to suck her inside. What was going on?
"But it isn't to be read! When they open up this book, they're sucked inside to the most unpleasant place they've ever seen!" bellowed Naraku.
"An ogre's butt?" inquired Laxus.
"Yes, Laxus. An ogre's butt." stated Naraku sarcastically.
Curious, Levy investigated her surroundings. She appeared to be in some sort of labyrinth.
Suddenly, she noticed a sign.
"What's this?" asked Levy.
As it turned out, the sign read "LITERATURE STRICTLY PROHIBITED".
"Nooooo!" screamed the teenage girl. How was she going to get out of there?
"Now then, where were we? It's time for me to head back to Konoha and get Hanabi Hyuga's signature! I've been waiting for it all day!" exclaimed Naraku.
However, as soon as he walked towards the portal along with his freed ninja henchmen, Neji stepped out of the portal.
"I appear to be in some sort of cathedral…" stated Neji. Oddly enough, he did not recall the Fairy Tail guild having one before. On the other hand, he had only visited the guild once.
"What's this? It appears that we have another branch member! Perhaps he would be interested in joining our cause…" said Naraku.
"You do that…I'll be heading deeper into the cathedral in case any more Fairy Tail mages arrive…then again, there's only a few of them left at this point…" stated Laxus.
Who were left again? Apparently, they were Erza, Hinata and Natsu.
It looked like he was going to have to deal with them himself. Fortunately, he got the feeling that he could take them all at once, though admittedly two of them were both dragonslayers like himself.
Then again, he got the feeling that he was going to have to dirty his hands. His Thunder God Tribe had all lost to their enemies. It was a pity really, he was expecting more from them…except for maybe Evergreen.
At that very moment, Erza arrived on the scene.
"What do we have here?" asked Laxus.
"It's time for you to pay for your crimes, Laxus!" exclaimed Erza. She was very unhappy that he had knocked Naruto out cold by exposing him to his deadly pecs…though admittedly Laxus did appear to be rather hunky.
Shrugging, Laxus decided to accept Erza's challenge. Part of him was looking forward to it, to be honest. Erza was one of the best mages of Fairy Tail, even at an early mage.
It looked like this was going to be quite a climactic battle.
Elsewhere…
"Where is Laxus?" asked Natsu.
Fortunately for Natsu and Hinata, they had successfully defeated their attackers.
Curious, Hinata used her Byakugan to search for him. He had to be around somewhere.
"He appears to be at some sort of cathedral…maybe he wants his foes to say their prayers?" asked Hinata.
"Possibly…" answered Natsu. Curious, he seemed to recall Makarov mentioning it before. Was Laxus using the Kardia Cathedral as his hideout?
Immediately, the duo of them began to head towards the cathedral so that they could stop Laxus. They were not looking forward to Magnolia being fried by his Thunder Palace spell. They had to stop him before it was too late. Time was ticking.
Unfortunately, they appeared to be the only ones left, so they couldn't count on receiving any reinforcements. It felt rather lonely.
"Look at all the knocked out mages…" stated Hinata. It looked like the Fairy Tail nurses were going to have a field day.
"I guess it's up to us to stop Laxus now…" said Natsu.
"Apparently." nodded the female dragonslayer. How had they dwindled so fast?
She even saw that Naruto and Kakashi were both down for the count…she was rather surprised that had happened.
Both Lucy and Shikamaru seemed to be exhausted from their battle as well, though they didn't seem too injured.
Who knew what they were going to find in the cathedral?
On the other hand, they had managed to defeat his Thunder God Tribe, so all that was left was to take Laxus himself. If they defeated him, Fairy Tail was saved…though that of course was easier said than done.
It was time for Laxus to make his last stand, and for them to make theirs.
I hope you liked this chapter! I know I did…heh heh heh. Then again, maybe that's just me.
In the next chapter, our heroes are going to take on the big man himself…you should know who that is.
Oh, and Neji's going to fight Naraku...and try to convince his followers to change their ways. You were looking forward to that, right?
I know i was!
