In the peaceful town of Clover, the Guild Masters' Conference continued with none of them knowing of the danger not too far away. Makarov himself was enjoying the food and drink as he was catching up with Bob the Master of Blue Pegasus.
"I'm jealous, Maky." Bob said. "Your wizards are so full of life, and they're such cutie pies."
He chuckled as he said this while placing his hand on his stubble covered cheek.
"I hear you've got a girl who gave some big shot quite the spanking." Bob continued.
"Oh, you must be talking about Lucy." Makarov said as he held up his chicken leg. "Yeah, she's our newest recruit, and she's got a body that won't quick."
Some of the Guild Masters' listening looked at Makarov with wide eyes or sweat-dropped since they were used to the tiny man's—uh, slightly lecherous ways.
"Oh, so naughty." Bob said covering his flushed face as he turned away.
Makarov chuckled before taking a long swing of his ale, which nearly finished off his umpteenth mug of the day.
"I wouldn't be joking around if I were you, Makarov." Goldmine said from another table as he picked up a kabob.
Makarov turned towards his fellow Guild Master as Goldmine studied his kabob.
"Your wizards maybe spirited, but you gotta admit they go overboard sometimes." He said as he turned towards Makarov to wave his kabob at the elderly man. "Some of the council members are worried that Fairy Tail's going to end up destroying an entire city ones of these days. Can't say I blame them. Especially considering how little Rizzo took out a large chunk of Crocus during one of her jobs."
It was true. Rizzo had been after a wizard that had been evading the Royal Army for ages, and the chase took her to the capital of Fiore itself. Let's just say the chase ended with a fight when she finally managed to corner the dark wizard, and well, Rizzo isn't known for quick and easy fights. Makarov just snorted since he remembers all the trouble he had to go through to get Rizzo to the Council just to apologize in person. It had been a hassle, and he had been more annoyed with the Council than with Rizzo.
"Tch, let those blowhards worry!" Makarov said. "What do I care? They're just jealous my wizards are hot!"
Goldmine sweat-dropped though wasn't surprised. Makarov was a little more than tipsy at this point. He probably wouldn't have said that if he was a bit more sober. Actually, he probably would have.
"Maky, you shouldn't talk about your little wizards that way." Bob lightly chided. "You're such a scoundrel."
Makarov then turned his head as one of the messenger birds came flying in his direction while calling out his name.
"I have a letter from Ms. Mirajane, sir." The bird said while dropping the letter into Makarov's hand.
As Makarov thanked the little creature, he activated the letter with a holographic-like image of Mirajane appearing over the letter. Many of the Guild Masters gathered to stare as they took in the white-haired girl's beauty.
"Hi, Master," Her image said. "I'm glad you made it to the conference safe and sound."
Makarov grinned while looking around to see almost all the Guild Masters had come over to stare at Mirajane's lovely appearance.
"See?" He asked in a gloating town. "This Honey is our poster girl—Mirajane. Grab some eye candy, boys."
As the male Guild Masters gave a whistle, the few female masters rolled their eyes from where they stood. Such dirty old men.
"That's Mirajane?" Goldmine asked looking shocked. "She sure has matured."
Makarov nodded his head in agreement though that could be said about most of his girls. All of them had come to the guild so tiny and cute, but when they grew up, they sure grew up to be hot and mature.
"Oh, Master, you're not going to believe what happened!" Mirajane continued on with her letter. "It might be the greatest thing in the history of Fairy Tail!"
The image of Mirajane spread out her arms in excitement as Makarov's brow quirked curiously.
"Really?" He murmured wondering what happened.
"Erza, Natsu, Rizzo, and Gray have all teamed up together!" Mirajane explain.
Makarov felt his old heart stop for a second as the blood in his veins froze. Did…did he hear her right?
"An amazing combination, huh?" Mirajane asked. "In fact, I think they've formed the strongest team Fairy Tail has ever seen! Sorry to bother you, but I just had to send you a quick note to tell you the exciting news."
However, the news she found so exciting had Makarov certain his heart might give out.
"Not those four." Makarov whimpered as Mirajane bid him a farewell.
He just dropped his arms with the letter falling to the table completely forgotten about.
"What's wrong, Maky?" Bob asked curiously.
"I guess the council has a good reason to be worried, huh?" Goldmine asked while knowing exactly what was wrong.
Makarov just fell backwards onto the table while not believing this could be happening. Rizzo and Natsu weren't even technically supposed to go on jobs together anymore. But now they've formed a team with Gray and Erza of all people. How did this come to pass? All four of them together really could destroy an entire city. This was bad. He just has to hope he could make it home before the four of them could cause trouble. Little did he know, it was already too late, but he'd learn soon enough.
Rizzo sat on top of the Magic Mobile while putting her feet on the bar in front of her, so she was able to keep herself from falling off. Gray had decided to stay inside of the magic mobile after this mishap of falling off because of Natsu. Rizzo then reached forward to grab a hold of the front as Erza hit a hill sending them flying. They landed on the ground roughly with Rizzo almost falling off.
"Cool it, Erza!" Rizzo snapped. "You're driving too recklessly! Besides, with the magic power you're giving out, you'll make yourself pace out!"
Despite feeling exhausted, Erza gave a chuckle as she continued to press onward.
"Oh, Rizzo, is that concern I hear?" Erza teased.
Rizzo scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. It seemed the lack of magic in her body was going to Erza's head. She's becoming delusional.
"I think you've lost some of the oxygen to your head, Erza." Rizzo said. "You're starting to hear things."
Erza chuckled with a grin on her face, but she didn't give heed to Rizzo's warning. She just kept going down the dirt road. Rizzo shrugged guessing she'd just have to cover for Erza if she did use too much magic. Something then caught Rizzo's attention.
"Hey, Erza, stop for a moment." Rizzo said.
Erza stopped as Rizzo leaned over to look down into the canyon below them where a small train station sat.
"Why'd we stop?" Lucy asked sticking her head out the window.
Happy popped his head out as well as Erza looked to see what had caught Rizzo's attention. Below them citizens were speaking with some soldiers that had shown up. They were all talking about dark guild punks and a man with a scythe.
"It looks like the Eisenwald guild took over the train." Rizzo said.
"I can understand cars and boats, but why would they want to high jack a train?" Lucy asked.
"It doesn't seem like a very good choice for getaways since it can only follow the track." Happy added.
Rizzo hummed in agreement before she decided to slide into the magic mobile with the others. She sat herself across from Gray who was in his underwear—no shocker there. As she ignored Gray's half nakedness, Rizzo looked sympathetically at Natsu who had his head resting on the seat beside Gray.
"Yes, that's true, but they are quite fast." Erza said as Rizzo moved out of her seat.
Rizzo gently lifted Natsu's head up before placing it into her lap, so she could stroke his head. Hopefully this would help him.
"Then I guess it's up to us to figure out where those Eisenwald guys are going in such a big hurry and why." Gray said.
"You're naked, Gray!" Lucy snapped.
"Oh, am I?" He glanced glancing down at himself.
Rizzo shook her head at Gray while wishing he'd just learn to keep his clothes on.
"The military's already been called into action, so it should only be a matter of time before somebody catches them." Lucy said.
"I hope that's the case, Lucy." Erza said then started up the magic mobile again.
Rizzo frowned thoughtfully. Truly she didn't want any of the military catching up to Eisenwald. The second they heard the Lullaby they'd all drop dead. Only wizards had a chance of getting the Lullaby back. Sure, if they hear it then they'd die too, but Rizzo was already coming up with a plan that just might work.
Rizzo gasped along with everyone inside as Erza made another sharp turn. Natsu grabbed onto the bottom of Rizzo's shirt as his head continued to lay in her lap. She stroked his head while looking up at the ceiling wondering if Gray was alright up there. He went back outside—fully clothed this time—and was most likely hanging onto dear life.
"Slow down, Erza." Gray said. "You're going to blow up the SC plug!"
"There's no telling how many people will die if the Lullaby's song is played." Erza said. "I can't slow down. We have to stop Eisenwald before it's too late."
"But at this rate you're going to use up all your magic before we even start fighting!" Gray pointed out.
Rizzo snorted while certain the redhead wasn't going to listen to any kind of reason at the moment.
"Well then, I'll just have to rely on hand-to-hand combat." Erza said. "Besides, I've got you, Natsu, and Rizzo as backup."
Inside the magic mobile, Natsu let out another groan while wishing the ride would stop.
"I feel as if I had something important to tell you, Lucy." Happy said suddenly.
"Oh, really?" Lucy asked. "What was it?"
"I don't remember." Happy said honestly. "It was just something about something I was supposed to tell you. You're…"
"Totally sick for real." Natsu mumbled.
"That's it!" Happy said.
"Are you kidding me?!" Lucy snapped.
Rizzo would have laughed at that moment if Natsu hadn't decided to hang halfway out the window. Rizzo quickly grabbed him before he could fall out.
"I guess he needed some fresh air." Rizzo said laughing.
"Don't laugh! You could drop him." Lucy said.
Rizzo just continued laughing as she soothingly rubbed Natsu on his back. As Rizzo was helping Natsu, Happy was mumbling to himself as he tried to remember what he wanted to tell Lucy, and he kept coming back to the word weird.
"Why are you saying I'm weird?" Lucy asked frowning.
As Rizzo was pulling Natsu back inside the magic mobile, she noticed smoke up ahead.
"What's that up ahead?" Erza said noticing the same thing.
Rizzo narrowed her eyes seeing that it appeared to be Onibana Station…and the smoke seemed to be rising out of it. Erza pulled up outside of the station, and Rizzo was quick to get out. She pushed past the large crowd to get to one of the conductors who was trying to get the people to go away.
"What's going on?" Rizzo asked him.
"Why would I tell you?" He retorted.
Rizzo narrowed her eyes then kicked the man in the face, and he went flying through the air. Mouths fell open in shock as the man hit a wall with it cracking. Rizzo turned to the next man who jumped in fright. Erza appeared behind Rizzo to place a hand on her shoulder.
"Rizzo, calm down. Violence won't get us anywhere." Erza said. "Allow me."
Rizzo frowned though moved away to stand with the others as Lucy was holding up Natsu.
"Now, what's going on?" Erza asked the man.
He didn't answer fast enough, so she head-butted him to knock him out, which had Lucy sweat-dropping. Rizzo's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. She thought this wasn't time for violence. Erza asked another person, who didn't answer fast enough either, and she head-butted him.
"Her way of questioning seems counter-productive." Lucy said.
"She tells me to stand down just so she can do the exact same thing?!" Rizzo growled in aggravation. "Man, does she piss me off."
Lucy leaned away from the pinkette as Rizzo was practically burning in annoyance.
"Erza's got her own way of getting things done." Gray said simply.
Lucy looked towards the ice wizard with her eyes widening since he seemed to have missed place something again.
"Where are your clothes?!" Lucy snapped.
Rizzo just shook her head as Erza finally got someone to answer her question.
"The Eisenwald guild's inside." Erza said. "Let's go."
"Right." Gray said nodding.
Lucy then hung her head as she continued to hold Natsu's arm over her shoulder.
"So I gotta drag this one around?" Lucy asked meaning Natsu.
As Natsu apologized, Rizzo sighed in aggravation since they needed to hurry. There's no telling when those Eisenwald guys would start using Lullaby.
"Let's just go!" Rizzo said. "We're wasting time!"
She then hurried up the stairs towards the entrance while ignoring as her guildmates told her to wait up. As she was running, Rizzo saw that the military had already been taken out. She ran up some stairs then paused beside one of the bodies to inspect it.
"Rizzo, don't go running off!" Erza ordered as the others caught up.
Rizzo didn't reply as she looked over the body as if looking for something specifically.
"They're still breathing so Lullaby didn't do this." Rizzo said. "But there's no telling how much time we actually have before they use it."
"That's true, but remember we can't go rushing in blindly." Erza said.
"Right." Rizzo said with a sigh as she stood up.
She up then hurried forward with everyone following. They made it to the inner station where the Eisenwald guild was waiting for them.
"Welcome." Erigor said. "Step into our parlor, Fairy Tail flies."
Rizzo narrowed her eyes at Erigor while already picturing kicking his ass because that's the only way things were going to end here. She didn't care how many wizards he had with him.
"Whoa there's so many of them." Lucy said looking freaked out.
"You fiend!" Erza said. "I take it you're Erigor."
Erigor just chuckled in a creepy manner as Lucy was trying frantically to wake up Natsu. As she was doing that, one of the men seemed to recognize Natsu.
"Hey, you." He called out. "It's your fault I got into trouble with Erigor."
Rizzo frowned highly doubting it was Natsu's fault this guy got in trouble with his boss. He looked like someone who didn't need that kind of help anyway.
"We're not threatened by any of you." Erza said. "Tell me what you're planning to do with Lullaby!"
"Oh, you haven't heard yet?" Erigor asked in a mocking tone.
He jumped into the air with a breeze taking him up high, so they had to tilt their heads back to look at him.
"What do all train stations have?" He asked.
Rizzo was pretty sure trains would be an answer, but maybe that's just the smartass in her making a sarcastic thought.
"He flew." Lucy said in awe.
"Wind magic." Happy explained.
Erigor used his magic to land on top of the speakers that were placed on a high pole.
"You plan to broadcast the Lullaby's song?!" Erza demanded.
Rizzo's teeth grit together roughly as she glared up at Erigor. She couldn't let him broadcast that song. Who knew how many would die if he did.
"Thousands of nosy onlookers have flocked to this station to get a glimpse of the action." Erigor said. "Who knows, if I raise the volume enough, I may be able to extinguish the entire city with my melody of death."
Rizzo was shaking in anger by now, and Gray reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, so she wouldn't do anything brash.
"What reason do you have to commit such a heinous crime against the innocent people of this town?" Erza questioned.
"This is a cleansing of all the fools out there who fail to appreciate the lives they hold so dear." Erigor said. "They who play ignorant to those who have had their rights stripped away. They committed the sing of turning a blind-eye to the world's injustice. Therefore, the Reaper has come to punish them!"
This guy was seriously asking for it, and if Rizzo had a say in the manner, she was going to give it to him.
"But killing them isn't going to get you your rights back." Lucy pointed out. "It's only going to make it worse. That's the whole reason you were kicked out of the Wizard League in the first place."
"At this point we've given on trying to regain our rights." Erigor said. "We want power then we will be able to wash away the sins of the past, and take control of whatever happens in the future!"
"You guys are completely insane!" Lucy said.
The man, who spoke earlier, knelt down on the ground to place his hand where he cast a shadow.
"We're calling in a new age of darkness." He said. "Of course by the time it gets here, you flies will be long gone."
The shadows shot out towards the group before forming up in the air as fists above them. While Lucy gasped in worry, Rizzo didn't even look up at the threat. There was no need to worry, and she was right because Natsu, who was feeling better, took care of the shadows with his fire as he stood in front of Lucy.
"Eisenwald dude, I knew I recognized that voice." Natsu said.
"You're back to normal." Lucy said happily.
She really thought it would be another ten minutes before Natsu would be ready to get up.
"Wow, looks like we've got ourselves a party here, huh?" Natsu commented.
"No, Natsu, these are the guys we have to fight." Lucy said.
"He knows that." Rizzo said grinning. "Fighting them is what makes it a party."
Lucy shook her head not believing these two. How could they be so carefree? Weren't they worried in the slightest? She then shook her head knowing she had to try and pull herself together.
"This is the strongest team Fairy Tail has to offer." Lucy said. "You better be ready!"
Rizzo looked at Lucy wondering who the heck told her this was the strongest team Fairy Tail has to offer.
"I'll leave them to you." Erigor said as he went higher into the air before disappearing.
"He disappeared!" Lucy and Happy said in unison.
Rizzo growled because she couldn't let that man get away. She just couldn't. She had to stop him.
"Natsu, Gray, go." Erza ordered. "I need you to stop him. If you two work together, not even Erigor the Reaper can defeat you. I'm leaving him in your hands."
Rizzo glared at Erza wondering why she had to stay here. This was all kind of personal for her. It was tied into her family after all. Her ancestor Cosette tried to destroy that vile weapon so long ago. She had to make sure things were done properly this time. However, she supposes if Natsu and Gray were on the job, they'd be able to stop Erigor. She just had to have faith in them. As the boys were sent running by Erza to go after Erigor, Rizzo put her hands in her pockets as she faced the others.
"They're running off!" One of the Eisenwald men said.
"They must be going after Erigor!" Another shouted.
Two men broke off to pursue, but the three girls and Happy remained in place to look at the rest of the guild.
"We'll catch up with them once we've finished off everyone here, okay?" Erza said to Lucy and Rizzo.
"Three girls against an entire magical guild?!" Lucy asked.
"Don't look so worried." Rizzo said.
Lucy turned towards Rizzo as the pinkette smirked confidentially at the Eisenwald wizards.
"Just try your best, Lulu, and the redhead and I will do the rest." Rizzo said. "As long as you're fighting with your guildmates, nothing is impossible. Always remember that because that way of thinking is what makes us Fairy Tail."
Lucy looked at Rizzo in awe as she and Erza stepped up to face the men in front of them. The men all chuckled menacingly as they looked at the three women and their little pet cat.
"My momma told me to never hit a girl, but I'll make an exception." One said.
"Sorry, Ladies, but you're not going to be as pretty once we're done with you." Another one threatened.
Rizzo scoffed not feeling scared of these guys at all. She would take them all on by herself, but she doubted Erza would let her.
"But without my stunning good looks I'd be completely helpless." Lucy said worriedly.
"This isn't the time for daydreaming, Lucy!" Happy said.
"Let's do this." Erza said as she held up her hand.
Her red magic formed in front of her before it shot up to form a magic sword that Erza grabbed hold off.
"It came out of thin air!" Lucy said. "A magic sword."
"If you insult the Fairy Tail guild again in my presence, I swear none of you will live to see tomorrow." Erza said.
"That's my line." Rizzo said then snapped her fingers.
Her guitar appeared out of thin air just had Erza's sword. Lucy has seen Rizzo do this a few times, but still didn't understand her magic. And it seemed similar to what Erza could do. Just what kind of magic were they using? Rizzo plucked her guitar from the air with ease then put the strap around her just as the Eisenwald guild attacked. Some went towards Erza while the rest went at Rizzo.
"Get ready to have your eardrums busted." Rizzo said. "Because it's about to get loud!"
She snapped her fingers again with her giant speakers appearing behind her and landing with a loud thud of the ground.
"Where is this stuff coming from?!" Lucy demanded.
Rizzo played aggressively on her guitar, and the sound shot out of the speakers with amazing power. While it didn't affect her, the men in front of her were blown off their feet, and the ground cracked due to the force.
"Whoa!" Lucy gasped when the aftershock blew back blowing her hair back. "What kind of magic is this?!"
Happy had to grab onto her, so not to be blown back into the wall behind them.
"Sound magic!" Happy said helpfully as Rizzo continued tearing up the join as she continued playing. "However, unlike regular sound magic Rizzo puts her magic through musical instruments. If played in a certain way, the instruments can give off different magic, like, elemental type attacks like Natsu and Gray, or even something wilder. What she's using now is just simple sound magic, and she's using the speakers behind her to amplify the noise."
"But where did those speakers come from?" Lucy asked. "And what about Erza's magic?"
"They're both using Reequip magic!" Happy said. "Reequip magic actually isn't that different from your celestial magic, Lucy. The user can summon weapons—instruments in Rizzo's case—they keep stored in another dimension. And when they use their switches between weapons it's called reequipping."
"Wow, they're both incredible." Lucy said.
"You haven't seen nothing yet." Happy said. "Erza and Rizzo are just getting warmed up."
Lucy blinked wondering how much more the two women could do. They've already taken a large chunk out of the guild. She then grinned knowing she couldn't remain standing here.
"It's time for me to kick butt too!" Lucy declared.