Coco: Hey, guys, I'm here with another chapter for Fairy Tail. I've tried to get a lot done during my week off. I kind of succeed? I have the new One Piece story ready, so that'll be up tonight. And two new chapters for My Hero Academia, this chapter, and half a Naruto chapter done, which I'm taking as a win since I haven't touched my Naruto story in I don't know how long.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. And thank-you for your patience.
Rizzo ran through the forest trying to make it back to the village as fast as possible—though to be honest she's pretty sure she's lost. She should have made it back to the village by now, but she hasn't laid eyes on it. She thought she had better directional skills than this, but this entire place just seemed like more of the freaking same. In fact, she's pretty sure she's passed this part of the jungle already.
She just hoped Lucy and Happy were already there warning the villagers, so they would evacuate. Once Rizzo get's there, she can work on fighting Lyon's flunkies. None of them seemed that strong—except maybe the redheaded woman who seemed to be the only one with a conscious. Didn't matter if she did though. She was going down along with the rest of her friends. Rizzo just had to get there first. Rizzo suddenly stiffened when feeling danger heading her way.
She jumped back just in time as an arrow went flying past her. It the tree near her, and she gasped as it exploded. She ducked down covering her face to avoid getting shards of wood in her face. Once the wood stopped raining down on her, she cautiously raised her head to look around for the one who attacked. Rizzo saw no one, but more arrows started raining down on her. She had to flip backwards to avoid the arrows, which exploded as they hit the ground.
"Dammit," Rizzo growled as she ducked behind some rocks. "One of Lyon's flunkies must have broken off from the others."
That meant one of them was smart enough to keep her from getting to the village to help. As more arrows hit her cover, she raised her hand out to the side with her guitar appearing. She gripped the neck of it tightly knowing she had to flush out the archer. Shouldn't be too hard. She's beat Bisca in a few sparring matches. Once you get a marksman up close, they're easier to beat.
"Okay," She said as she took a deep breath. "Now or never."
She got up turning to face her enemy as another volley of arrows was sent at her. She slammed down on the strings of her guitar creating enough sound backlash to send the arrows flying backward. She heard a curse then watched as a shape dropped down from a tall on cropping of rocks into some bushes. She saw a flash of light that slightly resembled the flash of light that appeared when she reequipped instruments. She then watched as the redhead jumped from the bushes holding a compound bow in hand.
"Lightning Bolt!" The redhead fired.
The arrow went whizzing towards Rizzo, and she quickly went to jump left to dodge. However, the arrow managed to graze her, which was enough to activate its magic. She cried out in pain as she out shot up with multiple volts of lightning. When it ended, Rizzo was crouched on the ground with smoke rising off her body. She glared up at the redhead who had disappeared off into the jungle again.
"Annoying bitch." Rizzo grumbled then raised a fist. "I won't lose to some dark guild wizard wannabe!"
Her statement was met with three more of those lightning arrows being sent her way. She managed not to get hit by any of them as she sent her guitar away to equip her violin.
"Song of the Dancing Wind!" Rizzo called as she played rapidly on her violin.
Strong gusts of wind swept forward with some of the gusts being strong enough to knock trees over. One of the trees that tipped over had the archer falling out. She rolled across the ground though managed to land in a crouch while loosing an arrow simultaneously. Rizzo didn't have time to dodge and thought the arrow might pierce her chest. However, the arrow exploded in a blinding bright light that had Rizzo's eyes burning. She curses rubbing at her watering eyes as she was temporarily blinded.
"Flash Bolt," The archer said as she stood. "You should take me seriously. I might not look it, but I'm stronger than I look. I was once a member of Lamia Scale, Fairy Tailer. I'm sure you've heard of it."
"So, what if I have?" Rizzo asked giving an uncaring shrug. "You gave up the title of a Lamia Scale Wizard when you decided to follow that Lyon guy. As far as I'm concerned you have no right to associate yourself with Lamia Scale any longer. But it's not my business. I don't know your past, and I don't know why you're doing this now. The point is my job is to help these people here because I took on the responsibility. You're in the way of me fulfilling my promise to help them—that makes you my enemy. And let me tell you now, you're going to lose."
The archer narrowed her eyes at Rizzo as she reached back to pull more arrows from her quiver.
"I heard you Fairy Tail wizards are stubborn." She said. "But you just seem cocky. Though I suppose with your reputation, Rizzo Sweeney, you've earned the right to be. But let me tell you something, I have a reputation as well. Perhaps you've heard about me. The name is Turiel—Turiel Longshadow."
"Nope, never heard of you." Rizzo said looking unimpressed.
Turiel's eyes widened at that as she stared at Rizzo disbelievingly. However, she soon schooled her expression.
"Tch, it's of no importance." Turiel said as she notched her arrow. "Just know if you want to keep to those villagers that I'm not going to make it easy on you. Oh, and even if you do defeat me, my comrades should be arriving to the village shortly. None will be left alive once they are done."
Rizzo sighed as she scratched the back of her head. Though it wasn't ideal…she'd have to leave things to Happy and Lucy. They'd be outnumbered—at least that's how it'd be if those villagers weren't able to fight. But…
"The villagers will be fine." Rizzo said. "Wizards of Fairy Tail are protecting them. It means I don't have to worry."
Turiel frowned. This wizard…she wasn't wavered in the slightest. Wasn't she worried about her comrades? Turiel then gasped as another torrent of wind was sent her way as Rizzo played her violin. It knocked her back in the air
"You really shouldn't be distracted." Rizzo said. "I thought you said you were going to beat me. Now, Song of the Jumping Firecrackers."
She switched tunes on a fight with fiery orbs of fire being sent straight at Turiel. Turiel quickly switched out arrows while firing towards a tree. A line was tied to the arrow, and Turiel held onto it as the arrow hit the tree. Turiel gave a sharp tug to pull her out of the way of the firecrackers just in time. Rizzo grinned.
"You're stronger than I thought you'd be." Rizzo said. "This might be fun."
Rizzo switched songs again with a cold artic wind blowing through. Turiel shuddered feeling her body becoming colder by the second. Ice started to form on Turiel's hands and bow—making it impossible for her to reach for an arrow. She forced herself to move while jumping down into the bushes to get out of the way of Rizzo's attack. Rizzo stopped playing when her opponent left her eyesight. Turiel jumped from the bushes, and even though her hands were still partly frozen, they glowed as she readied her magic.
"Reequip!" Turiel shouted as the bow in her hand changed. "Crossbow!"
A crossbow appeared in her hands, and it was once of those automatics with a loaded cartilage of bolts.
"Rabid shot!" Turiel said.
She pulled the trigger with man arrows—faster than the ones before—being sent flying Risso's way. Rizzo cursed having to duck behind another rock. Rizzo frowned.
"This is getting annoying." Rizzo said. "I have to hurry up and end this."
Rizzo swapped out her violin to get her guitar back into play. She then snapped her fingers with four speakers appearing. However, she focused to have them land around Turiel while facing towards her. Turiel looked at the speakers wondering where they came from. Rizzo without having to move from her cover slammed down on the strings of her guitar causing the noise to blare from the speakers.
Turiel cried out as the noise busted her eardrums. She hit the ground while placing her hands over her ears. The guitar continued for a few seconds, and even when it stopped, Turiel felt her ears ringing. A shadow loomed over her, which had her looking up just in enough time to get Rizzo's fist to her face. She dropped to the ground unconscious. Rizzo sent her guitar and speakers away to place her hands on her hips.
"I know it's not really my place, but here's some advice," Rizzo began. "If you want to get stronger, you should return to Lamia Scale. I'm sure they could teach you a thing or to."
Rizzo looked up noticing that the sky was starting to get lighter. Has she really been out here that long?
"I need to hurry." Rizzo said.
Rizzo then stepped over Turiel to hurry on towards the village. She wasn't sure how everyone was doing, but she just hoped the place was still in one piece. Rizzo suddenly came to a stop when she felt a dark intent behind her. She slowly turned around to find the source. Her eyes widened partially when seeing Erza was standing here, and Lucy and Happy were with her...tied up.
"Erza," Rizzo greeted. "You seem upset. Something wrong?"
Erza narrowed her eyes at the pinkette while knowing Rizzo had to aware of what was wrong.
"I wouldn't piss her off right now, Rizzo." Lucy said crying. "She's really mad."
Rizzo didn't really care. If Lucy and Happy were here and not begging to be let go to help the villagers, things must have been taken care. She didn't know how they did it, but she'd ask that later.
"You should know why I'm here." Erza said.
"Yeah, you're here to take us back to the guild hall." Rizzo said. "Sorry, but you'll have to wait until things are taken care of here. You can help if you want."
Erza's gaze turned even darker, and Rizzo narrowed her eyes as well as she shifted her footing. She knew things weren't going to go easy. A fight was going to break out. Lucy and Happy looked between their two guildmates.
"You're done here, Rizzo." Erza said. "Once Gray and Natsu are found, we will be returning to the guildhall where you'll face punishment with the rest for breaking guild rules."
"I told you that you'd have to wait." Rizzo said. "The people on this village need help. But more importantly than that this job is personal to Gray now. If we give up on this job now, it'll cause him pain. I refuse to do that."
"Gray?" Erza questioned. "He was sent here to stop you. Are you saying he's now helping you?"
Rizzo nodded her head, which had Erza gritting her teeth tightly. Now she had to bring in more for punishment.
"He will have to get over it." Erza said. "And these people will be fine. My only job is to get you all back to face punishment. I don't care about anything else."
"Heartless bitch." Rizzo said coldly.
"What was that?" Erza hissed as she had a sword come to her hand.
Lucy and Happy turned pale as ghosts as they held onto each other while trembling. They couldn't believe Rizzo had the gall to talk back to Erza like she is. The tense atmosphere between their guildmates had them completely terrified. They didn't even want to breath in fear of getting caught up in this.
"You heard me." Rizzo said as she raised her hand with her fingers curling and uncurling tensely. "I admit we did wrong taking the job without permission. However, we're in the job now, and we'll be seeing it to the end. No way am I letting these people down. No way am I letting that Lyon guy get away for causing Gray pain. If his pain isn't enough to move you to help, you shouldn't be allowed to bare the mark of Fairy Tail."
Erza stiffened up feeling anger well up inside of her. She and Rizzo haven't seen eye to eye in some time. In fact, Rizzo's entire being seems to clash with Erza's. It was like they were meant to be on opposing sides. But this was different.
"I'll return with you to the guildhall once I'm done." Rizzo said as she started walking towards Erza. "I will accept whatever punishment the Master decides to give me. Until then,"
Rizzo got right up in Erza's face with green eyes clashing against brown as they glared at each other.
"Stay out of my way unless you decide to help." Rizzo said.
Rizzo went to move past Erza, but the redhead struck out while punching Rizzo right in the gut. The pinkette gasped with her eyes widening as pain traveled through her entire body. She slumped against Erza's hold as her vision started going blurry.
"I'm sorry." Erza said. "I didn't want to treat any of you with violence. But you left me no choice."
Despite the situation, Rizzo chuckled as she reached up to grip Erza's wrist tightly. She tilted her head up to look at the redhead.
"You keep telling yourself that." Rizzo said as her vision swam. "Hope if gives you some comfort after everything is said and done."
Her head then fell as she finally lost consciousness. She fell to the ground with Erza staring down at her with an unreadable expression.
Rizzo stood by the riverside in Magnolia as the sun was starting to set. She was breathing really hard with her a violin in her hand as her guitar case floated behind her. Rizzo grit her teeth as her free hand clenched into a tight fist.
"I couldn't do it." Rizzo said. "I couldn't pull off the elemental music magic."
Which means she couldn't stop training just yet. She still had enough magic in her to give it one last go. She placed the violin underneath her chin, and then the bow over the strings. She started warming up to the spell by starting slowly on the song to build up her magic. The wind started to stir around her. It tickled the ends of her shoulder length hair, and lifted the edge of her dress a bit. Rizzo closed her eyes focusing on everyone note…the flow of the music. She started speeding up the song with the wind picking up a bit around her. Finally she reached the actual tempo of the song, and the wind had really picked up around her by now. Yes…she could do this.
"Song of…the Dancing Wind!" Rizzo said with her eyes snapping open.
A green magic circle appeared in front of her violin, and wind shot out of it to dance around her in the form of spinning cyclones. They danced along with the song until she hit the last note. As soon as she lifted her bow, the wind dispersed with an fwoosh! Rizzo's entire body shook as she tried to take in gasping breaths to quell her burning lungs. It felt as if she had just run a marathon at top speed. Sanjū, who was watching her, clapped her paws together for Rizzo's accomplishment. Rizzo grinned even as her legs gave out, which sent her back towards the ground.
"I…did…it." She said just as she hit the ground.
She looked up at the pinkish-orange sky with the grin growing on her face. She probably looked ridiculous laying there all dirty and sweaty with that grin on her face, but she didn't are. She finally pulled off the highest form of elemental music magic. Sanjū went over to Rizzo to climb onto her torso to sit down.
"Are you going to be okay, Rizzo?" Sanjū asked.
"Yeah." Rizzo said as she lifted her head a bit to look at Sanjū. "I just need to catch my breath."
Sanjū nodded her head as Rizzo laid her head back down to continue to look up at the shy. Suddenly her view of the sky was blocked when Gray's face appeared above her as he was leaning over her.
"You really did it this time, Rizzo." He said frowning. "You used up all your magic energy."
Rizzo was too weak to come up with an actual retort, so she stuck her tongue out at him instead. Gray snorted shaking his head. He knelt down beside Rizzo as her violin and bow went flying from her hand into the guitar case, which promptly closed and fastened up before resting on the ground beside Rizzo. Rizzo looked at Gray with a look that clearly asked what he was doing here.
"If you've failed to notice, it's getting late." Gray said. "When you hadn't returned to Fairy Hills Erza came to Master Makarov worried. She won't admit she was worried though."
Rizzo rolled her eyes highly doubting that Erza really was worried about her. The two couldn't stand each other.
"So, Master asked some of us to search for you." Gray continued as if he hadn't noticed Rizzo roll her eyes. "Good thing I knew to come here. I'm surprised the stupid firebug isn't here already."
"RIZZO!"
"Spoke too soon." Gray grumbled.
Rizzo tilted her head back to see Natsu running their way with Happy flying behind him. Rizzo raised her hand in a weak wave as she grinned at Natsu. Her fellow pinkette came to a skidding halt on Rizzo's other side.
"What'd you do to her, Gray?!" Natsu demanded looking pissed.
"I didn't do anything, moron!" Gray snapped. "This idiot here used up all her magic from pushing herself too hard in training."
"Rizz isn't an idiot, but you are, Freezer Head!" Natsu retorted.
This started one of their usual spatting matches with the two cats standing off to the side to watch them, and as they argued and butt heads above Rizzo, the musical mage's grin widened. Just another normal day with her two closest friends.
"Ah!" Rizzo gasped with her eyes shooting open.
She sat up while looking around her to see that she appeared to be in some kind of tent. At first she was confused, but then everything that happened last night came flooding back to my mind. Her eyes widened for a second before narrowing.
"That damn Erza." Rizzo hissed.
"Oh, you're awake."
Rizzo turned her head seeing one of the villagers, who was in human form, standing there at the entrance of the tent.
"Your friends were getting really worried about you." She said as she came in. "Ms. Erza asked we look out for you until you awake."
Rizzo scoffed. Erza was the reason her stomach felt as if it had been hit by a train. Once Rizzo got her hands on Erza, it wouldn't be pretty.
"Where are they?" Rizzo asked. "My friends and Erza."
"They went running towards the temple." The villager explained. "About ten minutes ago or so."
Rizzo's eyes widened in surprise. They went to attack the enemy without her?! Those jerks! And she thought Erza was against helping the villagers?! She's so pissed off that she was taken out so easily like that-especially by Erza of all people. She has to redeem herself by kicking butt now. Rizzo shoved the blankets off of her legs, and she got up from the ground. She nearly toppled over as the feeling in her legs was still trying return.
"Ah, what are you doing?" The villager asked as Rizzo righted herself.
"Going after those jerks who left me behind, of course!" Rizzo said. "Think they can just leave me here, do they? I'll kick all their asses!"
The villager leaned away in fear when Rizzo gave a murderous grin. The villager did not want to get in Rizzo's way at all, so she didn't even try to stop Rizzo as the pinkette went running from the tent.
"ERZA, I'M GOING TO DESTROY YOU!" She shouted up to the sky as she ran in the direction of the temple. "AND YOU TOO, LYON! YOU PRICK!"
As Lyon was fighting with Natsu, he paused to sneeze rather loudly. What the hell? Was someone talking about him? And why did he feel as if someone stepped on his grave? Suddenly the ice next to them started shattering, which confused Natsu. The ice ruptured completely to reveal Gray there with a determined look on his face.
"Oh, it's Gray." Natsu said.
"Leave him to me." Gray said as he stepped up in between Lyon and Natsu. "It's time we settled things once and for all."
"No way, Man!" Natsu said. "You already lost to him once!"
Which meant Lyon was fair game, and Natsu was ready to kick ass.
"And it won't happen again." Gray said. "I'm ready to end this now."
"You seem awfully confident." Lyon said.
He smirked tauntingly at Gray who gave him a glare in return.
"You were right. I'm the one to blame for our master's death." Gray said then spread his legs to get into a stance. "But you're no better. You've threatened my comrades. Brought harm to the villagers, and now you're trying to destroy what Ur gave her life for. It's time we accept our punishment together."
Gray got into a stance with his arms crossed out in front of him, and Lyon's eyes widened when he realized what Gray was going to do.
"That stance." Lyon said. "Not the iced shell!"
"Ice shell?" Natsu murmured.
Natsu then remembered Gray mentioning something about the Iced Shell. Natsu's eyes widened realizing it was the spell that killed Ur and sealed away Deliora.
"Are you insane?!" Lyon demanded. "You wouldn't dare."
"If you wanna live, change the villagers back to their human forms." Gray ordered. "And then leave this island and never return!"
A large blue magic circle appeared under Gray, and it made the entire room glow blue as well.
"If you agreed to that, I'll stop." Gray said. "If you don't…then this is the end."
"That so?" Lyon asked smirking. "Well, I don't believe a word of it. You're bluffing."
The magic exploded around the room with an icy wind twirling around blowing back Lyon and Natsu's clothes.
"No, I'm not." Gray said.
"You'll die!" Lyon warned him as he raised his hand to try and use magic to counteract the Iced Shell.
However, he was just sent flying back because the magic Gray was using was much stronger.
"Don't do it!" Natsu shouted.
"All these years I've been lying to myself." Gray said as he ignored Natsu. "I didn't want to admit Ur died because of me, but she did. And it's time I took responsibility. So I will here and now. I'm not afraid to die if that's what it takes."
Gray's entire body started to turn white as if he was becoming ice and his skin started to crack.
"Stop this now!" Lyon ordered.
"What's it going to be, Lyon?" Gray asked. "Are we going to live or are we going to die?"
"You're not brave enough to give your life!" Lyon said. "You're nothing but a coward."
"Just watch me." Gray said.
He started building up his magic even more as Natsu yelled at him to stop. However, Gray wasn't going to listen. He had to do this.
"Stop right now!"
Gray gasped turning his head to the new voice to see...
"Rizzo?!" He yelled.
Coco: So, that's the end of the chapter, and sorry for those of you who might have wanted to see Rizzo run into Erza before making it to the temple. I promise there will be a flashback of it in the next chapter.
Now, until next time! Buh-bye! XD