July 10th, x777
Road to Shirotsume Town
3:30 PM
On their journey to Shirotsume Town, the White Dragon and the Light of Fairy Tail decided to break a lunch break and enjoy the leftover from yesterday. Upon bringing the food out of the Celestial World, Capricorn informed Sting about Lucy's scheduled training and, to her dismay, Sting volunteered to be her sparring partner in a no-hold-bar-all-knock-out fight to which the Goat agreed.
After a quiet and anxiety-high lunch, Lucy found herself standing in a knee-high river and standing roughly five feet from a grinning Sting. "So this Star Dress..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Lucy said as she dunked the Water Bearer's key into the stream. "I call upon thee. Open! Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!"
In all of her aquatic glory, the shimmery mermaid appeared with a grand frown on her face. The light blue-haired woman had a long blue fish-tail and a dark blue bikini top. Aquarius held her magical urn underneath her arm as she impatiently swayed her tail.
"Let's get this show on the road. I got a date in an hour, but then again...you wouldn't know what that's like." Aquarius flipped a strand of hair over her shoulder with a smirk on her face.
"You don't have to rub it in!" Lucy shouted as her face turned red with rage. Taking a moment to breathe and to compose herself, Lucy tried to take control of the situation. "Can you please tell me how to use your Star Dress? It's important."
"Star Dress, huh? Isn't that above your current magic level, brat?" Aquarius raised her eyebrow for a moment before frowning.
"It's possible, but I will never know until I try. And I have to try for the sake of saving those who I love. So please, can we put aside our differences for them?" Lucy pleaded as she laced her fingers together.
Aquarius had a smart remark ready for the failure of a Celestial Wizard, but the determination in this little girl's voice made the spirit pause. For a brief moment, Lucy almost resembled Layla with that expression. Aquarius had to remind herself that this was the same girl who used to summon her from a bathtub. Even though this was Layla's offspring, the Water Bearer had a hard time treating Lucy with the same respect as Layla. Hell, Aquarius resents the girl for being everything Layla wasn't and snaps over the simplest issues. Given what Capricorn told them, this Lucy was fourteen years ahead of everyone else, so that might be enough time for Aquarius to take heed of this one request. Even if Lucy dies, Aquarius won't have to be bothered with damn brat anymore.
"...Treat it like your summoning me through your body and not through the key. When you feel my presence through your entire body, you will need to finish the spell by chanting Star Dress: Aquarius Form. Understand?" Aquarius said with a dismissing air around her. "I'm sure even you can master a spell as simple as this one, but then again... you can't find a boyfriend. So, my expectations are low."
"Thank you, Aquarius. I won't let you down." Lucy smiled as she ignores the jab at her.
"Don't die. We just made a contract, and it would be a pain to form another with some rando. Well, I have a date, so don't call me for a while." The Water Bearer waved as she disappeared into the Celestial World. "I grant Lucy Heartfilia access to my Star Dress."
"Alright, now that psycho's gone, can we get this show on the road?" Sting impatiently tapped his ground against the ground.
"Sorry, Aquarius isn't one of my cooperative spirits, but she made me who I am today..." Lucy awkwardly scratched her cheek.
The journey between Lucy and Aquarius has been one no one expected. Given her mother was the one who passed down the Water Bearer's key, one would expect the spirit to automatically give Lucy the same amount of respect. Oh, how wrong Lucy was. Even before Lucy and Aquarius signed a contract, the Water Bearer has down nothing but a tormentor and demon to Lucy, but the Heartfilia still believes the mermaid was her first friend. When the odds were against Lucy, she knew Aquarius was her ace in battle. Like the ocean, Aquarius was ruthless and relentless to everyone that crosses her path and left wreckage in her wake. Nevertheless, Lucy glad to had met Aquarius because that spirit shaped her into the woman she is today. With her eye closed, Lucy smiled fondly at the memories they made together. She placed the end of Aquarius's key to her chest and allowed the magic to flow through her body. "Star Dress: Aquarius Form!"
A blue developed Lucy as she felt a surge of power enter her body. Once the light died down, Lucy noticed that she wasn't in the nun outfit anymore. Rather, she was wearing a bikini top that sports a zigzag design and a miniskirt. Aquarius' zodiac sign was located between Lucy's collarbone whilst in this state.
"Ahh, there your usual skimpy outfit," Sting let out a sigh of relief. "The whole nun thing was killing me."
"Dear Mavis, are you done with the objectification?!" Lucy shouted as she shook her fist, inconsequently sent a torrent of water at the White Dragonslayer and knocking him back into a tree. "Sting! I'm so sorry! I didn't-"
"Nah, it's cool. That's one hell of an attack." The Sabertooth member said as he rolled his jaws. "Come on, let's see what this Star Dress can do. Who knows...I might teach ya a thing or two."
"Right!" She nodded once before taking her usual battle stance. This would mark the first round of training between them, and Lucy was aware of the chances of her beating Sting were slim. Dragonslayers were notorious for being stronger than normal mages. But, that did not give her an excuse not to give it her all. Commanding the water, Lucy unleashed two Water Nebula in Sting's direction.
Smirking, the White Dragonslayer lit his fist with a bright pure light. Sting tore through the water with his White Dragon Claw and close in the distance between the duo. Lucy jumped backward as she avoided his attack. After what her friends told her after Natsu's match against Sting, she was well aware of the side effects of that attack. One strike and Sting would have her paralyzed. Unlike Natsu, she couldn't burn away the stigma, but maybe Loke's Star Dress could counteract it. That would be a test for another day. For now, Lucy had to keep a distance from Sting.
Taking a page from Aquarius's book, Lucy cracked her whip in the stream and unleash a tsunami onto the forest. The natural disaster tore through the area, uprooting towering trees and destroyed the landscape. Sting threw his arms up in a defensive manner as the tsunami push him back a considerable distance, but he was only left with minor scratches when the attack dispersed.
"Are you done yet?" Sting spit some blood into the river before smirking. "Cuz I'm about ready to beat your ass."
"No, because I'm going to win this!" She snapped her whip against the ground to intimidate Sting, but that tactic lead to the Earth rippling towards the dragonslayer at an alarming speed. A speed neither mage anticipated. Before the White Dragonslayer could properly defend himself, the attack sent him flying into the air. Lucy watched in awe as she tried to understand what her whip had done. There were two reasons Lucy found logical enough, as to why this occurred. This Star Dress allowed Lucy to liquidate any substance with the help of her whip, or Aquarius has the power to manipulate the ground and never told Lucy. Given that Lucy fears Aquarius, she went with the first option.
Using a breath attack to soften his landing, Sting glared at his partner. "You said Aquarius was a water-based spirit so what the fuck was that attack?! How strong is that whip of yours?! Since when could you use Earth Magic?!"
"One, this is a whip from the Celestial World, so naturally it's stronger than the average whip. Two, I didn't expect that of all-"
"Expect this! Holy Ray!" Sting joined the open palms of his hands together, with all the fingers on his left hand in contact with his right hand, and then separates his palms while keeping the fingers in contact through their tips. The light was generated in the hollow part between his hands, expanding from the holes between Sting's fingers. At this point, the White Dragon Slayer completely separated his hands, extending them horizontally at his body's sides as the light generated takes the form of a large sphere, from which several white rays were fired towards Lucy. His attack curved through the air as rays sped toward Lucy.
The Celestial Wizard through her arms in a futile attempt to defend herself. A thin veil of water surrounds her body for a third of barrage. Forced to endure the rest of the onslaught, Lucy bared the pain. She knew that she had to set the bar as high as possible for herself. Lucy wouldn't suffer defeat after only one of Sting's attack, but the Celestial Wizard was aware that she wasn't as durable as other Fairy Tail members like Erza or Gajeel. So, Lucy had to learn to outmaneuver her opponents, starting with Sting.
"White Dragon Roar!" He released a concentrated breath of white dragonslayer magic in the form of a laser. The ruin battlefield was scarred more as the laser tore through the ground. Lucy summoned two water pillars from the river to intercept the attack as she sidestepped away from the collision. Cracking her whip against the ground once again, Lucy sent an earth-shattering ripple as a counterattack.
"Time to end this! Aquarius's Whirlpool!" Manipulating the river, Lucy formed a vortex of water around her being. She began to spin her hands in a clockwise motion quickly building a whirlpool before her. Launching the attack at Sting, Lucy caught a glimpse of his smirking expression.
"White Dragon Claw!" Sting tore through the whirlpool with his right claw fairly easily and swiped his hand against Lucy's stomach with his left. In one quick maneuver, the dragonslayer had her face in the dirt and her left arm pinned against her back as he hovered over Lucy. "Now, we're done."
July 10th x777
Shirotsume Forest
4:30 PM
Half an hour had passed after Sting won the sparring match. Lucy was a decent sparring partner if Yukino or a Mermaid Heel chick needed someone, but the White Dragon desired a true challenge. Yes, Lucy's Star Dress was new and exciting, but Lucy lacked the physical abilities to truly match Sting. Long-distance fighting was rare in a real brawl. He knew Lucy had some potential, but it would be a while before Lucy held a candle to his raw power.
"You don't get punch a lot, do you?" Sting asked rather bluntly as they made their way to the next town.
"You don't how to talk to girls, do you?" Lucy retorted with a sweatdrop-like expression.
"I'm serious! You tried your hardest to stay away from close combat fighting during the whole sparring match! Why?!"
"I'm sorry if you have the power to paralyze people! I wasn't in the mood to lose so quickly!"
"You still lost, so how it that work out for ya?" Sting said with a triumphant smirk.
Disgusted by the whole bickering, Lucy sighs heavily. "Did you start talking just to pick another fight, or did you have a purpose?"
"I thought Fairy Tail was all about spontaneous brawls and crap like that. Why were you so distant in our fight?" The White Dragon folded his arms across his chest.
"Because those fights are Natsu and Gray's thing, I never had a reason to join one of those fights." Lucy shrugged nonchalantly. Even though Lucy earned her place in Fairy Tail and was on relatively good terms with everyone, no one expected the Celestial Wizard to throw a punch. Hell, half the guild thought she would choke Natsu out with her whip before punching the dude. "No one expects a Celestial Wizard to know how to fight up close."
"Oh, that's bullshit, and we're doing something about it." Sting frowned. "I ain't never heard of a Fairy being predictable, and you ain't gonna be the first!"
"Sting..."
"Ya might not be a tiger, but I'll make you into a person you should've been a long time ago. Shit, you might even give Natsu a run for his money." He jokingly said.
Lucy let out a small giggle that caught his attention. "And this coming from the guy who tag-teamed Natsu and still lost."
"Hey, hey, the next fight will be different. You're not only one that's gonna get stronger. I won't lose a second time!" He shot her a pointed look before halting his walk. "Did you feel that?"
"Feel what? Sting, you know dragonslayers have enhanced senses. It's probably someone sparring in the forest." She said dismissingly before feeling the trembles underneath her feet. "Wh-What? Is this an earthquake?"
"No, it's Earth magic!" The bushy-haired man exclaimed before he tackled his companion off the road. A generously sized burrow sped towards the duo. Sting jumped in front of his female partner and lit his fist as he mentally prepared himself for a fight. Lucy, not the one to be outdone, snapped her whip against the ground with one hand and hover over her keys with the other. A large figure spun out the ground and eclipsed the sun in a single jump. Upon the figure's return to Earth, Lucy's eyes widen in horror once she recognized the person.
"VIRGO?!"
"BULLSHIT! VIRGO WAS HOTTER THAN THAT!"
A/N: I wanted to start the chapter with "Okay, this is called a sucker punch," and having Sting knock Lucy to the ground with a right hook, but I had to scratch it. I thought it would be fitting to make Aquarius the first Star Dress Lucy uses because they have such a strong bond.
Contrary to my Juvia story, I like Gray's arc through Fairy Tail. I love how every major fight made him grow more as a person. Lyon and Deliora? Came to terms with Ur's death! Juvia? The main love interest and best damn partner for him! Rufus? Redemption and beat the odds! Silver? Closure with his father and learned Demon Slaying magic! Ur? Accepting everything and pushing Lyon to do the same! Like every battle pushed him to grow in some aspect and I love that.
Keys Obtained: Cancer, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Crux
Keys Needed: Leo, Aries, Virgo, Taurus, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Gemini, Libra, and Pisces
