SailorStar9: And we continue with Chapter 103. of this fic. (Sighs) Guys and girls, is it too hard for you to leave a review, instead of just putting this fic up on your favorited list and story alerts?

Disclaimers: I own nothing, except for the plot bunny and my OCs.

Chapter 103: Hisui Rises

"Long time no see, everyone." Hisui greeted Natsu's group who were on their way back to Fairy Tail.

"Yeah, not since the Grand Magic Games." Natsu agreed.

"But what are you doing here, Princess?" Lucy asked.

"That's our line." Arcadios retorted. "We were just on our way to Fairy Tail."

"What are you guys doing here?" Hisui asked.

"It's a long story." Natsu replied.

"I'll explain." Lucy stated. "One day, I discovered that my 12 Golden Keys didn't work. Then the Celestial Spirits of the 12 Golden Gates I have contracts with appeared and declared that our contracts were null and void. We learned the Celestial Spirits were going to perform a ritual called 'Liberum', in order to gain 'absolute freedom', at a place called Astral Spirytus. But if the Celestial Spirits gain freedom, they'll only have 12 days left to live."

"So, we've been looking for this Astral Spirytus, which is said to be in southern Magnolia." Yukino added.

"I see." Arcadios noted. "I knew about the changes in the Celestial Spirit World through my own investigation, but I didn't know the Celestial Spirits would act so soon."

"Actually, it's my fault the Celestial Spirits have gone crazy." Hisui admitted.

"It all started with the Eclipse Project." Arcadios started. "The Eclipse Gate, which allowed those dragons to travel 400 years into the future, was destroyed by the Mages' efforts. But the great power it possessed has had an effect on the natural world, bringing on the anomalous weather phenomena."

"Then, the aftereffect of the Eclipse Project is causing the wacky weather everywhere?" Levy echoed.

"And it didn't stop there." Arcadios added. "The power was so vast that it journeyed across time and space, affecting the Celestial Spirit World, too."

"So, Mercury was right..." Ditea muttered.

"Even the Celestial Spirit World too..." Yukino muttered.

"Then, the Celestial Spirits of the 12 Golden Gates..." Lucy gasped.

"The world is on the brink of destruction because of my Eclipse Project." Hisui remarked. "That alone is unforgivable, but now it's even hit the Celestial Spirit World. It's all my fault. Actually, even after the Grand Magic Games, I was depressed and blamed myself, but then, I remembered something Natsu said and that saved me. That made me look ahead. So even when I learned the Eclipse Project also affected the Celestial Spirit World, I knew being depressed was pointless. To do everything I could to live for today, I decided to create keys."

"What are these?" Lucy blinked when Arcadios opened the suitcase he brought along.

"Keys that can force the 12 Golden Gates to close." Hisui replied.

"I see." Lucy realized. "If I can force them shut, even if the psycho Celestial Spirits show up, I'll be able to send them right home."

"Then we don't have to engage in an unnecessary battle with them." Yukino added.

"Yes, with these keys, you can save all of the Celestial Spirits." Hisui nodded.

"Wait." Yukino voiced. "A minute ago, you said you created these keys, Princess. How were you able to do that?"

"That's right." Lucy noted. "Being able to force the gates open or shut is impressive enough, but you created those keys?"

"I'm a Celestial Spirit Mage, too." Hisui replied.

"Come to think of it, Princess Hisui created the time portal for the Eclipse Project." Levy noted.

"And that portal was made from the magic from the Books of Zeref and Celestial Spirit Magic..." Ditea added. "Now that you mention it, it does make sense."

"But these keys can't be used yet." Hisui shut the briefcase. "The reason is..." she was cut off when a strong gust of wind blew past them and blew the suitcase out of Hisui's hands and the younger Pisces grabbed the case.

"The keys are mine now, zura!" the younger Pisces grinned.

"You did very well." the mother half of the Twin Fish praised and the now shark-like fish burst out from the ground. "You did well, sonny."

"Shut up, zura, old hag!" the younger Pisces retorted.

"Old hag?" the mother echoed in horror. "How can you say that? Calling your innocent mother an old hag! It's too much to bear!" she wept. "You're making me cry! I'm crying the tears of a misunderstood shark!"

"Are those two really mother and son?" Levy wondered.

"Yes, that's beyond dispute." Yukino confirmed. "They're Celestial Spirits of the 12 Golden Gates that I have a contract with, Pisces, mother and son, two in one."

"Mercury's Stellar representations, huh?" Ditea mumbled.

"Pisces, give back the keys you stole!" Yukino shouted. "Those are the precious keys that will save you 12 Golden Gates."

"I guess we used to have a contract with you, but we've been released from it, zura!" the younger Pisces snapped.

"We don't have anything to do with you now." the mother half added. "Sonny, you took the keys, so there's no need to stick around."

"Yeah, but I wanna have more fun, zura." the son half pouted. "Especially with him, the Dragon Slayer, Natsu, zura!"

"Don't go putting 'zura' at the end of my name!" Natsu retorted. "This time for sure, I'm gonna knock a spirit back to normalcy. And I'll get those keys back while I'm doing it!" he promised and ran off to engage the male half of the Twin Fish. "Get back here!" he roared, Happy taking him to the skies to chase after the younger Twin Fish.

"Please protect the Princess, Lucy-sama." Yukino requested. "I still have Celestial Spirits that can fight."

"Then, I'll help Yukino, Lu-chan." Levy stated.

"I won't let you interfere with sonny!" the mother half of the Twin Fish blocked Yukino and Levy. "Here I go!"

"I'll go first!" Yukino pulled out a Silver Key. "Gate of the Bear Cub, I open thee! Polaris!"

"Kuma!" the manifested Spirit fought the charging shark to a standstill.

"When it comes to power, he won't lose." Yukino was confident.

"Nice job!" the shark remarked and slammed the bear into a cliff with her tail.

"Polaris, Power Up!" Yukino instructed, her Key shining.

"I take honey instead of oil, kuma." the Polaris Celestial Spirit took out a pot of honey from his belly and started drinking. "Mighty Bear!"

"That's adorable." the shark chuckled. "But good boys need to take a nap after lunch. Are you a good boy? Or a bad boy?"

"I"m a good cub." Polaris replied. "I take my nap after lunch." and started dozing off.

"No!" Yukino gasped. "Wake up!"

"Now it's time for me to eat!" the shark flew in.

"This time, you have to deal with me." Levy glared.

"Levy-sama, Pisces' weakness is water." Yukino informed.

"Solid Script: Water!" Levy sent her water spell flying towards the shark.

"Thank you for the snack!" the shark swallowed the water. "Time to eat!" she closed in.

"If water won't work, then maybe fire." Levy surmised. "Solid Script: Fire! No good?" she gasped when the shark swallowed the blazing word.

"Oh no, she dived underground!" Yukino exclaimed when the shark dove under the earth. "Gate of the Swan, I open thee! Deneb!"

"Deneb is here..." the shy swan Spirit appeared. "I don't need your sympathy. I bet you're thinking, 'He's the Celestial Spirit Swan, but his wings aren't white.'"

"Deneb, figure out where Pisces is going to come from and fight her." Yukino instructed.

"When a girl who's doing her best tell me to do my best, it has the opposite effect." the Swan Spirit sighed.

"Very good!" the shark popped up from behind them.

"Deneb, you don't have to do your best!" Yukino shouted.

"I don't want you to say that." Deneb remarked. "I can do it if I try. Summer Triangle!" he enclosed the female Pisces in a triangle and sent her flying off. "That's annoying." he muttered and closed his own gate.

"He's moody." Yukino explained.

"What was that?" the shark was tackled off by Arcadios.

"Sunburst!" Aeon Venus' orb of light exploded underneath the shark, knocking her to the ground and allowing Arcadios to fight the female Spirit on even ground.

"You're very skillful, but my dorsal fin cuts through anything." the shark chuckled. Backflipping, she powered up her dorsal fin.

"Shine upon justice, Laito!" Aeon Venus summoned her Celestial Sword. "We can tell you how you're going to move! And your weakness..." she charged in alongside Arcadios.

"Is right here!" Arcadios thrust his sword straight to the underskin of the shark.

"Sharkskin!" the female Spirit hardened the area, the resulting impact snapping Arcadios' sword and throwing both him and Aeon Venus off.

"Gate of the Clock, I open thee! Horologium!" Lucy summoned the grandfather clock. "Get inside, Princess."

"No, I won't just stand by and cry like I did with Eclipse." Hisui insisted. "Besides, I'm kind of a Celestial Spirit Mage, too. I don't want to run away anymore."

"Lucy Kick!" Lucy tried her flying kick on Pisces, only to be sent flying off. "How about this?" she summoned Plue.

"Now it's your turn to dance!" Pisces declared after Plue dematerialized.

"Wing Attack of the Fire Dragon!" Natsu flew in, having reclaimed the briefcase. "I got the keys back."

"Let's hurry up and shut the gate on Pisces." Lucy urged.

"I'd like to, but the keys can only be activated to shut the gates after being charged with the magic of the mage who has a contract with the Spirits, and the Spirits have to have lost the will to fight." Hisui explained.

"Here she comes again!" Happy warned.

"When my mother is angry, she has the power of a hundred people." the younger Pisces chuckled, riding on the back of his mother.

"Roar of..." both Natsu and the older Pisces powered up their attacks.

"The Fire Dragon!" Natsu released his attack.

"The Mom!" the shark fired her attack. "What a pain." she muttered when both attacks canceled each other out. "Then I'll give you a Sharkskin Body Press."

"Kappa!" the younger half of the Twin Fish grabbed the suitcase after the group dived to dodge. "Got it, zura!" he boasted. "This'll do it, zura!"

"Take care!" the mother sang and shot off.

"I can't afford to give up now." Hisui was firm. "If they stole the keys, I'll make new keys."

"That's the spirit, Princess." Arcadios praised. "More importantly, I apologize. I know this was impertinent of me, but I thought something like this might happen, so I gave you a dummy set of keys." he reached into his pumpkin helmet and pulled out the real key set.

"So..." Ditea trailed. "That fight... was for nothing!?"

"Then, all we have to do is to find out where Astral Spirytus is." Lucy noted.

"And then we can stop Liberum." Yukino beamed.

"The other reason we were heading for Fairy Tail was to tell you that location." Hisui revealed.

SailorStar9: Now that's done, read and review.