Chapter Thirteen Wendy's Resolve
"You two are some of those pesky Fairy Tail flies? What are you doing here?" Erigor asked.
"We're here to kick your butt, you dress wearing wind bag!" Natsu shouted. "I'm gonna burn you and that stupid flute of yours too a crisp!"
"So, you were able to break through my wind barrier? You little flies can be such a nuisance," Erigor said. "Now get out of my way kid. Or else."
He sent a large burst of wind at the direction Natsu and Wendy were standing as well as where Carla and Happy lay exhausted. Natsu leapt over the burst while Wendy got down to the ground with the cats. Natsu then smashed the ground where Erigor stood, the scythe-wielding wizard flew into the air.
"Come back down here and fight me like a man!" Natsu shouted.
"Don't get too cocky, fly! Stormbreaker!"
A large tornado sent Natsu spinning upwards and he fell back down, missing the railway tracks and falling into the canyon below.
"Big brother!" Wendy shouted.
Erigor chuckled. "There's no way he'll survive that fall! Now it's your turn little fly."
He sent a wind attack at Wendy, who only had one chance. She opened her mouth as a wind explosion sounded. Erigor grinned, thinking he had won. Only to be shocked when he saw the little girl standing there with her cheeks puffed up and she swallowed.
"What? But how?" he asked.
"My brother is the Fire Dragon Slayer, I'm the Sky Dragon! I eat air!" Wendy said. "Your wind is pretty violent, takes me a little effort to swallow it! I couldn't get us through the wind barrier, but now I've gotten used to this wind!"
Erigor snarled. Then Wendy came at him, strengthened by his wind magic.
"Sky Dragon Roar!"
A burst of air shot at Erigor, who put up another wind barrier like the one he'd surrounded the train station with (but much smaller this time) to protect himself. He felt it being pushed against, surprised by the strength until he realized this little girl was using his own power against him! His wind barrier shattered, and he was sent flying, but he managed to catch himself in midair and fly back at her, raising his scythe.
"My wind won't work on you will it? Well try this!" he swung his weapon at her.
The blade narrowly missed Wendy's neck as she backflipped away. She drew her daggers in time to block his follow up attack. Erigor smiled at her, like him she used a weapon as well as wind magic. They were slightly similar. He swung his scythe at her several times, she jumped, propelled by her wind magic in a similar manner to how Natsu had evaded the first attack. Then she blocked with one dagger and leapt forward to stab him with the other. But Erigor sent another burst of wind out at her to protect himself, she didn't have the chance to swallow it in time before being hurled back. She landed on her back with a grunt.
"Wendy!" Carla called as she tried to summon her wings to no avail.
Erigor smiled as he advanced on Wendy, she opened her eyes and tried to attack, he simply put his foot on her and raised his weapon.
"You put up a good fight. Especially for a very little fly!" he said.
Wendy grunted. "It's not over yet!"
"Oh?" Erigor asked.
"Get off my sister!" Natsu's voice shouted.
Flames so intense burned as he rejoined the battle. Erigor turned and saw the S-class wizard, he flew up into the air to face Natsu.
"Big brother!" Wendy exclaimed in relief.
"Natsu!" Happy added.
"Why am I not surprised?" Carla asked. "It takes a lot to bring him down!"
"Persistent little fly! Or firefly to be precise!" he said.
"This little firefly is gonna make you wish you hadn't been born!" Natsu roared, his rage at full power. "Okay, Wendy! Give me some fire from that dagger!"
Wendy looked around. "Uh, I can't! I lost my daggers when I was knocked down!"
"What?" Natsu said. "Ah well I'll just have to defeat him without it!"
"No, I want to take him down!" Wendy said.
"He's too strong!" Natsu argued.
"I was doing just fine fighting him on my own!" Wendy countered.
"Well I'm back in the fight and I'm taking him! Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" he attacked before Wendy could argue further.
Erigor tried to put up another wind barrier to protect himself, but the raw power of Natsu's rage at seeing his little sister threatened was to much for him. Erigor was sent flying as Natsu headbutted him, the dragon slayers body covered in flames. The dark mage vanished, leaving the flute behind. Natsu smiled.
"Natsu, I could have taken him!" Wendy snapped.
"Well I did it okay?"
"No its not okay! I'm tired of you never letting me do anything!" Wendy folded her arms.
Natsu looked at her in astonishment. It was so rare for her to ever get mad at him. He couldn't recall something like this ever happening between them. Soon Erza and the others arrived in the magic mobile.
"You two took down Erigor, well done!" Erza said.
"Yes, but Wendy lost her daggers in the fight!" Carla pointed out as she managed to get to her feet.
"We better find them! Then we'll head up to Clover. Since we're this close we might as well drop in on the master!" Erza said as she noticed the lullaby flute and picked it up.
It took them a while to locate Wendy's daggers but they eventually did. Then they went on to Clover where the Guild Master Conference was. They handed them the Lullaby which was sent to the Magic Council, and Makarov himself lead them back to Fairy Tail on a several day long walk.
…
Lucy sat in her room writing a letter to her mother. She recounted the events of the Eisenwald Incident, then sealed the note and stretched. She was startled when she heard a voice behind her.
"Man seventy thousand jewel a month is dirt cheap for a place like this," Gray said. "You totally scored Lucy!"
The Celestial wizard looked and saw him, her eyes going wide at the sight of him in only his underwear and in her house uninvited.
"Intruder alert!" And she kicked him. "No stripping in my house buddy!"
"Hey, give me a moment to explain would ya?" he put his hand up to fend her off. "I was naked when I got here."
"Get out!" she ordered pointing to the door.
"So you forgot about today huh? I figure you wouldn't remember so I came by to remind you."
"About what?" she asked her hostility vanishing as quickly as it came.
"Well let me try and jog your memory," Gray said. "Remember when Natsu challenged Erza at the train station but Wendy wanted to fight her fight? They're all about to have at it."
Lucy ran to the Guild where sure enough, Wendy stood facing Erza. The guild members were all gathered around them to watch. They were even betting on one girl or the other.
"Put me up for Erza in the first round!" Happy said as he gave the betting system a hundred thousand jewel.
"You're betting against her!" Lucy and Carla said astonished.
"Aww, I wanted to fight Erza first!" Natsu said.
"I bet Erza's gonna make short work of Wendy," one of the members said.
"I don't know, Erza's been training that little girl herself so that's gotta count for something," Mirajane said.
"Well Erza better look out cause if Wendy gets hurt Natsu unleashes his fool manliness!" Elfman said.
"I don't want either of them to lose!" Lucy said.
Makarov put up his hand. "Get ready!"
Wendy already had her daggers out and stood facing her mentor. Erza stood there with a fierce gaze.
"Well Wendy, you're in luck. I don't have any armor that is resistance to wind magic yet. I'll have to add that to my arsenal," Erza said.
Wendy smiled. "I'd give it my all either way. You taught me to do that."
"Set," Makarov continued.
Erza requiped her standard sword.
"Go!"
The scarlet haired woman leapt at the blue haired girl. Their blades clashed several times, Wendy defended with her daggers, Erza's speed with her sword was impressive. But Wendy managed to hold her at bay. She then leapt back.
"Sky dragon roar!"
Erza would have been thrown back if not for sticking her sword in the ground.
"You've gotten strong," she said with a smile.
They were about to continue when a clap sounded.
"Stop! This fight is over!" a voice called.
Everyone in Fairy Tail froze and looked to see the speaker was a humanoid frog.
"I'm here on behalf of the magic council! There were numerous accounts of destruction of property during the recent Eisenwald Incident! According to reports a scarlet haired wizard in armor was among them. Erza Scarlet you are under arrest!"
This shocked the entire guild.
…
Later, Erza returned (along with Natsu who had snuck away to try and bust her out). It had only been for formalities and she would have been released regardless. Lucy returned home and received a surprise. Wendy and Carla were in her house sitting on the sofa.
"Hello Lucy!" Wendy said.
"Why does everyone feel the need to break into my house!" Lucy whined.
"Apologies, but we needed to speak with you," Carla said.
"What's up?" Lucy asked.
"Its my brother," Wendy said with a frown. "He doesn't seem to think I can take care of myself! He never lets me handle the fights. I could have beaten Erigor on my own without his help!
"Hey he's just worried about you," Lucy said. "It's a big brother's job to protect his little sister."
"After what happened with Lisanna, its not surprising he became a bit overprotective," Carla said.
"Who's Lisanna?" Lucy asked.
"His old girlfriend," Wendy said sadly.
"Girlfriend?" Lucy was surprised. "Natsu had a girlfriend?"
"Well, they never really became that way," Carla said. "They might have though, if she hadn't died."
"Oh," Lucy said sadly.
"Well, I've made a decision," Wendy said. "I want to go on a mission with just you, that will prove to my brother I can take care of myself!"
"Oh? What kind of job are we taking?" Lucy wondered aloud.
"A big one, S-class!" Carla held up a piece of paper with a noticeable red S stamp on it.
"HOW DID YOU GET THAT?!" Lucy's hair stood up as she saw the stamp. "I thought we weren't allowed to go on the second floor?"
"I simply climbed the stairs and grabbed it," Carla said.
"You what? I would expect something like this from Happy and Natsu but you two?" Lucy was astounded. These two seemed more sensible then their male teammates.
"Normally I don't approve of such reckless behavior, but Wendy needs a chance to shine!" Carla said. "She's grown stronger, I remember she used to be a weak little girl but thanks to Erza I believe she's very capable!"
"I can't even imagine what I would have ended up like if not for big brother and Erza!" Wendy said. "I'd probably be much weaker than I am now!"
"No!" Lucy said. "I'm not going to do this! We're not ready for S-class!"
"But take a look at this!" Carla pointed to the request. "Seven million Jewel AND we get one of those gate keys you collect!"
Lucy's eyes widened as she saw that detail. "Really? Okay, I'm coming!"
They headed out.
…
The next morning, Mirajane found out the bad news.
"Master, I have bad news! One of the S-class quests is missing!"
Makarov spit out a mouthful of beer!
Author's Notes: Well I decided to skip Lullaby's activating since Kageyama was left at the train station after Wendy healed him. I did consider having him follow them, but he'd never able to catch up with the Magic Mobile so that was pretty much out of the question. Ah well now we can start with the Galuna Island Arc, but this time its Wendy that steals the S-class quest.