Chapter 26 Wendy and Carla's Training
Even though they'd failed to kiss, Natsu and Lucy's date had gone well for the most part. They walked to her house and Lucy turned to say goodbye.
"I hope you enjoyed this," she said. He's going to be dating Lisanna next, I hope that doesn't go as well.
"Yeah, it's my first date. I never actually saw myself doing anything like this. I was always more concerned with training and finding Igneel than having a romantic life," Natsu said.
"Well, I guess I'll see you at the guild tomorrow then?" she asked.
"Yeah!" he grinned at her. "I think you should probably focus on training tomorrow, the S-class trials are just a week away!"
"Right!" she said. "Me and Levy will be working hard!"
…
Natsu headed home. He found Wendy, Carla and Happy already there.
"Oh you're back big brother!" Wendy greeted him.
"Yeah. Did you enjoy the party?" Natsu asked.
His sister nodded. "Yes. And tomorrow Carla and I are going to train hard."
"I'm going to make myself useful!" Carla promised.
"Hey its not like you're useless Carla!" Happy told his crush.
"True, we're both useful for getting to places quickly or flying. But in combat we're both pretty useless," the white cat said.
"You got a point there," Happy admitted.
"Well no more. I'm going to learn a way to fight for myself!" Carla vowed. "No more being just a spectatator!"
"Wow Carla that sounds like a good goal!" Natsu said.
"How are you going to do that?" Happy asked.
"Simple tomcat! Learn a new form of magic!" Carla said.
…
They went to Fairy Tail tomorrow. It was a training day, with the S class trials approaching fast everyone had to focus on getting stronger. That included the S-class wizards themselves. Natsu went with Gildarts where they traded blows of crush and fire dragon slayer magic. Erza was practicing her swordsmanship with Wendy while Carla and Lisanna were both with Mirajane.
Blades clashed as Erza went after Wendy in her flight armor. The cheetah styled cloth increased the knight's speed to the maximum, she was so fast that Wendy couldn't keep up. Her twin short swords swiping at her protégé. Wendy couldn't keep up with the raw speed of her mentors armor like this. But… she had a way to increase her own speed.
"O swift wind that dashes through the heavens!...VERNIER!"
Her speed enchantment took effect and she was better equipped to deal with Erza's speed. Another set of lightning fast attacks came from Erza's short swords, but Wendy blocked them all. She still could not counter attack though, her blades were too short for her to get close enough with. If Erza had been wielding a heavier, slower sword that might given Wendy an opening, but that was not the case. As such, Wendy had to rely on another method to take her down.
The sky maiden leapt back. "Sky dragon roar!"
Wind flew at Erza who stuck her swords in the ground like she had during their sparring match after the Eisenwald incident. Unfortunately for her, Wendy's sky dragon roar had improved in the last few months and the short blades didn't dig in deep enough to keep her from being thrown back. The knight was thrown off her feet, too her surprise. But she smiled.
"Very good Wendy! You've gotten much stronger since our last match. The other combatants will be hard pressed to hold their own against you. But lets see how you handle this! Heavens Wheel!"
Her new armor materialized and a dozen levitating swords hung in the air. Wendy shivered at the sight but held her determination. Erza sent them at her, but Wendy dodged them.
If Erza is using her Heavens Wheel Armor, that means her speed has decreased. Wendy thought as she flipped to the side. That means I'm faster now!
Wendy charged at Erza and let out a series of thrusts and slashes with her daggers. Erza used her two heavens wheel swords, but they were larger and heavier than Wendy's daggers. The young dragon slayer caught Erza on her armored side, which she'd struck deliberately to avoid hurting Erza badly.
Erza smiled.
"Very good!"
"I wonder how Carla is doing?" Wendy wondered.
…
In another area of Magnolia, Mirajane was with Carla and Lisanna. Lisanna needed to practice her take overs and catch up as much as she could after two years of being in Edolas. Carla was there as well. She'd decided to try transformation magic first. First Mirajane gave Carla and overview of transformation theory. Then they moved onto actual practice.
"Now picture what you want to become."
"Something strong," Carla said. "Something that can actually be useful in combat so that I don't have to be merely a spectator!"
"Well, that is the function of what you want," Mirajane said. "But that could be anything. Do you want to be maybe… a knight like Erza?
"No not quite that," Carla said. "I haven't actually thought of what to transform into yet. This was just an idea of what I could try first."
"Well, you need to picture a form. But if it's a form to make yourself look stronger, perhaps you would settle for a transformation to increase your size like how Lily sometimes looks?"
Carla thought of Pantherlily who could transform from an exceed her size to a large humanoid cat that could actually use blades.
"That could be useful. Though I would probably want something a little different."
"Hmm… why not turn yourself into a tiger?" Lisanna asked.
"A tiger?" Carla asked.
"Why not? A tiger is like a cat, but much more dangerous," Lisanna said.
Carla thought about it. She pictured herself as a larger striped white tiger on two legs with wings. It filled her with quite a bit of fear.
"Not sure I want to be too scary like a monster!" Carla said.
"Tigers are still pretty animals!" Lisanna said. "Except when you make them angry!"
Carla hesitated, but sighed. "Well, I guess its worth a try. Having bigger claws and strength would probably come in handy. Okay."
Carla focused, then transformed in a puff of smoke. She looked at herself. She was a much bigger cat now, even taller then the other ladies present and perhaps as big as Laxus. Her ears were now more round like a tigers, (though not quite as round as Lily's) massive paws and long sharp claws had replaced her tiny arms. They looked like they could do some serious damage. Though her clothes had vanished with the transformation.
"Hmm… not too difficult at all. I suppose I should suspect as much since we exceeds do use Aera which is similar to transformation magic," Carla said. "But I'd prefer not to go walking around naked."
"Well, that's a good first step. We'll work on adding clothes next. Just picture in your mind and it will come. You have to focus on every detail to get the transformation right."
"Focus on every detail, got it."
Carla focused and another puff of smoke appeared. Her tiger like form was now covered in a striped black and white dress that matched her tiger like theme.
"This could work," Carla said.
"I think you certainly look able to fight," Mirajane said. "I think tomorrow we will work on using it in combat."
"Right!" Carla said as she transformed back to her normal form.
Mirajane turned to her younger sister. "Now I think we should focus on your date tomorrow."
Lisanna smiled. Tomorrow would be her chance to win Natsu over!
Well, there's the training done for Wendy and Carla. Next time will feature Natsu and Lisanna's date.