Chapter 2: Investigating in Oak Town
Everyone was gathered at Magnolia Train Station, with their packed belongings on hand. The train that would take them to Oak Town would be arriving any minute now, and the Fairy Tail wizards were glad they had arrived on time. However, Juno was muttering lowly of Bickslow since she dreaded having to work with him after being insulted for how much she had grown over the past seven years.
"Remember my condition, Juno," Ari reminded her.
"I know, but—" Juno started to protest.
"No buts. If you start a fight with Bickslow again, Laxus will punish you."
"Yeah, and we'll even ban you from going on jobs with us," Bickslow added, sticking his tongue out at her.
"Banned. Banned, banned, banned," his babies parroted.
Juno huffed crossly, and she stuck out her tongue right back at him. The two leaned in toward one another, engaging in a juvenile battle of the tongues her sister's dismay.
"Enough," Ariella warned her sternly.
Bickslow and Juno immediately stopped, though they did snort at each other like angry bulls and turn away from each other. That earned a low sigh from Ariella, whereas Freed and Evergreen simply disregarded them. They did not want to involve themselves in Bickslow and Juno's situation since they dreaded seeing them squabble over silly subjects.
"I figure that they would do the silent treatment on each other the whole time," Laxus assumed. "At least we won't have to deal with them all of the time."
"I hope this would last the entire mission," Evergreen said to him. "Juno needs to start acting like the grown-up she is if she wants to earn respect from us."
"Indeed," Freed replied, nodding in concord. "I don't blame Ariella for this, but ultimately, Juno must take responsibility for her own actions and adjust her attitude."
"My thoughts exactly," Laxus and Evergreen said in unified voices.
Just then, a large train pulled up as an announcement was made on the intercom: "Train to Oak Town has now arrived and will begin boarding momentarily. Please wait until all of the passengers have exited the train."
"Finally. Our ride to Oak Town is here," Laxus said.
"It's about time. When we get to Oak Town, I would love to do some shopping," Evergreen , as she visualized herself browsing around the town with the boys carrying shopping bags for her.
"Yeah… but there's no time for you to shop, Ever. We have to interrogate the shop owners about Medusa's Gorgon's motives behind the robberies," Bickslow reminded her.
"And we also have to find out why they targeted and killed the five female wizards," Ariella added.
"Ariella and Bickslow are correct. Your shopping trip will have to wait," Freed said to her.
Evergreen was left feeling disappointed as the vision cloud of her shopping trip faded, and she let out a low sigh and crossed her arms. Then again, she understood that their priority was to investigate the robberies and the dark guild's intentions to murder the five mages.
It was a decent train ride to the Fairies, as because Oak Town was located northwest of Magnolia and it was where the former dark guild, Phantom Lord, was located. Juno and Bickslow were silent the entire trip, as they did not want to risk breaking Ari's condition and starting a scene. The Mages finally arrived at Oak Town's train station and departed the train with their belongings on hand.
"Alright, first things first: Minette Jewelers," Ariella said, examining the list closely.
"Do you know where it is?" Evergreen asked her.
Ariella shook her head in response, and she answered her: "No, and I have never been to Minette Jewelers nor this town before. So this is my first time traveling there."
"Maybe there is a map of the town around here somewhere," Freed suggested. "Or we can ask someone for directions to—"
"Found it!"
The Mages turned to see Juno pointing to a directory near the office. It had a full map of Oak Town, along with a small bin containing maps of the town.
"Oh, good job, Juno. You found a directory. Maybe this will help us out," Ariella said to her sister. "Now, there should be some maps of the town that we can use when we're on the go. Why don't you take one and bring it to us?"
"Will do!" Juno replied, grabbing a map from the directory's map bin and hurried back to the group.
No fair! How come she gets to find a map first before I would!? Bickslow thought, steam blowing out of his ears as he frowned at her, his fist clenching tightly.
"Well, you've got a keen eye… for a troublemaking pest," Laxus commented smugly.
"Gee, thanks, Spark Ball," Juno replied to him. She glanced at Bickslow and smirked deviously at him as she stuck out her tongue at him, making him angrier.
"Juno!" Ariella chided her. "Do not provoke Bickslow!"
"Take it easy, Bicks," Laxus said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "That brat is just trying to piss you off with her troublemaking side."
"And don't engage in any juvenile fights with her," Freed reminded him.
"We know. That's the condition Ari set on her and we have to make sure she doesn't violate it at all costs," Bickslow explained to him, once he was able to ease himself of his anger.
"Quit standing around and let's get going!" Evergreen snapped, holding up the map in front of them. "We're going to Minette Jewelers first! Then it'll be off to Grier & Bosworth, and Zakuro Shoe Warehouse will be last."
"Right!" the others said to her, and they all headed out of the train station and into town, with Minette Jewelers as their first destination in mind. Thanks to following the map and the street signs, they made it to the jewelry shop without getting lost.
A fifty-something female with lavender hair tied up into a bun, light blue eyes, and porcelain skin was sobbing, wiping away her tears with a plain handkerchief as she was trying to tell the Mages about the robbery.
"T-T-They took everything! The diamonds, the necklaces, the earrings—including the newest shipment of rings that just arrived last week!" she wept.
"Did you try to stop them?" Freed asked her.
"Yes, but they didn't listen to me as they kept breaking into my glass displays and taking the jewels out of them!" the store owner explained, still in tears.
"We have to find out their motive behind the robberies," Laxus reminded Freed. He then glanced back at the store owner and he asked her:
"M'am, is there by any chance you know the dark guild Medusa's Gorgon?"
"Y-Yes," she answered him. "I saw their guild mark on one of the members, just before they took off. They even told me who they were when they first broke into my store."
"We need to figure out their reason behind this robbery. My guess is that they're doing this for bragging rights."
"Maybe? Or they want to sell off the jewels for higher profits," Freed assumed.
"Oh, no! Not my precious jewelry!" the store owner wept, horrified of this possibility.
Ariella was examining a glass display that was shattered into tiny pieces, and it once contained a set of sapphire jewels ranging from a pendant and matching earrings to bracelets. Now the sapphires were gone, and Ari couldn't help by sympathize the owner for her unfortunate predicament.
Evergreen was scanning another broken glass display, which used to hold inside emerald jewels such as a grand statement necklace and a teardrop-shaped emerald ring with a gold band.
"It's a shame, really," she wondered aloud. "I would've gotten to try the emeralds for myself if they weren't stolen!"
"But now they are in the hands of Medusa's Gorgon and we have to retrieve them," Ariella said. "The problem is, we don't know where they are right now."
Bickslow and Juno were assigned to examine a shattered glass display that was once the home for ruby rings, bracelets, earrings and a grand pendant with pearls; however, they kept shoving one another as they were trying to get a better peek of the empty display.
Ariella turned to see them roughly pushing each other, and right away, she knew that Juno was about to break the condition she set on her.
"Juno!" she snarled at her sister, startling her.
Juno, now remembering her sister's condition, refrained from shoving Bickslow once more as she stepped away with a nervous chuckle.
"Why don't you keep looking here, Bickslow?" she said to him. "I-I'll go to another display for investigating!"
As soon as Juno slinked away to another broken display, which was once home to amethyst jewels, Bickslow sighed with relief and he continued to examine the empty ruby display.
"I'm glad she finally stopped and listened to her," he said to his babies.
"Finally, finally," his babies mimicked him.
Later, it was onto Grier & Bosworth for the Mages. A silver-haired male in his sixties wearing an monocle and his partner, a fifty something man with dark brown short hair, were being questioned by Freed and Laxus and they had quite much to say of what happened.
"It was business as usual for us until these men from a dark guild came barging in and started stealing our goods!" the owner frantically told them.
"We attempted to halt them of their ransacking, but I ended up getting beaten up by two dark mages and I was left with a black eye!" the partner added, pointing to his blackened right eye.
"And that's not all… I was struck down by some magic blast, and when I recovered, the men disappeared! And nearly all of our items are gone along with them!" the owner cried, bursting into tears.
Ariella, Juno, Bickslow and Evergreen were tasked to examine racks and displays that had been ransacked. They searched high and low for any evidence, but so far, no luck for them just yet.
Bickslow was searching through a shattered glass display that once contained watches when he came across some red graffiti splattered on a wall next to the display case. A guild emblem was written on it, belonging to Medusa's Gorgon.
"Hey, it's that emblem that lady from the jewelry store was talking about. I've gotta report this to the boss," he said.
Evergreen was rummaging through a nearly-empty rack of belts when she felt a smack on her rear end. She tried her best not to yelp in pain, and when she turned around, it was Juno who was using a brown belt to whip her. She was laughing roguishly at her until Ari appeared right behind her and grabbed her by the back of her shirt.
"Cut it out, Juno. We're supposed to be investigating," she chastised her, confiscating the brown belt from her.
"Sorry," Juno muttered lowly. She then eyed on a black belt and visualized herself whipping Bickslow the same way she just did to Evergreen, a mischievous smirk forming across her lips. Oh, how fun it would be for her…
"Hey, can I do the same to Bickslow with this one?" she asked, pointing out to the belt.
"No!" Ari and Evergreen shouted.
That earned a disappointed pout from Juno, as she folded her arms and shook her head. So much for whipping Bickslow with the belt…
"You both have survived the assaults, but those thieves will not get away with it," Freed said to the owner and his partner.
"They'll be around here somewhere… or elsewhere," Laxus assumed. "But don't you gentlemen worry. We'll bring back your goods once we arrest the thieves."
"Hey, boss! You have to check this out!" Bickslow called out, grabbing his boss's attention.
Freed, Laxus, and the girls headed over to where Bickslow was standing, and they took a close examination of the graffiti. He was right all along; it was indeed the same guild mark as the jewelry store owner mentioned!
"Yep, that must be Medusa's Gorgon, alright," Laxus said.
"Then that means we're getting closer to finding them!" Evergreen exclaimed.
"We don't know where they are right now and when they may strike, but at the very least we did find some crucial evidence thanks to Bickslow," Freed said, placing a hand on Bickslow's shoulder. That earned a confident grin from his friend; he then turned to Juno and said to her:
"I have a keen eye, just like ya, so you better watch out, Juno. Because I'll be the better keen eye than you."
"No, you're not," Juno retorted. "You're just a tall, foolish oaf who cares only about your stupid dolls and—"
Laxus leaned in toward Juno, growling crossly at her. It indicated that he was telling her 'enough is enough', and she gulped uneasily with a nervous smile forming on her face.
"I mean—congrats to Bickslow. You are as good as I am!"
That was two stores down, and one more to go for the Fairy Tail mages to complete their day of investigating in Oak Town.
"Now, onto Zakuro Shoe Warehouse," Ariella said.
At Zakuro Shoe Warehouse, it was Ariella and Freed's turn to do the interrogating this time around. Laxus, Bickslow, Evergreen and Juno were searching throughout the store for any additional clues that the dark guild may have left behind, but nothing yet.
The owner of the shop was a female in her forties, with her long brown hair into a high bun and a pair of forest green eyes. She was dressed in casual business attire, which seemed fitting for her business.
"I was hiding behind my desk the entire time the men ravaged through my store and got away with nearly every single pair of shoes my store had," she explained to them.
The shelves were just about empty, scarce of the shoes that were once on display for customers to try on and/or buy. Only very few pairs remained, though, and it was a small relief to the owner in the wake of the robbery. The Fairy Tail wizards wondered why Medusa's Gorgon would steal shoes aside from jewelry and luxury goods, and their assumptions were to sell them for higher profits or merely for bragging rights. Only time would tell when they would confront the thieves for the first time…
Evergreen came across a pair of emerald green heels and she took them off the shelf almost immediately. She admired the color, hence her name had the exact color in it, and she figured that she would need them for her shoe collection.
"Ooh, I love them," she said of them. "These heels will go with my green dresses that I have at my dorm in Fairy Hills!"
"Ever…," Bickslow grimaced, frowning at her.
"Well, at least I found them in my size!" she retorted.
Ugh… why does she have to buy shoes while investigating a robbery? the Seith Mage thought to himself.
In the midst of the interrogation, Ariella and Freed were suddenly interrupted by their teammate, who was ready to buy the shoes.
"Evergreen?" Ariella asked her. "Are you done investigating? I think you found a clue."
"Actually, she found something for herself," Juno corrected her.
"Excuse me, miss, but can you put these on the tab for me?" Evergreen said, placing the shoes on the counter. The owner was left befuddled, since she never have any customers buying anything in the wake of a robbery until now.
That earned groans from the boys and Juno, whereas Ariella simply emitted a nervous chuckle as a bead of sweat ran down the left side of her head.
"Oh, uh, sure, madam," the store owner said to her, ringing in the shoes. "That would be 4,500 Jewel."
"Girls and their love for shoes…," Bickslow grumbled, only for Evergreen to hear it from within an earshot.
"I heard that!" she shouted at him.
"Evergreen…," Laxus snarled at her. "This is no time for a shopping trip…"
"It's just a pair of shoes, Laxus! What's wrong with shopping in the middle of an investigation?" the Fairy Mage assumed, as she handed the 4,500 Jewel to the store owner.
"Well, I think it is rather distracting," Freed said.
"I hate to say it, but I agree with Freed on this," Ariella added.
"Are you sure you're gonna impress Elfman with these, Medusa?" Juno asked teasingly.
Hearing her laugh (and being called Medusa) made Evergreen see red, and she marched over to Juno and roughly whacked her in the head with her fan.
"OWW!" Juno cried.
Everyone was left stunned in reaction to Evergreen's assault on Juno, including the store owner. The Nature Mage grumbled lowly as a large bump formed on the top of her head as a result of the hit, and Evergreen calmly returned to the counter to retrieve her newly purchased shoes, which were placed in a bag by the owner.
"W-Well, good luck to you for catching the thieves, Fairy Tail, and bring back my stolen shoes!" she said to them.
"Don't you worry. We'll bring them back to you once we bring these crooks to justice," Bickslow said to her with a confident grin.
Once they headed out of Zakuro Shoe Warehouse and Evergreen started doting her new shoes, everyone was relieved that their investigations were finally done for the day.
"Well, we found some evidence during our investigations and we should report them to the master right away," Freed said to Laxus.
"Yeah," Laxus replied with a nod. "Alright, let's head back to the guild and—"
All of a sudden, the Fairy Tail mages were startled by a strident scream that rang throughout the town.
"A scream!" Ariella exclaimed.
"It's coming from this alley!" Freed shouted, pointing to an alley not far from the store.
They immediately raced to the alleyway, where a petrified woman was trembling. Her pale blue handbag was dropped at her feet on the ground, along with two brown grocery bags.
"M'am, what's going on here?" Laxus asked her.
The woman didn't say a word, but pointed a quivering finger at the scene: the body of a twenty something female with strawberry blonde hair lying on the ground, a Medusa's Gorgon emblem burned on her back. On her right arm was a purple guild mark, indicating that she was indeed a Mage.
"Oh, no…," Ariella gasped, her eyes widening in horror. "Another victim has just been claimed."
"Let's examine the body," Freed suggested.
The moment the mage's body was turned over, the Fairy Tail Mages were horrified to see what was on her front side: bleeding scratch marks on her stomach and injuries all over her body. Her clothes had been ripped to shreds as a result of the attack, and when Ariella checked her pulse, she felt none.
"There's no pulse from her. She's no longer alive…," Ariella said in a melancholic tone of voice.
"We have to report this as a homicide. Let's find the town's authorities and notify them of it right away!" Evergreen exclaimed.
Little did the Fairies know that they were being watched from above. Up on a rooftop above the alley was Fang, along with another Medusa's Gorgon member who had an overly muscular physique and dark blue hair that was spiked all around his head. His name was Brutus, a close friend of Fang's who often worked with him during their missions.
"Well, Brutus, it looks like we have just found the Fairies…," Fang said to him. His eyes leered at Ariella, as he then added in a sinister tone of voice:
"And I have just found my newest victim."
The investigations come to a tragic end, and Medusa's Gorgon is on the move. Will the Fairies stay on their toes? Find out in the next chapter!
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