Chapter Twelve:
Storm, Cato, Persephone, Koree, Bianca, and Benedict just stood there, staring at Nashi as her shoulders trembled.
"Well...that complicates things…" Benedict finally said.
"Okay, let's not panic," Cato finally said as he knelt next to Nashi. "Nashi, where's Luna now?"
"With Layla and Igneel," Nashi answered.
"Okay," Cato nodded before turning to the other children. "Persephone go find Luna and upload a tracker on her. Make sure you give us all a connection so we can keep up with her."
"Right," Persephone nodded as she walked out of the dugout.
"Someone should probably guard Luna against here on out until we get to the bottom of everything," Cato continued.
"I'll go," Benedict said as he walked off after Persephone.
"Phoenix Grave is going into the battle rounds first, so we have time to secure her," Cato set his hand on Nashi's shoulder. "We'll keep her safe."
Nashi nodded but didn't look up and kept trembling.
Storm put his arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. He grimaced. "Nashi, what the-" his voice stopped as his eyes narrowed. "He used the same spell on you that he used on Roman, didn't he."
"Yeah," Nashi shrugged. "But I fought it off."
Storm sighed as he stood to his feet. "C'mon, let's get you to the healing ward."
"I'm fine," Nashi muttered.
"No, you're not. You may not have gotten it as bad as Roman but your nerves are still fried. Besides, it feels like you're low on magic energy."
"I said I was fine," Nashi said as she stood to her feet. "When are we up for the battle round?"
"Oh, no you don't!" Storm said before he did something no one expected. He grabbed Nashi by the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. "You're not going into the arena. Not in your shape!"
"Storm! Put me down!" Nashi shouted as Storm carried her out of the dugout.
"Well, that happened!" Koree exclaimed.
Cato only sighed as he leaned against the wall. "How long do you think it will take for them to realize?"
"Realize what?" Koree asked.
Cato sighed and rolled his eyes. "Never mind."
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Tate muttered to himself as he watched as Carmen and Georgiana fought it out against the Sabertooth team. Carmen was doing fine, given the fight, he'd had just a few minutes before. But Georgiana was carrying the fight.
"Whattsup with you?" Tierra asked from where she said.
"I think Mother's mad at me," Tate whispered.
"Yeah, what else is new?" Tierra huffed.
"I think Big Brother Carmen's mad at me too."
"So?"
"I didn't mean to! I thought Mother would be happy that Carmen was keeping a close eye on Fairy Tail. And I though Mother being happy with Carmen would make Carmen happy."
"You should stop trying to please everyone, Tate," Tierra muttered.
"But if Mother's not happy she hurts us. I don't want her to hurt us," Tate's bottom lip trembled.
Tierra sighed, giving Tate a soft look, a rare gesture on her part. "I know, just make sure you aren't the one she's mad at. Keep your head down. You'll be alright."
Tate sniffed and ran a hand over his eye-patch. "But...but...last time I tried that...she…"
Tierra gritted her teeth at the memory. "Yeah, but look at it this way, kid. You sent all those Fairies away. So you've already done your job. She doesn't have any reason to pay you any mind anymore. So keep your head down, as I said."
"But there are still Fairies here."
"She only told you to get rid of the adults."
"But she hates one of the kids. And that girl makes portals too. What if she-"
"Wait, who?" Tierra asked.
"The pink-headed girl. She makes portals. If she-"
Tierra suddenly stood to her feet, patting Tate on the back. "C'mon."
"Huh?" Tate asked.
Tierra ignored him. "Malla, Collin, let's go."
"Why? Where?" Collin asked.
"We're going to do some pest control…"
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"...pest control…"
Benedict stopped as he passed by the Phoenix Grave dugout. That didn't sound good…
"What do you mean by that?" someone asked.
Benedict tiptoed closer to listen.
"We're gonna take that Titan wizard and get rid of her before she undoes everything we've worked for here…"
Benedict gasped and ran back towards the Fairy Tail dugout. He slid into the door and shouted:
"Where's Nashi!?"
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"Storm, put me down!" Nashi shouted as she began beating against his back with her fists.
"No," Storm answered plainly. "You're hurt and you need help."
"No I'm not! Put me down!"
"No!"
"Storm, if you don't let me go right now I'll burn ya!"
"Try if you want but it won't work. I'm a water wizard, remember?"
"Ergh!" Nashi huffed as she crossed her arms.
Storm sighed as he continued to carry her towards the healing ward. "Y'know, it wouldn't kill you to let someone else take care of you for a change."
"I don't need taken care of."
"You will if you keep running into danger like that."
"He was gonna attack my sisters and brother, what was I supposed to do?"
"How about bring a friend along?"
"You were all busy with the games."
"Only one or two people can go in at a time, you knuckle head! You could have waited until the game start and brought someone with you!"
"I didn't have time to wait! He was already on the move when I found him!"
"So just grab one of us. Like I said, only one to two of us can go in at a time anyhow. It wouldn't have made much of a difference."
Finally reaching the healing ward, Storm opened the door. Roman was still curled up in bed, but sat up, surprised, by his friends entrance.
"Nashi? What did you do?" Roman asked.
"What!? Why are you assuming I did something!?" Nashi shouted.
"Because it's you," Roman answered plainly as Storm all but dumped Nashi onto an empty bed.
"Hold still," Storm ordered as he conjured up an orb of water and placed it over Nashi's chest. "Cleanse."
"Hey, you okay?" Roman asked as he slipped off his bed and drew closer to his friends.
"No," Storm answered as the water began soaking into Nashi's body. "That Carmen kid hit her with the same spell he used on you."
"It wasn't that bad," Nashi muttered.
"I'm literally the last person you can try and pull that lie off with, Nashi," Roman said as he crossed his arms. "So, why'd Storm have to drag you down here."
"Because she was going to try and enter the battle round," Storm answered.
"Because I'm fin-OW! Roman!" Nashi whined as Roman whacked her on the back of the head. "What was that for?"
"You being an idiot," Roman answered.
"Look, I'm still trying to heal her, could you not beat her up even more than she already is?" Storm muttered.
"Sorry," Roman said as he sat on the bed next to Nashi. The three of them just sat in silence for a while as Storm continued to work his healing spell.
Until a bright light began glowing from the ground below them.
"What the-" Nashi began shouting before she felt herself being sucked into the ground. Everything around her went dark and she gasped. Or tried to.
There was no air.
This felt like jumping into one of her Styx portals, only different. Colder. And darker.
"Nashi…" a voice called.
Nashi looked around, trying to figure out who was calling her. It was a deep voice, almost growling. But she couldn't see anything. It was only darkness surrounding her.
"Nashi…"
Suddenly a bright light cut through the darkness. Nashi blinked to try and adjust her vision. Before she could, she felt something clamp around her wrists.
"C'mon you little brat," someone said.
Nashi's vision finally came back and she found herself surrounded by four of the six kids from Elena's group. Tate, Tierra, Malla, and Collin.
"Good job, Tate," Collin said as he patted the younger boy on the back.
"Hey, whatta ya-" Nashi shouted as she tried to conjure up a flame, but nothing happened.
"Try all you want, but it's not happening," Tierra said as she grabbed Nashi by a…
...chain?
It was then Nashi realized she had shackles on her wrists. Magic cancelling shackles. Tierra jerked on the chain of the shackles, dragging Nashi behind her. "You're coming with us, you-AUGH!"
Tierra screeched as Nashi kicked her legs out from under her. Nashi took off running, but promptly got stuck as the ground seemingly split opened and swallowed her up to her neck.
"No you don't," Tierra grumbled as she waved her hand, the ground releasing Nashi. She then grabbed the younger girl by the hair and lifted her up. Nashi clawed at Tierra's hand, kicking and squirming. "Let go of me!"
One of her kicks landed in Tierra's gut, knocking the air out of her.
"Oof!"
"You're a regular little pain, aren't you?" Malla asked as she wrapped her arms around Nashi middle. Nashi kept wiggling and struggling.
"Lemme go!"
Tate grabbed onto one of Nashi's legs. Tierra grabbed the other. And they began dragging her off.
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"What happened?" Roman asked as he blinked, trying to regain his vision.
"Where's Nashi?" Storm asked.
"What? She was just here!" Roman exclaimed.
The door to the healing lounge busted open. Benedict, Koree, Cato, and Bianca all raced in.
"Where's Nashi?" Benedict asked.
"We don't know, she was just here and then she was gone!" Storm exclaimed.
"Crap!" Benedict raced in, frantically looking about. "Phoenix Grave got her!"
"What!?" Storm shouted.
"I overheard them talking! They said they wanted to get rid of her!"
"WHAT!?"
"Hang on!" Koree shouted as she held up her hand and sniffed the air. "Okay, I've got her, this way!"
She led the rest of the children back into the hall. Everyone followed close behind Koree as she barrelled through the hall and out a door.
They found Collin sitting near a magic vehicle, holding the back door open as Tierra, Tate, and Malla tried to force a struggling and screaming Nashi into it.
"There they are!" Koree shouted, catching Collin's attention.
Collin held up his hand and shouted "REQUIP!"
About a dozen machine guns appeared in mid air and began firing, forcing the Fairy Tail kids back into the hallway.
All except Storm, that was, who simply shouted: "WATER BODY!"
The bullets passed harmlessly through him, though that did not stop Bianca from shouting:
"Storm, get in here you idiot!" as she and the other children took cover inside the hallway.
Storm ignored her, but instead began to walk forward. It was slow going, though the rain of bullets didn't hurt him, they did make moving a bit difficult. Still, he was able to take one step forward after the other.
"Storm!" Bianca poked her head out after her brother, only to have it jerked back in by Roman grabbing her by the back of her head and shouting:
"Bianca, no! Get back!"
The bit of wall Bianca had been poking her head out from behind blew up as a hundred bullets tore through it.
"We gotta get out there, we've gotta help him!" Bianca yelled.
"How?" Koree shouted from the other side of the door way. "We step out there and we're gonna get shredded.
"Bianca," Benedict shouted from behind Koree. "How loud can you blow that horn that comes with that one angel form you got?"
"Huh?" Bianca asked.
"Your angel horn! Get it out and blow it!" Benedict yelled as more bullets flew through the door.
"But I'll just blow you guys away."
"Leave that to me! Just do it!"
"Okay, fine! Take over, angelic soul! Raguel!" Bianca shouted as a white light over took her body. Her hair turned white, her clothes transformed to angelic robes, wings sprouted from her back, and a horn appeared in her hand. She took a deep breath and gave it a loud blow.
"Sound magic, redirect!" Benedict shouted as he turned the sonic blast, aiming it towards the door. "Storm, get ready!"
Back outside, Storm barely heard Benedict's warning in time before he was blown away by the sonic blast. Thankfully he was still in his water body form, so it didn't hurt him. Rather it splattered him onto the back of the vehicle that Tierra, Tate, and Malla hand finally wrangled Nashi into. Collin jumped into the driver's seat and pumped the gas.
"Ergh," Tierra groaned as her face grew green and she curled up into the floor of the car.
Despite being and opponent down, Nashi found herself still pinned to the backseat, as Tate and Malla were holding her down, each grabbing onto one of her arms. Nashi began wildly kicking at the back of the driver's seat, annoying Collin.
"Get her to settle down!" he barked.
"We're trying! She's stronger than she looks!" Malla argued back.
"And she doesn't know when to stop," Tierra belched from the vehicle's floor.
The four enemies were so busy arguing, they didn't notice a translucent boy clingin onto the back window of the car.
"Nashi!" Storm called.
Nashi turned around, smiling in relief. "Storm!"
"Hey, we've got a clinger, shoot him!" Malla called to Collin.
"I already tried that, it didn't work!" Collin yelled as Storm began trying to shimmy his way to the backseat door.
"Then hit the brakes!"
The vehicle screeched to a stop, flinging Storm off the vehicle and into a wall.
"Ouch!" Storm yelled as he turned back to normal and the car sped off. "No!"
Storm jumped to his feet and tried to race after them, but they quickly began to speed out of his reach. That's when he heard a voice from behind him.
"...hhhhhhEEEEEYYYYYYYY STORMMMMMM!"
"Oof!" Storm grunted as he felt an impact from behind and was lifted into...the air?
Storm looked over his shoulder. "Bianca?"
Bianca, still i her angel form, only grinned as she said. "Let's get 'em!"
Bianca kept one arm around her older brother as she pointed her other hand at the speeding vehicle.
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"There they are!" Cato shouted, pointing to Bianca's light as he, Koree, Benedict, and Roman ran down the street.
"Take us away, bud!" Koree yelled, grabbing onto Cato's sleeve.
"Memory make meteor!" Cato shouted, and he and Korre disappeared into a burst of light.
"Hey, Roman, got any roller skates in your pockets?" Benedict asked.
"How am I supposed to carry skates inside my coat?" Roman arched an eyebrow.
"Not those pockets! Your requip pockets!" Benedict shouted.
"Oh, um...maybe…?" Roman thought as a bright yellow light appeared around his feet and a pair of skates materialized. "Huh, couldn't remember if I'd put those up or not."
"How about speed armor?"
"Huh? Uh...sure…?" Roman shrugged, requipping into a set of armor that was little more than lime green shorts and a cheetah print vest. "Why are you-"
"Cover your ears," Benedict said.
"What-"
"Sound Magic, Sonic CCCRRRRYYYYY!"
"Eek!" Roman clapped his hands over his ears as a purst of momentum exploded behind him, pushing him forward at incredible speed. Roman just kept his head down, trying to cut down on his drag, as Benedict's spell pushed him forward. To his surprise, it wasn't long before he could see the vehicle ahead of him. Roman finally took his hands off his ears, calling:
"Requip!"
A whip appeared in his hand and he popped it around the mirror of the vehicle. Setting hand over hand, Roman began pulling himself to the car and it dragged him behind it.
As Roman began pulling himself closer to the car, Storm and Bianca finally caught up and both dropped onto the roof, all three children hearing loud shouting and scuffling inside the car.
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"Why won't you sit still?" Malla asked as she tried to pin Nashi's legs to the seat. At some point in the scuffle Nashi had turned her body side ways, laying the full legnth of the back seat. Tate had his arms around her neck, keeping her upper body pretty much in place, but they had yet to gain control of her legs.
Still unwilling to give up, Nashi kept thrashing about, knocking Malla against the door.
Suddenly having an idea, Nashi pulled her legs back as far as she could and then kicked them full force into Malla's chest, knocking her back against the window. Nashi did it again, and again, until finally-
CRASH!
The window broke and Malla tumbled out of it.
"Malla!" Tate shouted, reaching a hand out towards her, giving Nashi just enough wiggled room to break free of his grip. He reached to grab her again, but Nashi threw her head back, smacking her skull into his nose.
"Nice move, Nashi!" Bianca called as she poked her head down, peaking into the broken window.
"Bianca!" Nashi sighed as she began crawling towards her.
"Get back here!" Tate called, holding his bloody nose with one hand, and reaching for Nashi with the other. He was pushed backwards, though, as a jet of water shot through the broken window and into his chest.
"What the?" Collin asked as he glanced over his shoulder. "Requip!"
A gun appeared in his hand, but before he could aim it the driver door popped open and Roman reached in.
"I'll take that," Roman said as he touched the gun and it disappeared in a flash of light.
"What-You can't just requip away another wizard's weapon!" Collin screeched.
"Really? Because I just did," Roman answered as a pair of brass knuckles appeared on his fist and he punched Collin square in the face. Collin went cross-eyed, and then slumped forward, unconcious.
"Col-glub-glub!" Tate sputtered in the jet of water as Bianca helped Nashi crawl out of the window and onto the roof of the car. Roman climbed up soon after them.
"...hhhhheeeeyyyyy GUYS!"
Nashi, Storm, Bianca, and Roman turned and looked ahead where the voice was coming from. A bright light shone, and then disappeared, to show Koree and Cato standing in the middle of the road in front of them.
"I'd ditch the ride if I were you!" Koree called as her entire body began to glisten, thousands of metal scales covering her body. Storm and Bianca jumped off the roof, carrying Nashi between them. Roman let go of the driver side door, sliding and stumbling to a stop along the side walk.
The vehicle careened forward until it hit Korre. Rather than go down, though, Koree stood perfectly still, the vehicle crunching and beding around her before flipping over her head and crashing into a broken heap behind her, barely missing Cato.
"Yipe!" Cato shouted as he dodged out of the way, and then began running to his friends.
Koree changed back to normal and raced after Cato.
"Get these off me!" Nashi was shouting, holding her shackled hands out. "Get these off me!"
"Hold still," Roman said, grabbing her wrist and picking at the lock with a tiny knife. Within seconds the shackles were gone and Nashi slammed her hand to the ground.
"STYX!" she shouted and the Fairy Tail children disappeared into a firey whirlpool.
Left in the midst of the damage, Tierra, Tate, and Collin climbed out of the wreckaged.
"What just happened?" Collin asked.
"We just got our butts whooped, that's what happened," Tierra answered.
"And you were no help what so ever," Collin grumbled.
"I'm a dragon slayer! I get motion sickness!"
As the two argued Malla raced, or rather limped, towards them. "Did she get away."
"Yup," Tierra answered. "No thanks to you."
"We put magic cancelling shackles on her! I wasn't expecting her to put up much of a fight after that!"
"None of us were," Tate whispered. "And then all the other fairies came..."
"So much for pest control," Collin muttered.
"Doesn't change the fact that we gotta get her out of the way so she doesn't undo Tate's spell."
"How is she going to do that?" Malla asked. "Sure she can make portals, but if she doesn't know where to open the other end of the portal up at it won't do her any good."
"And if she figures it out?" Tierra asked.
"So we keep 'em busy," Collin shrugged. "Won't be much of a challenge. We're in the middle fo the Grand Magic Games."
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Benedict huffed as he ran to try and catch up with the others, only to be stopped by a firey whirlpool appearing infront of him and his friends dropping through.
"Nashi, you okay?" Benedict asked.
Nashi sat up and rubbed at her wrists. "Yeah...I think so…"
"They didn't hurt you, did they?" Storm asked, sitting up and setting a hand on her shoulder.
"Uh-uh," Nashi shook her head.
"What did they take you for?" Cato asked.
"I...I don't know…"
"I do," Benedict said, kneeling next to her. "They're afriad you'll undo that spell the eye-patch kid did."
"How?" Nashi asked. "I don't know how to-"
"Because you can make portals."
"But I've never opened a portal across a dimension before. I wouldn't even know how to start…" Nashi muttered as her brow furrowed.
A silence fell over the group.
"But do you think you could?" Koree asked. "Do you think you could get our parents back?"
"I...I don't know…" Nashi whispered. It kinda made sense. If Tate could open an inner dimensional portal, then why couldn't she? But...that sounded complicated and...dangerous.
"...we're still waiting on the Fairy Tail competitors…" a voice came from a screen inside a nearby shop. All the kids gasped as they turned and looked at the screen. Sabertooth and Phoenix Graves' battle was over. And now it was Twilight Ogre and Fairy Tail's turn...only there was no one there to fight on their behalf.
"Crap, get us back before we're disqualified Nashi!" Benedict shouted.
"Right, Sty-"
"And finally they're here!" the announcer's voice came. "And, my my my, another surprise from Fairy Tail!"
All the kids turned to the screen in surprise and Nashi gasped.
"Fighting for Fairy Tail is Layla and Igneel Dragneel!"