Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Fairy Tail, just my characters and storyline.
Chapter 6: Test Flight
"Man that's so much stuff, is she planning on being here for weeks?" One of the guards mumbled. Everyone was regaining consciousness, and sat up.
"What happened?" Lexi asked looking around confused.
"They used sleep magic on us." Erza stated her voice hard. She stood up summoning one of her swords, she was quickly joined by an irritated Natsu and Gray. "What is this job truly for, that you had to knock us out?" She asked in her threatening way.
"Yeah we don't particularly trust people who do that," Natsu said. Happy nodded from next to Natsu.
"W-We had to," the guard who cast the spell said terrified as he noticed Natsu's hand engulfed in flames.
"Wait a second," everyone stopped what they were doing, staring at Lexi. She looked mortified. "Gray? How on earth did you strip while unconscious?"
"Wha-!" He stared down at himself in shock. "Where the hell are my clothes!"
"Wow, you've even mastered the art of stripping in your sleep," Melchior said. He sent an evil sort of smirk at Lexi. "I can't imagine anyone would enjoy that."
Lexi turned pink, turning her head away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
As Gray was running around looking for his clothes, Mira came over to Lexi and nudged her. "Enjoying the show?"
"Wha-no!" She shrieked realizing she had been staring at Gray.
Finally everything had calmed down, and Gray had only been able to find his pants.
"Hello," a new voice said. Everyone turned toward it. It was an average height man, he had black hair and brown eyes. "My name is Hideki Kotobaya, and this is a private operation. Please follow me, my men will bring your belongings to the house."
That's when they noticed the large mansion they were next to. All eight, albeit reluctant for a few, followed Hideki.
"I have been working on a new type of vehicle, as it said on the flyer," he began.
"If it's testing vehicles, what makes it S-class?" Natsu asked irritably.
"They are prototypes, no one knows of my research here," Hideki answered. "As of the private nature of this job, you cannot breathe a word of what I am about to show you."
What they came upon was something they'd only seen maybe once before, but not as small as these were.
"It's kind of like Christina," Erza queried as she took a closer look. "What powers these?"
"You will," Hideki answered. "They contain an SE plug for the one who will be flying. They are two man vehicles, one flies, the other will use the weaponry on board. You will be flying through an obstacle course of sorts."
"Flying?" Natsu turned green just thinking about it.
"No ones ever made two man bombers before," Mira said as she walked around one of the vehicles. "How have you managed it, I've only heard of one and it uses a great deal of magic to keep it airborne."
"The SE plug is what will do the trick," he smiled. "And S-class wizards will be able to keep them in the air no problem."
"How long is the test flight for?" Lucy chimed in, not wanting to spend too much time in the air with Natsu.
"As long as it takes the operator to make it through the course, maybe thirty minutes at the most." Hideki answered, Lucy hung her head.
"Ok," she said defeated.
"We have our teams," Erza stated. "We are ready when you are."
"Well then, by all means," Hideki gestured to the vehicles.
They all separated into their teams. Lucy and Mira were supporting Natsu who looked weak kneed having to go into a vehicle while Happy flew near their heads.
"Did I really have to come?" Natsu whined. Erza shot him a look that shut him up.
xX Xx
Erza sat down in the front of the airship, while Lexi was sat in the back near what looked like a small version of a Jupiter Cannon.
"How am I supposed to operate this?" She wondered out loud.
"Use your magic," Erza said. "From what Hideki described there will probably be targets, and it rotates."
Lexi nodded. "Alright, I'm ready lets go."
Erza made flying this contraption look like the easiest thing in the world.
All three bombers went out at the same time, there were three courses corresponding with the number on the vehicle.
"I can see the first target up ahead," Erza said. Lexi looked out her side, she saw it and put her hands on the lacrima.
She hit the target with some ice, it gave a ding in the hull signaling she hit the target, then right next to the lacrima a number 1 appeared.
"Oh it's got a counter," Lexi said impressed.
xX Xx
"Lucy are you ready?" Mira asked from the controls. "The first target is approaching."
"Natsu come on, we've gotta use the lacrima," Lucy groaned as all his weight was leaning against her. Lucy put her hand on the lacrima and pushed her magic in, unable to really see if she hit anything she sighed, until there was a ding, and a 1 appeared.
"How do you always get into these kind of jobs?" Happy questioned, to which Natsu only groaned. Lucy silently agreed with the blue cat.
She pushed Natsu over a little and stared out her side, she saw how high up they were. "Wow for a first time flyer, you're pretty good at this Mira."
"Thank you," Mira replied happily.
xX Xx
Meanwhile on the last bomber, Gray was the one flying.
"Are you sure you don't want to fly?" Gray asked.
"I'm sure," Melchior replied. "How exactly did you do that, before?"
"What?" Gray asked. "We're coming up on the first target."
"When you stripped in your sleep," Melchior replied with an eye-roll. He shot the target, there was a ding, and 1 appeared above the lacrima.
"I don't know," Gray sighed. "I've done that since I was about eight, when I trained with my master Ur."
"Do you just not notice?" Melchior wondered. "I mean I'm sure there's someone who will appreciate the habit."
"Right," Gray scoffed. "No one likes it when I do it."
"I wouldn't say no one," Melchior replied teasingly.
"Target two," Gray said. It was quiet for a bit, as Melchior shot down more targets. "I wonder how Lexi's doing, being partnered with Erza."
"Erza is a strong wizard," Melchior stated. "I'm sure she will be completely unharmed." He had completely missed Gray's tone.
"Oh I know she'll be safe, for the most part." Gray sighed. "But Erza tends to go overboard with everything she does."
"Well we'll find out when we get back," Melchior shrugged. "I wonder how those with Natsu are faring."
"Well Lucy is probably throwing a bit of a fit," Gray chuckled. "But I know deep down, she really doesn't mind his motion sickness. In fact I think sometimes, she's the only reason he does stuff like this."
"I've noticed how closely bonded their souls are," Melchior said in an offhand manner. "Are they, together?"
"Not that I know of." Gray replied.
Then out of the blue, "has Mira ever...is she involved?"
"Mira?" Gray asked confused. "No she's not involved with anyone. She's too busy taking care of her siblings to date, although I know the whole guild wants her."
"Oh," Melchior nodded, forgetting Gray couldn't see him. "Has she ever had-"
"Once," Gray said darkly. "And we don't really talk about it much. He hurt her, and he payed dearly."
xX Xx
Everyone was back at the take off point, some looked a little worse for wear, namely Natsu and Lexi.
"See I told you!" Erza whooped. "We beat everyone here."
"Well who could keep up with such an inhuman pace," Mira sighed. She couldn't help the sting of coming in second to her once rival. "Oh, Gray your pants."
"Aw come on!" Gray shouted looking around for them.
"How did you all do?" Hideki came up to them. There was a chorus of great's. "Did they handle well?"
"As well as could be expected," Erza nodded.
"Well I have the reward back at the house-"
There was suddenly a loud commotion from the direction of the house. There was a lot of yelling and a slight rumbling.
"Something is wrong," Melchior said immediately on guard.
Everyone got ready for the oncoming attack, when a group of masked men came barreling passed them, and they took off with two of the bombers.
"Wait-come back!" Hideki shouted. "Those were a lot of money to build," he looked at the Fairy Tail members. "Could you please get them back, I will double the reward."
"Of course," Erza agreed, motioning everyone into the last bomber.
Erza took her place in the cockpit, while everyone gathered inside the hull.
"I will need at least two of you on the lacrima," Erza said.
Gray walked over to the lacrima. Lexi decided to use this moment to her advantage, since her powers complimented his the most.
"I'll help," she stood next to him. He nodded at her, but ultimately didn't say anything which irritated her some.
"Oh there's another lacrima in this one." Mira stated in surprise. "Melchior you can help me with this one."
"Right."
Soon they were within range of the other two bombers.
"We can't let them get away," Erza said from the front. "But don't wreck them."
"Easier said than done," Gray grumbled.
Soon they were in an intense air battle, magic was shooting everywhere. Suddenly the whole ship rocked and Natsu groaned loudly.
"We've been hit, I can't keep it in the air any longer." Erza said her voice strained. "I'm landing."
Lexi noticed the smoke on her side. "I don't think we have enough time to land!"
"We gotta jump!" Gray yelled.
"Open gate of the golden ram; Aries!" Lucy shouted.
"I'm sorry!" Melchior couldn't help but be amazed at Lucy's magic since it was the first time he'd seen it in action.
Gray had unconsciously grabbed Lexi when he jumped. Everyone landed on what felt like the softest pillow in the world.
Once everyone was safely on the ground, a little shaken up they noticed two of the bombers were on the ground one was smoking, the other completely on fire.
"Well we didn't completely fail," Erza sighed. "Natsu, Lexi could you please put out the flames?" The two nodded and went to put them out. "Ok, we're going to have to drag the remains back, and let Hideki know one was stolen."
Everyone groaned but agreed. Melchior noticed a strange presence close by, but knew there was no time to go after it.
xX Xx
"So two of them are down, and one is gone," Hideki stated thoughtfully. "At least all is not lost." He gave them a small smile. "Thank you for all you've done so far, you can claim your reward and head out."
xX Xx
Everyone woke up back at the station. There was a thick air of disappointment around the group.
"I don't understand how they got passed us," Lucy sighed. "I mean especially with all of us."
"Let's not talk about it anymore," Gray groaned. "It's depressing."
Suddenly to everyone's surprise, Mira gave a happy shout. "Oh! I almost forgot, I talked to master before we left and I got tickets to Akane Resort!"
"What's that?" Melchior asked as everyone got excited.
"It's this amazing place, it's next to the beach and it has next to everything in it!" Lexi said feeling happy. "I am definitely hitting the baths first." The other girls chimed their agreements.
"Sounds fun," Melchior replied with a shrug, thinking it might be nice to spend some time with a certain take-over wizard.
AN: I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! If you really liked it give it a review, a fave or a follow. I'll see you in the next chapter, BYE-BYE!