Chapter 8
Lucy walked over to the new arrivals with look of sheer glee on her face, "Yay! You're finally here! And thank you Lord Death for escorting them." "My pleasure, I quite enjoy visiting the guild hall" replied Lord Death, the male slayer stepped forward "It's good to see you again Lucy and thank you for inviting us." He had short light brown hair and light blue, almost icy blue eyes and was wearing a light blue T-shirt, a grey fairly figure hugging jacket that extended down to his knees but only zipped to his waist, (A/N if you've ever seen or played Final Fantasy 7 Crisis Core then think of Genesis' coat...but grey), and had leather stitched to the shoulders, dark wash blue jeans that were fairly loose fitting, black trainers and strapped on his back was a sword that was the same length as a katana but was straight. "Yeah, though you never told us you were planning on becoming guild master" said the female slayer. She had shoulder length dark blonde hair and green eyes and was wearing a light green V-neck shirt, a light blue denim coat, blue chinos, black socks and black converse shoes. Lucy put her hand on the back of her head and laughed, "Yeah I wasn't planning on that but the guild had other ideas. Oh! Speaking of the guild we'd better have some introductions." She took two of the gold keys off of her chain, held them out and said;
Open! Gates of the Lion and the Maiden! Leo and Virgo!
Loki and Virgo appeared before them and Lucy said with a smile "Hey guys, could you go find all of the guild members and get them to gather here immediately, thank you! Oh and Virgo, no tunnelling please, we've only just built the place after all." Both spirits replied with "of course" and went off to find everyone. It took about 10 minutes for everyone to gather and once they had Loki and Virgo smiled and returned to the spirit world. "Hi everyone, thanks for coming so quickly. I called you all here because our final new members have finally arrived and I'd like everyone to introduce themselves, perhaps our new arrivals would like to go first." The male slayer stepped forward, "Hi, my name is Oliver Revan and I'm the Arctic Dragon Slayer, a pleasure to meet you all." Next up was the female slayer. "Hi everyone I'm Jennifer Codus and I'm the Storm Dragon Slayer, Hope we can all work well together." After that it was the rest of the guilds turn; "Hi I'm Natsu Dragneel and I'm the Fire Dragon Slayer", "I'm Happy and I use Aero magic and Armour transformation", "Hey I'm Grey Fullbuster and I use Ice Maker magic", "Hello I'm Erza Scarlet and I use Equip magic", "umm...I'm Wendy Marvel and I'm the Sky Dragon Slayer, it's really nice to meet you", "Hello my name is Carla and I use Aero magic", "How's it going, I'm Laxus and I'm a second generation Lightning Dragon Slayer", "Yo! I'm Bixlow and I use Divine magic (A/N I think that's what it's called anyway)", "Hi there I'm Evergreen and I use Fairy magic and Medusa eyes (A/N couldn't remember the real name ) "Greetings my name is Freed and I use Rune magic", "The name's Gajeel Redfox and I'm the Iron Dragon Slayer", "I am Pantherlilly and I use Aero magic", "Hi I'm Maka Albarn and I use Scythe magic", "Hey I'm Soul and I use Weapon Transformation", "Hello my name is Death the Kid and I primarily use Guns magic", "Hi I'm Liz and this is Patty and we use Weapon Transformation", "Hello I'm Frank Stein and I use Mimic magic."
Once the lengthy introductions were complete, Lucy realised that while everyone knew everyone else's name now, the former Fairy Tailers had no idea what the former academy students could really do and vice versa. She contemplated for a moment before getting a brain wave. "Lord Death could I possibly speak with you in my office?" she asked, Lord Death nodded and moved to follow her. Once she reached the stairs Lucy spun around for a moment and said "oh and everyone please stay here until I get back, get to know each other better or something." Lucy and Lord Death went into Lucy's office and closed the door, making the other mages wonder what they could be discussing. Everyone followed Lucy's instructions and chatted where they were for 10 or 15 minutes until Lucy and Lord Death finally emerged from her office. "Ok everyone" Lucy began causing everyone to become silent and look towards them, "I've spoken to Lord Death and we've come to a decision. Now that we've all introduced ourselves we each know everyone's name and magic right? Wrong! What we know is the names of each other's magic and that's not much good if we need to work together. So what we're going to do is have some sparring matches. If you lose you have to buy you opponent dinner, if you win you get entered into a draw to fight me. Beat me, or do well enough in the opinion of the Judges and you'll win a special prize, which you'll get an input in deciding on." Lucy looked at all of their faces and found flames in their eyes showing her that, as Natsu would put it, they're all fired up now! "Oh!" Lucy exclaimed, "Before I forget, I know it's kinda harsh of me but Wendy, Freed I'm afraid I must ask you not to participate. Wendy I need you as medical backup in case there's an accident and Freed I'd like you to monitor the rune field. I know you've given it the go ahead but given the amount of strain we'll be putting on it for its first real use I'd rather be safe than sorry." Wendy and Freed smiled and gave an understanding nod, they knew she was right though truth be told they had both been as fired up as the rest. "Tell you two what" Lucy said giving them a sort of motherly look, "since I'm the one stopping you from competing I'll buy you both dinner tonight, okay?" Wendy's and Freed's fake smiles instantly transformed into real, beaming smiles, or in Freed's case as close as he ever gets.
Five minutes later they were all at the training ground, excitedly waiting to hear who would be going first. All apart from Laxus who had used his speed to tell any surrounding homes and work places what was happening and not to be alarmed. Once he returned he found Lucy stood between Lord Death and Cal with Cal's top hat in her hand. It didn't take him long to realise she would be pulling names out of that to make it fair so he joined the rest of the guild outside the arena. "Right then" Lucy said with a smile, "it's time for the first names! But let's just remember this is sparring, you are to knock out your opponent or get them to surrender nothing more! Minor injuries are fine but," she turned to the thunder tribe, "Ever and Bixlow, your ocular magic is forbidden. Ok then, here we go!" she rummaged in the hat and pulled out a name. "First up we have...speak of the devil, Bixlow! And against him will be...Team Kid." Bixlow and Kid fist pumped the air and moved into the arena. "Both contestants ready? Weapon partners don't forget you are to remain on the sidelines and not interfere until your partner calls you, only then may you transform. Right on my mark, 3...2...1...GO!" Bixlow instantly stuck out his tongue and held his arms out wide and shouted "let's get him babies!" Several small wooden objects, that looked like pieces of a totem pole, appeared and hovered in mid-air around Bixlow, all repeating "get him" in high pitch voices. Kid watched carefully, analysing the situation and his opponent when suddenly one of the totems fired a green magic shot at him. He easily dodged the first shot which caused the rest of the totems to begin firing. He dodged shot after shot before shouting "Liz!" who immediately jumped, transformed and landed in Kid's waiting hand. He pointed the gun at one of the totems and exclaimed:
Guns Magic: Snake Shot
The shot hit the totem between the eyes and split it in half, but instead of continuing straight forward like a normal shot, it curved and struck another totem, then another and another until they were all broken. "NO!" Bixlow shouted sadly, "Not my babies! Nooooooo ho ho ho he he he he hahahahahaha HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Bixlow's fake sadness was replaced with sarcastic laughter as he reached into a pouch on the back of his belt and pulled out smaller versions of his totems. "HAHAHA syke! My magic gives me complete control of my babies' souls! Destroy their bodies and I'll move them into new ones." He threw the mini totems into the air and several green lights moved from the broken bodies into the new ones. Kid decided to try something else so he called Patty to him and pointed both pistols at Bixlow. He fired his standard magic bullets one after another causing Bixlow to dodge and weave, but he wasn't fast enough and got grazed on his left shoulder and right thigh. "Defence mode babies!" he exclaimed, which made his totems glow until a small shield formed around them. Each totem then began circling Bixlow in different directions and at high speed creating a sort of shield (A/N Hinata's defensive 8 trigrams 64 palm from Naruto Shippuden). Kid's shots continued to hit the shield having absolutely zero effect. "Alright then" kid said to himself, "let's see how this works" he pointed one of his guns at the shield.
Guns Magic: Canon Shot
The blast hit the shield but did little to damage it. But Kid's eyes were sharp, he was able to tell that the force from that hit changed the trajectories of the idols for a moment, creating a split second gap in the shield which, if he timed it right, he'd be able to exploit. He steadied himself and prepared for his move. After a second or two he raised his right gun and pointed it towards his opponent.
Guns Magic: Canon Shot
The instant Kid's spell left the barrel of his gun he switched so his left was now pointing at Bixlow.
Guns Magic: Concussive Blast Shot
The second spell erupted from the barrel as the first reached the half way mark. Kid knew from the first time he met Lucy that if this worked Bixlow would be out for the count. The canon shot impacted the shield and once again the force caused a small gap to form just where Kid had predicted. The gap however started rapidly closing but the concussive shot squeezed through just before it did and detonated, sending Bixlow and all his idols flying. Once the dust settled Lucy could see that Bixlow was out cold so declared Kid the winner.
It only took the rune field a few seconds to repair everything before the next round could begin. "Let's see who's up next" Lucy excitedly said putting her hand inside Cal's top hat and pulling out two names, "next is...Evergreen VS...Laxus!" "Laxus! He he he..." Evergreen said nervously, as one of the Thunder legion she knew just how powerful Laxus was. She looked around and found Laxus was already in the arena waiting for her, even though she knew his strength once she entered the arena her determination kicked in. "I won't be as easy to beat as last time Laxus" she said trying to sound sure of herself, but as a Dragon slayer, Laxus' ears could pick up the subtle nervousness in her voice. He knew a prolonged battle would end up with Evergreen having physical and pride injuries, so he hatched a plan. Lucy activated the rune field, "you two ready? 3...2...1...FIGHT!" Evergreen used her wings to get up into the air, getting out of range of Laxus' close range attacks and releasing Fairy dust at the same time. Laxus didn't move an inch, he just stood there and watched her movements until;
Fairy Magic: Fairy Needles
Evergreen's Fairy dust formed into 5 1 inch long needles and shot at Laxus like bullets. He stepped to one side causing all the needles to miss their mark, but Evergreen wasn't giving up.
Fairy Magic: Fairy Needle Storm
This time the dust continuously formed into more needles creating a seemingly endless storm. Using his lightning enhanced speed Laxus was able to dodge by zapping around the arena, causing Evergreen to have to twist and turn to find her target. Once Laxus had determined the length of time needed for Evergreen to locate and aim her storm at him, Laxus zapped to a new position, sucked in the air, puffed out his cheeks and unleashed his Slayer breath attack.
Roar of the Lightning Dragon
He angled the blast to force her to dodge downwards, which she did once she saw the blast coming towards her. In fact she had to use so much speed to dodge the lightning that she ended up at ground level. The next thing she knew Laxus appeared in front of her, using his hand like a claw from one of those seaside crane games to grab the top of her head. "I'm so sorry about this" he whispered so only she could her, knowing exactly what was about to happen she smiled at him and closed her eyes.
Lightning Dragon's Taser Claw
The lightning shot through her body from Laxus' claw for about two seconds before stopping. Once it had Evergreen's body went limp from loss of consciousness making Laxus catch her with his free arm. Laxus was declared the winner and the rune field deactivated, so he picked her up bridal style and carried her over to where Wendy was waiting. After he dropped Evergreen off he walked back to the rest of the guild but found Freed waiting for him. "It was kind of you to allow her to show her strength before defeating her as painlessly as you could" Freed said with a smile that said he knew, "noticed that did ya?" Laxus replied "I didn't want to hurt my friend but it was the only to prevent more injury ya know." Freed understood, but replaced his smile with a look of concern, "and what of Fairy Tail, should it come to that?" Laxus thought for a moment before answering, "they've changed. Ever since baby Strous returned they've been getting darker and darker to the point where they effectively drove us all out. According to my sources they've been getting worse over the past week, the members have been acting more like thugs and vandals, some people have even gone so far as to call them a dark guild now. So yes they may be my friends, but if they try and hurt innocents or ANY of my comrades in this guild I won't hesitate to destroy them." Freed looked at his friend with pride before turning to follow him back to the other guild members. Laxus however was worried, he knew that if Fairy Tail got too bad his worst nightmare might come true and he might have to repeat his sins at the fantasia parade, he might have to try and destroy Fairy Tail.