AN: Hey guys! I'm super sorry for the sorta-late update. I've been suffering from procrastination, and by "procrastination," I actually mean "reaching the Grand Magic Games arc in the Fairy Tail anime." Anyway, I'm super excited about this chapter, and I hope you are too. Get psyched! Get psyched!
Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Don't sue me.
Chapter 17: Tail and Claw
Gajeel was really starting to get on Natsu's last nerve. Whose bright idea was it for him to team up with this guy in the first place?
"Hey, Studface. We gotta hurry up before the Troia spell wears off! Plus, I gotta find some more things to blow up, and I can't be waiting around for you!"
The iron dragonslayer glared at Natsu. "Flamebrain, we got to look carefully if we want to find the power source. I'm actually using my nose to try and sniff it out, unlike you. Now will you just shut up and let me concentrate?"
That really set Natsu off. He started throwing punches at Gajeel's back, which Gajeel ignored and began walking further down the tunnels. This of course only made Natsu angrier.
"Jeez, this team really isn't going to work out well, is it?" Happy's rhetorical question was almost drowned out by Natsu's antics, but Pantherlily still managed to hear it.
"Indeed," the black Exceed responded. "This won't work out well if we get into a fight." Pantherlily, of course, had just jinxed their group. Natsu smashed one of the tunnels' walls, opening an entryway into a large atrium.
The atrium's walls were covered in dripping green slime that looked and smelled like stomach acid. The walls sizzled and steamed wherever it touched. The walls themselves went up a ways above, and curiously the room appeared to be open to the sky. On a podium in the center of the room stood two menacing figures.
The one on the left was an enormous brute of a man. His skin was dark, his eyes brown. He wore dark brown pants, no shirt, and no shoes. His black hair was tied back into a long mane of dreadlocks. He was also incredibly dirty, covered in grime from head to toe. He leered at the two dragonslayers as if they were his opponents in some sort of team sport.
The one on the right was perhaps even more menacing. His slender frame was about a foot shorter than his companion, and his body was wrapped in an oversized cloak with a hood pulled almost completely over his face. The sleeves of his cloak hung down, as if he had no arms. He wore blue and white striped trousers with frills at the bottom, but they'd clearly seen far better days. A faint humming noise resonated from his body.
"Well, well," The hooded man spoke with a voice like a thousand tiny needles. "The fire ant and the stag beetle, as well as their larvae."
"Which one do you want, Flik?" the large man asked.
Natsu interrupted their conversation with his usual winning diplomacy. "You jerks made a big mistake messing with Fairy Tail! Now tell me where I can find your leader!" He leaped at the two men with both his fists lit.
The hooded man spoke again in that horrible prickling voice. "I think I'll take this one. I like spicy food."
Gajeel's eyes widened in horror as he watched what the man did next. Insects began pouring from Flik's coat sleeves, hundreds of them, perhaps thousands. They swarmed Natsu, their sheer numbers snuffing out his flame, and carried him off out into the open sky. Flik began to levitate and, cackling like a madman, flew off toward Natsu, out of sight. Happy yelled Natsu's name and flew up after his best friend. Pantherlily snarled and grew to his full size.
"Who are you, and why are you attacking Fairy Tail?" Gajeel snarled at the remaining enemy. "Actually, don't answer that. I don't care."
The large man returned Gajeel's deathly stare. "If you must know, my name is Grant. I've been looking forward to this for a long time, Blacksteel."
"Now, Lily!" The iron dragonslayer and his cat charged at the large dark-skinned man. Gajeel roared and struck at his face with an Iron Dragon Claw. The man held up one massive arm, which was so brawny it actually blocked his attack. He sidestepped Pantherlily's sword slash. What the hell? He's so tough.
"I don't care for these battle surroundings. What say you we take this below?" The man clasped his hands into the metal floor and, to Gajeel's dismay, actually ripped the floor apart with just his bare hands. Below them was empty air. Gajeel and his opponent fell out of the warship, with Pantherlily staying behind.
Gajeel moaned. Examining his surroundings, he took note of the large crater he had found himself in. The two of them were just outside the edge of Magnolia. A large boulder flew into view. Gajeel grimaced and sliced it in half with his Iron Dragon Sword.
Staggering to his feet, he saw Grant standing about ten feet away. Grant's feet were firmly implanted a foot deep in earth. "That's not cool, bub. I didn't sign up for skydiving. I'm gonna pound you so hard the dirt'll fall right off your body!" He cupped his hands over his mouth. "Iron Dragon… Roar!"
Amazingly, Grant took a similar stance and copied his movements. Gajeel couldn't believe what he was seeing or hearing. "Earth Dragon… Roar!" Grant yelled out as well. The two breath attacks collided in a massive explosion.
As the dust cleared, Gajeel stared openmouthed at his opponent. "You're… a dragonslayer?"
Grant smirked. "I've never before met someone of my own kind. I look forward to pummeling you."
Gajeel gritted his teeth. No way, bub. Iron is just purified earth. He sprouted a sword out of his arm and charged.
Cana was down just like that. A sword suddenly sprouted from the wall out of nowhere and sliced her across the chest. As soon as she was hit, she went limp and turned incredibly cold. Erza could tell she wouldn't be able to fight any more. Panicked, Erza dodged sword slice after slice, ducking and weaving back and forth through the corridor. She couldn't get far enough away from the walls to be out of range, and she couldn't see whatever was assaulting her. Where was it coming from?
On the next strike she took a risk. She grabbed onto the side of the blade and pulled hard. Luckily, she pulled it off, and the man attached to the blade was yanked out of the wall.
Standing up, the man brushed himself off. He was clad in a full suit of light, jagged armor, the color of gloomy clouds. A black mask with the tiniest of slits for seeing covered his face. In one hand he held a five-foot long, wicked black sword that curved a few inches to the right and left. The edges around his body seemed to shimmer ever so slightly.
"The mighty Titania." The masked knight's voice grated on Erza's ears. "Word is you gave even Ezra a run for his money. You'd be quite an interesting opponent to spar with."
"Don't even mention that bastard, scum. Prepare to face the wrath of Fairy Tail!" Erza leapt at the night with her Heaven's Wheel armor at the ready. The man didn't even raise a sword to block her attack. Right as her sword was about to land a blow, the man's body flickered and turned an ethereal gray. Her sword passed right through his ghostly body. This wasn't a projection.
"What the… what is this?"
The knight's body shifted back to normal form. "I am Aether, of the Hydra Claw guild, master of the Astral Form magic. I can shift my body back and forth between a ghostlike state at will."
Erza lashed out at him again, but his image flickered and turned gray again. After her strike had once again passed through, his body switched back to regular form, and he sliced her across the back with his wicked-black sword. Erza gasped; the blade left a cold scar across her skin. Wherever it touched, Erza felt magic power slowly draining from her body.
The man brandished his blade proudly. "Soulscab," he boasted. "My sword doesn't leave physical wounds; instead it cuts holes in your magic energy, letting it drain right out of your body."
Erza's eyelids began to flutter. Her knees were shaking. How is this guild so strong? She requipped into her Purgatory Armor and defiantly threw herself at the incorporeal knight.
Gray's ice shield was once again barely enough to block off the magic gunshots. He and Juvia were both pretty worn down; they hadn't been able to land a single attack. Not only were they kept well pressured by the cowgirl, but Kamarr blocked every one of their attacks by causing it to evaporate. They couldn't seem to get close to the two.
"Y'all need to keep more on yer toes, there! You'll never beat Ginger and sugar like that!" Another round of magic bullets covered the room. Gray felt his ice-make shield shatter this time, and a couple of bullets exploded on his shoulder. "How does that feel, Sugar? Give up yet?" she winked.
A primal roar erupted from the girl standing next to him. Juvia looked really angry. "How dare you injure my beloved? How dare you flirt with him! You're going to rue the day you ever set eyes on my beloved Gray!"
Gray watched in horror as Juvia's power built to a waterfall's roaring crescendo. It was nothing short of frightening. "Water Lock!" Ginger became encased in a sphere of water. Juvia poured out her entire reservoir of water attacks onto the cowgirl's defenseless body. "Water slicer! Water nebula! WATER CYCLONE!"
The torrents of liquid pouring from Juvia's body crashed down onto Ginger's body all at once, and the cowgirl collapsed, defeated. Gray struggled to his feet. "Well, you're outnumbered two to one, Analogy boy. Want to surrender?"
Kamarr scoffed at Gray's offer without speaking. Still enraged, Juvia attempted to strike Kamarr with the same torrent of water she had obliterated Ginger with. Kamarr waved his hand. "Cactus shield!" A huge cactus sprouted in front of him and absorbed all of the water from Juvia's attack.
"Just as you two may be masters of ice and water, I am master of the desert. You cannot beat me," he boasted. "Hmm. You're not injured." He gestured at Juvia. "Why is your body not full of bullet holes, as would be the side of any strong battleship?"
"My body is made entirely of water," Juvia replied. "You cannot beat me."
Was Gray imagining things, or did Kamarr's face momentarily twist into to smile?
"Entirely of water, you say? Well, you are no less unfortunate than those who cross the path of Zeref himself."
Kamarr extended his hand and made a choking gesture. The snake on his shoulder coiled and hissed. "Pierce the heavens! Scorching ray!"
Juvia cried out in excruciating pain. Gray turned to see that Juvia was literally dissolving before his very eyes. Her body made of water was being evaporated into nothingness by the ray of scorching heat Kamarr had summoned. She screamed his name, but the "-ay" at the end of his name was cut off as her mouth began to evaporate. Gray screamed her name back and started towards her, but Kamarr's words stopped him.
"If you want this girl to live, you'll drop to your knees and surrender your own life as if it were a spare heart."
"Why are you here, Jellal?"
"I'm not really. I'm just a figment of your imagination."
"You… aren't real?"
"No. The real Jellal doesn't know you're alive."
"But… then why am I imagining you?"
"I believe it's your subconscious trying to tell you something. Your friends back at the guild are in deep trouble right this second, and they're going to need your help."
"What? Really? How's Lucy? Why am I even still here?"
"Relax, Sic. You won't be able to help as needed without what something that only I can teach you."
"You mean… Heavenly Body magic?"
"Yes… but only to an extent."
"To an extent? What else could you teach me?"
"I'm going to teach you how to develop your own unique style of white magic."
So! What do you think? Let me know! Reviews, favorites, follows, pats on the back, cookies... All are appreciated! (especially cookies) I hope you guys enjoyed, and I will see you guys next time! Hope you all have a nice day.