After busting the door wide open, the villagers made their way inside. They felt triumphant at first, but were quickly silenced when they saw the inside of the foyer. Everything was dark and empty, save for a pile of oddly arranged furniture and knick-knacks sitting in the middle of the room, which unknown to the villagers, were Natsu and the other servants hiding. As the villagers cautiously looked around, Kain Hikaru approached a small table and picked up the candelabra in an effort to bring some light in the room. And then suddenly, the candelabra sprung to life!
"NOW!"
That was the cue. The lights in the castle turned on and the furniture and items sprang to life, hurling themselves at the villagers. Taken off guard, the villagers were getting pummeled by frying pans, mops, coat racks, utensils, rugs, mugs, cabinets, hat-hanging sticks, and many more. Everything from the largest wardrobe to the smallest fork was fighting with all their might, determined to protect their castle home.
Zancrow, too, was caught off guard by the whole commotion, but he still had his eyes set on finding the Lightning Beast. Not wanting anything to distract him, he slipped away to the stairs.
Back at the cottage, Wendy and Romeo had finished dragging pieces of wood into the wood-cutting machine's boiler and were now powering it up by blowing air onto the kindle. With each puff, the fire grew larger until the machine was fully powered and operational. "Yes!" Wendy cheered.
"Here we go!" Romeo cried excitedly, and he yanked on a pull string, which caused the machine to move towards the cellar doors.
From inside the cellar, Lisanna peered through a crack in the doors with Mirajane, Elfman, Chelia, Meredy, and Yukino behind her. "What the heck?" Spotting the wood-cutting machine rolling down the hill and coming at them at full speed, she quickly pushed the others out the way, screaming, "Everybody, look out!"
The contraption hacked its way through the cellar doors before falling down the stairs and imploding upon itself. Mirajane and the others peeked out of their hiding places and were surprised to see Wendy and Romeo hanging casually from a loose coil from the broken machine.
"Wendy! You saved us!" Chelia cried happily, and she took Wendy from the loose coil and nuzzled her with her cheek. "You're a hero!"
Wendy giggled, "That's what friends are for."
Romeo recommended to Mirajane and the others, "You guys gotta try this thing."
"Don't worry! I'll save you!" a frantic voice echoed from outside. "I'll save you in the name of love!"
"That voice..." Chelia quickly heard the familiar voice.
Immediately, a 24-year old girl with large pink hair wearing a black vest top, a matching skirt, and a cat ear-shaped hairband appeared in front of the broken cellar doors. The girl held a crowbar, and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She screamed, "I'll save you, Chelia!"
"Cousin Sherry?" Chelia said in surprise.
"Huh?" Sherry dropped her crowbar when she saw Chelia, and her expression turned from frantic to joyful. "CHELIA!" she cheered, before pouncing at Chelia and crushing her into a big hug. "Oh, Chelia! I thought I lost you!" She then continuously kissed Chelia's forehead.
"It's okay, Cousin Sherry. I'm fine," Chelia assured.
"Those horrible men!" Sherry exclaimed angrily. "How could they do this to you? You were only testifying for that poor kitty in the magic lacrima. Testifying for love."
Meredy whispered to Yukino, "She thinks the Lightning Beast is cute, too?"
Yukino shrugged, "I don't know. Guess it runs in the family."
"As your eldest cousin, I'll do my best to support my family and anyone who's a friend. So let's get to that castle you're talking about!" Sherry suggested.
"You'll help us?" Chelia asked hopefully, with Mirajane and the others joining in.
"Sure," Sherry nodded with a smile. "When I first saw the Lightning Beast, he didn't look scary to me. By the look on his face, he's very sad and lonely. It looks like he needs someone to take care of him, to have a friend, to have love. He's just a poor little kitty. We can't just sit around here. We have to be there for that poor kitty, and give him love." She turned to Mirajane, "Oh, and Mirajane, you said you're friends with the Lightning Beast, right?" Mirajane nodded. "Well, any friend of Chelia is a friend of mine, and any friend of Mirajane who is a friend of Chelia is a friend of mine as well. So I'm coming with you."
Mirajane smiled back, "We're glad to have you with us, Sherry."
"Welcome to the team, Cousin Sherry!" Chelia cheered, raising her hand. "Hi-five!"
"Yeah!" Sherry replied happily, and the two hi-fived each other.
Mirajane turned to the others with a serious look, "We need to hurry. Zancrow's on his way to the castle."
Sherry offered, "I've got a carriage that can take us all there. But the bad news is, it needs a horse."
Hearing that, Mirajane got an idea and said, "I got it! Everyone, follow me!"
Back at Fairy Tail Castle, the battle was raging on. Despite their best efforts, the villagers continued to get beaten down by the castle servants, who overwhelmed them in both strength and numbers. In one corner, Bacchus Groh was hit in the face by tomatoes tossed by a group of mugs. Enraged, Bacchus was about to hit them with his shovel, until a voice caught his attention.
"Up here, you scurvy scum!" Bacchus looked up and saw Erza on a railing with six teacups holding steaming hot water. "Now!" Erza yelled, and she and the teacups poured the hot water on Bacchus, who screamed in scorching pain.
On the other side of the room, Juvia the wardrobe jumped from the railing with a thunderous battle cry, "FOR MY BELOVED GRAY!" She fell right on top of Ichiya and pressed him with her enormous weight, cracking the floor on impact and knocking him out.
Meanwhile, Zancrow kicked open a door in the hallway with his Flame God Slayer Magic, but found nothing, before he continued his search.
Back downstairs, Juvia fought valiantly against the surrounding Tri-Men. With one sweeping motion, she was able to smack aside Hibiki and Eve with her doors, and nail Ren in the jaw with her drawers. Appearing from one of her drawers, Alzack, Bisca, and Asuka emerged, glaring at Ren.
"Let's show 'em what we Connells are made of!" Alzack shouted.
"Yeah!" Bisca nodded with determination.
"YEE-HAW!" the Connell family jumped and dragged Ren inside Juvia's closet, before she spat him out, revealing him to be dressed in woman's clothing thanks to the Connells' handiwork. Ren screamed and ran away, embarrassed by his new look.
"Now that is a ravishing new look!" Juvia smirked proudly, with the Connells nodding in agreement.
In another corner, Natsu was nervously backing against a corner by a menacingly laughing Kain, sticking a torch in front of him. He could feel the wax from his candles melting and started hyperventilating in fear.
Suddenly, appearing on top of the stairs was Gray, who was wearing a general's hat and holding a gun in one hand and a scissors blade in another. Looking to where Natsu and Kain were, he laughed maniacally and slid down the banister with the scissors poking right into Kain's butt. Kain screamed painfully as he flew into the air.
Meanwhile, Parakeet was riding a carriage on his way back to Fairy Tail Castle. Mirajane was sitting on the coach's chair, holding the reins, while Lisanna, Elfman, Chelia, Sherry, Meredy, and Yukino were inside the carriage.
"…and I got to see Wendy, my best friend, for the first time in forever," Chelia narrated to Sherry. "But she's looking different from when I last saw her. She's a teacup now, and she has a friend who's also a teacup. See?" She showed Sherry the teacups Wendy and Romeo to make her point.
"Hi, Sherry," Wendy introduced. "My name is Wendy Marvell. And this is my friend, Romeo. It's nice to meet you."
Sherry smiled, "It's nice to meet you too, Wendy and Romeo. I'm Sherry, Chelia's cousin."
"Hey, I wonder what happened to Mr. Jose? The one who tried to throw Big Brother Elf and I into the asylum?" Lisanna asked.
Elfman shrugged with a grin, "Oh, he's probably thrown into his own asylum, because no one believed he saw the Lightning Beast." He chuckled proudly, "He got what he deserved."
We now cut to the Phantom Lord Asylum…
"A beast… A beast… A beast… A lightning beast…" Jose continued to shiver in fright with a straightjacket covering his whole body in a white room. Throughout the asylum, every patient from Wally to Millianna to Simon was released from confinement and they all celebrated their long-awaited freedom from that dreadful place, since the one who owned the asylum was locked up.
All because no one believes he saw the Lightning Beast.
Back at the castle, more and more of the villagers were beginning to retreat back outside the castle, overwhelmed by the sheer power of the castle servants. Some villagers, however, continued to stay and tried putting up a fight.
In one corner, Azuma was mercilessly ripping Lucy's feathers. "NATSU! HELP!" she screamed.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" Natsu yelled angrily, and he hopped over to Azuma's backside and held his breath with one of his candlesticks. When he blew, it caused the candlestick on top of his head to ignite in a burst of flame. It scorched Azuma in the butt, and he screamed painfully.
Natsu caught the falling Lucy in his arms. She smiled at him and said, "My hero!" With that, she kissed Natsu passionately on the lips, the latter returning it happily.
Meanwhile, Kain, Zoldeo, and Rustyrose were chasing Happy, before they cornered him in the kitchen. They laughed evilly and approached the frightened footstool.
"Hey, guys," Happy chuckled nervously. "Let's talk about this."
Suddenly, the drawers opened, revealing the sharp kitchen utensils and a manically laughing Gajeel, who turned on all of his knobs and dials at full power, causing him to erupt into a monstrous inferno of fire. Kain, Zoldeo, and Rustyrose were so terrified they turned and ran straight back out of the kitchen doors.
"LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" Kain screamed horrifyingly. Soon enough, he and all of Zancrow's goons (Zoldeo, Rustyrose, Azuma, Yomazu, and Kawazu) fearfully fled the castle and stumbled off into the forest, while the rest of the villagers stayed outside in the castle gardens, fatigued from battle. The castle servants erupted into cheers of victory, jumping up and down in celebration.
"That's what happens when you mess with Fairy Tail Castle," Gray called out to the fleeing members of Zancrow's group and the exhausted villagers remaining.
Natsu laughed proudly and said, "We did it, buddy! Put 'er there!" With that, he slapped Gray on the head with his left candlestick, which inadvertently set his head on fire.
"AAAAAGGGHH!" Gray screamed hysterically, and he ran around in circles like a maniac. "MY HEAD IS ON FIRE! MY HEAD IS ON FIRE! MY HEAD IS ON FIRE!"
Natsu chuckled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "Oops."
Gray kept on screaming 'MY HEAD IS ON FIRE', until Erza blew hot tea out of her spout and extinguished the fire on his head. Gray panted and wheezed, "Never… again…" He fainted unconsciously to the ground.