DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail, the honor belongs solely to Hiro Mashima-sama.

*looks outside* oh sure now the sun decides to come out…

Chapter Fourteen

Pounce

(Wendy's POV)

I hope Natsu and the others are alright.

I helped Alzack and Gajeel make a bonfire for them to dry their clothes on. I felt bad seeing the two all bruised up. "Gajeel-san and Alzack-san would you like me to heal you both?" I offered to the two, by the corner of my eye both Bisca and Levy had stiffened.

Confused, I stood up to ask the two what was wrong when Gajeel spoke up. "Don't worry about us. These bruises are nothing compared to what Salamander might be suffering right now! I bet that idiot fell off a cliff or something! Gihihihihi!"

Alzack and I sweat drop at this because knowing Natsu there was a very big possibility that such a thing might have happened already. I looked on as Pantherlily came with some soaked up towels for the two's injuries. Oh, yeah I brought some snacks!

I hurriedly made my way to Charle who was sitting beside my knapsack. Just as I picked up my bag I felt a strong gust of wind blow up behind me. Judging from the other's gasp of surprise they weren't expecting that either.

I looked back and stared as what appeared to be a wind wall around Gajeel, Alzack and Pantherlily, the bonfire had been extinguished. Just as Gajeel made to punch the whirling wind around them, I heard Erza scream out "Stop! Your trap inside a wind wall, you try to get out and you'll be cut into pieces!"

I shuddered at the thought on what would have happened if the already injured Gajeel had punched it. "So what the hell do you expect us to do now?" The iron dragonslayer growled out at Erza.

"Just sit back and watch the show of course!" Two voices state out of nowhere.

"Up there!" Charle said while pointing at the sky.

We all looked up to see two identical looking girls floating up on the air. They both had their red hair in a messy updo. They were both wearing black high-top sneakers, white chain belted short shorts & a fitted tank top. Just then the girl with the blue tank top floated up in front of the wall and said "Hello Fairy Tail mages! I'm Erica!"

The one with the pink tank top floated to Erica's side and said "And I'm Laura!"

The two held hands and pointed to themselves. "We're twins!"

Everyone in the vicinity sweat drop at this. "Yes, we can see quiet clearly that the two of you are twins." Charle said irritation clear in her voice.

The two held up their hands and out of nowhere they produced two black jackets. Giggling they put on the jackets, vanished and appeared again. They smiled down at us cheerfully. Happy and Charle were now flying. Levy and Freed were getting ready to write as Bisca and Erza gripped their weapons tighter.

The opened their mouths and said "Can you now tell us apart?"

Everyone face planted. Charle whispered to me, "Those two seem to be airheads, no wonder their so good with their magic."

I sweat drop and whispered back, "Charle, don't be mean."

"I wasn't being mean, Wendy. I was just stating an opinion! Honestly, do they expect one of us to actually try to answer that question?" Charle said to me seriously.

I looked up and saw Happy was right in front of them wearing a rebellious expression on his face. He pointed to the one on the right and shouted "You're Erica!"

Silence fell on the lake until "Erica" laughed. "Uwah! Your good! Yup, I am Erica! How'd you know?"

Happy crossed his arms over his chest and said "It's because I'm a cat."

"U-wah, Erica-chan. He's so cute! We should give them some prizes shouldn't we?"

"I agree, Laura-chan!"

~0~X~0~X~0~X~

(Lucy's POV)

I looked on as Natsu ate the fire produced by the bat that had exploded.

"Thanks for the food, Lucy!" The pink-haired mage cheerfully told me.

I waved off his thanks and looked at Juvia who was patching Gray up. It's a good thing I brought some medicine with me.

"Lucy-san. Since we are already in the beach shall we look for the house?" Juvia said after she tied of the bandage on Gray's arm.

"Great idea, Juvia." We all stood up and started walking up the beach looking for the mysterious house Juvia had said would be here.

~0~X~0~X~0~

(Lisanna's POV)

"Well that's the last of them." I said while dusting off my hand from tying up another group of mages.

"Hey, Lisanna. C'mere." I heard Bixlow shout out.

I carefully made my way past the crumbling tombstones. Wonder how old some these graves are. I quickly made my way to Bixlow who was by the biggest tree in the cemetery.

"Hey Bixlow, do you have any idea why some of the mages in the wolfsbane guild were fighting when we got here?"

The tall man shook his head and said, "Nope. But maybe just maybe because they belong to different fractions in the guild? And now their having a war on who would rule!" He then burst out laughing.

"Like what the thunder tribe once did?" I asked jokingly while peeking up at him.

The laughter stopped and he shook his head at me. "Nevermind that. Look over there." He gestured towards a cliff.

I looked on and saw that there was a house at the base of the cliff. "That house—"

Before I could finish what I was saying I felt myself being slammed against the trunk of the tree.

~0~X~0~X~0~

(Lucy's POV)

From a far the house looked pretty ordinary but up close it looked like what a haunted house ought to look like. Judging from the incredulous looks on the other's faces we were all thinking the same thing.

I stared up at the house and decided to change my opinion it looked like a dignified haunted house. For one thing there were no shutters hanging around. The roof appeared to be intact and working quiet well. The doors appear to be sturdy and strong. The steps and pillars looked pretty strong despite the obvious old age.

The vines around the pillars looked almost artistic in a creepy way. The paint on the house was peeling. But most of all the house had the creepy scary vibe you get when something supernatural was afoot.

"Is it me or is the whole area made for this test of courage thing especially?" I asked the others, exasperated with the whole horror drama.

Gray and Juvia were nodding back at me. "Eh? So this house is also part of the test of courage? What the heck are we waiting for let's get inside already!"

Juvia and I couldn't help but slap our faces at this. Gray quickly went for the offense though, "You really make it easy for me at times, y'know?"

"What do you mean by that, minty fresh?"

Gray slammed his forehead against Natsu's and growled, "You. Are. An. Idiot. Or do you want me to clarify that in terms you can ACTUALLY understand?"

This is going to get ugly. I looked at Juvia, we nodded at each other and stepped back.

Sure enough, Natsu gave out a punch to Gray's face. The ice mage fell on the porch steps, stood up and jumped on Natsu. We watched on as the two wrestled each other to the doorstep.

"Hey, Juvia do you think these keys would work on this house?" I said while lifting the keys up for the water mage to see.

"Maybe. Unless Gray-sama and Natsu-san destroys the door first." Juvia jokes out.

We laughed at this when all of a sudden the two flew past our heads and into the sea. Eyes wide we looked towards the door then to the dripping guys who were running back to us.

"What the hell just happened?" The two asked at the same time.

We shook our heads and stared back at the door. "Maybe it was a ghost?" Juvia hesitantly said to us.

Gray and Natsu both shook their heads at this. "Nah. Before we fell to the sea, I felt a strong magic somewhere." Gray said with his head tilted to the door.

As if awakening from a nightmare Juvia pushed me away and ran up to the ice mage saying, "Gray-sama, please use this towel to dry yourself off."

This girl is worse than Shelly at times and where the heck did she get that towel?

"Hey, Lucy do you remember those weird keys we got from that pouch? Why don't you try it on the door?" Natsu said to me, smiling his goofy smile. He had managed to dry himself with his body heat.

I looked at him, then to the door and back. "What if I'll end up in the sea like what happened to you guys?" I whined.

"Don't worry! I'll catch you before you fall." He said confidently.

I sighed. I might as well give it a try. Knowing Natsu, he'll just nag me non-stop until I do end up doing it. I grumbled under my breath as I went up to the door. It honestly looks like an ordinary door.

"You can do it, Luce!" Natsu shouted.

"Do your best Lucy-san." Juvia also shouted.

"Yeah, don't be scared." Gray butts in.

I looked back and felt my eyes almost pop out. They had somehow managed to back up all the way to the shore. I fisted the hand holding the keys. These guys.

I squared my back, took hold of the doorknob, place the key in the opening and closed my eyes as I pushed the key in.

~0~X~0~X~0~

(Erza's POV)

As I ran through the path that would lead me to the cliff steps, I can't help but hope Freed, Happy and Wendy get safely to their assigned spots. I pushed on remembering what the twins had said.

FLASHBACK

Erica pointed to the base of her throat and said, "We are from the legal guild Wolfsbane. We were contacted to retrieve a special object from the house by the sea."

"Please don't try to deny anything; we know for a fact that you are all well aware of the existence of the house. The wind carries interesting news." Laura butts in cheerfully.

They floated closer to us and said in perfect sync, "Right at this very moment some mages from dark guilds are making their way to the Dark Cove Inn where they intend to torture the information they need from the townspeople."

I had gripped my sword tighter as I took a step forward at the twins. The one called Erica raised her hand and continued on, "We are aware that Fairy Tail is a strong guild yet chaos can cause unexpected casualties. Also right at this moment, two of your guild members are facing off two very dangerous members of our guild."

Laura shook her head at this and continued on for her sister, "One of them prefers to play around with his opponents before destroying them. The information we had just shared to you all is our first prize. Our second prize is for two of you to stay here and fight us while the others may leave and go to where they want."

FLASHBACK ENDS

I have to get to the beach house fast. Those two never bothered to say anything about their guild members that could possibly be on their way there right now. But that doesn't mean those people are harmless.

Just then I felt the ground under my running feet disappear. "Kyaaa!"

"You sound soo cute as always, Erza-chan!" I heard a familiar voice say.

I stood up and made to jump out of the hole when spikes suddenly appeared all over.

"Please stay there for a while, Erza-chan! I have to stop someone from doing a very big mistake." I heard the dangerous edge on the last three words.

"Oh but don't worry I'm not after your guild mates unless they stand in my way. See ya!"