"Let me off this thing." Natsu shouted. At this very moment, Erza had Natsu, Ichigo's team, and Toshiro on a horse carriage and Natsu and Toshiro were complaining to get off.
"This is embarrassing." Toshiro said. With him being a second generation dragon slayer, Toshiro suffers through motion sickness and he's embarrassed by it.
"Just try and hang in there." Ichigo said.
"We're going to need you two at full strength." Rukia said. "We're about to enter one of the toughest fights we've ever been in."
"Allies"
"Erza, are you sure we're ready for this?" Renji asked.
"I wouldn't have brought you all if I wasn't confident in your abilities." Erza said. To understand what was happening, we need to go back to early this morning.
…
Flashback
Ichigo and his team were arriving at the guild. When they did, they saw people gathered together with Erza using a light pen to draw something up.
"Hey, what's going on?" Orihime asked as they tried to see what was going on.
"I'm afraid we have bad news." Gray said.
"Have you ever heard of the Balam Alliance?" Erza asked.
"No. What's that?" Rukia said.
"The Balam Alliance is a coalition of dark guilds that have come together." Erza said. "It would be more accurate to say that it's a non-aggression pact between them. Three guilds are in control of the whole thing."
"Fairy Tail was able to take down the three that were in control of the alliance years ago." Lucy said.
"But it seems like there is a new Balam Alliance forming." Gray said.
"Ichigo, do you remember when you faced Lost Treasure. Well, it turns out that they were one of the guilds that was in control." Erza said.
"Seriously?! I had no idea." Ichigo said.
"So who are the other two?" Uryu said. Erza showed the list of guilds she drew and who is connected to who.
"The other two that control this new alliance are called Ten Rave and Noches Espada." Erza said. "The last Balam Alliance caused much trouble so many years ago and it would be bad if a new one were to be formed."
"So in order to break the alliance, we have to defeat the remaining two guilds that are in control." Rukia said.
"As it stands now, Noches Espada is a complete mystery." Gray said. "No one knows anything about them and so far they haven't done anything worth worrying. However, we just got word about the Magic Council about Ten Rave."
"Ten Rave has been spotted and are in the process of looking for a power that was sealed away." Lucy said.
"What power?" Orihime asked.
"That's what we're going to find out." Erza said. "I just received a letter from the Magic Council. They are asking for our help to defeat Ten Rave. We are to work with other guilds and bring Ten Rave down."
"Why do we need to work with anyone else?" Ichigo asked. "We defeated Lost Treasure. How tough can these guys be?"
"Do not underestimate Ten Rave." Erza warned. "Their power rivals that of a former dark guild known as the Oracion Seis. Maybe even stronger and we had to work with other guilds to defeat them. That is why the Magic council has even asked for the masters to join in this battle. Ichigo, your team will be coming with me to face this foe. Natsu, you will be coming too."
"Me? I love a good fight, but I'm sure Ichigo and his team can handle it." Natsu said.
"I'm not leaving anything to chance." Erza said. "Ten Rave consists of ten powerful wizards. Each member alone is dangerous, but together will bring total devastation. Toshiro, you will be coming as well."
"Why me?" Toshiro asked.
"Two dragon slayers will be most beneficial. You could also learn to work better with others." Erza said. "One of the guilds we'll be working with is Blue Pegasus."
"Blue Pegasus?" Renji said.
"It will be nice to see some familiar faces." Chad said.
"So who's the other guild? Is it Lamia Scale?" Lucy asked.
"Actually, Cherry Sakura volunteered to take care of this." Erza said. "I've met the master, Shunsui Kyoraku. He's a powerful wizard and he holds members that can hold their own in a fight. We're going to need that because we're about to face a powerful enemy."
End of Flashback
…
That's what brought us to right now. Erza was driving the carriage to a meeting point where the three guilds are suppose to join together. Ten Rave is a dangerous guild and is going to take everything these three guilds have to survive against a powerful enemy.
"Erza, can I ask why you decide to bring me?" Orihime said. "Grimmjow or Byakuya are much stronger than I am and I can't even bring myself to fight."
"I'm well aware of that Orihime, but your magic will be most useful." Erza said. "It takes more than just power to have a well balance team. You need coordination, trust, and support. Just stay close to someone and you'll be fine."
"Hey, are we almost there because Natsu and Toshiro aren't looking that well and I can't take the groaning anymore." Ichigo said.
"Yes. In fact, we're here." Erza said and they saw a small mansion coming into view. At the top was an emblem of a cherry blossom tree. "This building belongs to Cherry Sakura and is the meeting point for our allies." The carriage came to a stop and Natsu and Toshiro were relieved when it all came to an end.
"It's about time." Toshiro said.
"Yeah so when do we start fighting?" Natsu said.
"Most people can actually wait for that. We're here to meet our allies." Uryu said as all of them went inside.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Ichigo called out. Upon their entering, a bunch of rose petals rained down in front of them. "What's happening here?"
"Greetings my friends." They all heard a voice and when the petals cleared away and the master of Cherry Sakura, Shunsui, stood in front of them.
"Someone knows how to make an entrance." Natsu said, but none of them were really impressed.
"Shunsui, good to see you again." Erza said.
"It's good to see you as well, Erza." Shunsui said. "I take it everyone here is from your guild."
"Yes. Since we're dealing with a dangerous enemy, I figured there would be safety in numbers." Erza said.
"Understandable. Let me introduce you to my members." Shunsui said. He cleared the way and three people came walking down a set of stairs. Two men and one woman. One man had blonde hair that covered his eye and wore a white buttoned shirt with black pants. The other had black spikey hair and a claw mark running down the right side of his face with a blue strip over on the left and the number sixty-nine. He wore black sleeveless top with black baggy pants. The woman had black hair that was pinned back with glasses. She wore a sleeveless blue dress that came down to her thighs with dark blue leggings.
"Greetings. My name is Nanao."
"I'm Izuru."
"And I'm Shuhei."
"It's an honor. We're the members from Fairy Tail." Erza said.
"I'm glad to see you're already here." All of them turned to the entrance and was met with Tier Harribel.
"I remember you. You're Blue Pegasus' master." Ichigo said.
"Ichigo Kurosaki and friends. It's good to see you again." Harribel said.
"Ichigo!" Ichigo looked behind Harribel and was met with a happy tackle that was brought by Nel.
"Nel? You're in this too?" Ichigo said.
"That's right. When I heard we would be working with Fairy Tail, I came in the hopes to see you again." Nel said.
"You can be too excited for your own good." Everyone saw four more figures came in. Two of them, Ichigo and his friends already knew. Shinji and Hachi, but they didn't know the other two. Both were men. One had silver hair black sleeveless shirt, green cargo pants, and boots with fingerless gloves. The other had wavy blonde hair and wore a black jacket with pants and a white frilled shirt.
"I remember seeing you two when we visited Blue Pegasus." Renji said. "You're names are Shinji and Hachi."
"I'm flattered you remember us. I don't think you've met our two buddies." Shinji said as he gestured to the other two.
"My name is Kensei."
"And you may call me Rose."
"It looks like Fairy Tail is the only one that brought nine members including the master. Sounds a little like overkill." Shuhei said.
"Perhaps, but I'm just glad to be working with Ichigo again." Nel said as she tightened her grip.
"Someone seems to be real popular." Kensei said with a snicker.
"Shut up and Nel, I'm happy to see you two, but could you please let me go." Ichigo said and was able to break free of her grasp.
"It's perfectly fine that Fairy Tail came with that many. This gives us a great advantage." Harribel said. "Ten Rave consists of ten members, each one dangerous with a powerful form of magic. With these numbers, we have nearly twice as many as they do."
"Actually, we have twice the amount as Ten Rave exactly." Shunsui said. "There's still one more member we brought. He might be our most recent member, but he's proven to have great power."
"That would be beneficial for us." Toshiro said.
"So who is it?" Chad asked.
"Hey, get down here and meet our new allies." Shuhei called upstairs.
"I'll be right down." Someone called out from upstairs. They saw a door open up and someone was coming out. The person that came out was a great surprise to all the members of Fairy Tail.
"Muramasa?!" Ichigo said. That's right. Muramasa took Ichigo's advice and joined a guild.
"Ichigo, good to see you again." Muramasa said.
"No way! What the hell is he doing here?!" Natsu shouted for he still held great anger at Muramasa from when he restarted the Battle for Fairy Tail and kidnapped his youngest son.
"He's part of my guild." Shunsui said.
"So you took my advice and joined a guild?" Ichigo said.
"That's right." Muramasa said. He held out his arm and lowered his sleeve to show the emblem on his right arm. "The others joined as well. I haven't been in for very long, but Master Shunsui says my power is outstanding."
"There ain't no way we can work with him!" Renji said.
"I have to agree with Renji after all the trouble he caused us." Uryu said.
"I've heard about Muramasa's actions, but he's trying to become a changed man." Shunsui said.
"Muramasa, I like you to meet Nel. Nel, Muramasa is a spirit slayer just like you and me." Ichigo said.
"Wow! He is?" Nel said.
"Excuse me." Nanao said and got everyone's attention. "If everyone is done with the introductions, we have work to do. I have the information on our enemy as well as what they are after." Meanwhile, just outside the building was a hooded figure. He turned to face nine other figures.
"It seems our enemies are here. Time to make our move." The allied force has been formed, but will this team be enough to defeat Ten Rave?
…
Ichigo: Working with people you hardly know is tough.
Orihime: Maybe, but at least we're making new friends.
Ichigo: Yeah, but we know nothing about most of them. How does anyone expect us to beat a powerful enemy when we barely know anything about what's going on?
Orihime: It will be fine. We'll just have to believe we can pull through.
Ichigo: Next Time: Ten Rave
Ichigo: You just see the bright side out of any situation, do you Orihime?