Wendy:
The sky mage looked up in surprise as a bright red flare whistled into the sky and exploded in a shower of sparks. Wendy racked her brain trying to think of what red meant: yellow meant return to camp...green meant someone had won...red meant...
She sighed as her mind failed to fill in the blank.
"Hey, Wendy," Mest called from the opposite side of the clearing, the blood red sky drawing his attention away from a particularly fascinating rock, "Do you know what that means?"
She shook her head in reply. She turned to look out over the cliff edge next to her, craning her neck to peer into the dark, blue water hundreds of feet below. The sun had started to set, casting a glow over the sea and giving Wendy an ethereal glow. She put her hand up to shield her eyes from a couple of harsher rays, and spotted two black dots on the horizon. They were growing rapidly, until suddenly they had swooped her off of her feet. She looked back and saw Carla, a look of pure disgust on her face. The exceed set her down on the ground about ten feet from her place on the cliff, across the clearing from the other mage.
"WENDY STAY AWAY FROM HIM!" she yelled frantically, pointing at Mest, as Pantherlily transformed into his battle form and stood protectively between the two humans.
"Carla! Lily! What are you doing here?" Wendy yelped in surprise. "That's Mest! He's been a member of the guild forever!"
Pantherlily smirked and took a couple of steps towards Mest, carefully scrutinizing his face before reaching a satisfactory conclusion. He casually unsheathed his sword from its holster on his back, twirling it in his hand a couple of times before looking straight into Mest's eyes.
"It was clever, using memory magic, saying that you were Mystogan's pupil...but I know the man. He never would have taken an apprentice with the weight he already carried on his shoulders. Who are you really?"
As Pantherlily finished his sentence, a smile began to creep onto the man's face, and before Lily could figure out what was happening, he was gone. There was a loud crash behind Lily and then fire and smoke.
"WENDY!" Carla screamed at the top of her lungs, flying towards the young dragon slayer.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Pantherlily yelled at the man, who was holding Wendy behind him.
The man looked at the exceed and scoffed.
"What's it look like? I'm saving her life."
Lily realized what had happened. There was a smoking crater in the ground where Wendy had stood. He whirled around, frantically looking for the origin of the explosion. Mest stepped away from Wendy, a smug look on his ruggedly handsome face.
"Looks like Fairy Tail just made my job easier!"
A dark looked flashed in Lily's eyes and a rage took him over as he lifted Mest up by the front of his shirt and slammed him into a large tree.
"Who are you," he growled.
Mest raised his hands in mock defense and grunted, "Alright! Alright, I give in!"
Lily let him drop to the ground, a cloud of dirt rising around the man. He stood up and began dusting himself off, shooting Lily a dirty look.
"I'm Doranbolt, soon to be Division Head of the Rune Knights, especially after this fiasco. Fairy Tail is dead."
He looked Wendy in the eyes and muttered, "You've caused enough trouble. And now on top of your destructive habits, you've led a dark guild straight to your sacred island."
Wendy's eyes widened in surprise and she yelped, "A dark guild?" before her whole world went sideways.
Dirt flew into the air and trees shot upwards and came crashing back down as the four attempted to dodge the carnage.
Doranbolt immediately ran for Wendy, shielding her from the rubble raining down on them. He faced a particularly large tree that had been unaffected by the attack and yelled, "WHO ARE YOU? SHOW YOURSELF!"
Before her eyes, the tree's surface began to bubble and mold as a face slowly appeared, and then an arm, and a leg, and a torso, until a man had stepped out from the ancient oak.
"Good job finding me," he said with a twinkle in his eye. He had caramel colored skin and dark auburn hair, a single earring in his left ear, muscular arms and a rock hard chest that bulged against his tight, green muscle tank trimmed in burnt orange. His tan boots were scuffed and covered in dust from the rocks that had been destroyed by the explosions. He walked forward confidently, kicking a pebble towards Doranbolt as he moved.
"My name is Azuma. I am one of the Seven Kin of Purgatory."
Wendy brought a shaky hand up to her mouth as she exclaimed, "That's Grimoire Heart!"
Carla muttered, "The dark guild…" in reply and stepped closer to Wendy.
Doranbolt looked at Wendy and said, jokingly, "I guess red means enemy attack."
The girl managed a weak smile.
"I suppose I should tell you that it's too late now...hmph," Azuma said with a bored expression on his face.
Lily stomped a foot in frustration. "JUST WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!"
Doranbolt turned away and began to laugh.
"When I infiltrated Fairy Tail's holy land, I figured a few questionable things would come crawling out of the woodwork, but Grimoire Heart on top of the Black Mage Zeref?!"
He turned and smiled coyly at Lily.
"Lady luck must be shining on me today."
He stepped forward and rubbed his hands together.
"Thankfully, I decided it would be a good idea to have the Council's Main Force Arrest Squad Battleship waiting nearby. I'm arresting all of you and crushing that demonic heart of yours into pieces."
Wendy shivered, her mind wandering away from Doranbolt's monologue, the word Zeref echoing through her brain.
Azuma, however, was intently listening.
"Battleship?" he mused. His eyes glinted as he whispered, "What battleship?" as an explosion rang out across the clearing and waves fifty feet high began to crash against the side of the cliffs. A mushroom cloud billowed up from the ocean about a mile offshore as the four wizards looked on in horror.
"Now then!" Azuma called out, stepping closer to the group, "Would you mind if I did my job now, Mr. Official?"
Natsu:
"Uh...Where'd Elfman and Evergreen go?" Natsu mumbled, spinning around in a circle.
"I bet they're kissing!" Happy squeaked, causing Sophia to giggle as the two of them chorused, "They liiiiiiike each other!"
Natsu grinned and laughed at the two of them.
They were walking down a beaten path of weeds and granite, dust rising and coating their sandals with each step. The red flare still burned in the sky.
"Where are we going is a better question," Sophia mumbled from behind the pink haired mage.
"We're going where the bad guys are!" Natsu replied happily.
Happy crossed his arms and grunted, "Well we have no idea where they are!"
A ringing noise suddenly filled the dragon slayers' ears, and seconds later an explosion shot up, leaving a red and orange streak in the sky and smoke spreading out over the treetops.
Sophia grinned and yelled, "FOUND 'EM!" before she sprinted into the woods, straight towards the massive explosion. Natsu grinned as she looked back at him and grabbed his hand, pulling him along faster. Happy smirked and gave him a knowing look, which Natsu did his best to ignore. Now was not the time.
Lucy:
Lucy slowly blinked her eyes open and rubbed the sleep out of them. Her head was resting against a large boulder, the rest of her splayed out in the grass. What had happened? Where was she? Did she have her keys?!
She frantically reached down to make sure they were still securely attached to her hip. As soon as her fingers brushed against them, she relaxed and began to sit up, trying to remember what had happened. She brought a hand up to her chin in thought, before leaping to her feet and shouting, "CANA!"
Lucy scowled, remembering how the card mage had tricked her into telling her where Mavis' grave was and then knocked her out.
"Why I outta…" she growled under her breath, beginning to walk back towards the path. The red flare was still glowing in the sky and Lucy suddenly felt like she was being watched. The flare had reminded her that there were enemies on the island...and she was all alone. She shivered, hurrying back to the path as fast as she could.
Snap.
Lucy turned.
Snap.
She knew she had heard it the second time. There was something creeping through the brush behind her. She reached for her keys, taking out Scorpio's, before yelling, "I know you're there! Show yourself!"
A large, chubby man dressed as a sumo wrestler stumbled out of the brush, tripping on a root as he went and landed at Lucy's feet.
"AH!" the blonde yelled, jumping away from the man.
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!" she screeched, looking around wildly for other enemies.
He sloppily got to his feet and dusted himself off, eyeing Lucy wearily. She took another step back, but her heel caught a rock in the path and she went tumbling backwards, landing with a thud against a tree stump. She blinked her eyes sluggishly, attempting to orient herself.
"TAKE THAT!" the man suddenly shouted, his large foot racing towards Lucy's face.
"AH!" Lucy screamed again, barely managing to dodge his powerful attack. A large boot print appeared in the ground where she had been. The man growled in frustration and turned towards her again.
"What's going on? Who are you?" Lucy asked as she scrambled backwards.
She felt a wave of fear pass through her as the man loomed over her. Lucy realized that the man could have gotten Cana.
"If only she had chosen a better time for a self- discovery journey…" Lucy muttered under her breath as she got to her feet and pointed a finger accusingly at the man and shouted, "WHERE'S CANA? WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?"
The man raised an eyebrow and replied, sullenly, "I have no idea."
Lucy took a step forward and tried again, more forcefully, "Where's. Cana. What happened to her?"
He sighed and muttered, "I'm telling you, I really don't know, but it doesn't matter anyways…" a dark look crossed his face and suddenly the air around the spirit mage grew cold and the forest felt dark and foreboding. She clutched her keys to her chest as the man whispered, "Because you're going to die right here."
Lucy immediately got into a fighting stance and glared the man down. He jumped and ran behind the nearest tree, threatened by her new attitude.
Sweat was visibly pouring down his face as he squeaked out, "G-g-g-g-glaring at me like that isn't going to get you anywhere! I-I-I-I'm Kain Hikaru, of the Seven Kin of Grimoire Heart!"
He reached up to wipe his nose on his sleeve
"I'm really strong!"
Lucy rolled her eyes and replied, coolly, "The strength of my opponent does not matter."
A visible shiver ran down Kain Hikaru's spine as the girl proudly declared, "If anyone dares oppose our guild, I'll take them on as an opponent!"
She stepped forward, clenching her fist in front of her, and yelled, "BRING IT ON!"
"Ok...Give me some of your hair."
Lucy stood there, dumbfounded by her enemies odd request.
"Why would I give you my hair? You're bound to use it for some evil purpose."
"No! No. Nothing like that."
The man held up a doll as he said this and gestured to it.
"Mr. Cursey just needs some of your hair to work."
"MR. CURSEY?!"
"If I put some of your hair on this doll, Mr. Cursey, I'll be able to manipulate your movements! This is my super powerful, evil curse magic."
"Um...hearing that definitely doesn't make me want to give you my hair."
Hikaru made a pained expression, his mouth dropping open into a gape.
"Don't tell me you just realized that…" the blonde said, sighing and rubbing her forehead to relieve the oncoming headache. She suddenly perked up as an idea popped into her head. She smiled to herself and added, slyly, "Say, I've never even heard of that kind of magic. I bet you're bluffing."
"What?! No!" the man said, clearly offended that she would doubt Mr. Cursey.
"Here, I'll stick my hair on him and you give it a try. You'll see."
He shoved the doll into her hands, his dark brown hair bobbing in the wind from the top of Mr. Cursey's bald head. Lucy excitedly spun it around and then slammed it into the ground. She began to contort the doll into various poses, Kain Hikaru quickly following suit and screeching in pain.
"HEY! GIVE THAT BACK!"
As he fell to the ground from the most recent split/ handstand he had been forced into, he managed to snatch the doll from Lucy's hands. He quickly righted himself and glared at her.
"Now I'm pissed! You're about to see just how merciless I can be."
And with that, he leapt into the air towards the stellar spirit mage, who took off running.
"Open! Gate of the Bull! Taurus!" Lucy yelled as she ran, spinning as Taurus launched himself towards the enemy. Kain Hikaru calmly held up a palm, and Taurus crashed into it at top speed. He was sent flying backwards, a mournful moo escaping his lips.
"No way! He beat Taurus in power?" Lucy muttered to herself, increasing her speed once again.
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" he howled after her.
"Open! Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!" Lucy called out frantically. She turned around, expecting Kain Hikaru to come tumbling to a stop at her feet.
"Aim for the legs!" she said as Sagittarius fired round after round. Her triumph was short lived, as Kain Hikaru kicked back the arrows. They came flying back towards the blonde, who very narrowly managed to avoid them. Several nicked her arms and legs, sending little trickles of blood down her limbs.
"Shit! Open, Gate of the Scorpion, Scorpio!"
Scorpio appeared in front of her, protectively.
"Sand Buster!" he called out confidently. The attack zoomed towards the enemy, but, again, Kain Hikaru calmly put a hand up and the attack dematerialized. He rushed forwards and sent the blonde flying through the woods, screeching at the top of her lungs.