The Rise of a Warrior: Fairy Tail

by The Legendary Dragon Reaper

Luke Drako, S-class wizard of the Fairy Tail guild, the true Lightning Dragon Slayer, student and son of the Lightning dragon Kaminari. This is his story. The story of a Dragon Slayer trying to find his place in the world, and make one hell of a strong team along the way. And with any luck, he just might win the heart of a certain brunette card mage. OC x Cana. Read and review.

2. Daybreak

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited or followed this story since I published it.

Abdultahir38: I'm glad to hear you like the story so far. I don't mean for Luke to come off as too similar to Natsu, yes there are similarities but they're very different. Luke is a logical figure who knows how to think things through, and unlike Natsu he carries a lot of guilt with him in regards to that incident. It was only the first chapter so I couldn't flesh out the differences too much as of yet.

StraxyX: Glad to see you're interested so far, and yes I always thought the character of Cana was underrated. I don't know what it is exactly, maybe it's because she's the closest to normal in comparison to other girls from Fairy Tail, but she's always stood out to me.

Ragnas Bredvolts: I'm glad to see I've caught your attention. I know Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic mainly belongs to Laxus, but I wanted to see if I could explore any possibilities with it in my story. I'm also glad that someone else shares my opinion of NaLu, how the rapid pack of insanity that is the Fairy Tail fanbase is shoving it down people's throats to the point where it's gotten completely out of control, especially those who wish for Lisanna's death just for NaLu to get together. As for Cana, yes she does have a lot of unexplored potential. However, while I have some ideas in mind for the type of magic she uses, she's actually not an S-Class mage. I only made Luke use the Lightning Dragon Iron Fist because according to the Fairy Tail website where I collect information on spells and characters, that is an actual spell. I have some original spells in mind for him as well, you'll see those later on. And thank you for reviewing, I hope I continue to satisfy you with this story.

Ericsofly2: I'm glad you enjoy the story so far. While the idea of Levy x OC is interesting, I very much enjoy the pairing between her and Gajeel, and so that's what I intend to do with this fic going forward.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"In a land far far away lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small and peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic. Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace. For most people, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some however, magic is an art, and they've devoted their lives to its practice. These are the wizards and mages, and banded together into magical guilds, they ply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore, but there is a certain guild in a certain town that stands high above the rest of them, one from which countless legends have been born, a guild that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. This guild is known as Fairy Tail."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(And now how I imagine the first opening song for Fairy Tail would go)

Silhouettes of fairies dance across the night sky over Magnolia, then across the skies over all of Fiore as Luke looks on from the ground below Fairy, where are you going? I'm holding, all the light on to your way; this light will shine upon a brand new day!

Lucy and Cana stand on a hill overlooking the city of Magnolia until they see the silhouette of a fairy fly past them (Oh yeah!) Now can you hear the voice that's calling out to you?

Natsu, Happy, Lisanna and Gray stand amongst a large amount of rubble until they see the silhouette of a fairy fly past them (Oh yeah!) Though I know its shouts have caused its overuse.

Erza finishes cutting down a monster when she notices the silhouette of a fairy fly past her (Oh yeah!) But will it stay until your heart can hear it through?

Luke and Bolt stand on top of a hill looking over the horizon, and then Luke whips around and gives a thumbs up (Oh yeah!) OH YEAH!"

The nine of them ride on a train, with Natsu suffering from motion sickness, Erza calmly eating a piece of cake The sun and moon have joined in celebration

The nine of them ride in a carriage and then settle down in camp for the night, with Natsu and Gray engaging in an eating contest while Luke and Erza just look on Have you forgotten our affiliation?

Lucy sits alone on a bridge in the rain with Plue, until she notices Luke and the others call out to her, and the rain clouds disappear as she rushes off to join them When you're not here to share your laughter with me, I just can't find my inspiration, but now it's:

Insert a quick montage of adventure and comical infighting Snowing, keep going; be honest and smile as we're

Erza looks out into the distance, facing away from a silhouette of Siegrain, followed by silhouettes of Makarov and all of the secondary characters in the guild Approaching, evoking, the clock to keep repeating over, but,

Lucy summons her Celestial Spirits, Natsu unleashes a burst of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, Gray uses an Ice Make spell, Erza uses her Requip, Lisanna uses her Animal Soul, Cana summons her Magic Cards, and Luke finishes by unleashing a powerful burst of Lightning Dragon Slayer magic as everyone else in the guild looks on Fairy, where are you going? I'm holding, all the light on to your way; this light will shine upon a brand new day!

The nine of them all prepare to face a massive monster together {(Why?!) x3}

The song finishes with a shot of everyone in front of the guild hall Don't say goodbye!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sun was just beginning to rise over the skies of Magnolia.

Luke pulled himself out of bed and glanced out the window with a small smile 'My name is Luke Drako, I'm a Lightning Dragon Slayer and a proud member of the guild known as Fairy Tail, a guild filled to the brim with powerful magic and amazing opportunities for everyone. Just head through the center of the city of Magnolia, head past the Kardia Cathedral, head to the gigantic building in the back of the city with the words FAIRY TAIL at the front of it and you'll find the place, the Fairy Tail guild hall. The city itself has a lot of things to offer to like cheap housing, I'm sharing an apartment with my talking cat partner Bolt for about 120,000 Jewel a month. It's not huge like Lucy's apartment is, dirt cheap for a place like that being worth 70,000 Jewel a month, but it gets the job done and it's close to the guild hall.' he let out a sigh 'It's been about a week since Bolt and I came back from our year and a half long training trip, bringing our newest member Lucy back with us. When I finally showed my face at the guild hall a full 18 months after the incident, rather than be met with scorn for my cowardice they pretty much clobbered me in a bear hug, and then actually tried to clobber me. I got around pretty much all of them without too much trouble, but when it came time to deal with Natsu I just called it a day and ducked out while everyone else started brawling for no reason in the way only they can. I'm gonna take my time and ease my way back into this.'

"Wow your place is just as nice is mine."

Luke glanced back and saw Lucy standing in the doorway "Let me take a wild guess, Bolt let you in?"

"Yeah I just wanted to check out your place."

"At least you bothered to knock and to use the door, just warning you in advance that it's pretty likely no one else in the guild will when they drop by your place."

"Considering how freaking nuts they all are I wouldn't be surprised, at least they won't walk in on me when I'm naked."

"They will without hesitation."

"...This might have been a horrible mistake."

"With many more to come. You're in Fairy Tail now blondie, get used to it, now can you leave so I can take a shower and get some decent clothes on?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

10 minutes later…

Luke came back out dressed in some more suitable attire, a quarter zip and a pair of black jeans, then he glanced up and he let out a sigh "Alright Natsu, let's get this over with."

"FIRE DRAGON SWORD HORN!" Natsu burst down from above with flames coating his skull, freaking Lucy out enough for her to use Bolt as a meat shield.

Luke nonchalantly stopped him with one hand, putting out the flames in an instant "You know something Natsu, you really need a hobby."

"This is my hobby, now do you want some more or are you gonna say mercy?"

"Oh for fuck's sake… Hey Lucy can you open the window real quick?" this prompted Lucy to slide open the bedroom window "Thank you."

"NOW YOU'RE MINE!" Natsu charged at him "Fire Dragon-"

"Boot to the head." Luke dealt Natsu a solid blow to the head and sent him flying straight out the window, soaring into the early morning sky "With people like Natsu you've just gotta know where to hit them and how hard to hit them."

"Is that gonna be okay?" asked Lucy "I mean won't he suffer from brain damage from something like that?"

"If he did then he did long before he came to Fairy Tail, besides he'll soak that shit in like some kind of incredibly stupid sponge. So out of curiosity how many Celestial Spirits do you have a contract with right now?"

"Well so far I have six in total but I have a few different types, not to brag or anything but I even have a few different types of them."

"The silver keys are ones you can find in most magic shops around the kingdom, the gold ones are the super rare ones with each one representing the 12 Zodiacs from Leo the Lion to Pisces the Paired Fish."

"Exactly, I have Taurus the Golden Bull, Aquarius the Water Bearer and the third one that I have is Cancer the Giant Crab."

"Mermaid, bull and crab huh? Sounds like the name of a shitty heavy metal band."

"Oh that reminds me, I need to make a contract with the key I bought in Hargeon. I don't suppose you and the smartass cat over there are interested in seeing how a Celestial Wizard makes a contract with a Celestial Spirit."

"Well we've got about 20 minutes before Natsu lands and storms his way back here to challenge me again, so yeah why not I say go for it."

"Alright then, now pay attention. I call upon thee in the world of the Celestial Spirits, I beckon you to my side at once! Pass through the gate! Open, gate of canis minor! Now come, Nichola!" she opened the gate and summoned the spirit, revealing it to be a tiny adorable snowman creature.

"Okay what the hell are we looking at?"

"It's supposed to look like that." Lucy reached down and started cuddling the spirit "Oh my god you're such a cutie patootie!"

"You've got a type don't you?"

"It doesn't take much magic power to get these guys through the gate, so a lot of wizards keep these guys as pets."

"So basically you're gonna keep him like a dog or something?"

"Maybe." Lucy turned back to Nichola "So let's start working on our contract, are you free on Mondays?" she received a head shake "What about Tuesdays?" a nod "Okay then, what about on Wednesdays?"

Luke just watched the process go down as he handed Bolt a fish and made himself a cup of coffee "Well this is boring."

"Great well that just about does it." Lucy didn't take too long to finish up "You know stuff like this may seem boring to you but it's really important, you see the contract of a Celestial Wizard relies on the promise that's made between the wizard and the spirit and that's why I make it a point to always keep my promises."

"I can respect that."

"Now I just have to come up with a name for the little guy."

"I thought it was Nichola, or is that just the name of its species."

"Just the species, I just thought it was the cutest name ever, isn't that right my little Plue?"

"You sure he's cool with that?"

"Why wouldn't he be?"

"It's kind of weird to think that his sign is the Little Dog but he doesn't bark or act like an actual dog." Bolt pointed out.

"I don't hear you acting like a cat over there buddy-" Lucy glanced down to see Plue dancing around the place "What's he doing?"

Luke let out a chuckle "Well I don't know if I would go that far."

"You can understand what he's saying?"

"More or less, but anyway since you're a part of Fairy Tail you wanna be part of the team I'm putting together?"

"Wait what do you mean team?"

"See even though we're all members of the same guild a lot of the time wizards group into separate individual teams, it helps if jobs too hard for any single wizard can be done through a team effort. Examples include Levy with Jet and Droy to form team Shadow Gear. Freed is paired with Bickslow and Evergreen under Laxus to form the Thunder Legion, Macao usually pairs up with Wakaba, Alzack and Bisca are a team in more than a few ways, and I usually pair up with Cana but sometimes I go with people like Natsu and Gray."

"Awesome, I say let's do it!"

"Works for me, meet me at the guild in an hour and we'll get started."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour passed.

Lucy made her way into the guild hall and found Luke sitting at the bar with a job request in his hand "So what's my first job gonna be?"

"Hate to break it to you blondie but that's gonna have to be put on hold." Luke held up the job request to her "I don't know why but whoever sent this job request, they asked specifically for me."

"It's like I told you." Makarov spoke up a few seats away "I wouldn't say such a thing if it wasn't true. Take my advice Luke, don't let the lightning control you."

"How about this Master, I won't let the Lightning control me so long as you don't let the liquor control you. Sorry Lucy but whatever this is sounds like it's too much for a beginner, I'll give you a hand when I get back." he glanced over "Hey Gray, first of all put on some pants."

"Dammit!" Gray quickly pulled his pants back on "What?"

"Going on a job, you wanna be my backup?"

"Yeah I think I'll pass, you don't need me for some sidekick or-"

"It pays 250,000 Jewel a piece."

"I'm in." and that was the end of the discussion as the three of them (Bolt included) headed out of the guild hall.

Lucy glanced over at Makarov "So Master if you don't mind me asking what's the deal with that job that Luke took?"

Makarov let out a sigh "It's from a city that's been plagued by lightning for several weeks."

"A plague of lightning? Sounds like the name of a heavy metal band."

"The job comes from the courrier town of Borwatt, it's being barraged by lightning on a daily basis and since Luke uses Lightning Dragon Slayer magic they specifically requested him to deal with this matter."

"Wow, so I guess he's made a name for himself."

"You have no idea." Cana spoke up from right next to Lucy, startling her "Luke's a lot more down to Earth than most of the guys in the guild, but him aside if you need someone to go on your first job with you then I'm your woman."

"No way that's awesome, I say let's do it!" they high fived "So what's our plan?"

"Well blondie you're in luck, I've got our first job right here." Cana held up a job request "Take a look and see for yourself."

"Let me see what you've got here." Lucy took the flier, unaware of the evil glint Cana had in her eyes "So it's in Shirotsume huh? No way, for 200,000 Jewel just for taking a book from some rich guy named Duke Everlue?"

"Should be a piece of cake right?"

"Yeah it- Wait there's more. Please note: Everlue is a dirty old man who is currently looking for maids with blonde hair."

"And we just happened to know a girl with blonde hair, and I know someone who can get her a maid's uniform no problem."

"Why you sneaky little- That is so not fair!"

"Good thing Celestial Wizards always keep their promises right, cause now you're stuck with me blondie."

"But you tricked me!"

"Oh lighten up, now try getting into character and addressing me as your mistress."

"Not a chance in-"

"Oh yeah that reminds me, here." she handed her a note.

"Word of warning, Cana is a loyal friend and teammate but she can also be manipulative as fuck when she wants to be. Luke Drako." she crushed the note in frustration "Thanks for the heads up."

"Looks like we've got ourselves a full day ahead of us."

"Just one thing you should know before you leave." Makarov spoke up "I was contacted by the client concerning that job not too long ago."

"What did they cancel it?"

"Quite the opposite actually, in fact they increased the reward from 200,000 to 2 Million Jewel."

"You're kidding me, they paid that much money just for some stupid book I'm gonna use Lucy to get so we can split the reward money?" Cana gave a smirk "Sounds like this job just got a lot more interesting than it already was."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It didn't take very long for Luke and Gray to arrive in the town of Borwatt and scope out the situation "Well they definitely don't have a shortage of lightning rods and the place is a fucking ghost town."

"Wouldn't be surprised if they were connected." Gray was quick to pick up on something else as well "There's a crap load of static in the air."

"It's doing wonders for your hair man, you look like you're going Super." Luke gestured to his hair standing up on end from the static.

"Like you have the right to comment, for all I know you're doing that to screw with me."

"You know me so well, anyway heads up." Luke glanced up to see multiple blasts of lightning raining down on the city "One thing is for sure, there was definitely nothing natural about those blasts."

"The lightning rods looked like overkill before but now it seems like they're nowhere near enough to get the job done."

"Imagine trying to live your life in a hellstorm like this, anyway let's go."

"Where to?"

"Where else, we have a client to meet up with." he held out his fist and absorbed the blasts of lightning that started raining down on him, only for a second barrage of lightning blasts to rain down a few seconds later, much longer this time.

'Something isn't right, magic or not lightning should never last for this long. If the lightning doesn't run out of juice then Luke will, but my Ice Make magic won't be able to stop a fucking lightning bolt, I learned that one the hard way.'

"You know fuck it, Gray hang back for a second while I just go for the quick fic. Lightning… Dragon… ROAR!" he breathed a massive blast of lightning into the air, blowing away the dark clouds and letting the sun shine once more.

"So does that mean we did the job?"

"I wouldn't bet on it, those clouds are gonna be back in a matter of hours so we'll have to find a more permanent solution. Plus getting rid of the storm clouds didn't do anything about the static, which means that the storm was more an effect of this problem rather than a cause."

"Looks like we've gotten ourselves into some real shit." Luke glanced around to see the citizens of the city emerging from their homes surrounding him and Gray "And now this is happening for some reason."

"Holy crap, you're Luke from Fairy Tail!" one kid ran up to him "I heard about you beating down all sorts of dark guilds, you're just awesome!"

"I just did what I thought was right."

"Well this is the first time we've had clear skies here in over a month, seriously everyone here owes you big time!"

"It's no big deal really."

"Excuse me." another one came up to him, this one being a young woman "Sorry but I saw you fight those slave traders in Hargeon, I'm just a little bit starstruck so… do you think I could shake your hand?"

"Uh…"

"I have this lipstick too but could you please sign my arm?"

"I mean you just blew those clouds right out of the sky, not to mention you're a solid 9 out of 10 to boot! I mean I'm not a fan of glasses so…"

"I'm gonna choose to ignore that."

"Please sir shake our hands too!" a large crowd of people started crowding around him at a quick pace.

"Uh…"

"Well what do you know." Gray let out a chuckle "Looks like someone's quite popular with the ladies, something most guys would only dream of."

"Do I look like I'm having fun with this?"

"You look like you're trying to screw with me but I know that you're enjoying every last bit of this."

"...Bite me." he shot a glare at some of the women, causing them to swoon "Look in regards to the hand shaking I've accidentally fried people enough times to know that it's a bad idea, but in regards to getting rid of the lightning blasts I'll do what I can. Anyway if you'll excuse me I have to meet up with our client, hey stripper let's move." he grabbed Gray while he was in the middle of ripping off his shirt (Gray wasn't conscious of him doing this) and dragged him along through the city "And for the record, the glasses are part of my charm just like stripping is a part of yours so I should be a solid 10."

"Chicks are crazy."

"And you're naked again."

"I am?"

"Yeah." Luke glanced ahead "Heads up stripper, we've got more company coming our way but at least these people look sane."

Sure enough, coming towards them was two guys, one short with a receding hairline and one with glasses and a bow tie "Why hello there, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"So I take it you're the one who hired us for this job?"

The taller one nodded "Indeed it's a pleasure to finally meet you, allow me to introduce before you Mr De Cybele, the mayor of our fine town of Borwatt. My name is Ga Maille and I serve the town as the secretary to the mayor, and to answer your earlier question good sir we are indeed the men who hired you for this job, one of the better calls we've made I believe. Your display in clearing the clouds of those horrible dark skies was quite impressive to say the least." he glanced down at the mayor "Very well done Mayor Cybele, yet again our town has been saved from an impending disaster by your sound judgement and watchful eyes. Our citizens may return to their prosperous lives without fear of being struck down by bolts of lightning!"

"Yeah let me stop you right there, I think we have a lot more to discuss about what's going on in this town."

"Indeed we do gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to follow us and give us the honor of a private audience. The mayoral palace is nothing compared to your guild hall but I think it should suffice, we're quite keen to tell you what we know of this phenomenon and to hear what you might have to say about it."

"Works for me, let's do it."

"Excellent. Now then people of Borwatt, let us give one last round of applause for the Thunderclap of Fairy Tail and the savior of our town!"

"Really unnecessary." Luke glanced back and noticed a small electrical charge building up from underneath the stone pathway 'That doesn't seem right.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the same time, Lucy and Cana were travelling by carriage to meet with their own client, the former being forced to practice her maid routine "Are you enjoying your carriage ride today mistress, is there anything I can get for you?"

Cana shot her a wicker grin "Not yet but next time we see any place that sells liquor I'll let you know, sound good?"

"Can I drop the act now?"

"Your mistress allows this."

"Why did you and Luke want me to join your team?"

"Luke just calls it like he sees it, he said you had potential and you seemed like a good person so that was good enough for me."

'...Well that was weird, did I just get a compliment from her?'

"But you're kind of on the quirky side?"

'I'm a gorgeous young woman with Celestial Spirit contracts and the girl with the drinking problem who's probably a Dominatrix and is paired with a talking cat with wings and a guy that eats lightning thinks I'm weird? Well anyway I'm totally stoked about my first real job, I know I'm gonna rock it."

"What's with the change in attitude, I thought you were upset about me using you."

"Well yeah I was mad at first but then I realized that if this perv likes pretty girls then I'm perfect for the job right?"

"We said he wanted a blonde, if he wanted someone who was drop dead gorgeous regardless of hair color then he would've gone for yours truly."

"...Ignoring that, I think it's time for us to work out the pay scale. Since I'm the one doing all the work I think we should split the reward 70 and 30."

"You only want 30% of it?"

"I'm the 70!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Luke, Bolt and Gray followed Cybele and Maille back to their mansion at the top of a hill overlooking the town "So let's get down to business, exactly when did this plague of lightning which sounds like the name of a bad heavy metal band first start?"

Cybele shared a look with Maille, and then he shot a dark look at Luke "The lightning first came when you did, back when you screwed over this town!"

"Gonna need some context here."

Maille's frown deepened "You do recall your last visit do you not? It was several months ago during the time of the Magnolia Harvest Festival." they all failed to notice Gray cringe at the mention (Will be explained in a later chapter).

"The harvest festival huh?" Luke frowned in thought, until a realization finally dawned upon his face "Oh shit, so this is where I was."

"Where you were for what?" asked Bolt.

"I passed through here awhile back after I got drunk as fuck, I think it was the day you found me in the alley. My memories are a little bit hazy but I beat up some guys and blasted them with lightning I think, and I guess this place has been storm central ever since then right?"

Cybele nodded "You're damn right it has you imbecile."

'And with that major change in his mood the mayor is showing his true colors.'

"Borwatt prospered once, half of the mail out of Crocus came through here but after you left the wrath of a lightning god in your wake-"

"Lightning dragon, be accurate."

"Whatever, people started avoiding this town however they could and business ground to a halt and the livelihoods of people were ruined because of your reckless abuse of power!"

"Bullshit!" Gray barked "You really think he would be that reckless!"

"I know what I know you ignorant whelp!"

"Stop it Gray, don't start a fight with this guy." Luke shot a look at Cybele "Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it."

Cybele shot him a wicked grin "What I want is for you to clean up your mess, all I ask of you is that you complete the job you were hired to do but I figured the knowledge that you caused this mess in the first place might put some spring in your step. The people of this city see you as their hero but they don't know that you sabotaged their way of life in order to win some pointless brawl, have you ever heard of the phrase the higher the climb, the harder the fall? Think of how their opinions would change when they learned that the hell they go through was caused by you and you alone, think of the reputation of your guild!"

"The reputation of our guild already has one foot in the crapper as it is." he received a WTF sort of look from Gray "Well it is. But fine, give us until sundown and the job will be as good as done."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in the town of Shiratsume…

It didn't take too long for Cana and Lucy to reach the town of Shiratsume "Man I don't know about you but I need a drink."

"What you didn't bring anything with you?" asked Lucy.

"I tried that a few times but a while back everyone in the guild tried to send me to rehab so we reached a compromise, I stop bringing it everywhere I go."

"Makes sense I guess. Hey I've been wondering, about Luke eating lightning-"

"It's a Dragon Slayer thing, he can eat lightning as long as it's not his own. Natsu's the same way with fire, he can eat fire as long as it's not his own."

"Well that's kind of lame-"

"Blame the guy who came up with Dragon Slayer magic- Hey check it out." Cana glanced up at a tavern up ahead "I don't know about you but I could use a drink, that client isn't going anywhere so let's take a quick breather."

"That's okay Cana I'm good, you go ahead though." and so Lucy walked off.

'This chick doesn't get how we operate in Fairy Tail does she? We should be drinking together as a team, it's like a symbol but it's her loss I guess.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

10 minutes later…

Cana gulped down her 7th mug of booze like it was as easy as breathing "Hey Lucy if you're gonna get your mug then now's the time to do it, I can tell from the look of you that that's exactly what you need."

"Hey hold on a second, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Cana glanced up to see Lucy storm up to her in a cute maid outfit "Huh, didn't expect you to put that thing on willingly."

"Yeah well I thought about it and I realized that I would look super cute in this maid uniform, come on there's no need to be shy."

"Uh…"

"Have you had enough to drink mistress or shall I bring you some more? Whatever you wish is my command."

"...You realize that I'm not a lesbian right?"

"Yeah well I figured that if everyone in the guild is as insane as, well you then I can just throw any sort of logic out the proverbial window."

"There you see, now you're learning."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in the town of Borwatt…

Gray and Luke made their way back into the town "That mayor guy and his butler really know how to piss a guy off."

"That just means he was showing his true colors." Luke told him "And that means he's got something planned."

"So what then you think he's a lying fink?"

"There's definitely something off with the old guy that's for sure, I mean blackmailing us into the job we'd already signed up for."

"But you're thinking we can't go accusing him without proof."

"Yeah." Luke glanced out at the city and let out a sigh "Son of a bitch."

"What's the matter?" asked Bolt.

"I think I just realized what the master was talking about before we left, not letting the lightning control me. I guess he was right, I let the lightning and the liquor control me. Only one of those things applies to me though and that's what makes it suck all the more."

Gray glanced up and noticed the storm clouds returning over the city "So you gonna blow it away with a roar like you did the first time?"

"No more quick fixes, I'm the one who started this and I'm gonna end it. It's the least I can do for this city."

"Right behind you man, just say the word and I'll do whatever you need me to do."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, sorry about dragging you into this and bribing you the way that I did."

"I've been dragged into worse by Natsu, last year at the Harvest Festival we had to team up and go toe to toe with Laxus."

"Did you win?"

"It was more like a draw, we barely made it out alive."

"Sounds like I missed one hell of a show-" Luke cut himself short and he glanced over at the city below "This was unexpected."

"What's the matter?"

"The city doesn't just have an electric charge, it's building one with all of those lightning rods they have in place down there. It almost feels like it's draining the lightning right out of my body, which means that you and I are gonna have to snoop around."

"So what are we going for then, the mayor or the lightning?"

"I don't see any reason why we can't do both." Luke glanced down at Bolt "Alright listen up little buddy, I've got a job for you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Maille handed Cybele a cup of tea "Well sir it would seem that everything is going according to plan."

Cybele let out a chuckle "Well it would seem that you've outdone yourself on this one Mr Riftor my old friend."

"You flatter me Mr Mayor but I'm nowhere near your level, blasting your town apart in order to receive compensation from Fairy Tail was a stroke of brilliance."

"When you put it like that it sounds almost sinister, look that wizard did leave behind some static and without it our little lightning plague would never have been possible."

"Well played, the beauty of our plan is that whatever catastrophe comes of this the world will know that it was caused by Fairy Tail. So how much should I ask for when the reparations actually do begin?"

"Well let me think about that for a moment, these buildings were designed by a famous architect so maybe 5 million each."

"But one cannot put a price on heritage so you could demand twice as much as that."

"You're such a clever scoundrel you're in a league of your own."

"As humble as you are devious sir." they failed to notice Bolt watching them through a nearby open window.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In Shirotsume…

The client meeting with Lucy and Cana was a tall and aged man in a suit with gray hair and a short moustache "My name is Kaby Melon, it's a pleasure to meet both of you."

"Why does your name make me hungry?" Cana pointed out flatly, only to receive a quick nudge on the side from Lucy "What, don't tell me you weren't thinking the same thing."

"It's alright, I actually get that a lot. But first things first, I should tell you both about the job that I hired you for."

Lucy studied Kaby for a moment 'Why does this guy's name sound familiar?'

"The job I hired you for is pretty straight forward really, Duke Everlue has a book called Daybreak in his possession and I would like you to burn it for me."

"That does sound pretty straightforward sir, but if you don't mind may I ask as to why you want us to burn this book? Is such a thing really worth raising the reward from 200,000 to 2 million Jewel?"

"It is, and I raised the reward as much as I did because that's how much this means to me. That book has to be destroyed no matter how much the cost may be."

"Well that's all I need to hear." Cana bolted to her feet and slung Lucy over her shoulder "That much money is all the incentive is all that I need to do this, come on blondie let's go burn some shit." and so she dragged Lucy out of the room despite her protests.

'Daybreak… that book must be burned, I cannot allow such a book to remain in existence any longer.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In Borwatt…

Gray and Luke bolted through the streets of Borwatt as lightning continuously rained down around them "This is bad, the lightning is everywhere now, even in the ground!"

"And that's not all." Luke gestured to the lightning creatures rising up in front of them "Looks like the ones behind this have themselves a couple of lightning elementals, creatures made up of a structure made of lightning magic. I trained with a guy who could make these things but those were the size of whole buildings, you could take them out in one hit each."

"I just might take you up on that. Ice Make: Sword!" Gray charged forward, materialized a sword made of ice and cut through as many as he could, but as he did they just multiplied into many smaller ones, a good number of them slipping past him "Luke you're gonna have to absorb some of them!"

"I'm on it!" Luke charged them and started chomping onto each one that he could and devoured them due to their lightning properties, charging himself with electricity in the process.

"Hey slow it down you idiot, you're charging yourself up too fast to be able to hand that much at once!"

"It's not like I have a choice, if I can't hold it in then I'll end up blasting the entire town and everyone with it! Besides shredding them won't do the trick, you've gotta obliterate them all the way! Lightning… Dragon… ROAR!" Luke breathed out a powerful blast of lightning, obliterating the current elementals only for more to materialize in front of them "They just keep coming, we'd better figure out an actual fix for this or it's only a matter of time before we're screwed."

"I think I figured that out already, take a look over there." Gray gestured to a nearby statue a short distance away with an electrical charge building underneath it due to the metal grills put in place "The electricity is seeping through those metal grills."

"Not to mention this looks a lot like where I beat down those punks, which means that this is the source of what's going on. Gray stay here and make sure nothing follows me, I'm gonna go on ahead and find out what's causing this and end it." and then he bolted off, leaving Gray on damage control for any other lightning elementals.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, outside Duke Everlue's mansion…

Lucy braced herself as she stood outside the gates to Duke Everlue's mansion, and with a deep breath she started with the plan 'Luke is so gonna pay for this when I get back. Excuse me, I was told you had an opening for a maid position! Hello? No enough thinking about that, I have to stick to the plan, I wow this geezer with my looks, burn some stupid book and then collect 2 million Jewel. This should be easy, so long as that drunk lunatic over there doesn't screw it up or blow my cover.'

That was when things started to get weird as a figure burst out of the ground behind Lucy, and revealed herself as a gigantic figure with pink hair and a maid outfit "So you're a maid then are you?"

"Uh… yeah."

"I assume that you're here because you saw the ad that the master placed in the paper?"

"That's right."

"BO YO YO YO!" and then he burst out of the ground "I do believe I heard someone say master!"

'Master, yeah right it's more like a monster to me!'

"Now then, let's see here…"

"Well I sure do hope you like what you see. Oh god this guy is seriously creeping me out, but you have to stay strong Lucy.'

"Thanks but I'll pass, now get lost ugly."

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me."

The other maid picked her up by the uniform "You heard the man, time for you to get going already ugly."

"Yeah sorry about this, but you see a man of my standing has certain standards to uphold for myself." he summoned a crew of less than impressive woman to his side "And that is why I only hire the fairest of the fair. Yes ladies you don't have to say what's already obvious, your master is the best so how about one of you shows ugly here how to get out of my sight."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cana found Lucy sulking a few minutes later "So you couldn't pull it off huh? Well add that to the list of reasons as to why men are idiots."

"Hey I tried my best!" Lucy yelled at her "That idiot wouldn't know beauty if it bit him right in the ass!"

"Well then I guess we'll just have to resort to what Luke has dubbed as Operation WTS."

"Hell yeah, that jerk is gonna pay for failing to understand true beauty! Hey quick question, what exactly is Operation WTS?"

"It stands for Operation Wreck Their Shit, as in we charge in like a bunch of crazed animals, beat the crap out of anyone who gets in our way, take the book by force and then kick that old guy in the balls just to piss him off."

"That's not a plan!"

"Oh lord, blondie you have a lot to learn about being a member of this guild."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

What went unnoticed was that Everlue was watching Cana and Lucy from his mansion through use of a crystal ball "So it would seem we have another group of wizards at our door, and these are from Fairy Tail."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, in Borwatt Town…

Luke bolted through an underground passageway underneath the city, only to come across something rather unsettling 'That gigantic thing is filled with me electricity. Every wielder of magic based on lightning or electricity has a unique wavelength like a sort of an electric magic fingerprint, which means that this is the electricity that I blasted into the ground that night when I zapped those punks, and it's been drawing in static and electricity ever since and that's causing it to grow. It happened so I guess it happens. I don't know how it could've grown so much in just a few months but it doesn't really matter, what does matter right now is that I have to stop this once and for all. If I hit it with one of my most powerful attacks then it should cancel this thing out. Is it risky, maybe it is but I don't have any other options right now. I don't like that mayor guy and I think he's pretty shady but that sphere down there proves that he's right, I'm the one who created this thing so I should be the one to put it down.' he made his way towards the source of the lightning and absorbed the electricity that shot towards him, though as he moved forward he started to slow down, but despite this he wasn't deterred and drew his sword from the sheath at his side "With the blade in my hands forged from your dragon scales, I beg you to lend me strength Kaminari. Dragon Slayer Secret Art: THUNDER LANCE!" with one clean stroke he cut clear through the ball of electricity, causing the ball of electricity to dissipate "And that's how we do it in Fairy Tail!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gray withdrew his ice swords once he saw the lightning elementals disappear, and he gave a small smile "What do you know you pulled it off, looks like you have gotten a lot stronger haven't you Luke?"

"Hey Gray!" that was when Bolt came flying up to him "Hey listen Luke told me to go and spy on the mayor because he thought something wasn't right, you're not gonna believe what I found out."

"I probably won't, you know how to come up with some weird shit."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Magic Card: Sword!" having carried Lucy to the roof of the mansion, Cana summoned a sword from within one of her magic cards and quickly cut open a window "I'm just gonna go on record and say that I think still think we could've busted in through the front door."

"Yeah don't get me wrong, I love being part of this guild but there's no way in hell I'm going to jail because of you." Lucy told her flatly.

"Didn't you tell me you were out to get revenge on this guy?"

"Oh I'm gonna get my revenge alright, not only am I gonna burn his book but I'm gonna use his toothbrush to clean his toilet."

"Scathing, just drag it through a pile of dog crap." Cana dragged Lucy inside through the window, into what looked like a storeroom.

"What the heck is this, some kind of weird storeroom?"

"You think he's hiding booze somewhere in here?"

"I don't know, looks more like he's got some old antique stuff in here. So what's our plan, I think we'll have to search every room until we track down the book."

"That shit will take way too long, let's just take a hostage and force him to tell us where the stupid book is."

"...Are you drunk?"

"A little bit."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

10 minutes of searching later…

Cana and Lucy searched through one room after another in search of the book, only to have no luck in that department "So just to be clear we really have to search every inch of this place just to find this stupid book?"

"That is what we agreed to do." Lucy pointed out.

"I still say we should take a hostage and make them tell us where the book is, it would be a lot faster in the long run."

"Yeah but the whole idea is for us not to be seen, you have to be stealthy like you're some kind of ninja."

"Like a ninja." Cana held up some cards in between her fingers "And like ninja we wreck people's shit without them ever noticing us."

"What the hell is going through that head of yours."

"Booze, lots of it."

"VIRGO FORCE AWAY!" that was when the pink haired maid, her name being Virgo, burst up through the floor with her squad of maid guardians "Come on girls, let's get these ugly little sluts!"

"Ninja power bitches!" Cana hurled some exploding cards at them, blowing four of them clear away in the explosions that followed.

"Flying Virgo Attack!" Virgo leapt into the air and slammed down on top of Cana, much to the horror of Lucy.

Much to the shock of everyone else, Cana lifted Virgo into the air and then threw her clean off of her "And now for the follow up! Magic Card: Liquid Rifle!" she summoned a card and fired off a barrage of water bullets from the surface of it, blowing Virgo clean through a wall before the liquid rifle de-materialized "You know something Lucy I was ninjas are overrated big time, snipers are the way to go."

"I'm pretty sure snipers are supposed to be silent." Lucy pointed out dryly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The smoke cleared away and allowed Luke to pull himself back to his feet "So to sum it up I stopped the blast, I'm still alive, and I was able to stop the explosion from causing any significant property damage and without frying myself. Not too bad of a day's work." he glanced down and picked up what looked like a small orb "A lacrima huh? Well that would explain it, my lightning magic couldn't have drawn in all of that power on its own so this thing must have been amplifying it. Chances are that someone planted it here on purpose, and I think I know exactly who it was. The only question is, why would they do something like that?"

"Hey Luke!" that was when Bolt and Gray rushed onto the scene "I figured it out, it turns out you were right about the mayor. He's the one who set this whole mess up and framed you for the whole thing!"

"I figured as much, I just wanted to be sure that I was right or else wrecking the guild's reputation even further."

"So what now?"

"Now we go and wreck some shit, or rather have shit wreck some. Yeah you know what I'm gonna work on that."

"Probably for the best."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cana and Lucy found themselves in the library of Duke Everlue's mansion "For a dirty old man with crappy taste you'd think a lot of these books would actually be porn instead."

Lucy was less put out and more in awe "Oh wow, who would've thought Everlue would turn out to be such a major bookworm."

"Well whatever, let's start looking already so we can get the book and then get the reward money."

"Agreed."

20 minutes of searching later…

Lucy and Cana spent some time searching through the various shelves, only for them to quickly grow impatient "How the heck are we gonna find one stupid book in an entire library of god only knows what kind of books?"

"HA!" Cana barked out a laugh "Hey check it out I was right, he did have a shelf of porn after all! Also what did this Daybreak or whatever book look like again?"

"I don't know the guy never said what it looked like, why do you-" Lucy turned around and her jaw literally dropped to the ground anime style "Oh my god you actually found it, 2 million Jewel here we come!"

"Just hold it for a second while I used a card or two to shred this thing and earn us that drinking money-"

"Wait hold on a second!" Lucy snatched the book away from her "I didn't realize that this book was written by Kemu Zaleon!"

"Zale- What now?"

"Zaleon was a great wizard and an amazing novelist, I'm such a huge fan of his work! I was totally positive that I had read every single sentence he'd ever written but this must be an unpublished novel!"

"Yeah well either way a job has gotta be done, let's just get rid of the damn thing already."

"Don't you dare touch it, this is a great work of literature and you'd better stay away from it you drunk sadist!"

"What about the job?"

"Just forget about that stupid job already!"

"2 million Jewel blondie, failure is not an option."

"Why can't we just tell the guy we burned it, I swear I'll keep it a secret."

"The people of Fairy Tail may not be sane but we're also not liars."

"Well well, what do we have here?" and who should burst upwards through the floor and land in between them but Duke Everlue himself "So you thieving wenches are looking to pilfer Daybreak from me are you? Boyoyo."

"You see what happens when you don't let us do the damn job, for the record blondie this is going on your evaluation."

"Am I really getting evaluated for this?" asked Lucy.

"Maybe, maybe not. I'll just let you squirm a little bit for now since either way this is still your fault. And by the way old guy, wouldn't it have been easier for you to just come in through the door?"

Duke Everlue let out a chuckle "I was well aware that all of you lowlife wizard types were coming around here to take something that belongs to me, I never would've guessed it would be that stupid book."

"Stupid?"

Lucy shared a look with Cana 'This book must be really important if the client is really willing to pay so much to destroy it so I don't understand, why would Everlue say something like that about it? Well this works out great, if it's so stupid to you then I guess it would be fine if I were to keep it?"

"Absolutely not, it belongs to me!" Everlue barked "You can't have it so get your grubby hands off!"

"Greedy gut."

"Shut your trap you ugly wench."

"You son of a-"

"Oh for the love of fuck!" Cana pulled out one of her magic cards "Just give me the stupid book so we can get this over with."

"Not a chance, I'm not giving it to you!"

"Think for a second Lucy, this is what we were hired to do."

"Well at least let me read the thing first."

"You're reading it now?!"

"How the hell could I not?"

"A little something called common sense!"

This was when Duke Everlue finally lost his temper "I've officially had enough, how dare you place your filthy hands on my possessions! Now come forth Vanish Brothers!"

Sure enough, two figures emerged from a secret passageway behind the bookshelf "You summoned us master, can you believe that these little punks are from the Fairy Tail guild? Talk about a bunch of runts."

Cana was quick to recognize them "Those emblems mean that they're from the mercenary guild the Southern Wolves, so you have some bodyguards then do you?"

Duke Everlue let out a chuckle "The Southern Wolves are always hungry for fresh game, say your prayers thieving wenches."

"I'll be saying something but it won't be prayers."

Lucy pulled Cana aside for a quick second "Hey I need you to try and hold them off for a little while okay? I'm not sure what it is but I think this book holds some kind of secret." and she quickly rushed out of the room."

'So now I'm buying time huh? She's learning, good for her.'

"A secret?" Duke Everlue suppressed a snarl 'It must have been able to slip through my notice somehow, it could be a treasure map or something. I'm going after the girl, you two make sure the brunette doesn't leave this place in one piece." and then he disappeared through another hole in the floor.

"Yes sir." the Vanish Brothers dropped into different combat stances.

Cana summoned a few cards in between her fingertips "Looks like luck isn't on your side today boys."

"You talk big for some arrogant drunk chick, maybe it's about time for us to put you in your place. So you're a card wizard then are you?"

"Something like that, what gave it away?"

"The fact that you're holding cards infused with magic energy right now and the fact that you summoned a magic water rifle when you fought Virgo before so you're an ability type card user that has magic flowing through their body."

"The fact that you know so much means that you know what happens when you piss off someone who uses cards, they rip you to shreds! Magic Card: Flame Shower!" she threw forward a volley of cards that shot out blasts of fire from each one.

The older Vanish Brother blocked the attack "Sorry to disappoint you girl but fighting against fire magic is something that we know how to do quite well."

"Oh really?"

"YEAH!" the younger Vanish Brother dealt Cana a sharp kick to the side, blowing her clean out of the room and forcing her to rebound atop of the large tacky statue of Duke Everlue, and they dodged a quick counterattack of a card being thrown at him "Here's a little wakeup call for you, Fairy Tail may be a big time wizard guild and all but you pathetic wizards are no match for trained mercenaries like the two of us."

"Here's a reality check asshole, if that's the best you can do then you're dead wrong."

"Oh please, do you really think you can beat us? Here's a thought, do you have any idea what the greatest weakness is for a wizard?"

"If you're talking about motion sickness I know a few guys who have that issue but that might be more personal."

"More of a personal issue really, their weakness is actually their bodies!" the older one blitzed in front of Cana and attempted to strike her, dodging a card that she threw at him in the process "You see wizards have to focus increasingly intently on honing their mental abilities, and as such they fail to train their bodies properly and as such they end up physically weak as a result. On the other hand, we focus on our physical abilities and as such we have greater power and speed than you."

"Oh wow I'm so scared, are you gonna keep talking or are we gonna do this?"

"If that's what you want then so be it, now you'll die by our combination attack. Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique!"

"Yeah well I say bring it on!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lucy blitzed through the book using her Wind-Reader glasses, allowing her to read through the entire book in a matter of moments, and she was amazed by what she was "Unbelievable, I knew that this book was holding some kind of secret!"

"Boyoyo!" Duke Everlue suddenly burst through the wall behind her and grabbed Lucy by the arm before she was able to react "Well if that is the case then please do share, secrets don't make friends you know."

"Not a chance, a pig like you doesn't deserve to know what it is! As far as I'm concerned you're an enemy of literature!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique!" the younger Vanish brother launched the older one into the air and blitzed towards Cana "Look towards heaven and I strike down from the Earth!" he dealt Cana a sharp attack to the side using his gigantic frying pan, dodging an attempted counterattack with a card in the process.

"Look towards the Earth and we strike down from heaven!" the older brother dealt Cana a quick kick to the spine from above.

"And now you have witnessed the true power of the Vanish Brothers, the Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique, a force that very few have been able to survive and even if they do they will never escape unscathed."

"Is that so?" the dust cleared to reveal Cana standing there without a scratch on her, and she quickly threw a card to the side "Sorry to disappoint you guys, actually no I'm not, but I guess I'm the exception to your rule."

"But- But that's impossible!"

"And you know something else?" she pointed to the few cards that she had used to apparently attack them, scattered in various corners of the room "A new technique I learned from one of my guildmates, I haven't gotten to try it on anyone yet so get ready to be my test monkeys. Magic Card: Lightning Perimeter!" she held up one arm, electricity charging in her hand and in the four different cards surrounding them, and she guided it down towards them, engulfing them in an explosion on the spot that also wrecked the mansion.

When the blast subsided and the smoke cleared, the Vanish Brothers lay on the ground in comical heaps, charred and burned but still alive.

"Well shit, I guess I overdid it." Cana let out a sigh "Well at least I know that the technique works. See this technique makes use of my Lightning Summoning Cards and I just manipulate the lightning to do whatever the hell I want."

"Uh… hey Fairy chick?"

"Yeah?"

"Let us know when the room stops spinning okay?"

"Yeah how about now, I'm gonna go track down Lucy since you two wizard chef guys are pretty much screwed."

"We're mercenaries."

"Not with those looks, at the very most you'd be magic prostitutes." Cana promptly left the scene in search of Lucy, unaware of Virgo's eyes glowing menacingly from underneath all of the rubble.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Duke Everlue tightened his grip on Lucy's arm "An enemy of literature you say? My massive collection of books and art only proves me to be the greatest friend of culture!"

"Doesn't matter!" Lucy let out a scoff "That collection of the ugly maids proves that you don't know a damn thing about beauty!"

"How dare you mock them, they are the very definition of beauty! Now what secret does the book hold? Let me guess, he buried his fortune and there's a treasure map hidden inside of the book! Tell me now or I shall snap your arm like a toothpick!" he was met with a middle finger and promptly bent her arm "Now is not the time I would recommend getting sassy with me you ugly wench. Listen to me, I myself commissioned the very creation of this book and therefore any secret it holds is rightfully my property!"

"Get… your grubby hands… OFF ME! LUCY KICK!" Lucy dealt Duke Everlue a sharp kick to the face, sending him crashing into the sewer water a few feet away.

Duke Everlue pulled himself out of the water and promptly spat it out, as well as a large amount of spit that followed "You little- How dare you damage my face!"

"Yeah well you touched my merchandise first asshat!" Lucy pulled out one of her Celestial Keys and aimed it at him "Looks like the tables have turned in my favor, but if you let me keep this book then I might think about going easy on you, although I am tempted to smack you right upside the head."

"So then you're a Celestial Wizard, but for a reader you seem to be a bit deficient in your turns of phrase. Saying that the tables have turned implies that the weaker party has rallied to claim the ultimate victory, but there's no way a hideous wench such as yourself could ever hope to defeat me and my diver magic. Boyoyoyoyo!" he dove into the ground.

'So he's using magic in order to do that, I guess I shouldn't be surprised but I had no idea this guy would turn out to be a wizard too.' Lucy was quick to react and dodged every underground grab attempted being made by Everlue "Alright listen up, I already know the entire story in this book now. It's a horrible adventure novel about this trashy little character and guess what, his name is Duke Everlue!"

"Well I don't know if I would go so far as to call the protagonist trashy, but yes the story itself is crap and to think it was written by the great Kemu Zaleon! INEXCUSABLE!" he burst out of the wall behind her.

Lucy quickly leapt out of the way of the grab attempt "I can't believe how insanely arrogant you are, you're the one who forced him to write it!"

"Arrogant, moi? The word doesn't even begin to apply, to tell my story is an honor no matter what the circumstances may be!"

"Then why did you have to blackmail him into doing it?"

"What's the big deal, he just needed a little bit of extra encouragement in order for him to take the job." he started swimming through the concrete.

"Oh really?"

"But of course, any fool would have jumped at the chance to have yours truly take the mantle of their muse, but he had the audacity to say no so I gave him the added inspiration in the form of an ultimatum. He would either write the novel or I would see to it that his family would be stripped of their citizenship."

"But then none of them would be able to join any of the guilds and make a living, do you really have the power to do that?"

"I have the power to do anything I desire, and I got him to write it didn't I?" Duke Everlue burst out of the ground in front of Lucy "But that being said I didn't like his attitude so I decided that he would do best writing from a prison cell, boyoyo. He went on and on about being a brilliant novelist would never give into threats, but in the end I got what I wanted!" he started ricocheting himself off of the tunnel walls, forcing Lucy to retreat.

"I can't believe you would go that far just to boost your own stupid ego, he was in solitary confinement for three years! Don't you know how hard that must have been for him, or do you just not care?"

"Perhaps that was how long it took for him to appreciate me, boyoyoyo."

"You're wrong, it's more like he couldn't bear to spread your lies but he had no choice but to satisfy your vanity. He knew that if he didn't write your character as a heroic champion of justice then his family would suffer."

"Is that so? And tell me wench, how exactly do you know all of this?"

"How else, it's all right here in the book in black and white."

"What? I've read that book from cover to cover and Kemu Zaleon isn't in it."

"Well yeah that's obvious, if you read the book normally then there wouldn't be any mention of him. But I know something you don't know, long before he was an author he actually used to be a wizard."

"What?" Everlue suppressed a snarl "What did he do?"

"After he finished the book he gathered all of the strength he had remaining and used it to cast a spell on the book."

"What a dirty trick, he turned a book about a great man such as myself into some sort of hatchet job?! The nerve of that fool! Boyoyo!" he dove into the ground again.

Lucy quickly retreated from him "Would it kill you to get over yourself, it's true that he wrote all about the pain and torture that you put him through but the chapters that focus on what you did to him are only a small part of the book! In fact its secret has nothing to do with you!"

"What the devil are you going on about?"

"There's no way I'm gonna give the book back to you Duke Everlue, because it was never really yours to begin with! Now open gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!" she pulled out one of her keys and opened the gate.

From that gate emerged what looked like a hipster dude with crab appendage, and some custom sets of crab scissors "Cancer."

"Yeah how do you like that, nothing says kicking your ass in style like a guy with crab claws and giant shades."

"Hey so tell me Lucy, how would you like your hair done today baby?"

"Look I'm not discreting your work but what I need right now isn't style, I need some serious help here. It's that guy, I want you to take care of the ugly old man over there."

Duke Everlue could feel his mind racing 'What could the secret possibly be? That wretched hack must have written an expose on all of my illegal business deals, I can't allow that. If the Magic Council got wind of how I actually made my fortune then my goose would be cooked! Well seeing as you've forced my hand, I suppose I may as well reveal my little secret. Open gate of the Maiden, Virgo!" he pulled out a gold Zodiac key of his own and opened the gate.

"Wait a second, what's going on right now?"

"You're not the only holder of a Zodiac key wench!"

Sure enough, Virgo burst upwards from the ground and appeared before them "Did I hear you summon me master?"

"Indeed I did Virgo, now fetch me that book from that- What in the world?!"

As it turns out, Cana was latched onto Virgo's back trying not to hurl "Okay so apparently I'm here now."

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"It's called a hangover you ugly dipshit."

"Cana what the heck are you doing up there?" asked Lucy.

"Well I beat those two idiot brothers but then she got back up so I jumped on her and then all of a sudden I ended up here."

"So you mean you grabbed a hold of her inside the house?"

"Yeah why?"

"But that would mean that you must have passed through the Spirit Gate with her, but that's impossible!"

"Okay, so what the heck do I do now?"

"What? Oh yeah, you finish what you started!"

Everlue had different plans "Virgo, clean up this rubbish!"

"As you wish master!" Virgo let one of her massive fists fly forward.

"Magic Card: Flame Cannon!" Cana summoned one of her magic cards and unleashed a stream of fire from it, the flames engulfing Virgo in the explosion that followed and blowing her clean away.

"You dirty little mole man!" Lucy pulled out a whip out of somewhere and caught Duke Everlue with it "You can't dig yourself out of this now can you, you make me sick!" she hurled him forward.

"Baby." Cancer quickly cut down Duke Everlue using his custom scissors, which left him bald as a result "Okay then I'm done baby, does this look fabulous or what?"

"Oh yeah, that definitely looks fitting for a creep like that." Cana gave Cancer a thumbs up, only for the entire mansion to suddenly come down around them due to all of the holes that had been dug in the walls by Duke Everlue.

Lucy was left horrified by what was happening "Oh… my… god."

"You know I like your style blondie, going out with a bang is a win for us so you're definitely gonna fit in with Fairy Tail."

"But we're supposed to not destroy stuff!"

"That's not how our guild works."

"Oh lord I hope I'm not gonna get blamed for this." they failed to notice a pissed off Virgo holding the unconscious Everlue glaring at them from within the collapsing mansion."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It didn't take long for them to return to the mansion to meet with Kaby and discuss the job further.

Lucy was quick to elaborate on what she had discovered "When I read Daybreak during all of that hell I couldn't believe it was written by Kemu Zaleon of all people, there's no way he would've done something that bad. And that in itself is how I knew that there had to be some kind of spell on it." she held it out to him.

Kaby was understandably taken aback by this "But… But I requested of you that the book be destroyed, why on Earth are you handing it back to me completely unscathed?"

"If you really want to burn it then I would rather you do it yourself."

"I most certainly will burn this trash, I never wanted to see it again."

"I completely understand why you feel the way that you do about this book Kaby, you wanted to protect the legacy of your father because you're actually the son of Zaleon aren't you?" this revelation left Cana with a simple raised eyebrow.

"Yes, that is true."

"Have you ever actually read it yourself?"

"No I haven't, I was never able to bring myself to do such a thing. My father told me that it was absolute garbage."

"So you were just going to burn it without ever seeing what was inside it? It was the last book that your father ever wrote, so you must have a very good reason don't you?"

Kaby let out a heavy sigh "Please I beg of you, that book caused my family so much heartache and shame. It was 31 years ago, my father returned after three years and the first thing he did was cut off his right hand so he could never write again. My father passed away not long after that, but even though he was gone the anger and betrayal I felt towards him lived on. But as the years have passed by, the anger that I've felt has slowly turned into remorse and now it's too late for me to ask for his forgiveness, so I decided to make amends by destroying his final work that had caused him so much pain and suffering. This is the only way, the only thing I can do to preserve his legacy." he lit a match in order to burn the book "I'm sure that's what he would want me to do.

"No Kaby, you're wrong. Just see for yourself."

"What do you-" Kaby was cut off as Daybreak began glowing brightly "I don't understand, what's going on?"

"There was a spell that was cast on the book, it's the work of the wizard Kemu Zaleon, or should I say Zekua Melon."

"There was a spell cast on it by my father?" Kaby looked on in awe as the letters were rearranged in front of his eyes "Dear Kaby…"

"Yes that's right, this book was his letter to you disguised behind a spell that rearranged all of the words so that no one else would be able to read it." and then the words started flying around and rearranging themselves in the proper order "He didn't stop writing because he was ashamed of what he had created, he stopped writing because he had finished his masterpiece, a novel that was containing everything he ever wanted to say to his beloved son and when you read it the way that he intended it's easily his best work of all time, and now that the spell has been broken you can read it for yourself.

'Father… you said you thought about me the entire time you were gone…' Kaby caught the book in his arms and sank to his knees, tears streaming down his face "Thank you father, I swear to you that I will never allow any harm to come to this book."

"I'm sure that's what your father would want."

Cana let out a sigh and gave a small smile "Well I guess this means we're not gonna be collecting that reward."

"Yeah I guess- Hold on what now?!"

"We were supposed to destroy the book but we never did, that means the job wasn't actually finished."

"But even so, please just let me do something." Kaby told her "I mean even if I did decide not to burn the book, you were the ones who got it back for me."

"Yeah but being greedy right now would totally be ruining the moment, so thanks for the offer but we don't want any money."

"I do." Lucy pointed out "Keep in mind that I have to pay rent."

"Well I think it's about time for all of us to finally head home, and keep in mind that refers to you too Mr Melon. Go back home."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And now to finish up Luke's subplot…

Cybele and Maille were relaxing and/ or basking in the supposed success of your scheme, only for a sudden earthquake like rumbling to spill his tea all over his face "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD IT BURNS IT BURNS!"

"Oh my goodness, Mr Mayor please stay still!" Maille wasted no time in trying to dry him off, only for more shaking to start to damage the walls in the manor.

"Oh no, not my poor palace! What is this, what's going on?"

"I cannot say sir- Mr Mayor sir, look over there!" Maille pointed outside the window as lightning began flashing "Another lightning storm!"

"But I don't understand, why isn't the Lacrima drawing the storm away?" and then the lightning struck the manor, sending the mayor spinning in a comical fashion.

"Have you been injured sir?!"

When the dust settled, it revealed Luke standing there looking mad as all hell, his body crackling with electricity as he held up the Lacrima and crushed it in his hand "Yeah I know, this is awkward as all hell for the two of you. I'm not the kind of person who takes kindly to people insulting or disgracing my guild, and if I were someone like Laxus or Erza, or Natsu or the idiot with no pants on, then I would unleash all sorts of hell on the two of you." he glanced back down the side of the hill "For the record Gray that applies to you, put some pants on!" he glanced back towards the mayor Maille and let out a sigh as he calmed himself down, and the lightning and electricity soon subsided "But that being said, my father and my various mentors over the years have taught me how to see the good in people even if they seem like worthless human waste on the outside. Let me tell you this once, make things right with your people and with all of those that you've hurt or I'll be back to finish the job." and with that, he took his leave.

Bolt was waiting for him right outside and glanced down to see Gray desperately trying to pull up his pants "So what do we do now?"

"What else? We go home."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nightfall came, and the moon was shining brightly throughout the sky.

A disheartened Lucy followed Cana along the path alongside a lush green forest "You know you're just unbelievable, who in their right mind would turn down 2 million Jewel without a second thought?"

"You have to think of the guild's reputation in times like this." Cana told her "It wouldn't have looked good if we took the money."

"But we made him happy in the end, we got the job done and now we're walking home. And then to find out that they're not even wealthy, they were just renting that house so everybody would think that they were rich. It's not like it even matters, we would've taken that job either way."

"I'm not so sure about that, not with you at least."

"Of course I would've!"

"Whatever lets you sleep at night."

"Ignoring that I have to ask, how did you figure out that the house didn't really belong to the two of them?"

"It was mostly a bunch of little things like the patchwork all over their clothes, when you notice things like that it turns out to be pretty obvious."

"Well yeah I guess that makes sense, but as for me I was still lost in the clouds from reading that masterpiece of a book."

"And just like that I've got you figured out. Luke mentioned something about you being a huge literary geek and he guessed that you were writing a novel."

"He guessed that?"

"He's usually right when it comes to that stuff."

"...That son of a bitch." Lucy started blushing with embarrassment "Promise you won't tell anyone about that okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because I'm a horrible writer, if anyone read my stuff then I'd die of embarrassment."

"Hey chill out blondie, nobody's gonna read it."

"Yeah that doesn't really make me feel any better."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Morning came, and the journey back to Magnolia continued as the sun shone over the skies above them.

Horologium had since been summoned to carry Lucy as she and Cana journeyed through a deep swamp ""I don't know about this Cana, are you sure we're going the right way?" she asks.

Cana just rolled her eyes ""I know for a fact that this path will take us back to Magnolia, so this is the way that we're going." I say back, annoyed that we're talking like this for whatever reason it may be. Look just have some faith, I can sniff out alcohol from miles away so sniffing out the way back home."

""What does that make you then some type of dog or something, and what does smell have to do with direction?" she asks quite haughtily." they reached the end of the swamp and the forest and started coming across a cliffside path.

"Why don't you just walk yourself for awhile like I am?"

""Because I'm tired, that's why." she groans exhaustedly.

"Oh for the love of-" Cana stopped when she heard a rustling in the bushes "Who's there, show yourself! Magic Card: Summon Lightning!" she fired off a bolt of lightning in the direction of the bushes, which promptly caused Natsu to appear from the bushes crying out in pain with a large burn mark across his ass "Uh…" she glanced over to see Lisanna and Happy a short distance away, the former trying not to laugh, though at the same time it was also conflicted by a mix of concern and embarrassment, the last of which being supported by the fact that her cheeks were burning red "I imagined this going differently."

""Do all of you always just use violence as the answer for everything?" she inquires quite exasperatedly."

"Aye!" Happy cheered for Natsu from the sidelines "Come on Natsu you can do it, burn her butt already the way that she burned yours!"

Lisanna glanced over at Lucy in order to answer the unspoken question "I know what you're going to ask, we were on our way back to the guild when he stopped to find a bathroom somewhere out here. It doesn't really make too much of a difference to him, but he wanted a little bit of privacy." she stifled a giggle "It's kind of cute when you think about it." she received an odd look and a semi stunned silence.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

17 minutes later…

After Natsu and Cana had calmed down from their comical spat, the two groups started talking about their recent experiences.

Lucy, now freed from Horologium, glanced over at Lisanna "So the three of you were on your way back from a job that you took on?"

Lisanna nodded "Yeah that's right, there's a shortcut through these woods that will get you back to Magnolia in no time."

"Huh."

Cana shot her a smirk "You see blondie, I told you we were going the right way."

"Yeah well if you've got such a great nose then how come you didn't know Natsu and the others were right in front of us?"

"First of all I said I could smell alcohol, second of all even if I could sniff out people this idiot is the last thing I would wanna smell?"

"Run that by me again." Natsu let out a comical snarl "I dare you."

"You're just mad that I burned your ass with my lightning spell."

"Yeah! It burns like hell and I can't even eat any fire off of it because there's no fire to eat off of my ass!"

"Yeah whatever, just head back to the guild and then you can try and burn me and start a whole guild brawl or whatever."

"...Fuck it, fine." he glanced over at Lisanna and Happy "Come on you guys we'd better get going if we don't want any trouble. Not like this anyway."

"Why do you say that?" asked Lucy.

"Because Erza's gonna be due back any day now." this left Cana looking somewhat terrified from the answer.

"Wait, you mean the Erza? Holy crap."

"Yep." Happy spoke up from where he was munching on a fish "She's the most powerful woman in all of Fairy Tail."

"Oh man I can't wait to meet her, but you know I've never even seen a picture of her in Sorcerer Weekly or anything. What's she like?"

"Downright terrifying." Natsu gave the simple answer "She's a wild animal, a vile beast or a full on fucking monster." he received a look from Lisanna "Fine I'll back off on the cursing." the look subsided "Anyway there's a pool going on back at the guild about whether or not she's actually human, I bet on no and Gray bet on no and then we punched each other. That was a fun day."

"Uh…"

"One thing we can agree on is that she's fucking terrifying." Cana noted flatly, receiving various nods of agreement "Maybe it's exaggerating but it's safe to say that she's intimidating as fuck and she has the power to back that up."

"You know even if Erza is able to kick down a single mountain it's still pretty scary so now it seems kind of redundant."

"Either way we should all get back before she does, I say we get moving-" Cana was promptly cut off by an explosion, and when the smoke cleared it revealed all of them to be buried in the dirt "What the hell?"

Natsu spat out a large amount of sand "Happy where the heck are you?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As it turns out, a bunch of guys had tied Happy up and were preparing to roast him over a campfire "Well it's about damn time we get some protein in us, no need for any stupid berries for us tonight. Meat is on the horizon my friends. Hey no need to freak out or be so tense tiny cat meal, you're gonna be in our bellies soon enough so you don't really have anything to be scared about."

"Actually I'm not shaking like this because I'm scared." Happy told them.

"Wait what?"

"I'm shaking like this because I have to use the bathroom really bad, I can't hold it in much longer and I bet you it's gonna make me taste really weird."

"Who gives a shit, now someone cook him already!"

"Wait what?"

"Meat!" the chicken guy prepared to roast Happy using fire magic "Alright, who wants there's well done?"

"Hey I wasn't kidding! It's gonna make me taste funny, I just know it will!"

"Hey hold it right there!" and who should appear from beyond the horizon but the rescue party in the form of Natsu, Lisanna, Lucy and Cana "Hey Happy, you okay little buddy?"

"Oh thank goodness, now I'm not gonna taste weird!"

"I don't get it but whatever. Anyway that's my little buddy that you're trying to roast there asshole, sorry but you guys are gonna have to make other plans for dinner."

Cana pulled out a few magic cards "You guys are wizards aren't you, so what guild are you idiots with?"

One of them let out a cloud scoff "I'm not telling, now get them!" and so all of them charged forward.

"Alright ladies, stand back and let the master show you how it's done. Fire Dragon WING ATTACK!" Natsu blitzed forward as he coated his arms in his flames.

"Sand Bomb, go!" one of them quickly caught Natsu in a sand prison.

A muffled "FUCK!" sounded from inside, followed by a significantly less muffled "Forget me I'm fine, go get Happy before he pisses himself!"

"Lucy go untie the cat with the bladder control issues!" Cana wasted no time in kicking out several of the enemy wizards in her path.

Lisanna and Lucy quickly went over to untie the cat "Don't worry Happy, we'll make sure no one eats you and you get to pee."

"MEAT!" the chicken guy prepared to burn them alive using his fire magic.

Cana quickly kicked the guy out "Looks like I'm having roast chicken tonight, so which one is next?"

The next guy was one with a crystal ball and a very anticlimactic personality "I have read all of your fortunes, you have a thunderous future ahead of you whereas in another world, the pink haired fire wizard will have captured the hearts of two women, one golden and shining like the sun and as white as the snow itself." (that's a reference to the Natsu/Lucy/Lisanna love triangle for those who don't get it)

"Where the fuck did that come from?" Cana wasted no time in kicking the guy out in a comical fashion "Well it doesn't matter now, so I say who gives a crap."

Now the only one left was the sand user "Where the hell did all of these brats come from anyway?"

"FAIRY TAIL ASSHOLE!" Natsu burst out of the sand prison "Thanks a lot dude, now I have a gut full of piss and sand and it's all because of you. Well, I'm gonna have a lot to piss out later so here it goes. Fire Dragon IRON FIST!" Natsu launched a Fire Dragon Slayer spell forward at full speed, resulting in a comically large explosion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

17 minutes later…

Lisanna glanced back at where the evil wizards were tied up "I don't know Natsu, don't you think you went a little bit overboard?"

"Does it matter if I did?" Natsu gave a shrug "I mean I got the job done didn't I? And besides I'm the dad, and a dad has to protect his family right?" this caused both of them to blush a deep red.

"Well that's sickening levels of sweet." Cana glanced down at the captured wizards "So is there anything else we need to know?"

"Lulla…" one of them managed to croak out.

"Lulla, what the hell is a lulla?"

"Lullaby… is…"

"What the hell are you-" Cana was cut off by a shadow suddenly reaching out from under her and grabbing hold of the tree.

"Dammit they found us, I knew we hadn't gone far enough!" the wizards all suddenly got pulled into the ground along with the tree itself.

"Well that happened I guess."

"Who the hell was that?" asked Natsu.

"I don't know but they were definitely fast, I can't even sense their presence anymore. Call it a hunch but I have a bad feeling about this."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the same time, the citizens of Magnolia looked on in amazement as a young woman in armor walked through the streets in the direction of the Fairy Tail guild hall carrying a large horn with her.

A/N:

One thing I've discovered doing this fic as well as my Naruto fic is that one of the benefits of having a large supporting cast is that, while a good number of them don't get anywhere near enough time to shine, you get to show off a lot more variety in terms of character and technique, hence why I added in characters like Cana and Lisanna.

In case it wasn't clear, Luke's subplot in this chapter is based on the plot of episode 225, Lightning Man. Just because he's one of the main characters of this fic doesn't mean he has to be the focus point of every single chapter. But I did want to use the opportunity to demonstrate some of the Lightning Dragon Slayer techniques he uses, such as the Lightning Dragon Roar and one of the original techniques I created for him: the Thunder Blade.

Adding onto my previous point, I wanted to give some other characters a chance to shine, hence why I decided to have Cana go with Lucy on the Duke Everlue job instead. Plus I get to show off some of Cana's new techniques I created for her, such as the Liquid Rifle, and I get to give the infamous Lucy Kick an early introduction to make up for the lack of a third party in the form of Happy this time around.

I added a few mentions of Natsu and Gray teaming up against Laxus in this chapter, that's a reference that I'll clear up later on. Let's just say one later arc is going to get a noteworthy overall.