Ironically, it was the move Take Down that took down Poliwhirl. On a separate note, for Phantom Lord I'm going to aim for updating twice a week, if only because this arc has been so long awaited. (I might miss out on some weeks though, so apologies in advance.)
Phoenix(1), who knows what they're doing? Ooh, we get close to that, but one of those three is having none of it. Fairy Tail knows! Hallelujah! Well, granted, they (and we) have barely scratched the tip of the iceberg but hey. You're Phoenix, right? No worries about your mind burning out then, if it does then a new one will just rise from the ashes. Ooh, we're getting fancy vocabulary now. Incredible! Extravagant! (Oh no you used stupendous, I'm out of fancy words now. Uh oh.)
Guest, (hey you chose my childhood favourite! Yay!) Hickory dickory dock, Laxus is a shock, the mouse ran up the clock, Gajeel will start to mock, the clock struck one, we're gonna have fun, the mouse ran down, Jude should be a clown, hickory dickory dock. I sure hope Natsu starts trusting Fairy Tail. Considering some of the stuff I have planned, I should hope you guys aren't calm. Haha.
Otaku789, is this soon enough? I should hope!
Something was off. Other than the evident, the attack on the guild and the recording of Natsu, but something had happened to put a damper on the ever cheery mood of the guild.
Gray stepped out of the wine cellar, freezing in the doorway for a moment before being shoved out of the way by Erza. But then she froze too, leaving Lucy to try and peer over her shoulder and Makarov behind them all.
It was if Reedus had managed to capture a fully 3D image of the guild, some peoples faces frozen happily, others confused, and others still scared or angry. But one thing remained constant, every single on of them was turned to stone.
"Who did this?" Erza let her magic swell, a threatening sign to any mages in the area.
Makarov enlarged his hands, and gently moved Erza out of the way, the red headed warriors stiff kneed in her rising anger.
And then his face darkened. "I'll deal with the ones who have done this to my children. Erza, Lucy, Gray, I want you three to go find Natsu. If the attacks are still happening while he's gone, we might as well have him here."
"Gramps… You kick their asses." Gray tore his eyes away from his frozen guildmates, reassured by the guild masters words, if only just.
Lucy shuffled around a table, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Seeing eyes that usually danced with life and light dull and cold would likely haunt her for days. And then something furry attacked her foot.
"Lushie! You're baaack!" Happy wailed, rubbing his face against her leg, disregarding of how the celestial mage had leapt about five feet into the air. "I was so scared! I thought everyone was turned to stone!"
"Happy! You're ok! Did you see who did this?" Lucy asked, after the initial shock wore off.
"Yeah! She was even bigger than you, Lushie!" Happy relinquished his hold on her leg to make the best wide sweeping gesture he could with is little paws.
Lucy contemplated punting the cat out a window, before remembering that there were no windows to speak of. "Can you just… Go tell Makarov what you saw."
"Aye sir!" Happy perked up considerably, giving a mock salute before sprouting wings and flying towards where Makarov was carefully rescuing Mirajane from the precarious position she was in.
Steeling herself, Lucy set her sights on the exit again, making her way up the stairs, careful to avoid any patches of ice Gray had left behind.
Gajeel crunched on the steel, the metal bending easily between his teeth. A dark glare was set in his red eyes, and the Iron DragonSlayer sniffed the air, searching for the scent he'd been tracking before the damned static had clawed its way through town.
He was half tempted to smash the damned Lacrima in the sky, but it would no doubt have a fail safe against that. 'Sides, he was weaker to electricity. Not that he'd willingly admit that to anyone.
Half aware of Aria on the other side of town, the man still had the infuriatingly strong smell of salt reeking off of him, Gajeel shifted on his high perch, on a tree near the centre of the city.
Reaching for another bolt, he munched on it while searching for their target. He'd never really liked doin' jobs like these. A whole lotta nothing but looking. 'Sides, it wasn't what he joined Phantom Lord for.
Gajeel wanted to be able to fight when and where he wanted, disregarding the rules, not search for some runaway brat. The kids parent or whatever was probably worried sick, ta hire a dark guild ta find 'em.
But then the guild masters word was law, no matter how he disliked it.
He reached back for another scrap of metal, but frowned as he found his fingers empty. Before he could contemplate his loss long however, a new scent reached his nose, through the cloying electricity.
It was the slightest burn to the air, like smoke from a campfire or coal. Even if it wasn't the usually stuffy smell of some rich kid, it was something new.
With a cackle, he crashed to the ground and sauntered off at his own pace, the scent steadily growing stronger.
Natsu bit back a swear, something he seemed to be doing a lot of lately. Two mages were closing in on him from both sides, though if he were to take a guess neither of then realized they were doing it.
Then again, that concentration of the iron smell had accurately followed his last five turns.
The smell of static on the other side was just ever so different to the smell lingering over the town, a difference only something someone who had lived with what was essentially the living embodiment of electricity could pick out.
He dug his fingers into the side of the Cardia Cathedral, silently cursing himself out again for being so stupid. It had been stupid to head to the centre of town, and even stupider to isolate himself away from any convenient alleyways.
By now, it was far too late to make a dash to the houses and stores lining the street, he'd be spotted right away.
There was only really one thing left that he could do, technically two but he wasn't going to let them catch him, not now. Natsu fuelled fire to his feet, the familiar warmth wrapping itself around his shins as he punched himself upwards, the heat off the flames burning him a way up.
It was a drastic measure, last time he had done it it had cost a couple hundred in property damage and the footprints melted into the walls would be an easy enough trail for anyone to follow, but it did what it needed.
As soon as he could reach the rooftop, the fire around his feet disappeared, and Natsu pulled himself up, running over the tile until he reached the other side. He spun around just in time to see a black figure using an iron pole to boost him up to the rooftop, before loosing a Fire Dragons Roar that propelled him away from the Cathedral and back into the streets.
It was a surefire signal to his location, but as soon as he reached the ground he would be able to start running again, and hopefully lose any pursuers.
Or, at least, that was the plan until a flying blue cat caught on the back of his jacket.
Laxus eyed the rooftop of Cardia Cathedral with disdain. Evergreen must have missed some guild members. He'd have to have Freed account for that, and with a slight murmur the tiki doll Bixslow had sent with him soared away.
A huge fiery plume bloomed off one side of the building, an impressive display of power. Laxus almost considered challenging the weakling who made it to a battle, but a fly with something different is still just a fly.
A black figure became visible when the flames died down, and it remained for a moment before bounding off.
Laxus wrinkled his nose, the place now stunk of iron and campfires, before stepping into the Cathedral. Makarov would know where to find him.
For a visual representation of how Natsu managed to run up a building, look up Endeavor My Hero Academia on YouTube, and click on the one by ErasedXoldo. Please note, this clip does have spoilers for season two of the show. Also you can probably find me in the comments somewhere.
So. This is happening now. Wonder how Natsu is gonna get himself out of this mess? ~ShadeShadow