Last time: They managed to get into place to save Natsu.
Now: The break in and the fight begins.
Chapter 13- Storming the House
Virgo appeared from the opening in the wall and rejoined the others in the tunnels a few moments later. "I have informed the others. They are now making a distraction."
"Awesome," Lucy said, relieved. "Thanks, Virgo."
"Of course, Princess." Virgo looked to Krysta, who was remaining guard by the door. "Did you figure out a new plan?"
"We are sticking to the original plan," Krysta answered. "We agreed it's still the best option. We'll just have to signal the others that we have Natsu another way." She looked at the others. "But it's time to move. Stay close, stay quiet. And if we see Mason or Zen, leave them to Lily and I. You two focus on getting Natsu out of here."
"I'll give you guys a little support then," Lucy said, pulling out another key. "Open, gate of the lion! Leo!" She exclaimed quietly.
In a flash of light, Loke appeared with them in the tunnel, suddenly making it a bit more cramped. He wrapped his arms around Lucy and dipped her slightly. "Lucy, my dear, it's so good to-"
She put her hand to his mouth. "Shh," she shushed. "We're trying to not reveal our location at the moment."
"Sorry," Loke said, quieter and removed her hand. He sniffed it. "But what is the lotion you are using? It's divine."
Lucy's eyebrow twitched. "Let me go. Before I slap you," she said as evenly as she could, but her eyes burned in annoyance.
"Right, sorry," Loke said, straightening both of them up. "So what do you need me to do?"
"Give Krysta and Pantherlily support while Wendy, Carla, Happy, and I get Natsu out of here," Lucy explained, quickly.
Loke nodded and looked at Virgo. "What are you going to do?"
"I will remain here and guard the entrance," Virgo answered. "And then once they have Natsu, I have volunteered to go signal the others that the rescue mission was successful."
"Understood," Loke nodded again.
"Then let's go," Krysta said, reaching for the door handle. "We're burning daylight."
Zen reached the top of the stairs to the first floor of the house. He moved through the halls to the front room where the front door was. He carefully moved over to the nearest window and peeled the curtain back to see what was happening outside. At first he didn't really notice anything as the midday sun made it a bit difficult to see what was in the trees clearly. After a moment, he spotted someone in shiny armor with scarlet red hair slashing through the trees. It took him a second to recognize Erza Scarlet. He looked around for any other wizards as he doubted Erza Scarlet would have come alone. He then spotted another figure on the opposite side of the house doing the same thing, but their figure was harder to make out. Then he spotted one more hidden behind the brush, but their large ice shoulder cannon made it a little obvious that they were there.
So his son was right. The Fairy Tail wizards were there to save Natsu. But why they were tearing up the forest in front of his house, he couldn't figure out. Were they trying to lure them out? Get their attention? Or was this their idea of a rescue? Either way, he was amused by their feeble attempts.
Dropping the curtain, he moved away from the windows. He closed his eyes and reached out with his hand.
"Come my shadows. Time to hunt some fairies," Zen summoned, his voice sounding deeper than normal.
Gray didn't tear his eyes from the front door. By this point, Erza and Gajeel had almost fallen most of the trees around the front of the house, but there was no sign of Zen or Mason. Their distraction was starting to become more of a waste of time than anything else. Suddenly, a thick layer of clouds formed in the sky, casting the house in darker lighting and blotting out the sun. Gray looked up with a raised eyebrow. There had been no sign of storms all morning, so where did these clouds come from?
Before he could figure out an answer, the front door to the house opened. Gray, on instinct, fired from his Ice Made Cannon a large ball of ice at the door. It impacted not with Zen or Mason, but with a shadowy figure that collapsed back into another. Gray furrowed his brow in confusion then his eyebrows shot up in shock when more shadow figures exploded from the front door of the house.
"Erza! Gajeel! Look out!" Gray called as he dissolved the ice cannon and summoned a long ice sword in his hands.
The shadow figures charged in three directions, and a squad of them came at Gray. He knelt down and slammed his palm to the ground.
"Ice make floor!"
The dirt turned to ice and spread out under the shadow figures. But the ice didn't affect them. They continued to stalk forward as if the slick floor didn't matter. Gray cursed under his breath and readied himself with the sword. As the shadow figures got closer, he slashed through them, meeting some resistance on his sword, but managed to cleave through it. They dissolved away for a moment before slowly reforming.
"Ah come on," Gray growled. He needed a new plan and fast.
Erza had been caught off guard by the sudden weather change and had ceased her attack on the trees. She felt something was wrong about the sudden change, but before she could do anything about it, she turned at Gray's call and saw the shadow figures rushing from the house. This was not what they were expecting. Was this Zen's powers? She didn't have time to figure that out and didn't waste any time going to deal with them. She launched forward and attacked the shadow figures that were coming her direction.
"Heaven's Wheel: Pentagram Sword!" Erza called as she slashed the shadows.
The figures flattered and split into two. They looked like they were dissolving as if to disappear but then became two more shadows, doubling their numbers. They turned to face and surrounded Erza. She scowled at them and proceeded to slice and cut through them around her. If they were flesh, living beings, they would have fallen to her blade, but these shadows only continued to multiply.
Thinking fast, Erza requipped into her Flame Empress armor and summoned a flame sword in one hand and a sword made of shadow in the other. She had only two thoughts with this approach. Either they would burn from the heat or they would feel pain from their own element. She only had one way to find out for sure. Stepping back into a ready stance, Erza lunged forward into the maw of shadows and started to slash away at them.
Gajeel stopped in his tracks when Gray called out to them. He figured that Zen or Mason or something was coming to attack them, but the sudden cloud cover and what he saw when he turned around was not what he expected. He saw a bunch of shadow figures running towards him. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of the figures. It reminded him of Rogue in a way, but somehow different. Something about these shadows felt wrong and he couldn't quite put a finger on it. But thinking of Rogue instantly gave him an idea, and made him smirk.
"Iron Shadow Dragon Mode," Gajeel growled out.
His body turned into the dark shadowy iron that it had during the Grand Magic Games, his eyes glowing a ghastly gray color. He dropped to the ground, becoming a shadow himself and slithered towards the figures. Once he was underneath them, he lashed out with his iron sword and slashed the shadows charging where he had been. He felt it cleave right through a couple of them. The rest turned on his position, and Gajeel quickly moved to slither away from them to reposition himself so he could attack again.
One of the figures reached into his shadow and he felt it grab his ankle. He turned to try and slash at it, but it yanked him from the ground and back out into the air above. He was then thrown across the clearing he had made and into the side of the house with a painful smack. Gajeel gasped, returning to his normal form, and dropped to one knee. He glared up at the shadow figures as they moved towards him.
"Okay, ya creepy bastards," Gajeel snarled. "Two can play this game." He straightened up and sucked in a deep breath before belting out. "Iron Shadow Dragon ROAR!"
The blast of energy that came from his mouth hit a large portion of the figures instantly obliterating them. But the rest that remained, duplicated themselves and continued their charge towards Gajeel.
Everyone readied themselves behind Krysta as she pulled the handle again. This time she made enough room to at least poke her head through. She did a quick scan of the cellar they were entering. There was no sign of Natsu, Mason, or Zen. It just appeared to be just a large underground storage space. Krysta looked back to the others and gestured for them to follow her. She opened the door more and snaked through the opening. Everyone else followed behind her, quietly moving through the room. Virgo remained at the door and produced a whip, ready to guard it. The cellar was dim, but had better lighting than the tunnel did, at least enough to see where they were going. They all moved through the space, quietly looking for a way out, until they reached the other side of the room where they found a ladder that led up.
Krysta stopped at the base of the ladder and looked up. She could see a hatchway in the ceiling that wasn't locked, and there was faint light shining through the seams. She gestured for the others to stay put before she climbed up the ladder, her baton still in her hand. When she reached the top, she carefully tested the hatch to see if it would budge or if it was locked. It opened with the slightest bit of pressure and light from the room above illuminated her face, blinding her for a second. She only opened it a crack, but it was enough to cause her to grimace.
Once her vision adjusted, she carefully peaked out into the space above. It looked like a laboratory of some kind. She scanned the area through her small slit and noticed Natsu attached to a strange device that was slowly sucking his magic away. It looked like a long table that was tilted up to a forty-five degree angle with rounded walls surrounding Natsu, who was strapped down and had tubes attached to his arms and chest. Cables ran into the back of the table and rods stuck-
Her thought was cut off when something slammed onto the hatch and she was hit on top of her head. Krysta gasped in pain and let go of the ladder, clutching her head. She faltered and fell back down to where the others were.
The others gasped as she fell. Krysta felt out to try and catch herself on the ladder, but her hands missed.
Loke reached out and caught her in his arms before she could hit the floor. His spirit strength kept them both from being sent to the ground. "You okay?" he asked, worriedly.
"Ow," Krysta groaned. Her vision swirled in and out of focus as a horrible headache set in. She rubbed the spot on the top of her head, gingerly. She felt only a bump, but it stung under her touch. She winced. "I'll live," she grumbled. "Thanks for the catch."
"Well, well, well," a voice said from above them.
Everyone looked up to see Mason, dressed in a lab coat and kneeling down before the opening to the cellar. The hatch was wide open and he was grinning mischievously down to them.
"Where's Natsu?" Lucy demanded.
"Comfortable," Mason said simply. "For now. However, you lot won't be so comfortable once I blow this cellar away." He reached into his lab coat pocket to produce something.
"We won't let you do that," Pantherlily said, taking his larger form.
"Sky Dragon Roar!" Wendy yelled, unleashing a powerful wind attack.
Mason wasn't ready to nullify it and was blasted away from the hatch. He landed with a thud against one of the desks in the back corner of the room then slumped to the floor. The hatch door was ripped away from the hinge by the air attack. Pantherlily flew up, followed by Wendy and Carla. Lucy and Happy flew up into the room after them. All of them taking a stance before the cellar entrance, but ready to deal with whatever else may be in the room they burst into. Loke just went ahead and floated up with Krysta still in his arms since it was faster and they had no time to waste. Once in the lab proper, he set Krysta down, but kept an arm around her in case she fell. Her head swam, but she managed to keep her feet and gently pushed away from Loke. Krysta, like the others, prepared herself to face Mason, who was still awake.
Lucy's gaze briefly shifted from Mason on the floor to the device that took up a corner of the room. "Natsu," she breathed out, seeing Natsu strapped to the device and unconscious. The gash in his side had reopened and stained the bandaging around his waist. She hurried to his side.
"No you don't," Mason said, reaching out. He copied Krysta's magic again and sent all of them back, pinning them to the wall opposite of Natsu.
"Let us go, Mason," Krysta ordered, pissed. She struggled against the wall, but couldn't move. The others were doing the same. "Stop this crazy experiment now!"
"Oh, we won't stop," Mason said, picking himself up off the floor. "The experiment has been nothing but an overwhelming success thus far. And in just another hour, we will have successfully drained all of his magic power to fill our battery." He walked over and patted the large metal barrel that had an indicator stating how full it was so far. It was nearly at capacity, and glancing over at Natsu, it was clear that he was almost completely drained as his skin started to take on the sickly green color that came with magic deficiency syndrome. "But I can't have you interfere," Mason finished.
Mason pulled them from the wall and threw them back down into the cellar, one after another, with furious strength. The others all landed on top of each other in a pile at the base of the ladder in a series of grunts and groans.
Krysta, being the last one thrown, managed to grab the ledge of the hatch opening and stop herself from being thrown down. She dangled above the others and started to pull herself out.
Mason came over and grabbed her by the neck, lifting her out of the opening. He squeezed tightly and cut off her airways. "And I was so looking forward to our reunion, my dear. I guess it'll have to wait," he hissed.
"You're… not… going to… win," Krysta gasped out, burning a hole into his head. She still had her baton in her hand and swung for his groin.
The baton hit true and Mason collapsed to his knees. He grabbed his groin in discomfort and dropped Krysta in the process. She barely caught herself and stopped from falling back into the cellar. She quickly scrambled out of the open hatchway and lunged at Mason.
"Save Natsu!" She cried down to the others.
Gray slammed back against the tree with a gasp. No matter how hard he tried or swung or fought, these damn shadow figures were not reacting or dying to his ice. He felt like he was doing damage, but the fact he was still being swarmed by dozens of them did not give him a sense of accomplishment. But their attacks stung. He could feel bruises and scrapes from their attacks all over his arms and torso, and he still had his shirt on.
He was getting annoyed by this. He ducked under one of the shadow's that swiped at his head and slashed at it to get it to go away, but it only reformed a moment later. He needed to figure out a way to beat these guys and find Zen, who most likely sent the figures out to attack them. Dodging another swipe from a different shadow, Gray lashed out with just a simple blast of ice for lack of anything better to do. That blast instantly froze two of the figures. The figures practically made the ice turn black and made no attempt to escape. It stopped them in their tracks.
Feeling a cocky smirk form, Gray blasted more and more of the shadow figures, turning them into black ice statues. While it wasn't as creative as his other moves, it was doing the trick and giving him the upper hand in this lopsided battle.
The shadow sword seemed to slow them down while the flame sword seemed to wound them, but nothing was working to dispel these shadows. Erza was surrounded once again by them, but this time their numbers quadrupled what she had initially started with. She needed to get rid of the shadows and she needed a better sword than what she had in hand at the moment. Blocking a few wild swings, Erza thought for a moment about what she had in her inventory that could work.
Her purgatory armor? No, the shadows may just draw power from it.
Her sea empress armor? No, water wasn't going to work against something intangible as shadows.
Her lightning empress armor? Maybe, but the lightning would just bounce through them.
She needed something that would get rid of the shadows permanently. Then the thought struck her as she ducked and swung at another shadow. The clouds in the sky were blocking out the sun which was allowing them to roam which was odd. Shadows only ever appear when there is light cast upon them. These were different. These needed clouds to exist. So she needed something with light to possibly get rid of them.
That gave her an idea.
She requipped into her Nakagami armor and glared down at the shadows. She spun her spear and pointed it at them. "Nakagami Starlight!" She called out.
A bright blast of light shined from her spear and pierced through the shadows, burning them away. She lunged forward and blasted the rest of the shadows around her away.
Gajeel raced through the trees as a shadow while the figures chased him. He was trying to get to a good advantage spot so he could blast them away with his roar as that seemed to do the trick before. But these bastards were persistent. He lashed out every chance he got to try and stop them or slow them down, but they kept up the chase.
Oh if only he had a chance to fight Rogue again or even just chat with him on how to use this damn shadow magic, he wouldn't be having such a difficult time. If he could just kill or dissolve or absorb the shadows then he-
He stopped himself. He hadn't considered that option before. He was able to absorb Rogue's shadow during their battle on the last day of the Grand Magic Games. Back then it was because he ate it. He wasn't sure these shadow things would taste very good. Maybe if he just grabbed one he could absorb it through the skin or something.
Man, I wish Levy was here. She would know.
Deciding to just try something, he came to a stop and decided to create a larger shadow on the ground. It soon met the feet of the figures and spread across the clearing he was in. Concentrating to the point his head hurt, Gajeel attempted to absorb the shadows into his. The figures actually protested and tried to escape, but their feet were caught like they were glued to the floor. Grinning, Gajeel continued to pull them into his shadow. Those that hadn't gotten caught, remained on the edges and watched as their fellow shadows became a part of Gajeel's.
Lucy looked up the ladder to where Krysta disappeared. She furrowed her brow in worry and looked to the others that were piled around her. Wendy, Loke, Pantherlily, and Carla pulled themselves up from the floor with a grimace. Lucy sat up and rubbed her back. Happy laid on the bottom of the pack, his eyes spinning in and out of focus, dazed.
"Are you all okay?" Wendy asked, rubbing her arm.
"Yeah, but we need to get Natsu while Krysta has Mason distracted," Lucy said, getting to her feet and grabbing her whip.
"We'll provide you cover," Loke said, gesturing between himself and Pantherlily.
"Follow us," Pantherlily nodded. He sprouted his wings and launched back up through the opening. Loke followed closely behind him.
"Come on, tomcat," Carla said, slapping Happy across the face, trying to wake him.
Happy's head snapped into focus and he shot to his feet in a battle ready pose. "Aye!"
Lucy led the way up the ladder and carefully peaked over the edge once she reached the top. Krysta, Loke, and Lily were distracting Mason, and there was a clean shot to Natsu's side. Pushing herself up into the room, Lucy quickly crawled over to some nearby cover under a desk. She looked back over to the hatch and gestured Wendy over.
Wendy crawled out and joined Lucy under the desk. Happy and Carla close on her heels. As a group, they crawled together from cover to cover. It was a less direct path to Natsu, but it was one that kept them hidden from Mason. They ducked when a large piece of lap equipment impacted near them after being used as a projectile in the fight that was happening in the room. Lucy had to stifle a yelp when it hit the ground behind her. She risked a glance back to the fight to see what the hell was happening that equipment was flying.
It looked like Krysta, Loke, and Pantherlily were laying into Mason, but it wasn't over yet. Lucy ducked back behind cover and resumed moving to Natsu's side. Once they reached the device, Lucy squatted down next to the control panel. She looked frantically for an off switch or lever. After a second, she found it and powered down the device. She could hear it whirl down as lights flickered off.
Moving quickly from the panel to Natsu, Lucy and Wendy quickly removed the various straps and other items that were connected to their friend. With the last strap removed, Lucy and Wendy carefully moved Natsu from the device and onto Lucy's back, being cautious of his wound. She had to mask a grimace of her own that reminded her that they were still there and still healing.
Natsu felt lighter for some reason as she adjusted him on her back and that concerned her greatly. She had carried him a couple times before on her back and he had felt heavy, but not unreasonably so to not be able to carry him. Now he felt lighter than normal, and she couldn't tell if that was from her adrenaline giving her the strength to carry him or if it was because of what the device did to him. EIther way, they needed to get him out of there quickly and she was wasting time.
Together, they moved back for the cellar entrance, taking the more direct route this time. Mason hadn't noticed yet that they had gotten Natsu, but he was likely to at any moment now. Wendy and Carla went down first when they reached the opening in the floor. Happy sprouted his wings, grabbed Natsu from Lucy's back, and carried him down into the cellar.
"Hey! Get back here!" Lucy heard Mason cry.
She glanced over and saw that he had briefly gained the upper hand in the fight with the others, but had noticed their escape with Natsu. He used his take over magic and became Jura from Lamia Scale. Lucy gasped as she realized with that form he could destroy the earth around them and block their exit. She instinctively reached for her keys, but hesitated. She already had two spirits out fighting. She couldn't summon a third.
"You're fighting with me, you bastard," Krstya growled out and used her magic to send Mason into the stairwell that led up further into the house.
He impacted with the side of the stairs and left a large dent due to the massive frame of the man he was impersonating. But he wasn't paying attention to Lucy anymore and that wouldn't last very long either. She needed to leave now.
Taking that as a perfect distraction, Lucy quickly climbed down the ladder and into the cellar. She glanced down and saw the others waiting for her at the bottom, but there was no time to wait.
"Head for the exit! Quickly!" Lucy ordered below. She moved as fast as she could to the base of the ladder.
Wendy nodded and led Carla and Happy through the cellar with Natsu in tow. Once Lucy's feet hit the floor, she took off in a sprint for the exit. They moved through the crates and boxes back towards the entrance they had come through, where Virgo was still standing guard. The pink haired spirit perked up when they appeared with Natsu. She opened the entrance to the tunnels for them. Wendy, the exceeds, and Natsu entered.
"Virgo, go tell the others we've got Natsu," Lucy said, rushing past her spirit. "We're gonna get Natsu out of here. We'll meet the others at the rendezvous point."
"Which is where?" Virgo asked. She wanted to be sure that she relayed the appropriate information.
"The mayor's office in Cedar Town," Lucy responded. "They know where to go."
Virgo nodded. "I'll pass the word."
"Thanks,' Lucy said, grateful.
"Go!" Virgo urged.
Lucy nodded and turned to the others. She wrapped her arms around Natsu, holding him close, then Happy grabbed her by the back of the shirt. He lifted them both off the ground and without his normal commentary about how heavy both of them were. She was silently grateful that Happy's worry for Natsu and the situation was enough to place a temporary filter on the cat. With Wendy and Carla at the lead, they hurried back through the tunnels. They had successfully saved Natsu. Now it was just up to the others to stop the father and son team.
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