Starry Heavens: A Different Story
Author: AshK1980
Fiction Rated T
Episode 005: Daybreak of Team Lisanna! Part II
Thinking they finished her off, both brothers looked toward her, the older brother with his right hand up against his chest in the form of a sword hand with his right hand and holding his giant frying pan with his left. The younger brother is standing right behind his older brother with his left hand in the same position as his brother's right hand. His left hand is on his hip.
"You have witnessed the true power of the Vanish Brothers, the Heaven and Earth Annihilation Technique," the older brother started, then passed the buck onto his younger brother.
It's a force that very few are able to survive." the younger brother said as the dust started to clear. As the dust started to clear, the silhouette of the young lady could be seen. The dust finally cleared enough to show the young lady posing with her left leg forward, her white Fairy Tail Mark on her thigh very visible to the brothers. This in turn caused the brothers to gasp in awe.
"I guess I'm one of the few," Lisanna said with a smile as she powered up her Firebird Takeover form, "sorry guys."
The brothers gasped, taken aback by the white-haired girl surviving, "NO WAY!"
"Now, I'm going to burn you to a crisp! Flaming Firebird Sky Attack!" Lisanna exclaimed as she took to the air, her wings spread out beautiful and wide. She then cloaked herself in Flames as she dove down in a kamikaze dive straight for the Vanish Brothers.
"Fire Magic?!" the older brother asked in shock.
"I've got it!" The older brother exclaimed as he absorbed all the fire from Lisanna's attack causing her flame to go out, "flame cooking! You see, my frying pan absorbs your flames and doubles their strength."
As Lisanna's flames were absorbed, the older brother stood facing Lisanna as his pan started to power up the flames, "Right back at ya!"
Right after the older brother said that, he spun himself around so his back was facing toward her. "Yaaa!" The flames headed straight back toward Lisanna with double the strength.
Before she could be hit by the flame attack, a feminine figure dropped from the sky knocking Lisanna out of the way just a bit, but not too much, while forming an Ice Blue Shield with her magic.
The older brother scoffed along with the younger brother, as he spoke up, "do you really think that little shield is going to stop a flame like this?"
"Ha Ha ha, good luck with that," the younger brother tormented, "that little shield looks like it's made of ice, our flames will melt it to a puddle."
"Oh, you don't know me very well do you," the light blue-haired girl said, "my shield isn't meant to stop it, but it's meant to deflect it."
The light blue haired girl looked toward Lisanna, who was still in her Firebird form, with a smile, "Lisanna my friend and teammate you know what to do."
Lisanna nodded as the flames came right toward her, "I know what you're thinking Setsu, thanks for the power boost, mind helping me finish these thugs off once and for all."
"I don't mind at all, go Lisanna do your thing!"
"Right!"
The sound of sucking could be heard from the Fire bird Girl, this took the brothers aback as they watched in awe, "What! No Way!"
As Lisanna sucked in the double-strength flames, Setsuko puffed up her cheeks, building up an attack inside of her mouth.
"Flames have no effect on me in this form! Flaming Firebird Fire Tornado!" After Lisanna said that, she opened her mouth sending out what looked like a tornado made of fire coming out of her mouth as she hovered in the air.
"I'm going to add to it!" Setsuko exclaimed as an Ice Blue magic circle appeared in front of her mouth, "this combo attack will not only burn you to a crisp, but give you a horrendous case of Frostbite as well!"
Setsuko puts her hands in front of her mouth as she opens it. Now that the proper energy was built up, she let loose her attack and instead of aiming it toward the Vanish Brothers, she aimed it toward Lisanna's Fire Tornado. The attack engulfed the tornado creating a flaming ice tornado made of both ice and fire. The attack was heading toward the brothers, who were way too busy being in shock to notice so they had no counter for it.
Once the combo attack was formed, the two girls chimed out together in Harmony, "Flaming Firebird Ice Dragon Burning Frostbite Tornado!"
The attack connected sending the brothers flying and hitting the wall with such a force that the building began to shake and started falling down.
The two vanish brothers not only laid on the ground fried by Lisanna's fire, but frost bitten by Setsuko's Ice Dragon Slayer Magic.
As the building collapsed around the Dragon Slayer and the currently Firebird Soul Takeover Wizard, the two Teammates chimed together, "Oh no, did we just overdo it again?"
The two Vanish brothers lay on the ground beaten, burned and frozen. The older brother speaks up first as he is overcome by surprise, "w-were we just get beaten by a Fire Wizard and an Ice Wizard?"
The younger brother, just as beaten, burned, and frozen as the older one spoke up toward his older brother, "hey bro, tell me when this room stops spinning okay?"
That'll teach you," Lisanna said as she and Setsuko turned their backs.
"I guess we better go find Lucy," Setsuko said, then continued, "those merchant fairies are toasted and frostbitten."
"We're Mercenaries," the two brothers said as Lisanna and Setsuko left. As the current Firebird takeover wizard and Ice Dragon Slayer turned their back, Virgo's eyes glowed.
In the Catacombs underneath the recently wrecked mansion, Duke Everlue had a hold of Lucy from a hole in the wall a very annoyed and angry Duke Everlue had a grip on both of her arms and Lucy was flinching with clenched teeth and one of her eyes closed, "an enemy of Literature? My massive collection of books and art only proves to everyone that I'm cultures greatest friend…"
"…but that ugly maid collection of yours only proves that you don't know squat about beauty!" Lucy exclaimed angrily.
Everlue then countered, "How dare you mock them! They are the very definition of beauty!" Everlue then tightens his grip on Lucy's arm as Lucy flinches again due to the pain, "what secret does it hold? Let me guess, he buried his fortune and there's a treasure map inside?! Now tell me or I'll snap your arm like a toothpick!"
Lucy grimaces even more and turns to Everlue giving him a raspberry, Everlue then angrily says as he scrunches up his nose even more and his eyes get narrower, "boyoyo." He then puts a Hammer Lock on Lucy's left arm as he continues his rambling, "now is not the time to get sassy. Listen, I myself commissioned this book's creation! Therefore, any secret that it holds is rightfully my property!"
As Everlue attempted to break Lucy's arm even more, Happy flew in and gave him a massive kick to the old perverts face, releasing Lucy.
"Happy!" Lucy exclaimed as Happy continued to fly and chuckled in triumph, "that was so cool!"
Happy then landed in the sewer water as Lucy sighed in exasperation.
Everlue saw Happy land in the Sewer water and posed with his legs set in a spread out stance and his arms out to the side with elbow bent in the form of a double low block, "what's this a flying cat?!"
"The name's Happy!" Happy exclaimed as he blew bubbles in the water.
"I wouldn't stay in there if I were you…" Lucy said in exasperation.
"... but the water feels so nice."
Lucy then puts her left hand over her left eye with an annoyed look on her face and is holding the Daybreak book in her right hand against her hip, "that's sewer water Happy!"
Lucy, with a triumphant look on her face, holds the Daybreak book in her left hand against her chest and has one of her keys in her right hand, ready to summon her Celestial Spirit, "looks like the tables have turned, but if you let me keep the book, I'll think about going easy on you, although I'm tempted to give you a good smack!"
Everlue then frowns even more as he speaks up, "oooh a Celestial Wizard, but for a reader you seem to be a bit deficient in your terms of phrase. The tables have turned implies that the weaker party has rallied to claim victory, but there's no way that you and that cat can ever defeat me and my Diver Magic! Boyoyoyoyo!" With that said a brown magic circle appeared on the back of his suit as his Diver Magic was activated as he burrowed underground.
"So he does that using magic? I had no idea that Everlue was a Wizard too!" Happy exclaimed in amazement.
"Do you not smell yourself?" Lucy asked as she berated Happy for landing in the Sewer Water.
No sooner did Lucy get those words out of her mouth, when Everlue appeared out of the ground and the wall several times as Lucy dodged every attempted attack from him as she continued to hold on to the Daybreak book.
Once Lucy regained her bearings after her dodging, she stood pat as she berated Everlue, "look, I know the whole story now, it's a horrible adventure novel about a trashy little character known as Duke Everlue!"
"Are you serious?" Happy asked in amazement and disbelief.
"I don't know that I would call the protagonist Trashy, but yes, the story itself is crap!" Everlue exclaimed as he once again activated his Diver Magic and continued to compromise the integrity of the surrounding walls around the battling trio then Everlue continued with his angry tirade, "and to think, it was written by the great Kemu Zaleon! How inexcusable!"
Everlue continued to dig as he popped out of the ground and held onto the ceiling with a contemptuous look in his eyes and then released the ceiling and turned himself back into a drill and continued to dig.
"I can't believe your arrogance!" Lucy exclaimed angrily, and then continued while still holding the Daybreak book in her left hand and her gate key in the right, "you forced him to write it!"
"Arrogant? Mois? The word doesn't begin to apply," Everlue said as he continued to dig, "to tell my story is an honor! No matter what the circumstance!" As Everlue said that he continued to dig holes throughout the catacombs and sewer water.
"Then why'd you have to blackmail him into it?"
"Blackmail?" Happy asked with confusion.
Everlue then dug his way out of the wall as he moved his index finger and thumb along his pencil mustache, "what's the big deal he just needed some extra encouragement to take the job."
"Oh really?" Lucy asked with annoyance as she continued to hold the book close to her chest, then continued.
"Anyone would jump at me to have the chance to have me as their muse," Everlue said as he swam his way through the cement, and then continued, "but he had the audacity to say no!"
He then stuck his arm out of the cement as he raised his index finger and thumb and waved it back and forth as he continued, "so I gave him the inspiration in the form of an ultimatum, write the novel or his family would be stripped of its citizenship."
Happy gasped as he spoke up, "but then none of them would be able to join a guild and make a living! Do you really have the power to do that?!"
"I have the power to do anything!" Everlue exclaimed as he jumped out of the ground with his legs spread out in the splits and his fists raised in triumph with an open-mouthed smile on his face and his eyes closed, "I got him to write it didn't I? But I didn't like his attitude, so I decided he'd do better writing from a Prison Cell Boyoyo!"
As Everlue said this, a man sat in a prison cell working hard on the novel that he had been blackmailed into writing. "He went on and on about being a great novelist that would never give into threats, but in the end I got what I wanted!" Everlue then spun himself into a Cannon Ball and bounced from side to side chasing Happy and Lucy as they flew and ran away from him respectively.
"I can't believe you would go that far just to boost your stupid ego!" Lucy exclaimed as she glared back angrily at Everlue still holding onto the book as she continued to run and berate, "he was in solitary confinement for three years! Don't you know how hard that must've been?!"
"Three whole years?!" Happy asked in amazement, surprise, and anger.
The angry little Duke then jumped out of the ground and landed with a massive crash, just as Lucy did a backflip away from the little old man to avoid the Shrapnel and landed in a squatting position with her right fingertips on the ground and the book in her left hand.
"Perhaps it took him that long to learn how to appreciate me! Boy yoyo!"
"You're wrong," Lucy exclaimed angrily, "more like he couldn't bear to spread your lies, but he had 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."
"Tell me, how exactly do you know this?"
Our favorite Celestial Wizard then held up the Daybreak book as she glared at Duke Everlue, "it's all right here in black and white!"
"What? I've read that book from cover to cover and Kemu Zaleon isn't in it!"
"Well yeah, if you read it normally, there's no mention of him! But I know something you don't know, long before he was an author, he was a Wizard!"
As Lucy said this, that same man was in a cell chained to a pole kneeling at a little table working on the book.
"He was?" Happy asked curiously.
"What did he do?"
"After he finished the book, he gathered all his remaining strength and cast a spell on it."
Everlues shoulders shrugged in anger, "what a dirty trick! He took a book about a great man like me into a Hatchet Job?" Everlue continued as he covered up his eyes in anger, then used his Diver Magic once again and came out of the floor causing Lucy to jump, "the nerve of that fool!"
"Oh get over yourself! It's true that he wrote about all the pain and torture that you put him through," Lucy said as she jumped over Everlue once again causing him to go down on one knee with his right hand on the ground and his left hand and elbow turned into a fist. Lucy then landed on both her feet and stared at Everlue in defiance.
"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."
Happy stood up in triumph with some drool coming from his mouth, "tell us Lucy!"
"What the devil do you mean?"
Lucy then put the book behind her back with the left hand with her right hand relaxed at her side, "I'm not going to give this book back to you Duke Everlue!" Lucy then pointed the hand that she had her Celestial gate key in toward Everlue spinning it in the air and catching it, "because it was never yours to begin with. Open Gate of the Giant Crab, Cancer!"
As Lucy said that, a blue magic circle appeared in the air in front of the end of the key. Lucy then sliced her key through the air.
Once the incantation is finished, the man that appears is dressed in a way that is reminiscent of a hairdresser. His hair is black and braided in red cornrows that end in a shape that resembles crab's pincers. He also has thick lips. He always wears a blue striped shirt and dark trousers with two aquamarine stripes each side, also wearing boots on his feet. On his pants there's a ring chain in the right pocket and a hairdresser tools' bag in the left side of his belt. He wears a golden necklace and is commonly seen with his two main weapons: Scissors. The color of his eyes is unknown because he is always wearing sunglasses with green lenses. He also has six crab legs that appear from his back. This Celestial Spirit is named Cancer.
"Cancer!" the newly arrived Zodiac Spirit chimes as he poses.
"A Giant Crab!" Happy exclaimed with his mouth open and his hands on the sides of his cheeks. His teeth are exposed and he has stars in his eyes and starts dancing, "oh yeah, nothing says I'm going to kick your butt like a crab man with Razor Claws and a pair of tough guy sunglasses!"
"Shut up and let me concentrate or I'll have him pinch your little lips off!" Lucy said with an annoyed look in her eyes as she looked back toward Happy.
"Hey Lucy," Cancer said as he looked back toward his master as he continued to open and close both pairs of scissors, then continued, "how would you like your hair done today baby?"
"Ahhh!" Happy exclaimed with wide eyes and opened mouth with a look of surprise on his face.
Lucy then put her hand to her face as she berated her spirit, "I don't need styling I need help!"
She then pointed toward Everlue with a serious look on her face, "it's that guy! Take care of the bald guy over there!"
"Whatever you say, baby!" Cancer complied
"Oh so he just makes the bad guys look cooler before they kill us. That's useful! You should send him back Lucy."
"I should send you back!"
'What could that secret be? That hack must've written and Expose on all of my illegal business dealings. I can't have that! If the magic counsel got wind of how I exactly got my fortune, my goose would be cooked!'
With that thought, Everlue posed with his left hand up with his middle and ring fingers folded down, his index and pinky pointing up in the air and his thumb touching the nail of his middle finger as recited an incantation similar to Lucy when she called on Cancer, "open Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"
A purple magic circle appeared in the air and the Gorilla Maid Virgo appeared out of it, Lucy was in shock as she saw the Virgo appear, " What the?!"
Happy chimed in with his two cents, "he's using your trick Lucy!"
"Did I hear my master summon me!?" Virgo exclaimed as she appeared.
Everlue saw this and pointed straight at Cancer, Lucy, and Happy. "Virgo, fetch me that book!"
"Hold up," Lucy said in shock then asked, "She's a Celestial Spirit?"
"Baby!"
As Lucy looked up she noticed that Virgo had appeared with three passengers. It was Lisanna, back to her normal form, Shiro, a flying cat like Happy, and Setsuko, the Ice Dragon Slayer.
Everlue, Virgo, Cancer, Lucy and Happy gasped, "Lisanna, Setsuko, Shiro?"
"Yeah?" All three of them asked simultaneously.
"What is the meaning of this?" Everlue asked.
"What are you three doing up there?"
Lisanna then decided to take the reins, "well we saw her getting up, so we jumped on her, and then all of a sudden, we ended up here."
Lucy gasped as she looked at her three teammates up on top of Virgo. "So you three grabbed a hold of her inside the house? So that means, you three must've passed through the spirit gate with her!" Lucy exclaimed as she grabbed her head with her hands. The Daybreak book was between her right hand and head. Her eyes are as wide as saucers with her pupils absent, "that's impossible!"
"Lucy! What the heck do we do now!?" All three of her Teammates asked in shock.
"Finish what you started!"
As Lucy ordered that, Lisanna and Setsuko jumped off of Virgo and Setsuko flew over and landed beside Happy.
"Virgo clean up this rubbish!"
"As you wish my master!"
Lisanna switched once again to her Firebird Soul and Setsuko slammed her fists together as a blue magic circle appeared in front of her and Lisanna opened her mouth expelling flames from her beak and Setsuko expelling Ice Crystals from her mouth.
"Flaming Firebird/Ice Dragon Screech Roar!" Lisanna and Setsuko exclaimed in unison. Lucy was about to grab her whip but a golden yellow magic circle appeared from her right hand and expelled energy that formed into a glowing whip as she unleashed her powerful whip "You dirty little Mole Man! You can't dig yourself out of this! You make me sick! Star Make, Star Cross Whip!" The whip wrapped around Everlue as Lucy threw him up in the air. Taking the chance, Cancer jumped up into the air. With a call of, "baby!" he took his scissors and attacked Everlue with a Vengeance, cutting off all of his hair and his mustache to boot. Lucy then landed in the same position she was in earlier dissipating her whip and exclaimed, "You're just another greedy villain! Also, you will never be any more than a one-time side character!"
"Okay I'm done!" Cancer exclaimed, "Doesn't he look just fabulous or what Baby?!"
"Oh yeah he does!" Lisanna chimed happily and landed with one foot on the fried and frozen Virgo.
Setsuko landed behind Lisanna and looked back toward Cancer and smiled "alright way to go Crab Man! Um Baby!"
Virgo was fried, frozen and knocked out cold.
With that the Catacombs underneath the mansion collapsed, bringing the rest of the building down with them.
"Out with a bang as usual!" Lisanna said with a smile.
"We definitely like your style!" Setsuko exclaimed as the three Wizards and two cats watched as Shiro chimed in, "you're definitely going to fit in at Fairy Tail.
Happy then sighed as he spoke up, "but aren't we supposed to not destroy stuff."
"I hope I don't get blamed for this."
From afar, several bystanders witnessed the final destruction of the Everlue Mansion as they gasped in shock.
And then, the group found themselves back at Kaby Melon's Mansion as Lucy told their story.
"When I read Daybreak, I couldn't believe it was written by Kemu Zaleon. There's no way he would've done something that bad."
"Yeah so what's your point?" Lisanna and Setsuko asked.
"So that's how I knew that there must've been a spell on it."
Lucy then handed the book back to Kaby, who was sitting on the couch. She was standing across the table from him as Lisanna with Happy on her left shoulder and Setsuko with Shiro on her right shoulder were both standing behind the other couch that Lucy was standing in front of.
"But I requested this book be destroyed," Kaby said to the group then continued, "Why on Earth are you handing it back to me completely unscathed?"
"If you really want to destroy the book," Lucy said, "then I would really 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 you do about the book Kaby. You wanted to protect your father's legacy, because you're actually Zaleon's Son aren't you?"
The other two wizards and the two cats gasped in shock, "Huh?"
"Yes, that's true."
"Have you read it yourself?"
"No, I-I could never bring myself to do it. My father told me it was garbage."
Setsuko sighed as Lisanna spoke up angrily with a glare at Kaby and grabbed him by the neck "You were just going to burn it?"
"I was."
"You were going to burn it without even bothering to see what was inside? It was the last book your dad ever wrote, right? Some of us would kill for that kind of memory."
Lucy ran after Lisanna and placed herself in between the white-haired takeover Wizard and the mustached man, "that's enough Lisanna, I know you're not really like this, you told me yourself you don't look to start fights. This isn't like you!"
Lisanna realized what Lucy was saying and backed off, "you're right Lucy, I'm sorry."
"That's okay Lisanna, but still stand back and let Kaby explain himself."
"Please, that book caused my family great heartache and shame. It was thirty-one years ago…"
An old man walked in the squeaky door with a younger Kaby sitting at the table.
"Father is that you?" Kaby asked.
"Forgive me son," Kemu said as he opened a trunk and started rooting through it.
"We haven't heard from you in three years! Where have you been all this time?"
"Somewhere I'll not return," Kemu said as he tied a rope around his arm at the shoulder, "It's all over now!"
Kemu then pulled out a machete with Kaby pleading with him, "No Father!"
"I'll never write again!" After that exclamation, Kemu took the Butcher knife and cut off his arm.
This caused Happy and Shiro to fly off of their partners' shoulders and caused Lucy, Lisanna, and Setsuko to scream out in shock with shocked looks on their faces. Happy and Shiro held up signs with some sort of red kanji on them.
Kaby's story continued as he thought back to his father in a hospital bed with Kaby talking to him.
"You should've listened to me," Kaby said then continued, "I told you that you'd regret working for that horrible Duke Everlue, but you went ahead and did it anyway. Why?"
"Because, it was good money."
"Who cares? Look where it got you!"
"I'm so glad I finished that rubbish!" Kemu said as she smiled.
"What the heck are you smiling about? Do you think it's funny to leave your family for three years to write a novel you're not even proud of?"
"Son, I thought of you the entire time I was gone!"
"Then you should've just written something quickly for him and come back to us. Instead you abandoned your pride and your family right along with it! You're a sad excuse for a writer, selling yourself out to the highest bidder."
With that Kaby headed to the door and didn't look back as he continued to berate his father, "you're not much of a father either."
Without another word, Kaby left the hospital room, closed the door behind him and never looked back. The curtains were blowing in the wind along with leaves flying through the air.
Kaby then continued his story as he thought back to a graveyard and standing in front of his father's grave, "not long after that, my father passed away, however the anger and betrayal I felt towards him lived on…"
Back to the present day in the living room, Kaby continued his story…
"... but as the years passed by me, that anger slowly turned into remorse. Now, it's too late for me to ask for his forgiveness. So I decided to make amends by destroying the final work that caused him so much unhappiness. This is the only way. The only way I can preserve his legacy," Kaby then lit a match, "I'm sure that this is what he'd want."
"No you're wrong."
Lucy then stood there with her right hand on her right hip and her left arm hanging down at her left side, "Kaby look!"
The book then glowed in Kaby's hand, "what's happening?" As the book glowed a purple magic circle appeared in the air. As the word Daybreak floated off the cover of the book.
"A spell has been cast on this book; it's the work of the wizard Kemu Zaleon! Or should I say Zekua Melon!"
"A spell, what kind of spell would it be?"
The letters on the cover then rearranged to form the words Dear Kaby for the title of the book and Zekua Melon for the author of the book.
"Dear Kaby."
"That's right, this book is his letter to you. It was disguised behind a spell that rearranged all of the words so no one else could read it."
With that the book opened and released all of the letters as they flew through the air. Everyone was in shock.
"Wow!" Lisanna and Setsuko exclaimed.
"Pretty!" Happy and Shiro exclaimed.
"He didn't stop writing because he was ashamed. He stopped because he had finished his masterpiece. A novel containing everything he ever wanted to say to his beloved son. And when you read it the way he intended, it's easily his best work ever."
Zekua's voice echoes through the air as it says, "I thought about you the entire time I was gone!"
Once the words vanish, the book closes and lands in Kaby's hands.
"And now that the spell's been broken, you can read it for yourself."
"Thank you Father, I swear that I will never let any harm come to this book."
Lisanna and Setsuko turned away as Lisanna spoke up, "well, I guess we won't be collecting that reward."
"Aye, Sir!" Happy said.
"Huh?" Lucy asked in shock, then nodded, "you're right, even though I could really use the cash, we didn't finish the job."
Lisanna was shocked as she looked toward the blond, Lucy, that's a surprise coming from you. What changed your mind? Are you feeling sick?"
"I'm wondering the same thing," Setsuko said, "I was sure that you would be bummed that we weren't taking the reward."
"Come on Lucy, please enlighten us." Shiro said to the blond.
"Honestly, at first, I was thinking about getting angry when you mentioned it," Lucy said and then continued, "however, something doesn't really add up. Considering where I grew up before I ran away."
"Lucy, that's a very mature thing for you to do," Happy said.
"Even so, let me do something." Kaby said.
"No thank you Kaby, I honestly don't think you can afford to pay us that money," Lucy stated with an all-out calm manner, but then thought to herself, 'sure I am a little upset, but considering that this is a mansion, and there aren't any servants asking us if we want something to drink or something to eat, Kaby probably isn't as rich as this house would indicate.'
"Good going Lucy," Shiro said to the blond with a smile.
"Thanks for offering…" Lisanna started
"...but we don't want it." Setsuko finished.
Lucy smiled as she looked toward her team, "you're right, although, I may need to pay rent, there will be plenty of other jobs we can take on as a team. Kaby, I think it's time we all head home."
"You too Mr. Melon," Lisanna said to the older man.
"That's the best thing for all of us," Setsuko said.
"Aye Aye Sir!" Happy and Shiro chimed together.
Kaby and Mrs. Melon chuckled, it seems like this team was onto something.
The group was heading back to Fairy Tail as Lucy still seemed a bit upset, then smiled, "do I even have to guess what it would've looked like if we would've taken the money that he couldn't afford to give us or anything else? I'm not going to guess, but I have a feeling I know what you're going to say Lisanna."
"If we would've taken the money it wouldn't look good, you've got to think about Fairy Tail's reputation," Lisanna pointed out.
"Aye!" Happy said.
"I know we made him happy, but how did we manage to figure that it was all a ruse?" Lucy asked curiously.
Eventually the group settled down, made a campfire and cooked dinner.
Lucy was sitting next to Lisanna with Happy and Shiro on either side of the fire as she looked toward Setsuko with an inquiring look in her eyes, "by the way, the house, how did you know it wasn't even theirs? I figured it out from the beginning because there weren't any housekeepers or butlers hanging around and asking us if we needed anything. How did you know Setsuko?"
Setsuko answered, "Huh? Oh that's easy; it smelled like some other house."
"That's right." Shiro said to Lucy.
"Aye!" Happy chimed in.
"Sure to you, you three animals."
Lisanna smiled as she petted Lucy on the head, trying to hide a blush, "you did good Lucy, good girl, good girl! You deserve a treat."
Lucy just sweat dropped at that remark as she rolled her eyes. Happy, Shiro, and Setsuko saw the blush on Lisanna's cheeks and just decided to ignore it.
"Thanks Lisanna," Lucy said as she cringed from being patted on the head, "I'm not an animal you know; you don't have to pet me."
Lisanna giggled as she smiled at Lucy. Lucy then smiled back, "Hey, consider it pay back for when you petted me like a pet back at the Guild Hall."
Lucy sweat dropped and laughed, "oh yeah, good one."
Lisanna then remembered something from the battle with Everlue, "that glowing light whip that you made. Did you create that with your imagination? How were you able to use that?"
"Oh that, I can't believe you forgot about that already," Lucy said as she looked toward Lisanna.
"What are you talking about Lucy?" Lisanna asked curiously.
Lucy sighed as she rolled her eyes, "Look at your right ring finger."
Lisanna did so and gasped as she face palmed, "oh yeah, I forgot about that. Sorry Lucy."
"No worries Lisanna," Lucy said with a smile, "I honestly didn't expect to be able to do that either. I was so mad at Duke Everlue that it came to me. I call it my Star-Cross Whip. To be honest, I'm not really sure when I will be able to do that again. That move kind of took the rest of my magic out of me…"
Happy smiled as he glanced back to his tail and saw the ring on it. "Oh yeah, that's right you made that for the three of us, Aspen, Lisanna, and me."
Setsuko and Shiro saw the rings on the fingers and tail of Lisanna and Happy respectively and got a little jealous.
"Hey aren't Shiro and I friends with you too? Where are our rings?" Setsuko asked.
"Yeah, we just took down Duke Everlue together," Shiro said, "don't forget that the two of us are on your team too even though we don't go on missions with you very often."
Lucy smiled and giggled, "I knew you would say that, Lisanna, Happy the rings."
Lisanna and Happy nodded as Lisanna took an identical ring out of her pocket and handed it to Setsuko. Happy then took an identical ring to his out of his sack that was on his back and handed it to Shiro.
Setsuko and Shiro anxiously accepted the rings from Lisanna and Happy respectively. They then placed it on their finger and tail respectively. Setsuko had it on her right ring finger while Shiro had it on her tail.
"Thanks Lucy!" the Ice Dragon Slayer and Flying Cat said to her.
"You're both welcome. I officially declare this team, Team Lisanna." Lucy said with a smile as she hugged everyone.
"That reminds me of something Lucy," Lisanna said to her friend then continued, "I noticed some papers on your desk at our house. What are those papers for?"
Lucy sighed and smiled, "you found them huh? I guess there's no hiding it now, I'm writing a novel. It's nowhere near ready to read yet."
"Can I be the first to read it?" Lisanna asked curiously.
"No, you can't," Lucy said to her friend, "Levy asked me about it first. I promised she could read it first. However, you can definitely read it second."
"That sounds good to me Lu! I look forward to it!"
"Setsuko, you, Happy, Aspen and Shiro can read it after Lisanna does."
"That works for me!" The Ice Dragon Slayer and her flying cat exclaimed.
The next day, Lucy, Lisanna, Happy, Setsuko, and Shiro are heading back to the guild. Well most of them are walking back to Fairy Tail. Lisanna and Setsuko are trudging the waist deep mud of a swamp with Happy and Shiro on their shoulders respectively. However, Lucy is walking through the swamp while staying inside of Horologium.
"I don't know about this route Lisanna, Setsuko, are you sure we're going the right way? She asks." Horologium said as he translated what Lucy said.
"Happy says this is the way home, so this is the way we're going, I answer," Lisanna said.
"Have some faith, I'm a cat, I have a great sense of smell, and my nose will lead us home," Happy said with a tone of superiority.
"It's dogs that have great noses, and what does smell have to do with direction? She asks quite haughtily." Horologium translated what Lucy was saying.
"Why don't you do your own walking for a while?" Setsuko asked.
"Because, I'm tired she groans exhaustedly." Horologium translated yet again.
"I don't think that's how you're supposed to use your spirits is it?" Shiro asked with curiosity.
Suddenly Lisanna, Lucy, Happy, Setsuko and Shiro heard something in the bushes and saw a glow coming from it.
Lisanna quickly transformed into her Firebird form and flew over to the bushes, "who's there?! Show yourself now!"
"Lisanna, please don't fight! She exclaims worriedly." Horologium translated.
"I don't think she's going to fight Lucy," Setsuko said to the blond that was inside of Horologium, and then continued, "I think she's just curious as to who is in the bushes."
"Oh, okay, the lady says with trepidation." Horologium translated.
Lisanna saw this and gasped. She immediately covered her eyes, "um Gray, come on out of there and explain to us why you're in a bush please."
Gray sighs and jumps out of the bush almost hitting Lisanna while Setsuko takes a fighting stance.
"It's Gray!" Happy and Shiro exclaimed in unison.
"What's he doing in his underwear? The lady questions curiously." Horologium explains.
"I was trying to find a bathroom!" Gray exclaimed.
"Why would you strip down before you found one?" Setsuko asked as she drew her sword and pointed toward Gray, "and who the heck ever heard of a bathroom in the middle of the forest?"
Lisanna flew over to Lucy, landed and returned to her normal form.
"I wanted some privacy," Gray said as he looked angrily toward Setsuko and Lisanna, then continued, "I didn't expect to have Lisanna barge in."
"Gray is so childish!" Lucy exclaimed.
"She says to the cat." Happy said.
A weird looking light blue bird with normal blue wings, feet, and tail feathers flies across the jagged rocks below where the group had set up camp again with Happy and Shiro fishing.
Lucy and Lisanna are sitting on a rock with Setsuko sitting on the ground looking toward Gray with an annoyed look on her face, "So you're heading back from a job?"
"Yeah there's a shortcut through these woods that will get us back to town in no time." Gray said.
"See I told you so!"
Lucy looked toward Happy with a frown on her face, "well if your nose is so great, how come you didn't know Gray was right in front of us smart guy?"
"There are some things you just don't want to smell."
Gray grimaced as he looked toward Happy, "what'd you say?"
"Honestly, I agree," Setsuko said to Gray as she put her arms behind her head and interlaced her fingers.
"So go on home and we'll smell you later," Lisanna said to the Ice Make Wizard.
"Fine I will," Gray said, and then continued, "And unless you want trouble you should too."
"Why do you say that?" Lucy asked curiously.
"It's because Erza is due back anytime now." Gray said.
"What?!" Lisanna and Setsuko asked, "She is?"
Lucy could see that Setsuko and Lisanna were shaking in their shoes.
"The Erza? Whoa!" Lucy said with amazement in her voice.
Happy was eating a fish while he was talking, "yeah she's the most powerful woman in all of Fairy Tail."
"Ohhhh, I can't wait to meet her!" Lucy said as she put her hands to her cheeks and fangirled.
Shiro shrugged as Lisanna and Setsuko looked sort of terrified.
"You know, I've never seen a picture of her in Sorcerer Weekly or anything. What's she like?"
Setsuko, Gray and the two cats sighed as they answered their blond friend, "Scary."
Lucy's face got a strange look on it as she listened to the two Ice Wizards talk about her
"Wild Animal," Gray said with his left hand to his cheek.
"A vile beast," Setsuko said with her right hand to her cheek.
"More like a full-on Monster!" Happy exclaimed.
The statements from three out of her five friends led Lucy's imagination to running wild as she pictured giant Erza Shaped Shadow breathing fire and causing a town of people to scatter in all directions from the giant. Said Giant was shown with horns on her head.
Shiro rolled her eyes and shook her head no, "Honestly guys, she's not that big."
"Well she's big enough for me," Setsuko said.
"Well one thing that all three of us can agree on is that she's really that scary, if not a bit scarier." Gray said.
Setsuko stood up with a frowning expression on her face and her eyes half closed and pointed her right index finger over her right shoulder. Her imagination showed the monster Erza kicking a mountain out of the ground.
Gray countered that move by standing up and glaring a Setsuko with his arms crossed over his chest, "what I can guarantee she can take out three mountains with a single kick."
Happy stood up in between the two and countered yet again, "you know Gray, no need to exaggerate like that, it's more like two."
Lucy stood up with a scared look on her face her hands resting on her upper thighs, "you know something guys, even if Erza is able to kick down a single mountain it's scary."
Lisanna shrugged her shoulders and sighed, she remembered that Erza was one of the first people she turned to for comfort after the incident two years ago, "Seriously, Gray, Setsuko, Happy she's not bad. Sure she has a bit of a temper, but she only has that temper because she cares for her Guild."
Lucy smiled at Lisanna's remark, "At least one of you is sensible when talking about Erza. I'm sure that what Lisanna said about her is true, it sounds to me that you're both on Erza's bad side from time to time."
"Hey!" Setsuko exclaimed with an offended look on her face, "Gray is the main one that always gets on Erza's bad side with stripping all the time."
"Regardless of how powerful or scary we think it is," Gray said to the group, "we should get back."
Setsuko and Lisanna both stood up, Shiro resting on Setsuko's shoulder, Setsuko said, "crap, we should get moving."
Lisanna nodded and smiled with a blush as she still saw that Lucy seemed to be a bit tired, "Lucy if you want to lean on me you can. I don't mind at all. Nonetheless, Gray does have a point we do need to get going back to the Guild Hall."
Suddenly, just as they were about to leave, an explosion caught the three wizards and two cats off guard as they were blindsided by it. Their faces were covered from the dust and, unable to see what happened. The dust finally cleared and the wizards were now buried in sand, Setsuko the only one whose head was in the sand. Lucy, Lisanna, and Setsuko cough out the sand from their mouths as Gray asked, "What now?" Gray asked before realizing that one, no two of their members were missing from the group. As the three girls rose up quickly from the sand, they realized it too.
"Happy! Shiro!" Lucy, Lisanna, and Setsuko shouted as they see their two furry friends vanish from their sight.
"Aye, help!" Both Happy and Shiro said weakly realizing the situation they were placed in.
Happy and Shiro found that they were tied to a stick and were ready to be cooked by a couple of wizards, a small group of them. The first one was a big humanoid chicken with yellow skin, red hair, and a beard. He has beady eyes, a triangular mouth and no apparent nose and ears. He wore blue overalls with two lighter colored pockets in the rear and a pair of red shoes for footwear. The second were a pair of twin men. The twins were completely identical with both of them having slightly long orange hair and black eyes. They wore identical dark red and white collared coats under which is a black and khaki colored V-neck shirt. The two also wear a pair of dark blue trousers and brown shoes for footwear. The third was a tall slim man with black eyes and black hair that hangs on either side of his head, bordering his face. He wore a white shirt under a collared purple jumpsuit with metal shoulder and thigh guards. He also donned a pair of black boots for footwear. In his hand was a purple Lacrima crystal ball. The last one was a small humanoid troll with dark grayish skin and no hair. He bears the mark of his guild on the left side of his head in between his pointed ears. He had two slits for a nose and usually wore a confident sneer. He wore a green shirt with a hood and a pair of red gloves. He wore brown trousers under a dark white quilt and a pair of black shoes for footwear. The twin Wizards mouths were watering, seeing Happy and Shiro on a stick tied up like that. "We're finally going to get some real protein!" One of the twins said happily, his mouth still watering.
"No berries for us tonight!" The second twin said in response to the other.
"Meat!" The chicken exclaimed with a squawk of his voice.
"Our future holds a feast." The fortune teller said peering into the crystal ball.
Both Happy and Shiro are shaking while on the pole, terrified of the Wizards. They wanted to eat the two of them; the two young cats were going to be a meal to them.
"Wow, look at the shaking." One twin said as he saw both the trembling bodies of Happy and Shiro. "Geez."
"Relax." The goblin said with a grin on his face. "You're both going to be in our bellies soon enough. So there's no need to be scared."
"Actually we're not shaking like this because we're scared," Shiro said as she looked toward Happy as both cats continued to shake causing the goblin to scoff.
"We've gotta use the bathroom really badly," Happy said to the group of Wizards that wanted to eat both of them.
The fortune teller sighed deeply, staring at both Shiro and Happy. "Oh."
"We can't hold it much longer," Happy said as he looked toward Shiro.
"And, we bet you that it's going to make us taste weird." Shiro said through her trembling to the group of thugs.
"Who cares?" The goblin asked rhetorically. "Now cook them."
"Meat!" The chicken said as a reddish orange magic circle appeared at the end of his staff causing it to ignite with red-orange flames like Natsu and Lisanna's magic. Sweat poured from both Happy and Shiro's bodies, already wishing they went right now. It would save them the trouble.
"I will take mine Medium please." The Fortune Teller requested.
"Hey we're serious, it's going to make us taste funny!" Happy exclaimed in fear.
"We just know it will!" Shiro also exclaimed. She also exclaimed in fear.
"Happy! Shiro!" Lisanna and Setsuko shouted to the cats that were about to be barbecued by a giant chicken.
"Thank Goodness," Happy said in relief.
"Now we're not going to taste weird." Shiro said also in relief.
"Pipe Down!" The Goblin said as Lisanna cracked her knuckles and Setsuko drew her Katana.
"What do you think you're doing trying to roast my son you idiots?" Lisanna inquired angrily.
"Not to mention trying to roast my partner, you jerks!" Setsuko exclaimed just as angrily.
"Lisanna Mama, Setsuko!" Happy exclaimed
"Thanks for coming to help us!" Shiro also exclaimed happily.
"Lisanna Mama?" The thugs asked, looking at one another at what the white-haired girl said.
"Setsuko, Gray," Lisanna said as she cracked her knuckles once again as she glowed a reddish orange color as a magic circle of the same color appeared under her feet, "Let's do this! Take Over: FireBird Soul!"
Lisanna then turned to Lucy who seemed to feel left out, "Lucy, you go free Happy and Shiro!"
"Right Lisanna!" Lucy exclaimed as she headed toward Happy and Shiro, although she did have to admit, she was kind of jealous that she wasn't going to be able to help them much. Oh well, maybe she would be able to help out more next time. She did have to admit though; she was still trying to recover from her battle with Everlue. She may have been traveling for a little over a year now, but she still had to conserve her magic power for a certain upcoming battle not too far away.
The group of four wizards jumped off the cliff as they headed toward where Happy and Shiro were. Gray and Lucy dodged the two twins, while Lisanna in her Partial FireBird Soul and Setsuko with her Katana drawn dodged the yellow chicken while still airborne with their guild mates. From below them, on the ground, the gray skinned goblin Wizard then slammed his fist to the ground as a yellow magic circle appeared from underneath his feet. "Take this, Sand Bomb!" he exclaimed.
Sand picked up around the gray skinned Wizard as both Lisanna and Setsuko couldn't stop themselves in time as they saw the sand. Without a chance to even counter, Lisanna reverting back to her normal form in the process, the Takeover Wizard and Ice Dragon Slayer were then both trapped inside a large ball of sand floating in the air. Lucy gasped, seeing her two friends caught in the sand, her feet finally hitting the ground.
"Lisanna, Setsuko!" she shouted before Gray looked at her.
"They'll be fine; you just hurry to free Happy and Shiro." Gray ordered quickly to Lucy, looking to the Celestial Spirit Wizard before looking back. Being the friend and guild mate she was to this group, Lucy was hesitant, she wanted to save her two friends, but Gray was right, Happy and Shiro were more important than worrying about Lisanna and Setsuko.
"Okay, just be careful!" She replied back before running to Happy and Shiro's direction, following Gray to where the other Wizards were and Happy and Shiro were tied up to save them. The twin Wizards then dived down to attack Gray with small swords in hand, but Gray leaped up from the ground to punch and kick the two wizards out of the air as they fell, dropping their weapons. At the same time, Lucy was untying the ropes that bound Happy and Shiro to the stick. Unlike Shiro, Happy was terrified looking at her, worried that Shiro and he would have the same fate as what the Wizards would do to them.
"Please Lucy; don't try to eat us too!" Happy screamed as he, unlike Shiro who was calm, squirmed in his bonds.
Shiro rolled her eyes and face palmed once one of her hands was free from the bonds.
"Happy, I'm not going to eat either of you." Lucy assured the blue cat while keeping calm. She had gotten quite attached to the little blue flying cat in her short time with Fairy Tail, not to mention she felt the same way about Shiro as well. This guild was the best thing that has ever happened to her in the almost full year that she had been away from home on her grand adventure. "Just stop moving so I can get the both of you off this pit," before looking up to see a looming figure over her head. She looked up and gasped to see the yellow overall wearing chicken over her, Happy, and Shiro; holding the flame lit staff in his hands.
"Meat!" he cried as he tried to attack them. Lucy, without thinking, conjured her Star-Cross Whip guarding herself, Happy, and Shiro. Again, without thinking, she wrapped her Star-Cross Whip around the flaming staff, quickly taking it away from the giant chicken. Once she got it away overall-wearing feathery Wizard she quickly threw it over the nearby cliff. Lucy then swung her whip toward the chicken catching him off guard. The chicken did manage to dodge some of her swings as she tried to wrap her Star-Cross Whip around the giant chicken's legs. With one final wrap and swing she wrapped her Star-Cross Whip around the giant chicken's leg causing him to fall on his back with no access to his weapon making it impossible for him to fight back. She was proud of herself as she taunted the chicken. The chicken could only let out a weak "Meat" before Gray and Setsuko came to help Lucy. Gray came in kicking the Giant Chicken out of the whip that was attached to the legs of said chicken. This was shortly followed by Setsuko, having managed to make her way out of the sand she was trapped in, coming in to cut away the rest of the ropes from Happy and Shiro.
"Thanks Lucy and thanks Setsuko!" Happy and Shiro cheered together as Lucy stood with Gray and Setsuko, remembering that there was one more Wizard left besides the one that trapped Lisanna and Setsuko in the Sand Bomb. She held her Star Cross Whip in her right hand and had been able to get a hold of her regular whip with her left hand. Lucy was ready for any other challenge that came her way. She was standing by Gray, looking straight toward the direction of the last wizard.
"Next." he said, looking at the last Wizard. Last standing was the Crystal Ball holding Wizard, who Gray, Lucy, and Setsuko thought was charging up an attack. The three Fairy Tail Wizards were ready to see what he had to offer, hoping for more of a challenge than the others. But he stopped; his crystal ball stopped glowing as he said, speaking directly at Gray, Lucy, and Setsuko, puzzling them, "You will see the person you wanted to see. You will also get stronger with your Starlight powers as well as more efficient with your Katana. I see trouble with women, water, and Fire in your future."
"A Fortune Teller," the three asked, while annoyed and confused, but roared in anger dashing forward at him, "You're very annoying, obnoxious and useless!" As soon as the trio said that, Lucy was able to combine both her Star-Cross Whip and normal Leather whip by bonding them together with her magic. She was going to be exhausted tomorrow morning, but she had to show that she could be useful to the team. Setsuko then drew her Katana and struck a pose ready to fight. With a single mighty punch, crack and slash sending him flying away. Lucy looked to Gray and Setsuko as they sent the raven haired male flying. She was completely surprised by how strong the two Ice Wizards are. Lucy sighed, how could she prove to be a useful member of the team if she couldn't even make some of her Star Make Spells Stay Solid while she used them. She was fortunately able to keep her Star-Cross Whip solid when combined with her regular leather whip. Even though she was an official member of Fairy Tail, she wasn't sure if she would be able to ever compare to the strength she saw from the two ice wizards.
'Wow, Gray and Setsuko were able to send the Fortune Teller Flying without using magic. I'm kind of jealous right now. While they were able to do that with their strength, I had to resort to combining my Star-Cross Whip with my normal whip. How in the world will I be able to contribute to this team without using magic so much, especially without combining my Star Make Magic with my normal Whip. I can't even begin to compare my strength to them.' she thought, before she was first to notice that Gray was stripped down to his underwear again. Setsuko also quickly noticed it.
"Gray! Where are your clothes?!" Both girls chimed together.
"Ahh!' Gray screamed, looking down to see he was stripped down to his blue boxers again. Lucy and Setsuko sighed in annoyance, even when he is being attacked out of the blue, Gray always seems to find himself losing clothes. Why?
The Goblin like Wizard(who took his eyes off the Sand Bomb he placed , the bomb still whirling in the air) to see his fellow Wizards defeated easily, but a boy in his underwear, a blue-haired girl with a katana, and a blonde girl with a weird whip made of both light and leather. Who are these kids anyway?
"Who are these guys?" the Goblin asked in disbelief.
Not long after Setsuko had busted out of the sand bomb, Lisanna had managed to escape. She drops back to the ground to face the gray skinned Wizard, her anger matched that of her other two teammates. She couldn't take it anymore. She knew that her Fire bird form alone couldn't take down the goblin. She decided to try something she hasn't tried before, well at least not for a while anyway. She decided to combine her melee form with her Fire Bird form. "Takeover: Animal Soul! Combo form: Fire Bird Tigress!"
In this form she donned a black and blue tiger striped bikini with a blue choker around her neck with a round golden bell adorned on it. Two tails sprouted from her Tailbone as not only a long Tigress Tail appeared but also some reddish-orange and yellow tail feathers alternating colors that made it look like the tail feathers had a tiger-stripe feature. Her hands turned into Tigress claws with Tigress pads. Not only were tigress claws blue and black, but reddish-orange and yellow were mixed in as well. Her eyes became Tiger-like with tiny reddish-orange and yellow feathers that looked more like eyelashes. She closed her eyes as eye shadow of four colors forming a small rainbow on her eyelids. Reddish-orange, yellow, blue, and black formed the small rainbow of eye shadow. Her calves, ankles, and shins became adorned with reddish-orange and yellow feathers with blue and black striped tiger fur mixed in. Her feet became a pair of orange talons. Along with blue and black striped tiger ears adorning her head, from her back sprouted a pair of beautiful Fire bird wings. As Lisanna smiled menacingly, her teeth became tigress fangs. Now that her mixed form was complete, she hovered in the air, her wings flapping elegantly.
"Now you've done it, I'm really mad now," she said as her claws and talons lit up along with her two piece bikini adding the colors of reddish-orange and yellow to the blue and black stripes, "first you try to eat my son, along with Setsu's partner cat, then you trap Setsuko and me in the sand" She closed her eyes before gliding towards the goblin. "I'll show you what happens when you mess with us!"
As Lisanna makes her way toward him she flies over her three friends and two cats, The Goblin Wizard conjured sand formed around Lisanna trying to trap her talons and claws, but the sand was burnt out of existence with her combined Fire Bird/Tigress Takeover Combo form. The pieces of sand being completely incinerated before they get anywhere close to her. The Goblin Wizard Gasped, this girl incinerated his sand without even touching it, what was she? Lisanna's hands and feet were engulfed in flames as a fiery crown materialized on her head. Fire Bird Tigress Secret Technique: Flaming Fireball drill slash!" Lisanna exclaimed, executing a new attack that she had imagined pulling off several times, but never could, that is until now. Without a second to retreat, Lisanna launched the goblin into the air with her spinning attack. The attack hit the mark on the top of his head not only causing him to spin rapidly like a drill in mid air, but also spinning so fast that he flew over the trees headed toward the clearing.
The airborne goblin started to clash his head with the claws of said Fire bird tigress getting burned in the process. As Lisanna stopped spinning, the goblin did too. First Lisanna started punching with her claws striking with every word, "Maybe next time you will think of the consequences before trying to make a meal out of not only my son, but his friend Shiro as well. Especially in front of both Setsuko and me along with the other members of our team!" Lisanna then turned around, this time with her bird talons kicking said goblin, setting him on fire even more.
From the ground, Lucy having recovered her strength dismissed her Star-Cross Whip and placed her normal whip back on her belt as she looked toward Lisanna wanting to help her out some more. One year traveling alone had helped her get stronger and improve her Star Make Magic. This was as good a time as any to show Gray and Setsuko what else she could do. "Setsuko, you and Gray stay back and make sure that Happy and Shiro are okay. I have an idea. Yes, I may be like a zombie heading back to the guild hall, but it's time to show you what I can do."
Gray wasn't about to be outshone by a rookie wizard. Although, to be honest Lucy wasn't really a rookie wizard. Even though she had only been traveling for one year, she had actually been studying magic for a total of ten years.. Still Gray, not being able to do much in this battle besides punch and kick, he insisted on helping Lucy.
"Lucy, I want to help you too. We can both help Lisanna!" Gray exclaimed toward the blond-haired Celestial Wizard.
Lucy nodded as she called toward Lisanna while Setsuko stayed back to keep an eye on Happy and Shiro, "Lisanna, it's time to fire up your fiery attack. Gray and I want to help you take out the ugly gray guy!"
"Right! Flaming Fire Bird Tigress.." Lisanna exclaimed as she breathed in the embers that were blowing off of the Goblin Wizard.
Lucy and Gray stood next to each other, Gray slamming his left hand into his right hand. A blue magic circle appeared underneath him as Gray extended his arms forward and another blue magic circle appeared in front of his hands "Ice Make…"
Standing beside Gray, Lucy crossed her arms in front of her chest similar to when she sent the blinding attack toward Bora back in Hargeon. A golden yellow magic circle appears in front of Lucy's crossed arms as she focuses on not only the goblin, but also the magic circles of Gray and Lisanna. Gathering the energy of the stars into her being she focuses, as much of her power as she could Star Make…"
Gray gathering ice magic within his magic circle, Lisanna gathering her fire magic in hers, and Lucy gathering her star magic within her magic circle, the three wizards combined their attacks.
"Screeching Roar!" Lisanna exclaimed as she sent her fire attack toward the Goblin.
"Lance!" Gray exclaimed as he sent long curved ice lances toward the Goblin Wizard.
"Shooting Star Barrage!" Lucy exclaimed as shooting stars shot out from her magic circle.
Setsuko then got an idea as she sheathed her Katana. She breathed in really hard a lighter blue magic circle appearing in front of her mouth as she formed her hands together into what looked like she was playing a trumpet. As the magic circle powered up, Setsuko's cheeks puffed up. Once her cheeks were completely puffed up, she let her breath attack go through her hands as her icy breath was expelled out of her mouth through the magic circle, "Ice Dragon Roar!"
"W-what are the four of them doing?" the Goblin asked in fear.
The four attacks combined into one giant attack as it headed straight for the Goblin.
"Fire, Ice, Stars combine your strength into an unbeatable energy!" Lisanna started.
"Let these three elements meet and combine in harmony as they get ready to dispense justice upon our enemies!" Gray continued as he and Lisanna directed their attacks to combine.
Lucy was the next to speak up as she brought her Caster Power to the surface, "this attack will shut the stupid annoying ugly gray Goblin up…"
Setsuko was the final one to talk, "with my power combined with my three comrades, our main mission is to bring justice to the offending party! With these powers combined, we create…"
"Flaming Ice Star Dragon Roar Barrage!" The four wizards exclaimed as they unleashed the combo attack.
The combined attack hit the Goblin right in the chest, sending him slamming into his comrades. The explosion from the four prong attack created a plume of smoke around the Goblin and his comrades. Once the smoke cleared, Lisanna, Setsuko, Gray, and Lucy were standing on either side of the lone tree left standing that the four of them had tied the thugs to.
Shiro smiled as she looked on, "so, Flaming Ice Star Dragon Roar Barrage, did the four of you come up with that attack on the spot?"
The four Wizards nodded sheepishly.
Happy flew up into the sky in celebration as he exclaimed, "Aye, I like the attack, but maybe not try that combo attack all the time. Look what it did to the landscape."
The four Fairy Tail Wizards looked around the landscape. Seeing the destruction they caused was even more destruction than Hargeon. Many trees were scorched, frozen and cut in half. In some places the grass was shredded, frozen, and burned all at once. Several of the surrounding rocks were out of place and thrown asunder. The entire landscape looked very much the worse for the wear..
"Oh no!" Lisanna, Setsuko and Gray exclaimed in shock, well not really to be honest.
"Did we just overdo it again?!" Lucy exclaimed as she looked around, "Oh great! Yeah Happy is right, we shouldn't try to use that combo attack all the time. Just in extreme emergencies like this one."
"Aye Sir!" Happy and Shiro chimed together.
Seeing the shocked look on Lucy's face, Lisanna reverted to her normal form, with Natsu's scarf back around her neck, then went over to her newest teammate and gave her a hug and cuddled with her, "Lucy my dear, first you completely drowned the dock at Hargeon Port. Secondly, you did a number along with the rest of us on the Everlue Mansion and the sewers under it. Then finally, just now helped the three of us catch these thugs and contributed to all this damage along the way. You will fit perfectly fine into Fairy Tail."
Lucy blushed deep red as Lisanna hugged her tight and cuddled with her excessively. She felt like the air was being squeezed out of her, but she didn't exactly mind the close contact, she just needed to breathe.
"Um Lisanna," Lucy coughed through the squeeze, "I agree with you on that, but could you let me go, I really need to breathe!"
Lisanna sweat dropped and nodded as she let go, but didn't leave Lucy's side. The white-haired girl and the blond haired girl looked at each other, blushed, and smiled.
Lisanna then looked toward the tied up wizards, scolding them, "now could you please enlighten us on why you suddenly attacked all of us out of the blue?"
"Come on you guys, please, tell us what this was all about," Lucy said as she gasped while stretching trying to shake off the fatigue, but at the same time not trying to show it. This was a lot for a rookie wizard to deal with.
"Why did you try to eat Happy and Shiro?" Setsuko asked the thugs in addition to pointing her katana at them. "What guild are you from?"
Gray then wanted to put his two cents in, "that was lowdown and dirty, attacking us out of thin air like that. We never did anything to you."
The Ice Dragon Slayer, with Shiro on her shoulder, kneeled down to the goblin when she heard something being muttered from him. It was hard to hear since his voice was weak, but she and Shiro could still understand him.
"...Lulla..." he muttered weakly.
"What, 'Lulla'?" Setsuko, with Shiro on her shoulder, asked, confused.
"What was that again?" Gray asked, once again down to his boxers.
"Lulla… by… is…" he added weakly so Lucy and Lisanna with Happy in between them. This got Gray's attention, his ears burning red with interest.
"Huh, Lullaby?" asked Gray in confusion.
The four Fairy Tail Wizards, as well as the two cats were all confused together.
But before the gray skinned Wizard could continue, a shadow came rushing to the tree the Wizards were tied to. Happy and Shiro quickly pushed Gray out of the way where the shadow was going. Like a hand reaching out for someone to grab and take away, the shadow took the Wizards as they screamed for mercy and part of the tree went along with into the earth. The four Wizards, Happy and Shiro, gasped seeing what they saw before their very eyes. It was like something out of a Movie Lacrima, nothing they've ever seen before in their years of magic.
"What was that?!" Lucy gasped looking around with Lisanna.
"I have no idea," Lisanna said in shock from her spot next to Lucy.
"Who's there?" Setsuko yelled out with Gray looking around too.
"I already can't sense them anymore. Whoever it is, they're fast" Gray added, not knowing an unknown Wizard was leaving the scene by jumping through the trees.
Everyone got back on their feet, still confused at what just happened. First they were attacked, then one of them muttered something, and now the Wizards they tied up were gone. This day just got stranger and stranger for Team Lisanna and Gray. If Erza coming back wasn't bad enough, they had another problem on their hands now.
"Damn it!" Lisanna said as she looked toward Lucy, then continued, "I don't know what's going on!"
Lisanna crossed her arms with a groan. How annoying could one day be?
"Lullaby?" Lucy repeated, placing her hand to her chin, before kneeling on the ground and grabbing Lisanna's hand, panting.
"Lucy, what's wrong, are you okay?" Lisanna asked as she knelt down, putting Lucy's arm around her shoulder while helping her up. Lucy was still panting. Perhaps she wasn't as recovered as she thought she was from her fight with Everlue.
"I'm sorry Lisanna, looks like I haven't recovered my strength fully after all from yesterday. Summoning that whip, combining with my normal whip, fighting that giant chicken and then using that attack to combine with the three of you wasn't helping me one bit." she said before almost dropping to her knees. Lisanna caught her before Lucy fell, taking her left hand and putting it more securely around her shoulder.
"We both need to get home quickly and get some rest." Lisanna said before she fell down to her knees, bringing Lucy with her.
Gray grabbed Lisanna's shoulder, while Setsuko grabbed Lucy's other shoulder, and swung it over as well, "Gray and I really need to get the two of you home so you can rest."
Happy landed on Gray's shoulder, while Shiro landed on Setsuko's shoulder, Gray then spoke up to everyone, "okay, first things first Setsuko, Happy, and Shiro, we get Lisanna and Lucy home, Happy you go with Lisanna and Lucy since you live with them now, while Setsuko, you and Shiro get to your home as well. We all best get home before Erza shows up."
"Right," Shiro and Setsuko chimed together followed by Happy chiming in as well, "Aye Sir."
With a mutual nod of agreement, Team Lisanna and Gray made their walk back to Magnolia, Gray and Setsuko carrying the tired Lisanna and Lucy on their shoulders. While the group of four Wizards and two cats made their way back to their hometown, many questions flashed through their heads: Who were those Wizards? What were they doing out in the forest? Who took them? What was Lullaby? No matter what, it felt like trouble would surely follow the group. Perhaps it was time to officially add Aspen to the team. The next mission just around the corner was going to be a bear for them. Lucy and Lisanna raised their heads up to look at the dusty road, Gray and Setsuko carrying the both of them. Happy on Gray's shoulder, Shiro on Setsuko's shoulder. Gray and Setsuko looked fatigued, but not nearly as much as Lisanna and Lucy did. Happy and Shiro didn't really look that fatigued at all because they were riding the shoulders of Gray and Setsuko respectively.
After dropping Lisanna, Lucy, and Happy off at their house; Gray, Setsuko, and Shiro returned to their own residences. Their faces deep in thought, what would Erza's return mean for Gray and the rest of the group? Will Gray join in on the next mission? Would Aspen join in the fun as well? Only time would tell.
In their home that they shared with Aspen, Lisanna, Happy, and Lucy were deep in thought. What were the thugs talking about?
Lullaby, what is it? Something is telling us that it's no song. Where will our next adventure lead? Little did either of us know that soon, we would officially get two, no three new members. What was this Lullaby those thugs were talking about?
Meanwhile, through the streets of Magnolia...
A Scarlet-Haired Armor-Clad Wizard was making her way through Magnolia carrying what looked like a giant horn. This giant horn was decorated with all kinds of streamers and ornaments draped all over it as if it was decorated to look pretty. Who is this mysterious Scarlet Haired Wizard?
To Be Continued…
So ends the Day Break Arc as Team Lisanna is officially established. Thanks for joining me for the Daybreak Arc, the next Arc is the Lullaby Arc where Team Lisanna, now with Aspen, takes on another mission. This next mission will shed some light on what exactly "Lullaby" is.
Next time - Starry Heavens: A Different Story - Episode 006: Enter: Erza Scarlet!