Chapter 34
I know these chapters are boring... .-." GOMENASAI MINNA!
I feel so bad for not having noticed this earlier... WE'RE ABOVE 500 REVIEWS AND 400 FOLLOWERS! You guys are absolutely, stunningly, amazingly AWESOME! I can't ever thank you enough for all of the things you have done! I apologize for any grammar errors that I have made! R&R!
Disclaimer: Slowpoke, oh dear Slowpoke, I pray that you will one day share Fairy Tail with me!
At the Field~
Lucy's P.O.V
I closed my eyes and sent myself to the realm of my mind, if you could call it that, and opened my eyes to the sight of the golden star and the silver Fairy Tail logo. I was momentarily shocked by how bright the silver logo had gotten. It had been a while since I was here last, so I hadn't seen the progress it had made. It was shining just as bright, maybe brighter, than the golden star when I first saw it so long ago. I had lost track of time completely, we were already at the end of summer again.
Lately, I had been practicing my Ngaro Toi (Secret Art) 'with' Fenix. I wasn't – always – as crazy as I was the first time, and honestly, Fenix asked if I he could help me and told me he could just dry himself with his unnatural body heat anyway. Don't ask me why he volunteered to continuously be hit by a tsunami, but that was up to him.
I had also been training doing combo's with two and more Gates opened. In combo, which meant one spell followed up with another rapidly afterwards, not Unison Raids, where you mixed two spells and made a stronger spell. That would come later, that's what the Spirit King told me. I wasn't training that on Fenix, though, that was just on simple logs instead.
Acnologia had also been training his Ngaro Toi, even if he already had hit Metallicana, the two of them kept training. Deep down, very, very deep down, I knew they were actually enjoying that training together. Sometimes they did anyway.
What I was doing here at the moment was that I was about to open the Gate of my latest Zodiac Spirit, Capricorn. He was surprisingly good at close combat, I'd found out once when he popped out during training with Metallicana and Loke. Granted, I didn't have as many memories and experiences with Capri as I had with many of my other Spirits, but the ones I did have were precious.
I stepped forward and through the golden star with a last glance at the silver fairy. After the usual blinding light, I was welcomes with the sight of the beautiful starry, night sky. Before long, the meteor bounced between certain stars and showed me the constellation of the goat.
As usual, the key landed in my hands comfortably warm. I stared at it for a second before I determinedly grabbed the key in one hand and held it out in the familiar stance. "Open Gate of the Goat!" As per usual, the memories, although few, flashed through my memories. The positive emotions I got from the memories were sent to my key and through it appeared a golden light. "Capricorn!" I yelled as I let the golden light widen and fill the whole room as it always had.
And so appeared my newest Zodiac friend. The goat bowed deeply as if he was a servant. It was a wonder his glasses didn't fall off. "Hello Lucy-sama. What do you acquire of me today?" He asked, never looking up even once.
I giggled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder, gently pushing him up. "I thought we went over this already, Capricorn. Forget all the formalities and just relax. Okay?" I asked him as he slowly straightened his back and looked at me through his glasses.
He nodded. "Alright, Lucy-sama, I will try to remember." He told me. A silence ruled between the two of us, before Capricorn spoke up. "Lucy-sama, I now possess the ability to use Celestial magic in its purest form and apply it when I fight." He told me.
I nodded with a smile. "That's wonderful!" I said happily. I tilted my head a little. "So how's everything in the Spirit World?" I asked him, genuinely interested.
He looked expressionlessly at me for a second, then pushed his glasses up unnecessarily. "It's become very rowdy with your two new Spirits, but overall, everything is fine." He told me. I sweat dropped. I was guessing Loke was having a hard time trying to deal with Fenix or being beaten up by Aelu-chi, after hunting her. I almost felt sorry for the Lion, but he didn't take first place. Poor Aelu-chi...
I nodded. "Yeah, I bet it's like that now." I agreed. With all those exaggerated personalities – and three perverts – what else could it be?
Capricorn bowed again, much to my displeasure. "I'll take my leave now, Lucy-sama." He said and disappeared in a golden light. Alright now there was only the Dragon keys left. I smiled and placed Capricorns' key next to the others I had already collected in my pouch.
At the Clearing~
Acnologia's P.O.V
I glared at the old man. Honestly, how long did he want us to be doing this? I was getting tired of continuously trying to spike his disgusting butt. I really hoped I would be discovering the next magic sometime soon, this was getting boring, not to sound bratty or anything. No wonder that was what the Iron Dragon preferred to call me...
The old man smirked. "Why're you looking at me with that ugly face? I'm helping you here! Gihi!" He laughed at me. We'd been practicing – or rather... I'd been practicing my Ngaro Toi (Secret Art) for what seemed like forever in our Dragon forms. Just so I got used to using it in both of my forms.
I sighed exasperatedly at him. "Yeah, sure you are. You're just enjoying showing off, you old man!" I half growled at him.
He nodded proudly. "Of course I am!" He told me, much to my irritation. "Why wouldn't I be? Besides, it's not necessary to do much before it impresses a brat like you." He laughed.
I growled at him. "Damn old man...!" I muttered in a low voice. I sighed and got ready to shoot another Ngaro Toi (Secret Art) at the old man, when I felt that my magic was getting a little low. I sighed again and began inhaling the closest thing I could get. I closed my eyes and slurped it all in like one long spaghetti. When I opened my eyes I saw Metallicana looking at me with a weird expression. "What?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "Oh it's nothing." He told me. "You just ate shadows is all." He added with a smirk and looked at me amusedly with those red eyes.
I widened my eyes. "What? Really?" I asked him doubtfully. Had I really done that? Wouldn't I know if I ate something I hadn't eaten before? Well, apparently not.
He nodded. "Yeah." He looked to the right, in the direction where my sweet angel was training. "It would seem my training with you is done." He told me. He looked back at me. "I'll get Skyadrum so you can get started." He spread his wings and smirked. "Meanwhile, try to see if you can summon your magic." He told me and flew away.
I just glared at him, but did as he told me anyway. I closed my eyes and found my way to the core of my magic-system, which was my heart. I could feel the energetic feeling of my Chaos magic, the heat of my Fire magic, the sturdiness of my Iron magic and then the last one. The new feeling of darkness emitted from it. It could only be my Shadow magic.
I got a hold of the dark magic and sent it to my hands, as I had done so many times before. I opened my eyes and saw my hand was engulfed in darkness, or in this case, shadows. I smiled. So I was ready for the next part of my training.
At the Field~
Lucy's P.O.V
I can't believe I had already come to this point already. I guess I had trained with my Water magic a lot lately and had gotten used to it, every move too, but I was already going to see my Dragon again? It was amazing.
I nodded at Amelane with a smile and closed my eyes, sending myself off to my mind for the second time that day. I opened my eyes again and stood facing the Celestial star and the Fairy Tail insignia. Once again, I found myself surprised by how bright the silver logo had gotten. I smiled and went over to it, hesitating for a moment before entering it and passing through to where my Dragon resided.
"Mini Lucy! Nice meeting you again~" My Dragon greeted me happily. I opened my eyes and looked at my silver scaled self. She was smiling widely at me, showing her fangs clearly.
I smiled at her. "Big Lucy! I've missed you!" I told her just as excited as she was. I was so overjoyed that I had a Dragon, who liked me as much as I liked her. She also usually helped me during training, giving me input whenever she saw her chance.
She nodded. "Yeah! Are you ready to unlock your full power?" She asked excitedly and jumped around like a hyperactive kid.
I laughed. "Yep! So what are we doing today?" I asked her, eager to get started, so I could continue my training and get stronger, so I could get back and show Fairy Tail I wasn't just a pushover! Even if I had to wait till they woke up anyway!
She giggled at me. "Today is a little different." She told me. I looked at her attentively, ready to get started. She looked a bit more serious as well. "This time, you will stand in the middle of the field-" She nodded towards the middle of the field. "Then, I will create creatures of water, and let them attack." She looked down at me as I looked mortified up at her. Didn't she say she wouldn't make me battle like Acnologia? Well what is this then?! "You just have to block or dodge their attacks. You have to block every single one, or we're starting over. You're going to be attacked 10 times, if you fail to either dodge or block one, you start over." She told me and then smiled. "I'm sure you can do it!" She reassured me.
I nodded slowly. "Okay..." I muttered and looked up at her again. "But that's not where I start, is it? Don't I need to summon my Water magic first?" I asked her. I did that the other times, so today I would have to do it too, right?
And right as I was, she nodded with an apologetic smile. "Yeah! I almost forgot..." She spaced out for a second. "It will be hard if your Water magic isn't available in the next task!" She laughed a little.
I nodded slowly. The next thing seemed like it would be difficult, according to Big Lucy. I shrugged it off and closed my eyes, trying to find the Water magic in me. It didn't take long before I could feel the faint rippling feeling of my Water magic in me and I immediately began pulling at it.
I drew it out to my hand and lifted it in a bubble above my hand. Surprisingly, it wasn't as hard as I had expected it to. Maybe it was because of all the training with the heavy Ice magic. I looked up at the Dragon again, having finished the first part of training. "So should I just go to the middle of the field now?" I asked, getting a little nervous that I wouldn't be able to do it.
The Dragon nodded with an eager smile. "Ae (Yes), please do!" She said happily.
I nodded and went to the middle of the field. This would probably be hard, one of the things I hadn't practiced so much was dodging and blocking... I wondered if I would be able to do this. Káo (No) I would do this! I could do this! I wouldn't tolerate failure. No matter how many times they knock me down, I would stand tall and try again. For sure! I looked at my Dragon determinedly. "Show me what you got." I told her with a very out of character smirk.
The Dragon smiled at me. "Okay, get ready.. Here they come!" She said and just as she finished, 10 Water figures appeared around me and formed a circle. Every second of them was a Dragon. I looked around at the different magical Water creatures, trying to find out who would be the first to attack.
At the very edge of my vision, I saw one of the human-like figures lift its hands and pointing them at me. A torrent of water shot out of his hands and it rapidly closed in on me. I spun around and swiped my hand up. From the ground rose a Water-shield, looking a little like a wave, which blocked the attack and then disappeared.
Before I got the chance to get ready, one of the Dragons on the opposite side shot a jet of Water at me as well. I just barely dodged, bowing my back in an unnatural way and basically standing on my toes. Literally. I felt the rush when the Water passed by.
Then... I felt my whole right side getting completely soaked as I was hit by a torrent of Water magic. I gasped when I felt how cold the water was, it felt more like they had hit me with ice than with water. When it finally stopped, I was dripping cold drops of water. I turned my head and looked at the man, who had his arms stretched out. He slowly lowered his hand as if he was a machine.
My Dragon giggled. "Well, Mini Lucy, you're going to have to do better than that." She told me. I knew that now. I didn't think they would come so quickly after each other. I looked at the Dragon, catching her eye, and nodded, ready for another round. My Dragon smiled. "Oh, also. They will come at a random sequence, so you have to be on guard!" She quickly added.
I moaned internally. Great, of course it would be like this. I sighed and crouched a little in my knees, just like Metallicana and Loke had told me to do countless times, and stayed on my toes, keeping a watchful eye on my opponents.
Somehow, my intuition told me to turn around, so I did. And there I spotted one of the Dragons shooting a beam of water my way. I quickly swiped my hand down. Thin layer of blue, wavy magic appeared and stopped the torrent of water easily, even though it was so thin and seemed to be fragile.
At the edge of my peripheral, I saw one of the Water men raise his hands and let a jet of Water materialize from his hands and it flew towards me. I turned around to face it, but decided against blocking it and dodged instead, simply by turning my side to him and taking a step back. The Water flew right by me and the wind it pulled along made my hair whip up and flail around in the air momentarily.
Right in front of me, a Dragon got ready to send a beam of Water my way. I stared at it, until the water appeared and I let it crash with a beam of Water from myself. They collided and made Water spout all over the area, like rain, and soaked the part of me which wasn't already soaked. The cold water fell down on me rather calmly and the coldness cleared my mind and calmed me down.
I saw one of the men at my right began raising his hands and let Water burst out of his hands and flew at me. I quickly bent down and let it pass over me, swishing my hair furiously once again as it flew by.
I understood now... One Dragon, then a man, then a Dragon, a man, a Dragon and it continued like that. There was a pattern to it.
I looked around at the Dragons, turning around slowly to get those which were behind me as well. Time seemed to have gone into slow motion, where I was the only one who was not slowed down. One Dragon pulled its head back slowly and opened its mouth just as slowly. Water magic charged up in its mouth and formed a ball, which then flew out and hovered momentarily in the air in front of it, just to shoot out towards me at a generous pace.
I raised an eyebrow. This was too easy... Why was it slowed down like this? I paid it no more attention and gave the dodging my undivided attention instead.
I raised a shield of Water again to counter the swirl of Water magic. The shield was clear and transparent, like a window, and when the Water hit it, it looked like what I would imagine a geyser looked like, seen from above. Not Gray's kind of Geyser, the ordinary hot-water one. I have no idea whatsoever how it managed to be so steady.
Coincidentally, the man right next to the Dragon began slowly charging up its own ball of Water magic. This one was different from the others, though. It wasn't a beam like the others; it looked more like a big canon-ball. Its speed was also considerably higher than that of the beams. Now it was actually some kind of challenge to defend myself.
I wanted to try something else this time, I was sure I could do it. It always looked so cool whenever you saw someone else do it. I coated the back of my hand with a thin, thin layer of the same steady Water magic, which reflected my surroundings like a mirror, although with a faint blue hue.
As the ball of Water magic closed in, I got ready, and as soon as it was in my range, I lashed out with my hand and hit the Water ball with the back of my hand. The ball flew off in a different direction entirely and narrowly missed one of the Water creations surrounding me.
I spun around as I felt a tiny flicker in the magic surrounding us. I looked up at a man, which had already charged up a ball of magic between his hands and was just about to shoot it. I didn't have time to make up a magical barrier or anything magical at all, I could only dodge it this time.
So that was what I did. I swung my body to the right and let the ball of water fly past me. I didn't have time to think about the fact that the Water ball only narrowly missed my face, because the Dragon at my right also already had its ball charged up.
I had summoned some of my Water magic as I dodged, knowing I would probably need it. I made a motion as if I pushed something and a wave in human-size appeared and crawled slowly towards the incoming ball and swallowed it, stopping its movement completely.
There was only two more left, a man and a Dragon. I could do this for sure! I turned to the last Water man, readying myself to block this one, as I could charge magic up for the last Dragon.
The man had already fired the ball. I widened my eyes when I turned just to almost get my face splattered in Water and quickly proceeded to bend so much back that I almost lay down on the ground. I never knew I was so flexible, but desperate circumstances called for desperate measures, I guess.
I bounced up again, like a rubber band. Hopefully more elegant than that, but still. The last one! I only needed to block the last one, then I would have unlocked the full extent of my Water magic.
I looked at the last Dragon, as it charged up, ready to use my own magic to counter. I let the water magic pour out of my skin and it crawled around my arm like a snake, ready to be used. It was most for show, I could probably not use it, because there weren't enough to stop the ball that Dragon was charging up.
Time began slowly going at its original pace and I knew, I would have to be on guard, because now I couldn't rely on the slowed down time. I narrowed my eyes and glared at the faceless Dragon. I wouldn't let it get me, I had already come so far, I wouldn't let it beat me, not now.
That was when it had charged up fully and sent the ball at me at lightning-speed. I didn't have time to widen my eyes, I thrust my arm forward and a big torrent of Water magic, bigger than that of the Water creatures earlier, emerged and shot directly at the ball, stopping its course, overwhelming it and at last hitting the Dragon right back. It only grew in size, though.
I had put a little much magic in that last one, but it didn't matter, I had done it!
I turned and smiled at my Dragon as the Water creatures disappeared in the air. She was smiling widely with fangs showing and all. "Mini Lucy! You did it! It was amazing!" She praised me cheerfully.
I smiled and nodded. "It was pretty fun! Can we do this another time, Big Lucy?" I asked her.
Her smile faltered for a second, but it was well covered up and she nodded eagerly. "Ae (Yes) let's do that!" She smiled. I wondered what had made her smile falter for that second, but when she waved goodbye and made the portal appear, which would send me 'home' again, I couldn't ask after all. I would probably find out at some point.
Here we go~! I have nothing at all to write here~ Like... Nothing at all ._."
~Line464d