*bouncing up and down in excitement while grinning like an absolute idiot* COBRA IS HERE!
I got hit with inspiration towards the end, let me know if it was a good spurt or a bad spurt of creative juices. You can thank Cobra/Erik for the little preview of what is going on in Dealana's head. Enjoy! :)
The Allied Forces, minus Jura and Ichiya who were behind them at the manor, chased after a runaway Salamander. Dealana had summoned a cloud large enough for herself, Wendy and the cats. They were still behind Natsu, Erza and the others, but they were slightly ahead of Lucy and the creeps. Ahead, she could hear the commotion.
"Wait up, numbskull!" Gray shouted at Natsu.
"Yeah, in your dreams!" Natsu shot back.
"That's an order. You can't rush into this one alone!" Erza told him.
"What's the matter? Are you afraid that I'll actually show you up this time?" Natsu taunted.
Erza was shocked, "Say what?" she exclaimed. Then, using her signature glare she yelled at him, "Stop moving your feet right now!"
Natsu stopped moving his feet, as ordered and panicking while doing so, but not in time to prevent himself from running over the edge of the cliff. Dealana wasn't sure whether to be nervous or amused as he descended rapidly toward the forest below screaming and waving his arms as if to try and fly.
Gray peered over the edge, shielding the sun with his hand. "Well, he stopped moving his feet." No one could deny that much.
"If he's not dead, I'll kill him," Erza declared with her arms crossed. Lyon and Sherry joined them and took a peak over the edge where Natsu had fallen from.
"I see he hasn't changed at all," Sherry observed.
"To think," Lyon began, "I once crossed fists with that fool. It's kind of embarrassing now."
"It's another form...of love!" Sherry declared. Dealana scrunched her nose up at her words as she Wendy and the cats all arrived. Sherry and her love for, well, love confused Dealana.
It seemed Gray was on the same page as he spoke up, "Yeah, not quite."
"We going down there?" Dealana asked as she peered over the edge, not looking at Erza. The redhead nodded. Dealana held her hands out in front of her and a magic seal flashed momentarily before the cloud they had arrived on moved to float in front of them. Dealana muttered a few words under her breath and it expanded large enough to fit everyone.
Letting her hands drop to her sides, Dealana opened her eyes and leapt onto the cloud. She turned back to the others with a small smirk. "Alright, hop on!"
Having been on her clouds before, Gray, Happy and Erza didn't think twice. Wendy and Carla had just been on a cloud ride and also didn't think too much about it. Lyon and Sherry however, were a bit hesitant. "It doesn't bite and the only one in the group who would already fell off the cliff," Dealana told them. While Lyon and Sherry got on the cloud, Dealana formed another one for when Lucy and the Trimens arrived at the cliff, hopefully Lucy would understand, with a missing Salamander and a flammable forest, they had to be quick.
"This is weird," Sherry commented as they descended. The pink-haired woman wasn't uncomfortable, the cloud was actually quite soft. She just wasn't expecting for this to be Dealana's magic. When she heard the name Tempest floating around the mage community, she envisioned large storms with harsh winds and lightning, not fluffy white clouds. Then again, she hadn't seen all of what Dealana could do, which made her nervous.
"Dealana's clouds are rather useful in times like these," Erza replied.
"They're so soft!" Wendy remarked with a content smile as she looked at the forest below coming into view.
"Magic like mine is flexible, I can bend and shape storms to my whim," Dealana said, "But that doesn't mean I can't feel how heavy you all are on one big cloud." At Erza's warning look she sighed, "Alright, alright shutting up now."
Shortly after the Dealana Cloud Express reached its destination, they current group continued rushing after Natsu into the forest. Dealana scrunched her nose up at the smell. It was dark and made her feel rather gloomy.
"Something's not right here," Erza voiced Dealana's thoughts.
"No kidding, "Gray agreed, "It's like the deeper we go into it, the spookier it gets."
"Keep your guard up, understand?" Lyon warned.
The group reached another open rocky area where Natsu's scarf waved about in the wind ahead of them. Seeing the Fire Dragon Slayer, they pushed themselves to go a bit faster.
"You finally caught up!" Natsu remarked.
"You're one sturdy freak, you know that?" Gray told him. The loud sound of an engine was heard above them and Dealana noticed the shadow looming overhead. Glancing up, her dual colored eyes widened in awe. The Magic Bomber: Christina was incredible in person rather than what the rumors described. Perhaps Blue Pegasus wasn't all that bad. At least, not their bomber ship.
Natsu stopped to look up at the Christina, but Gray ended up running smack into him causing them both to fall to the ground. Instantly, they were back up and butting heads.
"So, we're pulling cheap shots now, are we!?" Natsu shouted at him.
"If I wanted a piece of you, I'd take you head on!" Gray retorted. Erza pushed through their skull blockade shouting, "Focus!" Immediately, their gazes landed on the Bomber Ship.
"Lyon?" Sherry questioned, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her.
"I see it." he assured the pink-haired woman.
"Horses can fly too?" Happy questioned.
"Please refrain from opening your mouth again." Carla snipped not taking her eyes of the ship in the sky.
"Alright, let's split up and start searching for their temporary base," Erza declared. Natsu's reaction was immediate, "I wanna fly the bomber thing!"
"Not happening!" Gray and Dealana shut him down without missing a beat.
BOOM!
Smoke erupted from the side of the Christina before a few more explosions sounded from the Bomber Ship. As soon as it appeared, the Blue Pegasus' pride and joy went down with a trail of dark smoke. Everyone was shocked as they watched it crash into the ground below eliciting a much larger explosion that shook the second cliff of the day that the Allied Forces were standing on.
"This doesn't bode well," Lyon remarked as the sounds of destruction faded. Dealana had made sure that Wendy, Happy and Carla were behind her. Just then, Dealana caught a whiff of something in the air that wasn't perfume or smoke. Carla and Happy watched as Dealana tensed.
"Stay close, they're here." she told them, her voice much colder than it had been before.
"Everyone stay frosty!" Gray shouted to the group. Dealana glanced around, surveying their surroundings until they landed on a large boulder behind them.
"Carla, get Wendy behind that rock. If she uses support magic, she'll need a vantage point to use it without worrying about the Oración Seis getting to her." she told the cat, who quickly complied. The embers danced in the smoke as it cleared, revealing the enemy. The Oración Seis stepped forward. Dealana couldn't deny how on point the dramatics were.
Brain was the first to speak. "Lowly maggots, swarming together." Dealana fought the urge to roll her eyes. The Allied Forces were at a severe disadvantage. Jura and Ichiya had yet to catch up, and there was a good chance they split off as a pair to search for the base already. They also no longer had the help of the Bomber Ship. And as if things weren't bad enough for the light guilds, the only things they knew about the enemy were what they looked like, their names, and maybe maybe what one of their magics were.
"I'm afraid short stuff isn't going to make it to the party." Angel smirked. Dealana took note of the two blue creatures dancing in the air next to her as they spoke up.
"And neither is that big bald wizard saint," The first one said, "We took 'em down!"
"They're defeated?" Lyon gasped in disbelief.
"Impossible," Hibiki breathed.
Dealana could only think one thing, 'Shit.'
Despite this, she held strong and studied the enemy in front of them, searching anything that might give away anything to help formulate a strategy now that their original plan flew out the window like Natsu fell off the cliff. It didn't help however, as the one named Cobra smirked even more than he already was.
"There's terror in their voices," he stated. "I can hear it." Dealana quirked an eyebrow slightly, wondering what he meant by that.
"The quicker we wrap this up, the better," Racer said, "I'll run you over so fast it'll make your head spin."
"Money determines strength in this world. Oh yeah!" Hoteye declared loudly. "If you save a penny today, it'll become a fortune in the future. Furthermore––"
"Enough with the preaching, Hoteye." Cobra and Racer cut the blocky man off. Dealana tilted her head, so far she'd learned nothing too useful. Racer's threat would scare her as no one spun heads more than Natsu's stupidity at times. Cobra and Racer cutting off Hoteye, while amusing, did nothing but prove the group before them had some feelings left in them.
"I have to admit, I didn't expect you to show yourselves," Erza told them, her face unwavering from her stern gaze. A short bit of silence filled the air as the wind blew a few leaves past them before Natsu cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
"Ready?" he asked Gray.
The ice-mage smirked, "You bet."
"Want an invitation?" Cobra taunted, seeming to know something the others didn't.
"You being here is enough for us!" Natsu and Gray exclaimed in unison. They rushed forward eager to attack the enemy.
"Take them." Brain ordered. Hearing this, Dealana clenched her fists tighter. As much as she would love to be up there with Natsu and Gray, she needed to remain collected. Rushing in would do her no good in a fight like this one. If they wanted to stand a chance, Dealana thought they should retreat and make a new plan. For now, she would settle for looking for weaknesses and protecting Wendy.
"Yes, sir." Racer replied before disappearing in a flash. Dealana could see flickers of him here and there, darting around to flaunt his apparent speed magic. At least they had that much right. He wound up behind Natsu and Gray, knocking them to the ground with a single kick.
"Natsu! Gray!" the two Lucy's shouted in concern. Dealana froze. Two Lucys? Knowing one Lucy was enough, did they really need two? Sniffing the air, Dealana found a small difference in one of them, but she didn't know Lucy's normal scent like Natsu probably would. It reminded her of something and it was on the tip of her tongue, but Dealana didn't have to wait long before one Lucy attack the other using her whip with no hesitation.
"Guess that says who's who," Dealana mumbled.
"Why am I whipping myself!? What's going on?" Fairy Tail's Lucy questioned.
"Sherry!" Lyon called as they moved in. She nodded moving alongside him, "Right!"
"I see you~! Oh yeah!" Hoteye said. Dealana watched as his eyes glowed before the ground beneath Lyon and Sherry turned to putty. The remaining delegates of Lamia Scale sunk in the ground as Hoteye taunted them, "Forget love! All you need is money!"
The puttified ground moved around and turning Lyon and Sherry upside down and surrounding them on all sides. It was the Trimen's turn as they charged forward, each one determined to take on Angel. They didn't get close to the woman as Racer used his speed to knock each one of them down through powerful kicks.
"If you're slow, you'll be eatin' my dust," Racer told the collapsed three mages. Dealana moved forward, an icy mist emitting from her blizzard-engulfed fists. She moved swiftly to where Lyon and Sherry were partially submerged in the soft earth.
"Storm Dragon Fury Claw!" Dealana delivered a solid blow and almost smirked as the earth began to freeze over, once more solidifying in ice. Meanwhile, Erza had launched herself in the air.
"Requip!" A familiar yellow light surrounded her body as Cobra smirked.
"That's impressive," he told her as she had requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor.
"Dance, my swords!" she commanded before her many blades shot towards Cobra and his scaly companion. Dealana inhaled sharply when she noticed Cobra had managed to dodge each of her swords with ease, as if he knew where Erza had been aiming. It seemed Erza was in equal shock as she said, "No...he dodged them all! Can he read my attacks?"
"Storm Dragon Blizzard Talon!" Dealana's leg was surrounded by even more ice storm as she kicked the frozen earth that encased Lyon and Sherry. It shattered into small shards, ultimately freeing the two Lamia Scale mages.
"Ice?" she heard Lyon question. Meanwhile, Racer appeared in the air behind Erza. The requip mage had only seconds to raise her sword and block his leg from hitting her. While Natsu shouted at the sleeping Oración Seis member, a brief yellow glow enveloped Erza again.
"Requip! Flight Armor!" Erza's new attire consisted of very few armored parts and had a cheetah print and the redhead now wielded a pair of short swords with elaborate hand-guards. She swiped and slashed at Racer, who dodged each strike.
"Now that's more like it!" Racer remarked, "Yeah, I like fast women."
Cobra smirked, "It's no use," he told her, "I can hear your next move, Titania!"
That's when it began to click in Dealana's head. The way he said he "heard" the fear in their voices. The way he dodged Erza's swords with ease. Cobra's abilities not only lied with his snake companion, but also with somehow hearing their thoughts or reading their minds.
Cobra landed a sharp kick into Erza's stomach, his purple serpent still remaining around him. "You might as well give up now!" Erza landed on the ground in a crouch as Racer flickered to appear next to Cobra.
"You look confused. Having trouble figuring it out? One of you has." he smirked. "I told you, I hear everything." Racer then disappeared and reappeared in a flash behind Natsu who had attempted to attack Midnight.
"Careful," Racer said before kicking Natsu in the the stomach and following it up with a punch to the scarf-wearer's jaw. "If you wake him up, it's gonna be your nightmare!" Racer was everywhere around Natsu hitting him with blow after blow, kick after kick until the pyro hit the ground.
Dealana moved to help Lyon and Sherry before peering over her shoulder to see Wendy still behind the boulder. She was completely freaked out, but she was safe for now, as were Carla and Happy.
"Ice-Make Eagle!"
"Marionette Attack: Mud Doll!"
Hoteye only raised two fingers, in a loud voice saying, "Money will triumph over all! Oh yeah!" A large mound of softened earth rose up and completely engulfed Lyon and Sherry's attacks as Dealana conjured a cloud to sweep the two out of the oncoming earth, but it wasn't enough. The Storm Dragon Slayer's eyes widened at the oncoming earth before jumping onto the cloud and manipulating it to float higher as she rode it like a skateboard.
"Damn it..." she cursed landing back on the ground, her cloud shifting in shape behind her, waiting for her to choose its final form. Erza continued to try and slash Cobra with her short sword but each attack was evaded no matter how desperate she became.
"I see, so this is the famed Erza Scarlet," Brain said to himself as he watched the redhead. After he spoke, Cobra caught the hilt of one of her swords with his palm and used his other arm to block her second sword, using his forearm against the hand-guard.
"I can hear it all, you know? It's like a symphony. Your mind muscles contracting, every breath that you take in, and all your thoughts." he told her with a smirk before suddenly jumping back in surprise. Dealana knew that look, it was the look people got when something unexpected happened. It didn't seem like Cobra thought that would happen to him. "What the...? You were there?"
Erza believed she had a chance to strike and lunged forward only to be hit by one of Hoteye's earth attacks. "I saw that! Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed, still clutching what Dealana could only guess was a bible. Racer sped in front of her and pushed Erza further into the air with a kick as he called to his guild mate.
"Cobra! Pick up the pace, will ya?"
Cobra grimaced before extending his hand, "Cubellios!" Dealana watched as the large purple snake moved forward. Either Cubellios was a command or it was the name of the maroon-haired man's familiar. The snake sunk its fangs into Erza's arm, eliciting a scream of pain from the woman. The sound was heart-wrenching and Dealana grew more and more angry at the members of Oración Seis. Erza dropped her swords and they clattered to the stone before her own body hit with a thud. "You may be fast, but that won't save you from Cubellios' posion. Enjoy writhing in agony until death claims you." he told her, wearing a crazed smirk.
At this point in time, Dealana hadn't been paying full attention and was hit in the gut by Racer, who appeared on her right in an instant. The sky-blunette went flying before her wrist flicked outward and she rebounded off her cloud. She stood in a defensive position, ice-storms at the ready surrounding her fists in front of the Oración Seis.
Cobra smirked at the young girl before him, as did the rest of the Oración Seis. The rest of the Allied Forces, aside from Wendy and the cats, were down, leaving only a twelve-year-old girl with two different colored eyes to face them.
Racer flickered before her, determined to kick at her again, but the young girl managed to block his leg with her forearm. Without too much thought she allowed the blizzard to spread and engulf Racer's leg. He used his speed to disappear in a flicker, but it wasn't as fast as previous times. The ice had temporarily frozen his leg.
"Gah! What the...?" he questioned as Dealana morphed her cloud to form a ring around her. Her heart was beating fast. She had no plan and it was all improvising, and as much as it pained her to admit it, she couldn't win. Facing them alone was the very thing Jura told them not to do. Truly, she didn't see any other choice but to do what she could. If she was to go down, there was no way she would do so without earning her place in Hell.
She was an interesting character no doubt, her thoughts proved that to Cobra. He could hear her nervousness. She knew that he knew that she had no plan of attack or even really defense aside from winging it. But she held strong, determined to do whatever it took if it meant protecting her friends. Though he found it strange that her thoughts almost came and went at different moments, they changed or became almost cloudy and he couldn't read her for maybe a split second. Judging from her magic, he supposed her to be some sort of ice mage, but based of flashes of memories, she was far from just an ice mage. She had the power of storms at her fingertips, itching to be released, and Cobra could hear it all.
The sound of wind howling as the noise seemed to swirl around her thoughts. Lightning crackled in her veins followed by booming thunder of her heartbeat. The harsh pattering of rain and hail came with every step she took and the distant quaking deep down in her bones like the earth waiting for the right moment for fiery volcanic anger to erupt and destroy everything around her. There was only one word to describe the young, determined girl before them.
"Tempest," Brain spoke the name as he easily identified her notable features. Hair the color of sky, eyes that were two different colors, a pretty violet and the other being a deep blue. A long, thin scar ran across her nose and half across her cheeks on either side. She was part of the key to unlocking Nirvana, or at least, one of the options, her being here was convenient.
Dealana didn't like the way any of their members were staring at her, aside from Midnight who was still asleep. Her jaw was clenched as she held out her arm to the ring of cloud around her, sending a burst of pure ice-storm into it. Racer became impatient and rushed forward only to find himself blocked by the sudden harsh, freezing winds that picked up around the girl. The clouds that she conjured transitioned from fluffy white to an angry grey with chunks of hail and frost dancing about, ready to be unleashed.
However, her cloud ring covered her from around and above, not below. Hoteye's hand shot forward and the ground beneath Dealana softened. Sensing this, she jumped in the air at the perfect moment to be unprotected by her blizzard shield and hit in the gut yet again by Racer. She went flying back only for Racer to already be there waiting to deliver another kick, to her back this time.
Dealana landed with a grunt on the ground, her head feeling the sharp pain of the rocks before they almost immediately softened underneath her and pulled her half way under, with the addition of her hands. It left her with no way to use her magic. Vulnerable and at their mercy. She knew it. They definitely knew it. They relished in the sight before them, all the ones meant to oppose them crushed by their power. Dealana only wished she knew what to do at this point.
"Dealana..." Erza managed to say. Dealana glanced over at the poisoned woman with an apologetic and guilty look, having been unable to do much.
"How pathetic," Brain said looking at the defeated Allied Forces. "Prepare for oblivion's embrace." he extended his arm that held the weird feather-skull staff and a dark purple magic seal appeared. Green magic began to swirl around in a hypnotic spiral, darker green wisps of magic emerged from the earth around each of the Allied Forces aside from Dealana, which she found odd.
Brain held his staff in the air and the wind picked up around him, his white hair and clothes fluttering slightly as he began to finish the spell. Dealana tried to move but was restrained. Her heterochromatic eyes then noticed that the earth shifted to move her slightly away from the others. That could only mean they wanted her to suffer more, they wanted her for something else, or a mix of the two.
"Dark Rondo!" Brain was about to finish the spell before he spotted the very thing Dealana had done her best not to think about during the whole ordeal. Brain had spotted Wendy. His spell faded as he looked surprised to see the dark-bluenette quivering behind the boulder.
"What's the matter, Brain?" Racer questioned their leader.
"Are you going to cast that thing or what?" Cobra asked, silently noting the sky was fading from blue to grey.
Dealana began to thrash in the soft, binding earth, the sense of needing to protect Wendy began to overpower her rational thoughts. The same feeling of electricity sparking through her body that she didn't notice when she and Wendy held contact coursing with more energy than before. It only got worse when Brain spoke.
"Wendy..."
➵
Author's Note | I was worried that the second half of the episode this chapter was written from was going to be short compared to the previous one. This was longer at almost 4000 words. I think I might be going slightly insane.
I'd really love and appreciate feedback on what you think of the chapters. It helps me to craft and shape my story into something that I enjoy writing and y'al enjoy reading. It also lets me know what I can improve on. Theories? Comments? Questions? Don't be silent, I'm serious about hearing what y'al think! :)
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