Monster

Lucy and Juvia stood ready against the golden scaled saurian that stood before them. Neither one of them were sure what to do.

"Where's Erza?!" Lucy demanded.

"Why would I answer you?" Kel'ra asked, folding his arms behind his back, "I owe you nothing."

"Surely you know what Stark is going to do to her!" Lucy said.

"I do," Kel'ra answer calmly, "What of it?" Lucy clenched her fists, as she glared at the saurian.

"Glaring at me is not going to make me suddenly decide to work with you," Kel'ra said.

"You're not lashing your tongue," Juvia suddenly said. Lucy looked at her in surprise.

"How is that relevant?" she demanded.

"Whenever we were being challenged by a saurian, they would lash their tongues at is as a threat," Juvia explained, "But he is not lashing his tongue at all."

"Those who lash their tongues are those who do not have the fangs behind the tongue," Kel'ra answered.

"You saurians have the weirdest customs," Lucy said, rubbing her forehead.

"Says a female of the race that likes to play in the snow," Kel'ra countered. That was when Juvia decided to end the talking.

"Water Nebula!" she said. A massive torrent of water shot forward, towards Kel'ra who held his ground, as the water bore down on him, and hid him from view.

"Did you get him?" Lucy asked. To answer, Juvia cast the water aside, but Kel'ra was nowhere to be found.

"Where did…." Lucy was suddenly kicked away from behind. When she looked up, she saw Kel'ra standing there.

"Watch your blindspot," he said calmly.

"Water Lash!" Juvia said, as a whip of water came down towards him, only for the saurian to seem to vanish into thin air. A glob of slime then suddenly shot out of the same thin air, and hit Juvia in the face. Its viscosity seemed to prevent it from just phasing through her. As Juvia struggled to get the slime off her face, she was vulnerable as Kel'ra re-materialized and kicked in the stomach.

"He's got some kind of invisibility magic!" Lucy said.

"Sure, if that's you wish to believe," Kel'ra responded, "I guess you can call it magic."

"Open, Gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!" Lucy declared.

"MOOOO!" Taurus bellowed as he emerged from the Celestial Spirit World, "Any enemy of Ms. Lucy is my enemy! And I defeat all my enemies!"

"A giant bull threatening me?" Kel'ra said, "I thought my time in Lord Stark's service would mean I would see everything. I guess this proves that." With a savage "moo", Taurus brought his axe down on Kel'ra, who easily evaded it, and seemed to vanish again. He then reappeared over Taurus, slamming his elbow onto the bull's head, sending Taurus sprawling to the ground.

"Taurus!" Lucy cried.

"Trying to fight me with brute force is like trying to fight a flood by throwing water at it," Kel'ra said, standing on top of the fallen spirit, "If this is how you plan on defeating me, then you're far more idiotic then I first assumed. And my initial assumption were rather high." He then waved his hand dismissively.

"Now send you beast away," he said, "I'd rather do battle with something that can think beyond its axe."

"No one hurts my spirits!" Lucy said, pulling her whip out, and lashing it at Kel'ra, only for him to easily catch it.

"I'd kill you, but Lord Stark generally raises the one's we kill, and it would be a disservice to add you to his forces," Kel'ra said, as he yanked the whip from her hands, and tossed it aside. Lucy remembered how Stark had managed to seemingly resurrect the dead.

"What is that magic that Stark uses?" Lucy asked, "How can he bring the dead back to life?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you," Kel'ra answered, "Of course the key aspect is that I don't know how he does that. His magic is bizarre, one that not even I have ever heard of."

"Why would you serve such a monster?" Lucy demanded.

"Because I have no reason to tell you," Kel'ra answered, "This talk is becoming pointless. Let's continue." His tongue then shot out, and lashed around Lucy's neck. And with a jerk, he yanked her away, sending her flying away. With a cry, she crashed into the fountain that had the strange liquid going through it.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. I won't insult Stark by sending him two weak girls to add to his army. I'm just going to hurt you. Really, really bad."

(in the bottom of Tower)

Wendy rather quickly decided she didn't like flying on skeeters. They were fast, rampant, and always made sudden turns. Wendy was suddenly starting to have more sympathy for Natsu whenever he went on any kind of transportation. Z'tar didn't seem to have any problem though.

At the moment, they were trying to make their way back towards where most of the people were. Eventually, they came into the major chamber, they saw the original group still doing battle with Stark's zombies.

Carla, who had regained consciousness, picked Wendy up, and descended down. The moment Wendy's feet touched the ground, one of the soldiers launched itself at the girl, only to get blown away by dragon wind.

"Wendy!" Jellal said, as he noticed, and flashed over to her, "Why are you here?"

"I found out what Stark's plan is!" Wendy said.

"What?" Jellal said, "How do you…"

"We find out by beating Shon'rin up," Z'tar said, as his skeeter landed. That earned the notice of Kagura.

"What is it doing here?" she demanded, as she jumped at Z'tar, her sword at the ready.

"He's not an 'it'!" Wendy declared jumping in front of the saurian, "His name's Z'tar!"

"We don't have time for this," Z'tar said, "The girl and I managed to yank the information out of Shon'rin."

"Yes!" Wendy piped up, "His plan's too."

"Alright then! Let's hear it!" Kagura said. Wendy then opened her mouth to explain, but then all of a sudden, a tongue lashed out, and snagged her up.

"Wendy!" Carla, Jellal, and even Z'tar all cried out. With a cry, Wendy was lifted up to a skeeter with black markings on its wings. On its back was a saurian with black scales, who grabbed her, and chopped her on the neck, knocking her out.

"Nok'vor!" Z'tar said.

"As a saurian who remains loyal to Lord Stark, I can't allow the plan to be jeopardized," Nok'vor said. He then suddenly tossed several thin needles at Z'tar, which struck him the throat, causing him to keel over unconscious.

"If you want this girl, come to Lord Stark's lair!" Nok'vor said. The skeeter than ascended into the tower, before vanishing into a tunnel.

"Wendy!" Carla cried, as she sprouted wings, and tried to go after her partner, only for Jellal to catch her.

"You can't go charging into this tower blindly," Jellal said, "We need a plan." He then looked at the zombies, who were once again starting to rise.

"And for now, our plan needs to be taking this monsters down for good."

(with Lucy and Juvia)

Things were going progressively worse for Lucy and Juvia against Kel'ra. The gold saurian very quickly took notice to how Juvia's water body was rendered useless against the slime he spat. As a result, the rain woman was sterling to get all the slime off her. Meanwhile, Lucy was being held up by the neck by the reptilian.

"That's it?" Kel'ra asked, "I thought at least it would take slightly longer." Lucy tried to kick at him, only for him to catch her leg, and toss her away.

"So its true," Kel'ra asked, spinning Lucy's key ring on his finger, "Celestial Spirit mages are completely useless without their keys. As if mammals aren't inefficient enough already." Juvia finally pulled the last of the slime off her.

"Water Slicer!" she said, letting out her blades of water. The saurian warrior leapt out of the way. As he did, he vanished again. Lucy looked up as Juvia was ambushed, and struck in the side. Come on, think! she thought This guy's gotta have a weakness! Maybe someone with more physical capability like Natsu could take on this lizard, but Lucy wasn't a physical person, and for that matter, neither was Juvia. Both of them utilized long range magic that kept the enemy away from themselves. But Kel'ra obviously wasn't obliging.

"Give me back my keys!" Lucy yelled, as she grabbed her whip off the ground from where Kel'ra tossed it, and lashed it him again. Kel'ra's tongue lashed out, and intertwined with the whip. He tried to yank it out of her hands again, but Lucy held onto it, grinding her heels into the ground.

"I won't let you win!" she said, "Now Juvia!"

"Water Sniper!" A blast of sharp water shot at Kel'ra, who instinctively let go, and vanished again. But Lucy then finally saw something. It was a tongue retracting into an open mouth. Lucy then come to a realization.

"Hey! You overgrown gecko!" she yelled, "I just found out your weakness!" That wasn't really a bluff, but it wasn't so much a weakness as it was an observation. Kel'ra reappeared, folding his arms.

"Pray tell," he said.

"You're not turning invisible! You're just camouflaging!" Lucy said, pointing. Kel'ra looked at Lucy, his eyes turning to slits.

"So you finally figured it out," he said, "I should commend you. Most people just keep thinking its magic, but its actually a natural ability all saurians possess."

"I should've known," Lucy said, "I always heard that saurians couldn't actually use magic."

"And I'm perfectly content without it," Kel'ra said, "Magic merely gives some people unfair advantages over others. Those who can't use magic m just prove themselves by their own abilities. Not by some supernatural source that only some people can use."

"And yet you become a lackey to a mage!" Lucy snapped, "What do you have to gain from working for such a monster?" Kel'ra's lips curled up, showing his fangs.

"You want to know?" he asked, "You want some rationale as to why I do what I do?"

"I heard that you tortured people on the opposite side, for fun" Lucy snapped. Kel'ra let out an angry hiss, as his tongue finally lashed out like Lucy's whip.

"The civil war in Raktar called for things to be done, things that people claim to find abhorrent," he said, "But they were necessary. I did those things, I did what was necessary. I would seek the enemies of Raktar's High Lord, and force them to give the information they desired. And I have no regret for what I did, because they were necessary. How do they repay me? They lock me away for what I was told to do, what I had to do. Stark will give me vengeance, he'll give me the satisfaction in the knowledge that those idiots in their temple palaces will be wiped away." Lucy clenched her teeth at those words.

"You think torture is necessary?" she asked.

"What kind of monster are you?" Juvia demanded.

"A monster that did what had to be done," Kel'ra answered, "Which I will do now." He then spat out a stream of acid at Lucy, who only just leapt out of the way. Juvia turned into a stream of water, and launched at Kel'ra. Kel'ra was caught off guard, and was soaked, but was unharmed. In the process, he dropped Lucy's keys, who lashed them up with her whip.

"Open, Gate of the Crab: Cancer!" she said, as the crab spirit flashed into form.

"I'm here, shrimp!" Cancer said, snipping his scissors slightly.

"First a bull, now a crab," Kel'ra said, "I'm starting to think you're preparing a banquet, instead of fighting a battle."

"Don't underestimate these guys!" Lucy said, "Do your thing Cancer!" But Cancer didn't move.

"Uh… Cancer?" Lucy asked.

"How… how…," Cancer muttered, and then Lucy noticed something.

"You're crying!" she said. Sure enough, tears were dripping from behind Cancer's sunglasses.

"How can this guy have absolutely no hair?" the crab spirit moaned, "Not a single strand."

"I'm a saurian," Kel'ra said bluntly, "I don't have hair, I have scales."

"Can't you cut him up with your scissors, or something?" Lucy asked.

"My scissors cut hair, they can't cut scales," Cancer said, "I'm sorry, shrimp, but I've got to take off. I'm no good to you here." With that, Cancer flashed away.

"Ah crap," Lucy said.

"Alright, I'm ending this," Kel'ra said, as he began to gather acid in his mouth. However, as it turned out, there was a plus to Cancer coming after all. It took Kel'ra's attention completely onto Lucy, and off of Juvia, allowing her to make her move. But instead of using her water, Juvia thought out of the box. Throwing a fist full of dust at his face, covering his face in it.

"You stupid…," Kel'ra said, spitting his acid at her, though the rain woman dodged. Kel'ra then camouflaged again. But something was different this time. Lucy could see some bunches of dust floating in the air, moving around. The girl then pulled out her whip, and lashed it. It latched around what looked like thin air.

"Kiss your camouflage goodbye!" Lucy declared, as she yanked her whip forward. This yanked Kel'ra forward slightly, causing him to break his camouflage. For a moment, Kel'ra wasn't sure what to do, having been caught completely off guard. That gave the girls the opening they needed.

"Water Cane!" Juvia said, as a lash of water came up, and socked Kel'ra in the face, stunning him even more. Lucy then charged.

"Lucy Kick!" she cried, before slamming her foot into Kel'ra's face, sending him off balance. And that was all Juvia needed.

"Water Colossus!" An enormous fist of water came up, and slammed it into the golden saurian, and into a wall. For a time, after the fist fell away, Kel'ra remained standing, a look of pure shock on his face. But then he collapsed to the ground, defeated.

"I was the Master of Spies in Raktar," he muttered, "Brought down by two girls?" The blonde and bluenette both panted.

"You did good, Juvia," Lucy said with a smile.

"You too, love rival," Juvia answered, with her own smirk.

(up at the top of the tower)

Erza looked up from her binds, as she saw a skeeter with black markings on his its wings buzz into the hall. Nok'vor jumped off its back, before it buzzed back out. Erza then noticed something under the black saurian's arms.

"Wendy!" Erza cried at the sight of her sister-in-law unconscious. Nok'vor tossed the girl to the ground.

"You bastard!" Erza said, struggling against her binds, "What'd you do to her?!"

"I stopped her from ruining our plans," Nok'vor answered calmly, as he walked over to Stark's display of the Tower of Heaven. He then looked closely.

"Seem's Kel'ra's fallen," he said, "Perhaps its time to bring in them." He then looked into space.

"Snips! Scissors!" Nok'vor said, "Its your turn! Take your pick!" The air then seemed to get stiffer for a brief period.

"They'll deal with those other trespassers," Nok'vor said.

Note: I'm going to try and update as many of my stories as possible now. I've got a brief reprieve from school to work on it. Unlike EOTBD, I've also got a better idea about how to make this story work.

I hope the battle between Kel'ra and the girls was satisfactory. I'm wasn't sure how to really do it, since I didn't want to do the Unison Raid to happen this time, if only for differentially sake. Next chapter will feature the fights with Gray and Happy (who went with Gray), and maybe Cobra and Kinana.

Be sure to review.