Alex looked up at the runes when it showed Erza was fighting Evergreen. She smirked and leaned back. "This should be a quick battle," She told the others. Before long, the girls who were turned to statues returned to normal.

"What happened to Juvia?" Juvia asked, staring at her hand.

Natsu and Alex ran up to the stage with the others. "They're back," Natsu said happily.

"Lucy!" Happy shouted and flew over to her.

"Excellent work!" The Master cheered. "All the hostages are free. Now, what will you do, Laxus?"

Natsu quickly explained what was happening to Lucy and the other girls. "Battle of Fairy Tail?" Lucy asked, curious.

"Laxus did what?" Cana asked, sitting on a barrel, her drink beside her.

"Well, it's over now," The Master said. "With you all returned to normal, there's no way I'm going to play Laxus's silly game anymore."

"But what about everyone that was injured from Freed's traps?" Mirajane asked, concerned.

"That's right!" Bisca said, clenching her fist. "If we don't teach Laxus a lesson, he'll never learn!"

"And don't I know it!" The Master agreed. "I'll give him a punishment he'll never forget!" He clenched his fist and looked ahead. "Damn you, Laxus...You're not going to get away with it this time!"

Natsu held up his hand. "Wait a second. I have to agree with Laxus about deciding who the strongest in Fairy Tail is." He grinned. "So don't be so hard on the guy, Gramps. You too, Alex. It's all in good fun."

Alex scoffed. "He went about it all wrong, Natsu," She said, glaring at him. "And he will have to face the consequences."

Natsu chuckled. "So anyway...The second Battle of Fairy Tail starts now! Bring it on, everyone!" He went over to Lucy and acted like he was ready to fight her. "'Cause we haven't done anything yet!" He shouted. "Come on, let's battle!"

"Give it a rest already," Lucy said, exasperated. "You're saying it like you're serious or something."

"If you insist," Cana said casually, "I'll fight you."

"Cana, don't encourage him," Bisca said.

"Natsu..." Happy raised his arm. "I don't think fighting women counts as a battle."

"Man, woman... It doesn't matter to me!" Natsu said easily. He started chasing Lucy around.

Alex laughed a little and sat down on the stage to watch them goof off for a little while. Before long, the runes started doing something strange. They popped off the barrier and came together to make a skull.

"Can you hear me, old man?" Laxus's voice came from the skull. "Same goes for the rest of you. It seems one of the rules is gone. So I'll make a new one. For the Battle of Fairy Tail to continue, I have activated the Thunder Palace."

Alex growled and jumped up. "That's insane Laxus!" She shouted. "You'll end up hurting the citizens of Magnolia with that!"

"Then this better end quickly," Laxus said smugly. "You have one hour and ten minutes left. So, can you defeat me? Or will you retire, Master?" The skull disappeared with the sound of Laxus laughing.

"What are you thinking, Laxus?" The Master shouted. "You plan on getting innocent people involved in this?" He groaned and grabbed his arm.

"Master!" Alex shouted, concerned. She ran over and caught him before he fell. She picked him up. "Get him his medicine!" She shouted at the girls behind her. She walked up the stairs to the med bay and laid him on a bed in there. She left when Mira came in with his medicine.

"What's this Thunder Palace thing?" She heard Natsu ask. She looked outside to see lightning-filled orbs lacrima all over the sky.

She ran to the stairs. "You all really need to see this," She said. Everyone followed her outside to see the lightning lacrima in the sky.

"What are those?" Natsu asked, worried.

"Thunderbolt lacrima..." Levy said. "What are those things doing up there?"

"They're floating above the city," Lucy said.

"Each of those lacrima stores a great deal of magical thunder energy," Cana said. "So this Thunder Palace is probably..."

"That's what the Thunder Palace means, then?" Juvia asked.

Alex nodded. "Laxus plans on using that to win the Battle of Fairy Tail," She said, crossing her arms.

"Now, Magnolia is the target," Cana said gravely.

"So what happens if those things discharge?" Lucy asked, pointing to them.

"Countless thunderbolts will rain down on the city," Can answered. Lucy looked on in shock.

"I won't let that happen!" Bisca shouted. "Sniper Rifle Requip!" She pulled out a massive rifle.

"Bisca, wait!" Alex shouted. But Bisca had already taken the shot and hit one of the lacrima.

"Nice shot, Bisca!" Lucy shouted.

"I'll get them all like this!" Bisca said confidant. Alex held up her hand and willed the lightning to go to her instead of hitting Bisca like it was supposed to.

"Alex!" Cana shouted, concerned. Alex was sparking a little bit from the excess energy.

"Nobody come near me!" Alex warned. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"What was that?" Lucy asked, worried for her friend.

"It's body-link magic," Alex said. She released the lightning into the air, forming the Fairy Tail symbol. "The lacrima are under a spell linked back to the one who destroys them. It causes damage equal to what they received. That would have fried Bisca if I weren't near." She looked at Bisca. "Please don't do that again. If I'm not nearby, I don't know what will happen to you."

Bisca nodded. "Thanks," She said, smiling.

"We've got to beat, Laxus!" Cana said. "Let's go!"

"I'll try and get the people of the city to evacuate!" Lucy said, determined. She took off, Happy right behind her.

"There are still two of the Raijinshuu left!" Cana said. "Be careful out there!" She ran off with Juvia right behind her.

"What is that bastard thinking?" Natsu asked, frustrated. He jumped over the railing and ran into the runes again. He continued to push and fight against the runes as hard as he could without any success. "This is going overboard! If you want to be master so bad, then fight Gramps yourself!" He continued to smash his head against the runes. "That's enough, Laxus!"

"Natsu!" Levy shouted. "Calm down!" She walked over to the rails. "Just listen. These are runes, right?"

"We know that already," Gajeel said, his arms crossed.

"It's one of the writing magics," Levy said, grinning. "So I might be able to help. I believe you three can stop Laxus!"

Alex and the others went down to the main lobby while Levy figured out how to rewrite Freed's runes. "If I take the information from the arrangement of the rogue letters and break it down to the letter materials, I can pick up the vocabulary used to construct the rules...L, O, S, U...Then, changing it further to Gheel grammar..."

"Wow," Gajeel said, crouched beside her. "You're amazing. I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

Alex walked over to where Levy was working. "Don't worry," Levy promised. "I'll get you guys out of here." Alex smiled as Levy and Gajeel whispered to each other.

Natsu continued to smash his head against the rune barrier. "I wanna do something!" Natsu shouted.

The battle continued. Lucy ended up in a battle with Bickslow. It took her a little while, but she was able to beat him. Meanwhile, Levy was able to figure out how to decipher Freed's runes. She began to rewrite the runes.

Juvia and Cana were trapped in one of Freed's traps, and Juvie sacrificed herself so she wouldn't have to fight Cana.

Levy let Gajeel and Natsu out of the runes, but Alex was still stuck in them. "It will take a little longer with you, Alex," She said apologetically. "Since you were specifically mentioned, I have to work around it."

Alex sighed but nodded. "Just see if you can get me out before the Thunder Palace goes off," She requested. "I need to be outside if I'm going to try to make sure nobody gets hurt."

Levy nodded and went straight to work to get Alex free of the runes. Alex stood behind her, tapping her foot and watching the runes as they said what was happening all across Magnolia. Freed had defeated Cana. Then Mirajane entered a battle with Freed, ending in a draw. Laxus was the only one left.

Levy was finally able to set Alex free with twelve minutes to spare. "Be careful," Levy requested.

Alex turned into her demon form and grinned. The black markings on her neck were climbing up her face. "I'm not the one you need to worry about," She said, darkly.

She took off to the skies in search of Kardia Cathedral. That was where Laxus was waiting. She had to stop a few times to get guildmates out of the road or out of harm's way. She had to avoid many traps that Freed still had laying around town as well. A crashing noise came out of Kardia Cathedral.

Erza, Alex, and Natsu showed up around the same time. "Laxus!" They shouted. Erza and Natsu looked at each other shocked. Alex stormed ahead, her purple lightning engulfing her arms. Mystogan looked on in shock and let down his guard, giving Laxus an opening to attack.

Alex moved in front of him and ate the lightning before it could hit him. The motion caused his face covering to come undone to reveal his face to look precisely like Jellal's. Alex turned to him. "You should go now."

Mystogan nodded and walked away. He turned to face Erza, and she looked devastated. "I'm not Jellal, you know," He told her, his voice filled with sorrow. "I never wanted you to see my face. I'm sorry for any distress I may have caused you." He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I'm so confused," Natsu said. "But I'll deal with that later. Laxus, I came here to fight!" He turned to face Erza and Alex. "Erza, Alex, you'll let me handle him, right?" Erza wasn't able to answer, and Alex was glaring at Laxus. "Erza!"

Erza wasn't able to respond as she was then shocked by Laxus. "Don't go making ugly faces, Erza!"

Alex moved in front of Erza to take on the rest of the lightning from Laxus's attack. "I'm tired of playing this game, Laxus," Alex roared. "You're battle is with me now."

"You're not even supposed to be a player," Laxus scoffed. "Get out of the way."

"Come on, Alex!" Natsu whined. "I wanted to fight him!"

"Oh, you're here too, Natsu?" Laxus asked, smirking.

"I wouldn't underestimate me!" Natsu shouted. He was about to jump at Laxus, when Alex grabbed his vest.

She shifted her eyes over to Natsu. "Get Erza out of the way," She ordered when he tried to protest. "I'm going to take care of this moron before anyone else gets hurt." She looked to Laxus, fire burning in her eyes.

Laxus smirked. "Fine. I was just going to give you a place at the guild, but if you want to prove your worth, fine. Just know, I won't hold back this time."

"Good," She said darkly. "Neither will I." The wind whipped around Laxus's jacket as he built up his power. Thunder crashed through the skies as lightning formed around Alex.

"She raised her hands. "Lightning Devil's Hammer!" She raced over and swung a solid purple hammer at Laxus's face.

Laxus laughed and dodged, using his lightning form. "Is that the best you can do?" He asked. He attacked her with his lightning, which she promptly dodged.

Alex grinned maniacally. "I'm just getting warmed up," She promised. "Zeus's Bolt!" A massive bolt of lightning shot out at Laxus, almost hitting him.

"Alex!" Natsu shouted. " Stop getting all worked up! I said I would be the one to beat Laxus!" Alex looked at the determined look on his face and growled.

"Fine," She said. "Erza and I will take care of Thunder Palace. You have until then to fight Laxus."

Laxus laughed. "You think you'll be able to take it all down in three minutes?" He asked. "I wouldn't count on it. You don't stand a chance. Just destroying one risks Erza's life. And there's countless all across Magnolia."

"We'll take them all out at once," Erza said, determined.

"Impossible!" Laxus scoffed. "And if you did, you wouldn't survive."

Alex grinned. "Fairy Tail doesn't know the meaning of impossible." They ran out of the Cathedral and looked to the sky. Thunder Palace was still up there.

"Do you know what I need you to do?" Erza asked, staring at the lacrima.

Alex nodded. "You take down half, and I'll do the other half. Then, I'll act as a lightning rod. I'll redirect all the lightning back into the sky, so the people of Magnolia think it's just a fancy fireworks display." She grinned. "We can do this."

Erza nodded and requiped her Heaven's Wheel armor. "Blades, lend me the power to protect the city of Magnolia. Also, to everyone in Fairy Tail...Lend me your power!" Alex ran to the center of town to prepare to take down as many as she could

Hey everybody! So Alex is going to help take down Thunder Palace, then she'll deal with Laxus. I hope you like this story and the way I'm going with it. I'll put up the new chapter as soon as I can. Thanks for reading!