"So are you completely sure it'll work?" Lewis asked, reading the lines of the spellbook the two friends had found.
"Mostly. I mean look at that shit!" Jason almost shouted, pointing at the guild symbol. "That's obviously the Fairy Tail Guild symbol!"
"Well, it can't hurt to try." Lewis shrugged. The two friends began to read the spell aloud. A spark arced across the pages of the book before forming into a ball which expanded, encompassing the two friends. Then the ball disappeared, taking the two wannabe wizards with it.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Earlier that day.
Two friends were seen hanging out in the local library, discussing anime they both liked until they eventually reached the topic of Fairy Tail.
"And that's why you don't piss off the fire wizard." Lewis finished, taking a sip from his bottle of iced tea and shifting the black and yellow tartan scarf around his neck.
"Yeah, Fairy Tail is pretty damn cool." Jason said, idly scratching his afro. "I wonder what would happen if we were wizards in Fairy Tail."
"We would be the worst wizards in the guild." Lewis said blankly.
"But we would be the best comic relief!" he countered, raising a finger into the air.
"You would be the first to start a riot in the guild." Lewis said.
"You know, wouldn't it be hilarious if some magical McGuffin were to drop out of the sky that had the power to teleport us to Earthland." Jason said, a grin on his face.
"Seriously? Look, this isn't Death Note where magical books just drop out of the sky." Lewis said.
And then one did.
A large hardcover book landed with an alarmingly loud thump on the table. Its front was covered in old and arcane looking writing.
"Ha! Suck it universe, you just gave me what I wanted!" Jason shouted, drawing the attention of a few people in the library.
"My brain is hurting from the stupidity of it all." Lewis said, his head buried in his hands.
Jason picked up the book and flipped through the pages. "Hey look, this book can send us to Earthland! What a surprise!"
Lewis looked at the book from across the table. "So are you completely sure this'll work?"
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Erza was taking a walk along one of the rivers that bordered Magnolia. She had just stopped another fight back at the guild and felt she needed to take in a little fresh air. She looked out across the river and watched the ripples for a while and let herself fall into an air of calm.
Then a thunderbolt struck the ground behind her and she fell in the river.
Lewis and Jason stumbled around, ears ringing and half blinded. Lewis fell to the ground, the book absent from his groping hands.
"Ha! You said groping." Jason giggled.
"Remind me never to let you touch magical artifacts again!" Lewis shouted.
"What?!"
"Never let me let you touch magic artifacts!"
"What?!"
"Never mind!" Lewis shouted, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. At least he still had his scarf with him. His black pants had gotten a little dusty and his white shirt was now a slight shade of brown, but other than that he was fine. "Jason, I think your afro is burning."
"What?" Jason asked, looking up to see his proud afro now slightly on fire. "Gah!"
Jason lunged towards the river and plunged his head under the water. He opened his eyes underwater and saw a very close, very angry looking face. Jason suddenly lifted his head above the water and turned to Lewis.
"What is it?" Lewis asked.
"Run!" Was all Jason shouted before a very angry Erza broke the surface of the water. Reaching out, she wrapped her hand around Jason's leg and threw him directly at Lewis.
"Hmph. I expected more of a challenge from a pair of assassins." Erza said, scowling.
"We're not assassins!" shouted Lewis, raising a hand in objection with his face still maintaining firm contact with the dirt.
"Then who are you?" she asked.
Lewis and Jason got up and dusted themselves off before turning to Erza.
"My name is Lewis. It's nice to meet you." Lewis said.
"I am the one known as Jason!" Jason shouted loudly, earning a facepalm from Lewis and an odd look from Erza.
"You two don't look like you're from around here." Erza said.
"Well, it's pretty safe to say that we aren't." Lewis said, searching around a small shrub. "By the way, have you seen any books around here?"
"No, I can't say I have." Erza said.
"Damn, I where could it have gone?" Lewis asked, scratching his head. Jason on the other had was keen on asking Erza as many questions as possible.
"Can we join Fairy Tail?"
"That's not for me to say."
"How old are you?"
"Nineteen."
"Can we join Fairy Tail?"
"Didn't you already ask that?"
"Can you teach me Requip magic?"
"I have other things to do."
"Jason, stop trying to piss off the absurdly powerful mage!" Lewis shouted, before searching for the book again. "I swear, the one time a magic book drops out of the sky it almost kills us and then disappears!"
"What did it look like?" Erza asked.
"It was a big leather bound book with purple glowing writing around it. Oh yeah, and it had the Fairy Tail guild symbol on it." Lewis said before peering into a hollow tree trunk. "Hold on, I think I see something!"
Jason and Erza moved over to where Lewis was searching. After a few minutes of pained reaching and grasping, he finally got a handle on the thing in the tree hollow. As he pulled it out, he saw that it was a very old and musty looking tome. Flipping it open, he started reading it.
"Hey, are let me have a look." Jason said, reaching for the book. Lewis jerked the book away from his friend's hands.
"Hey! Remember what I said about not letting you touch ancient magical artefacts!" Lewis growled.
"Not really, I was pretty disorientated from the last ancient magical thingy I touched." Jason shrugged.
"My point exactly!"
Erza looked at the two squabbling boys before shrugging and turning away. She had to talk to Makarov about this.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Fairy Tail was just as loud and filled with cheer as when Erza had left it. Cana was drinking, Natsu and Gray were still fighting and the general scene was just chaotic. Erza weaved her way through the throng, trying to find Master Makarov who was sitting on the bar, talking with Mira.
"Master Makarov, I need to speak with you!" Erza shouted over the din as she walked to the bar.
"Ah, Erza there you are. How did your walk go?" he asked, grinning behind his moustache.
"That is what I wanted to talk to you about." She said.
"You didn't get into a fight, did you?" Makarov asked, his eyebrows lowering.
"I ran into two boys who seemed to know me. I'm not quite sure how they did, but they appeared in a bolt of lightning which knocked me into the river. One of them asked if they could join Fairy Tail." She reported. "They were dressed very strangely and didn't talk in the same way we do."
Makarov scratched his chin in thought. "Well they sound like a bunch of odd customers. Why don't you bring them in?" he asked.
"I'll see if I can find them." She said.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
"Jason."
"Yes Lewis?"
"You know how there were only something like five locations in Magnolia we have actually seen, right?"
"Yeah."
"So what makes you think we'll be able to find Fairy Tail?"
"I dunno. Look around until we can hear fighting?"
Lewis sighed exasperatedly as he fingered through his new book. "A good a plan as any."
Jason grinned with victory as he and Lewis walked through the cobbled streets next to the river. Lewis was reading through the book, frustrated that many of the pages in the book appeared to be meaningless to him or otherwise blank.
"Great, I have incredible luck in finding this book, but I can't read a single word of it!" He groaned, snapping the book shut. "It's either all gibberish or in another language or something!"
"Hey, maybe someone at Fairy Tail can help you." Jason said.
"Why are you so eager to join up with a guild anyway?" Lewis asked. "We don't have to have to join a guild. If you want to do magic you can probably just buy something."
"One, I want to fight stuff. Two, I want to meet Natsu. Three, we have no money." Jason explained. "The guild will have beds, jobs and shit like that, so there's no reason not to go there."
Lewis thought for a while before nodding. "You've got some very undeniable points there."
Lewis and Jason kept walking around the town until the sun started to dip in the sky, turning the water and sky a vibrant orange hue. Lewis was still reading the book he found until he eventually read something he understood.
"Hey Jason, I think I've found something!" he said excitedly, moving his finger over the unfamiliar words. "I think this translates into conjuring fire."
"Wait, how do you know that?" Jason asked, leaning over to see.
"There's a picture of fire right next to it." Lewis said, pointing to the picture. "I wonder what happens if I…"
A light blue magic circle emanated from the book while a red one appeared in Lewis' free hand, causing him to gasp. A small ball of fire appeared in his hand and he stared at it, fascinated. Then it vanished as quickly as it appeared.
"Oh my god I did magic!" Lewis squeaked, a giant smile spreading across his face.
"Didn't last long." Jason snorted.
"Guess I don't have that much control over it yet." Lewis said, shaking his fingers as pins and needles worked their way through them.
"Damn it, you get to use the magic you made up! When am I going to find my magical McGuffin?!" Jason roared, attracting the attention of several passers-by.
"Oh, you lost something? You should put up a notice at the Guild Hall. They might be able to find it for you." One of the people said as they walked by.
"Thanks for the tip." Jason deadpanned.
"Speaking of which, could you tell us where it is?" Lewis asked.
"It's just up the road from here. Take the first left on the next street and it should be in plain sight." He replied.
"Okay, thanks!" Lewis said before turning to Jason. "Why didn't we ask for directions sooner?"
Jason shrugged before the two continued onwards until they rounded the corner on the street and Lewis immediately felt something metal impact with his face and he crumpled to the ground.
"Oh hey, it's Erza!" Jason said.
"Well, I'm glad I found you two again." Erza said, picking up both Jason and the dazed Lewis before turning around and hauling them back to Fairy Tail. "You two have a little explaining to do."
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Lewis and Jason had just finished explaining the events that led up to them arriving in Fairy Tail to Makarov, who stroked his bristling moustache. They had made sure not to let on that they knew anyone or anything that would make them seem too out of the ordinary.
"Well I'll tell you young'uns on thing, I've never heard about something like that happening. A parallel dimension, fancy that…" he mused.
"Should we present this information to the Magic Council?" Erza asked.
"Of course we should, but maybe at a later time. We have other important matters to attend to after all." Makarov shrugged. "For example, these two young'uns. You kids say you don't have anywhere to stay?"
"Nope, unless this book I found can conjure a tent or something." Lewis said, holding up the tome.
"Let me see that." Makarov said, holding out his hand. Not wanting to argue with one of the Ten Wizard Saints, Lewis handed it over to the elderly man. Makarov leafed through it, his expression changing on each page he saw.
"What is it?" Jason asked.
"It seems like this is some kind of highly advanced spell book. Normal spell books are magical books that allow the user to practice Tome Magic, a kind of magic that allows you to cast several different types of magic, but it's not nearly as strong as a dedicated mage's magic. This is because the book copies magic circles that are imprinted in it and allows the mage using the book to wield these spells. This book however seems to be different." Makarov explained.
"How so?" Erza asked.
"This book in particular seems to have a lot more stored magic energy than other spell books, and plenty more spells written in it, although it appears that many of the pages detailing advanced spells have been sealed to protect its user. Only by increasing one's magical prowess to a high enough level can enable them to see the spells, let alone use them."
"So I won't be able to cast big powerful spells yet?" Lewis asked.
"Not even close. I doubt you have enough magic energy to make a small fireball and even then, it'd be the book doing all the work." Makarov snorted.
Jason and Lewis looked at each other uneasily. "Does this mean we won't be able to join Fairy Tail?" Jason asked.
"I never said that." Makarov grinned. "It's clear you kids will need somewhere to stay, otherwise who knows the amount of trouble you'll get yourselves into. So yes, I will let you join."
"Yes!" Lewis celebrated.
"On one condition." He said.
"Damn it, there's always a condition." Lewis groaned.
"What do we have to do?" Jason asked.
"If you can do a job from the Request Board, you'll earn your place in Fairy Tail." Makarov said. "And if you need any help, I'm sure Erza can point you in the right direction."
Jason immediately put his hand up to ask a question. "Is there anything called Alchemy Magic?" Jason asked.
"There is a potion maker's shop if that's what you mean. You might learn something from him." Erza shrugged.
"Score! See you later Lewis!" Jason cheered before rushing straight out of the guild, looking for the alchemist's shop.
Lewis just stared at where Jason was before turning to Makarov. "So, where should we stay in the meantime?"
"I think there might be some empty beds here in Fairy Tail that you kids could use for a few nights." Makarov said. "But before that, maybe you should practice with your magic some more."
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Jason had been running through the entire town, looking for the alchemist's shop. When he eventually found it, he noticed that the entire place had been boarded up.
"What? Ah come on!" Jason shouted. He remembered the episode where Juvia bought that faulty potion and plunged Fairy Tail into even more chaos than usual. "Guess I'll have to sneak in."
Jason stepped back a few metres before breaking into a sprint right towards a lightly boarded window before jumping through it, splintering the wood and shattering the glass. Getting up and dusting himself off, he started searching around the abandoned shop. There were several jars of various ingredients, mushrooms and dried lizards along with a leather bandolier filled with glass bottles.
"That should be useful." Jason said before grabbing a nearby hessian sack and sliding in the jars and putting on the bandolier. He spied a mortar and pestle, several glass alembics and boiling jars before sliding them into a different bag, a satchel he picked up.
Satisfied that he had found everything he wanted, Jason leapt through the window again before running for Fairy Tail, wondering what Lewis had gotten up to.
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Lewis was sitting on the steps in front of the guild hall with his spell book in one hand, a small ball of fire in the other and a determined expression on his face. He felt a hand clap him hard on the shoulder and he almost leapt off the stairs in shock.
"Hey! Are you new here?" asked a familiar voice.
Lewis turned around and stared into the face of one of the most reckless members of Fairy Tail, Natsu Dragneel.
"Uh, yeah. My name's Lewis." He said, shaking Natsu's hand. "While I'm not a real member yet, if I can do a mission on the Request Board then Makarov might let me join."
"Hey, that sounds pretty great!" Natsu laughed, sitting next to Lewis. "So are you a fire magic user?"
"Not really." Lewis said, snapping the book shut. "I found this advanced spell book that can allow me to practice Tome Magic. It allows me to cast several different types of magic."
"That sounds cool." Natsu said. "So you can make fire right? Care to show me?"
"Alright." Lewis said. Opening the book to the fireball page, he concentrated and clawed his right hand, feeling the red magic circle form inside his clawed hand. "Flameburst!"
A small spout of fire erupted from Lewis hand before arcing straight towards Natsu's mouth as he swallowed it.
Natsu gulped and burped appreciatively before clapping Lewis on the back. "Thanks! I needed a little snack. Though you might wanna make those flames stronger for next time alright?"
"Yeah, sure." Lewis said before he saw Jason come around a street corner towards them with his hessian bag of looted potion gear. As soon as he saw the pink haired fire wizard, he almost dropped the bag.
"Oh my god it's Natsu!"
"Hey, another one! Welcome to Fairy Tail!" waved Natsu. "So you've heard of me before?"
"You could say that." Lewis said quickly, closing his book. "Natsu, this is Jason. My friend and all around lunatic."
"Damn it, I wanted to talk to Natsu first!" shouted Jason.
"Hey, you wanted to go find that potion shop!" Lewis snapped. "What's in that bag anyway?"
"Oh, it's just some stuff I looted from an abandoned potion shop." Jason shrugged, lifting the bag.
"You STOLE it?!" Lewis shouted, grabbing Jason by the shoulders and shaking him like a sack of potatoes. "Do you realise how many different flavours of stupid that is?!"
"It's not stealing, it's looting! There wasn't anyone around to see anyway!"
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Lewis roared. "Not one day here and you're already going to put us in jail!"
"Hey man, lighten up. Stuff like this happens all the time in Fairy Tail, so don't sweat it." Natsu said, trying to pry Lewis from Jason. "Jeez, you kinda remind me of Lucy when she's all uptight and stuff."
Eventually Lewis calmed down and returned to his book while Jason took out a mortar and pestle and began to make some potions.
"How do you know what to do?" Lewis asked. "Didn't you just get that today?"
"Hell if I know, I'm just making up shit as I go along!" Jason chuckled.
"Of course you are." Lewis groaned, flipping through his book.
"So is there any progress with your book?" Jason asked.
"I think I'm getting the hang of it now. I've been able to read two more spells, but I haven't been able to test them yet." Lewis shrugged.
"Oh yeah? What are they?" Natsu asked.
"Some kind of ice arrow and Requipping. The only problem is I have no weapon to requip." Lewis said, moving his finger over the pages.
"So you can do Gray and Erza's magic?" Natsu asked excitedly. "Man, that's so cool!"
"Well I haven't tried it yet so I have no idea if I can actually cast the spell or not." Lewis said, scratching the back of his head.
"Why don't you try it?" Jason asked. "I mean you should probably test these spells out right?"
"Maybe. I'll give it a shot." Lewis said, getting up from the stairs. As he concentrated on his arrow spell, a light blue magic circle appeared in his right hand before he aimed it skyward. "Ice Make: Arrow!"
A large arrow of crystalized ice shot skyward, glistening in the starlight. Lewis stared after it in awe, while Jason was slightly less impressed.
"Hey, isn't that coming back down at us?" he asked.
"Holy crap it is!" Lewis shouted, trying to get out of the way as the ice arrow started to fall back towards the ground at alarming speed.
"Fire Dragon Roar!" shouted Natsu, a giant gout of flame engulfing the ice arrow and turning it to nothingness. "There ya go! That was a close one."
Lewis slumped down onto the stone road. "Mental note: aim at a target next time."
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
The next day, Jason and Lewis were standing in front of the Request Board under the watchful eye of Erza. Jason had given Lewis his satchel bag so he could store his tome in while he wasn't using it and Jason was wearing his bandolier filled with bottles and flasks of different coloured bright liquids.
"Maybe something not too far away?" Lewis suggested. "After all, we don't have any money for a train ticket."
"Yeah, but there's nothing really close by that will pay enough to get us a place to stay." Jason sighed, looking through the requests.
"Though I doubt the train station is going to let us use IOUs to get train tickets." Lewis grumbled.
"Not to worry, I will be buying train tickets for you." Erza said. "Master Makarov has assigned me to make sure you two don't get into any unnecessary trouble as well as to monitor your progress. As such I will be coming with you."
Jason pulled Lewis into a whisper. "Wait a minute, if Erza's coming with us then pretty much any problem we try to solve will pretty much fix itself. I mean, if we go after bandits then they'll take one look at Erza and run away."
"While I understand your concerns that you might not get any action, be sure that I have a solution for this. I won't intervene in your missions unless I deem it absolutely necessary." Erza said. "That said, any attempt to get me to do this mission for you and attempting to steal the credit will result in you two boys being swiftly punished. Do I make myself clear?"
Lewis and Jason both felt hairs rise on the back of their necks and they nodded wildly.
"Crystal clear ma'am!"
"Of course we understand!"
"Good. Now how about this one?" Erza asked, pointing to a specific poster.
Lewis glanced at it and took it off the board. "Find and return some lost jewellery from a cavern? That seems within our ability range."
"And it looks like it pays pretty well." Jason added, pointing out the reward. "Thirty thousand Jewels doesn't sound too bad for a first job!"
Erza took the poster and nodded. "Alright, it's settled then. We're going to the Clover Caverns."
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Lewis and Jason were waiting at the train station, provisions packed for them by Mirajane in their bags. They were sitting on a bench while they waited for Erza to arrive with what would surely be a small mountain of luggage.
"Hey Lewis, I need to ask you something." Jason said suddenly.
"What is it?"
"When did you learn Japanese so quickly? You've been speaking it ever since we arrived here." Jason said.
Lewis raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked at his friend. "What are you talking about? We're both speaking English."
"No we're not you idiot!"
Lewis tried to figure out what was going on until it finally clicked. Lewis slammed his hand into his forehead in frustration and annoyance.
"God damn it Jason, you always did prefer subbed didn't you?" Lewis groaned. "So that's why you never complained about people's voices."
"Hey, not my fault you're a dubfag." Jason teased.
"Say that again damn you!" Lewis shouted, getting up from his seat.
Lewis heard a forced cough behind him and immediately froze while Jason wore and extremely amused expression.
"Lewis, what are you doing?" Erza asked.
"N-nothing ma'am!" Lewis said quickly, sitting down as fast as he could.
"Good. I don't want you two turning into another Natsu and Gray pair. Goodness knows I already have enough to deal with when they're around." Erza said. "Now, shall we depart?"
*v*v*v*
*v*v*v*
Clover Caverns is a small cluster of cave systems located not that far outside of the town of Clover. It once held a great source of minerals which has dried up over many years, and now remains completely empty. At least, that's what the townspeople say. Lewis, Jason and Erza were walking through the dark caverns, each holding a lit torch.
"So what were we looking for again?" Jason asked.
"A silver necklace in the shape of a heart inlaid with a large blue lacrima. The client lost it while exploring the caverns in search of more minerals." Lewis said. "Wasn't it just five minutes ago that we went over this?"
"It was actually three." Erza said stiffly. "I would suggest you two keep your wits about you. These caverns may have been proclaimed officially empty, but that was quite a few years ago. I would imagine that something could have moved into these caves in that time."
At that moment, a small stream of dust and rubble drifted from the ceiling and a slight rumbling sound was heard.
"Jason…" Lewis said nervously, a hand going to the spine of his book.
"Yeah?" Jason said, taking a conical bottle out from his bandolier.
"We definitely aren't alone here are we?" Lewis asked.
"Most likely not."
Erza glanced upwards just in time to see a large crack in the roof of the cavern.
"Look out!" she shouted, roughly pushing the two boys out of the way of the falling pile of rocks before it crashed onto the ground. Lewis scrambled to his feet and looked back at the solid wall of rock that had fallen, separating Lewis and Jason from Erza.
"Erza!" Lewis shouted, trying to dig away the rock wall. "Are you alright?! Erza!"
"I'm fine!" shouted Erza. "Are you two okay?"
Jason groaned as he got up, checking that none of his potions had smashed. Thankfully none of them had broken and he turned to face the rock wall. "That's bad."
"Understatement of the year." Lewis grumbled, trying to force the uncooperative rocks. "Damn, I can't even get one of these things loose!"
"Allow me." Jason grinned, cracking his knuckles before taking the cork out from his bottle and draining the red liquid. As soon as he drank it, a glowing red magic circle flashed inn front of his entire body before fading into it. "I cooked up this strength potion last night, I'll get through this like it was paper!"
Lewis stepped out of the way of Jason and he tensed his arm muscles before taking a swing at the rock wall. On the other side of the wall, Erza heard a soft thud and a lot of muffled swearing.
"God fucking damn it that hurts like a bitch!" Jason roared, waving his now glowing hand red up and down.
"You hit it already? I barely even saw that." Lewis said, scratching his head. "Did you get your potions mixed up?"
"What are you talking about?" Jason asked irritably, blowing on his fist.
"I could barely see your punch. I think that you made some kind of speed potion by accident." Lewis said.
"Well that's useful!" Jason groaned sarcastically.
"Any idea how long it'll last?" Lewis asked, picking up his fallen torch.
"I'd guess five minutes." Jason said, testing his muscles.
"Then we'll have to find that necklace in that time frame. We shouldn't waste your potion's effect." Lewis said before pressing himself against the fallen wall. "Erza! We're going to find the necklace! Can you clear these rocks in that time?"
"I'll do my best! Stay safe you two!" Erza replied.
Lewis nodded before taking out his tome and turning around. "Alright Jason, let's move."
Jason nodded as the two friends walked further into the tunnel. Lewis kept the torch up in front of him, the page turned to his crystal arrow. Jason meanwhile was visibly concentrating to go at speed that wouldn't involve him having a very forceful encounter with a stone wall. As they continued down, Lewis began to smell something odd.
"Hey Jason, do you smell that?" He asked quietly.
"Yeah. Smoke." Jason replied.
"Not entirely sure if that's a natural smell in a cave system like this, but that's not important. We need to find that necklace." Lewis said. "Still, I don't see any other direction this tunnel leads. Let's keep going."
The two friends kept walking until Jason saw light flickering around one end of the tunnel. Jason extinguished his torch and Lewis did the same. The two pressed themselves against a wall and listened out for the voices that echoed through the tunnels.
"Can't believe this. How many months has it been since our outpost got raided? One? Three? Now look at us! Members of a fearsome and powerful Dark Guild now reduced to a three cowards hiding in a cave!" a booming male voice shouted.
"Shut your yap! It's not our fault we got sold out to the Magic Council by those pesky villagers." chided another female voice. "We don't even have enough money to get a lousy meal!"
"Come on guys, lighten up! We found that really expensive looking necklace in the outer tunnels!" said a younger voice. "If we can sell it we can get a train ticket back to the Guild Hall easy peasy!"
Lewis' eyes widened and Jason turned and nodded before, in a flash of movement, he disappeared.
"Hey, what was that wind?" one of the dark wizards wondered.
"Take a wild guess, you idiot." Spat the female.
A loud thump came from the lit tunnel and the woman fell to the ground.
"What the heck was that?!" shouted the booming wizard, leaping up. Lewis leapt around the corner, arrow spell ready.
"Ice Make: Arrow!" Lewis shouted, aiming his spell for the bulky dark wizard. The light blue crystal arrow sailed towards the wizard before slamming into his right arm, encasing it in a thin layer of ice.
"My arm!" he shouted before turning to Lewis. "Alright you little punk, what do you think you're doing?!"
"They're here for the necklace!" shouted the other wizard, leaping up and readying a spell. "We can't let 'em take it from us!"
The burly wizard splayed his hand before a large hexagonal iron club appeared in it and he smashed the ice surrounding his right arm. "You'll have to do better than that if you want to defeat me kid!"
Jason sped around the small cavern before slamming a foot into the burly wizard's neck, causing him to cough and drop his club. The other wizard turned and ran, causing rocks to drop behind him with a brown magic circle. Lewis raced forward and picked up the studded iron club before swinging it into the burly wizard's chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him into a wall where he slumped to the floor unconscious.
"Jason! We need to get after that last wizard!" Lewis shouted, swinging his new club into the loose pile of rubble left behind by the other wizard. "He's got the necklace!"
"On it!" Jason said, appearing for a brief moment before blurring with speed as he ran down the tunnels after the third dark wizard. After a yelp and a muted thud, Jason returned with both the necklace and the unconscious wizard. "Got it!"
"Great! Now let's tie these guys up and get back to Erza." Lewis said. "You didn't bring any rope did you?"
"I have some." came the voice of Erza as she walked into the torchlight. "You have the necklace?"
"Right here." Jason said, holding it up proudly.
"Excellent. I'm glad to see things have gone smoothly for you in this mission." Erza nodded. "I didn't expect a group of dark wizards to be mixed up in this matter. What guild are they from?"
"I don't know." Lewis shrugged. "They didn't say and we didn't check."
"I would recommend doing that now." Erza said.
Jason walked over to one of the unconscious bodies and looked for a guild symbol. What he found was what looked like a pentagram with three swords crossed through it. "I have no idea what guild these guys were from. They did say they were part of a Dark Guild though before a Council raid on their outpost."
Erza inspected the mark and frowned. "These must be members of the Oni Swords guild."
"Oni Swords?" Lewis asked, putting his book away before Erza tossed him a coil of rope.
"They were a guild dedicated to causing havoc wherever they could, destroying towns, ransacking villages and razing any guild hall that tried to stop their activities. Eventually the Council was called to deal with it and their guild hall was wiped out by the army." Erza explained.
"Some guild." Jason snorted. "We wiped the floor with 'em in five seconds flat!"
Erza eyed Jason, causing a shiver to go down his spine. "Never underestimate your enemies. Every member of Oni Swords is a trained killer, and if you hadn't caught them off guard they would have killed you. Remember that."
"Y-yes." Jason said.
"However there is something that just doesn't add up." Erza said, stroking her chin with an armoured thumb. "It was recorded that every part of Oni Swords was destroyed, so why are these three bearing their guild mark?"
Lewis was dragging the three dark wizards together before binding them together with the rope Erza had given him. When he had finished, he picked up the iron club he had found and opened up his book again. Erza looked at Lewis and marched over to him.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to figure out how to put this item in a requip dimension. Apparently this book has a requip spell that I can use." Lewis said, trying to keep the club on his shoulder.
"Preposterous! That weapon is far too heavy for you!" Erza shouted, taking the club and tossing it over her shoulder, embedding it in the solid rock wall behind her. "I'm sure there will be something more suited to you in the marketplaces of Magnolia."
*v* v*v*
*v*v*v*
Jason and Lewis burst through the guild hall doors of Fairy Tail. Many wizards looked up from their meals or drinks, expecting to see Natsu or someone equally as energetic and reckless, only to find they couldn't recognise the two at the door.
"We're back!" they both proclaimed, a bag of Jewels in both their hands. "And we didn't get killed!"
Makarov looked up from his position on the bar and grinned. "Well now, it seems our newest recruits are fairly capable. So Erza, how much property was destroyed?"
"Two tunnels in the Clover Caverns were collapsed, but it wasn't caused by these two." Erza reported.
"Really? That's far less than I expected!" Makarov grinned. "Well, I think it's fairly safe to say you two kids have earned a place in our guild!"
"Alright!" Jason and Lewis cheered, giving each other a high five.
"Now, there's simply the matter of deciding where you want your guild marks." Mirajane said, holding up a magic stamp tool.
"I'll have mine on my left palm." Lewis said, holding up his left hand.
"Gimmie mine on my forearm." Jason grinned.
A moment later, both Jason and Lewis now were marked with the Fairy Tail guild symbol, Lewis' coloured cyan and Jason's a deep red.
"Alright, there you go! Welcome to Fairy Tail!" Mira smiled warmly.