"Alright," Lisanna bit her lip slightly. "It's… it's a bit hard not to worry a lot when I don't know where Mira-nee and Elf-niichan are. And Natsu and all the others. But… but seeing you here now gives me much more hope that we'll find them all again eventually."
Gildarts smirked knowingly at her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't you fret, little lady. I'll see you reunited with everyone in no time. You have my word on that."
"Gray-sama, are you okay?" Juvia asked immediately.
"I'm fine," Gray shrugged her concern off quickly. "But you lot sure picked one hell of a time to split up the rescue mission."
"Mind you, it was probably the right call," Pantherlily noted. "It was already cramped enough fighting in the hallways with the numbers we had."
"How about you, Levy-san?" Wendy asked. "Are you okay? You look a bit pale."
"I… I'm fine," Levy replied quickly.
"Are you sure? You don't look fine, you look a bit sick. Should I use some of my Healing Magic on you?"
"Well… maybe a little," Levy smiled faintly. "Thanks Wendy." But even as Wendy lifted up her glowing hands to Levy's arm, all she could think was that she was definitely not alright at the moment, but she very much doubted that even Wendy would be able to do anything to fix this problem.
"So what the heck are we supposed to do now?" Gajeel looked up at the cage.
"We seem to have lost the authorities for now," noted Happy. "Looks like stopping those lift things has proved to be more helpful to us than it was to them."
"But they'll probably be working on starting them again so it may not be long before we have more company," Lily added.
"We have a plan," Lisanna said, and quickly outlined the basics of the cage to them. "So all we need to is hitch a ride with the cage to Tenroujima and we'll be out of here. Hopefully before more of the authorities show up."
"Ah…" Charlie looked up. "You were hoping to escape with the cage? Well… that might be more of a problem - this cage only transports things that are inside it. If you wanted to go with it, you'd have to get in there with the birds."
As if on cue, one of the Clippers lashed its head through the bars and snapped at Gildarts, who was just out of reach but who didn't flinch either at the beak clacking shut right before his eyes.
"Well… that might be problematic," he muttered.
"Doesn't any one of us have some kind of Sleep Magic?" Wendy asked.
"Only Sleep Magic I have is putting people to sleep with a fist to the head," Gajeel muttered.
"We can't do that! We have to find another way," Lisanna protested.
"Well whatever you're going to do, you have to do it soon," Charlie was holding his wand steadily at the Portkey now. "Because I've set the location. All I have to do now is set the timer and once I do it will disappear to Tenroujima whether you're in it or not. And…"
Suddenly there was a large screaming noise that radiated through the room, causing several of them to clap their hands over their ears, and Gray to yell, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!"
"Uh-oh… that's not good," Charlie whispered as the noise died down.
"What's not?" Gajeel demanded.
"That's the alarm that signifies the Anti-Apparition Wards have been disabled," Charlie murmured. "I've never heard it go off before but if you hear it you're supposed to leave immediately because its assumed an enemy is the one that disabled it. But I don't think it is this time…"
"The Ministry will be here any moment," Mavis agreed, rising into the air so everyone could see her. "Quickly now! We must move. Charlie, set the timer so it will leave one minute from now."
"Are you sure? I mean…"
"Just do it!" Mavis glanced at him sharply, and the whole room was left momentarily stunned at how such a cheerful girl could switch into an authoritative commander in an instant flat."
"Alright," Charlie nodded and flicked his wand. "Sixty seconds and counting!?"
"How do we get into the cage?"
"There's the key to the only door," Charlie pointed to a large key hanging off the wall. "But you can't seriously be planning on…"
"Gajeel, knock him out," Mavis interrupted.
"Huh?" Charlie blinked, before he was suddenly poleaxed by Gajeel slamming him in the gut in just the right place. Charlie gasped and slumped to the floor, blacking out in a heap.
"Sorry bro," Gajeel cracked his shoulder. "First's Order."
"Everyone spread out - be ready to attack from all angles," Mavis instructed. "Happy, Charla, you get the key and unlock the door. Lisanna and Juvia with me."
Levy found herself smiling to herself as Mavis gave her instructions. "Looks like the Fairy Tactician… is back in action."
Despite their lack of knowledge of the first Master, every Fairy Tail member in the room found themselves leaping to obey. Gildarts, Gray, Gajeel, Wendy, Levy and Pantherlily rushed to stand around the cage and face outwards, readying themselves for attack while Mavis took Juvia and Lisanna to the door of the cage. And not a moment too soon, for a couple of seconds later, with a flurry of loud cracks several Aurors emerged into the room, wands at the ready.
But before any of them could rattle off a single spell each of the Fairy Tail members lashed out with their own. Gildarts sent a huge blast of white lines out from his hand that enclosed around five of the Aurors and caused them each to explode into hundreds of miniature versions of themselves, which all fell to the floor in shocked, yelling clumps.
Gray formed a layer of ice across the floor that rose up around another four to trap them inside small boxes like coffins made out of ice. Gajeel ducked down and morphed one arm into a club that he swept out in a wide arc to bowl another three over to the side, an action that was mimicked by Pantherlily swinging the flat of his sword. Wendy fired a swirling tornado from out her mouth that blasted yet another trio back against the wall and Levy formed the word MUD in the air above a few others, which caused viscous liquid to cascade down and plaster another two against the ground.
Another couple of Aurors appeared next to where Charla was taking the key off the wall, and one of those Aurors spun around to fire a Stunning spell at the white cat, which she only managed to dodge by kicking sharply away from the wall. Happy flew in and aimed himself at the Auror's gut in an attempt to headbutt him, but the other cried, "Protego!" and Happy crashed straight into the shield charm and was knocked back to the floor.
"Happy!" Charla cried, but before she could make a move a couple of red flashes of light slammed right into the backs of the two Aurors and they crumpled into unconsciousness. The two Exceed blinked and looked up to see Tonks standing not far away. The Metamorphmagus raised a finger to her lips and winked, before she turned and fired a Stunner in Levy's direction, only for it to hit the bars of the cage instead and rebound to hit another Auror in the side.
"Come on, quick!" Happy yelled as more Aurors were still Apparating into the room, and the two cats quickly weaved in and out of the conflict to the door of the cage where Mavis was waiting for them.
"Have you got that?" Mavis said as they arrived.
"Yes," Lisanna nodded.
"Juvia gets it!"
"Then quick, unlock the door," Mavis instructed the Exceed.
"But won't the birds…?" Charla asked.
"Don't worry, Charla, there's a plan. Hurry!" Lisanna cut across her. Charla moved automatically after that and inserted the key into the slot and twisted it. Lisanna seized the door of the cage and wrenched it open, but before any of the cawing Clippers could charge out she bounded straight in, her body glowing as she took on the form of a Clipper herself and spread her wings, cawing right back. She then began to use her Take-Over magic to implant suggestions in the heads of the nearest Clippers one by one to try and head to the other side of the cage. Which immediately caused a frenzy of activity as the Clippers obeyed the sudden compulsion and ended up squabbling and pushing against the other Clippers that were trying to go the other way and get out.
"Now, Juvia!" Mavis called. "Only ten seconds!"
"Right!" Juvia yelled and turned to water, splitting her liquid body into two and sweeping around the room. One by one she engulfed the other Fairy Tail members inside her, whisking them off their feet in the current she produced and then swirling back around, carrying them all as they tumbled over and over, crashing into each other and bubbles streaming from their mouths. But Juvia swept them all right through the door of the cage, which Happy and Charla closed behind them with a snap after they ducked in too.
"Three… two… one…" Mavis cried.
"Stop them, quick!" Scrimgeour's voice echoed through the room, but too late. Even though most of them were still floating inside Juvia's water, they all felt a sudden jerking sensation as if they'd been snagged by a hook and launched into the air and the world around them went blurry, then black…