Chapter 2: The Shellshocker

Chapter 2: The Shellshocker

At Kit's insistence, Pierce was up early the next morning and headed to the guild hall. The unfortunate yokai had suffered a long, sleepless night at the hands of his own Celestial paranoia, and was eager to get a move on.

And, unfortunately, he wasn't the only one. "It's about time you got here. What took you?" Hare demanded as soon as Pierce walked through the doors.

"It's the crack of dawn, and I'm already early. Thanks to a certain paranoid yokai," Pierce complained.

"Get something to eat. As soon as Boomer gets here, we're leaving," Hare declared, holding up a job flyer.

"And we're leaving so early why? The, uh, Shellshocker will still be there in the afternoon," Pierce read, reading the flyer. The job request stated that a bandit calling themself the Shellshocker had set up camp near one of the most commonly used trading routes in Fiore and orchestrating hit-and-run attacks on every merchant they saw. Several reports indicated that the so-called 'Shellshocker' used some kind of machinery, most likely some kind of magic-mobile, and the job specifically requested that a team of at least three wizards be dispatched to deal with it.

"I would take this job by myself, but the job requires three wizards, and it appears that you two's sorry hides are my best options for a team," Hare spat the word out like an insult.

"Uh, you know, Kit counts as a wizard. No need to drag Boomer into this," Pierce suggested.

Hare laughed in derision. "And do you think anyone'll take me seriously if I turn up with a talking fox ghost in tow? I'd get laughed out of town. And no one laughs at me," she glowered.

"Okay, we'll wait for Boomer," Pierce gulped.

"Good. Get some breakfast, this'll be your only chance,"

The Beast Tamer immediately rushed to the bar and began ordering, thanking the Yokai King that Sarah was already at the guild hall, to open it at five in the morning. The chefs weren't in yet, but the faithful bartender didn't mind whipping him up something.

"Can you make that a double helping? I plan to save something for Boomer," Pierce requested.

"Don't I get to eat?" Kit complained.

"Maybe when you actually have a stomach to digest food, you will. As in, never," Pierce shook his head.

"Selfish human," the ethereal white fox growled. Sarah affectionately petted him,

making sure not to carelessly pass her hand through his head, as she began to cook up a pair of bacon and egg sandwiches.

"Hey. You can't talk to me like that, I'm your master," the wizard joked with a wry grin.

"Like you'd ever actually use that flute on me," Kit shook his head, uninpressed.

An hour later, Boomer staggered in. "I got a note saying to be here early, what's this all about, Pierce?"

That was when Hare loomed out of the shadows cast by the door, blocking his escape. "We're leaving, now. Come on, Pierce," she demanded, grasping the collar of Boomer's yellow shirt and dragging him out of the door. Knowing he couldn't abandon Boomer to this fate, and, more to the point, that Hare would come after him if he didn't follow, Pierce sighed, scooped up the sandwich he had saved for Boomer, beckoned to Kit to follow him and went after them.

~P's E~

"So, why us? There's loads of wizards who are surely better choices than us in the guild," Pierce questioned from his seat in the train booth.

"Yeah, dudette. What's the deal?" Boomer agreed, sitting next to him.

"Well, all the better options were either busy or 'above me'. How could someone be above me?!" Hare fumed in her seat opposite the boys.

"Think the fact that she's a psychopath has anything to do with it?" Kit whispered in Pierce's ear.

"Shut up, she'll hear you," Pierce replied from the corner of his mouth.

"But regardless. I assume you have studied the assignment?"

"How would we have? I first heard about it when you dragged me onto the train!" the Sound wizard protested.

Hare ignored him and shook his head. "There is a bandit named Shellshocker, who seems to operate using some kind of magic-mobile, plaguing travellers on one of the smaller roads leading to Croacus. It's our job to capture him. I'd be taking the job myself, but apparently for some reason the job mandates at least three people," she growled.

"And we're the unlucky accomplices," Boomer groaned. "You couldn't have let me get breakfast?"

"Well, I got Sarah to make you a sandwich," Pierce offered.

The portly wizard grinned. "Ooh, gimme!"

~P's E~

The train arrived in Croacus, and Hare wasted no time dragging her team to a car rental service. "Alright," she declared, standing outside the gate. Pierce and Boomer lay at her feet, exhausted. "The plan is that we rent a magic-mobile from this pile of scrap, hightail it to Highway 35 and take a nice, leisurely cruise down the road,"

Pierce blinked. 'Leisurely' was not a word get he associated with Hare. He inquisitively inquired into this specification.

"We need to look tempting. Too good a target for the Shellshocker to pass up. If we go rattling down the highway at top speed he probably won't even be able to keep up! And I won't accept any failures like that, understand?!" Hare demanded, clenching her fist. "Forwards march!" With that, she stormed into the rental outlet.

"Ah, welcome, young lady. Are you looking to rent or purchase a vehicle? Because I can offer you some very good dea - erk!" The unfortunate shopkeeper, in the middle of offering the wizard his sales pitch, was unfortunately cut off by her seizing his collar and lifting him bodily into the air. "Where is your most unsuspicious-looking car and how much are you going to charge me to rent it for the day?"

The man gulped. "Uh, unsuspicious-looking? That's a pretty vague description, would you mind being a litt-"

"I'm not hearing an answer!" Hare barked.

"R-right this way, ma'am. I think I know what you're looking for,"

The unfortunate man guided his assailant to a slightly rusty green car in the corner. "Very unsuspicious-looking, in my opinion. And it's your colour, too!" he weakly suggested.

The kimono-clad woman regarded it, unimpressed. "I suppose it'll do. How much to rent it for for the day?"

"For you, just five thousand jewels," the man replied, hastily snatching away the sign marked '$8,000/day' on the windscreen. "Really?" Hare glared.

"Does four thousand work?"

"Fine," she snorted, taking out her purse and removing a quartet of $1,000 bills. "Alright, you two slackers! Time to get moving!" she declared, bundling Pierce and Boomer, yokai and boombox in tow respectively, into the back of the car.

"I wish you two the best of luck," the shopkeeper whispered as Hare climbed into the front seat, attached the SE plug to her wrist and started the vehicle.

It tore away at once, ricocheting off a nearby truck and carving a fresh dent into its side, before hurtling out through the gate. The man watched them go in dismay. "Well, at least it wasn't Fairy Tail," he sighed. "I just wish I had the nerve to ask her for reparations,"

~P's E~

Pierce heaved himself to the window and pushed his head out, his cheeks swollen. "What's the deal, man? I've never known you to get motion-sickness," Boomer questioned as a slick of vomit emerged from Pierce's mouth.

"Normally, I don't. But with Hare driving?" the Tamer moaned, cutting himself off as another trail of puke emerged from his mouth.

"Fair enough. Luckily, I have an iron stomach," Boomer weakly bragged.

"Kind of makes me glad I don't have a stomach at all," Kit noted from his perch on the window. The magic-mobile suddenly bucked, rising onto two wheels as it took a turn on a dime, sending the yokai flying back into the compartment.

"Stomach of iron, stomach of iron," Boomer repeated the phrase to himself like a mantra.

In the distance behind them, someone smiled. "Paydirt,"

The first the Phoenix's Eye wizards heard of this was when one of the car's back wheels spontaneously blew out, coming free of its axle and spinning off the road. "Pull over! Now!" a voice demanded.

Hare, smiling to herself, obeyed, guiding the damaged vehicle to a halt and getting out of the driver's seat. "Who's there?" she demanded.

A feminine figure wearing a silver and blue metal helmet, and covered head to toe in a matching robe, appeared in the treeline, walking out. "Thanks for not running. I'd hate to have to catch up,"

"You're that bandit. The Shellshocker," Hare questioned.

"That's me. Hello," the person bobbed her head in recognition. "Now, you're going to give me everything you have, and I'm going to let you live,"

"That's what you think," Hare shook her head.

Boomer pressed his head to the glass. "Here it comes. Hare's Speed magic. It lets her move faster than blinking. Combine that with her martial arts mastery, and most opponents are on their knees before they know what hit them," he narrated.

"Yeah, I know," Pierce replied.

Hare smirked and vanished, blurring towards their opponent - and suddenly she was sent flying backwards. The Beast Tamer and Sound wizards gasped, seeing that Shellshocker had thrown a punch in her direction - and, midway through the punch, her arm had metamorphosed into a giant silver club, with a piston that had delivered the stunning blow. "What, some paltry magic? Pathetic. Nothing can stand up to my TechType magic,"

"What is that? Some kind of Take-Over?" Boomer whispered.

"Whatever it is, Hare can't beat it by herself. Let's go," Pierce retorted, climbing over Boomer and pushing the door open. He Requipped his flute, and pressed it to his lips.

"Unless that's Zeref's Lullaby thing, I can't see how a piece of wood will help you," Shellshocker buffed. "But if you really want to play for me -" She cut herself off as a portal opened at the end of the flute, expelling something a lot more threatening than music.

Amid a torrent of fire, Raya emerged. Beating her wings, the phoenix glared down at their opponent. "Good morning, Pierce," she smiled.

"Hey, I want a piece of the action too!" Boomer shouted, emerging from the car. "Use your sound magic to speed Raya up," Pierce suggested. "Like I'm gonna listen to you. Sonic Boom!" Boomer shouted, and a wave of sound flew from the boombox he was carrying, physically throwing Shellshocker back.

Seconds before the torrent of fire Raya launched from her beak could torch their adversary, causing her to miss entirely. "Hey!" both wizard and monster complained.

"You would have missed anyway," Boomer denied.

"Where's Kit when you need him?" Pierce moaned, knowing that the yokai would be far better than either him or Raya at tearing into their comrade for this latest blunder.

"This is a joke, surely. TechType: Gatling Gun!" The girl's left arm transformed into a silver machine gun encased with blue playing, and, supporting it with her right arm, she lifted it and fired into the sky. Raya moved, soaring into the air to dodge the hail of bullets.

"She's open! Sonic Boom!" Boomer declared, blasting a wave of noise.

"TechType: Force Field!" Shellshocker retorted, transforming her right arm into a glowing shield emitter. A magical plasma shield erupted around her, deflecting Boomer's attack. "No way!" he gasped.

"Stand still, you dumb bird," the bandit huffed, her stream of bullets chasing Raya across the sky.

"How strong do you think that force field Is?" Pierce questioned.

"Hare could probably break it," Boomer suggested.

"If she weren't out cold," the Beast Tamer wizard pointed out, gesturing to their unconscious leader.

"Well, we could wake her up," his teammate continued his train of thought.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Pierce demanded.

"Good point," the black-haired wizard sighed.

Raya swooped overhead, chased by a hail of bullets. "Starting to get tired up here!" she called.

"We're working on it!" her wizard snapped irritably. "I can't summon anyone else while you're out here, remember? And we can't break the force field. And if I call you back, then Shellshocker will turn her gun on us before I can summon someone else,"

"But she can't do that as long as your bird is around, because turning the gun away from her will give the bird the opportunity to break the force field and roast Shellshocker," Boomer reasoned.

"'The bird' has a name," Pierce frowned. "But I see your point. It's a stalemate,"

"I think I can shield us from her for about half a minute," the Sound wizard offered. "I've been working on a new technique,"

"Do it," Pierce nodded, raising his flute.

"Sonic Shield!" Boomer laid the boombox face-up on the floor in front of them and channelled magic energy into it. It burst to life, throwing up a wall of vibrating air. Seeing that it was working, Pierce began to play, sucking Raya back into the inside of the flute. "Hurry things up," Boomer requested, still crouched behind the boombox.

Pierce started a new tune, ripping open a portal with his flute. "Any time now," Boomer requested.

"Sorry," Pierce said between notes. "She's," "A," "Bit," "Shy,"

But finally, a great, heaving mass emerged - and continued to emerge, long, sinuous tentacles extending in every direction, and a massive, arrowhead-like body following the eight appendages.

The gunfire died, Shellshocker stepping back in shock at the summoned monster. "What the hell is that?"

Boomer gasped. "Right . . . forgot you had one of those," he nodded frantically as his sound shield died.

The monster, revealing a single, massive eye on either side of its body, reared up, flexing ts eight tentacles menacingly - and took one look at Shellshocker before scrambling away, fruitlessly trying to hide behind the Beast Tamer wizard. "She's scary," the kraken bleated from the beak on the side of her body. Or, rather, the beak was on the front and the eyes were on the sides.

Pierce reassuringly patted the baby cephalopod. "Don't worry, Inky. You'll be alright, I'm right here,"

An inquisitive tentacle wrapped around his arm, and he gently patted it. "It's alright, it's alright," he soothed the kraken.

The Shellshocker cocked her head inquisitively. "What exactly is going on?"

"Inky's a baby kraken. She's a bit shy, but - oh, whoa, we're going up, are we?" Pierce frowned as a tentacle wrapped around him, lifting him up and depositing him on top of Inky's head. "It's okay?" she chirped, leaning her head backwards to make sure that Pierce had purchase.

"It's okay. Now, see that girl over there? She's a meanie, and she needs to be punished. Like we practised," the Tamer coaxed his friend.

"Okay!" the kraken chirped, lashing out with her tentacles. Shellshocker gulped. Kraken were some of the most dangerous creatures out there. How had this wizard managed to get one for a pet? And now she was facing it down . . . poop.

A single blow destroyed her force field, her right arm changing back into flesh. She fired the gun that was her left arm, but the bullets pinged off the beast's thick flesh ineffectually.

"TechType: Tectonics!" Both of her arms transformed into silver clubs containing drilling pneumatics, and she flung them forwards. Each one was caught by two tentacles apiece, but another couple lashed out and caught her legs, lifting her into the air. As much as Shellshocker struggled, she couldn't get free.

"Good girl," Pierce smiled, sliding down from Inky's head and walking towards their assailant. "Now, let's see who's behind the mask," he decided, climbing onto one of his friend's tentacles to reach and taking a grip on the metal faceplate of the bandit.

But no matter how hard he pulled, it wouldn't budge. "Please stop," Shellshocker requested.

"Why? I want to see your face," Pierce continued.

"It's not a mask. It's TechType: Helmet. A spell," the blue-haired bandit testily informed him.

"Right. So, you gonna ditch it?" Pierce requested.

Shellshocker spent another moment struggling, before giving up. "Fine," she sighed, and her mask vanished, revealing a tawny brown face with blue eyes.

The Tamer blinked in surprise. "Huh. You're -"

"An immigrant. I know," Shellshocker sighed, looking down. Pierce had been going to finish the sentence with 'very pretty,' but decided not to interrupt. She spotted the guild mark tattooed on his hand. "You're a guild wizard. What's that like for you?" she asked.

"It's awesome," he replied, stepping down. "If I get Inky to let you go, will you keep fighting?" he questioned.

"No. You beat me. I guess it's prison for me now," Shellshocker sighed.

"Maybe. Why are you doing this? Robbing people?" Pierce asked.

"Because I don't have much choice. I'm an immigrant. Everyone just sees me as lazy, mean and good-for-nothing. I can't even get a job anywhere. If they're only gonna see me as a criminal waiting to make a move, then there's no point in trying to be any different," Shellshocker sighed.

"Well, did you try joining a guild?" Pierce suggested.

"Like, a wizard's guild? As if they'd want me any more than anyone else on this sorry continent," she snorted in response.

"Well, miss Shellshocker, you never know," Pierce shrugged. "Phoenix's Eye is a pretty diverse place. I'm sure we'd have a place for someone like you. You should stop by Magnolia sometime,"

"Ahem," Boomer interrupted. "This is all good and well, but she's still a criminal, and we still need to bring her in," he pointed out.

Pierce paused, climbing down. "You're right. I suppose we do, don't we?" Requipping his flute again, he played a quick tune. "See ya!" Inky waved, before vanishing back into the flute.

"I mean, it would be so very unfortunate if the bandit Shellshocker were to disappear into the forest after we wizards defeated her. And I'm certain that people would be extremely upset if no one were to hear from the Shellshocker ever again. And maybe if, a few days later, a mysterious girl who bears a passing resemblance to the missing bandit were to arrive at the Phoenix's Eye guild and apply for membership, it could easily be disregarded as mere coincidence. Indeed, were the wizards tasked with capturing the Shellshocker to claim that they accidentally inflicted a fatal wound, and there's no possible way that the Shellshocker could have survived for more than a couple of days, then, well, that would be that, wouldn't it?" the Beast Tamer shrugged.

"You . . really? But there's no way you'd get paid after that," Shellshocker blinked, steadying herself after being dropped.

"There's more to being a guild wizard than just getting paid, right?" Boomer shook his head. "After all, it's not like there's any shortage of jobs,"

"I . . . I . . thank you," Shellshocker nodded. "I'm half convinced that this is a dream and I'm just unconscious after being knocked out by one of your attacks, heh," she admitted.

"Nah. My music would have woken you up if that were the case," the sound wizard shrugged.

"I guess you're right. Well, I suppose I'll be seeing you," Shellshocker nodded. "Into the trees I vanish, mortal injury in tow, heh," Win that, she turned and ran into the trees, quickly vanishing among the shrubbery.

Watching her go, Pierce played a ditty on his flute and Kit emerged once more. "So, what did I miss?" he asked.

"Tell ya on the way back," his wizard shrugged. "For now," He looked at the beaten-up magic-mobile, which had taken several stray shots from both Shellshocker and Inky. "We're gonna need you to possess the car. That's the only way it'll drive,"

"What are we doing about her?" Boomer asked, gesturing at Hare's unconscious body.

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot her," Pierce nodded. "Eh, let her stew. She'll get back to the guild eventually, and we'll just have to save some of the reward money for her. If we get any,"

"You know she won't like this, that we aren't bringing the bandit in," Boomer warned him. "Especially since we're inviting her to join the guild instead,"

Pierce chuckled. "Who says we're gonna tell her?" he asked.

~P's E~

Three days later, Pierce and Kit were having lunch in the Phoenix's Eye guild hall when a slightly familiar face walked in through the open doors. The entire guild paused as a brown-skinned girl, wearing a blue vest and silver trousers that left her arms bare, with blue hair done into a ponytail, calmly walked straight through the entire guild hall, stopping at the bar. "Excuse me?" she asked, waving to get Sarah's attention. The non-wizard waitress moved over. "Hello. How can I help you?" she smiled.

"I have it on good authority that this is a wizarding guild. Is that right?" she questioned.

"Yeah, it is. Why?" Sarah replied.

The girl took a breath to compose herself. "My name's Tyria Zechtian. I'd like to apply to join the guild,"

~P's E~

It's time for Doctor Kit's Documentaries on Phoenix's Eye!

"Welcome back to another episode of DK's Ds!" Kit grinned. "Today, I'll be telling you about Shellshocker, or, as her real name is, Tyria!"

"Tyria is a user of TechType magic, a very new and, currently at least, rarely seen kind of magic. It involves temporarily changing the body of the user into various kinds of combat machinery, such as guns, force field generators, and even things like jetpacks and bikes," Kit explained, showing clips of Tyria using her TechType magic.

"Tyria's also not a native of Fiore, instead she hails from one of the other continents of Earth Land, and immigrated, kind of like Bisca in canon. You can tell this by the way that her skin is sort of browny-black-ish, instead of the usual beige-yellow white of normal people skin," he continued.

"Well, that's all for now. I might follow this up as we find out more about the mysterious newcomer Tyria,"

A/N

A/N

And I decided to post the first two chapters at the same time. Like it? ^^

So, the weird way my mind works is that each of the main-focus characters in Phoenix's Eye is an 'equivalent' to the canon main heroes. Pierce = Natsu, Boomer = Gray, Hare = Erza, Kit = Happy and new addition Tyria = Lucy. Not to say that these characters are necessarily supposed to be reminiscent of their Fairy Tail equivalents, of course. There's plenty of originality in my characters, not to mention the inevitable counterpart to Wendy (who, FYI, is not Eve).

Especially since, by virtue of living in the same city, they're all bound to run into Fairy Tail sooner or later. The climax of the Phantom Lord arc and the entirety of the Battle of Fairies and Phoenixes and Oracion Och arcs in particular. XD

Anyhoos. Peace!