Chapter 59 - The Folly of Youth

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

"Today..." A young blond boy mumbled to himself in a darkened basement. "Today's the day my plan comes together."

"Yeah, you can do it, Hammond!" A small creature behind him cheered him on. It resembled a monkey, but with a shelled, insect like appearance to it. A large thorax hung from it's back, as did a pair of insect wings. Its head resembled that of a fly, with big, red, multi-scale eyes and a tiny, toothy jaw sat just inside a small pair of mandibles. "Today's the day you make your combat debut to the others. That new guy can't be any older than you are, so it's the perfect chance to show'em what you're made of."

"Not just that..." Hammond corrected, pushing his glasses up his face. He flicked on a desk light, revealing himself to be sitting at a desk covered in tiny machine parts. Taped to the wall above that was a Polaroid picture of a bunch of guild members, one of them in particular was circled with a black marker. A redheaded girl with pigtails and glasses clutching a small dog in her arms. "It's also my best chance to impress the girl I like!"

"Amber..." Carra called to her, teasing Chico with the end of her pigtails. "Hurry up. Shelly's waiting for us."

"I'm coming!" Amber called back, unraveling the last of her bandages into a garbage bin in the bathroom.

"She's almost done." Armeria added, sitting on the bathroom tub beside her.

It'd been a little over a month since their harrowing night with Bloody Smile. Thanks to the various ointments and concoctions Jaina had given her, and Isa's constant attention, all of Amber's wounds had healed without leaving a scar. Even the slice through her palm, probably the deepest of her wounds, looked like little more than another crease in her hand now.

Another little adjustment was that Amber had finally decided it was time for a haircut. She loved her long, light blue locks of hair, but several bandits from Bloody Smile had grabbed at it to keep her under control. Whether she liked it or not, it felt that the safer option was to keep it shorter from now on. Isa had cut it to shoulder length for her, and she'd gotten a few complements on the new hairstyle already.

She'd moved back in with Axel the day after Carra stayed with her and Isa overnight, and she'd been her most frequent visitor. In fact, most of the guild was sympathetic to her and the others since coming back. Almost everyone had come by at some point to ask how she was doing and, commend her for breaking up a dark guild. Or to ask for details. Raven and Clair surprised her the most, through Clair just seemed to be accompanying her sister Bell, and all Raven did was ask Axel how many bad guys there where and then tease him for needing to be rescued.

Despite hurrying her out of bed earlier than she was use to, Carra had offered very little in terms of an explanation as to what they where doing. Every time she asked, Carra would simply shrug and say the festival coming up. Apparently, it hadn't dawned on her that Amber didn't know what that meant, but after asking for the third time and getting the same response, Amber decided to leave it alone.

They made a quick pace through town to the guild hall, Carra made sure of that by tugging on Amber's arm the entire way. It was good that she did, because the streets seemed much fuller than Amber remembered. Maybe it was all the time she'd spent indoors lately, but there seemed to be more people out and about than usual.

The guild building was much fuller than Amber could remember too, making her glad that Carra hadn't dragged her out of bed so early for nothing. Jon and Elligr sat together in the corner booth, with Elligr's booming laughter filling the air. Kat and Fiona where hanging out on the upper balcony next to Terra and Waylind, where Kat and Terra where engaged in an arm-wrestle.

"You're here." Shelly greeted them with a big smile on her face. "Are you excited?"

"Y-yeah." Amber nodded, feeling Shelly's enthusiasm. "There're a lot of people in town."

"Tourists." Rift said with a grin, rocking the chair he was sitting on back on it's hind legs. "Food stands, vendors, people selling junk. The whole city basically becomes one big street party."

Taking a quick look around, she realized her entire team was here too. Geno, and Zeke sat at a table behind them, and Axel, who was absent when Amber had woken up, had just emerged from the kitchen with a large tray of food. Even Jak was there, standing right next to Shelly like a loyal little puppy.

The doors suddenly flew open, and a determined voice filled the air. "You!" Hammond stepped forward, pointing his finger right at Jak. "I challenge you to battle!"

A silence hung over the guildhall. Judging by their faces, a sense of surprise was shared by pretty much everyone present. "Uh, Hammond? You may want to think this through a bit." Rift chuckled. "I mean, c'mon... You don't even know what magic he-."

"OK." Jak interrupted.

"What?" Shelly spun around. "No, Jak. Not OK."

"Why?" He shrugged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

The silence was broken by a slight chuckle, which seemed to come from Kat on the upper floor. "Is... Is he serious?" Geno asked, looking around at the others for confirmation. "Lad, do you really not know the answer to that?"

"Is there to be a battle!" Terra boomed, leaning over the railing in glee. "Excellent! What better way to start off a day?"

"Who's going to oversee it, though?" FIona asked, apparently looking for any reason to stop this from happening.

"I might." Jon slowly rose his hand. "I've been given a key to the building after all. And I know how to work the arena." A slight murmur filled the air, no doubt everyone was discussing whether this was a good idea or not. Paying it no heed, Jon hopped up from his seat and marched toward the back door. "Come now, we're still waiting for a few people to arrive. No point in boring ourselves."

"Ughh..." Shelly moaned, grabbing Jak's sleeve and following Jon out, "Fine... C'mon Jak."

Despite everyone seemingly still harboring doubts, one by one they all followed after them. Apparently, news of his deeds at Bloody Smile had remained on a don't ask-don't tell basis. He was there to help when needed, what more was there to share? "Should..." Zeke began, nervously staring at the back door. "Should we tell someone?"

"Naw..." Rift grinned, scratching Zeke's ears as he got up to leave. "It'll be fine. Me and Kat can probably stop them if thing's get too rough. Besides, After what you've told me, I want to see this kid in action."

With that, he too made his exit. Amber glanced at Carra, currently playing a portable video-game in the corner booth. It seemed like she couldn't be less interested in any of this if she tried. "So, what're you going to-."

"Hey..." A small voice interrupted. "Uh, Carra?"

The girls turned to see Hammond standing behind them, nervously shuffling from one foot to the other. Carra glanced at Amber first, but shrugged while saying. "Yeah?"

The young man gripped at his chest. "I-I'm… G-going to f-fighting that new g-guy right now." It seemed like the courage he'd had while making his challenge had dried right up. "Can y-you... W-would you l-like to..." His cheeks flushed red and he stared at the ground while he spoke. "Would you mind coming to w-watch me fight? Please?"

Through Hammond's stuttering, Carra slowly turned her head to the side in confusion. "Um..." She and Amber exchanged another glance. Amber wasn't sure what to say either, but Carra turned around and shrugged. "Sure?"

He gasped. "Really?"

She got out of her chair and beckoned for her dog to follow. "C'mon Chico." Chico barked in response, then followed Carra outside of the guild hall. "You too, Amber."

Setting up the Arena took around twenty minutes. Jon appeared to be having some trouble at first, and Rift offered to help. When that didn't work, Terra also joined in, who brought little more than a suggestion to just bang on the control panel and see what happened. Finally, Mace got the array working with three simple button presses.

Hammond stood in one side of the ring, watching as more people slowly trickled in from the guild hall. By Amber's guess, almost the entire guild was there to watch by now. Shelly's father and brother where absent, as was Zumma. Jaina was nowhere to be found as well, but Isa was there, so everyone felt a little better about allowing the fight to go on.

Everyone that is, except Zeke. "Seriously Jak, this is a really bad idea."

Wearing the same smile he'd warn all day, Jak waved them off. "I'll be fine, don't worry."

"It ain't you we're worried about, dumbass!" Geno shouted with a laugh.

Jon called Jak forward, who stepped into the arena just as the magic walls went up. "Are we sure this isn't going to end badly?" Axel mumbled, glancing at Amber, Shelly, and Geno. "You guys said he was kind'a... Feral."

"It should be OK." Shelly sounded confident, despite a nervous sweat breaking out over her forehead. "Jak wouldn't hurt Hammond, not on purpose."

"On purpose or not, Jak's got to be around ten times the young lad's weight when he's all scaly." Geno said with a shrug, crossing his arms. "All it'll take is one misstep and... Well, you know..." He mashed his thumb and forefinger together, an action that none of them needed an explain for. "Squish..."

"Yeah..." Shelly griped at her elbows, feeling her hair stand on end. Suddenly she took a hurried step forward and place a hand on the magic barrier. "Hey Jak! Don't turn all big and scary! OK!?"

He gave her the thumbs up, just as the sudden whine of the walls charging up filled the air. "No problem."

"Alright!" Elligr yelled, receiving a nod from Jon that they where ready to go. "Begin whenever you're ready, lads!"

Faster than anything, Hammond reached into the back pocket of his jumpsuit and produced a small, silver, old-fashioned key. He jabbed the key into the air, and twisted his hand ninety degrees. "Open, gate of the Fly: Musca!"

A magic circle appeared in the air, and from it flew out a strange, four-limbed bug creature, resembling a mix between a monkey and an insect. "Yeah, it's my turn!" The thing cried, pumping its fist into the air.

Amber starred in amazement. "What the hell is that?"

"Hammond is a Celestial Spirit Mage. He summons spirits based on the constellation from those magic keys." Shelly mumbled, rubbing the goosebumps that ran up her arms. "Why'd he have to start with that one through...? I hate bugs..."

"Go Musca!" Hammond cried with a wave of his hand. "Attack!"

"Here I come!" The thing screamed, buzzing through the air. Jak looked just as confused as everyone else, until the thing came at him that is, where he simply stepped aside and let the thing fly past him. "Wow, you're pretty fast!" The insect called back, circling around for another charge. "Let's see you do that again!" The insect continued flying at Jak, who would step out of the way at the last moment and watch it pass him with confusion. Amber didn't know how it must've looked inside the arena, but to her and everyone else, it wasn't that impressive a display. Certainly not like some of the other thing's she'd seen happen in this room before.

Finally, instead of dodging, Jak raised his hand and swatted the thing aside like a paper bag on it's next pass. The bug hit the wall with a thud, and Hammond's jaw almost hit the ground. "Bugs suck." He stated with a simply pride.

"Musca!" Hammond cried, seemingly horrified that he'd been taken down so easily.

"I'm OK Hammond." Musca got up again, but seemed a little off balance now. "Guess I need to break out the big guns." Hammond nodded and stepped back, pulling a scarf up over his mouth. Musa took to the air once again, flying high above Jak's reach. It's insect wings beat faster, and a dull orange haze began to fill the room. "Let's see you deal with this! Toxic Fog!"

The mist descended on Jak, who did nothing to get out of it's way. He held his nose with a look of disgust the moment he breathed it in, but it didn't seem to affect him. Some of the onlookers began to chuckle, and Musca, growing tired, flew down to rest on Hammond's shoulder "W-why isn't it working?" He mumbled to his spirit. "That was suppose to put him to sleep, right?"

"How's that saying go?" Rift chuckled to the others. "Morons don't get sick?"

"I don't think that applies here." Isa chuckled back.

"No mater." Hammond seemed to be jumping between confidant and regret fairly quickly, and he was on a confident part of that cycle when he produced a second key from his pocket. "Time to up my game. Open, gate of the Chameleon: Chameleon!" Another twist of the key, and this time a large Chameleon appeared. It stood upright like a human though, and wore armor on its forearms and shoulders.

It took a quick look around the arena, stopping a moment on Jak, then glanced back at Hammond. "So, you really went through with this?" It said in a lazy voice. Hammond nodded vigorously, and the spirit looked around again. "And the redhead... She's watching?"

"Yep." Hamond nodded, turning a little red in the face.

The new spirit cracked its knuckles, then put on a wide grin. "Alright then." Just as it took a fighting stance, Chameleon disappeared from sight.

Blinking a few times to make sure she'd actually seen what she'd seen, Amber tapped Shelly on the shoulder. "Does... That mean it didn't work?"

"Really Amber?" Zeke snickered in a rather condescending way. "It's a chameleon. Everyone knows chameleons can turn invisa-.”

Without warning, Jak suddenly recoiled, holding his nose in shock. "Oww... What the hell was that!?"

He recoiled again, but this time it looked like more of a dodge. He ducked, then rolled out of the way of something none of them could see. Everyone watching began to laugh as Jak danced around his side of the arena, taking hits in some places, dodging and rolling in others. After one roll in particular he landed on all fours, scanning across the ground. Amber realized what he was doing instantly, she'd seen Axel do it probably a dozen times already. He was searching for a scent!

His head snapped back, and he sprung up to grab hold of something. He spun and threw his invisible opponent over his shoulder, and the ground in front of him reverberated with a dull thud. Jak followed up with a strong kick, sending the spirit tumbling across the arena to reappear at Hamond's feet.

"Chameleon..." Hammond mumbled, a sweat breaking out over his forehead. "You too?"

"Sorry kid..." Chameleon gasped, rolling upright and clutching his stomach. "He found me out."

"T-that's OK." Hamond rested his hands on his hips, obviously trying his best not to looked rattled. A few of the onlookers laughed at his display, but he ignored them all. "I planned for this after all. There was a chance he'd be too tough to take down with just two spirits. That's why I picked today to do this." He reached into his back pocket and produced a third Key, holding it in his other hand apart from the two others he'd drawn. "After all, today is a Wednesday."

The crowd murmured in anticipation, apparently just playing along to keep Hammond from getting down on himself. Amber through, was completely lost. "Um..." She began, growing annoyed that she had to ask a question every few seconds. "What's that mean?"

"Hammond has three different spirits that he's able to summon, but each one has separate days he can summon them on." Isa explained, never taking her eyes off Jak. "Wednesday's are the only day he can summon all three at once."

"Hey guys? What was the name Hammond's third spirit again?" Asked Rift, scratching his chin in thought. "There was Musca the Fly. Chameleon the... Well, Chameleon. And the last one was..."

"Lacerta..." Shelly mumbled, covering her mouth and nervously looking down on the arena. "Uh-oh..."

"Open, gate of the Lizard: Lacerta!" Chameleon and Musca both disappeared, and in their place a massive magic circle appeared on the floor. A bright light emerged from the circle, and a large, scaly hand rose up from the ground. What followed was a massive, blue scaled lizard, but with the arms and legs of a human. Huge, curved spines rose from it's back, and its tail was so long that it brushed up against the magic barrier behind Hammond.

The creature remained still for a moment, hunched over with it's knuckles against the ground. Slowly, it gave a long yawn and stretched its arms up over it's head. "Alright..." It growled. "What's the problem, shorty?"

"W-we're in a battle." Hammond stuttered. It very quickly became evident that this spirit was a little less cooperative than his other two. "I-I n-need you to fight that guy for me."

"On man..." Rift chuckled. "Lacerta's always been a pain in the kid's ass, hasn't she?"

"She?" Amber gasped in disbelief. "That thing is a she?"

Lacerta turned her head to look over her shoulder at Jak, who eagerly looked on in anticipation. Instead of jumping into the fray however, she spun back at Hammond and began poking at him with her claw. "What, that guy? You seriously dragged me into this dumb magic box to fight that guy?" The agitation was clear in it's... In her voice. "C'mon, shorty... I've got better things to do."

Face glowing red, Hammond swatted the finger away and stomped his foot. "Will you just listen to me for once?"

The beast snorted in annoyance, crouching down and resting her elbows on her knees. Even crouched, it's head was still almost eight feet off the ground. Suddenly, her tail lashed out, swatting Jak into the barrier behind him. The crowd recoiled sharply, watching him flop back onto the ground. "There..." Lacerta mumbled. "Ya happy, shorty?"

Hammond stood stunned, concerned even, but just nodded his head. "Y-yeah... Thank-."

A bright flash blinded Amber and her friends, and when they looked back the crocodilian monster that had saved them at Bloody Smile rose from the dust. Lacerta spun around in surprise, and a massive grin flashed across her face "Wow... Where did you come from?" She glanced back at Hammond, who flattened himself against the back wall of the arena. "You didn't tell me he could do that, shorty. I take it back, nice find!" She violently cracked her knuckles, and crouched low to the ground in preparation to strike. "C'mon, big boy! Let's see what you got!"

Jak growled, and the two reptiles lept at each other. A flurry of fists, scales, and tails filled the arena, each combatant crashing into the barrier surrounding the arena with each strike. The crowd roared, cheering the two of them on. Amber meanwhile, standing next to Isa, saw her clasp her hand over her mouth. "Oh-no... I forgot he could do that..." Everyone looked at her in surprise, how had she managed to forget something like this? "I hope Hammond will be ok..."

Huddled in the corner of the ring, trying to make himself as small as possible, Hammed had began beating on the magic wall. "Help!" He screamed, reaching out to Jon standing behind the control panel. "Get me out of here!"

The match was over. Thirty seconds of reptilian fury had produced no clear winner, and Jon decided to call the match off. On Hammond's command, Lacerta disappeared just as Jak threw a wide punch, sending him off balance and crashing to the ground. With no opponent to fight, he quickly lost interest in the match and reverted to a human at the first request. People gathered around Hammond the second the walls where down, but apart from the shock, he was unharmed.

Everyone ignored Jak as he stepped out of the arena. Except for Shelly that is, who waited for him with her hands on her hips disapprovingly. "Jak, I thought I told you not to do that."

Jak stopped dead. "Do what?"

"Turn into your crocodile form." She huffed, puffing out her cheeks and crossing her arms. "I said don't turn all big and scary."

"Oh..." He quickly glanced back at the arena, then at Shelly. He seemed to be having trouble figuring out where he went wrong, but it finally came to him after glancing at the arena again. "Oooooohhh... I thought you said big and hairy. Like the ape one or the bat one." Shelly's arms dropped, and her mouth hung open in disbelief. Nobody knew what to say as Jak began scratching the back of his head. "My bad, guys."

"Ghahahahahaha!" Rift burst out laughing, as did Geno and Zeke. Nobody paid them any mind, but there was no doubt that they didn't hear them. "You... You can't be-."

"Why would I say that?" Shelly said defensively, sounding like this was her fault.

"I dunno'. I just went along with it." Jak shrugged.

The guys only laughed harder. Zeke was rolling around on the ground with tears in his eyes, while Geno seemed to be doubled over in pain. Rift remained on his feet, but only because he'd braced himself on a chair. He looked like he was hurting as well, and couldn't catch his breath. "Oh man... This is the guy who saved your asses." He said, glancing at Axel and Amber. His laughing fit continued, and he wiped a tear from behind his shades. "You are such a dumbass!"

Next Chapter – Chapter 60 - Luck of the Draw