Lucy's POV

I couldn't believe that Freed and Levy's trap had been so effortlessly rewritten and discarded. When the princess with the quill feather had negated the enchantment in almost an instant, a sinking feeling seemed to surround me. But Natsu was pushing his way towards Gray, who was trying to attack the King without success, thanks to a tall woman with black hair and decked out with a combination of leather mini dress and leather thigh high boots creating a wall of lava that melted his icicles.

I followed after Natsu, pushing my way through the crowds and getting knocked back by the force of the sealing stone on Phaedra being destroyed. Anger and disgust consumed me as I watched the King touch Phaedra's chest with his ring, infecting her with his enslavement magic again and causing the tattoo on her chest to become even more vibrant. I reached for my whip to punish the horrid scoundrel when he kissed Phaedra, but a wall of boiling hot lava burst into existence in front of all of us and I stumbled several steps back from the intense heat. Blinking as the heat vanished, I looked over to see that Natsu had stood his ground, but his mouth was twisted into a livid frown as he glared at the woman who had conjured the lava.

"Take care of them, miz bellaz. There iz lotz of planning to do," the King said while slipping a hand around Phaedra's bare waist and splaying a hand across the scarred words on her stomach that read "YOU ARE MINE". All of the women standing slightly behind the king immediately stepped forward, creating a human shield in front of King Hizeah and Phaedra. My eyes flicked across the line of women and it felt like their magical energy was a physical weight trying to push me to my knees.

I clenched my whip handle firmly in my hand, gritting my teeth as I tried to ignore the immense power washing towards us. Without warning, one of the women levitated herself and zoomed towards us with her fists out. Before she had a chance to reach us though, Mest appeared in front of her, landing a swift kick to her stomach before teleporting away.

I flinched as thick threads suddenly zoomed out, wrapping Gajeel up like a mummy and I watched in shock as one of the princesses with dark skin leaped through the air, dragging Gajeel's squirming body behind he as she soared towards a different part of the city. Levy and Lily immediately tried to go after Gajeel, but another dark skinned woman who looked almost exactly like the one that had just kidnapped Gajeel clapped her hands, sending a blast of energy towards Levy and Lily and blasting them off in another direction over the tops of the small houses surrounding the main square.

"Levy!" I cried out in shock as the other princesses began to single out their opponents. Fear and worry gripped me as I began to run in the direction Levy had been blasted to, but something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention.

One of only two princesses that had her hair cut short was standing off to the side of the mage that used lava as Natsu sent several fiery attacks her way, with seemingly no effect. A golden gleam sparkled from her right hand and my eyes widened as I realized that she was holding what looked like a celestial key in her hand. Closing my eyes briefly, just long enough to send a prayer to whoever was listening to watch over Levy and all of my friends, I turned my attention to the Celestial Mage and began running towards her.

"Open, Gate of the Viper. Vibora!" the woman said firmly, reaching out the golden key in front of her. I grit my teeth as a familiar blue portal opened up and a woosh of magical energy rushed through it.

I reached for my own pouch of keys as a huge serpent with the torso and head of a man slithered through the portal and rose itself up in front of the short-haired princess. The skin of the snake portion of the spirit was jet black with mottled shades of vibrant orange and white scales mixed in. The human looking portion of its uncovered torso was a pale brown color, his hair was black like his snake skin, and I could see his eyes were the same orange color as the patches on his tail.

"Kill him," the princess said with indifference in her voice as she pointed at Natsu, who looked to be preparing a Roar of the Fire Dragon attack.

"Asssss you wish, missstressss," the spirit said, coiling its tail tightly in preparation to pounce.

"No you don't!" I yelled, selecting a key and leaping to put myself in between the strange spirit and Natsu. "Open, Gate of the Bull. Taurus!"

The portal burst into existence in front of me. I saw the spirit recoil with a snake-like hiss as the familiar doorbell rang out and out came Taurus with his ginormous double-sided battle axe.

"MOOOOO-AH!" Taurus called out, striking a pose as he landed in front of me.

"What is this beast?" the princess asked with a look of disgust as she gave Taurus a disapproving glare. "Vibora, get him out of my sight."

"With pleasssssure," the spirit said, seeming to have gotten over his shock. I yelped as the spirit shot forward, faster than I could hardly believe, towards Taurus.

"Nobody touches my Lucy's nice body!" Taurus yelled, swinging his battle axe towards the attacking serpent. Vibora ducked agilely underneath the attack, wrapping his tail up and around Taurus's battle axe and rearing over him with a gleam in his orange eyes. His canine teeth elongated into large, purple spikes which he plunged into Taurus's shoulder, causing him to roar in pain.

"Taurus!" I called out in alarm. Inside I cursed at myself, wondering why I hadn't taken the time to call Grandpa Crux again and get more information about the Prektian golden keys when I had the chance. But there was nothing I could do about that now, so I reached for another key. Hoping that I could match speed against speed, I flung the key out in front of me.

"Open, Gate of the Crab. Cancer!" I called out. Another portal opened and I was surprised at how little magic power it drained of me to have summoned two spirits at once. I remembered back when I could barely hold two gates open for a minute at a time, but ever since I had begun training with Star Dress my magic had seemed to blossom.

"Oh, two gatez at onze? Thiz might be interezting after all," the princess who summoned Vibora said with a frown that seemed to show more boredom than anything else. "Open, Gate of the Tortoize. Tortuga!"

Another gate burst open and as Cancer rushed to help Taurus, I felt slightly confused as I blinked at the spirit that the princess had just called. It was a large, wrinkly, green turtle that stood on its hind legs and was about as tall as my waist. It was wearing spectacles and had crazily bushy white eyebrows that seemed to float above its eyes.

"Mah mah. Ready to assist, Princess Dashti. Mah mah," the old turtle said with a strange smacking of his lips.

"Eradicate them," Princess Dashti said, waving a hand towards Taurus, Cancer, and Vibora.

"Mah mah. Starting analysis," the old turtle spirit said before he suddenly shrunk back into his shell, disappearing from view. I had no idea what that spirit was doing, but I turned my attention back to my spirits. Taurus, even with the purple spikes impaling his shoulder, was desperately trying to toss Vibora off of him.

"Time for a new look, shrimp," Cancer said, wielding his scissors as he leapt towards the two struggling spirits. He landed on Vibora's back and I couldn't help but facepalm when he actually began cutting the spirit's hair. I was just about to yell at him to be more useful, when Vibora's magic fangs suddenly disappeared and he shrieked, tossing Taurus away from him and onto the ground.

"You dare touch my hair!" Vibora roared, rearing up until his torso was nearly eleven feet in the air, glaring down at Cancer with glowing orange eyes. "I will not forget thissssss!"

"Shrimp," Cancer said in his deep voice, looking up at the ticked off serpent spirit before turning around and taking off as fast as he could.

Vibora streaked down towards Cancer, shooting globs of purple liquid out of his magic fangs. Cancer used his speed to dodge the attacks and I gasped in shock when the liquid hit the ground and began to melt through the stone covering the ground. As Cancer dodged, Vibora didn't realize that he was being led into a trap and as he continued chasing Cancer Taurus rose up from the ground. I gasped when I saw that his shoulder seemed to be disintegrating before my eyes, but he still somehow had the strength to pull back his axe with a battle cry, aiming straight for Vibora's snake-like body.

"Analysis complete, mah mah!"

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the old turtle pop out of his shell for a second but his head was no longer that of a turtles. Instead, it had morphed into the shape of a giant cannon! With a huge bang, a blast of green energy rushed from the turtlegun, spearing through all three of the celestial spirits just before Taurus could land his blow.

"Lucy..." Taurus groaned before disappearing.

"I will not forget thissssssss," Vibora's dying shriek faded out, his hands still reaching for Cancer as he too disappeared. I turned to look at Dashti in shock as the spirit that had appeared to be a canon a moment ago morphed back into his turtle head and sat down on the ground, looking exhausted.

"Well done. Cloze gate," Dashti said, waving the Tortoise Gate key and causing the turtle to disappear.

"Why did you do that? You hurt your own spirit!" I yelled, remembering back to the time I had fought against Angel and she had used a similar tactic.

"Vibora lozt hiz head. He should have known to dodge," Dashti said with an uncaring hmph, before selecting another key. "You will regret fazing me, little Ishgarian."

"I doubt it," I said firmly, reaching for my own key pouch as my eyes narrowed angrily at her. Any celestial mage that would hurt their own spirit in order to deal damage to their opponent wasn't worthy to call themselves a Celestial Mage.

"Open, Gate of the Hidden One. Kameleon!"

My hand hovered over my keys in indecision as a small humanoid spirit appeared in front of Dashti. It appeared to be male, but it was wrapped in a large green cloak with a brown scarf that almost looked like a strange tail wrapping around his neck and then dangling down his back. The rare patches of skin that were not covered by the large hooded cloak were dark brown and scaly like a lizards. As I was taking in the spirits appearance I blinked in surprise when Dashti pointed the key towards her own chest.

"Star Dress commenze, Kameleon Form." My eyes widened as Dashti's stunning floor-length gown transformed and she was suddenly wearing a similar green cloak that shrouded her features. She reached up and pulled the hood down, covering her eyes, and I gasped when both she and Kameleon vanished from sight.

Suddenly something slammed into my side and I cried out, barely catching myself and landing in a squatting position as I slid along the ground. Growling frustratedly I stood up, only to be punched in the stomach by what felt like a wooden staff. With a gasp, I grabbed for a key, hoping that this would work.

"Open, Gate of the Goat. Capricorn!" As the portal opened and Capricorn dressed in his butler outfit jumped through, I turned the key towards myself and hoped that this would work. "Star Dress, Capricorn Form!"

Ironically, my cape disappeared, replaced with a black and purple gown that had large slits up the sides of my legs and I felt a pair of goats horns sprout on top of my head. Most importantly though, a pair of black sunglasses appeared on the bridge of my nose.

"Lady Lucy!" Capricorn yelled and I felt his strong arms lift me off my feet. He jumped up just as a small explosion rang out, ripping a hole in the ground where I had been standing moments ago.

"Thank you, Capricorn," I said, pushing the sunglasses back into place and looking down at the ground. I grinned when a hazy outline of Dashti and her celestial spirit became visible and I pointed at them.

"You go for the celestial spirit, I'll take the princess," I said urgently.

Capricorn landed back on the ground, deposited me gently on my feet, and then immediately ran towards the somewhat hazy outline of the celestial spirit. I unclipped my whip from my hip and launched it towards Dashti's outline. She zoomed to the left, avoiding the strike and I was amazed at her speed.

Setting myself into a defensive position, I waited for her to run towards me. Hoping that I would remember my training with Leo and Capricorn in martial arts, I kicked out swiftly as Dashti approached me. To my shock, it actually connected with her shoulder, although the force of slamming into her at such a high velocity was enough to throw me backwards as well. I recovered quickly though and sent my whip flying out towards her once again.

"How can you zee me, you pezt?" she growled in frustration as she dodged my whip one more time.

"Don't underestimate Fairy Tail Mages!" I growled at her, once again sending my whip towards her.

She ducked under it though and ran towards me, punching me several times in the stomach before kicking me in the side. The kick sent me shooting towards of one of the small huts on the outskirts of the main square. I slammed into the door and heard several cries of fright from the other side. There was no time to apologize though, because Dashti was on her way.

I stumbled to my feet, pulling back my arm to try again to strike her with my whip, when suddenly the princess's cloak winked out of existence, and her speed returned to normal. She stumbled, nearly falling on her face from the loss of power and we both turned to see Capricorn standing with his hoofed foot on Kameleon's stomach as the spirit began to twinkle and fade back to the Spirit World.

"Pathetic," Dashti growled as she glared at her spirit fading away. I flung out my whip towards her, but she nimbly leaped back and out of reach of the tip. Capricorn began running to my aid but Dashti reached for another of her keys.

"Open, Gate of the Wolf. Iobo!"

I ran towards Dashti, preparing to strike her before she could call her next spirit, but the portal opened almost instantaneously and I found myself face to face with a woman spirit. She looked like a normal girl, except that she had large pointed ears poking out from her black and gray hair. The spirit had two different colored eyes, one was blue and the other was yellow, and she had a large gray wolf tail sprouting from the base of her back. She was dressed in a militaristic outfit in shades of blue and gray and she seemed unfazed to see me so close to her.

"Luna Beam," the woman said quietly, reaching out and grabbing my face in one of her gloved hands.

I could feel power welling in her palm and for a brief moment wondered if this was going to be the end, but then strong arms wrapped around my waist and twisted, pulling me against a rock hard body as Capricorn and I were blasted back by the power of Dashti's spirit. As he flew through the air I could feel my star dress disappearing and Capricorn held me tightly.

"I'm sorry, my lady," he whispered, before fading back into the spirit world as I crashed to the ground. Tears threatened to well in my eyes as I realized that Capricorn had sacrificed himself to save me, but I didn't have time to dwell on it. I swiftly reached for my next key as anger boiled inside of me.

"Open, Gate of the Lion. Leo!"

As Loke appeared from the portal I quickly jumped to my feet, looking over to see that Dashti had already changed into her star dress. She now was sporting wolf ears of her own and was wearing an outfit almost identical to her spirits. A yell of pain sounded from behind me that sounded like Erza, and I wished I could turn to see if she was okay, but the spirit Iobo was charging up another attack and Loke was standing protectively in front of me.

"This is trouble, Lucy," Loke said without any preamble or attempts at flirtation, which just went to show how serious the situation was. "Iobo is the leader of the Prektian Golden Keys and she's one of the only spirits that could defeat me. I'll distract her, but if you have enough magic to bring in some backup that would be best," he said before holding out his hands, igniting his Regulus power and zooming forward. I quickly pulled out another key, hoping that it would be the right choice. I could feel my magic slowly starting to take a hit from so many summonings back to back.

"I'm not going down without a fight!" I growled, glaring at Dashti and her unfeeling expression. You messed with the wrong Celestial Mage!"

A/N Ahem. Sorry to stop in the middle of a battle. Since Lucy has all of her spirits it takes a little longer to describe her battle. I will try to keep everyone's battles within a chapter though in the future. Sorry about that!