“You guys okay back there!?” Chen calls out to his friends following him into the middle of the corn field.

“Yeah!” Tai calls back.

“What?” Baekhyun shouts, unable to hear through the heavy rain.

The three of them are well soaked through their clothes and the storm only seems to be getting stronger. The soil has already gotten somewhat muddy and hard to walk through, and Baekhyun is having a hard time hiking through the corn rows as his feet keep sinking into the ground. Even Tai, who’s usually light on her toes, finds it hard to jump around without solid flooring. The three continue towards the center of the field underneath the eye of the storm.

Chen stops, looking straight up to his zenith, as if trying to decipher what’s inside the center of those swirling clouds. Rain splashes onto his face mercilessly, but he keeps his eyes open. Then he sees it. The first flash of lightning that zaps into the corn field. Even in the pelting rain, he can see smoke coming from the damaged spot on the field. Thunder sounds accordingly, and Chen closes his eyes, breathing in the electricity in the air. Just as the next bolt is about to strike into the corn field, he changes his stance quicker than the flash can attack. His two fingers are pointed into the air, collecting the white lightning coming from the sky in his fingertips.

“Oh my god!” Tai shouts at the sight.

And with a pained face at the overwhelming surge of lightning power in his system, Chen growls as he redirects the sparks through his body and shoots the powerful bolts back into the sky through his other hand with a loud roar.

This only seems to make whatever force is controlling the skies angry. And thunder rumbles even louder this time. Chen prepares himself for another attack, but with another goal, “Baekhyun, grab onto me. We’re going in there.”

Baekhyun nods and waddles over to wrap his arms securely around the lightning mage’s torso in preparation.

“Tai, stay here. We’ll be back.” Chen orders Tai.

“You promise?” Tai shouts over the rain with anticipating eyes.

“We promise!” Baekhyun bellows back with a smile that matches up the brightness of his name as a light mage.

“Promise.” Chen nods with a smaller but serious smile.

“You guys are from Fairy Tail. Whatever’s up there, I know you can take it!” Tai cheers just before the flash of lightning strike the two boys.

Chen needs to use both hands just to gather up the amount of the energy purposely directed at them this time. He breathes deeply and when he opens his eyes, it’s as if there are sparks of lightning swimming within his very irises. Hoping that Baekhyun had secured himself onto him, Chen points his now lightning invested fists towards the ground, and the impact shoots them into the sky, sending them flying right into the eye of the storm.

They fly right through the clouds, and the grayness blocks out the view of field. However, compared to the storming rain that’s destroying the field below them, the night sky is completely clear above the clouds. Whoever was messing with the sky right now probably messed with the gravity up here as well, because the boys aren’t able to stand on anything stable, but they’re not falling back towards the earth.

“There!” Baekhyun shouts, pointing even higher above the storm clouds.

Chen’s gaze follows Baekhyun’s finger to a dark figure in the sky who seems to be collecting energy from the condensation in the clouds and releasing them into the storm clouds below. There’s a layer of gray mist all around him. Even the view of the stars is murky behind him. “Who are you and why are you bringing harm upon this land?!” Baekhyun demands.

The figure stays still, just absorbing the energy from the clouds around him with his eyes closed. Baekhyun calls again, “Hey! I’m talking to you!”

Again, there’s no response, so Baekhyun growls and tosses a ball of destructive light towards the figure. “Light bomb!”

Quicker than lighting, the figure’s pitch black eyes flash open and holds up a hand towards Baekhyun’s incoming attack. The ball of light simply disappears before it can even touch the figure. “What is this…” Baekhyun whispers to himself with his eyebrows furrowed.

“Leave.” The figure hisses.

“Not with you still wreaking havoc on the farmers’ land.” Chen refuses, “You don’t know anything about how much work they put into raising these fields just to feed their families and town. Who are you to hinder such a process?”

“Hard work, my .” The figure chortles before swinging his arm in front of him, sending a slash of wind towards the two boys.

“Shield!” Chen shouts, throwing his arms in front of him to draw a shield of lightning across the air before him and Baekhyun. Although he just made it, the impact of the attack still sends him crashing back into Baekhyun.

“Who are you…” Baekhyun wonders, staring up at the figure. He’s wearing a black cloak over light green monk robes. His black hair is long and blowing all around his face with the winds he’s creating in the storm.

“It doesn’t matter,” Chen says to his partner, “He’s not to going to listen to anything, so we just have to stop the storm first.”

Baekhyun looks at Chen for a moment before finally nodding and bringing his hands together, “I call to the stars in the night sky, lend me your strength.” He breathes in his hands before pulling them apart. A ball of light generates in his hands and grows larger and larger until it floats above his head. “Light magic…” Baekhyun begins, holding the floating sphere of light above his head, preparing to throw it down into the clouds, “Holy Light!”

But before the light can touch the clouds, the light disappears with a call of, “Storm cloud!” and his Holy Light is swallowed up, leaving the sky as dark it was just earlier.

“What?”

The dark figure floating in the eye of the storm scowls, “You will not hinder my progress any longer. These civilians must be punished for taking over the last patch of rainforest that had remained here before they destroyed it.” his dark eyes close before he breathes in and blows out a strong funnel of storm-like winds in their direction.

If Chen hadn’t blasted himself forward with lightning bolts, he definitely would have fallen back through the clouds and blasted himself into the cornfield. The same can’t be said for Baekhyun because he disappears through the clouds, leaving a scream behind in his wake. “Baekhyun!” Chen shouts before turning to the evildoer who had blasted away his friend, “Lightning Wake!” Chen jumps into the air and claps his hands down, sending a thundering wall of blue lightning down to slice at the storm maker.

The attack doesn’t do much, but it does distract him long enough for Chen to zap forward and land a direct punch against his face. “Ugh!” he grunts, falling back in time to make contact with Chen’s kicking foot. After throwing him around for a couple more punches, he retaliates with a harsh kick to Chen’s stomach, making him lurch back into the clouds. “Enough with this nonsense!” he screeches.

The storm maker claps his hands above his head and pulls them apart slowly, forming a small gray cloud. But as his hands pull farther apart, the cloud grows larger, darker, and more lethal as lightning starts sparking out of it. Chen scowls and cracks his knuckles, preparing to brace the impact.

“Light Beam!” A voice shouts before a rod of light shoots out of the middle of the cloud diagonally, growing until it explodes in a bright flash and disintegrates the cloud in the storm maker’s hands.

“Baek!” Chen happily shouts when his partner flies back into the clouds.

“Shooting stars!!” Baekhyun points his conjoined palms towards their antagonist, sending streaks of light shooting towards his target. The plethora of shooting stars explode around the storm maker with a light so bright even light mage has to close his eyes to prevent permanent damage.

But amidst the light, the storm maker manages to escape the damage with only a few smoking injuries and tears around the cloak, “Errr-RAW.” He yells as he flies toward Baekhyun and punches him across the face with a black storm fist. Chen is quick to come to his friend’s aid, landing a zapping kick against the storm maker’s spine. Baekhyun lands his own punch into the man’s chest.

Kicking him into the air, the two hurdle their light and lightning packed punches right into the storm maker’s stomach as he falls back down towards them. He flies back before falling into the clouds and disappearing. When he’s out of sight, Chen and Baekhyun smile at each other and slap their hands together in two high-fives.

But suddenly, a low rumbling sounds in the sky around them. The two mages look around for any change in the atmosphere but they see none. And then, the clouds burst open as the storm maker returns to the sky with his eyes glowing a bright electric blue. “You’ve caused me enough trouble. You will now be destroyed.” The low voice that was similar to the rumbling at first sounds. And then, the rumbling growl becomes louder, and louder, until he starts screaming. His form changes, his body grows bigger, the width of his arms stretching. His feet stretch out into sharp talons and his face distorts until his nose and mouth form into a sharp curved beak. Dark black feathers sprout everywhere, glowing an eerie electric blue. The dark storm maker they had seen had completely transformed, “THUNDERBIRD MIMICRY.” He bursts.

“Oh my god…” Chen breathes.

“Chen… What is that…?” Baekhyun murmurs.

“A thunderbird spirit… I can’t believe…” Chen’s wide eyes are about to fall out as he stares at the powerful black bird perched on a sparkling blue rod of lightning. “They still exist…”

“Chen…!!!” Baekhyun’s voice grows louder in panic as the bird screeches and strikes, throwing a wing forward and sending a slash of wind towards the Fairy Tail mages.

“Ahh!!!” The boys scream. The very air that encircles the thunderbird is sparking with electricity. The blue bird jumps from its perch on the blue lightning rod and charges for the two wizards, screeching as a blue ball of energy forms in its throat. It spits out the static electricity towards Chen first, who just barely manages to dodge it.

Baekhyun rolls around in the air and slashes the air, sending a blade of light towards the thunderbird. But the bird only swings around to blow the light away with a slash of its wing. It dives towards Baekhyun with another ball of static energy forming in its mouth. The light mage dodges it for the most part but the edges of his pants are singed a bit. “Whoa!”

“Baek! With me!” Chen hollers from the other side of the black thunderbird. It perches again on a rod of blue lightning, spreading its wings out as it points its beak up. Bright electric blue energy gathers in a small circle above the bird’s open beach, giving Baekhyun time to fly over to Chen.

The two mages stand back to back, hands interlaced to gather up their own magical energy. And like magic itself, the boys start murmuring an incantation together, their voices melted together harmoniously, “I call upon the clouds, the sky, the moon, the stars…. Lend me your strength.”

And like that, the two boys release their hands turned away from the thunderbird to slam their fists together to aim towards it, “HOLY LIGHTNING BEAM!” They bellow out together, shooting out a surge of mixed blue lightning and white light energy towards the bird. The thunderbird’s Lightning Cry meets their attack in the middle of the space between them, creating an explosion of light in the sky.

When the light dims, the boys let go of each other, breathing heavily from their release of so much magical power. They look around for any sign of the bird, but it appears to have disappeared…

“Chen..?” Baekhyun asks.

“Wait…” Chen whispers, still feeling a tingle of electricity in the air.

And suddenly, the bird emerges through the clouds again, wings bursting open and voice screeching as if it had just been reborn. “Ugh!” Baekhyun cries, “Chen where’s its weak point?!”

“I’m not sure… Thunderbird Mimicry isn’t the same as a real Thunderbird.” Chen explains. “He’s just embodying the spirit and using its power.”

Just before the thunderbird is spits out another hit of blue electrical energy at the Fairy Tail mages, Baekhyun manages to draw out a protective rainbow screen in front of them, “Spectrum!”

Although it blocks the direct hit, the boys are still blown back from the mere impact of such a powerful spirit of the storm. Chen groans aloud, running a hand down his face, “What to do…”

And suddenly, the chiming voice of a young Fairy Tail girl rings in his mind, “You guys are from Fairy Tail. Whatever’s up there, I know you can take it!”

Chen looks at the dark thunderbird as it prepares yet another attack. Closing his eyes, he takes in a deep breath, “Baekhyun, get behind me.” He orders.

“Chen…?” Baekhyun questions.

“And on my signal, throw me straight towards him.”

“Chen, you’re not a dragon slayer! You can’t possibly—”

“Now! Hurry!” Chen shouts.

Baekhyun springs into action just as the bird shoots another large ball of blue energy at Chen. With all the might he can muster, Chen s his hands forward, willing the strong electrical energy of the wrathful bird to absorb into his fingertips. It’s pushing him back roughly, but Baekhyun keeps him stabilized as he can even if they are above the clouds. “Throw!!” Chen signals.

“Light beam!” Baekhyun shouts, throwing Chen into the air and ing him forward with a rod of white light straight towards the ominous thunderbird.

At this point, the lightning mage is surging with overwhelming storm power that he can’t possibly handle. If he doesn’t find an outlet soon, he might explode from the immense power simply swallowing his veins and limbs and entire being. Baekhyun realizes Chen’s plan just before he hits the thunderbird straight in the chest with a punch so powerful and filled with electrical energy, he’s surprised the bird hasn’t been barbecued and glazed with steak sauce when it makes contact with Chen’s fist.

Streaks of electrical blue lightning encircle the screeching thunderbird, and Chen is covered in scratches and burns from too much power. But he still manages to find the strength to climb onto the bird’s back and tame the beast. “Baekhyun!” Chen hollers just before landing a crippling punch onto the spine of the bird’s back, “IMPRISONMENT!” Bolts of lightning circle around the black bird and shackle him from neck to claw, and it cries out in anguish.

Baekhyun is already running towards the bird with a fist raised and gathering light, “Light magic: BLAST!” he roars as he makes contact with the thundering heart of the bird.

The bird screams and everything in the sky is swallowed in a blinding white light mixed with electric blue and soon, they’re falling. Everyone is falling out of the sky. As they descend, Chen sees his hands gripping onto the black cloak of the original storm wizard, now covered in bruises and scratches as bad as his own. But he’s still putting up a fight. In mid-air, the three battle as hard as they can without any sense of stability in earth’s gravitational pull. Balls and beams of light and lightning and thunder are thrown everywhere as they fall to the ground, but they all fight until the end.

When the world crashes around them, it seems to be a miracle that the Fairy Tail mages are still able to stand. The two boys are clutching onto each other, trying to find a hold in their legs to stay up after such a fall from the sky, but they’re interrupted by an angry roar from a beat up storm mage with glowing blue eyes, “FOOLS! YOU DARE TO DEFEND THE VERY LAND THAT HAS CURSED THE BALANCE OF NATURE.” He screeches as he takes another fighting stance, summoning a dark energy from his palms.

The boys’ eyes widen because they truly don’t have any fight left in them – even standing proves an excruciating feat. But with the words of strength still in the back of his mind, Chen stands, “We’re from Fairy Tail. We’ll take on anything.”

“Y-yeah.” Baekhyun grunts in agreement as he stands as well, wincing as he clutches his sides. “Anything.”

And just like that, the storm mage falls to the ground, defeated.

Behind him stands the girl whose voice had helped Chen find his inner strength to pull through the battle, her fists raised and her legs firm in a fighting stance. She looks down at the collapsed villain at her feet before turning towards her fellow Fairy Tail members, “I knew you guys could do it.” She smiles proudly.

The boys return exhausted smiles before collapsing to the ground as well.