"What is that symbol?" Tonks repeated as she stepped closer to Juvia warily, her wand outstretched and pointing directly at Juvia's chest. "That symbol on your leg, I've seen it before. Tell me what it is. And who you are. Come on, girl, answer my questions."
Juvia opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, really not sure what to make of this situation - the woman was threatening to arrest her? For what, protecting these people? Did she think that the bird attack was her fault perhaps? But that made no sense - she'd just seen her attacking the birds herself so that couldn't be it surely.
Whatever the case though, this woman seemed like an official so Juvia figured it would be best to just tell the truth and hope that went down well.
"It's… it's the mark of the mage guild known as Fairy Tail," Juvia drew herself up a little, glowing with pride at being part of such a place. "It's considered by most to be the most powerful guild in all of Fiore. Haven't you heard of it?"
"What have fairy tales got to do with any of this?" Tonk frowned in bewilderment. "Aren't fairy tales a Muggle concept? Everyone wizard and witch knows fairies are real."
"They are?" Juvia blinked. "Juvia thought nobody knew for sure whether they existed or not."
"You're just trying to mess with my now, aren't you?" Tonks took another step forward, much more sure footed than she would be under casual circumstances. "Where did you say you were from?"
"Juvia lives in the city of Magnolia, in the country of Fiore," the Water Mage explained quickly.
"Never heard of either one of them," Tonks replied. "Either you're from really far out of town or you're making things up as you go along. I think I might just have to take you in so we can find out the truth about you."
"Take Juvia in!" Juvia took a step backwards. "But wait… surely this is not the time for that. Juvia thinks we should be working together to defend this town from the Clippers."
"Clippers? Are those the name of the birds? Do you have something to do with them?!" Tonks became instantly more alert and narrowed her eyes, a fact which made Juvia curse internally - now she really found her suspicious.
But before the situation could get any uglier they were very promptly reminded of the situation at hand. All throughout their exchange the sounds of cawing and flashes of light from other streets signified the battle was still going on and a harsh squawking drew the attention of both the women to where three Clippers were rounding a corner in pursuit a donkey, which was braying madly as it pounded down the street to try and get away from them. Tonks faltered slightly but she vaguely remembered that Brockenhurst was well known for having no fences letting animals wander through its streets.
But Juvia leapt straight into motion and hurtled down the street to help the poor donkey out. "HEY!" Tonks yelled after her and automatically threw a Stunning spell at her, but Juvia's body was already liquefying and although the spell hit her dead on it just past straight through her and hit a wall behind her instead. Tonks could only ogle in disbelief at this sight as Juvia blasted water from the bottom of her feet to shoot herself into the air, sailing straight at the oncoming Clippers.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" she cried, and whipped her body round in circles to become something like an airborne whirlpool that spread out, swept over the donkey's head and engulfed the three Clippers, which gurgled bubbles and flapped their wings uselessly, tumbling over and over in the currents generated by Juvia's body as she whooshed them down the street to deposit them in a sodden pile of feathers, reforming her body before them.
Despite the fact Tonks had already seen her do things like this, it made it no less gobsmacking this time. But her distraction cost her dearly, because when another Clipper suddenly descended on her from behind and seized her shoulders in its talons, she never had any warning.
"AAGH!" Tonks yelled as she was slammed down onto her front, her wand falling from her nerveless hand to clatter onto the tarmac. Even as she scrabbled to grab it though the Clipper surged back up into the air, heaving her up with it. Tonks kicked and screamed, struggling for all she was worth as her feet left the ground but the Clipper was physically stronger than her and bore her up and away.
"GET OFF OF ME YOU SORRY EXCUSE FOR PILLOW STUFFINGS!" Tonks yelled as she thrashed wildly, but the Clipper just tightened its grip and lanced down slightly with its beak. Tonks yelped as the toothy bill snapped down just a few inches from her face. This was definitely not the best of positions to be in right now. She considered using her Metamorphmagus abilities to shrink her arms a little in the hope she would slip out of the bird's grip… but looking down she realised she was already quite a way up.
Which was the better option? A long fall or a bird's beak. Either one was going to hurt! A lot!
But a shout of, "STRANGER-SAN! HOLD ON!" drew her attention back down and she balked when she saw Juvia was now rocketing up towards her, her legs morphed into a watery blast that carried her upwards like a missile.
"WAIT! WHAT ARE…!?" Tonks started but Juvia twisted her body, reformed her legs in mid-air swept her arm out in front of her with a cry of:-
"HELP ME, LISANNA-SAN! WATER SLICER!"
She deliberately made the attack weaker than it could be as she didn't want to give the Clipper any permanent injuries, but she lashed out a single long blade of water that slashed up the gap between them and cut shallow gashed into the bird's legs, just above its knees. The Clipper screeched and let go of the struggling Auror, and Tonks screamed as she suddenly found herself plummeting towards the ground, tipping over so she was falling head-first, only able to watch as the tarmac seemed to rush up towards her face.
But just as she thought the jig could be up, she was suddenly seized by the ankles and yanked back up into the air again by what felt distinctly like another set of talons. Gasping at the sudden shock she looked up, expecting to see another Clipper… but she was stunned when she saw what was carrying her had the wings, tail and feet of a large bird, but the torso and head of a young-looking girl with short, white hair.
"Sorry about that!" the girl called down to her. "Hope I didn't give you whiplash!"
"What… who…" Tonks blustered as the girl-bird flapped her wings hard to lower Tonks to the ground, settling her down on top of a car. Tonks quickly scrambled down and stared as the girl landed next to her, the bird-like parts of her body shimmering slightly before they suddenly became human.
"Are you okay?" Lisanna asked, stepping forwards with concern evident in her voice.
"How… how did you do that?" Tonks choked out.
"Lisanna-san, good catch!" Juvia hurried over before Lisanna could answer. "Juvia hopes you're okay, Stranger-san. Here's your stick." And she held out her hand, with Tonks' wand firmly nestled in her palm. Tonks quickly snatched it gratefully, but then whirled around from one girl to another, blustering and trying to come up with something to say.
"Who… are you people?" was what she finally managed. "What kind of… magic…?"
She was suddenly interrupted yet again when a voice yelled, "JUVIA! LISANNA!" and Tonks whipped around to see a young man with short black hair and no shirt come darting around the corner of a T-junction up ahead. He spun around and raised his hands up into the air, bringing them crashing down onto the road he'd just run out of and yelling, "ICE-MAKE: FLOOR!"
And Tonks watched in astonishment as suddenly the entire cross-section of the T-junction was coated in an icy carpet and she watched as two men in Auror robes went sliding right past across it, totally out of control and falling onto their backsides to slip away down the street.
Gray turned and thundered towards them, dashing right past the three of them and yelling, "COME ON!" as he went. Juvia and Lisanna immediately followed him as he ducked into a side-street nearby, and after a moment of indecision Tonks followed them, holding her wand at the ready. She didn't have a clue who these people were, or what they were doing here and protocol dictated that she should try and apprehend them all - take them in for questioning.
But… she was not sure she wanted to.
After all, the two girls had just saved her life.
So instead, she followed them into the side street, watching as Gray leaned against a dank wall, panting slightly. "It's become a total madhouse out there," he growled. "The good news is I think that most of the Clippers have stopped attacking. But suddenly while I was fighting them off, all these guys in black robes just popped out of nowhere and started firing flashing lights at the birds."
"Local mages, I guess," Lisanna nodded.
"Yeah, but when I tried to help them out, they suddenly turned on me!" Gray growled angrily. "Started firing those funny lights of theirs at me. It was a good thing I'd already seen those lights knock one of the Clippers unconscious or I might not have reacted in time."
Juvia turned her head to look at Tonks. "Juvia thinks that they must be this place's version of the Rune Knights. Some kind of magical law enforcement. Would Juvia be correct in that assumption?"
Tonks coughed as suddenly Lisanna and Gray were looking at her to. "Um… yes, I suppose. We're Aurors, from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Ministry of Magic. We came to help stop the bird attack when we received word of it but I don't think any of us were expecting to run into… anything like you."
"What do you mean, 'anything like us?'" Lisanna frowned. "We use magic, just like you."
"Believe me," Tonks snorted. "You do not use magic like us. I haven't seen you do a single thing that I can do with my magic."
"But everyone uses different kinds of magic," Lisanna looked no less bemused. "Juvia here can't turn into animals any more than I can control water."
...
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