Fairy Tail: Second Generation Legacy

Chapter 5

Riot slowly woke up to a splintering pain on his nose, he lazily clutched it flinched when he heard the tiny snapping sound. Damn it felt like someone had slammed his face repeatedly into a steel door.

Slowly opening his eyes, he looked around. His gaze focused on the thin white sheets that were covering him, the pale lights on the ceiling and the steady breathing of someone else.

He reluctantly sat up, his hand instantly jerking to his stomach that was now wrapped in bandages. They really did a number on him..

He looked around the small room and saw three other beds the same as his. Each of his teammates laid in them, their faces contorted in pain and their breathing uneven. Riot looked down at his clenched fist, he wasn't strong enough to keep any of them safe. He was out of action before the fight even started and they kept him awake long enough for him to watch each of his closest friends get completely wiped out. If that were a real battle, they would have been dead, himself included.

His mind trailed back to battle, visualizing everything again in perfect detail. Sting and Rogue didn't use a single power. The most they did was speed up a bit, but they never used their dragon slaying magic or even their full strength. By what he could remember about the battle field, there were traces of fire, ice and a few iron scraps, meaning that his team used their magic and outnumbered them and yet they still lost in under five minutes.

He clenched his fist tighter, drawing blood from his palms, how was that even possible?? He was so confident that they had a shot at an S class quest but he couldn't beat two dragon slayers who were clearly holding back and not even vaguely interested in the fight. What had happened to all his training? The hours he had spent fighting against his father? The dozens of books he had read on combat? Where was all of that now?? His clenched fist began to violently shake and he took a shallow breath. It wasn't supposed to be like that, he was stronger than that, his team was stronger than that, and yet...

"Riot" he heard a soft voice call, instantly relaxing and realizing who it was, he looked up at the salmon haired girl, "Nashi, good morning sleeping beauty." He saw her cheeks turn a colour that matched her hair and he smirked, showing more confidence then he felt, "How are you feeling?" he asked, noting the bandage wrapped around her head and the bridge of her nose, the cut on her lip looked soar and was already a shade of purple. She shrugged, "Like I was kicked the face by Taurus." Riot scoffed and smiled at her, "You did well. We all did, but we were simply-"

"Out classed?" Silver cut in, flinching and sitting on the bed next to Riot's

Riot nodded, "Too weak as well, what hope did we ever have against those two"

Silver shook his head, his black hair falling over his blue eyes, "I don't want to ever feel as helpless as I did back then" he mumbled, Riot noticed that his gaze was fixed on Rebel, who was still unconscious. "We were supposed to be able to protect the ones we care about, that's a lesson that was drilled unto us from the moment we were born. But when we were put to the test, we couldn't protect anyone, not even ourselves"

"I think I might know why." Nashi said, pushing her out of her face and giving the boys a sad smile, "We don't have stable teamwork. I watched Sting and Rogue, they fought as if they were the same person. Neither of them missed a single beat, knowing when to protect their partner and when to protect themselves. They decided on who was going to fight who without saying a single word to each other."

Riot's eyes widened, "That's it!!" Silver looked as startled as Riot felt, "We've never had to fight as a team before. It was always one on one battles" Nashi nodded, "Exactly, fighting an enemy in four different ways at once may seem like a strong method, but we can't fight with four different methods."