A Railgun In Fairy Tail, Book 6: Apocalypse

A Slight Slither Up Your Spine.

The moon shone high in the sky that night, it's silvery light spread out upon the forest and river as Mikoto walked through the woods, trying to follow the scent of her friends. She could imagine that everybody else was probably in a panic right now.

Natsu would probably be attempting to crash into the woods and burn all the trees down until he found Mikoto. And Elli was probably shedding a few tears wondering if Mikoto was okay. Well one thing was for sure...after getting washed out in that river, and taking a few of Jackal's explosions, her scent wasn't going to be as easy to track for Gajeel and Natsu.

This meant she would have to track the group herself, while trusting them to stay on course despite their worries. If they deviated off track for even a day just to search for her, Mikoto didn't want to think about how many more enemy ambushes that might open them up for.

Everyone else including Elli knew Mikoto had survived worse then this. But Mikoto still felt a little guilty about the large worry she was causing Elli. Mikoto had actually originally been against Elli coming along for the battles ahead, feeling scared that the horrors of war might scar her little friend. But Elli had insisted that even if she didn't take her, she would find some way to sneak along.

"Oh jeez, would you just admit you're lost already!?" growled Jackal who being pulled along on a makeshift sled made of tree branches and vines. "At least get us something to eat from the river over there! Plenty of fish!"

Mikoto rolled her eyes. She decided to bring Jackal along because number 1, he probably had valuble information on Hydra Head. And number 2, with both his arms and legs broken and the inability to call for help other then Mikoto, he was less likely to try anything, not unless he wanted to just lie in the forest and die.

Mikoto zapped Jackal with a good bolt of lightning. "Shut up! I'm not babysitting you! You're a prisoner!"

Jackal shook his head as smoke blew off of him. "Yeesh...what a harsh girl...I'll bet you're a Tsundere where your love life is concerned."

"ZZZZAMM!!" Jackal was hit with some more electricity.

"You're the most annoying Hydra Head member since Night Reveler.." grumbled Mikoto. "And come to think of it, he was also ranked 20...guess that's the spot where they send all their most annoying members."

Jackal opened his mouth to utter a harsh retort, but then he seemed to remember Mikoto's lightning attacks and temper, and decided to clam up.

From what Mikoto heard, Jackal had used to be in a guild called Tartarus. A guild completely comprised of demons from the book of Zeref. After a war with Fairy Tail, Tartarus had been dismantled, leaving the presence of strong dark guilds in the Baram Alliance very small indeed, especially considering that Hydra Head had kept itself extremely seperate and secret from everyone but Hades of Grimoire Heart.

The surviving members had scattered themselves all over the world. Some of the survivors were actually believed to be dead...but still, members like Jackal had managed to keep a low profile. Then Jackal had come up about a month after the formation of the Rainbow Gateway as the new leader of Skill Out.

Rumored to be the most powerful leader the gang ever had, Jackal ruled primarily through fear, seeking out high level espers and having Skill Out members capture them alive so he could fight them until he got bored.

However, given that most of Skill Out was comprised of level 0s and they gained advantages over espers thanks to their numbers...they could never bring in any high level fighters who now hung around Academy City, like magic guild members or a level 5 like Mikoto.

Mikoto actually heard that they tried to take Gajeel once. Gajeel hadn't even used his magic, beating up all fourteen of the small group in the alley way with his fists and a few headbutts. It had actually been hilarious because Fairy Tail already had a big reputation in Academy City and it was considered that if any schmuck crook wanted an early funeral, the best way was to go pick on a member of Fairy Tail.