Episode 229

Law of Retrogression is the 229th episode of the Fairy Tail anime, and the 54th episode of the 2014 series.
As Erza is looking for a way to return to her original form, she is approached by none other than Minerva. Meanwhile, Natsu soon meets Doriate and his Magic, turning him into a child as well.
==Summary==
At the Sun Village, Erza still wonders why she turned into a child and takes off the rest of her armor. As she starts walking, she slips onto ice and rolls down the mountain formation, figuring out she can't control her movements the way she wants to. She then starts wondering how the others would think of her, adding to her desire to go back to her normal form even more.
Meanwhile, Hunters and Mages are still fighting, with Natsu expressing his impression about the Hunters' strength even without the use of Magic. As a reply, Hiroshi points out Sylph Labyrinth's victory at the Grand Secret Treasure Games, with the Mages not knowing that such a thing existed. As Hiroshi finishes his speech, Gray reveals he's taken the Moon Drip bottle with Ice-Make: Thieving Hand, shocking the Hunters in the process. In order to get the bottle back, Hiroshi orders Drake to shoot, only to fail as Sagittarius breaks the incoming bullet with an arrow. After his comrade's failed attempt, Hiroshi himself starts attacking with his Chain Blade but Gray dodges the attack and throws the bottle to Natsu, who soon gets attacked by Rala's Stronger but successfully evades the attack and then passes the bottle to Lucy. Enraged, Hiroshi attacks with Chain Blade once more, but this time in its Gunner Mode. Successfully dodging the bullets, Lucy passes the bottle to Wendy so Hiroshi starts focusing his fire on her, with Rala supporting him. Briefly after, Wendy successfully gives the bottle to Carla, all the while dodging the shots coming her way. Finally, Carla throws the bottle to Happy, who fails to catch it and thus the bottle ends up being broken instead, shocking everyone in the process. 
With the Hunters crying about the loss, Happy apologizes to the team but it turns out that the spilled Moon Drip can't melt the entire ice in the first place and thus wouldn't have been able to save the village and its residents. As Natsu approaches him, Happy thinks he will punish him but the former rather approaches the melted ice, thinking he heard something. By putting his ear on the melted part of the ice, Natsu states he hears someone's voice below it. After such statement, Natsu starts running in one direction, with the others starting to follow him. As Natsu is running, Doriate gets in his way, with the former thinking he's another Hunter. As his suspicions are proven to be false, Natsu gets turned into a child by the latter's Magic. 
Back at Erza's location, Erza tries to Requip but barely succeeds on doing so, realizing that even her Requip speed as well as her stamina got significantly lower. She is then approached by Minerva, with Erza wondering what happened to her and expressing her worry about her. As Minerva tells her she changed guilds, Erza notices her guild's emblem, figuring out she's a Dark Mage of the Succubus Eye Guild and elsewhere, Doriate also reveals himself to Natsu as a Dark Mage. Minerva tells Erza she doesn't care about the guild she belongs to as long as she has a view from the strong world, with Erza putting in question her pride as a Mage. Having no regrets, Minerva desires to have a rematch, obviously having an unfair advantage against her opponent. Erza accuses her of turning her into a child but Minerva clears her suspicions by saying that Doriate is the one to do such a thing. In the meantime, Doriate starts attacking Natsu, who responds with Fire Dragon's Roar but ends up producing a rather insignificant amount of fire. As he states that he was able to produce a much larger quantity even at a young age, Doriate reveals it being one of the effects of his Magic, the Law of Retrogression. Natsu tries using Magic once more but ends up being punched by Doriate and sent rolling on the ground, receiving much more damage in the aftermath. In order to escape and continue his search for the familiar voice, Natsu tricks Doriate, giving him more than enough time for his plan. Infuriated, Doriate takes off his bandana and starts chasing the latter. 
Meanwhile, Lucy and Wendy are still following Natsu's tracks, with Wendy slipping and falling. Now having no idea where they are, they end up being followed by Hiroshi and Rala, poorly disguised as Happy and Carla, who went to search for Natsu earlier. After Lucy blows the Hunters' disguise, Wendy apologizes in the name of the group for the incident earlier and states the team's desire of saving the giants instead of fighting with them. Not caring about them, Hiroshi starts breaking the ice from one of the frozen giants, angering Wendy and Lucy in the process. As Wendy tells them to attack her and Lucy instead, they listen to her so Drake starts shooting at them. As Wendy falls and thus gives an opportunity for Drake to shoot at her, Flare comes just in time to save her, telling them that they are now equal in number. Back to Erza, Minerva tells her to prepare to fight, all the while Gray is looking for Natsu, who is running away from the now enraged Doriate.
==Characters in Order of Appearance==
==Battles & Events==
*Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster & Lucy Heartfilia vs. Drake, Hiroshi & Rala (concluded)
*Natsu Dragneel vs. Doriate (started and concluded)
*Lucy Heartfilia, Wendy Marvell & Flare Corona vs. Hiroshi, Rala & Drake (started)
==Magic, Spells, and Abilities used==
===Magic used===
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***Summoned the Archer, Sagittarius
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===Spells used===
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===Abilities used===
*Flight
*Hand-to-Hand Combat
*Marksmanship
*Swordsmanship
===Armors used===
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===Weapons used===
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**Hidden Blade
**Gunner Mode (ガンナー形態 Gannā keitai)
*Bow and Arrows
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*Swords
*Halberd
===Items used===
*Celestial Spirit Gate Keys
**Gate of the Archer Key
==Manga & Anime Differences==
*Erza rolls off the mountain of ice differently in the anime.
*Erza's fantasy of her friends' reaction to her reduced age is slightly altered in the anime.
*Sylph Labyrinth introducing themselves is added in the anime.
**Wendy's reaction to treasure hunter guilds having their own kind of festival, Lucy congratulating them and Gray's comment are moved in the anime.
*Rala has additionally helped Hiroshi in attacking Wendy in the anime.
*Rather than slowly dropping over Happy's head, Happy attempts to catch the liquefied Moon Drip in the anime.
*Carla is further from Happy, the bottle cracks into a lesser amount of shards and Happy's tail is raised in the anime.
*The group's expressions when the bottle breaks are different between media.
*The bottle shards change position and quantity after the group reacts to it in the anime.
*When Lucy points out she is missing her backpack in the manga, in the anime she still has it on.
*The angle when the liquefied Moon Drip unfreezes the portion of ice is turned 180 degrees in the anime.
*Drake arrives on the right side of Rala and Hiroshi instead of the left in the anime.
*After Natsu had been regressed to the form of a child his bags are behind him in the anime.
*The sword Erza summons differs between media, in the anime it is a sword from her Heaven's Wheel Armor.
*A flashback of Erza, Minerva and Kagura's fight during the Grand Magic Games and Minerva's defeat was added in the anime.
*Erza informing Minerva that she and the members of Sabertooth are worrying about her is anime only.
*In the anime, Natsu's conversation with Doriate is moved first before Minerva and Erza's conversation, in addition the former's conversation was extended. Both groups' conversation had mixed in between each other.
*Natsu removes his shoes before fighting Doriate in the anime, while in the manga he did not.
*Doriate's position when noticing that Natsu has left and when his face is revealed is flipped in the anime.
*Rala and Hiroshi's attempt to fool Wendy and Lucy is extended in the anime.
==Navigation==
Category:Episodes