User blog comment:IamJakuhoRaikoben/Chapter 477: Transport, Review./@comment-27281341-20160315200529/@comment-7418318-20160317003706

Yes you are missing something... the point of the argument.

The point is that instead of having Jacob teleport everyone away and have Natsu wake up, Mashima could (or should) have let Natsu sleep and let someone else fight togther with Lucy.

He could have let Cana or any present Fairy Tail member visit Lucy in the sickbay and thus be protected by Horologium with Lucy, resulting in that person fighting together with Lucy against Jacob.

He could also have used the opportunity to show that Makarov is not utterly useless, like the last few... hundred chapters made him look... okay it wasn't hundreds of chapters, but it sure feels like it.

Then there's also Mest, who before this chapter wasn't seen for many chapters and more than a day in-story time. So it'd have been easy to say he wasn't at the guild when Jacob attacked and have him teleport in to join the fight and/or bring in reinforcements, like for example one of the Crime Sorcirere members whos locations are currently unkown.