Sorry for the EXTREMELY long wait, but I am finally back with the third chapter of Atlas: A Tale of Five Wizards! I actually forgot I had this story in my archives. The only reason I remembered it at all was because I was looking through my notes and found plot ideas for this by accident. I've been in a Fairy Tail sort of mood lately, so thus you have it!

Chapter 3 start!


Fire Dragon and Celestial Spirits, Meet Technology!

Missing Memories and Wonderful Wizards


Previously on Atlas, A Tale of Five Wizards:

"Dammit," Sam panted. "There was a second one!?" He pointed the Device at the beast and punched the same button he did before, but nothing happened. The second monster raised an eyebrow and growled, then dashed to him and grabbed him. He was once again lifted into the air, squeezed until he could barely breathe.

"Good night, leetle hooman," said the Vulcan with an evil glint in its eye.

Another flash of light lit up the dark mountainside, and then Sam saw black.

When Sam came to, his head felt like someone had thrown the world's wildest dance party in it. It throbbed worse than a lovesick One Direction fan's heart. His mouth tasted like old paper, and he felt extremely heavy, as though someone had weighted his body down with a dozen sacks of potatoes.

He blinked once, then twice.

And things only got stranger.

To Sam, it seemed that he was looking out of someone else's eyes. The world felt unnaturally blurry, but at the same time clear. Describing the sensation was like trying to describe a color to a blind person. On another note, his body felt large, bulky, and awkward. When he tried to move it, it wouldn't work. Actually, it appeared to be under the command of someone other than himself - - he was walking without telling his legs to do anything, and picking his nose without lifting his arm, and making weird, half-understandable, almost apelike grunts.

Where was he?

The thought crossed Samwise's mind quite suddenly, and he got as good a look around as he could. He appeared to be in a gaping cavern of ice. Light gleamed off the smooth surface of snow-covered frozen water, which covered the walls, floor, and ceiling of the underground room. Icicles stabbed downward from the ceiling like wintery daggers. His backpack and the Device were nowhere to be found. There was, however, a grandfather clock that appeared to have a face. Even weirder, inside it was a blonde girl, who pounded furiously on the glass of the clock. She had a white T-shirt on that did nothing to hide her incredibly big chest, and a whip hung on the belt of her jeans. All she had to keep her warm was a blanket.

He felt rather bad for the unfamiliar girl. Being trapped in a grandfather clock inside some ice cavern couldn't be very fun.

Then Sam and his body took an unplanned (at least by him) turn around the corner of the cave. A hole with jagged edges was in front of him, staring out into the same dark mountainside from before. The storm was still raging on, or perhaps another - - he had no way of knowing how long he'd been unconscious. A mat of ice lay in front of the entrance, remarkably free of snow, and although his eyes were not tilted toward it, he was able to get a good look at his reflection.

The body of the second Vulcan, the one that had knocked him out, stared back at him.

He yelled in shock, or would have if he had had a mouth. He blinked and tried to rub his eyes. When the action failed to work, he blinked again and tried to look back down at the untainted ice. The Vulcan was still where his reflection should have been, and his own body was blood-curdlingly absent.

A sudden fear gripped him. His head raced with wild solutions. Had his mind somehow been forced into the monster's brain? Or had the Vulcan merged with his body, taking complete control over it in the process? The latter seemed to be the most likely of the possible choices, but still unthinkable. After all, things like that only happened in movies, books, and really bad fanfictions.

Behind Sam, three short beeps rang out, and there was the sound of something disappearing - - a comical POOF!

"Hey, Horologium!" exclaimed the panicked voice of a girl. "Don't leave me here!"

The Vulcan turned, and Sam with it. He was now able to see that the grandfather clock had vanished, leaving the blonde girl sitting on the ice. She squeaked and looked at him, scooting back on her butt.

Another voice echoed out from nowhere. "It is time! Good-bye for now, Lucy!"

The blonde quivered in fear, tears building up in the corners of her eyes as the monster, and likewise Sam, advanced on her. She cried desperately, "I want an extension! An extension!"

Before anything could happen, a distant battle cry met Sam's ears. The Vulcan who had taken over him grunted and swiveled around. From the depths of the cave came a boy with pink hair and a white scarf. He seemed to be only a few years older than Sam himself. He wasn't exactly dressed for the weather either, though.

"Where is Macao!?" his enraged voice rang out.

The Vulcan occupying Sam's body spoke, or rather rumbled stupidly. "Aroo?"

The blonde girl's eyes widened hopefully. "Natsu!" she called.

Suddenly, the pink-haired boy's foot slipped on the frozen cave floor, and he was sent tumbling past them. The Vulcan tilted its head in Natsu's direction confusedly. The blonde's face morphed into a deadpan expression.

"Lame..." she intoned with disappointment. She facepalmed. "Is he incapable of making a normal entrance?"

The boy, Natsu, came crashing to a stop against the cave's snowy wall. He winced, but ignored it. "Oi, monkey!" he called in Sam's direction, picking himself up off the floor.

The Vulcan's attention was now fully focused on him. The girl with the blanket took her chance and dashed across the ice to the newcomer.

"You can understand me, right?" Natsu continued, pointing at Sam - - or rather, the Vulcan occupying Sam's body. "I'm asking about Macao, a human man."

"Man?" grunted out the Vulcan.

The pink-haired young man glowered at him. "That's right! Where are you hiding him?"

Lucy gawked. "Natsu's already decide the monkey's hiding him?" she said to herself.

The Vulcan suddenly jumped up and down, motioning out the entrance to the cave Sam had seen earlier. Natsu grinned eagerly and followed the body-napper there. "Where?" he asked, peering out the entrance, but the next thing Sam knew, he was unintentionally kicking the boy out it with an apelike foot.

"Damn monkey!" shouted Natsu angrily as he fell out of sight.

Sam's gaped through the creature's eyes. Had that really just happened? Everything had been so sudden. He hadn't wanted to boot that poor pink-haired kid down the mountain, but the Vulcan had moved for him. The blonde gasped and called for the teen, but it was pointless.

Natsu had to be dead.

The Vulcan did a strange little dance. "I don't ne-heed men," it grunted victoriously. "I like woo-men!"

"Don't tell me he's..." The blonde trailed off, choking back a sob. She was now staring despairingly out the jagged hole. Her maroon blanket billowed in the chilled wind like a cape. She swallowed, and turned slowly, glaring at the Vulcan in Sam's body. She said, "Check this out, you perverted ape!"

The girl in the Heartskruz shirt took a golden key off a keyring Sam hadn't noticed before. The Vulcan stopped dancing and watched curiously. She then raised the key high above her head, and swept it down. "Open, Gate of the Golden Bull!" she cried. "Taurus!"

Much to Sam's mystification, the sound of bells chimed. The tip of the key glowed in a magical yellow circle, like when he had accidentally attacked the first Vulcan with his Device; but instead of a lightning bolt, a Speedo-wearing bull with an axe on its back jumped out. It raised its meaty, black-spotted arms triumphantly and roared. It landed and stood on its hind legs like a human.

"...Cow?" grunted the Vulcan stupidly.

Behind the giant bull, the blonde said, "Taurus is the most powerful Celestial Spirit I have a contract with."

Taurus the Bull's eyes went strangely heart-shaped and he did a strange little hip wiggle. "You always have a nice body, Ms. Lucy - - I'm mooved!" it said approvingly, its hands folded across its chest. Sam was now gawking at it through the Vulcan's eyes. Could all animals on this mountain talk or something? And wasn't it... slightly perverted?

The blonde, Lucy, facepalmed again, utterly embarrassed. "And he's perverted, too..."

Oh. Yes it was.

The Vulcan stamped its feet upon the ice furiously, Sam getting tossed around in its head. "I wo-hon't let you take my woo-men!" it growled.

The man-like bull narrowed its eyes. "Your women, eh? Those are fighting words!" It had a deep bass voice - - unsurprising for a cow.

Lucy threw her hand out. "Taurus!"

Taurus tilted up on its, or perhaps his, tiptoes, then performed a mighty jump into the air. The monster ape occupying Sam's body lifted its head to follow its trajectory. The bull-man then grasped the shaft of the oversized axe on its back, holding it easily and spinning it like a baton twirler. "FIERCE MOOVE!" he mooed, bringing the axe's blade smashing down into the ice. A wave of power tore at the Vulcan, and therefore Sam. The beast jumped to the side. The energy blast narrowly missed them.

What the hell was that? wondered Sam in shock. He'd never seen anything like it before. And why were these magical circles appearing? Was he having some weird, crazy dream?

Yeah, that had to be it. It was all a dream.

"He's fast!" gasped Lucy, her golden hair falling in front of her chest as she took a step back. The Vulcan was now blazing forward with a flying attack of its own, drawing its fist back for a blow to Taurus's bull head. Or perhaps the bull's eye? Before Sam could find out, a triumphant battle cry echoed across the ice cavern and Taurus was knocked aside with a sandled foot to the chin.

Wait, what?

Suddenly in the air before Sam was the pink-haired boy the Vulcan had kicked down the mountain... Natsu. Lucy gaped as he landed.

Taurus had been sent flying, skidding across the ice in dizzying circles. When he finally stopped, he keeled over and groaned out, "Looks like this is the end..."

"SO WEAK!" Lucy deadpanned.

Natsu, watching the whole thing with a confused expression, jabbed his thumb at Sam and the Vulcan.

"Oi," the previously falling boy said dryly. "Is it me, or are there more monsters now?"

Sam's eye would have twitched if he had control over it. What the hell was going on? Things were happening too fast for him to keep up.

"HE'S AN ALLY!" screamed Lucy furiously. "ONE OF MY CELESTIAL SPIRITS!"

Natsu tilted his head. "This monkey is...?"

"The BULL! ...Wait, how are you alive?"

"Oh?" the pink-haired boy smirked at her. "I owe that to Happy!"

Happy? Was that someone's name? Sam literally had no idea what was happening anymore.

Then Natsu grinned and thanked something in the air, and Sam realized that there was a floating blue cat with wings who was definitely not there before. A floating, BLUE cat with WINGS.

"Aye, sir!" it cheered, saluting Natsu.

Finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

"WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH THIS FREAKIN' MOUNTAIN!?" snapped Sam with a flaming red tic-pulse.

The winged cat, Natsu, and Lucy all wheeled around to face him and the Vulcan using his body.

Lucy stared. "Did you hear that?" she asked the two, looking like she'd seen a ghost.

Natsu frowned. "Yeah... that monkey sounded almost human there. And it sounded like it had never been on this mountain before."

"Aye!" agreed Happy the cat, floating without a care in the world.

Sam blinked in surprise. Wait, what? he thought for the millionth time that day. Did they hear me? That must mean I was able to gain control of my mouth again... seems like my body is still in the form of that ape's, though. Something occurred to him. Hey, maybe those other guys can help - - the girl can pull perverted bulls out of mid air, after all.

He tried to talk again. "Hey!" he said, and Natsu and Lucy's jaws dropped. He definitely heard his own voice come from the creature's mouth this time. "This... ape thing took control of my body and turned it into this! Please, help me!"

There were a few beats.

"EH!?" screamed Natsu, Lucy, and Happy. Their expressions would've been priceless in any other situation.

The girl hid behind her pink-haired friend. "It definitely talked just now!" she cried. "And it was talking about itself in the third person! Not only is it perverted, but it's WEIRD!

Natsu's jaw was practically touching the floor. "Mirajane never said Vulcans can do that!"

"Aye!" said Happy. It appeared to be one of his favorite words. "But they are Take Over monsters - - they survive by Taking Over other peoples' bodies! Maybe whoever it did that to is fighting back somehow!"

"...Is that possible?" wondered Lucy, looking like she wasn't quite buying into the flying cat's theory.

The Vulcan suddenly roared and shook its head, jarring Sam. It clutched its hair and stamped the ice angrily. The two strangers and their cat blinked, then slid into fighting stances.

"It's trying to regain control?" Natsu guessed. Tongues of red-hot fire erupted around its fist. "I won't let that happen! And I'll knock it out of its victim's body! Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!"

Much to Sam's horror, the pink-haired boy dashed forward, driving his flaming fist back and then slamming it into the Vulcan's chest. The Taken Over teen was knocked back, crashing against the ice. Steam billowed up into the cavern.

It toppled over backwards with an almighty crash. His vision blackened momentarily, and then Sam was staring straight down at the ice.

What Sam saw made him let out a relieved breath.

He realized he had brown hair again. His eyes had returned to their normal color of green. His skin was its usual Caucasian, and although he was somewhat short for his age, he didn't even care. All that mattered was that the Vulcan was gone, and he was back in his own body.

"Hey, he's not Macao," muttered Natsu with some disappointment.

He scrambled to his feet, slipping on the ice a little. "Thanks, um... Natsu, was it?" he said with a weak smile. "I have no idea how I got on this mountain, but that thing attacked me and suddenly I was in its body. What did you do just now - - the flaming hand thing? And why can your cat fly?"

Natsu blinked, then grinned. "Oh, that? That's magic. I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer. I can make and eat fire with magic."

Magic?

Sam felt suddenly faint again. "Yep, that's it, I'm dreaming," he deadpanned, teetering over. His body hurt and his knees felt weak. "I'm Sam Kirkland, by the way. Good night."

Lucy stared at him worriedly. "Hey, are you alright?" she asked.

But before Sam could fall over and sleep, something else bounded through the entrance to the cave. It was yet another Vulcan - - larger than the one that had Taken Over Sam, and more powerful-looking. Natsu whirled around and glowered at it, taking a deep breath.

"How many of you stupid monkeys are there!?" the Fire Dragon Slayer complained. The Vulcan dashed across the ice like a madman... er, madmonkey, and raised its fist to pummel the other teen in the face. Lucy gulped, but Natsu simply leaned to the side and dodged.

He glowered at the beast and slammed his foot into its chest, knocking it back. "Listen up!" he snarled at it. "All the members of Fairy Tail are my comrades and friends!"

"Fairy Tail?" Sam repeated to Lucy curiously.

She took pity on him. "It's the wizard guild where Natsu and I work. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it. It's pretty famous... or maybe infamous is the better word."

He nodded like he understood (although he didn't) and returned to watching the escalating man VS ape fight. Natsu was dashing across the ice like a roadrunner, shouting, "From Gramps and Mira to those annoying jerks Gray and Elfman! Happy and Lucy are my friends, too!"

The blonde girl beside Sam straightened and blushed.

Natsu swept his fist at the monster monkey, but it leaped over him and scampered away. The Vulcan paused, and then almost seemed to smirk as it charged him this time. A red glow lit up the young man's enraged expression, and Sam realized it was coming from a red magical circle that was spinning around Natsu's feet. Fire sprang up from the circle, curling around the teen's leg.

"Which is why..." he continued, jumping into the air and performing a lethal, flaming flying kick to the stomach. The air was knocked out of the ape, and it was sent flying back. "...I'm taking Macao back with me!"

The Vulcan was tossed unceremoniously into the ceiling, where it dislodged several icicles. Then it crashed back to the ice cave's frozen flare. The Dragon Slayer smirked triumphantly, but the Vulcan roared again and punched the ice. A wave of power ripped through the air at Natsu, and Sam and Lucy shrieked as they leaped to safety. Happy simply glided over the wreckage. Icicles and deadly sharp pieces of ice were flung at Natsu, but as they hit him, steam rose up in the air.

"That has no effect on fire!" the wizard bellowed.

When the steam cleared, Natsu was perfectly fine, but the Vulcan was holding a mighty axe.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "Uh-oh."

"That's Taurus's axe!" gasped Lucy.

"THIS IS FREAKIN' INSANE!" exclaimed Sam, his eyes bulging out.

The monkey wielded the enormous weapon like a toothpick, flinging it at Natsu's feet, then in a crushing overhead strike, then a deadly diagonal blow that could've lopped off someone's head in one go. The pink-haired wizard casually evaded every swipe of the axe. However, they didn't take into account the slippery ice, and suddenly Natsu's foot slid out from under him, causing him to fall on his back with a surprised shout.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried; the Vulcan was again aiming for an overhead strike.

Sam gawked. "He's gonna die for real this time," he said in disbelief. "I don't remember much about myself, but I'm pretty sure people don't usually die in my dreams."

The gigantic axe halted an inch from Natsu's face. The teen had managed to get to a kneeling position on the ice and stopped the huge blade with his bare hands, although it seemed to take an incredible effort. Both Vulcan and wizard grunted as they tried to counter each other's strength. Then, to Sam's shock, the metal blade started melting around Natsu's hands, and pieces of burning hot metal dropped into the teen's mouth. This didn't seem to bother him at all - - in fact, he opened his mouth wider to catch all the melted metal.

Lucy's eyes were the size of dinner plates. "He melted the axe blade with his body heat!?"

"Aye!" confirmed Happy from a bird's eye point of view.

"Now that I've eaten," said Natsu victoriously, "I'm all fried up!" He sprayed little balls of the melted metal at the monkey, and it howled in pain, backing up on the ice. Grinning, Natsu opened another flaming red magic circle around his fists. Just like with Sam's Vulcan, he dashed forward, roaring, "Here I come! Iron Fist of the Fire Dragon!"

Tongues of fire were again flickering around the teen's hand. With a smirk of success, his fiery fist barreled into the third beast's jaw, and it was sent careening backwards.

"You did it!" cheered Happy once all the resulting rubble cleared.

The Vulcan was lying upside down in a monster-shaped hole in the cave, unconscious. "But wait," said Lucy suddenly, "wasn't this Vulcan supposed to tell us where Macao is? He's completely knocked out..."

Natsu chuckled and shrugged. "Oh yeah! I forgot!" Something seemed to occur to him, and he turned to Sam. "Do you where Macao is?"

"I wish I did," said Sam apologetically, "but I don't even know where I am. Or who he is. Or who I - -"

Before Sam could finish speaking, the monkey glowed under a yellow magic circle, and an explosion of energy burst outward. And suddenly, lying in the rubble was a blue-haired, middle-aged, and barely conscious man. He wore brown pants with a belt and a long white coat.

"It's Macao!" gasped Natsu.

Lucy's eyes softened. "He must've been Taken Over just like... Sam, right?... was."

Happy did something that was as close to a smile as a cat could come. "He looks really injured," he said. "He must've put up an intense fight before he was Taken Over."

The three immediately went to work setting the man up on the maroon blanket, fixing him up as best they could.

Natsu pounded the ice with his fist. "Don't you dare die on me, Macao! Your son is waiting for you back at the guild!"

A few minutes passed with no reaction from the man. Then his eyes eased open, and he grinned weakly. "Hey, Natsu," he groaned. "I'm pathetic. I defeated nineteen of them... but the twentieth got me. I'm really mad at myself. Damn. I can't face my son Romeo now..."

"Don't say that! Defeating that many is impressive enough!" The pink-haired boy grinned encouragingly.

Sam's jaw dropped. "You beat nineteen of those things!?" he exclaimed in complete awe. "I managed to kill one, and I don't know how I did it but it drained me completely of energy!"

The man and the teen grasped hands, and Natsu helped Macao to his feet.

"Now, come on!" he said. "Let's go see Romeo!"

"And who the hell is Romeo?" Sam wondered, totally lost.

Happy, who had stopped flying while they fixed up Macao, blinked and stared up at the brown-haired boy. "Oh, yeah. Why were you here on Mt. Hokabe, Sam?"

"Is that what this place is called?"

Everybody nodded.

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. Everything's a total blank. I only remember waking up on this mountain with the Device I have in my hands right now, trying to get off it, and being attacked by those Vulcan things. I killed the first one with the Device - - a weird circle thing like you guys use popped up around it - - but when the second one came, it wouldn't work, and the beast knocked me out. All I know about myself is my name, Samwise Kirkland. But just call me Sam, please. I don't like Samwise."

Lucy hummed. "Well, you might have amnesia. Hey, Natsu, do you think someone at the guild could help?"

"Yeah, maybe," agreed Natsu.

Macao shrugged. "Porlyusica might be able to restore his memories. She can heal people with her magic. She once gave someone a new eye."

"Aye, sir!" confirmed Happy cheerfully. "You should come with us, Sam!"

Sam considered it. He didn't really have anywhere else to go, at least, not that he could remember, and if the mountain had any more of those Vulcans... Well, Natsu and Macao at least seemed to be strong fighters, so they could protect him. And if this Porlyusica person could heal his amnesia...

"Alright," he decided. "Sure. Let's go to this guild, whatever it is."

And thus, Samwise Kirkland's adventures begun, and the fate of Fiore was forever changed...


I do apologize for the incredibly long delay. I haven't had much time to write any fanfictions lately, what with school, homework, watching anime, and video games. But I finally had some free time since we had two snow days in a row, so here you go!

Sam: Can someone please tell me what's going on? I could hardly keep up...

Natsu: Well, I'm a wizard, and I like to bust things up!

Happy: Aye!

Lucy: You two are hopeless.

I hope you enjoyed the third chapter of this fanfic! If you did, I would appreciate your follows, favorites, and reviews. None of them are necessary to keep me writing - - it usually depends on what mood I'm in and how much free time I have. I would, however, like to ask that you at least leave a review. I am very proud of my work after all, and I enjoy hearing what others have to say about it.

Happy reading!

-TheRealEvanSG