Thanks to Plumalchemyst for his idea.
A/N: Oh no! Poor Wendy has been captured by a Dark Guild from long ago for a strange ritual! It is up to Team Natsu, some of the Straw Hats, and Blue Dragon Slayer Drake Firenze to rescue her! (Assuming they can track down the guild in time.) Let's jump back in with our favorite wizards and pirates in...
Chapter 10: The Unknown Assailant
Deep under Clover Town, the Hooded Man of Nightstalker was pouring over one of his many old tomes of dark magic when a guild member entered his chambers. "Sire, He wishes to speak to you over the...the snail thing," he muttered before exiting. The Hooded Man closed the dusty tome shut and went to his bedside table where a strange large snail sat with pieces of machinery attached to itself.
The Hooded Man picked up the receiver of the transponder snail to hear his master cackling on the other line. "Do you have the girl?" the Master asked.
"We do, sire," the Hooded Man responded. "She is unconscious and her magic is sealed with a spell so even if she awakens, there is nothing she can do."
"Wonderful, simply wonderful!"
"Sir, how do we even know if the ritual will be a success? The old history tomes dictate that our Lord was killed before being sealed away. What will we do after the sacrifice is complete?"
"Ki shi shi shi!" the Master cackled. "Don't you worry about that, just have faith in my magic and Thy Lord Astul shall be resurrected anew." With that said, the Master hung up. The Hooded Man hung up as well and returned to his books.
-At Clover Town Station-
"Finally, we're here!" said Natsu as he stumbled off the train and unloaded his lunch into a nearby trash can. "Ugh, I never want to get on another train ever again."
"How will you get back home then, Natsu?" asked the joyful Happy, fluttering behind him.
"I'd rather walk the forty or so miles back."
"Knock it off you," commented the grinning Ace. "Settle yourself down and I promise you a rematch when we get back." Natsu peered up from the trash can with glaring eyes at Ace and grinned from ear to ear.
"Not here, you two," warned Erza. That shushed them up right away.
"I'm starving," groaned Luffy, clutching his belly. "How about we stop for some meat and grub to eat first?" Truth be told, Luffy practically ate the entire lunch room on the train much to the anger of the other passengers. The crew had to shove him out of there before things could get ugly.
"We don't have time to waste on fighting or eating!" screamed Sanji. "Right about now, poor Wendy is probably being experimented on, or worse! We need to find her quick!"
"What's got you in such a huff?" sneered Zoro. "Ya got a thing for Wendy?"
"No, it's just that Wendy and I had a little talking the last few days, and I like to think of her as a little sister of sorts." Sanji thought back to said moments, but it mostly consisted of Wendy launching him through walls with her Sky Dragon Roar. "I've always wanted a little sister, but I never had one as a child."
"What a pansy." Sanji was at Zoro's throat for that, and they almost broke into a fight had Robin pulled them apart with her flowery arms.
"The best place to search for information would be pubs and any shady places," noted Lucy. Drake strolled up beside her.
"Lets pair up and search around," he said. "I'll go with Lucy."
"Um, no thanks. I'd rather go with Natsu instead." She brushed herself against Natsu's arm. Drake shrugged and instead paired himself with Robin. Luffy paired up with Gray, Ace with Erza, and Zoro with Sanji. Before leaving, they all took miniature microphone ear pieces to communicate with each other when needed.
Drake and Robin made their way to a pub in the downtown area, smack dab in the shady side of town where the thieves, murderers, and more lurk. Walking down the cramped streets, Drake could spot said people peeking from the alley corners. He tugged on Robin's arm, bringing her close to him. "Stay by my side," he whispered. "And keep your senses open."
Robin smirked. "I have spent my fair share of time among the filth for a very long time. I don't need any protection."
The pair found the shady pub and entered through the doors. Some of the patrons inside stopped their drinking and chatting to take a look at the new folks for a second before resuming their activities. Drake and Robin took a seat at the counter and waited for the bartender to come around.
"What can I get you two?" the bartender asked, knocking the ash off his cigar onto the floor.
"Some grog," Robin answered. Drake ordered a mug of mead for himself.
Drake fiddled with a butter knife that was sitting on the counter, twirling it in between his fingers. A guy sitting next to Robin eyed her behind, specifically the wallet sticking out of her back pocket. He cautiously reached for it, but soon found multiple hands traversing his hand to the counter, where Drake plunged the butter knife into his hand. The guy fell to the floor screaming in agony as his hand bled before running out of there.
"Good eyes there, you two," commented the bartender when he brought their drinks. "But keep your wits about for there's more than thieves lurking about in this area."
Drake took a gulp of his mead. "We know, and that's why we're hear. Have you heard any word of the Nightstalkers?"
The bartender looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Never heard of them." He had only turned around when Drake twisted him around, his claws emerging and tearing his shirt collar apart. He bared his fangs, making the bartender greatly afraid. "Okay okay! I might know something!"
"You better tell us right now, buddy. If you don't, my companion will twist something of yours in a very unfriendly manner." The bartender's eyes darted downward to see an arm gripping his family jewels.
"Okay, this one guy came in the other day asking around for a little girl with blue hair. I told him I didn't know who he was talking about. He slipped me a pouch of Jewels and I directed him to a guy who would know."
"What did this fellow look like and who did you direct him to?" hissed Robin, who tightened her grip.
The bartender winced at her touch and continued. "I don't know what he looked like, he wore a black cloak with a hood over his head. As for who I directed him to, it's Francis, the town's gossip guy. He knows practically everything in the surrounding towns."
"Where is this Francis?" hissed Drake.
"He usually hangs around the town square." With all the information gathered, Robin released her grip on the bartender and the two left the pub.
"Now we head for the square," noted Drake. He cracked the bones in his hand as they walked. Robin stared at his fingernails, which had retracted back into their regular slightly sharpened nails. "So, you are able to grow fangs and claws thanks to your dragon blood, is that correct?" she inquired.
He looked at her for a moment. "Yes, that is correct. Although, it's only a few of my teeth that become fangs and my two big ones are permanent fangs at that. You can see my sharpened nails already."
Robin smiled. "I bet you have no trouble opening mail." They both chuckled at that but soon diverted their full attention to the task at hand, which was to escape the slums and get to the middle-class district where the square resided.
–Elsewhere –
"Oi, buddy!" Luffy yelled at the random citizen. "Have you seen any mean guys in black kidnapping a little girl?" The citizen shrunk away from Luffy with puzzled looks. Gray slapped him upside the head.
"You idiot, we won't find any information asking random people." Gray was suddenly in his underwear. Some people gawked at him while a number of women fainted at the sight of him. Luffy commented on this and he got his clothes back on.
"Hey, buddy," whispered a voice from an alley. Luffy and Gray inched closer to him. "Say, I hear you're looking for some girl. I think I know who you're talking about." The two moved into the alley, Gray leading the front. Little did he know their new friend was hiding in the shadows with his Shadow Magic, which allowed him to literally melt into shadows and move freely in them.
"What do you know?" called Gray as he entered deeper, and he felt a chop to the back of his head and fell down just as the mysterious assailant disappeared into the shadows of the alley once more. Luffy put up a fighting stance, unaware the man was shifting behind him. He emerged with a dagger drawn and lashed out only to meet Luffy's fist instead. He crumbled against the wall where Gray froze him to the spot. "Nice move, Luffy."
"Yahoo!" Luffy cheered.
"Now, tell us what you know, or else you will suffer a nasty cold this spring," Gray warned. "I know you're part of Nightstalker."
The guild member huffed and suffered a punch from Luffy. " I won't talk!" Another punch. Several more blows later and he was willing to talk. "Alright alright! Okay, it was foretold in an ancient tome that a catalyst would appear to resurrect our Lord."
"And this catalyst is Wendy, correct?"
The guild member nodded. "Yes. While it is speculated that our Lord may have been dead for centuries after his defeat, our Master claims to have the power to resurrect him with the use of dark magic unknown to any of us."
"Who is this Master of yours?" Before the member could utter his answer, a tiny dart whizzed past Gray's ear and struck the member in his throat. His head went limb and he was silent forever. Gray and Luffy looked up behind them to see a hooded fellow on the roof, a miniature crossbow attached to the underside of his wrist. The man turned and ran down the rooftop streets. Luffy launched himself onto the roofs to follow with Gray below to keep an eye out.
"GUM GUM PISTOL!" Luffy's arm stretched across the rooftops, but was cut short by a dagger that sliced his skin. Luffy reeled it back and rubbed the cut and continued the pursuit. Gray shot a shower of ice bullets but the target merely ducked to another rooftop to avoid them.
"Everyone, there's a member of Darkstalker on the run!" Gray said in his ear piece. Everyone received the call loud and clear. "He's on the rooftops east of the town square, heading west for it!"
Drake and Robin were just in the square looking for Francis, so they were the closet. Zoro and Sanji were at the far north of town, and they could not make it there in time as Sanji had to keep redirecting Zoro south. Ace and Erza ran as fast as they could for the square from the south end, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy from the west.
The hooded fellow dove off the rooftops and into the town square, hiding himself amongst the common people. Everyone else soon found the square and separated into the crowd. Drake's dragon eyes glinted, scanning the surrounding crowd for his target, his hand ready on his sword, but he could not find him.
Ace and Erza met up back together in the crowd and journeyed together again. They spotted a hint of black garb far off, but one look from the garbed man and he broke into a run. "We found him!" said Erza. "Northeast of the fountain!"
Drake heard and began pushing his way through the crowd, but they were packed tight. Suddenly, a legion of arms created a path for him, pushing everyone aside. Drake looked to his side and saw Robin with her arms crossed, a path created for her as well. He grinned and they both ran for the northeast. Everyone regrouped and chased after the garbed man down several alleys, almost losing sight of him three times along the way. Happy flew overhead to keep an eagle's eye watch.
Drake broke off from the group and took a detour, jumping up on the rooftops and following after his target. He neared closer to him and dove off, landing onto him and sprawling across the ground. The man laid on the ground until everyone else showed up. "Nice catch, Drake," Erza complimented. "Now, tell us where the Darkstalker guild is keeping Wendy now." she ordered with a glaring face, which sent shivers down the spines of Team Natsu.
Suddenly, the man popped something into his mouth before the others could react and lowered his hood, revealing a half-burned face that showed parts of his skull. "You are too late!" he laughed maniacally. "Lord Ashtul's resurrection is near at hand! Fiore will be ours soon enough!" With his final words spoken, he fell to the ground dead; Lucy checked his pulse and confirmed it so.
"Cyanide," she explained. "It had to be. Whatever he knew, he didn't want to share it, much like that member you two caught." Drake cursed under his breath.
Erza rummaged through the dead assailant's pockets and found a wallet with Jewels in it, assorted trinkets, a Darkstalker medallion, and a key and keychain which read, "Room 133." "Any idea what this key goes to?" she asked.
Everyone had no clue, and they realized that they were back at the beginning where they started with nothing but a random key as a guide.
–Underground–
The Hooded Man exhaled a breath of air in his chambers as he realized two of his members are now dead. "A lackey and one of my good men, Stern, is dead," he hissed. "Someone bring me Alida." Footsteps could be heard leaving the area and a little later, they returned plus one set. A young woman with silver hair wearing baggy blue jeans, big black boots, iron gauntlets, and a tight red vest with chainmail underneath entered.
"You called, sire?" she asked in a high pitch. She strapped a longsword to her waist.
"Stern is dead, Alida," She was a tad shocked. "A shame, I know. It seems members of Fairy Tail and a few children that go by the name the Straw Hats are in Clover Town and wish to tamper our plans. I want you to divert their attention from us for the next couple days until we can move to the deserted land mass south of here."
"The one past Galuna Island?" The Hooded Man nodded. Alida saluted him. "I will do my best to stop them, sire, I promise you that." With that said, Alida left for the surface.
In her cell, Wendy awoke. She shivered at the cold air surrounding her and sneezed. "Bless you," said the guard outside. Wendy noticed the handcuffs on her wrists and tried to break them with a Sky Dragon attack, but nothing happened.
"Don't even try," the guard responded. "There's a magical seal surrounding you preventing you from using any magic, even your Dragon Slaying magic." Wendy sighed and curled into a ball to conserve the heat in her body, praying her friends will come rescue her quickly.
Remember to review, it helps a lot. If you have any ideas for chapters or segments, give me a shout and I'll credit you. I'll see you next time readers.