Chapter 10: Another Wizard and Exceeds
After yesterday, the students were told not to come to school because of repairs, which made no sense because they still hosted the homecoming party despite the damage. With that in the way, Dayton and Roxanne sat outside along with Natsu and Erza with absolutely nothing to do. Dayton was sitting on a bench, Roxanne was lying against a tree next to the bench, and Natsu and Erza were just standing there. They could go wherever they wanted, but they just didn't have the motivation to do anything.
"Our principle is so out of it!" Dayton says annoyed, being irritated by her stupidity. For once Roxanne and Erza agreed, which wasn't surprising because everyone would agree. It was probably Kyousuke pointing out how incorrect she was that eventually caused them to realize that she was an idiot.
"If our master was that foolish, I'm not sure he would be here right now." Erza says calmly, catching Roxanne's attention.
"What's your master like?" Roxanne wonders. She always wondered what life in a guild would be like.
"Well, he's much older and very powerful, as all leaders should be. He's also very wise and protective of all of us." Erza explains. Roxanne didn't quite grasp how much older their master was, but had yet to find out. They were all sitting there quietly whilst having nothing to do, eventually getting sick of waiting, preparing to leave.
"That's it!" Dayton says annoyed, getting up impatiently. "I'm outta here."
"Yeah, me too." Natsu says bored. They both prepare to leave with Roxanne and Erza following along, that is, until someone else got their attention.
"Natsu!" A young girl shouts, catching both Natsu and Erza's attention. They both look behind them to see a blonde-haired girl running towards them in relief, wearing a blue and white outfit with keys on the side of her blue skirt. Natsu suddenly began to smile in relief as he ran to her in joy. Erza also walked up with a surprised expression on her face.
"It's Lucy!" She says surprised. She too ran to Lucy with Natsu as Roxanne and Dayton looked in confusion, both walking to her slowly. Lucy and Natsu eventually caught up with each other and had a small reunion as Lucy hugged Natsu in relief.
"I'm so glad that I found you." Lucy says relieved, hugging Natsu tightly as he openly accepts it. Erza managed to catch up with them as an even brighter smile appeared on Lucy's face.
"It's good to see you again Lucy." Erza says calmly. Dayton and Roxanne eventually appear behind them as Lucy looks up at them, having a perplexed expression on her face.
"Who..are they?" Lucy asks calmly; the two staring at her as Erza smiles.
"We'll have to get you updated on the situation here." Erza informs, Lucy looking at her perplexed.
In time, they were all grouped around the bench, Lucy sitting on the bench as she was updated with everything that's been happening. She was staring at Dayton and Roxanne with a curious expression on her face.
"So let me get this straight; you just disappeared and ended up here with Dayton and Roxanne?" She articulates as Erza nods in response.
"I don't know how, but were not the only ones." Erza explains. Lucy shot her a surprised look.
"You're not?"
"Gajeel and Levy also managed to get sent here as well." Erza explains once more. Lucy figured, but she did wonder where the rest of her guild-mates were. She was actually more relieved that Levy, her best friend, was okay.
"I hope everyone else is alright." Lucy says calmly. She was a bit worried herself, for she cared a lot for her guild-mates.
"Don't worry! They're alright." Natsu reassures. He could never lose confidence in his guild-mates, for he knew that Fairy Tail couldn't be taken out so easily. It was this notion, along with many others that contributed to his strength. Lucy looked at him and couldn't help but agree on that, despite second thoughts still floating about. Dayton looked at Lucy with a smile on his face, for he had some very weird questions to ask her.
"So can you use magic too?" He asks curiously.
"Well yeah. Is that important or something?"
"Don't mind him." Roxanne says while pushing Dayton away. He seemed a bit irritated as she began explaining. "In this world having magic is a rarity, so knowing if you have it can be very important." Roxanne explains to Lucy. "From what I've observed, it seems that you all possess innate magical abilities."
"That's correct." Erza assures, as Roxanne looks at her surprised. What a shocking discovery. There were only so many wizards in this world; being one was considered a gift. There weren't many people with this gift, however.
"It's kind of hard to believe." Roxanne says in disbelief. Erza could see where she was coming from; with great power comes a great price. "The only people I've known with vast magical power are Dayton and Kyousuke." Roxanne explains. It then occurred to Erza that they go and update Kyousuke and Gajeel on the current situation.
"Perhaps we should go inform the other three of Lucy's arrival." Erza suggests. She couldn't stand just sitting there with nothing to do, so this was the perfect chance to do something. Erza also was interested in the D-Raided, and she needed someone else to talk to. With that, they all got up and headed for Kyousuke's house. Lucy couldn't help but wonder who this Kyousuke was, and so she decided to ask.
"Okay, so who's this Kyousuke you're talking about?" Lucy wonders. Roxanne prepared to explain before Dayton cut her off.
"He's mister you'll never understand me!" Dayton spats while making a strange face. "He's just jealous of me cause' I'm a dragon slayer!"
"Says the one who lost to the Dragon Slayer." Roxanne recounts, annoying Dayton.
"Hey!"
"Whatever." Roxanne says irked, turning to Lucy as she stares at them confused.
"So I'm guessing he's like Natsu and Gray, is he?" Lucy questions. Roxanne and Dayton gave her a perplexed expression as Erza calmly replies.
"More precisely like Gajeel, but close. They're practically one and the same." Erza corrects. They all started walking down the street Kyousuke's house was on.
"Who's Gray?" Dayton wonders. His expression was reminiscent of Natsu's when the latter's mind was blank. It made Lucy giggle before replying.
"Gray's a wizard at Fairy Tail." Lucy explains. "He uses Ice Magic."
"That makes sense. Fire and ice don't mix." Roxanne explains. Neither one of them noticed the shocked expression slapped onto Dayton's face. A wizard with glossy, silver, spiky hair appeared within his mind. He saved him on top of a large glacier, both of them looking down at the enemies who approached them. Shock started to overwhelm him, but before anyone could notice, he took a deep breath and relaxed. He looked to his left and saw Kyousuke's house.
"We're here." Erza informs the group as they start walking into Kyousuke's driveway. They silently walked up to his door and just stood there. Roxanne rang the doorbell and they waited for someone to come. From the outside they could hear a loud, metallic ruckus coming from his garage, but someone came and answered the door before they could figure out what it was.
"Huh? What the hell are you doing here?" Kyousuke wonders, looking at the group with an irritated expression. He didn't want everyone coming into his house.
"We need to discuss some important matters." Erza calmly states. Kyousuke caught notice of Lucy, and decided some of them in his house.
"Roxanne and Erza, along with the new girl can come in through the garage." Kyousuke says, simply shutting the door and leaving.
"What about us?!" Natsu complains while Lucy gives him a surprised look.
"I wonder why he's not letting Natsu in." Lucy wonders.
"Oh, only if you knew of their relationship, you'd understand." Roxanne explained.
"I should've figured." Lucy responded. This was nothing new to her, just your typical Dragon Slayer disagreements here and there. Roxanne turned and headed for the garage door, inputting the code to gain access inside for she had already knew the code. Upon entering it, the garage door slowly opened, revealing Gajeel scarfing down pieces of metal from a large pile next to him. Roxanne, Erza, and Lucy; being surprised to see him out here, came in to talk before heading inside. Natsu and Dayton had troubles of their own to deal with.
"Have you been staying here with Kyousuke this whole time?" Erza curiously asks. Gajeel continued to eat the metal that was gathered up in the pile in-front of him.
"What do you think?"
"I see." She calmly replies. Erza & Lucy then decided to enter the house while Roxanne just stood there, losing herself once again. She continued to stare at Gajeel while he kept eating the metal. He looked up at her and suddenly became annoyed by her staring.
"What's up with you?" He wonders annoyed. Roxanne suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and shook her head abruptly.
"Oh...ugh...sorry; I lost myself a bit."
"Huh?" Gajeel says confused, staring at her as she prepares to enter Kyousuke's house. Before doing so, however, she turned around to see Dayton and Natsu banging on an invisible barrier connected to Kyousuke's garage. She became surprised when she could see them talking, but couldn't hear anything they were saying.
"Wow, that's funny." Roxanne says while giggling on the inside. Gajeel turned to see Natsu and Dayton banging on the invisible wall, only for a grin to appear on his face as a result.
"What a bunch of idiots." Gajeel comments while chuckling a bit. Natsu says something on the outside in annoyance.
"LET ME IN!" Natsu demands on the outside, Dayton complaining along with him.
"Kyousuke! You're so annoying!"
"Let me in right now!" They both yammer, banging on the invisible wall. Each hit made a digital imprint as if it were an enchantment. Bored, Gajeel tossed the piece of iron away and approached the invisible wall, kicking it as his foot pushed through the wall like a plastic bag. Roxanne couldn't help but widen her eyes in shock as she saw Gajeel kick Natsu, sending him flying off into the streets. Dayton looked at him stunned.
"What the heck?! Did he just send Natsu flying into the street?!" Dayton says shocked, unaware of Gajeel about to do the same to him. Roxanne couldn't contain her laughter as she watched Dayton helplessly fly out into the street. As demonstrated, Gajeel had the upper-hand. He was able to toy with Natsu and Dayton all he wanted, as long as they were stupid enough to approach the invisible wall again. Dayton looked up and saw Roxanne laughing, feeling betrayed and upset. "Oh come on! Why are you laughing at me?!" Dayton complains upsettingly. Roxanne couldn't take it anymore; she felt a significant urge to use the restroom. Gajeel watched in confusion as she slammed the door behind her, sprinting through Kyousuke's house into his bathroom. She quickly shut the door, relieving the tension as Kyousuke, Erza and Lucy looked upstairs in confusion. Roxanne couldn't believe herself at the moment. She felt extremely awkward and embarrassed.
"Why did I laugh like that?! I just needed to use the bathroom." She wonders in confusion. Roxanne couldn't believe she laughed like that and felt ashamed of doing so. She couldn't help but find it funny, however, that Dayton was being toyed with by Gajeel. "Now Gajeel's going to think I'm a klutz." She says upsettingly.
Aside from that, Levy and Lucy reunited with each other, being best friends for their love to read. As they did that, Kyousuke was having a discussion with Erza about Earthland. He didn't mind her that much; she wasn't annoying like Natsu or Dayton.
"So, you're an S-Class wizard that goes to a guild named Fairy Tail?"
"That's correct." Erza assures. She took a drink out of a glass of whatever she was offered. "Speaking of wizards, there's also another Lightning Dragon Slayer in our guild." Erza explains calmly. She was about to go into detail until Kyousuke suddenly cut her off.
"There's a difference between Electric and Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic." Kyousuke explains. Erza gave him a perplexed look.
"How so?"
"Lightning is an electrostatic discharge that occurs in electrically charged regions. Therefore, if I can control electricity and not just lightning..."
"I see." Erza says calmly. She was a bit surprised that it would be so technical.
"It's not only complicated; it's also difficult to control. It reminds me of secret arts."
"Speaking of which, how many secret arts do you know?" Erza asks calmly. Something hit Kyousuke's mind before answering the question.
"Two."
"Interesting." Erza says calmly. The topic suddenly switched within seconds.
"I didn't know that Gajeel also was a Dragon Slayer." Kyousuke explains. Erza turned and shifted her look to the laundry room, which led to the garage Gajeel was currently in. He still was toying with the two Dragon Slayers stuck outside.
"He never told you?" Erza questions, as she goes on to explain. "Gajeel's an Iron Dragon Slayer. He has an interesting backstory."
"Really?" Kyousuke questions. Thing is, Erza didn't know everything about him; just what she's experienced. This only made the thought of Gajeel linger within Kyousuke's mind.
As they continued talking, Roxanne had finished her business and prepared to head downstairs. Something very strange caught her eye however. She turned to her left to see a black exceed just standing there, looking at Roxanne with a serious expression on his face.
"Excuse me ma'am?" He says calmly. The exceed had a small sword on his back, wearing green pants and having red eyes too. Roxanne became startled upon his words, but her attention was definitely caught.
"Are you an exceed?!" Roxanne wonders in shock. The black exceed feared of causing a panic, so he tried to calm her down.
"Don't be afraid; I don't mean any harm." He reassures. Roxanne calmly observed the exceed, walking up to it surprised.
"I'm not worried, just surprised." Roxanne explains. "How the heck did you get here?"
"That's not important. What is important is the man I'm looking for; he's tall with long, spiky black hair and red eyes."
"Wait, do you mean Gajeel?"
"Do you know where he is?!" The exceed questions. He was Gajeel's exceed, and so it was natural as to why the exceed would be looking for him.
"He's in the garage downstairs." Roxanne explains. Without hesitation, the exceed jumped off and headed downstairs on his own.
"That's Erza down there." The exceed thinks to himself, calling out her name in the process.
"Erza!" He shouts, catching her attention as she turns around and looks at him with shock.
"Pantherlily?!" She says shocked, running up to him as Lucy, Levy, and Kyousuke look at him surprised. Lucy and Levy ran up to Pantherlily in relief while Kyousuke stood back and watched from a distance, wondering how long he may have been in his house for.
"Are you alright?" Erza asks.
"I'm fine." Pantherlily responds. They all discussed his whereabouts and what he's been currently doing while Kyousuke decided to head into the garage. He stopped, however, upon Pantherlily taking notice of him.
"Who's that?" Pantherlily wonders, as Erza explains.
"That's Kyousuke. It turns out that he's a dragon slayer himself."
"I see." Pantherlily says calmly. Kyousuke just stood there as everyone turned to look at him, suddenly crossing his arms and walking out to the garage. Pantherlily followed him out into the garage to see Gajeel toying around with Natsu and Dayton behind the invisible wall. Gajeel turned around and saw Pantherlily, being surprised that he was here.
"My cat!" He says surprised, ignoring the raging Natsu and Dayton and walking up to Kyousuke and Pantherlily.
"It's good to see you Gajeel." Pantherlily says relieved. Natsu on the outside catches notice of Pantherlily and stops banging on the wall, Dayton doing the same but instead becoming shocked.
"Is that an exceed?!" Dayton wonders surprised, Natsu looking at him with a rather calm expression.
"Yeah." Natsu states, Dayton looking at Pantherlily shocked. He was surprised to see an exceed in person, now knowing that they weren't some strange species someone just came up with.
"Do you have one?" Dayton asks curiously, causing Natsu to feel a bit depressed. It was a blue exceed named Happy, and they were best friends. Natsu wasn't able to find him anywhere out of all this time, and it began to upset him quite a bit. He desperately wanted to search for him, and that's just what he was going to do, running off as Dayton watched him in surprise.
"Hey! Where are you going?!"
"I'm gonna look for Happy!" Natsu shouts afar. Dayton looked at him with confusion, wondering how he would he would have any chance at finding him if he had no clue where Happy was in the first place. Natsu happened to be running out into an intersection when he collided with something and fell over. He fell down into the middle of the street as a blue exceed fell to the ground and bounced across the street a few feet.
"Hey! Can you watch where you're going?!" Natsu says annoyed, rubbing his head as the exceed did the same.
"Oww. That really hurts." The exceed moans. They suddenly forgot about it all, turning to each other in surprise. Natsu, and the exceed, Happy, looked up and stared at each other speechless until it turned into excitement and relief. "Natsu!"
"Happy!" Natsu shouts in response. They both ran up and reunited with one another; Dayton watching from afar whilst wondering what they were doing.
"I knew you would be okay buddy!" Natsu reassures. He was happy to see that Happy was okay, but not relieved; for he knew that Happy would be just fine. Natsu held the same confidence in all of his guild-mates. Just then, Happy started crying joyfully in Natsu's arms.
"I was so worried. I was lost, and I didn't know where you were and I didn't know what to do!" He cries, bawling in Natsu as he caringly pats his head.
"Don't worry. Everything's gonna be okay now." Natsu says reassuringly. Happy looked up and smiled at Natsu. Dayton watched them bond with surprise, having not thought that a dragon slayer and an exceed would be good partners and friends. Then the question hit his mind: what if he and Kyousuke had exceeds of their own? Nevertheless, Natsu and Happy got up and headed back to the house, stopping right in-front of Dayton, who was standing there like a statue. "Hey, are you alright?" Natsu questions perplexed. Dayton rustled his hair as he temporarily looked behind him.
"Yeah, I'm fine." He says calmly, turning his attention back to the two as Happy looks at him in wonder.
"Hey Natsu? Who is this?" Happy asks curiously, only for Dayton to interrupt.
"I'm Dayton." He says while scratching his neck.
"Well hi there! I'm Happy, and this is Natsu!" Happy introduces with joy. Dayton only looked at them with a weak smile on his face.
"I already know who Natsu is. He's been staying at my place for the..."
"Is that you're place down there?!" Happy wonders, flying off towards Kyousuke's house as Dayton watches alarmed.
"Wait, that's not my house!" Dayton shouts, trying to get Happy's attention to no avail. He and Natsu then ran off after Happy as he flew into Kyousuke's driveway. He was heading for the open garage door that Gajeel, Kyousuke and Pantherlily were in.
"Gajeel! It's..." Happy says before colliding into the invisible wall. He painfully fell to the ground, but it was enough to get their attention as they all looked at him.
"Well it seems that Happy also got sent to this world." Pantherlily states, watching Happy get up as his curiosity led him to touch the wall.
"What the heck! It's an invisible wall!" Happy says shocked. This only made him feel embarrassed for having so stupidly hit the wall. Kyousuke could care less though; he had enough people in his house as it is. As Natsu and Dayton approach Happy, Erza comes out the front door, having a notably serious look on her face.
"Natsu, we need to talk about..." Erza says, before stopping and realizing that Happy is there.
"Happy?!" Erza says relieved, just as he looks at her, also relieved.
"It's Erza." Happy states. The two had a little reunion before she got back to what she was going to say.
"Natsu, Dayton, we need to talk about the D-Raided." Erza calmly requests, sparking shock and confusion within the two.
"Wha..Why is that?" Dayton questions shocked. Erza went on to inform them of the situation.
"Kyousuke and Gajeel are going after them, and I think it's best if we accompany them on their journey."
"There's no way that I'm helping him!" Dayton grumbles. With that, Erza gave him a menacing glare that caused him to suddenly fear her wrath.
"I'm not going to say it again, we're going with them. Understand?" Erza demands. Dayton fearfully agreed with her terms.
"Yes ma'am!" Dayton says fearfully. Erza became calm once again.
"Good. Now let's get inside and start making plans." She orders, walking back into the house and shutting the door behind her. Dayton stands there frightened, having not expected Erza to act in a way similar to Roxanne. Roxanne is much more temperamental though.
"Man...She's scary."
"Yeah she is." Natsu says a bit frightened as well.
"She's one you do not want to mess with." Happy suggests, also frightened.
Eventually, they were all in Kyousuke's house, ready to discuss their current situation involving plans of invading the D-Raided.
"Alright, first off, we're going to have to track them down." Erza explains as everyone else listens, all ears.
"Tracking them will be difficult." Roxanne says calmly, pondering over it as Kyousuke just stared at her. She was definitely wrong about that.
"You want to know where they are?" Kyousuke calmly questions, catching everyone's attention. "They're in the Athanasian Mountains."
"How the heck did you figure that out?!" Roxanne says shocked.
"Well they're stupid enough to put their base in the mountains where anyone can find it. Their reason for it is also pretty pathetic." Kyousuke explains whilst rolling his eyes. Gajeel grinned a bit whilst Natsu looked at Kyousuke confused. Roxanne was a bit startled herself.
"And why is that?"
"They claim that there's some sort of life force there that grants them immortality. There's also a bright blue light that's occasionally cast into the sky, eliminating any form life that comes into contact with it." Kyousuke explains.
"Any form of life?!" Erza says shocked.
"You gotta be kidding me!" Lucy says frightened. Everyone was a bit surprised by this, and Kyousuke went on. His tone got noticeably darker and became full of hate.
"It's also where they kill dragon slayers and dragons." Kyousuke quickly explains. Dayton was filled up with rage, clenching his fists as Natsu started to get angry himself. Gajeel looked at Kyousuke with slight shock. Fear started to enter Lucy and Levy, and they couldn't help but worry about their dragon slayer friends. One was for sure though, Dayton was pissed.
"They think they can get away with that?!" Dayton angrily shouts. Everyone looked at him without any change of expression. "I'll beat them to a pulp before they even get that far!" Dayton shouts angrily. Natsu was just as angry, having felt the exact same way as Dayton. Kyousuke just stared at them with a build-up of hatred on the inside. The last thing he wanted was for those two idiots to accompany him on his trail to revenge, but he quickly thought of a workaround for this issue.
"I'll kill them if they try to stop me." Kyousuke thinks to himself. He didn't care who it was. Anyone who took his revenge away from him would suffer the consequences. He tried to not let his hatred surface, and it was working.
"We need to quit chit chatting and get a move on!" Gajeel demands. He was right, and they all got ready to go after the D-Raided. They all ran around the house, getting materials they may need as well as food for survival. Erza's requip powers would definitely come in handy. Roxanne also was a step ahead.
"I've got a map that we can use to get to the Athanasian Mountains." Roxanne informs. Erza smiled over her resourcefulness
"Good work." Erza compliments. Everyone got what was necessary, and they all were ready to head out. "Let's get going" Erza orders.
This was it. Two exceeds, a celestial wizard, a bookworm, two high classed wizards and four dragon slayers were about to take on the most powerful group in the world. The D-Raided was going to be at war very soon.