Chapter 11: It's Increasing

Today was the day they were heading after the D-Raided. Walking was their preferred method of transportation; driving couldn't get them there faster. Anyways, they managed to pick up on a trail leading towards a large mountain. The mountain was grey like gravel with streaks of black flowing down its sides. It looked like a rock you might find on the ground somewhere, and ironically enough, that's why it was called Rock Mountain. Aside from that, the wizards walked towards the mountain in what you could say were "mini-groups". Natsu, Lucy, Happy and Dayton were together on Erza and Roxanne's left and Gajeel, Levy, Pantherlily and Kyousuke were on their right. Levy was holding Pantherlily in her arms happily while walking next to Gajeel on his left. Kyousuke was on Gajeel's right, looking rather calm as usual. Erza and Roxanne didn't say much, despite being the so called "leaders" of the group. Dayton was on Natsu's left. He looked somewhat bored, showing as he tilted his head from side to side, his hands in his pockets. Natsu was walking with his hands behind his head as Happy flew next to him and Lucy walked along on his right. It was about 3:00 and the sun was still shining, bright as ever.

Dayton's thoughts suddenly took off and dragged him into a world of romance. In the midst of such a world, he took Roxanne by her side and pulled her up to him, preparing for a kiss.

"Don't worry. Lava is always warmer than electricity."Dayton says to Roxanne, hearing Kyousuke throw a fit over it. He imagines Roxanne sliding her hand down his chest seductively, shooting him a sexy stare as Kyousuke looks at him with jealousy.

"Oh Dayton, your lava is just so hot." Roxanne says. They then pull each other in for a kiss.

"Fire and Lava always come together." A male voice says seductively, Dayton opening his eyes in surprise. He then sees that the one he was about to kiss was none other than Natsu, causing him to jump and scream at the thought.

"Whoa Roxanne! You're Natsu too?!" Dayton blurts, back in reality. Roxanne glared at him with confusion, feeling awkward on the inside as Natsu just turned his head to Dayton. Roxanne was about to barf at such a thought.

"What about me?" Natsu wonders. Dayton started shaking his head in a panic.

"Oh it's nothing! I just was thinking about kissing Gajeel." Dayton blurts out. It only made matters worse when he realized that he said Gajeel instead of Natsu. He wasn't even thinking about him. Gajeel shot him a perplexed and annoyed look as Dayton suddenly started cringing. "Oh man, not Gajeel."

"You've got a problem with me or somethin'?!" Gajeel angrily questions. Dayton felt nothing but awkward as all the attention was on him.

"Why on earth would you think of that?" Roxanne asks perplexed, causing Dayton to cringe even more.

"He was probably having a fantasy about Roxanne again." Kyousuke points out, causing Dayton to blush.

"Hey! Shut up you!" Dayton shouts, Roxanne looking at him frustrated.

"So you were thinking about me again, weren't you?!" Roxanne says in frustration. Dayton put his hands up in fear.

"Come on now! I was just thinking!" Dayton says, trying to calm her down. This only increased her frustration until Erza calmly put a hand on her shoulder.

"Calm down," she calmly suggests, "You needn't hold back when expressing your feelings."

"What, are you in love with Natsu?"

"Well I used to shower with him when we were kids." Erza explains calmly. Roxanne became filled with disgust at just the possibility. Dayton, on the other hand, was mind-blown.

"She showered with Natsu? Just think, Roxanne showering with me!" Dayton thinks to himself, getting all lovely-dovey as Roxanne glares at him.

"Don't even think about it!" She angrily demands, to which he continues to think about it anyway. Erza received the strangest looks from Kyousuke and Gajeel, who never even knew about this in the first place. Even Levy and Lucy started to look nervous themselves (even though Lucy knew of this beforehand).

"How crude." Kyousuke says disgusted, looking away in disgust as Gajeel thinks the same.

"Well, that's Erza for you." Levy says calmly. Erza didn't feel any sort of awkwardness when telling them. In fact, it seems that she actually enjoyed it, for she had a smile on her face. Lucy giggled a bit (still wondering of the kind of relationship they had) and Natsu was walking casually, not even listening as they continued on.

"Man, I'm starving." Natsu complains. He was a fire dragon slayer, so he could eat fire if he needed to. The problem was getting the fire.

"You can deal with it Natsu." Erza calmly states.

"What? You're hungry already? We just ate an hour ago." Roxanne questions surprised.

"That was you who ate an hour ago." Kyousuke remembers. He was right, for she bought a bunch of fruit for her to eat; that was when this whole thing started five hours ago. She became embarrassed at her inability to remember as Erza looks at her surprised.

"You're certainly prepared I see." Erza says. Dayton couldn't help but get hungry himself.

"I need something to eat too." Dayton groans. Erza also told him to deal with it as Natsu and Dayton only went on to complain. Gajeel watched them complain and thought they were idiots, only for his stomach to suddenly growl, annoying him in the process. Kyousuke noticed and managed to come prepared, pulling out a large iron brick for him to eat.

"Here, have it." Kyousuke offers, handing the iron to Gajeel as he observed it. He instantly took a bite out of the iron and savored its flavor, continuing to eat it as Natsu and Dayton watched in jealousy.

"What! No way!" Natsu complains. Dayton prepared to tackle Kyousuke, wondering what else he may have. Roxanne wasn't about to let him though.

"Nope." she says, pushing Dayton back as he looks away annoyed. Eventually, the group managed to get to the side of the mountain. From the mountain, they looked down to see a graciously large forest. It was so large and full of trees, being too complicated to simply navigate their way through.

"It looks like we'll have to find another way around." Erza calmly suggests.

"There is no other way around." Roxanne assures. "These trees must be cut down to get there, as it seems."

"Very well then." Erza says, preparing to do so. It was then that she decided to use her magic for once. Roxanne watched in surprise as Erza began to glow upon using her requip. She touched the space she's in as her hands flow through it as if it was water. Erza vibrantly glowed yellow whilst changing into her armor. She then pushed her hands outward as blue streaks of light are shot out; her current armor being altered into an entirely new set. A large, stylish, light blue armor was then seen accompanied by feather-like wings. The armor glowed vibrantly within the sun. It was her Heaven's Wheel Armor. Roxanne looked at her with shock, realizing the fascinating beauty of the armor.

"This is incredible."Roxanne thinks to herself amazed. She had her own abilities, but there was no way she could compare them to Erza's (at least in her view). Natsu and Dayton got pumped, ready to cut down some trees.

"Let's do this!" Dayton shouts brashly, storming into the trees with a lava ball when he's stopped by Erza. She grabs him by his shirt and throws him back.

"You fool! You'll burn down the entire forest!" Erza says angrily. Dayton realized that she was right, regretfully restraining himself. "Natsu, you stay behind as well." Erza commands. Natsu reluctantly sits on the ground with Dayton, disappointed overall. Happy just sat next to Natsu, watching him closely as he became bored.

"Idiot." Kyousuke taunts, shunning Dayton who looks at Kyousuke annoyed. Natsu and Gajeel got themselves into a stare-down; looking at each other fiercely as time passed. Roxanne continued to observe Erza's armor in awe. Erza turned towards Roxanne and wondered if Roxanne could help out.

"I can help." Roxanne says calmly, deciding to reveal her own abilities. She did a stance similar to Erza, but this requip was different. The requip process involved Roxanne using the space around her to forge her own weaponry for her usage, despite actually referring to a selected set of weapons like Erza's Knight Requip. The requip soon ended and she was holding a laser saw in her hands. There was a blue glow on the outside of the blade, and the chassis was red. Erza was impressed, watching as Roxanne prepared to get to work.

"So you can requip as well?" Erza questions. Roxanne nodded in response.

"This is my power, let's put it into action." Roxanne says calmly. Erza nodded in agreement as Roxanne ran through the forest, cutting down as many trees as possible with her laser saw. Erza flew into the forest after her, cutting down trees even faster. The amount of trees she cut down was sky-high compared to Roxanne, and Roxanne watched her in shock. She was amazed at her skill. Erza summoned multiple swords to speed up the job, and it made Roxanne seem pretty much useless. As Erza sliced through the forest, she looked around and noticed Roxanne just standing there. She had finished cutting down the bodies of the trees, so only the roots were left. Erza encouraged Roxanne to do something.

"Don't just stand there! Show me something!" Erza encourages. Roxanne had been too distracted to try, but she did anyway. She picked up her laser saw and held it confidently, ready to prove herself once more.

"Alright then, here goes." She says. Just then, the blue blade on the laser saw suddenly expanded, having become more than simply its glow. She then held the saw back like a baseball bat and swung it with tremendous force. A blue laser was shot from the saw as it flew through all the tree-roots and burned them to a crisp. Erza watched as the laser flew into a large rock, only managing to make a small dent due to it losing power overtime. Roxanne used up a bit of magic in that technique, and so she was breathing heavily. Erza calmly flew down onto the ground next to Roxanne, requipping back into her traditional armor.

"Well done. That was quite impressive." Erza calmly applauds. Roxanne was surprised to hear such a response.

"Thanks, but I have to admit; you're much stronger than me."

"Now come on. You should be confident in your abilities." Erza says encouragingly as Roxanne requipped her saw away. "I might train you myself." Erza offers. Roxanne could only look at her in awe; to be trained by Erza to her was a gift. She could potentially build her skill up to a very high level.

"Oh...wow." Roxanne says stunned. An explosion of excitement stemmed from inside of her, but she seemed rather calm on the outside. The idea of Erza training her hadn't crossed her mind until now. "That would be nice." She calmly accepts. Roxanne walked back up to the others as Erza looks at her concerned.

"She doesn't sound as excited as I thought she would." Erza thinks to herself perplexed. It was kind of odd, but Erza didn't worry about it too much, forgetting it as she also returned to the others. They all got up and started heading down the mountain-side. Dayton and Natsu ran down the mountain joyfully while everyone else walked. Roxanne, walking back up, turned to Kyousuke, watching him as he went down. He looked rather deadpan, keeping his focus on the ground and the ground only. Roxanne couldn't understand it; why did he hate the D-Raided so much? It was as if the closer he got, the more hateful he became.

"I have to find out why he's acting like this." Roxanne thinks to herself determined. The memory of Kyousuke pinning Dayton up against the wall returned once more. She started to think, "From what I've observed, we're all similar to each other in power, personality, and possibly even the past. If Dayton and Natsu's parents both disappeared in the same way, could it be possible that Gajeel might have a similar connection to Kyousuke?"The analogy gave her hope. She knew that Kyousuke would just shut her out from such information, so she might go to Gajeel. Then she immediately dismissed the thought, thinking of how invasive such a question would be. "Asking Gajeel might not be the best option."Roxanne thinks to herself calmly, but regretfully. From what she assumed, Gajeel wouldn't tell her anything, and he would only get angry if she tried prying into information like that. Lucy arrived and noticed her just standing there, overthinking the situation. She gave Roxanne a concerned look.

"Hey. Are you okay?" Lucy asks out of concern. Roxanne suddenly shook her head and faced toward the bottom of the mountain.

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." Roxanne assures. Lucy looked at her confused as Roxanne continued to head down the mountain. What Lucy didn't notice was Roxanne's tightening throat; she was walking down with a sore heart. Lucy felt somewhat upset, sensing some sort of turmoil. "I hope she's okay." Lucy thinks to herself calmly. She was a gentle soul, caring about her friends quite a bit.

Eventually with time, the group managed to find a spot in the forest where they could rest for the night. There was a small bonfire in the center of the group, burning brightly as the wizards slept around it. Everyone but Kyousuke had crashed within minutes, and they were lying against some sort of tree or log. Lucy and Levy were sleeping against one tree while Dayton, Natsu, and Happy were sleeping against a large log. Gajeel and Pantherlily were sleeping against another tree, and Erza and Roxanne slept against another log. Within minutes however, Erza suddenly woke up from having a strange dream. It wasn't a nightmare, but it was quite strange. She breathed heavily and tuned into her surroundings. All she could hear was the wind, her breath, and the crackling fire that was reduced to hot coals. Realizing it was just a dream, she lied there against the log, trying to fall back into the world of sleep once more. However, it failed, and so she just lied there, losing herself in the dark blue night sky. The gargantuan sky was decorated with beautiful speckles of light you would call "stars". You could even see a planet in the sky if you were sharp enough to spot it.

"The sky's quite beautiful tonight." Erza thinks to herself peacefully. She observed the area and came across Natsu and Dayton's snoring, while everyone else was quiet. She turned to her left and saw Roxanne next to her against the log, being asleep herself as Erza turned back and looked at Gajeel and Pantherlily. She tried to look for Kyousuke, but she couldn't spot him. She began to feel alarmed, forcing herself to get up and search for him. "Where is he?!"Erza thinks to herself in a panic. She started running through the forest, not realizing the amount of noise her armor made. Gajeel opened his eyes and looked up to see Erza run through the forest, wondering where she was headed.

"What's up with her?" He thinks to himself confused. Erza continued through the forest in search of Kyousuke, remembering his reaction to Dayton when the D-Raided was brought up.

"He better not have gone after them."Erza thinks angrily. However, the possibility of such only felt truer. She continued running, before stopping and turning to her right when something caught her eye. Kyousuke was sitting on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the large forest that was beneath him. Erza felt relief surge through her as she calmed down and smiled. "Well, that was a close one."She thought to herself calmly. Her attention was on Kyousuke, who looked like a statue since he wasn't moving a single muscle. She then walked up to him; her armor's noise catching his attention in the process. "What are you doing out here this late at night?" Erza asks kindly. She had a polite expression on her face, but Kyousuke was sort of annoyed.

"Of course, now she's here."Kyousuke thinks to himself irritated. Despite such irritation, he answered her question anyway. "I'm not tired." He states. Erza sat herself down on the edge of the cliff next to him.

"Dayton's out like a light."

"That's not surprising." Kyousuke says calmly, causing Erza to chuckle a bit on the inside.

"He and Natsu are quite alike, aren't they?"

"Well yeah, but Dayton's deals with love drama, and Natsu seems like an idiot when it comes to dating."

"Love drama?" Erza wonders in surprise, causing Kyousuke to take a deep breath and explain. They were unaware of Gajeel lying back in the trees unnoticed, eavesdropping on their entire conversation.

"Dayton has always wanted to date Roxanne, but he has trouble controlling what he wants to think about. I bet when he said that he was thinking about kissing Gajeel, he was really thinking of Natsu." Kyousuke calmly explains. Gajeel couldn't help but put Dayton in a more idiotic light.

"Man that kid's a moron."Gajeel thinks to himself, thinking of Dayton. Erza didn't seem too surprised about it.

"That is strange." Erza says calmly. Kyousuke didn't have a response. He just continued to stare down into the forest with all those thoughts racing in his mind. No one could see the underlying tension that continued to build up inside of him, growing as they got closer to the D-Raided. Erza decided to change the topic and ask some questions about Gajeel. It was strange to her about how they got along so easily.

"So then..." She says, catching Kyousuke's attention, "Do you like Gajeel?"

"As a friend." Kyousuke says calmly. Gajeel was a bit surprised by this, and continued to listen. Erza looked slightly surprised herself.

"Is that so?" Erza wonders. She continued to delve into the questions that lingered within her mind. "You know that he's an Iron Dragon Slayer, don't you?"

"Yeah. I was kind of surprised to find that out."

"Who told you?"

"Levy."

"Of course she did." Erza says while smiling. She started getting excited as she saw potential in this relationship of theirs. "Gajeel seems interested in you." Erza says, causing Kyousuke to look at her surprised. "Normally he isolates himself from everyone, but he doesn't seem to mind hanging around with you."

"That's what seems unusual." Kyousuke says surprised, getting involved in the discussion. "Knowing how I am, I wouldn't have thought he would do that."

"Well you're both Dragon Slayers. Perhaps this was something that was bound to happen."

"I can say about you and Roxanne; you're practically the same. I'm not gonna question it." Kyousuke explains. Erza thought about it and couldn't help but agree too. Kyousuke continued on, "Then Gajeel came along and everything just changed. I mean, this whole trip starts with him."

"That's surprising." Erza says in bewilderment. Gajeel observed and caught onto what Kyousuke was referring to. He was prepared to hear the worst.

"But then I tried to shut him out, and he refused to be shut out. There's something about him. It's like he's the one I have to go to, that he's the one with all the answers."

"What answers?" Erza wonders. She began to get a glimpse of what his life may be like, but it was all clouded with assumptions. Kyousuke refused to answer that question though.

"Nothing, it's not important." Kyousuke finalizes. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about it. With that, Erza felt nothing else to say. She got up and prepared to head back.

"Well you better get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a big day." Erza suggests. She then heads back, just as Kyousuke sits there for a little longer.

Gajeel, on the other-hand, felt bewilderment. "I'm the one with all the answers?" Gajeel thinks to himself confused. The idea perplexed him; what answers? He knew of the pain that Kyousuke suffered through, but what caused this pain, and what answers would he be looking for? It was only then that he decided to head back and ponder over it, until Kyousuke said something.

"It won't matter in the end though." Kyousuke says depressingly. Gajeel turned around and looked at him shocked, watching him get up and slowly walk back. He looked rather distraught, to the point of where a tear pours down his face. Kyousuke thought that once he accomplished his mission, it would be the end. Gajeel had to do something; talking just won't cut it. He knew that the route Kyousuke was taking wouldn't end in the way he would've anticipated, so he had to do something to prevent such a nasty end.

"He ain't an idiot, but he has no idea of what he's getting himself into." Gajeel thinks to himself calmly. Perhaps Kyousuke was dead-set on his goals, but he was unaware of his transformation into a force to be reckoned with.