Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any character I borrowed from Dragon Ball, Negima, The World God only knows, Yugioh!, One Piece, Bleach, Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Soul Eater.

On a small airship, the team of Nat, Lisanna, Natsu and Happy was approaching the mysterious island which was apparently connected to the dragons.

-…-

At the same time a stellar gate opened at another location of the island. Lucy and Loki had secretly used this path in order to find the place where they assumed the missed celestial spirits. "Do you really think that we are at same correct location?" Lucy wasn't quite sure about this seeing nothing but a huge tropical forest in front of her.

"Yeah, I can feel it." Loki replied determined. "The missed spirits are calling me."

"Long time no see, Loki-sama." A familiar voice made him look over to a small hill. On the top the goat wearing a black suit and known as the celestial spirit Capricorn was already waiting for their arrival.

Chapter 21: Of spirits and dragons

Janus, the mysterious, masked member of the organization Roots of Order, had been ordered to find and assassinate a traitor, who had originally been an identical offspring of his master Netsrac. Instead he had been confronted and defeated by Zoldeo and his subordinates Ursa and Musca. Luckily he had been able to escape and find a hidden cave.

'Hm, it seems that they haven't really tried to go after me.' he thought to himself while he was still recovering from the injuries. 'They probably are too busy to prepare something. But they will soon regret underestimating me.' his thoughts went on while his right eye started to glow white through the hole in his mask.

He suddenly noticed something long and black cleaving through the ground. 'The tentacles! They are spreading through the whole place. That's the magic of the master's double. I wonder what he and Zoldeo are planning on this island.'

-…-

Lucy and Loki were surprised meeting Capricorn.

"What are you doing here?" Loki asked astonished. "I thought you had gone missing along with the other celestial spirits."

"I was looking for the missed ones and followed their trace to this island." the goat-man explained in a calm manner. "I've already discovered the location where they are held captive. Then I noticed the stellar gate opening and found you."

Lucy was relieved that the spirit of her mother was alright.

"Follow me! Together we should be able to rescue the missed spirits." Capricorn proceeded to enter the forest behind him.

Lucy and Loki went after him. 'Please be careful, Lucy.' he whispered. 'Even if he is an old friend of mine, we can't just blindly trust him. I feel that something suspicious is going on here.'

'Alright!' Lucy answered whispering. Carefully she held two golden keys and a silver one in her grasp to be prepared for any situation. While still following, Lucy had an idea. "Capricorn, how are my parents doing?" she asked.

"Your parents …?" the goat returned the question turning around.

"He … he doesn't recognize me?!" Capricorn's hesitation was for Lucy evidence enough to draw the conclusion that something was wrong with the spirit of her mother.

"What the hell is going on here?!" Loki noticed it as well.

"Too bad." Zoldeo's voice suddenly appeared from behind the trees. "I planned to deceive you a bit longer but …" he then drew a silver key: "Open the gate of the Great Bear! Ursa Major!" he commanded and summoned the tall, muscular woman wearing a bearskin.

"He is a celestial spirit mage!" Lucy noticed. "So he is the one behind the vanishing of the spirits!?" She immediately drew out one of her golden keys. "Open the gate of the Golden Bull: Taurus!"

"U-Ursa?! What are you doing here?" Taurus recognized his fellow.

Ursa didn't answer and was prepared to fight.

-…-

A few moments earlier the team of Lisanna, Nat, Natsu and Happy arrived on the island. While landing, Nat used his magic to change the form of the airship. At first he removed the wings and then equipped it with skids.

At first a sick Natsu barely managed to leave the ship. But as soon as he felt solid ground under his feet, his mood changed from naught to sixty. "Ok, now I'm ready for meeting the dragon!" he shouted in the air. Happy was soon following after him. "Where are Lisanna and Nat?" Natsu wondered noticing that they hadn't left the ship yet.

After a short while, Lisanna came out as well. "Nat has overused his magic a bit and needs some time to rest. We should stay here for a while."

Natsu's excitement disappeared after hearing her words.

Lisanna noticed the dragonslayer's change in mood and came up with another idea: "Well, you two could go ahead. I'll stay with Nat and we then follow you as soon as possible."

"Is that really ok?" Natsu asked.

"Yes." Lisanna nodded. "But please be careful."

"Don't worry, I'll protect Natsu." Happy added determined. Then he activated his wings and he and Natsu flew off.

Lisanna watched after them and then turned back to ship, where Nat was resting. 'I hope you're alright again soon' she thought.

After a while Lisanna noticed some flies that had whirred around the location. Feeling watched by the insects made her feel uneasy. So she slowly approached them and they flew away. Realizing that all flies headed towards the same direction, Lisanna decided to follow them and transformed into a little fly.

Lisanna followed the flies in the forest where a swarm of them had gathered and transformed back in the fly-woman Musca. "Who are you and why did you observe us?" Lisanna transformed back into her human form.

Musca flew away without answering.

Being worried about Nat's safety, Lisanna decided to return instead of chasing her anymore.

-…-

Meanwhile Lucy, Loki and Taurus were confronted by Zoldeo, Capricorn and Ursa Major.

"Taurus, please take care of Lucy." Loki said while opposing Capricorn on his own.

"Of course. I will protect Lucy-san." Taurus confronted Ursa.

"Let's fight together." Lucy took out her whip in order to assist her spirit while Zoldeo stayed in the background leaving the fighting to his servant.

Ursa charged at Taurus. "Allioth Crush!" Her powerful punch was blocked by Taurus who used the handle of his giant battle axe as a shield. Nevertheless he was pushed back by the pressure of the attack.

Lucy swung her whip towards the opponent and managed to bind the right arm of the muscular woman. "Now, Taurus!" she hold Ursa for Taurus to finish her off and the bull started to attack. Suddenly Lucy felt weakening without reason. Ursa used the chance and dragged the whip making Lucy stumbling into Taurus.

"Kyah!" Lucy and Taurus fell to the ground.

Loki was fighting evenly against Capricorn, but noticing that Lucy was in trouble made him careless. Capricorn charged at him fast and hit Loki hard with a kick in the stomach. "Guahh!" Loki was sent flying to the ground.

"You don't have any chance." the goat commented. "Additionally to summoning celestial spirits, Zoldeo-sama uses a Lost Magic that reduces the power of any human being in the area. Since we spirits aren't affected, only that girl is weakened and as long as she is in danger, you'll keep being distracted."

"Stop your blabbering, you traitor." Loki got up again and concentrated his magic in the ring. "Regulus! Give me your power!" the ring glared stronger and stronger.

Capricorn was unaffected by the light and kicked his opponent again to ground. "Your attack doesn't have any effect on me. Did you forget that I'm wearing sunglasses?" the goat spotted.

"Keh ... I wasn't aiming for you." Loki answered in pain. Capricorn turned around and noticed that Ursa and Zoldeo had been blinded instead. Now Lucy and Taurus had the advantage to defeat them.

-…-

Unaware of the fierce battle Natsu and Happy discovered some old ruins from the air. They landed in order to explore the place. "I guess this place hadn't been in use for a very long time." Natsu realized. "We won't find a dragon here. We should go on." he seemed to be disappointed.

"But Natsu, look!" Happy called excited and pointed towards a row of stone tablets with pictures on them.

The first one showed a black, serpent like dragon that was praised by humans.

The second one demonstrated the dragon ascending to the stars.

On the third tablet the dragon was shown returning back to earth.

The next one pictured the dragon fighting against the King of Stars and being defeated.

The filth and last tablet showed the dragon's worshippers being defeated by their enemies. But before their downfall the last survivors managed to hide two important objects in different places. One looked like a crown and the other one was a big mosaicked ashlar.

Natsu was amazed by finally finding a trace of the dragons.

"KYAHH!" suddenly Natsu heard common cries of a girl from far away. "This can't be but it sounds like Lucy is crying."

"Are you sure? I didn't hear anything." Happy commented. "Although my ears are not as good as yours, why should she be on this island?" Then there was a second cry. This time Happy was able to hear it as well. "Let's see what's going on." Natsu suggested and Happy agreed nodding.

-…-

A FEW MOMENTS EARLIER

With the help of Loki, Lucy and Taurus were able to overpower Ursa Major. Taurus was about to take out the finishing blow with his battle axe. Suddenly before striking the opponent he stopped and didn't move anymore.

"What's the matter, Taurus?" Lucy was confused by the strange behavior of her spirit.

"This is the power of Corona Australis, a lost celestial item that slowly takes control over any spirit summoned for a longer time." Zoldeo explained revealing a coronet that was hidden under his headband. "Taurus, kill that girl!" he ordered.

Taurus turned to Lucy and attacked her with his axe.

"KYAAHH!" the blond mage was able to avoid the strike but stumbled and fell to the ground.

Taurus started another attack which Lucy wouldn't have been able to dodge. In the last second Loki gathered his strength, pushed Capricorn aside and shot a beam breaking the handle of the battle axe. "I won't let that happen! Lucy, you must run while I am taking care of these guys!"

Suddenly he was impaled in the back by Capricorn's punch. "Your resistance is futile. The weaker you get the sooner you'll be influenced by Corona's power as well." the goat spirit remarked.

"LOKIII! NOOO!" Lucy cried desperate. She realized that she was now surrounded by Ursa, Taurus, Capricorn and Zoldeo while Loki collapsed.

"Stop!" Loki shouted lying on the ground severely wounded. "Capricorn! Taurus! Get hold of yourself!" He then felt an itching pain in his head. "ARRGGH!" After the headache was over, he slowly managed to get up again and drew off the attention of the spirits.

"Loki, you're alright?" Lucy asked in a whining tone.

"It's too late, Lucy." Loki commented with a strange voice. As he raised his head, his manically looking eyes and his evil grin revealed that he wasn't himself anymore.

"Finally he's fallen victim to Corona as well." Zoldeo noticed.

"This can't be true!" Lucy said in desperate voice while tears ran down her cheeks. She felt completely helpless right now. She wasn't able to summon another spirit as long as Taurus was still there.

Suddenly a shadow appeared from the sky above her. "Fire Dragon's Wing Slash!" Natsu came falling from the sky. He swung both hands around and released a fire circle around him and Lucy forcing the opponents to jump back for avoiding the flames.

"I don't know what's going on here, but I won't allow you to hurt my friend!" Natsu proclaimed with an angry voice.

"Aye!" Happy added landing next to him.

"Natsu! Happy!" Lucy was surprised but relieved seeing her friends.

"More intruders?!" Zoldeo reacted in an annoyed tone. "We'll retreat for the moment. Leo, I'll leave it to you." he commanded the manipulated Loki.

Loki focused the light of his ring making Natsu, Lucy and Happy covering their eyes. Afterwards Zoldeo and the spirits had already disappeared.

"Why the hell are Loki and the bull together with these guys?" Happy wondered but Lucy was unable to answer and collapsed.

"Lucy!" Natsu reacted worried. He carried her in his arms. "We should go back to the ruins resting there for a moment." he suggested.

"Aye." Happy agreed. "And I'll go warning the others." he said referring to Lisanna and Nat and flew off.

-…-

Lisanna was still guarding the ship when Nat finally woke up. "Sorry, Lisanna. I took some time for recovering."

"That doesn't matter. The main thing is, that you're well again." the white haired girl responded. "Natsu and Happy have already gone exploring the island. We should hurry and follow them. Something strange is going on here."

"Alright." Nat used his de-quipping-magic to make the airship disappear. "Then let's go."

Lisanna and Nat headed towards the forest unknowing what dangers would await them.

-…-

In the meantime Janus had finally left his hideout. After all he had to fulfill his task finding and killing the renegade member of his organization, who was apparently allied with Zoldeo now. 'Whatever they're planning, I need to stop them. I have to prevent the fatal confrontation with the Salamander, no matter what!' with these thoughts he headed towards meeting his fate.

I hope the chapter wasn't too confusing. The next one is leading the strings together.

Next chapter: The gate of the star dragon spirit