Ch 37: Turmoil Across Fiore

January 28th, X789 just as the sun was starting to set for the capital city of Crocus:

"Are you sure about this your Highness?" a man in a full suite of armor asked as he came out onto the balcony where the princess of Fiore was currently looking out over the city. Instead of being the young girl that Natsu and Ultear ran into in the Royal Gardens a little less than three years ago. Hisui was now a young teenager that was already grabbing the attention of the opposite sex, which was only going to happen even more as she matured into her adult body.

"No… But what other options do we have Arcadios?" she asked while turning around to look at her faithful protector with an uncertain look.

"We could continue to put our faith in Fairy Tail, they so far haven't let us down. And that Master of theirs, despite being rough around the edges, has been helping out the rest of the country in more ways than just dealing with the drakes by himself." Arcadios answered with his usual stern expression that one would expect from a seasoned soldier.

"I wish that was an option for us, but you already know that it isn't." she stated as a sad expression came over her face at the mention of the pink haired guild Master.

"I fear you're putting too much faith in that book of yours." he replied as his expression somehow became even more serious. "A book that just happened to magically appeared in your personal library out of nowhere. And dated from the near future no less, sorry your Highness but I believe we should be putting our efforts into what we can actually see for ourselves."

"That's funny to hear from you Arcadios; weren't you the one telling me that we have to be prepared for anything?" she asked him with a little smirk slowly appearing on her lips. That was instantly lost as sirens started to go off throughout the city, signaling a drake attack was heading their way just like her book said it would happen.

"I did, but that was before I saw what Fairy Tail is capable of doing. Something that your little book seems to keep overlooking, which is odd considering who the supposed writer is." he answered as the two of them watched their city spring back to life as the citizens got ready.

This for some of them meant heading to one of the bunkers that were actually finished throughout the city, or hunkering down wherever they could and hope for the best. While others opted for the get everything of value that they could carry and hightail it out of there as fast as physically possible. In other words, the once peaceful city of Crocus was now complete chaos as citizens were freaking out as Rune Knights and the Royal Guards tried to maintain order while also getting ready for the upcoming fight.

"We've been over this already…" said the princess with a tired sigh. "It has been confirmed to not be some sort of elaborate hoax like you keep hinting at. As for why it's so vague about our current events, that is most likely due to her and the rest of the Tenrou Group being missing right now. And it's more of a diary than any sort of published book that would tell us about historic events in great detail." she finished as they both could hear the hurried footsteps of the rest of her personal guard rushing to them.

"Yes your Highness, but if that book of yours is in fact from the future then it would mean that our country is soon going to be losing its Hero. And I'm sure you do realize how that will cause fear and panic to spread across the country faster than we can ever hope to contain. Which won't be easy to repair if we're still busy working in secret on that final solution of yours." he pointed out with a worried look coming over his visage.

"I do, but unfortunately being a good ruler means you have to think about the greater good." she replied as the rest of her guards entered her room. "Even if it means losing one of the few people in the world that actually treated you like a normal person." she mumbled to herself with a sad look as she was escorted to her private bunker where her father was sure to be waiting for her.

"A girl your age shouldn't have to worry about things like this." Arcadios whispered to himself while reaching into a pouch on his belt and fishing out a communication lacrima. "This is Arcadis speaking on behalf of Princess Hisui, please enact operation Dark Light." he said while glaring into the lacrima that currently had one of the Council's representatives on it.

"But that operation was deemed too risky by the Council." replied the frogman in a nervous tone as he was glancing around his room for help.

"I currently don't care what the Council believes, or are they openly disobeying a direct order from her Highness?" he asked back in an irritated tone as his glare intensified.

"No, definitely not, but this really isn't a direct order now is it." pointed out the representative with a smug little grin.

"What's your name again?" asked Arcadios with a pleasant smile washing over his face.

"It's Alfred." answered the frogman hesitantly.

"Good, now I know the name of the person to blame once her Highness finds out that her command was ignored. Which won't really matter since the Council will more than likely be done away with since they can't even follow the simple order to release a few prisoners into the Kingdom's custody." he said while deliberately going extremely slow to turn off his lacrima.

"Hold on just one moment, I was just following the proper protocol." replied the frogman representative, only for him to cover his ears as numerous alarms started to go off wherever he was located.

"You've got a minute to either confirm or deny that operation Dark Light has been set into motion. And from what I can hear it would seem that you've got more than enough to deal with at the moment." he said once again going back to his stern expression as he glared at the clearly overwhelmed Council worker.

"Fine, operation Dark Light is now in motion." said the frogman before turning off his lacrima, which was then followed by a smug smile spreading across the Knight's face as he did the same.

"As you said your Highness, we need to be prepared for anything and hopefully this will make it easier on us in the future. A future that Fairy Tail has shown time and time again to not be set in stone." he thought to himself as he started to make his way to where a few unexpected guests would be arriving any second now.

At Mermaid Heel just after their Early Drake Detection devices started to go off:

"You all know what to do!" shouted out Master Alicia as she looked over her guild members that were now hurrying around their guildhall.

"I don't like our plan." mumbled Millianna while leaning against one of the walls with a prominent scowl spread across her face.

"We've been over this a hundred times already Millianna." she replied after letting out a long sigh, slightly glad that the cat crazed girl was apparently the only one against their current plan. "I won't let any of my guild members go out there and fight against those monsters that they have no chance of beating in a fair fight. That according to Master Dragneel isn't really a thing that drakes are really known for doing in the first place, let alone in a fight to the death."

"That isn't going to stop the members of Fairy Tail!" argued Millianna as she got off of the wall and started to make her way towards her guild Master.

"I don't imagine that it would, but that definitely doesn't mean it's the correct decision for our guild to make. Not to mention that they have a few dragon slayers in their ranks and all of them have constantly been receiving training from their guild Master. Who as you know is the leading authority on dealing with drakes, and he is also constantly saying that only S-Class mages or above should ever even think about trying to deal with a drake." she explained for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"Yes, but we all can't just sit here waiting for them to save us again." Millianna said while coming face to face with her Master as they looked into each other eyes.

"We won't be just sitting here Millianna, we'll be protecting all of the citizens while at the same time keeping whatever drakes sent our way distracted." she replied while not breaking eye contact with her defiant guild member. "Something that we won't be able to do without everyone helping maintain our barriers so I can handle the distracting part." she finished with a devious smirk slowly spreading across her lips.

"Fine, but next time they attack I won't be just sitting on the sidelines." mumbled Millianna as she stormed off to a different area in their guildhall.

"I figured as much my dear Millianna, which is why I'll be sending you and a few others to receive some proper training after all of this is over." said Alicia as she looked over the rest of her guild, stopping on a few of the members that seemed to have the same thought as Millianna but weren't confident enough to make it known yet.

"Master, we've just got news that drakes are also attacking the city of Dahlia." shouted out Beth as she came racing over to her.

"Shit, unfortunately we won't be able to help them and have to be more concerned about what we can do. Which is making sure that all of our own citizens are safe and sound; and that the drakes coming here stay here and don't go anywhere else." she stated as a worried look came over her expression. While mentally she was hoping that Fairy Tail would be able to send a group there before they sent any their way.

"Should we tell Fairy Tail about this?" asked Risley as she joined the two of them.

"There will be no need for that since Fairy Tail gets an alert anytime one of the EDD devices goes off." Arana stated while not even turning to look at them since she was concentrated on getting their wards into place.

"She's correct about that, but could you call them and let them know that we should be fine on our own until most of the other threats are dealt with." replied Master Alicia since she had a feeling that they definitely weren't the only two places in the country under attack at the moment.

At the Guildhall of Quatro Cerberus:

"Alright men, the last time we tried to take on a drake we kind of got our asses handed to us." Goldmine announced from his spot right in front of his entire guild as they stood outside of their guildhall. "But even after receiving such a crushing defeat and being saved by Master Dragneel in the end, I don't think I could be any prouder of our wild bunch. We got back up and dusted ourselves off only to then proceeded to throw everything we had into preparing for a day like today." he declared before letting out a war cry that the rest of his members soon followed suit in. Causing an impressive roar to echo throughout their now completely evacuated town, thanks to the bunkers they built after Natsu's initial design.

"Now that's what I like to hear." said Bacchus as a crazed grin started to make its way across his face.

"Are you sure about this Master?" Rocker asked as he came up to the side of Goldmine as they both watched Bacchus start getting red. Which usually would have only consisted of him getting completely shit faced drunk, but this time he had some new gear that he was dying to try out. "I know that he's our Ace and all, but having him be our only member facing off against them in hand to hand combat just seems suicidal." he finished with a worried look.

"For anyone of our other members it would be, which is one of the main reasons that he wants to do this all by himself." replied their guild Master as they both continued to watch their Ace. "Also this way he knows he doesn't have to hold back or be concerned about any of us getting caught up in one of his attacks. It is also the only way he could think of preventing what happened last time from happening again, and it honestly just might be crazy enough to actually work." he finished as a slightly crazed grin spread across his own face.

"I know all of that, it's just… Are those new gauntlets of his really going to make that much of a difference?" asked the fellow close quarters mage still rocking a concerned expression.

"I believe that they will." answered Goldmine as a serious expression once again came over his face. "Master Dragneel personally dropped them off himself, and from our little discussion afterwards. He and his friend Cid apparently spent a long time making them with Bacchus's unique fighting style in mind." he explained as said mage finally finished putting on his new gear, which he then started to test out with a few practice punches.

"It would have been nice if he could have given the rest of us some drake slaying gear as well." Rocker mumbled, before he received a swift smack to the back of his head.

"We're lucky that Master Dragneel gave us anything at all." reprimanded his guild Master while also giving him a disapproving glare. "I can't even imagine what that poor boy is going through. Not only is he responsible for the safety of his entire guild, but he's also the person everyone now looks to whenever a drake rears its ugly head. And all of this was pretty much thrown onto him in the blink of an eye, which just so happened to come after the Tenrou incident." he finished with a sad look now taking up residence on his face.

"I'm sorry Master Goldmine, I didn't…" Rocker started to reply until he was waved off by his Master, resulting in the two of them standing together in silence for a few more seconds. "Do you really believe that they're actually still alive like he claims them to be?" he asked while looking over at the man who used to be a member of said guild in his youth.

"All I'll say is that nobody believed Master Dragneel when he continuously warned us about the drakes turning into a bigger problem than what they once were." he answered while adjusting his hat ever so slightly. "We all know how well that turned out for us." he said while gesturing to their current situation. "Also, if I know Master Makarov as well as I think I do, he's too stubborn to die like the Council claims he did. Especially when the rest of his brats are fighting so hard to keep his guild running in a similar way to how he did." he finished with a small smile gracing his lips.

"I'd hardly consider the Fairy Tail now, even remotely close to what it once was." stated Rocker while looking over at Goldmine as if he had completely lost it.

"To most it would probably look that way; especially given that one of the biggest culprits for their old reputation is now seen as one of the Country's strongest and well respected mages." he replied as his smile started to morph into a proud one. "They're still causing mass destruction on most of their jobs, possibly even more than before which is actually quite impressive when you think about it." he said with a little chuckle. "Even with all of the extra training and jobs that they are constantly doing, they still have their occasional brawls to let off some steam. But more importantly they are keeping the one thing that sets Fairy Tail apart from all other guilds."

"And what is that?" Rocker inquired, intrigued at what set the number one guild apart from the rest of them.

"They're a family." answered the older mage with a fond smile. "Which is exactly how I see our guild mind you, but it isn't the same for a wide variety of reasons." he said only for Rocker's expression to become even more confused. "Every member of their guild realizes that as soon as they step one foot into their guildhall for the first time and watching how they interact with each other on a daily basis. They are then given the offer to join that crazy family of theirs, knowing that if they say yes they will be a member for life." he finished while tracing his hand over his left shoulder as a nostalgic look flashed across his face.

"Does that include you Master?" he asked since he was one of the few members in their guild that knew about their guild Master's past.

"Indeed it does Rocker, even though my path has diverged from being a member of their guild. I will continue to live my life to the fullest, which just so happened to be raising a new generation of mages that I couldn't be prouder of." he answered while looking out at all of their guild members that were hurriedly getting ready for the upcoming fight. "And I'll never forget the friends that I made while there, that I would literally do anything for them if they would simply just ask." he stated while once again touching his left shoulder gently.

"And we would do the same for you Master." Rocker stated as he looked over at his Master with a completely serious expression.

"I know, which is just one of the many reasons that I'm so proud of our guild." he replied, while looking as if he was about to say something more. But before he could the ground slightly shook as two different drakes landed in the middle of their city, neither of them caring in the slightest at the wide destruction that they had just caused.

One of the drakes was completely pitch black with its only other color being its red eyes that had an, otherworldly glow to them. While the other drake's main color was a deep blood red that only stopped at its tan underbelly that seemed to be a fairly common trait amongst their species. The two drakes before Quatro Cerberus were definitely contenders for the most intimidating drakes to date, which was easily enhanced by the menacing looks they were currently giving them.

"Looks like we weren't lucky enough to get one of the slayers." declared the black drake in a deep voice as he looked over at his partner with a wide grin.

"It would appear so, well that just means we need to get rid of these insects and move on to our ne-" replied the other drake in slightly lighter tone, although something prevented him from finishing his thought. And that something was none other than Bacchus Groh, who delivered a devastating chop to the back of the drake's head. That then resulted in said drake's head being launched into the ground to everyone's surprise, none more than the two drakes.

"Damn Salamander, you weren't joking when you said I wouldn't need to worry about holding back while wearing these." stated Bacchus as he gracefully landed in front of the two drakes while looking at his purple gauntlets as his crazed grin grew even larger. His gauntlets were actually almost identical to his previous set of shoulder pads and sleeves, with the small change of also now covering his fists and being made from drake scales instead of their previous material. "Oh and sorry to break it to the two of you, but slayers aren't the only humans you need to be worried about." he declared as the red drake finally recovered from his surprise attack.

"I'm really going to enjoy ripping you to shreds!" growled out the red drake before lunging at the lone mage that appeared to barely be able to stand on his own two feet. Something that he was planning to use against the human before him, but something unexpected happened before his teeth could tear into the man. And that was Bacchus effortlessly dodging the incoming attack during one of his stumbles, which then turned into him delivering another powerful attack but this time to the drake's underbelly.

"You insignificant little ant!" bellowed the drake as he twirled around to get the infuriating human in his sights again. Unfortunately that is when he realized why his fellow drake didn't follow up with him on either of his attacks; his partner was under a constant barrage courtesy of the other humans he saw scurrying about earlier. But before he could even react to this new information he too was now under fire, and to his horror he could actually feel the assault affecting him.

"ENOUGH!" shouted out the black drake as he flew higher into the air while at the same time dodging all of the attacks sent his way. "Now you puny humans are going to feel our wrath!" he declared while rearing his head back in the telltale manner that meant a roar was coming Quatro Cerberus' way.

And what a roar it was, dark shadows came streaming down from the drakes open maw and soon engulfed three different cannons that were aimed his way. This was only just the beginning of the black drake's attack as he continued to unleash his roar on them as he swiveled around in the air, making sure to hit each and every one of the annoying cannons directed at him and his partner.

"What, how is that even possible?" he asked in complete shock after making a full rotation and finding that the cannons he first attacked were completely fine. Actually they were more than fine, they were charged back up and ready to once again unleash hell on the drakes threatening to destroy them and their city. But before that could even happen, the man who attacked his partner from before appeared in front of him with a quite frankly terrifying look in his eyes.

"How about we take this to the ground?" Bacchus asked as he slammed both of his palms into the lower portion of the drakes neck. This resulted in the shadow drake being thrown abruptly back down to the ground and crashing into his partner, which is when the other members of Quatro Cerberus finally opened fire on them. A large cloud of smoke and debris quickly formed around the two drakes as they were continuously hit by round after round from the numerous cannons positioned across the city.

"Did we get them?" asked a random guild member as most of the cannons were now in the process of reloading.

"Nope!" answered their Ace as a smile that went from ear to ear started to appear as he slowly started to walk towards the clouded area in the center of their city. Just as he was about to enter the cloud two extremely pissed off roars rang out as the cloud was then blown away, revealing both of the drakes with their wings spread wide and glaring directly at the man coming towards them.

"You really must have a death wish to continue to come at the two of us all alone." the red drake declared in a snarl as Bacchus continued to come towards them.

"Nope, I just have a really long way to go before I catch up to Salamander, which is actually quite sad considering he's a few years younger than me." he replied while once again dodging whatever attack the two drakes threw his way, each time looking as if he only dodged them by accident. "But I think I've finally figured out how he got so strong so fast… He started to take care of you overgrown lizards!" he shouted out before charging directly at them like a madman.

This was something that the two drakes expected from the obviously crazy human, but even knowing that he planned to charge straight at them didn't seem to help as he dove through one of their slashes. By going right in between two of their claws and tucking into a roll once on the other side, before getting back up only to fall onto his knees in a slide as another attack missed him by only a centimeter. After dodging death by a razor's edge at least ten times in the last five seconds alone, he seemed to phase out of focus only to appear behind both of the drakes.

What followed afterwards was something that none of his guild mates have ever seen from him before, both drakes let out another pain filled roar as it looked as if they both were hit at least ten different times. And these attacks weren't random; no they were very specific spots that Bacchus chose for a very simple reason. It was where he could tell that their scales were starting to fail, something that was proven to be correct as a few of them fell to the ground.

"This shouldn't be possible." spat out the red drake as he cautiously kept his distance from the lone mage before them.

"Says who?" he asked back only to break into a loud chuckle at the end. "I bet this is exactly what Salamander feels like whenever someone said something similar to him. But guess what, he keeps on doing the impossible so why the hell can't the rest of us?"

"Who is this Salamander you keep referring to?" asked the other drake as he also made sure to keep his distance from Bacchus.

"Oh yeah, you probably don't know about his old moniker." he replied once again letting out a chuckle. "Nowadays everyone refers to him as Master Dragneel, but I'm guessing that you guys know of him as the son of Igneel." he finished while grabbing a gourd that was attached to his belt and chugging whatever was inside of it.

"Ah, Dragneel is definitely the best that your sorry lot has to offer." said the red drake while nodding his head up and down. "Not many can boast of going up against that monster and living to tell the tale, not only that but he also caused him to bleed in the process." he stated as a wide grin spread across his face.

"What are…" Bacchus asked only for his question to be cut short as the lights throughout the city started to go out. This also included the lights some of his guild members were aiming at the drakes with to make sure the ones operating the cannons could easily see them.

"You humans rely so heavily on your sense of sight to fight. So what will you do now that it's been taken away from you?" asked the drake in a menacing tone as it slowly stalked around the mage still completely by himself. Instead of getting any sort of response from the man, he just continued to stand there as the drake made its way to his backside.

"Quadrant C4!" shouted out Goldmine, only for numerous shots to ring out as an infuriated roar soon followed shortly after.

During that brief moment the red drake lost focus on the mage right in front of him, which was exactly what the Ace of Quatro Cerberus was waiting for. "You're right about that." replied Bacchus as he unleashed strike after strike on the completely caught off guard drake in front of him. "But luckily for us, Salamander made sure to inform us about all of the underhanded tactics you like to pull." he continued to explain while not letting up on his assault. "Also you're not really doing a good job of hiding." he concluded as he landed an impressive strike that sent the drake into the air.

"Dragneel!" hissed back the drake as he took to the skies, wanting to recuperate from the onslaught of the crazed man below him. Unfortunately the other members of Quatro Cerberus had something else to say about that idea of his as Goldmine shouted out to another quadrant. And before he could even try to dodge he was pelted with round after round from their cannons.

An hour later:

"Since when have humans been capable of this?" asked the black drake as he looked across the completely destroyed city block at Bacchus. Who was surprisingly still standing and only had a few shallow wounds from their fierce battle that was now coming to a close.

"Since forever." Bacchus answered as he staggered forward, this time due to his injuries and not because of being drunk.

"You may have won this battle, but don't think for a second that you've won the war." growled out the red drake from his spot on the ground just a few yards to the left of them. "The rest of our forces have no doubt laid waste to all who opposed them, meaning it's only a matter of time before they come here to finish the rest of you off." he finished with a wide smirk slowly spreading across his mug, only for it to shift into a grimace as a shot rang out and his body shifted ever so slightly from the impact of the round.

"Sorry to disappoint you once again, but if we were able to hold you off then there are guaranteed to be others. And that isn't even including Fairy Tail who, if you haven't realized it yet, have kind of made it their job to deal with you arrogant bastards." he replied while glaring at the two drakes as Goldmine came up to his side and slung one of his arms over his shoulder.

"Are you sure about that human, without Dragneel protecting them do you really believe that they will be able to hold off ten of us attacking them at once?" asked the other drake as a smug grin spread across his face at seeing the shocked and worried looks wash over the two mages before them.

"Even if they didn't send out their other slayers to help other villages it would still be almost impossible for them to survive." stated the red one through his clenched jaw. "And even if they do somehow make it out of all of this live, it's only the beginning of something much bigger." he continued to say before he broke into a crazed laughter that showed no signs of stopping. That is until Goldmine did a hand gesture and another shot rang out, effectively silencing the drake and sending him to his eternal resting place.

"How?" asked a now terrified drake as it looked over at what remained of his partner's head. Which really wasn't much after the last round tore through it and left only his bottom jaw intact.

"Once again, all credit goes to Master Dragneel for lending us a helping hand." Goldmine answered from his spot well away from the drake still breathing. "Your scales and claws are stronger than pretty much anything we could ever hope to create on our own. But with a little help from him and his friend, they were able to fashion us a few rounds that would be able to pierce you once we got you to a weakened state." he explained while raising his arm into the air to once again to give the signal to fire. But held off when the last remaining drake started to chuckle to himself.

"What in the hell could you find so funny in all of this?" Bacchus shouted out in anger from his position next to his Master.

"That Dragneel is actually willing to give away weapons that I have no doubt will one day be used against him." replied the drake while still laughing to himself.

"We'd never do that to him!" he yelled while staggering away from Goldmine and slowly making his way towards the drake.

"Bacchus, he's just trying to lure you in." warned the Master of Quatro Cerberus.

"I don't give a fuck!" he shouted back, honestly not caring if he was going to get an ear full later. "Unlike you conniving bastards we actually care for our fellow comrades." he said while now just a few feet away from the drake.

"That might be the case for you and everyone else here, but can you honestly say the same for the rest of your kind?" the drake asked him back with a wide grin that showed off his teeth. The response that he got from Bacchus was an angry shout before the man was pummeling into his head with everything that he had. And he continued to do this until he was forcefully removed from the drake's corpse by a few of his fellow guild members that he was about to lash out at. Until he all of a sudden passed out, making all of them extremely concerned for him.

"What the hell just happened?" asked Warcry as he and the rest of his guild watched Bacchus be carried away to their makeshift infirmary since their guildhall was destroyed during the battle.

"That drake was able to make him realize something he wasn't ready to." Goldmine answered in a solemn tone as he looked over at said drake. Who looked even worse than his partner after their Ace was through with him.

"And what was that exactly?" he asked hesitantly, not really sure if he actually wanted to find out.

"That we humans are quick to turn on each other, especially once the one thing that united us goes away." was his cryptic reply before he started to bark out orders to the rest of his guild members. This only confused Warcry even more and he was about to go after his guild Master and ask him to elaborate but his foot caught something before he could. It was one of the gourds that Bacchus would store his alcohol in, but as he picked it up his nose caught a scent that didn't belong.

"Bacchus, please say that you didn't just do what I think you did." he mumbled to himself before crushing the gourd in his grip and tossing it to the side.

At Blue Pegasus:

"Are we really going through with this?" inquired Eve as their entire guild was spread throughout their city with all of their eyes looking to the skies.

"I don't really like this plan either." chimed in Ren from the roof of a house on the other side of the street.

"I've personally gone over the numbers at least ten different times by myself, and this is our best hope at keeping our losses to a minimum." replied the voice of Hibiki from inside of both of their heads.

"Indeed my darlings, and as much as we wish we could be like those mages from Fairy Tail. We aren't which means we have to go about this our own way." stated Master Bob to all of his mages thanks to Hibiki having them all linked together.

"And I don't disagree with you on that Master, but if our plan succeeds won't that just mean the drakes heading our way will go somewhere else?" asked Jenny, causing a few other members to voice their agreement with her on that.

"Hopefully that won't happen, but if it does all of the surrounding cities and villages have Ichiya's perfume to use if they need to." he replied in a giddy tone.

"They're here!" shouted out a random guild member in a clearly panicked tone.

"Wait until they draw nearer!" commanded Hibiki after seeing a few of their vitals spike, indicating that they were growing scared. And for good reason, two drakes were barreling down on them and they were currently putting all of their hope on one of Ichiya's perfumes.

"Now!" he shouted out, which caused every member of Blue Pegasus to throw a vial containing a strange green liquid to the ground. As soon as the vials shattered they were all meet with the worst smell that any of them have ever smelled before in their entire lives.

"Oh dear god!" coughed out Eve and various other members of their guild as they started to cover their noses.

"Put in your re-breathers you idiots." reminded Jenny in a slightly irritated tone.

"I can still smell it." stated one of the people complaining about the stench from before.

"Of course you do, this elegant perfume of mine won't dissipate just from putting in one of Hibiki's re-breathers. The Salamander's perfume will last for a few days at least." replied Ichiya in an extremely proud voice.

"WHAT!" shouted over half of the guild at the same time.

"Master, please tell me that you didn't know that our beautiful city is now going to smell worse than a stinky armpit for a few days?" Jenny asked in a menacing tone, which most of them knew had an equally menacing look accompanying it as well.

"I did my Dear." was his simple yet happy reply.

"I'm more concerned about what Natsu's reaction is going to be once he finds out that you named the worst smell in the world after him." pointed out Ren, causing a few of his fellow guild members to go pale as their imaginations ran off to a few very dark scenarios. All of which didn't really end very well for Ichiya or their guild for that matter.

"Don't you mean Master Dragneel's." corrected Jenny in a happy tone as Ren let out a quick curse.

"I'm sure that Master Dragneel will love it." declared Ichiya while more than likely striking a weird pose afterwards.

"I think all of you are somehow missing out on the bigger picture here, it appears to be working." pointed out Hibiki, causing the rest of the guild to look back up to the skies and search for two drakes. That they quickly caught sight of as the two of them were continuously backing away from the city while shaking their heads and letting out angry roars of frustration.

"I can't believe that actually worked." commented a random member, even though she definitely wasn't the only one thinking it at the moment.

"Me neither, but I'm still worried about them heading to another city or village and destroying it." replied their poster girl in a very worried tone.

"Given how multiple attacks happened at the exact same time, I've got a feeling that they were ordered to deal with us first." stated Hibiki as he brought up a map of Fiore that showed all of the different areas currently reporting drakes thanks to the EDD devices.

"There's so many." said Eve in an aghast tone as two of the dots disappeared.

"Why did those dots just disappear?" asked another random member of Blue Pegasus.

"I'll give you just one guess." replied Hibiki in a tone that easily conveyed that he had a wide grin spread across his face.

"Fairy Tail." answered a few members at the same time as grins started to spread across all of their faces as well.

Meanwhile with the mages of Lamia Scale:

The once pristine city of Margaret Town could no longer be considered as such; only after just a few minutes of the drakes' assault at least a third of it was reduced to rubble. That figure would have been significantly higher if the mages of their guild weren't able to maintain their wards that were keeping the two drakes at bay. Another factor for the town not being even more destroyed than it already was is thanks to a select few of their members volunteering to go out and fight them.

And one of those said members was just sent flying through one of the evacuated homes of Margaret Town. "Fuck, that really hurt." mumbled Lyon to himself as he slowly pulled himself out of the hole he just made with his body. "My shield can only hold off about three attacks." he made note of as he looked back at the drake that sent him fly only moments ago.

Said drake was currently preoccupied with Max Alors of Fairy Tail, one of the three members that were sent their way. He didn't know the names of the other two mages, which he felt terrible about since they were right now risking their lives to help protect his guild and city. So he made a quick promise to himself that he would make sure to get to know them after they made it out of this.

To his shock and amazement, Max seemed to be handling the one drake on his own quite easily. Granted that didn't mean he was making any progress on taking down said drake, but he was doing an excellent job of keeping the drake's full attention and easily dodging all of the attacks sent his way. Max was able to accomplish this amazing feat through the use of his sand clones and reflexes that Lyon could only assume came from training with all of the dragon slayers on a regular basis. And now that he was forcibly removed from the conflict it allowed the sand mage to unleash a giant sand storm around the two of them which made it even harder on the drake to pinpoint his exact location.

"They're quite impressive aren't they." stated Sherry as she came up to her fellow guild member's side.

"They really are." he replied in a slightly frustrated tone as he clenched his fists.

"The same can be said about you as well Lyon." she said while giving him a reassuring smile. "You're out here fighting against these drakes just like they are, even though the odds are heavily stacked against us. So why don't we show the rest of the world that it's not just Fairy Tail mages that can deal with these annoying drakes." she finished while taking off in the direction of the other drake still rampaging in their town, knowing that he was going to be following right behind her.

"You're right." replied Lyon as a slight smirk spread across his face as he fell into step right next to her. Unfortunately that smirk of his didn't last as they turned around the final corner and came face to face with the other drake. That was now solely focused on the only mage left standing, which was one of the mages from Fairy Tail currently dressed in a skin tight leotard that covered everything but his head. Scattered across the battlefield were the broken figures of their fellow guild mates that neither one of them could tell if any of them were still alive.

"You're quite the agile human, aren't you?" asked the blue and white drake as she continuously sent attack after attack at the lone mage. Who instead of looking as if he was in a fight looked more as if he was in some sort of play as he continued to dance and twirl out of the way of the deadly claws and teeth directed at him.

"Yes, but that is only thanks to years of my life being dedicated to perfecting the world's greatest dance." declared the Fairy Tail mage as he leapt over a claw sent his way and landing on his hands. That he then kept firmly planted there as he swung his feet down to dodge another attack that would have caused him to lose his legs.

"He needs help." coughed out one of the already fallen members of Lamia Scale, causing Lyon and Sherry to both snap back out of their shocked trances that they accidentally slipped into. They both then had looks of horror wash over their faces upon figuring out who was speaking to them, Yuka Suzuki. Instead of seeing the proud Wave Mage that both of them had grown accustomed to seeing, they now were looking down at a man literally on Death's doorstep begging for them to help the mage from Fairy Tail.

"My god." exclaimed Sherry as she covered her mouth and looked on in horror at all of his injuries. As she was doing this, Lyon on the other hand sprang into action and started to freeze some of his friend's more grievous wounds so he wouldn't bleed out on them.

"He won't last much longer by himself." stated Yuka through clenched teeth as he held back a pain filled scream.

"And neither will you if I don't freeze some of these wounds." declared Lyon as he continued to close some of the wounds with his ice.

"I'll go and check on the others." said Sherry as she took off to check on her fellow guild members scattered about the place.

"No!" shouted out Yuka while coughing up some blood. "He needs your help now or none of us are going to make it!" he declared while trying to stand up but was forced back down by the ice mage kneeling next to him.

"But…" she started to reply with an extremely conflicted look washing over her face.

"He's correct my Dear, which is why I'll be the one to help our friend from Fairy Tail." replied Master Ooba as she slowly hobbled past them.

"Master, I thought you were overseeing the wards." stated Lyon in shock as he looked up at his elderly Master.

"The others are doing just fine with that, and besides, I couldn't just sit back and let you guys have all the fun now could I?" she replied while not looking back at the two of them. And despite her cavalier attitude, the conscious members of Lamia Scale could tell that she was beyond pissed and was going to make that drake pay for hurting her mages.

"What's this?" asked the drake in a taunting tone as she looked over at the elderly woman heading her way. "Twinkle Toes here needs help from someone that is already halfway in the grave." she continued to taunt while trying to slash the dancing mage from Fairy Tail in half.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?" he asked the drake back as he twirled and twisted his way until they were a few yards away from each other.

"I'm afraid that we don't have a saying like that, but Dragneel has made it abundantly clear to most of us that dragon slayers are full of surprises." answered the drake with a little chuckle. "Unfortunately for all of you I can tell that none of the humans gathered here today are a slayer, so none of you have any hope of making it out alive." she declared before lunging forward at him.

But to her shock she veered left, not of her own accord, but by some unknown force that she could still feel pulling her body. And this force kept moving her until she was facing the opposite direction of her intended target.

"Be that as it may drake, but I'm certain that you and your kind will soon realize that it's not just dragon slayers that you need to fear from us humans." said Master Ooba as she continued to walk towards the drake with one of her hands in the air as the other held onto her cane.

"Is this your doing?" she asked in a slightly shocked tone as she twirled back around to look at the old woman walking towards her with nothing but rage in her eyes.

"It is." was Ooba's simple reply before she twirled her finger and spun the drake into one of the few remaining buildings. "One can only sit back for so long and watch her young ones fight for the simple wish of just surviving, before saying it's enough and then doing something about it."

"So you've had enough is it?" she asked as a grin slowly spread across her face; letting all of them see her jagged teeth that were slightly covered in the blood of their comrades.

"Yes." replied the elderly Master of Lamia Scale as she once again spun the drake into another building.

"Sorry to break it to you human, but spinning me like you are is only postponing the inevitable." declared the drake in an annoyed snarl.

"True, but that should be enough and it'll prevent you from hurting anymore of my members." she stated with a small smirk as she continued to spin the white drake before she could even attempt to attack them again.

"Are you so sure about that?" asked the drake as the temperature started to drop rapidly while frost also started to spread outwards from her as well.

"Why yes, we just so happen to have a mage in our guild who specializes in your type of magic." she answered as shields of ice quickly formed in front of her and all of the other wounded mages scattered across the place.

"Good, I was actually getting a little hungry." replied the drake as she started to suck in the ice shields. But after sucking in the first one she started to make choking noises that were cut off by her being twirled into one of the many piles of rubble that surrounded them. "What trickery is this?" she bellowed while righting herself.

"Did you really think I would be stupid enough to give you a free power boost like that?" Lyon inquired from his position in front of a group of other mages he used to be attending to. "It's good to finally confirm that you're just like dragon slayers in that aspect, well most of them that is." he stated as a certain pink haired one flashed across his mind since he seemed to always do the impossible.

"So you hid things in your ice, very clever human, but you aren't the only one that can adapt on the battlefield." said the drake with a smug grin as Ooba tried to spin her again but couldn't for some reason. She and Lyon watched in horror as the drake reared her head back for what they knew was going to be a roar. That both of them would have been okay with if it was heading their way, but that wasn't the case as they watched the drake point at their helpless friends and comrades.

Both of them watched helplessly as a large stream of ice started to barrel down from the drake in front of them at a small group of injured mages. It was also at this point that they realized how the drake stopped Ooba from spinning her; which was thanks to her freezing her own feet to the ground in some very thick ice. But that didn't really matter to either of them as the roar edged closer and closer to their unsuspecting friends that were still wounded from earlier.

"DOLL ATTACK: STONE!" came the desperate scream of Sherry, causing a giant golem made out of the bricks and stones from all of the destruction to form right in front of the incoming attack. Causing all of the mages watching to let out a sigh of relief as the stone golem stood strong against the icy roar. This also seemed to catch the drake off guard since she did nothing as said golem charged at her and landed a really hard hit to the top of her skull. Resulting in her head slamming into the ground where the golem continued to slam its stony fists into her while she was unprotected.

Sherry and Lyon shared a quick smile with each other, neither of them thinking that they would actually be doing this well against one of these ferocious beasts. But that smile of theirs was quickly lost as an enraged roar rang out while Sherry's doll was smashed to bits by just one swing from the now pissed off drake before them. That now had jagged ice formations forming on various parts of her body, making her even deadlier than she already was.

"Don't give up just yet you two, we've already proven that we're capable of dealing with her when we're working together." stated Master Ooba as the other two watched in stunned silence as the drake's own tail slammed into its face.

"Damn right Master!" declared Lyon as he got into his Ice Make stance as Sherry formed another stone golem from the nearby rubble.

Back with Max:

"You've put up a valiant fight human, much longer than I ever would have thought possible." stated the steel covered drake as he smashed another sand clone of Max with his tail. "But I can already see the signs of fatigue slowly setting in, your little dolls of yourself are becoming sloppier with each and every one of them." he said while looking through squinted eyes for the troublesome mage responsible for the sandstorm raging around him.

"Did you know that your scent would be harder to find in all of this sand?" he inquired after getting no response from the elusive mage. "Or was that just a happy accident you're just now finding out?" he asked right before his left flank was hit by a stream of condensed sand. This caused him to quickly twist towards the direction that the attack came from and start slashing away, but like every other time he did this he only destroyed another building instead of his intended target.

"I've known that it would help mask my scent, I just didn't think that it would help this much considering Master Dragneel seems to still be able to find me." replied Max from within the whirling sand.

"Ah, the fabled son of Igneel." the drake responded in an extremely sarcastic voice. "Defender of mankind, and the one to fight against Acnologia and actually live to see another day." he continued to say in the same tone. "I really wanted to see if he lives up to the legend that our kind is starting to spread about him, but alas I won't be able to since he's off gallivanting around elsewhere." he finished in an extremely disrespectful tone, in the hopes that the human he was up against would lose his cool.

"Did you really expect me to charge at you just because you were speaking ill of my guild Master?" inquired Max in a surprisingly cheery tone which really irked the drake.

"I had hoped, your kind is usually really easy to manipulate into acting irrationally." he answered with a slight growl at the end.

"Sorry, but we all know better than to let one of you drakes pull such an easy trick on us." stated the sand mage before unleashing another attack on the drake's left flank.

"It would seem that Dragneel is also smarter than we gave him credit for, which wasn't much considering he still thinks that we can settle things peacefully between our kinds." he said while now having his eyes completely closed and focusing on any sounds the human might accidentally give off. Something that he soon realized the human more than likely figured out as well since he didn't say anything else as he stood there silently.

Until he finally got what he was waiting for and like a bolt of lightning he struck. But unlike all of the other times he attacked, this time he felt the satisfying sensation of one of his claws sinking into flesh and bone as a violent scream of pain rang out. That was then followed by the sandstorm ceasing just a few seconds later, revealing to the drake his prey leaning up against a wall clutching his left arm that was barely still connected to the rest of the man's body.

"You've fought well human." he stated while looking down at the human defiantly glaring up at him. "Before I send you on your journey of everlasting sleep I'll give you the honor of hearing my name."

"There's no honor in hearing the name of a beast that takes any joy in the killing of the innocent." Max hissed back at the drake, knowing full well that it wasn't in his best interest to do so.

"None of you humans are innocent, and you might not find any honor in it but our kind does and I would like to know yours as well." he said now just a few feet away from the downed Fairy Tail mage.

"Go to hell." he spat out while still glaring up at his imminent demise.

"So be it human, when you pass over to the afterlife let everyone there know that the Great Tesselth sent you." declared the now identified Tesselth before bringing down his right foot onto him. Only to have a confused expression come over his face after not feeling the usual sensation of a human's life being extinguished under his might.

"It would seem I arrived just in the nick of time." replied a deep voice from behind the drake. That belonged to none other than Jura Neekis, one of the Ten Wizard Saints and Ace of Lamia Scale.

"Oh, another human that thinks he can actually stand against our kind." stated Tesselth as he spun around to face off against his next opponent, no longer caring about his previous opponent.

"Far from it drake, I know that your kind easily out powers ours." he said while coming to a stop just a few yards away from him. "But that doesn't mean we'll just sit back and let you walk all over us, IRON ROCK FIST!" he shouted out while thrusting one of his arms forward. Prompting a large fist to shoot from the ground and slam straight into the drake's chest and sent him skidding back a few yards.

"Impressive, I actually felt that but I'm now curious if you can take as good as you give." chuckled Tesselth before rearing back his head and sending a torrent of iron shrapnel at the Wizard Saint. Who without even flinching countered it with an IRON ROCK WALL that luckily held off the roar with the last pillar just barely remaining intact.

"I know of a certain dragon slayer that would have loved to face off against you, but alas he won't be able to do so, now it falls to me to deal with you." stated Jura as a slight hint of excitement could be seen in his eyes. "ROCK AVALANCHE!" he then shouted out as rocks from the surrounding rubble started to fly towards the drake until he was completely encased by them. Only for them to be sent flying as Tesselth let out a mighty roar while also displaying his impressive wings at the same time.

"You're going to be even more fun than the human before you." chuckled the drake before they both charged at each other while both of them looking extremely excited.

On an extremely luxurious ship still at least a full day's travel away from Fiore:

"What's the matter Natsu?" inquired Zeref as he came up to the railing that the dragon slayer was leaning against. Over the last hour the usually talkative dragon slayer hadn't said a single word to any of them, which wasn't really that odd if he was reading from that book of his. But during this time he didn't even so much as even bring it out and instead looked off in the direction of Fiore with an extremely serious look.

"I've got a feeling that something terrible is happening in Fiore right now." he mumbled back without even sparing the Emperor of Alvarez a single glance like he usually would have.

"Is that so, from what I've heard a dragon slayer's instincts are rarely ever wrong." replied Zeref only for the pink haired Ambassador of Fiore to let out a tired sigh and shrug his shoulders. "You do have a communication lacrima don't you, so if there was a problem going on I'm sure they would have contacted you by now." he pointed out with a weak smile, sad to see Natsu in such a worried state.

"I do, but for some reason it all of a sudden stopped working yesterday after my conversation with my family." he explained while pulling out said communication lacrima and handing it over to his newest friend. Letting the leader of one of the world's strongest countries take a look at it for himself, which he did for a few minutes until he passed it back with a slight frown.

"Everything appears to be fine with it." he said while scratching his chin in thought.

"That's what I thought, and I've destroyed enough of them to almost know every possible way for them to stop working." he replied, causing Zeref to let out a little chuckle at Natsu since that seemed to be a common reason for him to know something.

"If you want I could have one of my engineers look at it." offered Zeref with a hopeful look sent the dragon slayer's way. That soon turned into a full blown smile as Natsu was then hugging him the next second and thanking him over and over again. "It's the least I can do Natsu, especially after you stayed a few extra days to spend more time with me." he said after getting him to let go of him and motioning for one of his attendants to come over.

"That won't be necessary your Excellency." stated Invel as he came up to the duo and waved off the attendant heading their way.

"And why is that exactly?" inquired Zeref as a dark expression came over his face as he locked eyes with his Country's Emissary and Chief of Staff.

"Because I've cut off all communication that isn't a direct line between us and our homeland." he stated in a completely calm voice, almost as if he wasn't receiving such a dark look from his Emperor.

"And why exactly would you do that?" asked Zeref as his expression somehow became even darker and a few of the sailors on the ship passed out for some reason.

"As you know, the Council wouldn't hesitate to take out this ship if they found out you were on it." he explained while taking a few steps back and now also sporting a slightly nervous look.

"Even with their own Ambassador on board?" shouted out Zeref while gesturing over to Natsu who surprisingly had yet to speak up. Invel could already see that Zeref was extremely displeased with him and was more than likely not going to listen to reason on this. Like he always seemed to do whenever it concerned the pink haired dragon slayer, but luckily said dragon slayer decided to finally speak up before things got even worse.

"I'm ashamed to say this, but he's not wrong Emperor Spriggan, I could definitely see the Council rationalizing that my life for the life of yours would the best that they could ever hope for. Especially since I've pretty much been a constant thorn in their side since joining Fairy Tail." stated Natsu with a slight scowl spread across his face.

"Those bastards, and yet you're still willing to work underneath such people?" he asked in an extremely upset tone that was downright terrifying.

"I don't do what I do for those old coots, but for the rest of the country and my family." replied Natsu as a fond smile took up residence on his face as he thought about everyone in Fairy Tail.

"They don't realize how lucky they are to have someone like you in their country." he said while slowly calming back down and making it once again easier to breathe for everyone else on board.

"It doesn't really matter to me if they ever figure that out, so long as I can protect the ones that I care about I couldn't care less. Which brings me back to the whole having a bad feeling and not being able to contact my guild." he said while turning and holding his communication lacrima out to Invel.

"Sorry but I can't help you for the same reasons we just discussed." replied the bespectacled man as he bowed his head towards the dragon slayer to show his condolences.

Natsu was about to protest, but before he even had the chance to speak up Zeref beat him to it. "That is completely unacceptable Invel, I hereby order you to cease blocking his communication lacrima or do I need to remind you of your current position." he said in that cold tone of his that would send a shiver down anyone's spine.

"No, your Excellency." he quickly replied while still bowing from before. After which he pulled a small device from his pocket and pressed two different buttons before looking over at Natsu with a blank expression. "I'm sorry if my actions in assuring the protection of my Emperor inconvenienced you in any way. I'll take my leave, but before I do so Irene Belserion requested that I make sure you receive this." he said while pulling out a small ornate box from one of his coat's inside pockets. And with another quick bow to the both of them he headed away at a brisk pace.

"Do you have any idea what this is?" asked the dragon slayer as he looked over at Zeref with a questioning look plastered across his face. The box he was handed was completely white with golden engravings carved into it that he instantly realized to be draconic, but was slightly curious to see if the Emperor of Alvarez did as well. But it would seem that fate had other plans as the communication lacrima in his other hand started to go off, that he then proceeded to open after getting a quick nod from his friend.

It would have been an extreme understatement to say that he was surprised after seeing that he missed at least seventy different calls and had more than twenty messages left for him. But none of that really mattered to him at the moment as he realized that he was currently getting a call from Ultear's personal communication lacrima. Causing him to quickly answer it as the large knot he had in his stomach for a while now only got bigger as the lacrima fired up to show an image of Liza instead of his wife.

"Daddy, you finally answered." Liza shouted out excitedly only for her face to quickly shift to a serious one that he rarely ever saw her use. "You need to come back right away. Drakes are attacking all over the place and a whole lot of them are destroying our home right now." she declared while looking back at him with the same serious expression.

"They're attacking the guild?" he asked her back in a panicked tone that he didn't even bother in trying to hide from her. "Are the barriers still holding out? Are you and everyone else in the guild still safe?" he asked almost instantly after his first question, not even giving his daughter a chance to answer. "How many are we talking about? And where is your mother and siblings?" he continued to rapidly ask without letting up.

"DAAAAD!" she yelled as loud as she could, knowing that it was the only way to get him to actually listen to her at the moment. "Me, Asher, Ava, and Milo are completely fine dad. They haven't even gotten past your first set of runes, and are instead attacking the rest of the town." she explained as a sad look came over her cute little face. "Everyone that you said was ready to fight is out there helping others just like you would've wanted. And mom went to go change so she can help out too, since I heard her say that there were at least fifty drakes attacking right now and they would definitely need her help." she finished explaining as a conflicted look now washed over her visage.

"Liza, if your mom is going out to fight them then I need you to watch over your siblings while she's gone. This is a task I can only count on you to do, which I know you'll have no problem doing." he replied while giving her a proud grin. "Do you know if Uncle Doranbolt has tried to reach me at all?" he asked, getting a negative shake of her head from the little girl right away.

"But most of the other guilds have." she stated with a proud grin, happy that her dad was giving her such an important job and a little proud in herself at relaying all of this information to him.

"Thanks Honey, and don't you worry, Daddy is going to be back before you even know it. And he's going to make those drakes regret ever stepping foot in Fiore." he declared while giving her another one of his signature grins.

"Go get them Daddy!" she cheered, before he then shut off the lacrima.

"I'm so sorry Natsu, I had no idea that any of that was happening." stated Zeref as Natsu's head lowered so that he couldn't read his facial expression.

"That better be true, otherwise I'll be the one starting this war you keep saying is in the future." he replied before shooting into the sky and disappearing, leaving only a small streak of flames in his wake.

"Invel, if that comes to fruition I don't think I need to tell you how bad that will end for you." Zeref declared with an extremely displeased expression as he looked out in the direction that Natsu just vanished in.

End of Chapter

Author's Notes:

Thanks for reading this story of mine, that I'm still shocked it's doing as well as it is. But I guess that just means there are a lot of us out there that want to see Natsu trying his hand at being the guild Master. So I'm constantly getting asked when the Tenrou Group is returning, which once again makes me feel great since it shows that people are excited for the future of this story. And to answer that for all of you, I am planning to have that done by at least chapter fifty in this story. So in other words it could still be a ways off since I do have a few more things I want to show that take place before they finally return. I'm also extremely excited for their return since that is going to offer so many things for me to write about, such as how Natsu will handle any of the possible women that were interested in him. Or how he'll handle some of them not seeing him as their guild master and only as the idiotic friend that they knew from before. Honestly the possibilities are almost endless once I get to that part, not to mention showing how the Tenrou group will react to the new members of the guild and how much the world has changed as well. Well that's enough of me talking about what might happen in the future of this story of mine, so as always feel free to pm or leave a review and I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

Until the next Chapter

Digem Out!