Chapter 70

The Second Generation

Natsu

Excruciating pain was all I felt as Gray fended off Cobra. I couldn't believe he was a Dragon Slayer as well! Part of me wanted to know who taught him Dragon Slayer Magic, but another just wanted this pain to go away!

"Open: Gate of The Twins: Gemini!"

I looked over to Angel to find two, small, blue, human-like beings dancing around her. One had an orange outfit, while the other had a black outfit.

"Hi Master Angel!" one of them said.

"What are we playing today?" the other asked.

"I need you to transform into Cobra and suck the poison out of Natsu." Angel explained.

"Ooh, that sounds like fun, right Gemi!?" The orange one said. Strangely that one struck me as female.

"Nah, it's more fun to transform into Master Angel, Mini!"

"Gemini, we don't have time for this!"

"Piri-piri!" they both exclaimed at the exact same time, "Trannnnnsfooooorm!"

The two danced around each other and in a flash of light, they transformed into Cobra. This new "Cobra" ran over to me and sunk his teeth into my abdomen! I cried out in pain, but the pain quickly turned to a soothing feeling. It was like the poison was being sucked out of me.

Angel joined the spirit next to me, "You have to be careful; Cobra is one of the strongest members of Oracion Seis. He's a Second-Generation Poison Dragon Slayer."

Second Generation, eh? I looked over and saw Cobra swiping at Gray, most likely poisoning him. I thought I heard from Gramps and Mira that a Second-Generation Dragon Slayer grew scales when they used Dragon Slayer Magic. I didn't see any scales on this guy at all.

"Gray!" Juvia cried out as Gray fell to the ground.

She moved in and struck Cobra. Or to be more precise, used her Water Body to prevent Cobra from doing any real damage and land a hit of her own. Poison floated in her clearly watery body, but quickly dropped out before she returned to normal.

"Gemini?"

"All done!"

The celestial spirit shot up from over me and I jumped up, ready to take another crack at Cobra. I shot off towards him and went with a right hook. He dodged out of the way and was forced to back off further by an assault by Juvia.

"Natsu, watch out, his poison is highly potent!"

Angel and Gemini were now by Gray, removing the poison from him. Cobra was already moving back in to get another hit. I dodged out of the way of his poisoned fist, but he spun around and followed up with an ordinary kick. He kicked me back and lunged forward for another attack.

"Poison Dragon's Claw!"

His hand clawed against my stomach. Once again, I was infected with his poison. Water wrapped around my arm and pulled me away before I could take anymore damage. Juvia went on to throw me at Angel.

"I just said not to get poisoned again!" Angel yelled at me as she gently put me down.

Gemini once more worked on removing the poison from me. Meanwhile, Gray was busy going against Cobra. He couldn't land any hits, but Cobra wasn't able to get any either. Gray was just fast enough to create ice shields before he could be infected.

"Why did he take his shirt off?" Angel asked, "That just makes it easier for Erik to poison him!"

"Yeah, he does that."

Gray dodged out of Cobra's way and went for a counterattack of his own. Ice shot past Cobra's left, as Juvia assailed him with water from the left. With no where to go, he took the hit dead on. He fell to the ground as Gemini finished extracting my poison.

"Alright, let's finish this!"

Cobra suddenly jumped up and swiped at Gray with his poison.

"Ice Make: Shield!"

Instantly, a shield of ice appeared between Gray and Cobra. Cobra's magic struck the ice and put a noticeable crack in it. With one more hit, the shield shattered. Gray was already back paddling when Cobra charged forward for another go. I wasn't about to let him though and charged him myself. I swung at him, but as usual, he dodged out of the way.

"You just don't learn, do you?"

I shot him a grin and replied, "Nope!"

He threw another fist at me. I dodged out of the way. He took another step and went for another strike. I dodged to the left, and his fist went right. His eyes widened in shock.

Seeing the opening, I went for an attack of my own. I decided to go with flaming kick and as I reared to kick him, he moved to avoid what I could only assume was a punch. As a result, my kick connected.

"How!?" he screamed as he jumped away, "Just who are you!?"

"I'm Natsu Dragneel!" I shouted back as my fist met his face.

The added force from my flames knocked Cobra back to the ground. He quickly rolled away as a flurry of ice shards shot in his direction. He managed to pick himself up off the ground and face me.

"Not you, the other voice!"

"I've got no clue what you're talking about!" I charged at him and shot flames from my arms, "Fire Dragon's Wing Beat!"

Maybe it was shock, or maybe he just didn't see it coming, but my spell hit true. With an explosion, Cobra was launched back and to the ground, hopefully unconscious.

"You may be a Second-Generation Dragon Slayer, but that ain't nothing to a First-Generation like me!"

"Is he done?" Gray asked from across the battlefield.

"Hell yeah!"

There was no way he was getting back up from that. He took that spell point blank and made no effort to defend against it. He wouldn't be getting up for a while.

"Watch out!" Juvia and Angel both cried out.

"Poison Dragon's Roar!"

I turned my attention to Cobra and only had a moment to respond as a torrent of reddish-black poison enveloped me. Pain wracked my body. Fear took hold as I realized with this amount of poison, I might not be able to survive long enough for Angel to extract the poison. All I could do, was hope I wouldn't die immediately as I was thrown roughly to the ground.

I laid on the ground for a moment, before realizing that I wasn't feeling the same kind of pain as before. I looked down at my open vest. There wasn't a sign whatsoever that I was poisoned. I felt weaker, but not nearly as weak as I should feel.

"What kind of scarf is that?" Cobra asked, "That it can nullify the effects of my poison!"

I paid a little more attention to my scarf and found it was dyed a reddish black hue, just like his poison.

"Hey, what'd you do to my scarf!" I rushed at him and ignited my fist in flame, "That was a gift from Igneel!"

My fist contacted his face, but he didn't budge an inch. That's when I noticed the scales beginning to frame the sides of his face. Then, I coughed up blood. Imbedded in my stomach was his scaley and draconic fist. Not reinforced with poison, he followed through and launched me into the rubble.

"Ice Make: Lance!"

"Water Slicer!"

Gray and Juvia's spells hit Cobra but did nothing to harm him. Just like with my attack, he didn't so much as budge.

"What was that about the First-Generation being better than the Second?" Cobra asked, "Tell me, Natsu Dragneel, can you use Dragon Force?"

He charged at me, leapt in the air, and descended upon me. An ice shield erected itself over me, which was shattered immediately. I was able to roll out of the way of his poisonous fist. I roared at point blank at Cobra, hoping to knock him away. Instead, his hand broke through the flame and covered my mouth. I tried to bite it but found that the scales covering his palm hurt me more than him.

"Dragon Force afford a Dragon Slayer the strength of a dragon." Cobra explained, "As a Second-Generation Dragon Slayer, I can call on my Dragon Lacrima to activate it. Tell me, how do you activate Dragon Force? Oh, cat got your tongue?"

Cobra tightened his hold on me and threw me across the battlefield towards Gray and Juvia.

"Poison Dragon's Scales!"

"Ice Make: Reinforced Shield!"

A thick, intricate shield of ice erected in front of us as scale like poison shot in our direction. Juvia caught me and we quickly took cover as the shield shattered to the might of his spell.

"He's so strong, how do we beat him?" Juvia asked.

"You don't!"

My eyes popped as Cobra appeared over us and dug his fist into Juvia. He was too fast for the water mage to activate her Water Body. He followed up with a rough kick to Gray, and finished with an elbow to me.

"So…fast." Gray observed.

He proceeded to grab me by the scarf and lifted me up. He bared his teeth at me and was about to say something. His attention was suddenly drawn away from us, to Angel and Gemini. The two were standing arm in arm, gathering up magic. Cobra's eyes widened in horror. With the momentary distraction, I pushed off him with all my might. Fortunately, Cobra's grip on my scarf had loosened, allowing me to pull it free. Along with Gray and Juvia, we got away from Cobra, knowing something huge was coming.

"Survey the Heavens, Open the heavens… All the stars, far and wide… Show me thy appearance… With such shine." A simply massive amount of magic gathered around Sorano and Gemini. It actually had me shaking.

"Oh tetrabiblos… I am the ruler of the stars… Aspect become complete… Open thy malevolent gate. Oh 88 Stars of the Heaven… Shine!" In this moment, Cobra broke from his stupor, but it was too late. All around him were large orbs of highly concentrated magic, ready to strike.

"Urano Metria!"

The orbs of magic converged on Cobra in a massive explosion of light. The force of the explosion knocked me, Gray, and Juvia to the ground as rubble flung in all directions. Light blinded us as we became deaf from the spell. I shut my eyes and waited for the spell to end.

After about a minute, the ringing in my ear disappeared and I opened my eyes to see Cobra lying on the ground. All his scales were either broken or gone entirely. Now, he was truly defeated. Kneeling on the ground with Gemini was Angel. She was breathing heavily but was otherwise unharmed.

"I'm sorry Erik, you left me with no other choice."

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you thought in a review!