Believing someone betrayed Rose Garden, Nashi and her friends investigated. Their investigation brought them to Advisor Cheng. Sabertooth went to confront him about it, but they fell into a trap when they gave chase. A bomb went off and exploded right in their face. That would have been the end for them if Athena hadn't put up a barrier in the nick of time.

"Quick thinking, Athena." Michael said.

"Thanks, but what about Cheng?" Athena said.

"I can't see a thing through all the smoke." Shae said. Athena used her magic and snuffed out the fire and cleared out the smoke. The place was a wreck, but there was no sign of Cheng. "Where did he go?"

"Hey! Back here!" Owen called as he moved to the back. He moved some debris out of the way and showed there was a path. "There's a tunnel back here. This must have been how he got out, and how those two dragon slayers got in."

"He knew we would be onto him. He had his escape planned." Michael said.

"What happened here?" They all turned around and saw Sarah with a few guards. "What is all this? Where's Cheng?"

"Mom, I'm sorry. Cheng lied. He was the traitor." Shae said with Sarah shocked at the news. "This is where the intruders got in and out. Cheng just went through himself. He had to have gone through that tunnel before that explosion went off."

"I can't believe this. I would have trusted him with my life." Sarah said as she was dismayed by this news.

"Mayor Diles, what do you want us to do?" A guard asked. No way she was going to let Cheng have his way with that.

"Advisor Cheng is a traitor! Alert some other guards about this! Find out where this tunnel leads and find him!" Sarah said. The guards followed through with their orders and hurried out of there. Cheng was once her trusted friend, but she won't forgive him for this.

...

Later

Nashi and everyone else was informed about Cheng's betrayal. Now that they knew who the real traitor was, all of them had a look around. However, it looks like he had plenty of time to make his escape. They couldn't seem to find him anywhere.

"I just heard from the guards." Sasha said as she entered Sarah's office with everyone inside. "They haven't seen him. It looks like the tunnel leads to the mountain range, but there's no sign of Cheng."

"Damn it. I thought we had something that could lead us to Sapphron, but we just lost it." Nashi complained.

"Don't take it so hard." Storm said. "None of us would have expected someone like Cheng to pull something like that. He knew his little secret would soon be discovered when those two showed up. He had everything planned out to give him time to escape."

"I just can't piece it together. Why would an advisor betray his own city?" Nova said.

"He could have served Sapphron for a long time. Long before he even became an advisor." Simon said. "They seem to have some human allies on their side to help them out."

"His scent is gone too. We can't track him down." Michael said.

"Of course it would be like that." Gale said. "We're dealing with fellow dragon slayers that have been alive for centuries. They know all the tricks." Things just don't appear to be going their way. Shae was most concerned about how his mother was feeling about this. She looked rather sad about it.

"I'm sorry, Mom." Shae said as he tried to console her. "Cheng fooled us all. None of us would have imagined he actually stab you in the back like that."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I was a fool to trust him in the first place." Sarah said. "I take it the ones he works for are the very people you're trying to stop. It looks like I'll have to leave it to you."

"Speaking of which, did you guys figure anything out?" Michael asked. "Any idea what this Sapphron plans to do exactly?"

"We've done a lot of research on dragons, but we haven't exactly found anything." Athena said.

"We do have some theories, but nothing about a spell or anything that is tied to what they're planning." Rona said. 'We do know it's possible to revive the dead.' She thought as she thought about a certain time. 'We saw Ankhselam revive Acnologia, but there's no way they could be using that kind of spell. So, how do they plan do to it? More importantly, what does it have to do with those guys kidnapping Nashi?' How does Sapphron plan to bring back the dragons? That is the main question they're trying to find the answer to.

"Actually, I think I might have found something." Simon said. All of them looked to him with interest. "It's only a theory I have, but it could have something to do with this."

"What did you find?" Drake asked.

"I read about a type of dragon called a necro dragon named Necrula." Simon said.

"A necro dragon?" Gale said as none of them liked how that sounded. "You mean a dragon that was like a necromancer?"

"Something like that. She was a dragon that was actually powered by the dead. " Simon confirmed.

"Yikes." Nashi said as that didn't sound like a good thing. "I know some dragons are incredibly powerful, but one that could actually control death? I don't like the sound of that at all."

"However, it does sound this Necrula has the power that they're looking for." Nova said.

"A dragon that could control the powers of death... If she could do something like that, do you think this dragon could still be alive?" Storm asked.

"I don't think so." Simon said. "The dragons began to go extinct because of Acnologia. He hunted the dragons down and slayed all that he could. As you all might remember, no form of magic could actually harm Acnologia. It's most likely that this Necrula was one of his victims."

"If this dragon is dead, how can Sapphron and his friends use her power?" Nashi said.

"I thought about that. Do you guys remember the Farva Infinite?" Simon said.

"Yeah... I remember that thing." Gale said. As did the rest of Fairy Tail, but Sabertooth didn't have a clue.

"What are you guys talking about?" Michael asked.

"I forgot. This happened before we met you guys." Nashi said. "The Farva Infinite was a dangerous weapon that a madman named Baslin wanted."

"He even had help from a legal guild called Kyubi Eye." Gale said. "Those guys didn't care who got hurt as long as they did their jobs."

"The Farva Infinite was actually powered by the remains of a woman." Simon said. "That has me thinking... What if Sapphron and these other dragon slayers plan to do something similar."

"What do you mean?" Athena asked.

"They could be planning to use the remains of Necrula, if they haven't found them already." Simon said. "There could be residual magic or something of the such in them."

"Yeah... Now that you mention it, I remember something my mother once told me about dragons." Nashi said. "She told me that one dragon died once, but his remains still unleashed great magic power that actually formed a labyrinth. If that's the case, maybe the corpse of this dragon can actually be used to control the forces of death."

"Exactly what I'm thinking." Simon said. "They must be planning to harness that power and bring the dragons back to the world. If this really does bring the world to chaos, disrupt the natural balance of the world, we can't allow this to happen." They might not have gotten the answers they're looking for, but they might have an idea of what their enemies are planning. That just leaves one important question: How are they going to stop them?

...

Cheng

Cheng was able to give the guards of Rose Garden the slip. When he managed to do that, he travelled through the mountain on his own until he could meet up with them.

"Master Kumiere... Master Kuroi..." Cheng said once he spotted them.

"Took you long enough." Lumiere said.

"Be kind, Lumiere. I take it your cover was blown, Cheng." Kuroi said.

"I'm afraid so. I thought I would be able to make a clean escape, but they were able to figure it out sooner than I thought." Cheng said. "I'm sorry if I failed you."

"Nonsense." Kuroi claimed. "We were about to search through Magnolia when we got your message. We never would have found her if it weren't for you informing us she was in Rose Garden. You did well."

"If I may ask, why were you interested in that young lady?" Cheng asked.

"Sapphron was the one that wanted her." Kuroi said. "He says she has this strange power he wanted to know more about. I don't know if it's the same as what we saw, but she is no ordinary dragon slayer."

"You're right about that." Lumiere said. "I could feel the powers of a dragon when she took that form, but there was something else. There's certainly something special about her."

"Well, they should be leaving Rose Garden soon." Cheng said. "If there is anything I can do to..." He didn't finish speaking for he was frozen solid. When that happened, he shattered like glass and the two of them were faced with Cerex.

"Cerex? What are you doing here?" Lumiere said.

"Checking up on your progress, but it looks like you ended up failing." Cerex said as he walked over the shards of ice. Him doing that bothered Kuroi a little.

"It's not our fault. That girl is tougher than we thought." Lumiere said. "On top of that, we were just unlucky. We had her until one of her friends was able to spot us and alerted all the others."

"Why did you do that, Cerex?" Kuroi asked as he looked at the ice shards. Cerex looked down to see what he was talking about.

"He was useful to us as a spy, but a spy is of no use if there cover is blown." Cerex said. "Either way, he served his purpose. Let's just regroup with the others for now and come up with a different plan. If this guild insists on getting in our way, we'll end up making them regret it. No one stands in our way." Lumiere and Kuroi could certainly agree to that. With the three of them heading back, Kuroi paid a little respect to the now late Cheng.

...

The Next Day

Nashi and her friends did all that they could in Rose Garden. All that was left was for them to pack it up and head home until they can get another lead. They loaded up the Tiger Racer and was getting ready to head home.

"Wait." Shae looked and saw Calleen was there and had a bag with her.

"Calleen? What are you doing here?" Shae asked.

"I want to go with you." Calleen said. "I want to see your guild. I want to spend more time with you since you just entered my life. That is if you'll let me come."

"Yes! Come along!" Gale said as he was excited for her to come with for the ride.

"She's asking me, not you." Shae said and had Gale back off. "If it's okay with mother and your father, I don't see why you can't." Calleen was happy she could so she could be with her brother more. As for Nashi, she stood off to the side and was thinking about what has recently happened.

"You okay? Still thinking about our enemies?" Storm asked as he stood with her.

"Yeah. A lot is going on. I almost forgot what it feels like to have such a dangerous enemy coming at us, but I also know we'll find a way to win." Nashi said.

"Of course we will." Storm said. Nashi knows they'll find some way to pull through this, but her mind was still wondering.

'Why were they after me? Does it have something to do with Amata?' Nashi thought. 'If it does, I've got to do something to master that power so I can use it to stop them.'