Chapter 50:
After they ate their (many believed last) meal they gathered on the beach once again. Most of the Tenrou group just sat down on the sand while few of them remained on their feet. Ultear, Mira, Jellal and Natsu stood in front of them. The sun was high in the sky as it showed that it was barely three o'clock. There wasn't even a cloud on the sky and it was almost unbearably hot. The wind that came from the see was pretty much like god's gift.
"Okay!" Mira said with smile "It's time to start training. We don't have much time so we will start as soon as we're done with this conversation"
"The four of us will train you by splitting you in four groups" Ultear interrupted her earning a glare from Mira. She smiled sweetly to her in response. She-devil huffed.
"As Ultear said..." Mira started "... we will split you in four groups."
"And the first group will be..."
"Alright guys! I'll train with you for the next three months so prepare yourselves" Mira said happily to the little group behind her as she stopped walking. Lisanna, Elfman, Cana and Bickslow looked at Mira. They were standing on a cliff with see splashing at the bottom of it. There wasn't anyone around them so it was good place to start.
"It's good thing we didn't end up with Natsu..." Bickslow whispered to Cana who couldn't help but agree. Poor dragon slayers...
"Once I'm done with you, you will wish you were with Natsu" Mira said smiling sweetly. Bickslow and Cana paled. 'She heard us?'
"So when do we begin?" Lisanna asked curiously.
"Glad you asked" Mira said smirking.
"First I need to see how good are you" Mira said after short pause and then added before anyone could ask "You will fight me"
Cana looked at her "One-on-one?"
"Nope, all at once" Mira said smiling sweetly.
"She's a real MAN!" Elfman shouted.
"She's a girl..." Bickslow muttered and then said turning to face Mira "Look Mira... We know you're stronger then before but you can't be strong enough to beat us all at once"
"If you believe that be ready for a surprise" Mira said as golden light warped around her. 'Satan soul: Gorgona'
Mirajane's hair slowly warped itself like dreadlocks but at the end of it were snake heads hissing furiously. Her kimono disappeared as her body were covered with dark green scales, much like her first Satan soul. A tail formed behind her with another snake head at the end. Her fingernails lengthened in claws. Green boots with high heels appeared around her legs. Her tongue became snake like and white bandages warped itself round her eyes.
Her four 'students' stared at Mirajane in shock.
"M-Mira?" Lisanna asked in shock "You have new Satan soul?"
She wasn't sure what should shock her more; Mira having another Satan soul or Mira being able to transform without saying anything.
"Yup" Mira said with smile "This is 'Satan soul: Gorgona' though it's just one of the new ones I collected during this seven years"
Their eyes widened "How many of them you have?" Cana asked.
Mira got a thoughtful expression. They couldn't see her eyes but they saw her eyebrows furrow slightly as she put her index finger on her chin.
"The last time I count I had around... Ten? Twelve?" Mira said after short pause.
"Wow! Mira, that's amazing!" Lisanna said clasping her hands.
"I know" Mira said smirking. "Well.. That's enough talking. We should get started"
Mira took her fighting stance as the snakes on her hair and tail hissed approvingly.
"Take over; Beast soul!" Elfman cried.
"Take over; Tiger!" Lisanna followed.
Bickslow took his fighting stance as his 'babies' surrounded him and Cana took her cards out of her pocket. Once her 'students' took their fighting stance Mira smirked again, her snake tongue licked her lower lip.
"Maybe I should take you seriously" she said. They look at her confused as she reached to remove the bandages that covered her eyes.
**with Jellal**
Jellal walked silently in front of the group as they followed him. Levi, Freed and Evergreen just watched their new 'teacher' without saying a word. They didn't know what to say since none of them knew him before they returned to the guild after seven years.
They were by now almost at the base of the mountain that was around an hour on foot away from the beach. He stopped suddenly as a waterfall came into view around fifty meters away.
"So... Since none of you actually knows me-" Jellal started but a certain sixteen year old boy interrupted him "I know you"
Jellal rolled his eyes while Levi, Freed and Evergreen looked at Arthur in shock.
"When did he get here?!" Evergreen screeched.
"I was behind you the whole time" He said with blank face.
"You can't just sneak up on people whenever you feel like it!" She continued.
"He's Natsu's student, that's for sure" Freed whispered to Levi who giggled.
"Though Ever is right. How did you get here without us noticing" Freed asked curiously.
"Oh that" Arthur said as he melted in the shadows and then reappeared next to Jellal.
"I am able to enter the shadows using Shadow-walk" he said. "Though I prefer Shadow-make over Shadow-walk"
"You can use two types of magic?" Levy asked surprised.
"Well yea, but Shadow-walk is basically something you have to learn in order to know how to use Shadow-make" Arthur explained.
"Would you mind to show us?" Freed asked "I mean Shadow-make magic. I never actually seen someone using it"
"Sure" Arthur said as he grinned. He took similar pose to Gray's when he uses Ice-make and shouted "Shadow-make: Black Tigers!"
Black tigers made entirely of shadows started rising from the shadows of the trees around the small clearing they were currently on. Their eyes glowed red as they roared and started running toward the group. Seconds before they reached them they dispelled.
Levy, who was hiding behind Freed said "Wow... That's pretty impressing..."
Arthur beamed happily but then added "Though I can't use my magic if there aren't any shadows. That's why I usually goes with Annie on missions. Her illusions makes shadows and then I use my shadow-make"
The group continued to talk for few minutes before Jellal cleared his throat successfully gaining their attention.
"As much as I enjoy the pleasant chat we have work to do" he said. Others nodded in agreement.
"So I will be short; My name is Jellal Fernandes. I use Heavenly Body Magic, Darkness Magic, I am able to use little of Fire Magic as well as Abyss Break, Bind Snake (which I will learn you how to use it since it's not that complicated and its useful), few Self-Destruction Spells, Telekinesis and I'm not that bad at Telepathy."
Levy, Evergreen and Freed stared at him in shock.
"Well... That's... Wow... I mean... A lot of... ermm..." Levy stuttered not sure what to say. You don't see someone knew so many different magic types every day.
"Definitely impressive" Freed said.
"First I need to see how strong you are" he said but then added when he saw they wanted to say something more "You don't have to tell me your names and magics, I already know them. Natsu told me"
"Oh.." Evergreen said.
"So lets start" he said as he took his fighting stance. "Freed, you go first"
Freed looked at him after hearing his name and nods "I won't go easy on you" he said.
Jellal smirked "I will on you"
Freed glared at him as he charged.
**with Ultear**
Ultear levitated on her crystal ball as Annie, Lucy, Erza, Gray and Juvia fallowed her. "So how are we gonna do this?" Gray asked as he walked next to Ultear.
"You will spare against me" Ultear said said as she hopped down from her crystal.
"Why did you stop?" Lucy asked.
"Because we're here" Ultear said.
Group looked around themselves. They were on another part of the beach but it was more or less deserted with just few seagulls croaking around. Waves splashed on the shore lazily scaring away seabirds that came too close.
Ultear took her fighting stance as her crystal flew above her arm.
"Alright. Now come at me" She said seriously.
"All at once?" Lucy asked surprised.
Ultear smiled "Yea. Don't worry I won't hurt you... Too much"
Lucy gulped while Erza glared at her "We won't hold back, right guys"
"Yeah!" Gray said as he put his right hand in his outstretched left palm.
"It won't help you, though" Annie joked.
"I don't doubt that" Ultear said as they rushed toward her.
**with Natsu**
After they split in four groups and everyone took their own path Natsu started walking without saying a word to his 'students'. They quickly fallowed him.
"Where are we going?" Happy asked after few moments of silence.
Natsu pointed his finger lazily toward the forest few miles behind the beach. "There" he said simply.
"Why forest?" Laxus asked as he walked behind Natsu with his hand in his pockets "Wouldn't some clearing be better"
"I like forests" Natsu shrugged. "Have a problem with that?" He added with dangerous edge to his voice.
Laxus stooped walking for a second as he said quickly "N-no! None at all"
Gajeel snickered and Wendy giggled.
"Big, bad Laxus is afraid of Natsu" Happy said with sly grin.
"S-shut up! It's not like you've never been afraid of him" he hissed.
Gajeel just huffed while Wendy looked at Natsu with thoughtful expression. "Now, now guys. Don't fight with each other" Charla said from her spot between Wendy's arms. Wendy hugged her harder to her chests as she said with smile "We're not fighting"
"They are just having some childish discussion over who's demon is scarier. " Natsu said with chuckle.
The sound of Natsu's chuckle sounded so foreign to three dragon-slayers. It will take more time for them to truly believe that seven years have passed for them.
"But they all were talking about you" Lily said confused.
"Everyone sees their own demons in different ways. It doesn't meter if it is the same demon" Natsu said in emotionless voice.
Others kept quiet. They couldn't say anything to that. They didn't know what to say to that.
"How fast are you?" Natsu asked after few minutes of silence. His companions blinked at unexpected question.
"Huh?" Came their intelligent response. Natsu rolled his eyes "How fast can you run?"
"Definitely faster than you" Laxus said smugly.
"Why would you think that?" Natsu asked, his voice didn't change.
"Because I can go as fast as lightning" Laxus answered.
Natsu chuckled but didn't say anything "Gajeel? Wendy?"
"Uh, me? Well I'm sure I'm lot slower than you but I think I'm not too slow" Wendy said slightly embarrassed.
"I shouldn't be that much slower than you" Gajeel said to Natsu shrugging his shoulders.
"Good" Natsu said and then smirked. Others tensed slightly when they saw it. It was one of those smirks they were pretty familiar with. It didn't changed much through seven years. It still send shivers down their spines.
"How about a race toward the forest?" he asked. "If you get there before me I will show you something special"
"You can get there in a second if you use 'Chaotic void'" Gajeel said in annoyed tone.
"I promise I won't use it" Natsu said "So?"
"I'm in" Laxus said.
"Count me in as well" Gajeel said.
"I'll try then as well" Wendy said with determined look.
"Hey, what about us?!" Happy cried out.
"You see the forest?" Natsu asked and Happy nodded.
"Then go there as soon as you can" Natsu said simply. And then turned to face dragon slayers.
"Ready?" Natsu said as he took his stance. They fallowed his example.
"Set" He said as he bent down his knees for better start.
"Go!" He said with smirk and before they could even blink he was gone.
They stared at the place Natsu used to occupy few seconds ago.
"What the...?" Laxus asked dumbfounded.
"He said he wouldn't use 'Chaotic void'!" Gajeel shouted angrily.
"He didn't use it. There wasn't any magic circle and he didn't voiced any spell" Wendy said. "And beside he did leave footprints in the sand so that we can see that he ran here"
Laxus's eyes widened before he transformed in lightning and started heading toward the forest "Why are we arguing here if he's already on his way?!" He yelled.
Gajeel grumbled as he started running. Wendy sighed and fallowed after Gajeel.
**half an hour later**
"Took you long enough" Laxus grumbled from his spot when Wendy got there the last one. He was sitting under a tree at the beginning of the forest with his back resting on the tree trunk.
"Sorry..." She said after her breathing stabilized slightly.
"It's not a problem" Natsu said. He was in meditating position on a tree branch of the tree Laxus sat under. He didn't bother to open his eyes as he continued
"Though none of us came here before you so you won't show us what I had in mind." Gajeel said. He was standing with his back leaning on another tree not far from Laxus and Natsu.
"That is true" Natsu said finally opening his eyes.
"What was that that you wanted to show us anyway?" Laxus asked.
"I wanted to show you how I did that" Dragon prince answered as he jumped from his branch. He was referring to his speed.
"Shouldn't you show us how you did that anyway? I mean it could get useful in fight" Gajeel asked slightly irritated.
Natsu chuckled "I never said I wouldn't teach you how to do that, though you'll have to be a little bit more patient considering you were slower then me"
"Shouldn't we start training" Laxus asked "The sun will disappear from the sky before we know it."
Natsu looked toward the sun "Indeed"
"Then we should really start" Natsu said and then he took his fighting stance.
"Come at me, all at once" he said. Others looked at him like he was crazy.
"You expect us to fight against you?" Laxus asked incredulously.
"Yes" Natsu answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world "How else do you expect me to see how much I need to torture- I mean teach you?"
Dragon slayers gulped at the wicked smile Natsu gave them "And besides; I didn't fight with any of you for more than seven years"
Laxus snorted "You'll regret it. I'm lot stronger than I was when we fought in Magnolia"
"You think I'm not?" Natsu asked with smirk.
"Whatever" Laxus muttered.
"Let us begin" Natsu said once again taking his stance. Laxus sighed as he pushed himself up and stood before Natsu transforming in lightning to get there in barely a second. He then took his own fighting stance waiting for others to get moving. Gajeel walked behind Natsu and didn't waste any time taking his stance. Wendy moved to Natsu's right side with determined look. They formed triangle around him.
Natsu smirked. They stood there, at the edge of a dark forest, completely still. As the time it self stopped. Then on some unseen sign three dragon slayers lunched themselves at the dragon prince. Laxus jumped in the air yelling "Lightning dragon's Claw" as he warped his leg in lightning preparing for an axe-kick down on Natsu's head. Natsu side-stepped casually as Laxus hit the ground causing pieces of it to fly in every direction. Gajeel, not even second later was extending his arm in club targeting Natsu's head. Natsu's eyes quickly traveled toward Gajeel's rapidly extending arm. He bent his body backwards slightly to avoid being hit just as he heard Wendy's yell "Sky dragon's roar!"
He grabbed Gajeel's 'arm' and pulled him toward himself. Gajeel's eyes widened in shock as Natsu bent down and trow Gajeel over his head right at Wendy's attack using him like a shield.
Gajeel was blown away to the nearby tree braking it down once he made contact. There was chippering sound of electricity as Laxus shouted "Lightning Dragon's Breakdown Fist"
Natsu looked at the incoming fist of lightning with bored expression as he jumped high in the air over the attack. The attack continued moving as Laxus's and Wendy's eyes widened "Gajeel! Look out!"
Gajeel, who just now stood up, looked toward Wendy and Laxus only for his eyes widened in panic as the fist hit him sending him crashing in another tree.
"I don't even need to do anything. You'll do the job for me" Natsu said with smirk as he appeared right behind Laxus.
His smirk then turned in more malicious grin as he said "Though it would be no fun to watch you have all the fun while beating each other up"
Laxus used his 'Lightning body' to get away from Natsu when he heard his voice behind his back.
"Eh?" Natsu asked when Laxus 'ran away' from him "Am I really that scary?" he asked, with fake hurt expression.
Laxus looked at him giving him Isn't-that-obvious look.
Natsu shrugged. Laxus opened his mouth to say something but sudden "Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs"
Natsu turned his head just in time to see Gajeel turns his arm into a large spearhead, from which a large number of steel spears are fired towards him. Natsu was about to dodge it but then he realized that the attack would probably hit Laxus and Wendy. Gajeel seemed to notice this as well, immediately regretting his attack.
Natsu sighed as he slammed his hands in the ground yelling "Shadow-make: Shield"
Shadows around Natsu merged in one spot before rising from the ground making a flower-shaped shield much like Gray's Ice shield.
The steel spears rushed toward the shield and once they made contact with it instead of bouncing back they went trough it, much to others horror. Their horror soon turned into surprise when the spears that passed trough the shield disintegrated in dust barely few seconds later.
When the attack stopped Natsu dusted his hands and sighed.
"I guess time to teach you guys something" he said and then disappeared form their sight only to reappear in front of Gajeel, his fist warped ready to strike the Iron dragon slayer with 'Chaos dragon's iron fist'. The attack hit his target right in the stomach rotating him for 180° sending him at the lightning dragon slayer.
Gajeel's eyes widened as he coughed out blood and crashed in Laxus.
"Lesson number one: Never put your Nakama in danger just to defeat your enemy"
Gajeel groaned as he slowly stood up. Laxus fallowed and then glared at Natsu.
"I gonna beat your ass for making fun of me!" He roared as he rushed at Natsu with his fist pulled back warped in lightning ready to strike the dragon. Natsu dodged Laxus's attack and caught his fist twisting it over his back making Laxus fall flat on his back in front of Natsu.
"Lesson number two: Think before you act; If your opponent is stronger than you than don't try to defeat him by shear brute force, make a plan, a strategy"
Natsu looked around. Wendy was busy healing Gajeel, she didn't make any attempt to attack him.
He turned his head back to look at Laxus who was about to stood up but Natsu stopped him by saying "Requip: Midnight's blade"
Long, pitch black katana with purple dragon design appeared in Natsu's hands as he pinned the tip of the blade at Laxus's throat barely avoiding piercing his neck.
"Lesson number three: Disable your enemy and show no mercy" To empathize what he said he let go some of his magic leak out of his body
Three dragon slayers looked at Natsu with pale faces barely hiding their fear after he said the last part. They nodded (Laxus barely even moved his head).
Natsu nodded seemingly satisfied as the black katana disappeared from his hands. Laxus stood up rubbing his throat. Gajeel got in sitting position rubbing his stomach while Wendy stood beside him.
Natsu looked at them and then sighed rubbing his forehead "We have a lot of work to do" he removed the hand from his forehead and then grinned crazily "So we better start"
**Sunset**
As the sun started falling behind the mountain four training groups started making their way toward the beach. Ultear's group; namely Annie, Lucy, Erza, Gray and Juvia got back to the beach first. Tired looks on their faces as their eyes barely stayed open. Ultear walked behind the group with smile, fuming some melody they didn't recognize.
As soon as the group got to the beach they dropped on the sand not wanting to move a muscle. Ultear laughed as she sat down beside them "What's the meter?"
Gray groaned as he sat up "You're training... Don't you think making us catch a kalpie was little too much after you beat us to the ground?" (A/N: I'm not talking about a dog. Kalpie is a name of mythological creature that looks like horse and lives in water. You can enter 'mythological creature kelpie' in the search box if you want better picture)
Ultear laughed "Oh come on, it was funny to see the looks on your faces when we find him"
"I had no idea that that stupid horse could be that fast! And not to mention that Aquarius blow me back to the shore instead of helping me" Lucy whined.
"Well you were lucky" Ultear said with her index finger raised in air like she was telling something really smart and important "You could've ended up with Natsu or Mira"
"Why would Mira be a problem?" Erza asked sitting up.
"You have no idea..." Came a new voice. They all turned around to see Elfman, Lisanna, Cana and Bickslow with Mira beside them coming toward them. They all were completely wet with several wounds that oddly resembled to snake bites. It was Elfman who spoke to them. They looked just as tired as Ultear's group.
"She's a demon" Cana said as she slumped down next to Juvia.
"That's an understatement..." Bickslow muttered as he throw himself on the sand.
"Why thank you. That's so sweet of you" Mira said with smile.
"What did you do to them?" Ultear asked with raised eyebrow though she got the idea.
"They fought against me whole day on the cliff not so far from here. Though for some reason they fell from it quite often" She said the last part with thoughtful expression and finger on her chin.
"More like she throw us off of it..." Lisanna said.
Ultear's group looked at them with pale expressions.
"I bet my group will be stronger than yours" Mira said with smug expression. Ultear smirked as she said "Dream on! I could tell the same thing to you"
"Like you-" Mira was interrupted by Jellal's voice.
"Now, now ladies. No fighting. Remember what you promised to Natsu" he said with smile as the two girls nodded while muttering something.
Levi, Freed, Evergreen and Arthur walked behind him. While they didn't look as tired as the other two groups thy were obviously exhausted. Levi sat down next to Lucy and said "Hey Lu..."
"Hey Levi..." Lucy asked in sleepy voice "What did you guys do today?"
"We spared against Jellal first... And he kind of beat all of us in less than a minute..." She said as she giggled "And for the rest of the day he tested our stamina, speed, brain-power and all those other stuff"
"Lucky you" Lucy muttered as she lied down on the sand.
"What about you?" Levi asked.
Lucy moaned as she covered her face with her face and said "First she beat us to the ground and then she made us catch some beast though I was doing more run-for-my-life than catching that stupid horse"
"Horse?" Levi asked confused.
"Kelpie" Lucy said.
Levi cringed "Yikes"
"Mhm..." Lucy nodded.
Jellal, hearing this turned to Ultear with frown "You shouldn't do that on their first day"
Ultear shrugged.
"You could've waited for at least tomorrow. I gonna go in Griffin hunt with my group tomorrow" he said.
Levi hearing this paled as Lucy chuckled. She turned to Lucy with pout "That's mean Lu!"
"Sorry" Lucy said with giggle.
"So only Natsu's is missing now" Jellal asked as he looked around. Ultear and Mira nodded and then three friends laughed "I must say I feel sorry for them" Mira said after she stopped laughing.
"Why is that?" Evergreen asked.
"Well... You'll see" Ultear said with smirk.
"On the second thought... I don't think I really wanna know..." Evergreen said. By now the sun has almost completely disappeared from the sky.
"Though where is Natsu for so long?" Jellal asked.
"Someone called my name?" Natsu asked as he stepped out of magic circle after using 'Chaotic void'.
"Speak of the devil" Jellal said with smirk. Others looked toward Natsu and paled slightly (except Jellal, Mira and Ultear).
"Are they okay?" Lucy asked. Natsu raised an eyebrow and then realized what she was talking about. When he walked out of the circle he was caring Wendy on his back. He held Gajeel by the back of his shirt like a cat holds a dead mouse and Laxus was dragged behind him by his collar. Cats walked behind him and other then a terrible headache caused by the spell they were looking fine.
"They should be fine" Natsu replied as he dropped Laxus and Gajeel not so nicely. He then lied down Wendy carefully.
"Yea right... You almost killed us..." Laxus grumbled from his spot surprising others that he was awake.
"I never said that you are fine right now. Though I hope you'll get better by tomorrow considering that this was just a warm-up" Laxus, being the only one awake of the three dragon-slayers, paled. He sat up groaning as he did so and turned his head to look at Natsu "You can't be serious"
Natsu turned his eyes to Laxus and deadpanned "I am"
And with that Laxus passed out, something that strangely resembled to a soul coming out of his mouth. Natsu chuckled and then turned to look at others. He became serious when he saw everyone's (except Ultear, Mira and Jellal who just shook their heads) pale faces and asked "What? Do I still have some blood on my face?" he asked "I thought I wiped all of it"
That question didn't really helped as others turned even paler.
"What did you do to them?" Gray asked looking as Ultear and Mira stuffed Laxus's soul back in his mouth.
"Well lets see..." Natsu said thoughtful expression.
"First they raced to the forest" Happy said and then added with snicker "He came there before they even started running"
"Then I sparred with them" Natsu said "And thought them few lessons along the way"
"T-that doesn't sound so bad" Levi said.
"You never seen his way of teaching, right?" Jellal asked and when she shook her head 'no' he added "Believe me. It is far worse than bad"
"After that I sparred with them using the Black gates of sin" Natsu said.
At that even Jellal lost the color in his face "Don't you think that's a little too much for their first day? Those two could defeat Zeref's demon in a meter of seconds even without you"
"Black Gate of sin?" Lucy asked confused trying to ignore the last comment Jellal made.
Natsu waved his hand as he said "It's actually Celestial magic though fused with demon's curses"
"Can I see the keys of the Black Gates?" Lucy asked as she stood up and walked to Natsu who nodded and held open his palm as two black keys appeared on his palm.
First key had a rose and its stalk with sharp thorns littered on it, warped around its handle and the top of the handle. It was covered with red markings that formed some kind of complicate drawings.
"This one is known as Yokubo the Lust" Natsu explained "Yokubo is also known as 'The Yellow-Eyed Demon', the demon spirit of illusions"
He then pointed at his other key. This one while also black, strangely resembled to Loke's key but instead of lion's head there was fox's.
"And this one is called Haradachi the Wrath" he said "Spirit of fire and Hell's infernos"
Lucy nodded as she looked at strange keys. "To which set do they belong? I never even heard about them"
"These are the two keys out of seven from Black gates of sin" he said as he started to put the keys away in his dimensional pocket.
"No wait!" Lucy yelled a little too loud for her own taste. Natsu stopped and looked at her with raised eyebrow.
"Could you call them out? I mean... I would like to see them and I would also like for Loke to see them"
Natsu continued looking at her for few more seconds before he sighed. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to summon them once again today, now would it?"
Lucy smiled as she took out Loke's key and said "Gate of the Leon, I open thee, Leo!"
There was a sound of a bell and familiar golden light shined.
Loke appeared in his suit and looked at Lucy "You called, princess?"
Lucy turned her head to Natsu and said "I called you so you could see Celestial spirits Natsu has"
Loke turned to Natsu in surprise "You can summon celestial spirits?"
Natsu nodded and then said "Yes, though not all of them"
They looked at him confused.
"I am only able to summon spirits of Black gates because they don't require pure soul of the user as other keys" he explained.
"For how long you can do that? I mean how long you know Celestial magic" Loke asked interested.
"It's not Celestial magic, it's Celestial curses and I know it since I'm seven" he said "but I didn't use it before because I didn't have the keys"
Loke nodded and then said "Could you summon them now. I'm rather curious since I never heard about Black gates"
"Wait, not even you heard about it?" Erza asked as she walked next to Loke.
"No. This is the first I heard about them" he answered.
"It is not a surprise really. I myself would have never heard about them if Lilith didn't told me"
"Lilith?" Ultear asked now interested in conversation.
"She's a fallen angel from Lurioa" Natsu explained "I met her not long after Acnologia brought me there for the first time. She's the one who taught me that magic"
They didn't say anything after that for several seconds as they all knew what happened when Acnologia brought him there.
Natsu then took out Yokubo's key and said in calm voice "Black gates of Lust, I open thee, Yokubo"
As he said that the markings on the key glowed and a hole opened in the ground. From the hole, shadows rose and materialized into a black cat the size of a big dog with red lines covering its body.
Cat looked around and then turned to look at Natsu asking in female voice "Why am I being summoned?"
The cat then smiled evilly as it disappeared in shadows and reappeared beside Gray. The cat warped its tale around Gary as she asked "To have some fun with the boys again?"
She purred as she transformed into a beautiful woman in her twenties. She had long red tight dress that showed off her curves rather nicely. She had long red nails and there was a black tail still swaying behind her back. Her black hair was straight and it reached her lower back and there were two cat ears on her head.
Purring she added "I like this one a lot better then that metal head. He was no fun~~"
Gray's face became red as Yokubo traced her fingers over his chest. Juvia on the other hand was red but not form embarrassment, she was red from anger as dark aura formed around her "Love rival" she kept muttering.
Yokubo looked at Juvia after hearing her as the cat smiled and walked to Juvia. As she reached her she transformed into a hot young man in red suit.
"You like what you see?" Yokubo asked in male voice as 'he' put his hand on Juvia's waist and pulled her closer. Juvia looked at the man and than at Gray who looked at Yokubo in shock. Others had similar faces while Natsu just face-palmed himself.
"Could you just stop messing around?" he said as he took out Haradachi's key and said "Black gates of Wrath, I open thee, Haradachi"
Yobuko hearing this reverted back to her cat form as she ran to Natsu's side. As Natsu said this red flames burst into flames in existence. When the flames died down there stood a fox the size of a horse with black flame-like tattoos swirling around its body.
Haradachi looked at Natsu and asked in male voice "What do you want? I'm not going to deal with another weaklings today"
Natsu gestured with his arm toward his companions and said "I'm just showing them Demon spirits"
Haradachi nodded and then looked at Yobuko "And I assume she is her for the same reason"
"H-hai" Yobuko stuttered. Others looked confused at that while Natsu rolled his eyes.
"You didn't try anything perverted again, Yobuko?" Haradachi asked as his eyes flashed red.
"No! Of course not!" She said quickly and then looked at Natsu and smiled nervously "I'll take my leave now"
And with that she melted in the shadows.
"She did something, am I right?" Haradachi asked not expecting anyone the answer. He sighed and then noticed others were still staring at him.
"What are you staring at? Never seen a talking fox?" he asked angrily.
"No, not really" Gray asked not sure what to say.
"Idiots" The fox said and then turned to Natsu "I will go back and have a... talk... with Yobuko"
And with that the fox was also gone.
Natsu sighed as he putted the keys in his dimensional pocket.
"They are... interesting" Loke said with somewhat confused face.
"They are troublesome if you ask me" Natsu said and then added looking at the sky "We should get going back to the camp. It's getting rather late"
Others nodded in agreement as they started walking toward the camp, the question what Natsu did to the three dragon-slayers forgotten. Maybe it was better that way.
Natsu took responsibility of taking care of the dragon-slayers. He put Wendy on his back. In his right hand he took a hold of Gajeel in a similar way he held him when he brought them and took Laxus's collar in his other hand dragging him as he walked beside the group talking to his two mates.
They all took their respective tents; Erza, Lucy and Levi in one; Gray, Elfman and Gajeel in second; Laxus, Freed, Bickslow in third; Natsu, Jellal, Ultear and Mira in forth; Cana, Evergreen and Juvia in fifth; Wendy, Lisanna and cats in sixth.
**the next day- 7 a.m.**
As other woke up slowly they were greeted by familiar sight. Mira and Erza was awake preparing the breakfast greeting them with 'Good morning', Ultear was awake putting plates on the table and Natsu was meditating under a palm tree.
"He could've help them from time to time" Cana muttered.
"If you look closer at him you will notice how exhausted he actually is" Jellal spoke behind her startling her.
She looked at him in confusion "What are you talking about?"
"When was the last time you saw him asleep?" Jellal answered with another question.
Cana looked at him as she tried to remember when she saw the last time Natsu sleeping. After few seconds she realized she saw him asleep the last time after they returned from Tower of Heaven. If you could even call that asleep since he was more in coma than actually asleep.
"He is meditating so often in order to make up for lost sleep" Jellal explained.
Cana nodded as she made her way to help Ultear.
When Lucy woke up most of the group was already awake and the breakfast was ready.
"Why didn't you wake me up sooner? I could've help you set the table at least" she asked as she sat at the table.
"Don't worry about it" Mira said with smile "It's not a big problem to set the table"
Ultear nodded in agreement as she smiled.
Lucy smiled as she said "Okay then"
After another ten minutes everyone were awake ready for a new day.
Ultear than looked at Natsu and sighed before she yelled "Hey Natsu! Get here! Breakfast is ready!"
Natsu opened his right eye as Ultear's voice broke his concentration. He sighed as he stood up.
"I'm coming, I'm coming" He muttered.
He was about to take his seat when a sound of bell stopped him. Everyone looked confused as Virgo appeared in golden light.
She had worried expression on her face as she said in serious tone "Princess!"
Lucy jumped on her feet and others soon followed. Confused and worried (or in Natsu's case emotionless) expressions were on their faces.
"Celestial world had some unexpected visitors" the pink-haired spirit said seriously.
"Did they attack you?" Lucy asked worriedly.
Virgo smiled confusing the others even further "No"
She then gestured to her right as golden light shined again "They are here to see you. Some old friends of yours actually"
"Yo" came a familiar voice as golden light disappeared leaving twelve people.
Others looked at the visitors with wide eyes.
"Long time no see, Souleater" said a certain pink-haired dragon slayer.
"Dragneel?" Natsu asked with raised eyebrow to hide his surprise. Other fairy-tail members stared dumbfounded at twelve counterparts.
End of chapter 50.
First, I want to apologize for not updating for so long but I made this chapter longer as a way to apologize.
I would like to hear what you think about this chapter. Also if you want a picture of some of the characters and other things in this fanfiction I will put them on my Facebook page if there will be enough people interested. Please review and thanks for reading :)