Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Anything I write in this story is purely from my thoughts
Chapter 26
"Phew!" Naruto wiped the water dripping his forehead off his forehead as he finished off the last of the guards. "That took longer than expected."
"You cheater!" Natsu screamed angrily at the blonde. "You were taking my guys too! No fair! Stop doing that teleporting thing!"
"I didn't know I placed any rules in this bet," Naruto shrugged.
"Yeah, put a sock in it you crybaby," Gray added. "You lost fair and square."
Natsu, ever the sore loser, just sulked in a corner as he muttered the words, "Cheeky teleporting bastard."
On the other hand, Juvia just looked starstruck as she stared at the blonde shinobi who was rounding up the guards and tied them up with ninja wire. "Naruto-sama is so cool!"
"Keep it in your pants, Juvia," Lucy sighed. Hearing it for the nth time now was getting too old. "Anyway, this cavern doesn't seem to go anywhere. What do we do now?"
As if on cue, a hatch opened from what they assumed to be the ceiling. The group looked at one another.
Naruto just shrugged and said, "Well, that works."
He was about to climb the hatch when Lucy stopped him. "Hey, hey, what if it's a trap or if there are more guards up there."
Naruto waved her off, "Come on. You worry too much."
"He's kind of right, you know," Gray piped up. "With all of the commotion, who knows if we're still hidden. We caused quite a commotion here."
"Yeah, it always worked when we did it before right?" Natsu added. "What could possibly go wrong?"
Lucy sighed and let go of Naruto's shoulder prompting the latter to start the climb. Everyone except the Celestial Wizard got up and climbed up the stairs.
"The coast is clear Lucy, so come on up," Naruto called down from the hatch opening.
Eventually, Lucy followed her companions up the ladder. When she got there, there was indeed no one guarding the hallway which was weird. How could these corridors be empty when there were a lot of guards in the previous room?
As soon as the hatch was closed, Natsu blew fire up into the air, basically declaring their location to whoever was inside this tower. "Where are you, you blocky bastard! Come here and I'll oof-"
"Don't announce our presence!" Lucy scolded, bonking him on the head. "I know we were caught already, but we still might have the element of surprise."
"It is probably too late for that," Juvia shook her head. "Seeing as there was nobody here, the door must have been opened magically. Which means they must be watching us somehow through the walls."
"EEP! Y-y-you mean…" Lucy squealed and turned various shades of red.
"What are you on about?" Gray asked, then he noticed the fresh pair of clothes she was holding. "And where did you get those clothes?"
"I had Cancer bring me a fresh batch of clothes. What do you think Naruto?" She struck a pose as best she could. "If you want I could…"
She didn't get to finish her statement as Juvia piped up, "Here Naruto-sama, allow Juvia to get the water out of your clothes."
"Oh, thanks," Naruto said. "That was already getting annoying."
Lucy deflated when she saw this.
To make things worse, Natsu saw the fresh pair she had prepared and took them saying. "Hey, dry clothes. Thank Lucy!" That caused her to deflate even more.
When she regained her composure, she noticed Juvia giving her the stink eye, and for some reason, it was getting irksome.
'Why am I getting frustrated over this?" She thought, as her cheeks had a tinge of pink.
But then, she noticed Gray and Natsu snickering at the side watching her come to terms with her frustration. "Wh-what are you laughing at?" She asked, as the pink spread throughout her whole face, only making the two boys' reaction even worse.
Suddenly, they heard where all the guards went and what they were preoccupied with. "Get her!" They yelled. "Ack-"
"Crap, they're here," Gray yelled.
Naruto dashed forward and turned the corner only to meet Erza's sword a few inches from his face. Instead of getting scared of the weapon that almost sliced him in half, his expression brightened. "Erza! We found you at last!"
"You gave us a scare there," Gray added.
Nasu nodded. "We're here to get you out of here!"
What happened next, they didn't expect out of the stronger female wizard of Fairy Tail. Her expression turned stern, like she did when she was scolding their guild mates.
"Go. Get out of here," She said turning around and walking away from his friends.
"No, we're not going anywhere without you or Happy!" Lucy declared.
Hearing the blue feline's name, she turned around with a shocked expression on her face. "What did you say? They have Happy as well?"
"Yes!" Natsu said. "That's why we came all the way here! To get you and Happy, so we can continue on our vacation."
"No," She sure was adamant with her decision. "I will take care of Happy. You shouldn't get involved."
"So, you know where he is?" Natsu demanded.
"Unfortunately, no," Erza shook her head causing everyone to face fault.
"In that case, you can't stop me!" Natsu screamed at the top of his lungs. "Happy! I'm coming for you! Blocky bastard, come out here so I can pound you!"
"Idiot! Don't go running off by yourself!" Lucy yelled out to the pyro.
Erza heaved a sigh, "The rest of you, go! I will bring back Natsu and Happy with me."
"What's wrong with you?" Naruto said raising his voice now. He was getting annoyed with how his friend was acting. "Look, we came here to bring you back, and we're not going to leave just because you told us to. Like it or not, we're involved the moment we were attacked by those clowns."
The S-class wizard didn't answer. Naruto started to get worried. Normally, Erza would go ballistic when you raised your voice to her.
"Erza?" Naruto called her name. "What's wrong?"
Instead of answering, the said redhead turned around to reveal that her right eye had tears streaming down her face.
Lucy elbowed Naruto, "Look Naruto, you've gone too far!"
"No, no, no! I'm sorry. I was just-" The shinobi tried to sputter out a response, but Lucy elbowed him again.
"Don't make it worse," The Celestial Wizard scolded her fellow blonde.
She then turned to their friend and said, "What's wrong Erza?"
"I'm sorry. I have kept this bit of my past, and you were harmed as a result of this," Erza began. "But it is too late now... because whether I win or lose this fight, I will surely die…"
"Don't make jokes like that," Gray chuckled nervously. "What are you talking about?"
"It can't be helped now, so I will tell you about this place, the tower of heaven, otherwise known as the R system."
ERA, THE MAGIC COUNCIL'S HEADQUARTERS
"DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE SAYING?" A tall, gray-haired elderly man with a considerably long beard, as well as a mustache, snapped. "ETHERION WOULD EVISCERATE ANYTHING THAT IS CLOSE TO THE VICINITY. THAT INCLUDES INNOCENT BYSTANDERS!"
"Org-dono, calm yourself," Jellal said. "I am aware of the risks and repercussions posed by this weapon, but they are but a small price I am willing to pay to eradicate this world of his evils."
"I agree with him Org-dono," a tall middle-aged man, who was wearing small, round, dark-shaded glasses chimed in. "Throughout history, we have all resorted to such sacrifices in one form or another. What difference would that make if we did that today?"
"Leiji-sensei? Another bearded man with said. "If we unilaterally attack Kaelum's soil, we will leave a black mark throughout history!"
"As we said earlier, it is a price we will have to pay," An elderly woman wearing a cloak similar to the others over a purple turtle-neck added.
"Even if we have to destroy one of the candidates?" Yajima interjected.
"Even though! Jellal is a threat that we must not ignore," The blue-haired council member persuaded his fellow council members. "I just need one more vote from any of you. I beg of you! Reconsider!"
TOWER OF HEAVEN
TOP FLOOR
"Just one more…" A blue-haired man that looked eerily similar to one of the council members muttered to himself.
"What was that Jellal-sama?" The other man in the room asked picking up only a snippet of what his master said.
"Nothing, nothing," The master of the tower chuckled to himself. "I'm just getting giddy. We're in the endgame now."
Just then, four chess pieces in front of him was knocked over by some invisible source. He picked up the fallen piece, a wicked smile forming on his face. "Very interesting. Not only did Natsu defeat Wally and MIlliana, but SImon and Shou had betrayed us as well. That is an interesting development indeed."
"Jellal-sama," The other man spoke up. "We must recapture Erza now and start the ceremony."
The blue-haired man laughed aloud. "I would prefer to watch how this game would unfold and end. Perhaps you would like to go?"
"Gladly," His subordinate bowed reverently to his master. "Your wish is my command."
The man, then, retreated to the shadows where he joined three wizards who were obscured by the shadows.
ONE LONG-WINDED EXPLANATION LATER
"And that's it," Erza finished the long narration of her story. "That is the reason why I must stop Jellal."
"One question though," Naruto said. "Who is Zeref?"
"Tch," A deep voice clicked its tongue at the back of his mind which he ignored. This was no time to multitask."
"I keep forgetting that you are not from this world," Erza said. "Zeref is the most notorious dark mage in history. He is also responsible for the creation of Lullaby and Deliora."
"What about those new demons that have been popping up recently?" Naruto asked.
"No one knows," Erza answered. "None of those monsters were recorded in history, but it is possible that he was the one who created them."
"Then, there is all the more reason for us to stop Jellal," Naruto declared. "So, let us help you!"
Before Erza could speak up again and force her friend to go home, a new voice spoke up.
"Nee-san...What are you talking about?" The voice said.
Everyone turned to see one of Erza's old friends. It was a young man with blond hair, arranged in a wavy style with fringes hanging above his forehead, and tanned skin. He had dark beady eyes and a small 5-shaped tattoo can be located below his lower lip. He wore an earring with diamond ornaments attached to his left ear.
He seemed quite shaken up. He had most likely heard the whole story.
"Shou…" Erza tried to place a hand on her old friend.
On instinct, Shou took a step back. "No! That is not true! Jellal saved us! He told us you went mad with power and blew up all the ships!"
It seemed like he didn't quite believe his Oneesan just yet.
"Shou, she is telling the truth," Another man joined them. It was the big and burly man who attacked Naruto and Juvia.
Upon seeing him in their midst, Naruto got into a fighting stance. "I see you've come back for round two, huh?"
Naruto was about to attack when the man raised his hands in surrender. "I apologize for attacking you, but I had to pretend I was loyal to Jellal. Now that everyone is here, I don't have to keep up this pretense."
"Oh, so why didn't you say so?" Naruto laughed. "Glad you're on our side then."
Simon nodded, then turned to the armored wizard with a smile on his face. "I always believed in you, Erza."
"Simon…" She began to speak, but she was cut off by Shou who was beginning to freak out now.
"Why? Why am I like this?" Shou questioned himself, dropping to his knees in despair and slamming his fists to the floor. "How could I lose faith in Erza-Nee like that?! Why couldn't I believe in her like you do? WHYYY?!"
Erza knelt in front of the tanned teen, "It is partly my fault, Shou. I'm sorry...I was too weak to fight for you back then, so there was nothing I could do, but I always kept you in my heart."
Simon walked over towards them. "So, is everyone ready?" His answer was a determined look from the Wizards of Fairy Tail. "Good. With all the powerful wizards present right now, I have no doubt that we will be able to defeat Jellal."
Erza stood up, taking command of the group. "Alright, first, we regroup with Natsu and Happy. Then, together we fight our way to the top and stop Jellal.
After seeing that there were no objections from her crew, she turned around to lead the way. "Let's go."
And so, Naruto and the others trudged through the halls of the tower trying to look for Erza's other old friends before any more unwanted clashes between the two sides could occur.
"Damn it," Simon cursed aloud as he removed his pointer and middle finger from his forehead. "I can't get into contact with Wally and Milliana! Now I don't have any idea where they are!"
"Contact?" Lucy raised her eyebrows.
"They are probably blocking any form of transmission magic to separate us," Juvia offered an explanation.
"You are probably right, Juvia-san," Erza nodded. "That idiot, Natsu. Why did he have to run away like that?"
The redhead turned to her right. "Sho? Are you okay?" she asked noticing that the tanned teen was silent.
"Nee-san... I-I'll be fine...as long as you're here…" The teen managed.
"Hmph," Gray scoffed. "Should we really be so trusting with these guys? I mean this is the first time we've met, and they tried to kill us."
"I won't make excuses for my actions, but I had fate that Natsu and the rest of you would survive," Simon explained.
Lucy sweatdropped, "The guys probably would, but not me."
They continued running through the halls navigating towards the room that the boss of the tower resided. Things were running smoothly until a bunch of mouths melted out of the walls and started talking...
MY NAME IS JELLAL, THE RULER OF THIS TOWER!
THE PIECES ARE NOW IN PLACE!
IT IS NOW TIME TO BEGIN THIS GAME! THE RULES ARE SIMPLE, YOU PREVENT ME FROM SACRIFICING ERZA TO OPEN THE GATES OF PARADISE. OF COURSE, I WON'T LET YOU STOP ME SO EASILY, SO I COMMISSIONED THREE WARRIORS TO STOP YOU.
"Game?" Naruto asked aloud. "Is he joking or something?"
"He seems serious," Lucy answered.
BUT THERE'S A CATCH…
"There's more?" Erza muttered.
TO MAKE THIS LITTLE GAME A LITTLE MORE INTERESTING, THE MAGIC COUNCIL IS PREPARING TO OBLITERATE THIS PLACE WITH THEIR ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION MAGIC, ETHERION! EVEN I DON'T KNOW WHEN THEY WILL FIRE! SO, YOU BETTER HURRY, AND WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!
Everyone, except Naruto, perked up at the mention of the council's attack. Naruto tilted his head at foreign term.
"What the heck is that?" He asked his dumbfounded friends.
Erza was the first to recover from her shock, she answered the blonde saying, "As Jellal said, it is the Magic Council's ultimate destruction magic. It is a weapon of mass destruction. It has the power that puts the Jupiter Canon to shame."
"That bad, huh?" Naruto sighed.
Erza nodded. "In any case, we should-"
She didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence when she was sucked inside a card.
"Erza!" The Fairy Tail Wizards screamed as they watched the retreating form of their friend's captor.
"So, that's how it is, huh?" Gray narrowed his eyes at the large man. "You were going to gain our trust and betray us. I knew it."
"You will not lay a finger on Naruto-sama," Juvia stood in front of the blonde shinobi protectively.
"No, no, please don't misunderstand this," Simon held his hands up in surrender to appease the distrusting gaze of the ice wizard.
"Then, what do you call that?" Lucy asked.
"Sho is still shocked by everything," Simon explained. "He is just overprotective of Erza. He always has been."
Naruto sighed. "I guess it can't be helped then. We're going to have to split up to cover more ground."
"You guys search for Natsu. I'll go after Sho and Erza," Simon said.
"I'll go with the big guy," Gray said. "I'm worried about Erza."
"I'll go wherever Naruto-sama goes," Juvia chimed. "Lucy will go with Gray!"
"One problem though," Lucy spoke up. "Naruto's already gone."
Juvia was about to run after Naruto, but Lucy dragged her in the opposite direction, causing her to cry out. "Naruto-sama, nooooo!"
"Those are some...interesting friends you have," Simon said as he and Gray jogged in the opposite direction.
"Well, you get used to it eventually," Gray shrugged.
WITH LUCY AND JUVIA
"Why must Juvia have to be paired up with Lucy-san?" Juvia grumbled to herself as they looked through the hallways.
"Natsu!" Lucy screamed her lungs out to call their lost friend.
She had been screaming for a while now, and her throat was starting to hurt from the strain. Still, there was no answer from their missing guildmate.
"And here I thought dragon slayers have great hearing," Lucy huffed. "He should've heard them calling by now."
"So, Natsu-san is like Gajeel-kun then? His nose as well?" Juvia asked.
"Gajeel...Kun?" Lucy shuddered at the memories of the atrocities she faced in the hands of the Iron Dragon Slayer. She didn't think someone would refer to the scary Ex-Phantom Wizard as a Kun.
"Ahh, Juvia wants to be with Naruto-sama!" Juvia ranted. "Why must Juvia be stuck here with her rival in love. Does Naruto-sama wish to start a fight?"
Lucy's mouth hung open. She couldn't believe what this water woman was assuming. There's no way she would fall for that slob.
"Excuse me?" Lucy confronted the bluenette. "Naruto and I are roommates! Our relationship is purely professional! We're just friends!"
Juvia looked at her with an incredulous look.
Lucy grew uncomfortable with the stare the water wizard was giving her, so she spoke up to defend herself. "I-it's true! No one would fall for a childish slob who eats too much ramen for his own goo- Wait what are you writing down?"
"Juvia must learn how to make ramen…" She muttered to herself. When she caught the Celestial Wizard's gaze at her, she quickly hid the notebook, as if nothing happened.
Lucy sweatdropped at the Water Woman's antics. That didn't last long though as a terribly loud sound rang through the halls, making her cringe and cover her ears with her hands.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" Lucy all but screamed to get her words across to the former phantom wizard. She opened her eyes just to have her mouth hang open when she saw that Juvia wasn't at all affected by the ear-shattering noise. "YOU CAN HEAR THIS TOO, RIGHT?"
"It's actually quite a nice tune," Juvia's expression remained neutral.
Both their attentions were caught when they noticed a mildly muscular man of average height and extremely long black hair walk up to them.
"HEYYA GIRLS," The strange man greeted. "WELCOME TO THE CONCERT OF HELL!"
"Th-that's some long hair…" Lucy gawked at the newcomer.
"You must be one of Jellal's warriors," Juvia greeted.
"Pleased to make your acquaintance, ladies," The long-haired man struck a pose, like he was in a concert. "I am Vidaldus Taka of the Trinity Raven Guild."
WITH NARUTO
Now Naruto had seen everything. He could accept the fact that there were talking animals in this world since there were talking summoning animals, but that owl-man thing is a whole different thing entirely.
I mean, was he a human or an owl. Make up your mind! And don't get me started with the jetpack and the weird attack names. And-
*clears throat*
Sorry, I got carried away there.
Fortunately, he didn't have to fight that thing for long because Natsu came flying in out of nowhere and screaming at him about not allowing him to steal the spotlight again. He gladly let him take on the Owl Guy so he could continue his pursuit.
But we can forget about that right now.
He managed to catch up with the tanned teen who 'kidnapped' his guildmate. Before he could give him a piece of his mind, he was sliced up by a newcomer. He quickly assumed that it was one of the warriors that Jellal had sent. That attack also freed Erza from the card that sucked her up just a while back.
The blonde immediately knelt to check on the younger teen to see if he was okay. Thank Kami, he was still alive, but the problem now is, he couldn't heal the boy. His wound was way too deep and too severe. This was way out of his league.
Nevertheless, he willed some kind of blue energy into his hand. The wound started healing, albeit in a slow manner. It was nothing like his own healing factor or like the way Sakura would heal.
Content with just stopping the bleeding, he looked up at the attacker, sending her a glare.
The attacker was a woman with long, bright pink hair which is tied on top of her head in two large buns. She had a curvaceous figure, peach skin, a beauty mark underneath each eye and sports red lipstick. She wore a long, slightly loose white kimono with a red stripe in between two black stripes around the waist as well as a red triangle at the bottom of her dress, decorated by flames and skulls motifs, open at the top to reveal her shoulders and a fair amount of cleavage; it's closed around the waist by a large black belt adorned with a horned skull. Her guild insignia is incorporated into her kimono and seen at the end of both of its sleeves.
"I didn't know you were close to that boy," The pink-haired girl said with venom in her voice.
"Out of the way!" Erza screamed at the newcomer.
"It seems you are not aware of your current predicament," The pink-haired girl said. "I am Ikaruga of the Trinity Raven Guild, and I am here to eliminate you."
"Sword, huh?" Naruto said, looking at the weapon in the woman's hand. "I have a lot of experience with that."
"Gah!"
Before he could do anything, he was overcome with extreme pain. He didn't even see his opponent move, but why was he sliced all over the body.
"Narut—Gah!" She tried to move to check up on her guildmate, but she too was cut up, breaking even her armor.
"If I were you, I would worry about myself and not my companion," Ikaruga said, like it was obvious.
Erza gritted her teeth. She was a pretty good swordsman, but why? Why didn't she even see the pink-haired woman move?
Naruto staggered onto his feet with a smile on his face. He finally found a challenge.
"Finally, someone to really use these eyes with," he said as his once cerulean blue eyes spun and turned red with three tomoe.
Ikaruga smirked. "Ocular magic, hmm…but as I said earlier, anything you will try is futile,"
"We'll see about that," Naruto said as he met the other wizard's sword.
Sparks flew in the air as black steel met her polished katana. Even Ikaruga was impressed that the blonde was able to keep up with her despite the smaller reach of his weapon.
Naruto kicked her in the stomach to get some distance in between the two. As he stood facing off against the pinkette, a few small cuts suddenly broke out from his just like earlier, but in a far less manner.
"Sheesh," Naruto said as his wounds steamed to a close. Even with these eyes, I couldn't block everything."
"Wh-what are you—" Ikaruga asked, stunned at the sudden change of events.
Erza also got up to her feet, finding solace in the fact that her companion was able to hold his own against the other swordsman. "So, there's no changing your mind, huh?"
"Of course not!" Naruto said. "We're in this together whether you like it or not."
"Thank you," Erza smiled back. "Now, let's get this woman and get to Jellal as soon as possible."
"Right!"
A/N: I was gone for a long time wasn't I? Well, with the exams then the recent typhoon, right after that left us without power for 3 days. Anyway, here I am with the chapter. Hope you like it.