"speaking"

"thinking"

On with the story

The day was clear and the weather was great

In some parts of the land, Magnolia's train was setting off as it rides the railways

Its steam engine whistles as the train races at high speed


Inside the trains were Natsu and the others as they were going to head off for Hixs Town, Natsu's hometown yet again for a visit

All of them had joined in, even Irene who had come and joined them. It was already summer break and they are going to have a blast there

On one side was Natsu, Meredy, Éclair, Ultear, Ikaruga, Cana, and Lucy. The other side was Erza, Kamika, Irene, Mira, Kagura and Minerva. The train that they were riding only had three passengers' seat on each row meaning six and six except for Meredy sitting on Natsu's lap for the whole ride

Natsu sat on the edge with Meredy followed by Ultear, and Ikaruga. The other side is Éclair, Cana, and Lucy. On the other row is Irene, Erza, and Minerva. Followed on their other side Kamika, Kagura, and Mira

"only dirt" Meredy said watching the scenery outside "why only dirt?"

"that's because we're going to another town" Natsu told her as he looks to the scene outside and like Meredy said, there are no forest of whatsoever just dried ground and more dried ground "and that means we're going to cross the borders"

"bowders?" Meredy said, now understanding the word before Natsu patted her head while the girls giggles a bit

"hey, give her a word that she can learn for her age" Cana told Natsu before taking a chug of her bottle of beer and exhales satisfied "she'll start spelling it wrong every day"

"she'll learn" Ultear said patting Meredy's head, the child smiling to her affection "she's a bright girl, after all"

"you can say that again" Lucy stated in "she surprised me when she showed me that she can do math for a girl her age"

"must be a gift, no?" Ikaruga said with only one eye open, the other closed

"could be" Éclair stated in agreement

"she'll grow up in a fine adult one day" Irene said, hearing the conversation

"and probably a fine mage" Erza added to her mother's statement

"yeah, she might already have a special magic or something" Mira said now knowing of Meredy's ability to conjure magic blades out of nowhere "it's only a matter of time for her magic to start manifesting right?"

"the usual age for a child to have magic power or not is by the age of five" Kagura stated "she's still four"

"perhaps she might have an early spurt" Kamika said "there's been rare occasions of that"

For a mage, the early signs of them having magic would be at the age of 5-6, but there have been rare occasions. From one in a million people have early manifestation of their magic at the age 2-5 which is very rare

"it's called rare for a reason" Erza said "and if she did have that rare occasion, we would've seen it already"

"only a matter of time that will tell" Kagura stated before the train hits a bump that surprised them

"man, you think that the railways are maintained as the trains" Mira said as the sudden bump surprised everyone

"this Hixs town, is it really such a peaceful town?" Minerva asked as she had never set foot in the town before becoming a part of the mates. She had joined in on the summer break trip as she brought her pet Licom Mouse who she named Lighty which made everyone wonder why she would give it such name. "I hardly believe in such places"

"it's peaceful alright" Mira said "but it's one heck of a partying town too"

"the last time we went there, the village threw a party just for Natsu's return" Erza explained "I'm sure you will like the town just as much as we do"

"hmmm, interesting" Minerva said with interest before the train shook again from another bump

"okay, that's two times" Lucy said as she looks up to the luggage part where they had their suitcases with the addition of four cages that had Happy and the others inside, the four pets seemingly surprised and rustling in their cages "and what's wrong with them?"

"something is not right" Natsu said as he passed Meredy to Ultear before getting up but nearly fall back to his seat when the train shook again more hard

"what's going on!?" Cana exclaimed as everyone holds on to their seat because the train was shaking hard and it was a very unusual thing to happen for a train

The train shook even hard before everyone it hit something hard and it soon started to tilt to the right side

"what the!? It's tilting!?" Mira exclaimed

"Kagura!" Erza exclaimed as Kagura nodded before slamming her hand to the train's wall

The train's interior glowed violet before it started to tilt back to left and regained balance

"nice save" Lucy said sighing in relief "but what just happened there? The train nearly tilted over"

"did we hit something hard?" Cana said as her face was drenched because of her bottle of beer that had its content spilled out of her when she tried to drink

"what could be so hard that it makes the train go unbalance?" Éclair said before the train suddenly shook again and a loud explosion was heard

"an explosion!?" Kamika exclaimed

"from where!?" Minerva stated in before the train shook again and it went into high speed that causes everyone to nearly lose their own momentum

"hold on!" Erza shouted as everyone whose seat is facing the other side nearly falls off their own seats

"you think we don't know that!?" Mira shouted holding onto their seats

Natsu gritted his teeth before he summoned his Armor on before his eyes glowed red behind the visor "I'm going to stop the train!" he shouted as he started to go to the front carriage but the speed was making him unable to hold his ground that was until Irene helped him by using her magic

"I enchanted your armor! Hurry!" Irene exclaimed while having a reached out hand to Natsu who nodded

Natsu started running to the front carriage as he breaks the door in doing so


Natsu reached to the very front carriage of the train as it was decimated into pieces from what appears to be a large explosion and the floor is what remains, still attached to the train and the back carriages

"what happened here?!" Natsu looks in shock before he went to the train's main engine where it was burning in flames and the train conductor was nowhere to be found

The train's speed increased even more as it was going to get off the rails because of it

"there's no other choice!" Natsu said as he summoned Enryuo kiba and he sliced the connector to the train's engine, letting the front part gets cut off and rush off without the train carts connected to it

Natsu looks ahead and sees that the front train had hit a giant rock wall as it explode, and the rest was going to be next

"tch!" Natsu clicked his tongue as two copies of him appeared beside him before one went to the back while the one stayed and the original flied to the very back cart


Lucy and the others hold on to their seats before Natsu came running in

"get everyone to the far back and stay there! We're going to crash into a rock wall soon!" Natsu shouted as this made some passengers scream in fear "hurry!"

"wait what!? we're going to crash!?" Lucy exclaimed

"just get to the back now!" Natsu shouted before he turns towards Irene "you think your enchantment will help in slowing the train down?!"

"I'll try!" Irene said getting up as the train's speed hasn't even slowed down even after getting cut off from its front engine

"my magic can help!" Kagura exclaimed as Natsu nodded

"hurry! Get to the back! Now!" Natsu shouted everyone started running to the back while he gets Happy and the others out of their cage and they soon ran to the others


The original Natsu was at the very back cart as he grabs chains from the side and hooks it to the train's connecter

At the front, the copy of Natsu breaks the broken cart as he took a deep breath before firing out a flaming roar that serves as a thruster to decelerate the train carts as Natsu was going to stop the train and prevent it from crashing off the rails

"hope this works" Natsu said as he holds the chains tight before he jumped off the train and crashes his legs to the ground, breaking and shattering it as he was going to force the train carts to a halt from both sides "Guuuuhhh!"


"Hang on tight!" Natsu who was inside the train cart with the passengers, shouted as everyone braces from the big deceleration

"we're hanging as tight as we can!" Lucy exclaimed hugging Happy while holding on the train's seats

"I don't think it's going to work!" Kagura shouted as she was using her magic to the fullest to stop the train without crushing it

"just hold on strong!" Irene stated as she was using her magic to enchant Kagura's magic power and the train carts, making them heavy and decelerate the speed "we got to hold on till the train stops!"


Natsu was using all he had in him as he pulled on the chain strong while forcing his leg to the very ground

"stop!" Natsu shouted as the train's speed was slowly decreasing before it went to a full stop and at a near point to change of tracks of the railways

Natsu huffs his breathing as the young man's lower half is nearly buried in the ground because of his action in stopping the train's speed

He slowly pulls himself out as his armor soon disappears

"what a way to start the summer break, huh?" Demonic Natsu said as he appeared on Natsu's shoulder with White Natsu appearing on the other side

"trouble seems to always follow us, no?" White Natsu asked as he hummed in amusement

"just shut up, you two" Natsu said as he gets back on the train, to check on everyone


Natsu and the others were in the front part of the train as they look at the big rock wall that they nearly crashed into

"correct me if I'm right but I think we just zoomed pass Hixs town, right?" Cana asked looking at the rock wall

"yeah, at an alarming high speed too" Kamika said

"so the front train engine was in flames and the train conductor was gone?" Mira said looking at the metal debris that is used to be the front train engine

"something like that" Natsu said as he was on the ground, checking the place "I know that the explosion came from the front but I don't know what caused it"

"an attack, perhaps?" Ikaruga guessed

"on a train? for what reason?" Éclair said

"maybe it's Grimoire Heart" Kamika said as this got everyone's attention

"we don't know that yet" Ultear said while carrying Meredy "this might just be something else, terrorist or bombers. Or something else entirely"

"but she has a point, an attack on a train this just reeks with the doing of a dark organization like Grimoire Heart" Erza said

"I agree, they might be after Natsu" Kagura stated as this got them concern for the man

"matters aside, we should try to find a way to head to this Hixs Town" Minerva said "we have some passengers who got injured from the sudden train rush"

"question is on how, the train's engine was destroyed" Lucy said as they had no engine to push the train carts

"let me handle that" Natsu said as he was checking the debris "go and help the passengers"

"alright" Irene said nodding as she went to the back with Erza, Kagura, and Minerva following behind

"you sure you can do this?" Mira asked as Natsu nodded while holding a broken metal plate that was the train's engine

"I can, just help the others" Natsu said as he threw the metal plate away before checking the others

"you heard the man" Cana said as she went to the back with Lucy and the others following behind

Éclair stayed behind before she too followed the others

Natsu checks all the debris before he finds a broken blue shard which he could guess was a broken piece from a Lacrima

"a bomb" Natsu said "but who set it up?


That's a wrap!

Bye bye