Running for their lives, the gang and their families kept running from the returning villains until they all crashed into each other and were together again.
"That was nuts." Natsu said. "I thought we saw the last of those creeps, but that freak brought them back."
"At least now we know what costumes were stolen and know what to expect now." Erza said.
"Does sort of thing happen to you kids a lot?" Layla asked.
"More or less." Lucy said. "The only way we're going to figure out what's going on is if we find out who the Fiend is and learn what he's after. It looks like we lost all those creeps, so we should probably head back to the park and see if we can find any clues."
"You kids want to head back?" Silver said. "Those things could come back."
"It's fine, Dad. We've outsmarted all of them before. We'll just do it again." Gray said. "Come on, gang. We need to figure out what's going on." The five of them got up and hurried back to the park. Now that the parents have gotten an idea of what they're children go through, they are even more worried about them now.
...
The Park
The gang went back to where the party was at the park. They looked around for any clues that might be able to help them, but they haven't found much of anything yet. There was one part of what just happened to them that they didn't understand.
"Nothing." Erza said. "This doesn't make sense. How come Happy had so much trouble pulling the mask off?"
"I don't know, but we'll find the answers." Gray said.
"There was actually something different about the monsters." Lucy said. "They almost felt...real."
"They're not real. We all know those are just some freaks wearing old costumes." Gray said as he was certain that this mystery wasn't going to be any different than from any of the others. "There's no such thing as real monsters, we all know that, and we'll just solve this mystery like we did with any other."
"I hope you're right." Natsu said as he had an unsettling feeling.
"Natsu!" Natsu turned around and spotted his brother arriving at the park.
"Zeref! Where have you been?!" Natsu said.
"I had to make a call back at my school." Zeref said. "There were a couple things back there that they needed my help with. What happened here? Where's the party?"
"You missed it. The Fiend attacked us and he's brought back five monsters that we put away before." Natsu said.
"Oh my gosh!" Zeref said. Zeref seemed rather concerned about what happened, but Gray and the girls thought it was rather odd how Zeref disappeared before the attack happened and how he shows up just now. As they were all talking about this, Happy searched around the ground for clues and spotted something oddly colored in the grass. He used his paws to grab a hold of it and it looked like shards of glass of different colors.
"Happy, did you find something?" Erza said as they all spotted it. Lucy took a look and tried to figure out what it was.
"It looks like glass, but there's something strange about it." Lucy said.
"May I?" Zeref said as he had a look. "I think it might be stained glass."
"You mean that stuff used in those fancy windows in churches?" Natsu said.
"The very same." Zeref said.
"Right where the Fiend was..." Lucy said as this might be an important clue. "How ironic that a monster like that could be hiding out in a church."
"But what church could those creeps be hiding in?" Erza said. They all tried to figure something out until they noticed a bright flash.
"What was that?" Gray said.
"Sorry about that. Just trying to get a good scoop." They all looked and were a little surprised to see the reporter from before, Ignia Howard, with a camera.
"Ignia Howard? What are you doing here?" Lucy said.
"My job. I got a tip that something happened at the park." Ignia said. "I came as soon as I could and I see the great mystery solvers at work. Trying to solve this mystery? Have you got any leads yet?"
"Well, we just found these pieces of stain glass." Lucy said. "We think the Fiend and some others are hiding out in a church. We just aren't sure yet to what church they could be hiding in."
"A church, you say?" Ignia said. "You know, there's actually an abandon church out in the woods near some cliffs just outside of Magnolia."
"An abandon one out in the woods?!" Gray said as he found that to be interesting. "That sounds like an ideal place for someone to hideout in."
"Well, I hope you do solve the mystery, assuming you can that is." Ignia said before he turned away and just left them. That last part he said seemed to have bothered Natsu. That's why he went after Ignia to talk to him about that.
"Hold on." Natsu said as he caught up to Ignia. "What did you mean by that last part? Are you saying we might not be able to solve this mystery?"
"Look, I'm just doing my job, and that job is to find the truth that others are trying to hide." Ignia said. "You and your friends might have solved some mysteries, but there are some cases that can't be solved, even by professionals."
"We might not be professionals, but I think our works speaks for itself." Natsu said.
"Is that so?" Ignia said. "What do you even do for the group?" That question seem to have gotten to Natsu. "Gray's the one that takes charge, Lucy's the brain, and even Erza has done more than you from what I heard. All you've done is be used as bait and watch over some cat. Does that sound like mystery solving to you?" Natsu didn't really know how to respond to that. "Again, I'm just trying to uncover the hidden truth. The truth always has a way to come out." That was all he said before he walked away and left Natsu stumped.
"Natsu! Let's go!" Gray called. "We better get to that church fast." Gray pulled Natsu out of his stump and they all got moving.
"Be careful! Who knows what's out there!" Zeref warned them.
...
The Gang
They all got the Myster-V and they all drove up to the woods. It might have been getting dark, but mystery solving waits for no one. As they all drove through the woods, they all tried to sort their thoughts out.
"I still can't wrap my head around it. There's something different about the costumes." Erza said as she could just feel that there was something not quite right.
"It's just some henchmen or whatever wearing them. They're probably just using glue or something." Gray said. "There's no such thing as real monsters." As for Lucy and Natsu, Lucy could see something was bothering Natsu.
"Something wrong, Natsu?" Lucy asked.
"Just something Ignia said." Natsu said, but he didn't really want to talk about it.
"Don't let whatever he said get to you. You'll need to focus when we bust your brother." Lucy said.
"Say what?" Natsu said.
"Natsu, don't you think it's weird how your brother missed the attack and showed up after it happened?" Erza said as they were all suspicious of him.
"Hold on! My brother wouldn't do something like this! He can't be the one behind all of this!" Natsu said as he refused to believe his brother would. "Zeref's a nice guy. Why would he do any of this in the first place?"
"We're not saying it is him, but it all does seem rather suspicious." Lucy said, but Natsu wasn't feeling much better about it. Lucy did her best to comfort him as she placed her hand over his. "Come on, Natsu. It will be okay. We'll know more about what's going on soon." Natsu's really hoping that they are wrong. However, when Happy started acting like he was playing the violin, they both saw they were holding hands and moved away from each other. As they drove through the dark woods, they were suddenly given a scare when it felt like something smashed against the van and steered them off course until they had to stop.
"What was that?!" Erza said.
"I don't know. It felt like something hit us." Gray said. All of them stepped out to see the damage. Other than a large dent on the van, it didn't look like there was too much. "What could have caused that?"
"I got a bad feeling about this." Erza said and she had every right to be anxious. A hand reached out to grab her, but she spotted it quickly and grabbed it with her throwing the person right against the van and knocked him out. All of them looked to see it was the Fiend Hatter.
"Well, well. Look who we got." Gray said. "Time to rip off that mask and get some answers."
"I got this." Lucy said as she grabbed the Fiend Hatter's face and tried pulling it as hard as she could. The problem was that the mask wasn't coming off. "Something isn't right. It won't come off."
"Move aside. Let me show you how it's done." Gray said as he took a shot. He grabbed the mask and tried pulling on it, but it still wouldn't come off. "What the heck is keeping this mask on?!"
"Gray, I don't know if it's a costume." Natsu said as he and the gang were getting a bad feeling about this.
"Give me a break. There's no way this thing is..." Gray said as able to rip the head right off. "...real?" He took a look inside and was horrified at what he saw inside that he dropped the head. The Fiend Hatter started to move on its own and was able to place his head back on his body with him giving off his signature laugh. All of them couldn't believe what they just witnessed. "It's really not a costume!"
"How is that possible?!" Erza said. That was when all the monsters emerged out of hiding. Knowing that the Fiend Hatter is real this time, they assumed the same about all of them as they all backed away from them. "They're all real! Real monsters!" This was unreal to them. They've dealt with creeps in masks, but not the real thing. When they all heard sinister laughing, they looked on the van and saw the Fiend making his presence for it seemed he had them right where he wanted them.
"Let's get out of here!" Gray said as they all tried running for it. Lucy ended up tripping, but Natsu and Happy went back for her and helped her up.
"Get them!" The Fiend ordered as their old five villains now monsters went after them and true terror coursed through their bodies. As the group separated, a monster went after each of them with fear filling the air.
...
Chase Scene
You hear the screeching of an owl
You hear the wind begin to howl
You know there's zombies on the prowl
And it's terror time again
They got you running through the night
It's terror time again
And you just might die of fright
It's terrifying time
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy ran through one part of the woods with Panther Guardian hunting them down like animals. They ran as fast as they could with that cat chasing after them. The three of them kept running until the Oni dropped down and cut off their path. Getting a good scare, the three of them them changed directions.
You hear the beating of your heart
You know the screaming's going to start
Here comes the really scary part
The three of them kept running and made their way over a river, but Happy ended up falling in and struggled to stay afloat. Natsu and Happy didn't know what to do until someone passed them a vine. They took it, but got scared when they saw it was the Horned Man who passed it to them. Natsu grabbed Lucy and swung over with Lucy grabbing Happy.
Cause it's terror time again
They got you running through the night
Yes, it's terror time again
Oh, you just might die of fright
It's terrifying time
Erza and Gray ran through a different part of the woods with the Man-Bat chasing after them. When they saw it coming for them, they both thought the same thing. They grabbed a hold of a branch and pulled it back as far as they could. When the Man-Bat got close enough, they let it go and it whacked right against the monster. They thought they had it until the Fiend Hatter came out from behind them and nearly grabbed them.
All the trees begin to moan
The monsters grunt and groan
Rotting faces full of slime
Don't you know it's terror time
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy kept on running from the other three monsters. The three of them kept running until Natsu and Happy ended up sliding down a slope. Lucy wanted to go after them, but the three monsters were catching to them. Lucy ran off on her own with Panther Guardian going after her. Horned Man and Oni chased after Natsu and Happy. When the two of them recovered from the fall, they saw the two monsters coming for them and ran out of there.
It's terror time again
They got you running through the night
Yes, it's terror time again
Oh, you just might die of fright
It's terrifying time
Gray and Erza kept on running until they saw Lucy run right pass them. When they saw she was being chased by Panther Guardian, they followed her with those three monsters chasing after them. As for Natsu and Happy, they kept on running until they spotted a small cave. They both dived inside and hid there. Thankfully, The Horned Man and the Oni just ran pass the cave and lost them.
...
"That was close. I sure hope the others are okay." Natsu said.
"Meow." Natsu was ready to leaven when Happy alerted him about something. He pointed into the cave and they could see some sort of candle light coming from it. Deciding to check it out, the two of them looked deeper into it. When they got close enough; they saw candles, photos, and more. "Freaky. It looks like some sort of shrine." Natsu took a closer look and the photos were of him and his family. "What is all this? Why is there a shrine of my family?" Natsu didn't get what all of this was.
"Meow." Natsu looked at Happy and saw him try to impersonate some sort of creep or stalker.
"Yeah. This is creepy, and someone creepy had to have done it." Natsu said. He wondered what this shrine was for until he spotted a piece of paper. When he grabbed it and took a look at it, he couldn't believe what he saw. "Come on, Happy. We need to find the others." Slipping the paper in his shirt, the two of them got moving deeper into the cave in hopes of finding more. Knowing what they're up against, how is the gang going to get out of this one?
