"speaking"
"Thinking"
On with the story
Natsu was soaring into the sky in his armor as the Dragon King flies within the skies of Ishgar
"should be somewhere near the borders of between Fiore and somewhere near the forest borders" Natsu said as he went into a braking stop
Natsu now floats above a mountain range where there was a large crater that separates the borders of Fiore and the other kingdom's land
Looking around the area, Natsu's eyes glowed red behind his helmet as he scans the area
"I was right, it is here" Natsu said as he finds traces of shifted earth plates, leftover lava spills that had harden over time, and sink holes that surround near the crater "or was"
Natsu looks within the crater as he saw a small glimmer of light coming from within it
"looks like the only way to find out is to go down" Natsu said before he flies down into the crater
Entering the crater, Natsu finds only darkness and shadows that filled the whole area
"it's deeper than I thought" Natsu thought as he has been flying down the crater and it was a very deep crater
Natsu reached the bottom as he landed down to the ground and hears nor sees anything
taking out his magic gun, Natsu aimed up above and fired a shot
a flare like bullet flied up before slowly falling while lighting the area in red light
Natsu looks around as he sees nothing but giant piles of rocks everywhere
"strange" Natsu said as his faceplate slides open "if the Volcano had sunk into the ground, I would've thought it was easy to find but there's nothing here but rocks"
Natsu turns around as he started walking around while firing flare shots into the air to light his way
As he walked away, a shadow was looming around watching his every movement before following him silently
Natsu was now at the edge of the crater where he finds nothing than rocks and rocks everywhere
"this doesn't make sense" Natsu said as he checks every nook and cranny of the area "there's no sign of the Volcano being here at all,"
Natsu picks up a rock as he checks it before throwing it away
"just ordinary rocks. No signs of any magmatic ones" Natsu said before he heard a pebble falling behind him as his faceplate slides close and his eyes glowed red "who is there?"
Natsu turns to face whoever is behind him but there was no sound at all
Monitoring the area, Natsu aims his gun around to fire at whoever was behind him
Natsu continued to stare behind him before he pulls his gun away as whoever or whatever was behind him was now gone
"must've been my imagination" Natsu muttered out as he looks back to the end of the wall before he decided to walk back to the other end "and I thought finding mates was hard. Finding a sunk down Volcano is way harder"
As Natsu was walking, the ground suddenly rumbles and shakes
"an earthquake?" Natsu thought out loud as he looks above and sees rocks falling into the crater "or something else?"
The ground bellow the crater started to shake before it collapsed down
Natsu spreads his wings and flies up to avoid falling into the giant hole that now formed bellow the ground but as he was floating up, he sees a giant rock coming down on him
"for the love of" Natsu said before he got rammed with the giant rock and started falling into the giant hole
At Dragnof
Lucy was strolling around the streets with Touro as the Bull Dragon was holding his mother's hand while they stroll around
"hey, Lucy" Cana came walking in while she carried Energia and Marsha in her arms "you wanna go and get a drink?"
"sorry, Cana. I wanna pass on the possibility of the kids accidently drinking our drinks" Lucy said as there had been sometimes where any of the Dragon Children accidently drinking alcohol beverages on occasion
"come on, just a small shot" Cana said while her kids were playing around with her long hair
"still wanna pass on that" Lucy said before the two looks to the nearby waterway as Kagura came jumping out
"have any of you seen Kaithen or Levia? I can't find them anywhere" Kagura asked as Cana and Lucy shook their heads in reply
"aren't those two usually by the docks with you? Maybe they're just playing hide and seek as usual?" Lucy asked as Kagura shook her head
"I've looked everywhere in the docks and in the waterways, they're not there" Kagura replied before Kamika appeared out of nowhere
"have anyone seen Noir? It's time for his afternoon nap but he's nowhere to be found" Kamika asked while Lucy looks at her awkwardly
"girl, you need to learn how to be normal one day" Cana said as the Kunoichi just pops out of nowhere from time to time
"even Noir is missing, huh?" Kagura asked before they see Erza and Éclair joining in
"not only him, even Ignisia and Kalard are gone" Erza added in as this got the mothers to be a big confused
"did Natsu brought them along to wherever he was going?" Éclair asked as everyone shook their head in reply
"if he did, he would've told us" Lucy said
"so, Kaithen, Levia, Noir, Ignisia, and Kalard can't be found anywhere" Cana said
"add in Eis too" Ultear joined in next as the Ice Queen holds an umbrella that had snow raining down upon her "I can't find him as well"
"that makes six of them now" Kagura said "where could've they have gone too?"
The mothers started thinking before they facepalmed
"please tell me that the sea gates were closed today" Erza said as the only way out of the kingdom is by flight and by the sea gate"
"no, Simon and the other fishermen had gone out to catch some fishes today" Kagura said as this made the mothers sigh, now knowing where some of their children had gone too
"of all the times for Natsu to be out of the kingdom" Éclair said frowning a bit while sighing
Somewhere in the ocean, mermaids were swimming around in the ocean together with the sea animals
As they were swimming, Levia and Kaithen came dashing past them in an instant as their swimming speed cause a powerful wave in the waters
The two Sea Dragons soon jumped out of the ocean waters before diving back in, their body moving across the ocean water
In the sky, Ignisia, Kalard, Noir, and Eis were flying as they were heading away from Dragnof's ocean borders
In a dark and deep hole
Natsu was laying down on a rock as drips of water rain down on his head
"ugh…" Natsu groaned out as he opened his eyes and sees the water that was coming into his helmet. His faceplate soon slides open as Natsu's face was a bit wet from the dripping water "I can't believe I got slammed by that rock"
Natsu sat up as he looks around his area and sees that he was further deeper in the crater
"an underground cave system?" Natsu said as he got back up before he sensed that the temperature in the area was very warm "could this be?"
Natsu looks around the area again before to the ground as he sees small cracks that had a yellow reddish glow emanating from within the cracks
"so the Volcano sank further into the continent, no wonder" Natsu said as he started venturing into the cave system, following the heat that rises every time he got further and further in
At Dragnof, Warta was commanding some soldiers to prepare a ship as on board were the Thunder Stars
"I think it's better if we come along" Erza said as behind her are Kamika, Éclair, Kagura, Ultear. All wanting to join because their kids who had ran off without permission "we know how they like to do things when they run off"
"with all do respect, it is against the King's wishes for you to leave Dragnof" Warta replied "any of you"
"Noir might listen to you, father. But I do not think that it will be the same case to the other Dragon Children" Kamika stated "you will be needing us if you want to capture those rascals"
"don't say it like that?" Éclair asked as the rascals were still their kids
"even so, the answer is still no" Warta replied "the King's orders are absolute"
"not absolute" Ultear stated "Natsu maybe the King of Dragnof, but I am still the Queen of the Icians Kingdom, making me have second in power"
"and your point is, Ultear-sama?" Warta asked
"my point is that the rules can be bend in some occasions" Ultear stated as Warta sighs before shaking his head
"just let us join on the ship, I think we all know where those six will go once they got out of Dragnof" Kagura added in as only a mother would know their children the best than anyone
"very well, but please have do care that this might anger the King once he return" Warta stated
"be assured that we will have a talk once he comes back" Erza said before she and the others started going on board the ship while Kagura just jumps down in the water
Warta sighs while rubbing his forehead before he sees Lucy, Cana, and Hisui who had come to visit Dragnof came walking in with their kids
"please no, just having a few of you off the shores of Dragnof can upset the King" Warta said as he was afraid that Lucy and the others wanted to join
"relax, we're just here to see you guys off" Cana said while carrying Energia who was asleep and holding Marsha's hand
"besides, I don't think we can go with" Lucy said before looking to her son "Touro here needs his naptime soon"
"and so do Callista" Hisui said carrying her child before getting her cheeks rubbed by Callista who let out a purring growl to his mother
"very well" Warta said before he gets called out by the ship's captain who told him that the ship was ready to go "well then, we shall be off"
Warta bowed before he got on board the ship as the sea gate was opening
Kagura takes out the bone whistle as she blows on it and Hyrus came out of the water with her on top of one of the 8 heads
Then, the ship sails out with Hyrus as they were off to find Kaithen and the others
"hope they get their kids back before Natsu comes back" Cana said as Lucy nodded before they see Ikaruga and Sorano joining in with their kids
"what's all the commotion?" Sorano asked while Tanit was resting on her head
"and where are Erza-han and the others going to?" Ikaruga added in while Kageya was coiled up around her mother's arm
"long story short, Kaithen and the others ran off to who knows where and the others are off to get them back" Cana explained as Ikaruga and Sorano nodded
"I hope they can get those six back" Sorano said "Natsu could come back home at any time"
"perhaps any sooner" Ikaruga added in
Natsu was still walking within the cave system as it was blistering hot
"should've brought Flaze with me. He would've loved such hot places" Natsu said as he soon arrived at a cave exit
Entering the exit, Natsu finds himself directly in front of a lava lake and near it was a giant erupting volcano
"found it" Natsu said as he found the Volcano which is where his father had once lived within "the Flaming Pits of Garuda's Grave"
Natsu looks around as there was nothing than lava around him and the erupting volcano
"got to do it the old fashioned way" Natsu said as his faceplate slides closed and his eyes glowed red behind it
Natsu started walking within the Lava Lake as his armor and Fire Dragon Blood protects him from high temperature lava
"this could be a very nice lava spring to dip in" Natsu said as anything hot or fire can't harm it at all
Natsu arrived at the volcano's border range where he started hiking his way up the volcano
He hikes his way up the volcano where he arrived to the top and it was flooding with lava
"now where is his sword?" Natsu said as he looks around for any sign of his father's sword but it was nowhere to be found
Natsu then looks directly into the flooding lava as a thought had went into his head
"looks like I got to swim" Natsu said as his armor glowed red before he jumps into the lava
A big lava splash came flying out as Natsu sinks into the lava, searching within it for his father's sword
A good one hour passed as Natsu jumps out of the lava, his armor steaming hot
"it's not even in there" Natsu said as his faceplate slides open "where could it be?"
Natsu looks around before he spotted an oasis, directly behind the volcano with the light coming from the ceiling that looks to have been covered with a layer of glass like crystals
"an Oasis? Underground?" Natsu said as he looks a bit surprised to see one near an erupting volcano "maybe it could be there"
Natsu started going down the mountain before he grabs his gun and spins to the side
"who is there?" Natsu said as his faceplate slides close again and his eyes glowed crimson "i don't know how you are so good in erasing your presence, but no one gets to go tricky on me"
Natsu cocks his magic gun as he scans the area and sense a magic presence with him
"show yourself or I'll show you how good is my aim" Natsu stated as he aims his gun around to find the possible enemy lurking around
Natsu hears a pebble falling behind him as he spins and fired a shot but there was no one there
"you should learn to trust your gut instinct than your senses" a voice spoke out behind Natsu as he spins again and aimed his gun but didn't fire it
"you?!" Natsu said in shock as his faceplate slides open
"it's been a while" the voice spoke again as it belonged to the presumed deceased Demon Lord of Silence, Zeref who stood right in front of Natsu while having a smile "Little Brother"
That's a wrap!
Bye bye