Lucy might be close friends with Natsu, but Gray actually offered her to come along with him on a scan quest. The two of them headed for the Riverlands and headed far down river.
"Thanks for inviting me on this." Lucy said.
"No problem." Gray said. "I'm not sure how I feel about Natsu, but you seem like a cool girl. Besides, we're both fans of overworlders. This is a great location for us. I found this spot in the Riverlands gives overworld creatures extra energy than other creatures when they use water attacks."
"Are we close?" Lucy asked.
"Yeah. It's just down here. There should be a waterfall ahead." Gray said as the two of them kept going. "Here it is." Lucy and Gray stood at the top of a waterfall and saw a large pool of water with it sparkling."
"Wow. It's beautiful here." Lucy said as the two of them climbed down. Lucy placed her hand in the water and it felt so cool and amazing against the skin. "I can see what you mean. The water alone feels great against my hand."
"Wait till you try it in battle." Gray said as he held out his scanner and was about to take a scan of the location. However, just before he could, he spotted something coming from the waterfall. "What is that?" Something strange was going on as he saw some sort of ghost come out from the waterfall. It wore a black cloak and had glowing blue eyes. "Uh... Lucy..."
"What is it?" Lucy asked as she turned to look at what he was looking at. She was just as shocked as he was when she saw it. "What is that thing?"
"If I didn't know any better...I say it was some sort of ghost." Gray said. "Let's see if we can try and get a scan of him." Lucy and Gray moved slowly and tried to get a scan of this ghost. They were about to do it, but the ghost acted faster and launched some sort of attack that knocked their scanners right out of their hands. The ghost launched another attack and Lucy got caught in it as she was lifted in the air and something was happening to her.
"Lucy!" Gray shouted before that strange attack caused her to disappear. Gray couldn't believe it. She disappeared right before his eyes. "Where's Lucy?! What have you done with her?!" The ghost just turned away and disappeared. "Wait!" He called out for the ghost, but the ghost just vanished. Gray hurried and grabbed both scanners and used the one that was his and gave the only people he could go to. "Natsu!"
"Gray? I'm kind of watching this cool battle and..." "Shut up and listen!" Gray interrupted.
"Lucy is gone!" Gray said.
"Oh? Really?" Natsu said, but wasn't really paying attention.
"Yes! Are Zach and Erza there?! This is serious!" Gray said. "We were both attacked by this strange ghost, he launched an attack, and she just disappeared!"
"What's all the noise?" Erza said as she and Zach appeared on the screen.
"Gray, Lucy probably just ported out." Zach said.
"No way! He knocked our scanners out of our hands! Look!" Gray said as he showed her scanner. "How do you port out without this?!" All of them gasped at this. Seeing Lucy's scanner in Gray's hands is what convinced them that this really was serious.
"Where are you?" Natsu said.
"The Riverlands!" Gray said.
"We're on our way!" Erza said. Things are looking bad. There's a chance that Lucy could be gone for good.
...
Further Down
Gray wasn't the only one doing a little traveling around the Riverlands. Najarin was doing some traveling as well and he was traveling with a creature named Heptadd.
"Are you sure about this, Najarin?" Heptadd asked.
"I am. Acnologia is a dangerous creature." Najarin said. "When you've been around for as long as I have, Heptadd, you've learned a few things. Acnologia could bring great danger and destruction to all of us."
"You're right about that." Heptadd said. "Acnologia is bringing destruction across all of Perim and nothing seems to stop him. Battlegear, attacks, and mugic have proven to be ineffective against him. Others have tried and none have succeeded."
"That is why we're here." Najarin said. "The answers might be here somewhere." The two of them went continued on and met up with another creature. "There you are, Rellim."
"I got your master and met up with you as soon as I could." Rellim said. "So you're trying to find a tomb all the way out here?"
"Yes. The tomb of Sepherad." Najarin said. "Sepherad is the creature that was able to seal away Acnologia. Many secrets are buried with one's passing."
"Well, I've been through this location a lot and I never once saw anything like a tomb." Rellim said.
"Through your eye perhaps." Najarin said. So the three of them got moving and began their search.
...
Natsu's Group
"Lucy!" Natsu called.
"Lucy!" Zach called. As soon as Gray told Natsu and the others what happened to Lucy, the three of them ported to where Gray was and started searching for. Natsu was freaked about what happened to her and turned to Gray.
"How could you let this happen to her?" Natsu said as he grabbed Gray by the shirt. "Lucy's gone! Why didn't you help her?!
"Like I was suppose to be ready for a ghost attack?" Gray questioned.
"Natsu, easy." Erza said as she got the two of them separated. "It's not Gray's fault. He had no way of knowing this would happen. I'm sure we'll find her."
"But still..." Natsu said, but Erza glared right at him and got him to back down. Natsu is pretty upset about what happened to Lucy and is just hoping they find her soon.
"Which way did this ghost go?" Zach questioned.
"He was heading up river." Gray said.
"That's where we'll go. There must be a clue or something." Erza said. "We find that ghost, we might find Lucy." All of them agreed to that plan and got moving.
"I just hope she's okay." Natsu said.
"Don't worry. We'll find her." Gray said. "I might have been the one that brought her here, but I'll do what I can to help find her."
"Hold up. I think there's someone ahead." Zach said. All of them moved behind some rocks and took a look to see who it was. When they did, they saw it was Najarin with Rellim and Heptadd.
"Wait." Heptadd said as the three of them came to a stop. "Whoever is there, come out or we will attack!"
"Calm down! It's just us!" Zach said as the four of them came out.
"Najarin! Rellim! Heptadd!" Gray said as he was amazed to see these three creatures.
"Najarin! Good to see you again!" Natsu said.
"Natsu Dragneel... This is a surprise. What brings your and your friends here?" Najarin asked.
"We actually have a problem. Our friend is missing." Natsu said.
"Our friend, Lucy, and I were getting some scans when we were attacked by some ghost." Gray said. "We tried to scan him, but he used some attack on her and she vanished. We don't know what might have happened to her." Hearing that a ghost was involved was interesting to Najarin and the others because it might be a clue to what they're looking for.
"Where did this ghost go?" Najarin asked.
"He headed up river." Gray said.
"You may travel with us." Najarin said. "What we both seek might actually be together." Natsu and the others liked the sound of that. So the two groups became one and headed up river, but they didn't know that someone else was following them.
"So what brings the three of you all the way out here?" Erza asked.
"I live here." Rellim said.
"We're actually looking for a clue that will help us stop Acnologia for good." Heptadd said.
"Really? You think you can do that?" Zach said.
"Acnologia is like a force of nature. How can he be stopped?" Gray said.
"We know that Acnologia was once sealed away by a creature named Sepherad." Najarin said. "Sepherad's tomb is suppose to be somewhere in this location. We're hoping that the answers to stopping Acnologia once again was buried with him. i asked for Heptadd's help in case we run into trouble and Rellim knows this location quite well. Both of them would be able to help me find the tomb."
"I wonder if that ghost was Sepherad." Gray said. "All I could see was a black cloak and glowing blue eyes."
"We will know if we do manage to find your friend." Heptadd said.
"Not if! We will find her!" Natsu said. "We just need to find her. She's got to be somewhere." He just refuses to believe that Lucy is really gone.
"Wait." Heptad said as he came to a stop.
"What's wrong?" Najarin asked.
"I thought it was just the humans, but someone else is following us." Heptadd said. Heptadd turned around and launched an air attack that blasted through a rock and someone jumped out of the dust. It landed down and all of them saw it was Drevex.
"Nice catch, Heptadd." Drevex said.
"Drevex!" Natsu said.
"Not you humans again." Drevex said.
"He works with Acnologia." Rellim said.
"Why are you here?" Najarin said.
"For the same reason as the rest of you." Drevex said. "I'm looking for Sepherad's tomb to make sure you can't stop my master and seal him away again."
"I don't think so. You won't be getting in our way. We'll defeat you first. Acnologia will be next." Heptad said. "Granite Balls!"
"Rip Tide!" Heptad and Rellim unleashed their attacks, but Drevex jumped in the air and hit both of them with Flash Kick.
"Careful! He may not look like it, but he is powerful!" Erza said. Heptad fought back as he ensnared him with a Vine Snare.
"Spirit Gust!"
"Delerium!" Rellim and Najarin attacked together, but Drevex used Thunder Shout and blocked out the attacks with both of them getting hit. Drevex's body glowed and unleashed an energy attack that hit Heptad.
"Why that jerk..." Natsu said as he was about to step in, but Zach held him back.
"Don't even think about it, Natsu. There isn't much we can really do." Zach said and Natsu hated that.
"We're wasting valuable time with this fight." Najarin said.
"You're right. We can't let him get in our way." Heptadd said and brought out a mipedian mugic and was using it. "Melody of Mirage!" Heptad used the mugic and a strange looking monster appeared at Drevex and tried attacking him.
"What is that?" Natsu said.
"It's an illusion from the Melody of Mirage. Let's go while we can. It won't last long." Heptadd said and all of them started running.
"That was mipedian mugic. How did Heptadd cast it if he's an overworlder?" Natsu asked.
"Heptadd can cast mugic from any tribe as well as use the four elements." Erza said.
"How do you do that, Heptadd?" Zach asked.
"Not now!" Heptadd said as they all kept running. Drevex fought against what he thought was real, but when he launched an attack at it, it disappeared. He realized he was tricked when he saw them running.
"Get back here!" Drevex called as he chased after them. They all kept running until they all saw a strange light form in the sky.
"Now what's happening?" Erza said. All of them looked and saw the ghost returned. Those who hadn't seen it before were actually amazed with what they saw.
"That's him! That's the ghost that attacked me and Lucy!" Gray said.
"He is? Hey, ghost! What did you do with Lucy?!" Natsu called out, but the ghost ignored him. He flew over and went to attack Drevex.
"What is this? Another trick?" Drevex questioned. He thought it was until the ghost launched an attack that blasted Drevex. Drevex got knocked down with the ghost coming at him. Seeing this isn't a trick, Drevex fought back as he used a few attacks of his own.
"A battle with a ghost? There's something you don't see often." Zach said.
"Quickly, now is our chance to fall back." Najarin said.
"But that's the ghost we were looking for. He knows where Lucy is." Gray said.
"I'm sure we'll cross paths with him again, but we must go." Najarin said. Gray and the others didn't want to leave, but they had no choice as all of them got out of there as the ghost fought Drevex.
...
Further Down
After they escaped, they were able to give Drevex the slip. They stopped and rested for a while, but Natsu and the others were upset they lost what might have been their only chance to find Lucy.
"Without that ghost, we might never know what happened to Lucy." Zach said.
"She could be anywhere, even if she's..." Erza said, but couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence.
"Don't say that!" Natsu said as he slammed his hands against a rock. "She can't be gone. She just can't be."
"I am sorry you're upset, but we will find your friend. You just have to keep holding on to hope." Najarin said.
"Najarin is right. There's still hope. We just can't give up on it." Heptadd said.
"Although, it's easier said than done. We've been searching and still found no trace of this tomb. I'm telling you that there's nothing here." Rellim said. Things were looking hopeless. Gray stood by the water, blaming himself for what happened to Lucy. He splashed some water on his face, but when he did, he saw something beneath the water. A strange faint light.
"Hey! There's something glowing in the water!" Gray called and got all of their attention. They all rushed over and they could barely see it.
"Odd. I never saw that before." Rellim said.
"This requires some investiting." Najarin said. "Heptadd, Rellim, can you two try to keep the water away?"
"Of course." Heptadd said. Najarin used his magic and lifted everyone off the ground and over the water. Heptadd and Rellim combined their powers over water and cleared the water away as they all went down. As they all went under the water, they saw something on the floor of the river.
"Look at that!" Natsu said as they all saw a glowing barrier over an opening, a cavern underneath the water. All of them were able to pass through and there wasn't any water inside.
"That's weird." Zach said.
"The barrier keeps the water out, but what's here?" Heptadd questioned.
"Guys!" All of them looked ahead and saw Lucy.
"Lucy!" Natsu called as all of her friends were happy to see her safe. All of them hurried to her and it looked like she was perfectly fine.
"You're okay!" Zach said.
"We were all worried about you!" Erza said.
"I thought you were a goner after what happened with that ghost! What happened when he attacked you?" Gray said.
"That wasn't an attack. He transported me here." Lucy said. "I think that ghost wanted to show us something. It's this way." She led them through the cavern to show what she found. "There." All of them looked ahead and it appeared to be a shrine with a coffin place in front of it.
"This is it! Sepherad's tomb!" Najarin claimed.
"It was right here the whole time?" Rellim said as he can't believe he never found this before. Najarin walked closer to the tomb and placed his hand on the coffin.
"Sepherad, forgive us for disturbing your resting place, but we need to know your secrets." Najarin said. "We must know how to defeat Acnologia. We must know how we can seal him away once more." When Najarin paid his respects, the coffin glowed and the ghost returned as he appeared in front of him. However, something changed. The black cloak faded away and showed what he really looked like. "Sepherad!"
"Sepherad?" Heptadd questioned as they couldn't believe it was really him the whole time. Sepherad was a snow white creature with a horse's head. He wore a piece of cloth around his waist with a tunic and had pure white wings.
"Acnologia is free once again." Sepherad said. "Sealing him away was a real challenge before, but sealing him away won't work again. I sense that something about him is different before, but that difference can bring upon his downfall. Acnologia is a force of pure evil that must be destroyed. He's powerful, but not unstoppable. The answer will find you." That was all he said before he disappeared.
"That's it? We came all this way for him to tell to us it's pointless?" Rellim said.
"Not pointless. Didn't you hear what he said?" Heptadd questioned. "He said that Acnologia can be stopped, but how are we suppose to know what's different from him before and now?"
"A good question." Najarin said.
"The answer will find us?" Erza questioned.
"Let's hope that answer will find us soon." Zach said.
"Indeed. Acnologia is pure evil and must be stopped or he could bring havoc upon all of us." Najarin said. "Acnologia will be stopped." All of them agreed to that. The answer is out there and they'll find it soon.