Italics indicate thinking
Bold is for attacks
Kanji's POV
When we got to the harbor Erza used her skills to 'persuade' some pirates to help us get to Galuna Island. It was going to take most of the day to get there but hopefully we got there before those morons got themselves killed.
"Excuse me but isn't Galuna Island the place where people get turned into demons." The captain asked us.
"That's what they say." I shrugged.
"That has nothing to do with us. We're here to punish the rule breakers and that's it." Erza told him.
"Well let's just get there first, how much longer?" I asked to men.
"A few hours."
"Then we wait." Erza said taking a seat next to me "What's up with you?" she asked.
"My head's killing me. All this rocking sucks." I told her putting a hand on my forehead.
"Sounds like your turning into Natsu." She joked.
"Don't say things like that."
LATER
"We're close." Erza told me.
"Then let's get to the shore."
We hopped off the boat and landed on the soft sand below. Further down the shore I saw the first of our missing friends who, as expected was in peril. Lucy was sitting on the ground with a giant rat falling towards her.
"Back off."
Erza and I ran forward and took care of the rat. Lucy was happy to see us but Erza wasn't too happy to see Lucy. She gave the blonde a hard glare that could kill the weak willed.
"You know why we're here." Erza spoke authoritatively
"To…take…us…back?"
"Lucy I'm glad you're safe…AHH!" Happy tried to fly off but I grabbed him by the tail and pulled him back.
"Where do you think you're going cat?"
"Where is Natsu?" Erza demanded.
"Please wait!" Lucy explained what was happening to this island, that people were being turned into demons and someone was trying to revive a monster "I'm sorry for coming here, but we just want to help. At least let us finish the job."
Erza pointed a sword at Lucy's face "You didn't take a job, you betrayed Master's trust, don't assume I'll let you get away unscathed."
"Erza just calm down." I pushed the sword away from Lucy "We're all friends here no reason to be like that. Let's just find Natsu and Gray so we can go home. Happy any ideas where to find them?"
Happy led us to the village, which was the last place they had seen Natsu. When we got there the place was a wreck. Most of the village had been eroded away by some kind of acid. Happy took to the sky for an aerial view and spotted a camp not too far from there. When we got there we found the villagers Lucy was talking about.
They look mostly normal. How odd.
Gray was still unconscious in one of the tents so we were going to have to wait for him to wake up if we wanted a chance to find Natsu. We stayed in a tent for the night but Erza insisted on tying up Happy and Lucy despite my protests. The flap on the tent opened and Gray walked in looking surprised.
"Lucy already filled us in." Erza told him.
"Gray you were supposed to stop them not help them." I said putting a hand on my forehead "I'm dumbfounded man."
"Where's Natsu?"
"We thought you knew." Erza explained.
Well this is great.
"We're going to find Natsu and then we're going back to the guild." Erza told them.
"Wait. If Lucy told you what's happening then you know we can't just leave." Gray said deciding he wanted to stay.
"We came here to bring back the people who broke the guilds rules, that is our job. We have no interest in this island." Erza said staring Gray down.
"Didn't you see the people here, are you telling us to leave them like that!"
"That request is in every guild across the country, leave this job to someone who can handle it." I told him getting serious "When people take jobs too advanced for them, they get hurt. You remember what happened last time Gramps let someone inexperienced tag along on an S-class quest."
At that statement most of the room got quite and Lucy looked kinda confused.
"I'm disappointed in you." Gray said.
HUH?!
I put two fingers on each side of Gray's head "What was that? Watch what you say because one misfire and your brain is fried. Now are you gonna keep breaking the rules?"
"Do whatever the hell you want; this is something I gotta do!" He slapped my hands away "I'm doing what I want, cut me loose if you have to."
With that Gray turned and left.
Ass.
"*Tsk* "You know what screw it!" I walked over to a panicking Lucy and Happy and burnt the ropes holding them "I was gonna take this job myself anyway so let's just get it done while we're here." I turned to Erza "We can deal with them when we get back to the guild, for now let's focus on the problem at hand."
"Very well." She the shot Happy and Lucy a glance "Don't think you're out of the woods yet."
We caught up to Gray just outside of town and started heading towards the temple where his fellow ice wizard Lyon was. Gray explained that Lyon wanted to revive Deliora, a demon of Zeref so that he could defeat it and surpass his master Ur. Lyon believes that the only way to surpass his deceased master is to defeat the one creature she couldn't.
"But he doesn't know, Ur is still alive." Gray reviled.
"That makes no sense Gray. You're going to have to explain." I told my friend.
Gray launched into his story as we made our way to the temple. Along the way Erza and Lucy broke off to stop a group of Lyon's followers form getting in our way. Gray and I made our way to the temple. Gray told me what happened to his master and how she used the spell Iced Shell I spell that turns the caster to ice. We broke through a wall in the center of the temple and found Natsu facing off with Lyon.
"Natsu!"
Well at least we found him
"Natsu let me handle this." Gray told the Dragon Slayer.
"Why you lost last time."
"That was different."
Gray told Lyon that he wouldn't forgive him for hurting the village and his friends. Gray crossed his hands over each other and told Lyon they'd both die here.
"That stance it's Iced Shell"
The spell that killed Miss Ur.
"Return this island to the way it was and leave. This is your last chance!" Gray told his fellow student.
"HA! So that spell was nothing more than a bluff!"
Gray unleashed a huge wave of magic energy "I'm serious. Ur died because of me that will never change. I'm prepared to die, so what's it gonna be Lyon, are we gonna die or live!"
"DO IT YOU DON'T HAVE THE GUTS!"
"THIS IS THE END! ICED…"
Idiot!
I walked up and slapped Gray upside the head "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Putting an end to this, even if it means I have to die!" He yelled grabbing my collar.
"Ending something by dying is more like running away. It's pathetic."
The temple rumble and went from tilted back to straight. An old man came in and told Lyon that he corrected the temple so they could start the ceremony to awaken Deliora. Natsu ran off after the short man and left Gray to deal with Lyon.
I looked over at Lyon "Earlier when I stopped Gray, did you know I would step in or were you going to let him cast it?"
"I never thought he'd be able to do it."
"So you were going to take the hit?" I asked.
"Yes but someone would have come for me and Gray would be dead. As long as I'm on this island my comrades can use the Moon Drip to free me."
"Thank you for answering." I walked over to the ice nearby and carved out a seat "Feel free to start whenever you want."
"Huh?' they both looked confused.
"This is a fight between the two of you; it's not my place to interfere. Consider me the referee." I told the two sitting down.
This seat is cold!
Before they started Gray tried to get Lyon to back down one more time, but he didn't have any luck, even after telling him Ur was alive in that ice. Gray had let his guard down and gotten stabbed by Lyon.
Pay attention.
"I already knew that, but that's not Ur, it's just a hunk of ice."
Gray pulled himself off the floor and fought Lyon one-on-one, or as Elfman would say man-to-man. Most of the fight was with their fists but a little magic was thrown in here and there.
"You spent three years on this stupid plan!"
"It's better than the ten you spent in some foolish guild!"
Reminds me of when Gray joined the guild.
FLASHBACK
I was sitting at the counter with Gramps like I usually do. Some kid probably about a year younger than me walked in and asked to speak to Gramps. He wanted to k now if there was a way to fix his master who had cast something called Iced Shell.
"No magic is capable of melting that ice" Gramps said putting down the book he had asked me to get.
"But you have tons of strong mages." The kid begged.
"Well there might be one way…No you can't so that, since that spell arose from the will of your master it'd be foolish to go against it."
"Don't worry." I told the boy "Gramps just means that melting the ice would be like killing your master, I'm sure that's not what you'd want."
The kid looked upset.
"Where are you gonna go now?' I asked him.
"I don't know."
"Well you can always stay here." I told him with a smile, I stuck my hand out "I'm Kanji Dreyer."
"Gray Fullbuster."
"I have the felling we're going to be great friends Gray."
FLASHBACK END
When I looked back up Lyon had made a Snow Tiger, but Gray jumped over the beast and trapped it in a cage.
"It's over! ICE CANNON!" Gray made a bazooka out of ice and blew Lyon away ending their fight.
I stood up out of my ice chair as Gray patched up a wound on his side. As I made my way over an earsplitting roar shook the entire temple.
Shit.
"That noise…I'd never forget it." Gray said with a terrified look.
"Deliora." Lyon mumbled.
Gary and I quickly made our way to the caverns beneath the temple and found a giant beast emerging from ice. Natsu ran up and told us that Deliora got revived and we were going to have to take it down. Lyon crawled up and insisted that he be the one to defeat Deliora.
Gray walked up and knocked Lyon out "That's enough." He put his hands into that stance again "I'll be the one to seal Deliora."
Again?!
I walked between Gray and the demon. He told me to get out of the way but I didn't budge.
"Move!"
"I'll fight it. I took this job so I'll get rid of the thing. I stopped you before because I didn't want you to die. Couldn't you hear me?"
Deliora pulled its arm back to throw a punch at me "This ends now Monster! You won't hurt my friend anymore!"
"VOLT BREAKER!"
My fist collided with Deliora's, when the two came in contact with each other the demons arm shattered and crumbled to dust. It started with the arm but soon the whole monster was nothing more than broken rubble and dust.
I guess I don't know my own strength.
"It can't be!" I heard Lyon yell "Deliora was already dead. All we saw was its last dying breath."
"Your teacher sure was something Gray." I said walking off.
We headed back outside and regrouped with Erza and Lucy. Gray helped Lyon outside while Natsu and Lucy celebrated what they thought was a completed job.
"Stop getting yourselves all worked up, this is my job now remember. And besides we aren't done yet." I explained.
The others looked confused Lucy spoke up first "But we stopped Deliora so the curse should be broken."
"*BZZZT* Wrong!" I told her "The Moon Drip caused their problem not Deliora, nothing is going to change."
"Well then let's go fix them." Natsu said.
"How?" Gray wondered "Any ideas Lyon?"
"I don't know. We were here for three years and tonight was the first time we had any interaction with the village, we knew it was there but not once did a single one visit. I have doubts the Moon Drip did that to them. I mean I was under the same light for three years and nothing happened to me. Be careful, they're hiding something."
LATER
When we made it to the camp where the villagers were no one was around. A man came and directed us back to the original site of the village. When we got back there, we saw that the place looked good as new, nothing like it had the day before.
"When will you destroy the moon?!" A man came up yelling.
Must be that chief Lucy was talking about.
"It'll be easy to destroy the moon." Erza told the man "but first there something I want to ask everyone."
Everyone gathered near the center of town. While Erza went through a train of thought. Halfway through her speech Erza stepped in some kind of pitfall.
"Kyaa!"
Natsu, Gray and I looked on stunned.
"She said 'Kyaa'"
"It was cute."
"Watch it you two." I growled.
Erza got out of the hole and continued her speech like it was nothing. She came to the conclusion the villager couldn't get near the temple, they had held back the information.
"I see." I mumbled.
"Natsu, Kanji come with me we going to destroy the moon now."
"Alright."
"YEAH!"
We climbed up to the top of the nearby watch tower.
"It's simple when I tell you to hit the back of the spear." Erza pulled back into a throwing position "Now!"
Natsu punched the back of the spear and I used lighting to speed up the throw
"Electric Slingshot!"
The spear flew through the sky till it reached the moon. The sky itself shattered when the spear hit its target.
"What happened?" Natsu said confused.
"The island was covered in a film. A byproduct of the Moon Drip."
"So now the island will be normal again." Erza told him.
The islanders glowed for a second by remained in their demon forms. Everyone was pretty confused.
"We were too late. They can't change back to normal." Gray said saddened.
"No, this is their normal look." I told him "The film affected their memories. They weren't humans changing into demons; they were demons who can take on human forms."
A man the others recognized walked up and thanked everyone for their help. Apparently, this guy was the chief's son or something. Everyone in the village celebrated the return of this man and flew into the sky.
"A Demon Island." Erza observed.
"They look more like angles to me." Natsu said with his usual smile.
We had a party that night and got ready to leave in the morning. The village tried to give me the reward but I had to refuse it.
"Sorry. But since no one really took the job it'd be wrong to take the reward. But your thanks is appreciated." I told the man.
"Please think of it as a gift from friends not a reward."
"You're making this hard on me old man. I won't take the money but how about the golden key."
I received the minimal reward and threw it to Lucy "Here consider it your welcome gift." I smiled and hopped onboard the pirate ship that was going to take us back to town.
Wonder what's new at the guild?
AN
Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated. Feel free to message me any questions or concerns.
Till Next Time!