I'm BAAAAAAAACK! Sorry for not updating for so long as I've had a lot on my mind about this story, possibly others, as well as real life stuff. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!
The rescue team was still trapped underneath the castle, the wizards waiting until Happy and Carla returned from scouting for a way out.
"Natsu! Every crack in the ceiling is blocked." Happy reported.
"I doubt there's an exit." Carla surmised.
"But we came so far!" Natsu gnashed his teeth and growled.
"It's like the grave robbers have become mummies themselves." Mirajane joked.
"Now that it's come to this, we may need to draw a map on someone's body." Pantherlily said.
"Come to think of it, Natsu, what about the Games?" Lucy asked.
"Juvia is filling in for me." Natsu answered.
"He said that he was going to rescue Lucy and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer." Happy added.
"Aww, now you're making me blush!" Lucy smiled with her hands on her cheeks.
Flynn stood next to her with his head down in dejection as he mumbled. "The same goes for me, too…"
"It isn't as if we forgot you, either." Natsu said to Yukino.
"No… I never expected…" Yukino wasn't sure how to respond.
Yukino was taken by surprise when Mirajane came up behind her and put her hands on her shoulders.
"Doesn't this girl remind you of Lisanna a bit?" Mirajane asked Lucy.
"Now that you mention it…" Lucy said while examining Yukino's features.
"Who is this Lisanna?" Yukino inquired.
"My little sister!" Mirajane gave Yukino a bright, bubbly smile.
Yukino stared at Mirajane, unsure of the emotions she was feeling, until Carla called out to them.
"Everyone, there's a passage over this way!" The white Exceed reported.
"Good job, Carla!" Happy cheered.
Carla led everyone to a crevice in the wall just big enough to slip through, however it was still a tight squeeze for everyone. Due to her size, Wendy managed to get out first with the least problems and was shocked by what she had found.
"Somebody's there!" Wendy exclaimed.
Once everyone managed to get out of the crevice, they could see the beaten and unconscious body lying on the ground.
"Colonel Arcadios!" Yukino gasped
"So he was thrown down here?" Flynn guessed.
"Hey!" Natsu ran up to Arcadios's limp body and slightly shook him. "Are you okay?! Wake up! What are you doing here?!"
Arcadios slowly regained consciousness and began grumbling. "Utn… Just… run…"
A large figure was standing behind the wizards and grinned before slamming his fist into the ground, releasing a strange liquid from the impact. Everyone jumped out of the way, the fluid melting the ground as it made contact.
"What is this?" Lucy wondered.
"Acid." Lily answered.
"Tai… Tai… Tai!" Another strange-looking man appeared. "Huge catch!" As he raised a flag, water shot up from underneath the young wizards, launching them into the air and the fall making them hit the floor hard.
"Who are these guys?" Natsu growled as he got back up.
Suddenly, a flower grew out of the ground and blossomed to reveal a pink-haired woman inside.
"There are more of them?!" Lily exclaimed.
A flurry of papers blew in and coalesced into the form of a dark-haired woman in a kimono. Behind all four of them came a man in a mask wielding scythes and Zexal.
"They are an independent squad that supports the kingdom from the shadows…" Arcadios said. "The country's greatest executioners… The Hungry Wolf Knights! They are why no one has ever escaped the Palace of Hades alive."
"By the special authority granted to the Hungry Wolf Knights, we will now execute these lawbreakers." The masked man proclaimed.
For a few seconds, the air was tense and heavy.
"… Bwahahahahaha!" Natsu burst into laughter.
"Natsu, is this really the time?" Flynn scolded him.
"I mean, look at 'em!" Natsu continued laughing as he talked. "They look nothin' like what people call 'knights'! Especially that one!"
"Tai." The strange bald man spoke as Natsu pointed his finger at him.
"Don't be fooled…" Arcadios advised. "The magic they use… is meant to kill!"
"Well, if they are 'knights', then they probably came here from the exit!" Natsu said.
"That's right!" Mirajane smiled confidently. "They can tell us how to get out of here!"
"Ms. Lucy, Ms. Yukino, you don't have your keys, so stand back." Wendy said as she readied herself.
"I wish it wasn't the case, but she's right." Flynn told the Celestial Wizards. "Just stay back for now."
"Happy, you and Carla should stand back, too." Lily said as he took on his humanoid form.
"We can fight, too!" Happy shouted.
"Pipe down!" Carla responded.
"You really… plan to fight them?" Arcadios asked.
"You do not feat the Hungry Wolf Knights?" The masked man questioned. "Ignorant criminals! I will return you to the soil of Fiore!"
"Time to go, Cosmos." The dark-haired woman said to the pink-haired woman as she held up a red piece of paper.
"Our beautiful dance, right, Kamika?" Cosmos asked the dark-haired woman.
Kamika blew the red paper out of her hand and it quickly multiplied into thousands of red papers.
"Paper Storm: Red Dance!"
The whirlwind of red paper rampaged toward the Fairy Tail wizards.
"I'll just burn that stuff away!" Natsu shouted.
Natsu ignited his hands with flames and shot them at the paper, but the papers weren't affected at all.
"It isn't burning?" Lucy gasped.
"The red paper is the spirit of flame!" Kamika smirked. "Now, be scattered like ashes!"
As Natsu struggled to hold the blazing papers back, Wendy puffed out her cheeks.
"Sky Dragon Roar!"
The gust from Wendy's breath dispelled the flames and scattered the papers, nullifying the attack.
"Nice, Wendy!" Carla cheered.
"Pretty!" Cosmos said. "A pretty dancing doll…"
Suddenly, a flytrap-like plant came out from underneath Wendy and ensnared her in its maw.
"This is a corpse flower that blooms blood!" Cosmos stated.
"Wendy!" Natsu shouted.
Mirajane activated her Sitri form and with a single punch, completely destroyed the plant with Wendy unharmed.
"Ms. Mirajane!" Wendy exclaimed in joy.
A pair of vines came up from behind Lucy and Yukino, but they were quickly cut down by Pantherlily. The large man snuck up from behind him, but was quickly blinded by a brightly burning light coming from Flynn's hands.
"Try sneaking up on us now!" Flynn dared.
Zexal blindsided Flynn and kicked him in the ribs, causing him to dispel the light.
"Paper Storm: Purple Dance!" Kamika sent a whirlwind of purple papers towards the mages and they stuck to their bodies.
"What is this?!" Natsu yelled.
"My body won't move!" Mirajane grunted.
"Purple paper is the spirit of restriction." Kamika explained.
"This will be a pretty liaison." Cosmos said. "Grow Flow!"
Appearing on the ceiling was an enormous plant with its mouth at its center.
"IT'S HUGE!" Natsu screamed.
"Summoning magic?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Eat… those pretty… criminals' lives." Kamika ordered her plant.
The huge plant started sucking everyone into its maw, the wizards immobilized from the papers' effect.
"Release me!" Wendy prepared to dispel the restriction. "Affliction Recovery Magic Lese!"
The papers peeled off of everyone's bodies due to Wendy's spell.
"I can move!" Natsu said.
"But that!" Flynn asked about the giant plant sucking them in.
"What'll we do?!" Lily asked.
"Break it!" Natsu answered with gnashed teeth.
"Okay!" Mirajane agreed.
With a kick from Mirajane, a slash from Lily and a flaming punch from Natsu, a large explosion engulfed everything.
In the infirmary, Zale could feel the ground shake, but it wasn't much from where he was.
*Was that from the Games? Or the castle?* Zale thought. *I hope everyone down there is okay…*
Back in Hades, Flynn was getting up from the ground and looked around to find that he was in a caved-in area with no visible way out.
"Where did everyone go?" Flynn wondered aloud.
"The explosion has separated us from the rest." A voice spoke from behind him.
Flynn quickly turned toward the sound and saw Zexal standing up.
"You're lucky that the other Hungry Wolf Knights weren't trapped here with you, otherwise you'd be dead now." Zexal said as he walked toward Flynn. "I only joined them so I could deliver a message."
"And why should I believe you?" Flynn asked as he got defensive.
"You're not strong yet, and I want you to attain that strength… Flynn."
Flynn was taken aback when Zexal said his name. "How do you know who I am?!"
"If I could tell you, I would, but let's just say I have known you for many years."
"If you want my trust so bad, why don't you help me get out of here?"
"That I cannot do."
"Why not?"
"Because you are going to get out on your own. You want to get stronger so you can fight by Lucy's side as equals; to prove that you can protect yourself, but also willing to depend on her strength. All I ask of you is to destroy that pile of rubble."
Zexal pointed to the boulders blocking their path.
"It should be simple enough."
"I…" After looking at the cave-in, Flynn lowered his head. "I can't… I'm not strong enough…"
"You shouldn't give up simply because you lack strength. You have the power to set yourself free, you just lack confidence and conviction."
"That sounds like a lot to me."
"I'm not expecting you to be on par with your guild mates… not yet, anyway. Breaking apart some debris should be child's play, even for you. I will show you."
Zexal cupped his hands and magic power accumulated between them. That magic power turned into a powerful stream of what looked like oil at the rubble and it started to blast through, but he stopped well before he could completely break the rocks apart.
"Just do as I did and you should be able to finish the job." Zexal told Flynn.
"O-okay…" Flynn stood in place so that he could fire a straight shot at the rubble.
Flynn took a deep breath before cupping his hands together and accumulating a small orb of light between them.
"You can do better than that." Zexal said. "Try thinking about those who mean the world to you."
*Those… who mean the world to me…* Flynn searched his thoughts for exactly that.
"Uncle Flynn!" Amber was the first to appear in his mind.
"Lil' Bro." His thoughts went straight to Callista.
"Come on, Flynn!" Zale was the next person who came to him.
One by one, the other members of Fairy Tail showed up with them.
"Flynn…"
Flynn's attention was completely drawn to the new voice and Lucy appeared in front of everyone.
"I know you can do it." Lucy cheered him on.
The orb of light in Flynn's hands grew larger and he could feel the incredible power it held.
*I… I didn't know I had such power!* Flynn thought and smiled. "Thank you… everyone… Luster… BEAM!"
Flynn turned that ball of light into a powerful blast that began piercing its way through the rubble.
"That's it, Flynn! Keep going!" Zexal encouraged. "Although the name could use work…"
Flynn continued firing the ray of light until he could see that a large enough opening had finally been created, which left him exhausted.
"I… I did it!" Flynn exclaimed with excitement and a smile on his face. "Hey-!"
Flynn looked back to where Zexal was, except he was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, Flynn, there ya are!"
The shouting drew Flynn to look back outside and he saw his friends all together and the other five members of the Hungry Wolf Knights lying on the ground.
"Natsu! Lucy! Everyone!" Flynn was ecstatic to see that no one was killed.
"What happened to the sixth guy?" Lucy inquired. "I thought you got stuck with him."
"I did, but…" Flynn responded with a hint of hesitation. "He kind of let me go."
"Whatever…" Natsu shrugged before walking over to the defeated executioners and cracking his knuckles with a fiendish grin. "Okay now! As punishment, you're gonna tell us where the exit is!"
"Evil…" Lucy muttered nervously.
A/N: I'm really sorry this took so long! I've been procrastinating with this story far too much! I know I said I would get to work on a new story before this one, but there was a change of plans and I am waiting for more votes in the poll before I start it. This chapter will replace the update notification, so I will rewrite the poll choices. If you haven't voted yet, here are the choices for what story I should start next:
Sword Art Online (OCxCanon)
Highschool DxD (OCxHarem)
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia (OC)
Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned for next time!