Gajeel succeeded in defeating Foota and that means only five members of this unit remain. Gajeel dug around Foota's body and was able to pull out one of the keys. That means that there is only three left to obtain.

"Gajeel!" Gajeel looked up and spotted Levy being carried by Panther Lily.

"Levy? Lily?" Gajeel questioned as they landed down and ran to him. "Hold on, Levy. Don't come much closer. You don't really want to see what I did to this guy."

"Just tell me he's still alive." Levy said.

"Of course. I'm not an animal." Gajeel said. Levy and Lily had their doubts about that. "Of course, this guy is going to be locked up like one. I also managed to get his key and from what Laxus told me, Lucy has another one. What are you even doing here? This is the unsafe part around. Lily, aren't you suppose to be protecting her?"

"I had no choice. I couldn't turn away from her." Lily said as he shook a little.

"What's this talk about a key? I thought you guys were going after Natalia. Where is she?" Levy asked.

"Oh yeah. You don't know what's going on. I'll try to keep it short." Gajeel said.

…

Lucy

Lucy was at first struggling against Kallie, but she learned that water was the weakness of Kallie's bubble magic. Now that she's in the Aquarius Form of her Star Dress, she has a better chance against her.

"So this new attire of yours allows you to utilize water magic. Even that won't be able to help you." Kallie said.

"We'll see. At least this way I can just wash your bubbles off." Lucy said.

"My bubbles do more than make you look good." Kallie said and blew some bubbles right out from her hand and had them surround her. "Popping Burst!" The bubbles burst and created shockwaves to deal some damage around Lucy. Kallie used the distraction of her attack and get closer to Lucy to strike her. 'I'll just use my Bubble Body on her again and make sure she doesn't wash it out.' She thought. She reached out for Lucy, but she bounced against something and pushed her back.

"You really thought I was going to fall for the same trick?" Lucy said. Kallie waited for it to clear and saw Lucy surrounded by a barrier of water again. "Now that I know your little tricks, I'm not going to fall for them again."

"Try whatever kind of magic you want, you still won't be spared." Kallie said.

"I think I've heard enough of you talking. Say whatever you like, but it's not going to convince me to give up." Lucy said as she had the water from her barrier gather around her hands and released it all as an attack. Kallie got blasted by some water and she hit the wall. Kallie adjusted her glasses and was starting to get annoyed.

'This is taking much longer than I thought.' Kallie thought. 'That's probably good for when Natalia reaches the sea, but I'm starting to run out of patience. What could be taking so long?'

"I've got you!" Lucy said as she released more of her magic water, but Kallie moved out of the way and was running around the room. Lucy tried following her as she continued the attack and went around the room. It smashed through some windows and it didn't go unnoticed by Gajeel and the others.

"Hold still." Lucy said.

"I think not." Kallie said as she used her incredible speed and vanished and appeared right next to Lucy and drover her knee right against Lucy's gut. Kallie grabbed her by the hair to hold her up and smacked her across the face and knocked her to the ground. "Just accept the fact that you can't beat me."

"Not a chance." Lucy said as she tried to get back up.

"You asked for it." Kallie said and blew some suds from her hands and they all latched onto Lucy. Lucy tried to get them off, but her strength was already beginning to drain quickly.

'Calm down. I just need to wash all of this off.' Lucy thought as she tried to concentrate, but Kallie kicked her again and stopped her from doing anything.

"I repeat myself. Admit that you can't beat me." Kallie said. "You and your guild might have done well to last this long, but you just can't seem to win."

"I keep telling you that I won't give up." Lucy said. "From the very beginning, I was aware of how strong you people were. That doesn't matter to us."

"I can't comprehend this." Kallie said.

"We're fighting because you threatened a member of our guild." Lucy said. "It never mattered to us how strong our opponents are. It doesn't matter how many of you there are. As long as we have something to fight for, we don't care who our opponents are. We will continue to fight!" She used her magic and washed all the bubbles away and was able to still stand. Anyone in the guild would feel the same as her.

"You're all unbelievable. Is it masochism or are you all just this stupid?" Kallie said.

'I don't think I can keep this fight going much longer.' Lucy thought. 'I can't either way. I've got to reach Natalia. I have to put an end to this. It's now or never.'

"This battle is over!" Kallie said as she charged at Lucy and swung a kick at her, but Lucy rolled under her leg and avoided the attack with her changing her Tauros Form. Lucy grabbed a hold of her whip and had it wrap around Kallie's arm. "Now what?"

"You're right. This battle is over." Lucy said and used her incredible strength to pull Kallie closer to her and she readied her fist. "Lucy Gut Punch!" Lucy drove her fist in Kallie's gut and knocked the wind right out of her. Lucy twist and turned her body so she could slam Kallie right against the floor and finished her off. "My friend is waiting. So I'll be taking your key."

"Damn it." Kallie said before she lost consciousness. That makes three members of E.R.7. now defeated. However, this battle took a lot out of Lucy and she had to instantly change back into her normal clothes.

"Lucy!" Lucy turned to the hole in the wall she made and saw Gajeel being carried by Panther Lily.

"Gajeel! Lily!" Lucy said.

"Are you okay?" Panther Lily asked as he set Gajeel down. "We saw this wall get blown off." Gajeel had a look around at some of the damage that was done.

"Whoa! Did you do all this? No wonder Salamander tries to stay on your good side." Gajeel said.

"How did things go on your end?" Lucy asked.

"Levy stopped by so I had to drop her off back in town for her own safety." Gajeel said. "She wasn't too happy about that. The good news is that I managed to get one." He held out the key and Lucy was glad to see that.

"That's good. If this woman was holding one, that means we have three out of the five keys." Lucy said. "Although, while I was fighting her, I remembered something. While we're busy fighting these guys, Natalia is getting further and further away."

"So even if we get all five keys, it's not going to matter if we're too late to save Natalia." Lily said.

"Yeah. I haven't heard any big explosions so I don't think Natsu has reached her yet. We've got to be close to being out of time by now." Lucy said.

"You're probably right. We shouldn't be waiting around for the others to get the other keys." Gajeel said. "If they take her out to the Forgotten Sea, she's as good as gone. On top of that, Salamander is an idiot. He probably got so distracted or busy fighting someone. Maybe we're already too late."

"Don't even think like that!" Lucy said. "Natsu wouldn't get distracted like that when a friend needs help! We also have to try and think positive."

Sheesh. You think highly of that boyfriend of yours." Gajeel said.

"She has the right idea. We need to keep our morale high." Lily said.

"Yeah. I get what you're both saying. Lily, you go back to Levy. I want her protected no matter what." Gajeel said.

"What?! You might need me more than her." Panther Lily said.

"If anything happens to her or my child, I'm blaming you!" Gajeel shouted. Panther Lily didn't like it, but he understood why Gajeel doesn't want his help. He did what he was told and went back to find Levy.

"This is probably going to be a scary family. I understand Gajeel's devotion to be a good father, but I was trained to be a warrior, not a babysitter." Lily complained as he flew off.

"You better find the others. Since we only need two more keys, I'm going after Salamander to give him a hand." Gajeel said.

"In that case, it might be best you leave the key you have with me." Lucy said. "It might be better to have all five together since only one will unlock Natalia's cuffs and we don't know which one it will be."

"Sure. Keys are your thing since you got the other two." Gajeel said.

"Oh right! I still need to get hers." Lucy said and ran towards Kallie. "Where's that key of hers?" Sparing no time, Lucy decided to just try and rip Kallie's clothes to find it.

"Woo! Get it girl!" Gajeel said.

…

Natalia

"This is it." Sonder said as he with Rod and Natalia came to a stop after they just left a room. "Take a good look Natalia, this is the final hallway."

"Final hallway?" Natalia questioned.

"That's right. This is where your final moments of freedom lie." Sonder said. "This hallway goes underwater and reaches the platform behind the fortress. On the other end of that platform lies a boat that will send us out to the Forgotten Sea and all hope you have of being saved will be crushed."

"I've got to ask. Who designed the layout of this building? Why not have platform connected to the fortress?" Rod asked.

"I don't know! I'm not the architect." Sonder said. Natalia's end wasn't that much further away. She looked back as she still had hope that one of her friends would come and save her. "Just give it up, Natalia." Natalia turned back at him and he snickered at her misery. "Your "friends" aren't going to make it in time. There was no chance of them ever defeating the others anyway. Your fate was sealed the moment you betrayed us and there's nothing you or anyone can do now to save you. It's over." Natalia was starting to believe that. Once they cross this hallway, Natalia will soon be upon her demise. It seemed like all hope was lost for her, but what she didn't know was that hope was actually on its way. It was coming hot and fast like a fiery fast ball with a mighty scream.

"NATALIA!" That voice echoed through the whole hall and came at them like a strong gust of wind and Sonder couldn't believe it.

"Natsu!" Natalia said as she turned with much joy as hope was being revived for her. Sonder turned with much shock and surprise. Rod heard it too and actually grinned from hearing that voice.

"What?! What was that?!" Sonder said. "Whose voice was that?! Don't tell me one of them actually made it all the way out here!"

"It would seem so." Rod said as he started to head back down the path. "Don't worry. I'll take care of it. You just go on ahead."

…

Natsu

Natsu and Happy were finally able to get close to Natalia. Natsu and Happy looked down the hall and saw some light at the end of it.

"Look, there's light! We've got to be close to Natalia by now." Happy said.

"We are." Natsu said. "Her scent goes through that room." He kept going, but he caught the whiff of another scent. "Wait. I know that scent." Natsu got angry from that one. Natsu ran right in and it appeared to be something like a storage room with a bunch of crates and other supplies around, but had to come to a stop as he saw Rod right in front of him. "It's you!" Rod actually appeared to be glad that Natsu was the one to make it all the way out here.

"I've been waiting for you." Rod said.