Natsu and Happy were finally close to Natalia. He made it to a large storage room, but Rod was there and he was expecting Natsu.

'That's the guy that beat Natsu around back at the guild.' Happy thought. He took a good look at Rod's face and it had a sinister grin on it. 'I don't like that look on his face.'

"Natalia's been through here. Her scent is still pretty strong." Natsu said.

"So you finally caught up." Rod said with him standing in front of a set of iron doors and pointed to them. "You're in luck. Natalia's just beyond these doors, down the stairs, and it's a straight shot to the platform."

"So Natalia's just up ahead." Natsu said.

"Of course, you need to get through me first and I have every intention to not let that happen." Rod said.

"Natsu, we can't fight him for so long. Remember what Gray said." Happy said. "If they take Natalia out to the sea, we'll never be able to find her."

"I know. I don't have time to be messing around with you. So get out of my way." Natsu said. Rod surprised Natsu by suddenly appearing in front of Natsu and driving his knee into his gut. He gave Natsu a powerful punch and had him slid back a few feet.

"Are you okay?" Happy said.

"A lot more than this guy is going to be." Natsu said.

"Come on. I heard you're a dragon slayer. I'm interested to see what a dragon slayer is capable of." Rod said.

"You asked for it!" Natsu as he charged at him with flames around his fist. "Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu shot his fist forward, but Rod avoided the attack and gave him a powerful kick and had him crashed into a crate.

'This isn't good. We have to get past him fast, but he won't let us through.' Happy thought.

"Happy." Natsu said and got his attention. "I'll try and get past this guy. Fly back as fast as you can and get the others. Show them how to get here. We've got to reach what's beyond that point if we're going to save Natalia."

"But do you really think you can beat this guy after what happened before?" Happy said.

"There's no time to argue about this. Just go!" Natsu shouted. Happy could see Natsu was right and did what he said with him flying back the way they came. That just left Natsu to handle Rod and Natsu's been wanting some payback after what happened last time.

"Do you really think you'll save her in time?" Rod said.

"Just you wait. The moment you underestimate Fairy Tail was the moment you lost!" Natsu shouted. The two of them charged at each other and crashed their fists against each other. Two of both sides' best fighters are going against each other.

…

Erza and Wendy

Meanwhile, while everything else was going on, Erza and Wendy were still fighting Kaemin and Jaccu. Kaemin and Erza continued to clash swords against each other. Both of them pressed their blades against the other and tried to get the upper hand against the other.

"Time has got to be near over, Erza. At this point, there isn't much reason to continue fighting. Why don't you just give it up?" Kaemin said.

"You don't seem to understand what lengths Fairy Tail will go through." Erza said. "If it's to protect our comrades, we will strike down anyone. Even if you do succeed in executing Natalia, which you will not, we won't stop until we take our revenge."

"Hypocrite. Your guild might sound like valiant heroes, but it sounds like you're willing to become as dark and shady as we are." Kaemin said. The two jumped back from each other and faced each other again.

"Say whatever you like. Fairy Tail will go to any lengths for our comrades." Erza said. "Friendship and strong bonds is the foundation in our guild and it gives us the strength that will lead us to victory." The two charged at each other and started another round with metal clashing against metal. Meanwhile. Wendy and Carla were doing their best against Jaccu.

"Iron-Make: Mallet!" Jaccu formed an iron mallet and slammed it down on the ground, but Wendy and Carla avoided it. Carla cartwheeled and tried to kick Jaccu, but Jaccu grabbed her legs and tossed her back.

"Sky Dragon Wing Attack!" Wendy unleashed streams of lashing wind, but Jaccu was doing his best to block them.

"Okay. This is taking way too long." Jaccu said. "Why don't these little girls just keel over already?" Jaccu placed his hands together and was getting ready for another attack.

"Moo!" All of them were surprised by what they just heard. Taurus came out of nowhere and swung his axe near where Jaccu was standing and knocked him right off his feet.

"The hell? Is that a cow? Where the hell did that thing come from?" Jaccu questioned.

"It's Taurus!" Wendy said.

"Did you see me, Lucy? I think I deserve some smooches." Taurus said. Wendy and Carla turned to the entrance and saw Lucy was there.

"Not so much since I do have a boyfriend, but thanks for the help." Lucy said as she sent Taurus back to his own world.

"Lucy! I'm glad to see you're safe." Wendy said.

"I'm glad to see you're both safe as well." Lucy said. "I've got some good news. Thanks to Laxus and Gajeel, three members of E.R.7. has been defeated and we managed to get three keys."

"That's good. Where are they now?" Wendy asked.

"I don't know about Laxus and Gray seems to have vanished as well." Lucy said. "As for Gajeel, he's going to try and catch up to Natsu and save Natalia. Although….." She remembered how Gajeel's going at it. He turned his body to iron and just started smashing through walls. "His approach is a little on the simple side. How are things going with you?"

"Erza is still fighting her opponent." Carla said and Lucy saw what was going on with her.

"That just leaves us with him." Wendy said and they all stared at Jaccu.

"Another one? At least this one has got some looks." Jaccu said. "Either way, this is starting to become a real pain in the neck."

"You're outnumbered. Three of your friends have already been beaten and you're next." Lucy said. "Just make it easy and surrender yourself and the key over to us." Jaccu was weighing his options and thought of only one way he can get out of this.

"Fine." Jaccu said as he reached in his pocket and dropped the key to the floor. "There's really no point in continuing this fight."

"Wait. Really?" Wendy questioned as they haven't really come across an enemy that willingly surrenders.

"Yeah. I can't beat all of you, but you better hurry. Natalia probably doesn't have much time left." Jaccu said.

"He's right." Wendy said and ran over to the key, but the others found this really strange.

'This doesn't make sense. He had no problem fighting off Wendy and myself.' Carla thought. 'Is he just lazy or does he believe it's too late for us to do anything at this point?'

"Thank you." Wendy said as he reached for the key, but Jaccu had a sneaky smile on his face. He stomped down on Wendy's head and crushed her against the ground.

"Wendy!" Lucy and Carla shouted.

"You stupid girl. Never let your guard down around an enemy or trust them." Jaccu said.

"Get off her!" Carla shouted as she and Lucy went to try and save her.

"Iron-Make: Shotgun!" Jaccu shot pieces of metal and they pelted against Lucy and Carla to keep them back. Jaccu grabbed a hold of Wendy's neck and held her up. He coated his spare hand with iron and formed a metal claw to finish Wendy off.

"You should have just stayed away and played with your dolls." Jaccu said. Erza saw what was going on.

"Damn it. Let her go." Erza said as she went to rescue Wendy, but Kaemin stood in her way and kept fighting her. "Get out of my way!"

"You're not leaving until this battle is over." Kaemin said.

"And my mother wonders why I didn't give her kids." Jaccu said as he was ready to finish Wendy off.

"No! Don't kill her!" Lucy pleaded, but he wouldn't listen and was about to strike her. All three of them thought she was done for, but suddenly a flash of ice slashed against Jaccu and knocked him down and saved Wendy with someone catching her. Wendy opened her eyes and saw Juvia caught her.

"Are you okay?" Juvia asked.

"Yeah. What happened?" Wendy asked. She looked ahead and saw her savior.

"What the hell? Was that ice?" Jaccu said as he got back up.

"You got it."

"Gray!" Lucy said. Thanks to Gray, Wendy is safe and he returned to normal.

"I hope you're ready. Now that I'm back in the game, I've got a whole lot of payback to give you creeps." Gray said.

…

Natsu

"Fire Dragon Talon!" Natsu swung his leg down on Rod, but Rod crossed his arms and blocked the attack. He grabbed Natsu's leg and slammed him against the floor and tossed him against the wall.

"Don't tell me that's all you got." Rod said. "I'm disappointed. With all that fire and passion I see in your eyes, I thought you would put up more of a fight."

"I'm not even close to being done!" Natsu said and fused his flames together. "Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" He tossed a giant fireball, but Rod flipped back and was able to avoid the attack. "Something isn't right. Last time we fought, you didn't give me the chance to fight back. You're fighting differently this time." Natsu wondered why, but it soon came to him. "Duh. You're only stalling until it's too late to save Natalia."

"Maybe….or maybe I'm just trying to make your suffering last as long as possible." Rod said. Rod was starting to get on Natsu's nerves and it was getting him more fired up. Natsu was going to keep attack, but they heard something burst from above.

"Yeah!" Both of them looked up and saw Gajeel come right through and landed down next to Natsu. "I finally caught up to you, Salamander."

"Gajeel?" Natsu said. "What are you doing here? I don't need your help to take care of this guy!"

"I knew you were messing around. I came here because we managed to beat some of those other guys." Gajeel said. "Where's Natalia?"

"She's just behind those iron doors, but we might not have much time." Natsu said.

"It doesn't matter how many of you there are. I'll take care of both of you." Rod said.

"I got here first. So you slip past him and go save Natalia." Natsu said.

"Normally I would say don't tell me what to do, but we are in a hurry." Gajeel said.

"Here goes!" Natsu said was about to charge in, but Rod teleported in front of him and gave Natsu a powerful uppercut. He also spun around and kicked Gajeel in the gut.

'Whoa! This guy has got some power.' Gajeel thought as he really felt that kick.

"I told you that you're not going anywhere." Rod said.

"Quit getting in the way!" Natsu said as he tackled him and Gajeel ran past them. Rod saw what was going on so he pushed Natsu off and teleported in front of Gajeel.

"I forgot this guy can teleport!" Gajeel said and was met with a powerful kick to the face and pushed him back. Rod held out his fingers and used bullet magic to keep them away, but both of them avoided his bullets.

"Gajeel, go!" Natsu said, but Rod appeared in front of Natsu and tossed him to the side and slammed him against the wall. Rod saw Gajeel heading for the doors, but he cut him off again.

"You're not getting through." Rod said.

"We'll just see about that." Gajeel said as he coated his fist in iron. "Iron Dragon Hard Fist!" He slammed his fist against Rod, but Rod didn't move or even flinch. Gajeel couldn't believe it. "What?! I don't get it. That punch sent that cha-cha-chaing freak flying."

"I see. You beat Foota on your way here." Rod said. He gave Gajeel another powerful kick and knocked him off his feet. "But I'm much stronger than Foota."

'This guy is insane.' Gajeel thought. 'He's much stronger than any of those other creeps, but what's this strange enjoyment I'm getting from him?'

"Fire Dragon Sword Horn!" Natsu slammed against Rod with all his force and got him to move out of the way and tried to keep him pinned to the ground. Rod tried to get free, but Natsu wasn't letting go. "You're not getting in the way this time." Gajeel used the opportunity to run through the doors. "Gajeel, you've got to save her!"

"Just leave it to me!" Gajeel said as he made it right through the iron doors and was just a run away from saving Natalia from her cruel faith.