Cana III

Cana wasn't sure what to expect when she was told of the "Underway". But at the most, she was perhaps expecting a large tunnel with a road going through it. She definitely wasn't expecting a massive tunnel so big someone could march a whole army down it, still have enough room to float an airship through, and even then still have some room left. Cana could only awe as they flew down the tunnel.

"They say it took generations to carve these paths out," Gorik said from his position in the pilot seat, "And who could not believe it?"

"Not me," Cana said, as she watched the tunnel rush past her. Said tunnel had everything from stalagmites to waterfalls. That said, the sheer size of this tunnel honestly made Cana uneasy. She was certainly glad that they were going by gyrocopter, instead of by foot. According to Gorik, it would take about twelve days to march to their destination, and it would take half that time to get there via copter.

"Just what exactly are you shipping?" Cana asked, looking back at the cargo hold. The copter they were flying could hold four people not including the pilot, with a cargo hold in the back.

"Gunpowder," Fertan said, "To Karak Norn. Once we get there, we can point you down out of the mountains, and into the Empire."

"Sounds good to me," Cana said, as she spun a card through her fingers. After she got into the Empire, she needed to think of a plan to find her friends. She had no idea how big this world was; for all she knew, someone may have been in the Empire, while another may have been on a different continent. The only thing Cana could think to do was maybe look for some work there to get a start.

Eventually, they landed for the day to rest and put more fuel in the copter, on a ledge overlooking the tunnel. Cana was leaning on a rock, drinking from a flask, staring at the ceiling. The only light aside from the fire the dwarfs had lit was this strange glowing moss that covered the ceiling. The only sounds were of water dripping, rocks occasionally tumbling, and the wind howling through the cave, which didn't make it any less unnerving. However, as she listened, there was another sound that was building on the wind.

"HUHAHU… HUHAHU… HUHAHU…" Cana sat up, looking around. At first she didn't see anything, until she saw the faint glow of fires further down the tunnel. Cana hurried back to the dwarfs, who were all standing, looking around.

"You hear it to?" Cana asked. The dwarfs all confirmed, before they hurried further down the ledge with Cana in tow. They eventually came upon an overlook, where Cana saw what looked like a fort. It was ramshackle, looking like it had been thrown together by a drunk guy in a hurry (don't ask how Cana knew how that looked). There was a carved face over the wall that looked like a massive fanged monster. The chanting and lights were coming from the fort.

"Greenskins," Gorik said, spitting on the ground.

"What're 'Greenskins'?" Cana asked.

"Bloodthirsty barbarians who exist only to spread destruction and war," Akdar explained.

"Have they seen us?"

"If they had, we'd definitely know," Fertan said.

"Look at that symbol," Cana said, pointing. Hanging over the fort's gate, was a banner that what looked like a snapped bone with a pair of jaws.

"I've heard of that symbol," Gorik said, "This tribe is called the Bone Bitas."

"Bone Biters?" Cana asked. Maybe that wasn't really what Gorik said, but that was what she heard.

"This is strange," Gorik said, "Not that Greenskins have invaded our tunnels, but that this tribe is here. The dwarf who told me of them was from Karak Azul. This tribe shouldn't be this far North."

"Where they should be doesn't matter, seeing as they're here," Akdar said, "We are not even remotely equipped to battle a single orc, let alone a whole tribe."

"We need to go back to Zhufbar, and contact the king to send an army here," Fertan said, "We need to leave now." The dwarfs started to go away, but Cana kept watching, thinking. She reached into her bag, and pulled out her deck of cards, and rifled through them.

"What are you doing, girl?" Gorik asked.

"How many 'greenskins' or whatever, do you think there are down there?" Cana asked.

"If I had to guess, maybe a couple hundred. A thousand at the absolute most."

"Well, we at Fairy Tail have gone against worse odds," Cana said, before she started sliding down the ledge. She ignored the calls of the dwarfs, as she dropped to ground level.

She carefully shifted across the hall, to where the Greenskin fort was, as the smell quickly began to set in; Cana wasn't sure how to describe it, but it nearly blew Cana all the way back to Zhufbar (she shuddered at how it would've smelled to Natsu, Gajeel, or Wendy). As she did, she looked around the surrounding and overhanging area, considering her options, knowing that there was no way she could take any a small army on her own. She once heard of an S-Class job Erza had taken where she dealt with a band of ogres that she beat in a cave by causing a cave in. With that in mind, Cana slowly advanced on the fort, looking up at the various stalactites that hung over the fort. That gave her a quick idea, as she pulled out a couple of her cards. She then threw several cards, which floated up, and attached themselves to the stalactites. However, Cana also had a feeling that wouldn't enough to bring down the entire fort. With that in mind, she looked around the rest of the fort, looking for any place she could undermine it.

As she moved through, she heard more chanting, as well as sounds of fighting and laughing. In a strange way, it reminded Cana of Fairy Tail, only it smelled a lot worse. Though Cana was reminded of a time where Lucy and Natsu went on a mission together and Lucy got sprayed by some monster. Natsu didn't go into her house for some time after that.

Eventually, Cana placed what she thought were enough cards along the foundations. With that she started fall back. However, as she did, she had to dive into hiding behind a rock, as a huge lumbering form sauntered past her. The figure had green skin (fittingly), was at least eight feet tall, and had arms literally as thick as some tree trunks. It had beady eyes and tusks, and was dressed in ramshackle armor. It was carrying a crude sword that looked more like a cleaver than anything else. Cana imagined it may have been an orc. Deciding not to challenge him, Cana let him pass. However, as he did, the orcs topped and sniffed the air. It then growled, as it looked around, facing Cana's direction. Cana held her breath as she stayed hidden, as the orc approached her rock. Cana instinctively pulled out one of her remaining cards. Eventually, he got far to close for comfort, and Cana decided to literally play her trump card, and snapped her fingers.

The cards she left released their magic energy, creating massive explosions that resonated across the stalactites, which promptly fell. At the same time, the foundations were destroyed, and the fort began to collapse on itself.

The orc that had been looming over Cana was distracted by the explosion. Seizing that as an opportunity, Cana leapt, and kicked the orc in the schnoz. While it didn't do that much, it did stun him, allowing Cana to throw a lightning card at him, shocking him, and either knocking him unconscious, or killing him, Cana didn't stop to check.

Taking a breath, Cana looked up at the collapsed fort. As the Greenskins scattered, Cana noticed one of them, that looked a bit like a goblin lagging behind. Deciding she needed some information, Cana quickly advanced on the goblin and grabbed it.

"Alright greenie," Cana said, picking up the goblin by the collar, "Let's hear what you're doing here."

"Please don' 'urt me!" the goblin begged, as it cowered before the brown haired girl, "A'm just a slave!"

"Please don't insult my intelligence like that," Cana said, holding up a glowing card, "Now I'm going to ask again, what are you doing here? I heard you're from the South."

"We're were," the goblin answered, "But some gits chased us away!"

"What're you talking about?"

"Dey called 'demselves da Iron Choppas," the goblin explained, "Dey used ta be a small tribe in da South that we often beat on. But den dey got demselves a new war chief. Dey destroyed our ol' fort, and made us come here." Cana narrowed her eyes. The goblin may have been lying, but Cana didn't really care, as she dropped the creature.

"Get out of here, you little parasite," she said. The goblin didn't need to be told twice, as it hurried away. With that, Cana headed back to where the dwarfs were.

"Alright," Cana said, "I got them to go away, but I bet they'll be back. One of the…" She stopped as she saw the dwarfs staring a her in shock and amazement.

"Look, that was probably mostly luck," Cana said, jerking her thumb at the ruined fort, "I don't think I could do that with anything bigger."

"You just pulled down a greenskin outpost," Gorik said, "That is far from a small accomplishment."

"How were you able to do it?" Fertan asked.

"Its my magic," Cana said, holding one of her cards, "These cards are magically charged, and I can release the magical energy within them to create magical explosions. But again, I think it was most likely just some luck."

"It doesn't matter, we must show this to the king!" Akdar declared, "Such power should be demonstrated to him."

"That's really not…" But the dwarfs were already gathering their things, getting ready to start heading back.

"I guess I won't be making it to the Empire anytime soon," Cana said, rubbing the back of her head.

Note: So Cana managed to take out an orc fort.

Bare in mind, orc forts (assuming they don't occupy dwarf ones), aren't that sturdy. I don't think it would take much to tear them down, and Cana's cards have shown themselves to be pretty up. And yes, gyrocopters are primarily war machines, but its far from a stretch to assume that the dwarves would never consider using them for non-combat purposes.

Please review. Next chapter, we'll see Erza.