Chapter 14
It took quite some time for the whole group to get up and out of bed the next morning. You would think with Natsu complaining about hunger and wanting to crack some skulls the team would wake up long enough to pummel him for being loud. But most just kept hugging their pillows to themselves, enjoying their rest.
Two hours later the group was finally rousing from their deep slumber. "Geez, it's about time you all woke up. Come on we gotta go see the mayor and head out already."
Erza wiped at her eyes and requipped out of her pajamas into her Heart Kreuz armor. "I'll take care of that. Everyone else pack up."
As she left Natsu muttered, "Easy for her to say she has the most stuff out of all of us."
The others all grinned and laughed in turn at the truth to that statement. Luckily, Erza, had kept most of her equipment still packed in the numerous amount of suitcases she had.
oOo
The group strolled down the street of Renshaw Heights. They were aiming the direction they took toward the east-side exit of the town. Everyone they passed smiled at them or greeted them enthusiastically. "Everyone sure is pleasant in this small village," Erza observed.
"They all know why we are here, and where we are going. They are excited of the possibility of the fall of Venom Talon." Everyone looked at Natsu who suddenly seemed full of information. "Dragon slayer hearing, remember?"
When they got to the edge of the village and crossed over the railroad tracks Erza thwacked Natsu upside the head. "Oww! What was that for?"
"For destroying our mode of transportation and leaving us stranded in this town for a week," Erza responded.
"Any leg of this quest will be lengthy so another week isn't going to make it any more complicated," Ever stated.
Mira took a deep breath. "Honestly I am kind of glad to not be riding that train right now. Just look at this landscape."
They all smiled at the green rolling hills with the trees of the Yith Timberland forest as a backdrop. Lucy thought it was a perfect place for a picnic but didn't bring it up because she was sure that would just irk Erza. Her two recent attempts at a picnic being ruined by outside forces.
It took them two more hours to traverse across the rolling hills. They could finally make out just how large the trees of the forest actually were. The average height seemed to reach to the sky at about thirty-five feet (just over 10 ½ meters). But there was still a tree here and there that stood taller. The branches of the trees extended towards each other creating a shadowy canopy that seemed to obscure the forest beyond from view.
Suddenly, Natsu's stomach growled loudly. Lucy and Yukino snickered and then seconds after both blushed when their stomachs also made themselves known. "Let's stop here and eat before going into the forest. We probably won't find a good place to stop when we tread through it," Erza suggested. Lucy groaned at the look of happiness on Erza's face. The red haired woman was bound and determined to have a happy picnic on a sunny day.
Sandwiches, salads, and fruits were laid out amongst the group. The mayor made sure they were well stocked with food before they took off on their journey. Lucy wasn't sure the mayor understood the copious amounts a dragon slayer could eat. Natsu had just finished his twelfth sandwich.
Natsu reached for his thirteenth when suddenly he paused. "We need to wrap this up. I hear twigs snapping in the forest, and I am pretty sure I smell several wolves nearby." He sniffed the air to confirm. "Hmm...but something is off. Two nearby smell like the other wolves but there is also another scent overlaying it. I know I recognize the scent but...grr I can't place it."
Suddenly they all made an unspoken agreement. The girls scurried to put away the picnic so the wolves didn't make off with any leftover food, and the boys created a half circle around the girls, watching the forest for movement.
Natsu set both of his fists aflame in preparation. He was prepared to cast Fire Dragon's Iron Fists and punch some wolf skulls in.
Lucy frowned at the sky. She would have liked to demonstrate her sun magic in combat but there was just enough cloud cover that it disabled her ability to call forth that magic.
Elfman figured a full body takeover was unnecessary for a pack of wolves and cast a partial take over, Beast Arm: Reptile. He figured since he used it to send several people flying once before that he could also use it to do the same to several dire wolves. If they didn't pass out from the force of the throw someone with a range attack could back him up.
Hibiki accessed his archive magic in his mind. He prepared himself to use Force Blast on any wolves that came through the thicket.
Freed cast his Dark Ecriture: Darkness form. In his demonic like form his plan was to cast Darkness Flare Bomb at the wolves and create a wave of pressure to toss the wolves from the group.
While the other guys had been preparing themselves Jellal telepathically asked them how they were all planning on attacking. It was a tough call on what he would cast. It was half and half, Natsu and Elfman were doing melee magic attacks while Freed and Hibiki were doing ranged magic attacks. But with the exception of Natsu all the attacks would throw the wolves in some way. So Jellal planned on attacking them with Heavenly Arrows, a ranged attack that shot out several arrows of damaging light to the target.
Fifteen five foot tall (1.5 meters) wolves jumped out of the ferns, from bushes, from behind large rocks that were dispersed intermittently along the forest floor. Their sharp fangs snarled aggressively. Erza looked around her. "They look pretty angry. But...these are the runts of the pack...I've seen dire wolves get much larger."
"They may not be 'big' for dire wolves, but look at the amount of them. I thought dire wolf packs tended to be smaller than that," Mira stated.
"Yes, it is highly unusual to have a pack of more than seven. Maybe these fifteen grouped together because of their size, a strength in numbers mentality perhaps."
"Let's stop talking and start fighting already," With that Natsu dove into the fray. He sent an uppercut to one and that sent that one flying. He jabbed at another and it fell to the ground.
Hibiki cast his force blast at three separate wolves and they all went flying. Jellal came in and shot heavenly arrows to make sure those three were down. Two more were caught in the crossfire.
Freed cast darkness flare bombs at five wolves. Lucy decided that even though she couldn't use sun magic the guys couldn't hog all the fun. "Open gate of the golden bull! Taurus! Taurus, take out the wolves Freed casts at with your axe."
"Perhaps after that you might give me a smooooch!"
"Open gate of the Heavenly Scales! Libra! Libra, cast gravity change towards the wolves outside of melee range so they fall to the ground."
Jellal, Hibiki, and Freed then attacked all the ones that had fallen to the ground from the force of gravity change.
Once all the wolves that charge in the attack were out of commission the celestial mages sent their spirits back to the spiritual world, and the others with the exception of Natsu began to relax. "Are you all forgetting the two strange wolves I was telling you about?" Natsu's facial expression immediately changed from aggressive to one of comprehension. "That's strange I know the scent now." He turned to Lucy and Yukino. "They smelled like your spirits..."
Two silver wolves seven feet tall (just over 2 meters) jumped out from behind a large rock. They both had unusual markings above their eyes and across their nose. One's markings were a metallic silver blue and the others were a metallic lavender. Both celestial mages looked at the wolves not in fear but in confusion and wonder, "Lupus" They both said simultaneously.
Hibiki wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "I thought the silver keys of Lupus were lost long ago."
The wolves shifted to men. The markings that adorned the wolves were along their foreheads and bridges of their nose. They were just as tall in humanoid form as they were in wolf form. The one with the silver blue markings had long silver hair and a stern look on his face. His eyes the same color as his markings. The other had short spiky pewter gray hair and a cheerful look upon his face. His lavender eyes seemed to dance in merriment.
The blue eyed one turned to Lucy. "I am Garett. I would like to form a contract with you, Lucy Heartfilia." He stated formally and bowed to her.
The one with lavender eyes turned to Yukino. "And my name is Dashiell, but if it's easier you can simply call me Dash. It would be an honor to fight by your side, Yukino Aguria."
The girls looked at each other. "Er, I think we are both stumped here," Lucy said aloud.
"How can we form a contract without a key?" Yukino asked.
Both of the expressions of the wolves immediately became dismal and crestfallen. Yukino and Lucy both frowned in concern.
The girls didn't notice Hibiki typing away at Archive. But both of the girls heard what Hibiki told them to say telepathically. The girls clasped hands and both chanted in clear voices simultaneously, "Da nobis, argentum lupus cohibere aperire"
The girls each felt more weight on their key rings and studied the new key there. They both had a silver key with the silhouette of a wolf howling as the emblem. Lucy's a silver blue whereas Yukino's was lavender.
oOo
I figured since there is more than one Nikora (Plue) then there must be more than one of all the silver keys. I obviously made up that the Lupus key was lost for sake of the story line.
Dashiell is pronounced Dash-ell if you were curious.
Da nobis, argentum lupus cohibere aperire is latin and it's sloppy latin at that. I could not find a latin word for key other than key, loosely translated it says "Give us a silver wolf lock open" sound so much prettier in latin. :P