Here we are once again! So who is ready for some fighting? I know I am! Thank you so much for supporting me thus far; I really appreciate it.

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine… If they were, there would be lots of cannons on my ships… They'd be so cannoned they would go to war…

Hey There… Ch. 12

Gray cursed under his breath as he kept running into more Phantom grunts. Damn, at this rate, I'll never make it to the top… The ice make wizard kept mowing down lower class mages until he reached a landing that had a skylight. He swore slightly again when he noticed that there didn't seem to be any holding cells or rooms to keep prisoners or hostages.

"Juvia is slightly impressed that you made it this far," a woman's voice said and the black haired male spun around to see a slender blue haired woman dressed in depressing shades of blue.

"Since you're so impressed, mind telling me where my comrade is? As soon as I find her, I'll be on my merry way," Gray said with a smirk.

"Juvia apologizes, but since you have come this far, Juvia is afraid that she can't let you leave…"

"So it's like that huh?" Gray sighed as he ran a quick hand through his hair. "I don't want to have to hurt a woman, but you leave me no choice. I don't discriminate who I fight against when a comrade's life could be at stake."

It was at this moment, Juvia knew that she couldn't win. Juvia cannot fight him! He has too noble a cause… she woman thought to herself as a slight blush tinted her pale cheeks. "Well, Juvia wishes you a nice day. Have fun rescuing your comrade…" Juvia trailed off and spun on her heel to promptly walk away.

"Huh?" the ice make wizard eloquently stated as he tried to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. "So you're just going to walk away? Does Jose command any respect from you guys at all?"

"Juvia will not stand for her master to be insulted! Juvia will fight for her master's honor! Prepare yourself," the woman Gray guessed was named Juvia shouted and settled into a battle stance.

This woman is crazy Gray sweat dropped as he dropped into his own fighting stance. Her emotions are so turbulent… "Ice make: lance!" Gray shouted as he projected icy spears at his opponent. He openly gaped when she just let the ice hit her, piercing through her like she was made of water…

"Nice try, but you cannot cut Juvia. Water nebula!" Juvia exclaimed and summoned streams of water out of thin air to throw at Gray.

Gray dodged and threw his hands together for another attack. "Ice make: geyser!" The wave of ice was handily avoided by the bluenette and she threw out her hands for her next spell.

"Water lock!" the water mage shouted and a sphere of water surrounded Gray, effectively trapping him.

This might actually be a good fight… Gray thought to himself and smirked as he froze over the attack and busted out of the frozen shell. What does that flaming moron always say…? The ice make mage thought to himself as he landed on the floor with a soft thud, promptly shedding his shirt. Oh yeah! I'm all fired up.

Erza was cutting down everyone who stood in her path, creating a path for those behind her when she saw two figures jump down from the balcony.

"I'm afraid we cannot allow you to advance any further," a man said with white and black hair pulled up into a ponytail with a black mark across his face.

"I see the end of the queen of fairies. How sad!" a large blindfolded man sobbed as he stepped up with his comrade.

"Oh?" Erza said as she stood up, eyebrow cocked. "Is that so? Well, the rest of you spread out and search for Lucy! I'll handle these two." The people following her nodded dumbly and scattered among the various halls and passageways.

"Not so fast-" the ponytailed man started but was abruptly cut off by a spear landing and quivering in the ground inches from where he stood.

"Your fight is with me," the redhead coolly stated as she requipped into her black wing armor. "I highly suggest that you pay attention to your opponent. Come at me!" Erza commanded and charged at the two men. The pair had no choice but to oblige and sprung at her with attacks prepared.

"Dammit! I'm lost again!" Elfman roared as he ran down spacious corridors in search of his lost guild mate.

"Non, non, non!" a male voice sighed and a green haired man dressed in a brown suit appeared out of the ground shaking his head. "Being lost is pas bien! Then again, unwelcome guests are pas bien… I think must show you to the exit."

"Hell no! Real men rescue their guild mates if they've been taken hostage!" Elfman yelled as he pounded his fists together. As his arms changed into his black bull form, he swung at the smaller man.

"Non, non, non! I'm afraid you're going to have to better than that if you want to land a hit on me," the man smugly stated as he prepared an attack of his own. "Roche concert!" the earth mage said and a barrage of rocks were sent flying towards Elfman, pelting him with the projectiles.

Guess this isn't going to be an easy match Elfman thought to himself as he gritted his teeth. Well, here goes nothing…

"You pack a pretty good punch there bolts for brains," Natsu smirked as he jumped away from the metal clad male.

"Not so bad yourself Salamander," Gajeel grinned wickedly as his arm turned into a humongous sword. "But I think it's time I got serious.'

"I completely agree," Natsu said as he ignited his fists once more and charged at the taller male. "Fire dragon's iron fist!"

"Iron dragon's sword!" the black haired dragon slayer yelled as he swung his arm/sword at a flying Natsu, causing them to collide in midair. Natsu then latched onto the sword with his burning hands, causing the metal to heat up rapidly. Gajeel cursed and flung Natsu off of his sword to revert it back into a smoldering hand. Natsu grinned at his opponent's scowl.

"C'mon! what'cha waitin' for?" Natsu taunted. "If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen!"

"I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face and onto the ground pinkie," Gajeel growled and leapt back at the fire dragon slayer with a series of iron hardened punches. Natsu easily kept up with him, trading blows equally, but took more damage due to his fists colliding into solid iron.

This went on for several minutes before the fighters broke apart, taking a breath before they hurled themselves at each other once more. Natsu's keeping up with landing the same number of hits, but his aren't doing as much damage Lucy thought as she watched them exchange blows. He's doing okay for right now, but what happens when he tires out? Lucy's thoughts became more concerned for her partner as doubt started niggling at the corner of her mind. No! I have to have faith that he can make it out; I can't afford to think that he'll lose. I don't want to go back…

These two wouldn't be so troublesome if I didn't have to worry about the man, Aria I think his name is, when he tries to deplete my magic energy Erza thought to herself as she vaulted up and over the man known as Totomaru as he was charging her with his sword. Erza requipped another blade into her hand and met his katana with two swords of her own. She sent the fire mage sprawling backwards just as Aria charged with another magic nullifying attack.

Dodging the spell, Erza requipped again into her heaven's wheel armor and sent out an arsenal of blades to attack both her opponents simultaneously. Totomaru was knocked out and pinned down while Aria took some damage, but was still able to fight.

"I'm afraid that I can't hold back anymore!" the wind mage cried as he whipped off his blindfold. Before he could finish a spell, Erza requipped into her black wing armor once more to land a knockout blow to the head.

"That was close," Erza sighed as she watched the wizard sink to his knees and face plant into the floor. "I'd like to keep my magical energy, thank you," Erza wryly commented and then rushed to where her fellow guild mates had run off to provide support.

"What are you babbling about woman?!" Gray yelled as he dodged another boiling stream of water from Juvia's fit of rage.

"How dare you betray Juvia's feelings?!" the water mage shrieked and summoned up a swirling vortex of water. "Water cyclone!"

"Agh!" Gray gasped out in pain as he was hit by the torrent of boiling water, blasting him up onto the roof. My ice is melting too fast with all this boiling water! How the hell did she get so mad? All I said was that I needed to save Lucy! Gray threw up an ice shield to protect himself, from the next blast, but realized quickly that ice wasn't going to hold up well against hot water.

"I will make sure that you won't be able to hurt any woman ever again!" Juvia ground out as she prepared a spell. "Sierra!" the water mage shouted as she turned into water and launched herself along with a large wave of water at Gray.

Gray cursed under his breath as he was swept into the current of water. Just as he reached the edge of the roof, the ice wizard swam to the top of the current and started freezing the water to slide down the top of the ice. As he landed on the roof once more, he noticed that Juvia had turned back into her human form encased in ice. He quickly broke her out and watched as she collapsed to the rooftop beneath her, clearly exhausted.

"Huh, I didn't realize it was raining this entire time," Gray murmured as he held out his hands to catch the drops of rain as they fell.

Juvia knows what's coming next the bluenette grimaced as she hid her face in her hands to hide her shame. Juvia won't ever be able to get rid of this rain… "Juvia will get rid of the rain," the water mage solemnly stated as she slowly picked herself up and walked towards the edge of the roof. She glanced down for a few seconds before she jumped.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Gray exclaimed as he dove to grab her hand before she fell too far. "You could've fallen to your death, dammit!"

"Juvia was trying to get rid of the rain," Juvia said simply, as if her life didn't matter. Pulling her up onto the rooftop and moving her away from the edge, Gray place his hands on her shoulders.

"Look at me," Gray softly commanded when the bluenette wouldn't meet his gaze. "Life is a very precious thing; you can't go waste it on a whim. Even though you were my opponent, I'm not comfortable watching anyone committing suicide. There are things you can live for." At his last comment, Juvia blinked furiously to keep the tears at bay.

"No one's ever said something like that to Juvia," the bluenette quietly said as her lips quivered ever so slightly. Gray was completely undone by Juvia's attitude; he never knew what to do with crying women.

"Ah dammit! Uh… I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you cry!" Gray panicked as he tried to get his brain to come up with a solution for her tears.

"It's okay," Juvia said with a small chuckle and gave Gray a smile that made his stomach twist for a brief moment. "Juvia's tears aren't tears of sadness. Juvia thanks you for your kind words…" Juvia trailed off as she slowly sank to her knees and into a sitting position. Gray tried not to seem frantic as he asked if she was okay and she just smiled more broadly in response.

Neither of them realized it, but when Juvia started smiling, the rain stopped and the clouds broke away from the sun.

"So this is a sunny day," the bluenette breathed in wonder as she let the sunlight hit her cheeks for the first time. "It's so beautiful. I've never… seen a… sunny… day," Juvia said slowly as she fell on her back with a smile gracing her lips.

"How have you never seen a sunny day?" Gray thought aloud in confusion as he watched her sleep for a few moments before scooping her up. I need to find a better place for her to rest than up here on the roof. Maybe I can ask Gramps if he would mind her staying at the guild until she wakes up…

"What's the matter Sir Elfman? I thought you were a man who did anything to protect his comrades," the earth mage known as Sol tsked as he sent Elfman flying with a blast of earth.

Damn, he's stronger than I thought Elfman said as he scrambled to find purchase on the ground before he hit the wall.

"Non, non, non! With an attitude like you have, you can never beat me! Is this the best you can do? What would your sisters say?" Sol shook his head in mock dismay as he prepared another attack.

How does he know about Lisanna? Elfman internally gasped as his opponent's last question rooted him in place. It's true that I've never successfully done a full takeover, but what does this have to do with her?

"Are you not attempting a full take over because of what happened the last time? Are you so afraid of failure that it paralyzes your growth as a wizard? As a man?" Sol haughtily spoke as he sent another wave of earth magic at Elfman, knocking him out of his stupor.

"Leave Lisanna out of this!" Elfman roared as he swept a beefy arm at Sol, but barely missed. The white haired male proceeded in a flurry of punches and kicks, but Sol dodged them all. I've just about reached my limit and I can't even land a blow on him! Elfman thought as he tried another desperate swipe in the earth mage's direction.

"Non, non, non! It is impossible! You won't defeat me!" Sol sang as Elfman was winded with a stone punch to the face.

"It looks like you're not going to leave me much of a choice," the takeover mage muttered and jumped back into a stance. "Full body takeover: beast soul!"

Sol watched in amusement turned into horror when Elfman started transforming into the beast. Steam rose off of the takeover mage's body with a hiss and the low growl that reverberated through the hall sent chills down the earth mage's spine. The beast standing before Sol cracked his head from side to side and blinked slowly at him.

"I think that this was a simple misunderstanding monsieur!" the earth wizard quickly apologized and tried to look contrite as he subtly formed an attack. "Platre Sonata!" Sol shouted and grinned, thinking that he had finished the fight.

As the smoke cleared, however, the beast was still standing there unscathed and thoroughly unimpressed with the display of magic, much to the earth wizard's dismay. After the beast shook his head, he charged Sol and pounded him into the ground, effectively knocking him out in one shot.

The beast stared at the unconscious mage for a brief moment before dissolving into an exhausted Elfman. "I'm so glad that worked," Elfman sighed out in relief as he plopped down on the ground next to his former opponent. "I think I'm just going to rest here for a minute or two before jumping back into the fray. That's what a real man would do…"

Gajeel and Natsu were panting as they parted once more. The intense flurry of punches, kicks, swipes, and jabs were just too much for Lucy to keep up with. Natsu looks really tired… As soon as she finished that thought, Gajeel took a step back to the metal wall, ripped a chunk out of it, and started chomping down on it.

"Hey! That's not fair! You can't start eating now; I'm hungry too!" Natsu pouted and crossed his arms over his chest while looking around the room for anything that had been caught on fire.

"'s not my fault that you can't get a decent meal," the iron dragon slayer spoke unfazed through crunches, shocking and disgusting Lucy. Gulping down the rest of the hunk of wall, Gajeel turned himself into iron again and launched himself at Natsu with renewed vigor.

Lucy watched with growing despair as Natsu was being overpowered due to his magic reserves running on fumes. If Gajeel can eat iron and become reenergized, I bet if Natsu got some fire, he'd be in better shape! Lucy scanned the room for anything that could be used to make an explosion and stopped on a heating generator. Perfect! Lucy thought as she started crawling towards the generator that was a few meters away from her.

"What's the matter Salamander?" the black haired mage gloated as he ground Natsu's face into the ground, causing it to crack underneath him. "I thought that you were a worthy playmate! I guess you can't do too much if you're hungry," Gajeel smirked and threw him across the room into a wall, effectively knocking the air out of the pinkette's lungs.

Yes! Lucy mentally exclaimed with glee when she reached the heater. She found the lever that adjusted the heat and maxed it out before she inching herself away. As soon as Lucy deemed herself far enough away for her own safety, she picked up and iron pipe with her non injured arm and yelled, "Natsu!" as she chucked the pipe at the heater with all her might.

The miniature explosion resulting from Lucy's efforts sparked a moderately sized fire that Natsu scrambled to inhale greedily.

"Thanks for the meal Luce," the fire wizard smirked as a gleam appeared in his obsidian colored eyes. "I'm all fired up now!" As Natsu was finishing his meal, the other dragon slayer prepared another attack to send at the recuperated pinkette.

"Iron dragon's roar!" Gajeel bellowed and a stream of iron poured from his mouth with incredible speed.

"Fire dragon's roar!" was Natsu's answer and the two breath attacks collided and made a small explosion by itself.

Wow breathed Lucy as she tried to keep herself as far away as possible from the two fighting males. They really do look like two dueling dragons from this angle… The blonde watched blow after blow being delivered on both sides as the dragon slayers took a beating from each other.

Natsu started gaining the upper hand when he kept his limbs ignited as he punched and kicked Gajeel's iron hide until it broke off him in smoking chucks. Jumping back while cursing, the black haired male blasted another roar at the pinkette. The pinkette easily dodged and immersed himself in flames.

"I think it's about time I finished this," Natsu murmured as he crouched for his attack. "Dragon slayer's secret art: crimson lotus, fire dragon's fist!" he yelled and hit his opponent with a series of exploding attacks that threw Gajeel into the wall, rendering him unconscious.

"I got 'im!" the fire dragon slayer gasped in relief as he dropped flat onto his back for a breather. "Now for a quick break…"

"Jose! Show yourself you coward!" Makarov yelled as he broke down door after door searching for missing guild master. "I am growing impatient of your insolence. Come out so that I may punish you properly!"

"My, my Makarov," Jose said as he appeared from the shadows. "You seem to be a little impatient."

"I have no patience for anyone who harms my children," Makarov quietly stated as he readied up a powerful spell. "I will give you until the count of three to apologize for your actions."

"Are we really resorting to childish counting games Makarov?"

"One."

"I'm not sorry at all!" Jose hissed as his eyes started to glow a different color.

"Two."

"I will make you regret ever stepping foot in this building," Jose said as he powered up his own magical attack.

"Three," Makarov sighed as he brought his hands in front of him.

"Dark pulse!"

"Fairy law!"

A large explosion followed by a severe bright light occurred and as Makarov's spell activated, the dark magic spell was completely obliterated and the earth shook from the force of the spell. Everyone else that was still fighting had to stop for close to a minute because of the blinding light and when the spell was finished, all Phantom Lord members fell to their knees in shock.

"That should teach you to make light of Fairy Tail," Makarov sniffed as he spun on his heel and walked out of Phantom Lord's headquarters, leaving an incapacitated Jose smoking from the blast of magic.

"C'mon Luce," Natsu said as he struggled to stand. "I think it's time we head back to Fairy Tail."

"I'm ready to go home," Lucy murmured as she gave the pinkette a smile. Natsu then carefully scooped up the blonde mage, being mindful of her injuries and spun to face the black haired male waking from his last blow.

"Let's fight again sometime!" Natsu exclaimed cheerily and flashed an ear to ear grin at Gajeel. Gajeel just huffed at him and looked away. With that being said, Natsu walked out of the destroyed room and off in the direction of Magnolia.

So, what did everybody think? Natsu returns victorious with his one and only partner (besides Happy of course) and Fairy Tail lays the hurt on the rest of Phantom Lord. Yay for everyone getting a fight! I know I kinda changed around a match up or two, but it is an AU. I can have some liberties… right?

Best regards to Animallover, peaspaws, fanficaddict14, Eddingsfan, kuuderegirl3, FANATIC-CHANGE, kippysaurus, Dog's Paw Burning In Hot Ash, Lillian99, NaLu and InuKag, TigerArrowgirl, Larissa, and Cat for your wonderful reviews! Thank you so very much and I hope that you guys and all my other readers continue to enjoy the story!

To Animallover since I can't PM you: for his jacket, I was kinda thinking of a leather jacket that had buttons on the inside of the collar that the hood could be snapped on and off of in a given situation… Jose's cloak was a legitimate cloak. About Lucy being chained, I forgot to mention that her ankles were chained to the floor initially, but she had shackles on her hands throughout that ordeal and when she was being interrogated, she was released from the ones on the floor; I'll probably go back and edit that later… As for what she was being interrogated about, I left it kind of ambiguous on purpose because Lucy doesn't know what they want and Gajeel doesn't know either because Jose doesn't want to have to fight anyone off of what he wants from the Heartfilias… Gajeel just assumed it was money. On the pain and injuries aspect, I didn't want to be too descriptive because when I'm describing injuries; I could write novels about what you could see, smell, etc… I basically just don't know when to stop and since I moved the rating to "T", I didn't want to scar people that didn't want to be scarred… When Lucy was going to get patched up, I was planning on glossing over more specifics on what injuries and where. Does that answer a few of your questions? And thank you! I like people asking questions! It kinda acts as my beta.

To TigerArrowgirl since I can't PM you: Thank you soooooo much for your review! Unfortunately, I'm going to try to stick with updating every 1st and 15th of the month. I want to try to have as much of a schedule for as long as possible… I hope you like what I have in store for this fiction :)

To Larissa since I can't PM you: Thank you so much for your review! If it makes you feel any better, whenever I type out puns or dad jokes, I always giggle and laugh. I strive for looking for ways to insert really bad puns and dad jokes into my writing because stupid punny jokes give me life XD

Sorry for the really long AN… Those of you who don't have ff accounts, you should get one! That way you can keep track of all your favorite stories and then message authors or your friends that are also on this site about stuff! It also makes it a lot easier to thank people personally for their reviews and then answer questions that people might have… But until next time, buh-bye! :D