With a sharp right turn she walked fast to the train station. Even from a distance, she could see the other two. Somehow Bickslow made it there before the other two; even before Freed. The brunette squint her eyes and wondered; out of the three, Freed was always the one who got there first, even before Laxus himself. He must have forgotten something along the way, she presumed.
Laxus stood there with his back turned. His arms were crossed over his chest that was covered in his favorite jacket with a furred finished. The furrows in his forehead deepened as if he was annoyed. His foot stomped onto the ground in a constant speed.
The mage in blue striped robes was leaning against one of the support beams. His outfit was one of his only ones, only much lighter. His shoulder pads were taken off, as well as the gauntlets and other metals that he usually wears; except his usually knight helmet that covers the upper portion of his face. When the mage turned around he smiled at Evergreen with his tongue sticking out to the side. "Four down, one left."
"Four?" she repeated as she raised one of her eyebrows.
Happy's head appeared over Laxus' shoulder. "Aye!" he waved at her with a friendly smile.
"Hap-Happy? He's coming along?!" After coaxing Laxus for years were they able to join Laxus on his missions; yet this Furball was able to come.
Bickslow's body started shaking with laughter. "Emergency food supply!"
"What?!" Happy yelped. His hand flew up and smacked Laxus in the face by accident. In which the giant responded by throwing the cat onto the ground.
"So this is what happens when I'm not around," Freed appeared by standing at the street corner. On his arm was a store bag filled with some items he got on the way.
"You're a minute late," Laxus grumbled. He turned his back and walked off into the train station.
"Now he's irritated," Evergreen mumbled under her breath. She followed behind him quickly with her thighs swinging from one side to the other.
Happy used his Aera and flew over the three of them, following closely behind the Lighting Dragonslayer. "It was an accident," Happy bowed his head low. He didn't want Laxus to kick him out of the train on the ride over.
"Whatever."
Within moments they ordered their tickets for the train. They were heading to Cedar Town, there they would sail across the water and land on Minstrel once they equipped a boat.
Once the quinlet settled that, they boarded a train and took their seats in a booth. Evergreen somehow ended up sitting by Laxus, while Freed was left on the other side with Bickslow. Happy, being small, sat between the two grown men. The girl glazed out of the window; they were the only ones on the train at the moment from boarding so soon. "Where are we heading?"
"Minstrel. We are going to all of the volcanoes, lava pits, on Earthland." The blonde plainly answered. He leaned forward, pressed a button that was in the center, between their seats. The button glowed brightly and lifted a cube in the air. The cube was a bunch of layers on top of each other, and each layer spread out; forming a table in front of all of them.
Freed gracefully moved his items in a bag he kept with on the train; their other entire luggage was stored in spaces over their heads. His hand grabbed onto a folded piece of paper. Bickslow, restlessly eager, took the paper and unfolded it onto the table. After giving Bickslow an annoyed stare, Freed pointed to the map; to Magnolia Town. "In a few hours we will be arriving to Cedar Town." His finger traced the path to the port town on the edge of Fiore. "There, we will acquire a boat and travel across this body of sea, to Minstrel."
"And there is the spot we are going first," Laxus added pressure to the already marked volcano. "Tambora Volcano," he read from the map.
"ALL ABOARD!"
...
The train slowed down on the tracks, soon coming to a halt as it entered the train station. Citizens surrounded the train; not as many as the usual bunch in Magnolia. Laxus pressed the button in the middle and it returned to the floor as if there wasn't a table in the first place. With some rumbles in his stomach, he quickly exited the train with Happy. Evergreen came after him; she was displeased during the trip with her seat next to the sickly Dragonslayer, that she switched with Bickslow in the middle of it.
Freed was still resentful of the two of them.
He walked out with the others on the train and those who charged inside. His foot stepped on the pavement and he looked around. This was the Port Town. All of the country's surplus goods came here to be shipped across the sea to different lands, in return for exports and jewels. Other than being heavily influenced by knights and military force, the town wasn't much else.
Not many of the guild members been to this area. The closest guild from this city was Lamia Scale; so there weren't as many quests that came to Fairy Tail. But there wasn't much here for others to want to visit in the first place. If it wasn't for the ports, Freed would have looked over this town and found another point.
He matched his pace with the blonde and side glanced at him. Happy, now walking next to Bickslow squealed with delight. "Fish!"
"That does look yummy," Bickslow excited as much as Happy. He leaned over and rubbed his stomach when it growled.
"We missed breakfast..." Evergreen commented. She looked at Laxus. "Maybe it will be a good idea to get some before we head out again."
"Fine."
...
"WHERE ARE THEY?!"
"Master! Calm down!" Mirajane pleaded.
The master, using his magic, grew to gigantic sizes that he was standing above the Fairy Tail building. "Stupid Brats!" he cursed. "Once I get my hands on them!" He cracked his knuckles together and the sound echoed throughout the city.
"Master Makarov!" The guild members shouted. He looked at them from his height, and squeezed. He took a few breaths and decreased his size to half of the Fairy Tail building.
"I will go get them," Erza stated as she took a few steps away from the crowded mage. Her voice seemed unheard from the others, but she had a chance of stopping the two and ended up missing the point.
"They must have known something. It's not like Freed to go along without any leads," Gray uttered as he stepped behind Erza.
One again Master shrunk down to his normal height. He looked at his children in front of him and rubbed his head. He could already feel pieces of his hair falling out from all of the stress these mages were causing him. Not only is Natsha missing, but now his grandson, Freed, Bickslow, Happy and Evergreen are as well. "What do you suppose happen then?" Master questioned.
"I don't kn-"
"Dragons," Gajeel walked along the street as citizens came running in fright. He stopped at the corner as everyone turned their heads and gave him questioning looks of confusion.
"What do you mean?" Lucy questioned. "Didn't dragons disappear fourteen years ago?"
"There hasn't been an actual sighting ever since."
"Airhead's cat had a vis'ion from moments before Pinky disappeared. She heard the friggin' spell in Dragon tongue."
"Dragon tongue?"
Master looked up and made eye contact. "Was this what Wendy was going too said to me yesterday?"
"Yup, but she fell asleep waiting for you two to stop talkin'. Guild was closin' so I took her home."
Makarov nodded. There weren't as many other reasons Wendy would ask to speak with him, only if it was an important matter. He should have allowed her to speak during that time.
"Did somethin' else happen?" Gajeel questioned as he glazed at all of the guild members standing outside of the guild.
Erza glanced at the doors then to the Iron Dragonslayer. "Happy, Laxus, and the Thunder God Tribe left this morning without any notice."
"They must have went and searched for Natsha on their own."
"Laxus found out..." Master groaned. He knew something like this would have happened once his stubborn grandson heard news of Natsha disappearing; rushing into things unplanned.
"Couldn't the employees at the train station tell us where they went?" Lisanna suggested.
"Laxus-san could have left by foot," Mira shrugged her shoulders. She knew, out of the other guild members, Laxus also had motion sickness as the other Dragonslayers.
"Train is the fastest way," Max added onto Lisanna's statement.
Jet took a few steps out of the crowd and smiled, "Leave this to me." Within moments, he was on top of the hill.
Before any of them could leave the area, Master halted them. "Until Natsha is found, do not leave the city without checking in first. We can't have everyone out without any way to communicate and get them back."
They all agreed.
...
"Cedar Town to Minstrel," Jet unrolled four maps, "They are taking the train to Cedar Town, and boarding a ship across the Settler's Canal. Freed stopped by one of the stores near the train station and picked up these maps. Minstrel. Midi. Diesrtio."
"How do you know?"
Jet gave a hardly laugh, "Everyone knows Fairy Tail mages when they see us! Plus, he left a shopping bag in his trashcan."
"You went through his trash?!" Levy yelped.
"It was along the way to the Train Station. You know Freed, he may be smart but hiding stuff is his worst." He shrugged as if his act of hiding secrets wasn't considered a crime.
"What would be there?" Erza questioned as she looked at the maps.
Master walked across the table and rubbed his chin. "It's a country overpopulated from others trying to escape from neighboring countries that is thrown in chaos. There is only a mile between each town, city, and village. Yet the King allows more and more helpless people into his country. Finding one individual would be like finding a needle in a haystack. The only thing that kept it protected from other countries, are the rocky terrains on its borders."
"How does that have to do with Natsha and Igneel?" Gray questioned. He was quizzical as to why Dragons would be somewhere surrounded by humans. "Wouldn't Dragons try to stay out of sight from humans?"
"There are very few areas that citizens keeps their distances from. Minstrel has the highest mountain in the world; a place where only a few has entered and never returned."
Wendy tilted her head with an absent look on her face. 'Would Grandeeney be there...?' she thought. If only she could have enough time to check the mountain pass for her beloved dragon, but that was for another time.
"So they are still on Earthland?" She was talking about the dragons.
Master looked up at Lisanna and answered her question; sort of. "We have limited information about the other countries. For all we know, dragons could have migrated past our borders, into other lands, or live in another realm from ours. There are other realms, isn't that correct, Lucy?" The blonde nodded. She knew, as well as anyone, that there are more realms than what it would seem.
"Isn't that mostly saying that no one knows?" Gray piped up with a deadpan tone. Erza and a few others stared at him; he wasn't one to speak back to Master.
"It is, Gray. Our history of dragons is only filled with blood and hate. Other than that, it's unknown. But it's time."
"For?" Elfman puzzled.
"For Fairy Tail to venture into the unknown." He placed his finger on the bottomless-triangles. "To Desipho Mountains!"
Other than the mountains, only one other thing was marked on the map.
Tambora Volcano.
Once again, the guild members are chasing the wrong leads, while Laxus and the others may actually be on the right track. Can anyone help me decide on the team pairings? Levy, Mira, Erza, Gajeel, Wendy, Gray, Lisanna and Elfman; each in a pair. I was thinking along the lines of having Wendy and Erza together, but I can't think for the rest. Any help would help.
general yumi: Well, it didn't take long. He could have destroyed the whole city in one go.
Danizinhachan: And think about this, there will be more in the future. And yeah, Ever is the only one who ever speaks out about his crush, which Laxus completely ignores...and I think it's in the next chapter. They were more suspicious about the two being up early and being together; they still thought Laxus hasn't heard anything about Natsha being missing. Thanks for reviewing! And your English is better than most!
darkhuntressxir: It wasn't as much fun to write, so I just skipped to them meeting at the train station; with Freed being unusually late. He isn't the type of guy to admit his crush, he rather deny it and claim she's only a guild member and that is the only reason he going to save her.