"Natsu, are you home?" Lucy asked. She with Gray, Erza, and Wendy were outside Natsu's door. Natsu opened it up to see all of them there. "Hey! Is that mark still on your arm?"

"Yeah." Natsu said as he showed the red dragon shape mark on his arm. Ever since his duel with Laxus was interrupted by a mysterious dragon, he got this strange mark on his arm and so did Laxus, Wendy, and Gajeel. "I tried everything I could to get this off, but it's like a permanent tattoo."

"I know. Mine won't go away either." Wendy said.

"This is too weird. What are those marks and what the heck was that giant dragon we saw?" Lucy said. Gray and Erza looked at each other and the two of them nodded with them heading out.

"Where are you two going?" Natsu asked.

"We're going to see Gajeel and Laxus." Erza said. "We need to figure this out. Natsu, try not to do anything crazy until we get a lead as to what that mark is."

"That's easier said than done." Gray said.

"What's that suppose to mean?!" Natsu said, but the two just ignored him and kept walking. Instead of just sitting around his home, Natsu and the girls headed out.

"Let's look over what we know." Lucy said as she tried to figure all this out. "That dragon appeared when Igneel and Heavledge collided. When it showed up, those marks appeared on your arms. So what does it mean?"

"What I like to know is why we were given these marks." Wendy said.

"This is too much thinking to my liking." Natsu said. "If I'm going to do all this thinking, I'm going to need food. Let's go to this neat restaurant. I know a shortcut!" Natsu dived into an alleyway.

"Natsu, come back here!" Lucy said as she and Wendy went after him. Natsu took turns in alleyways with the girls trying to stay close to him. However, they ended up in what looked like an abandon arcade. "Nice shortcut."

"Guess I made a wrong turn somewhere." Natsu said. "Oh well. Maybe there's some great food in here." He went on inside with the girls and the place looked creepy.

"I don't like it here." Wendy said as she was scared.

"Yeah. Natsu, let's just get out of here." Lucy said, but they heard the door close. They looked behind them and saw a guy with a blonde Mohawk in a tracksuit.

"You little kids shouldn't be here."

"Who are you?" Natsu said.

"The name's Racer and this is our territory."

"Our?" Lucy questioned. Soon the lights came on and they were met with four other people. Two girls, one with white hair and a feathery dress, the other with short purple hair in a green dress. The other was a large man with orange puffy hair. The last was another man with long hair that was part black and part white with a braid in it.

"Um…sorry to bother you. We just took a wrong turn somewhere." Lucy said. "If you be kind enough to open the door, we'll be on our way."

"What's the matter? You don't like to have fun?" Racer said. "Hey, Midnight, what should we do with these guys."

"I'm not exactly sure." Midnight said as he fiddled with his braid. "Any ideas? Hoteye? Angel?"

"They wondered into our territory. They have to pay the price for it." Angel said.

"Surely we can let this slide in the name of love." Hoteye said.

"Love has nothing to do with this." Angel said.

"Midnight? Racer? Hoteye? Angel? I've heard of them before." Wendy said. "They're part of a punk group known as the Oracion Seis."

"Kinana, do you have any ideas?" Midnight asked.

"Um…I'm with Hoteye. Cant' we just let them go. It sounds like they didn't mean to be here." Kinana said.

"Seriously, you and Hoteye need to toughen up. Grow some backbone." Angel said.

"What's all the ruckus about?" All of them looked up on the second floor and saw a guy with maroon hair. He wore a dark purple shirt with red leather pants.

"Sorry, Cobra. Didn't mean to wake you up." Angel said with sarcasm. "We were just trying to figure out what to do with some uninvited guests."

"You guys want trouble? I'll give you trouble." Natsu said as he was ready to rumble, but Lucy and Wendy were trying to stop him.

"No, Natsu! We've got to go!" Lucy said. As Natsu was flailing his arms around, Cobra saw the mark on Natsu's arm.

"Just let them leave." Cobra said.

"Even you?" Midnight questioned.

"They've got nothing to do with us and they're just wasting our time." Cobra said as he reached over for a white coat. As he placed it on, Natsu was able to spot a purple dragon mark right on his arm.

"Alright. You guys got lucky. So get out!" Racer said as all three of them were shoved out the door.

"This is our turf. Remember that the next time you swing by." Angel said.

"Got it. Let's get out of here!" Lucy said as she grabbed Wendy and Natsu and ran out of there. Natsu kept looking back and thought about what he saw on Cobra.

"Natsu, what's wrong?" Wendy ask.

"Didn't you guys see it? That one guy they called Cobra, he had a mark on his arm too." Natsu said. "Maybe he knows what these marks mean."

…

Levy

Levy just finished doing herself some shopping. She carried the bags and saw Gajeel was there with his motorcycle. She went over to speak with him as Gajeel just sat there and stared at the mark on his arm.

"Gajeel, hi!" Levy said. "What are you doing here?" Gajeel just ignored her and kept his focus on his arm. "When did you get a tattoo? I hope it's only temporary." He still continued to ignore her and it was getting on her nerves. "Hey! I don't like being ignored."

"Then go bug someone else." Gajeel said. "You've always been buzzing around like the bug you are." Gajeel placed his helmet on and was ready to drive off. "I don't like to spend my times with nuisances. I've got more important things to do." He started up his bike and drove off. Levy felt hurt from Gajeel saying that for all Levy has ever done since she met Gajeel was being nice. She never admitted this to anyone, but she actually had feelings for him.

"Fine. Be that way." Levy said as she tried to hold back her tears as she ran off. Gajeel was just driving around. He wanted to know more about the mark on his arm and couldn't deal with distractions. Gajeel someone pull in front of him and got him to stop. Both of them took off their helmets and he saw it was Gray.

"What do you want?" Gajeel asked.

"That was a little harsh on what you said to Levy." Gray said.

"You came out here to give me a lecture?" Gajeel said.

"No, but you are going to apologize. We want the same as you. Natsu and the others want to know what's the deal with that mark on your arm." Gray said.

"Are you kidding me? Why would I want to work with Salamander?" Gajeel said.

"It might be the only way to get answers." Gray said. Gajeel wanted answers, but did that mean he had to work with his least favorite person.

…

The Guild

Erza already found Laxus and he was talking to his grandfather. Laxus showed the mark to Makarov, but it seemed that even he didn't know any better.

"That's quite the tattoo you got." Makarov said.

"It's not a tattoo. You must have saw the dragon the other night too. It was hard to miss." Laxus said. "My arm started to hurt and the next thing I knew was that this mark was on my arm."

"Master, this mark is also on Wendy, Natsu, and Gajeel. What does any of this mean?" Erza said.

"I wish I knew, but I don't." Makarov said.

"If even you don't know, where are we going to get answers?" Erza said. That's when Laxus' phone went off and he got a mysterious message.

"This is strange." Laxus said. "Meet me at the bridge over the river by Waver Street at dusk. Sign, Anonymous."

"Do you think it's a challenge?" Erza said.

"Only one way to find out." Laxus said.

…..

Natsu

Natsu hanged back in the alley with the Oracion Seis' little hideout. He tried to stay hidden if any of them showed up. Wendy and Lucy were with him as well.

"Natsu, why are we doing this?" Lucy asked.

"That Cobra guy has the same mark on his arm as the rest of us." Natsu said. "This could be the chance we've been waiting for."

"But what are you going to do? I don't think he'll just give us answers." Wendy said. Natsu just held up his arm to keep them back as he saw Cobra come out.

"Cobra!" Cobra looked behind him and saw Kinana.

"What is it?" Cobra said.

"Where are you going exactly?" Kinana said.

"I'm just going for a walk is all. If you're going to ask if you can come, forget it." Cobra said. Cobra just left it at that and just kept walking. Natsu and the girls stayed out of sight until he passed them. Natsu carefully walked out as he tried to follow him. Cobra seemed to have known that he was being followed and started running, but Natsu went after him.

…

Cobra

Cobra kept running and running to try and shake Natsu. He made over a bridge and decided enough was enough.

"That's it! Quit following me!" Cobra called out as he turned to face Natsu. "What do you want?"

"What I want is answers." Natsu said. "I saw the mark on your arm." When he mentioned it, Cobra reached grabbed his right arm. "I want to know what this mark is. If you don't know, maybe we can help each other."

"I don't want your help. I don't know who you are, what this mark means, and I frankly don't care." Cobra said. "Now get out of my face before I make you."

"You want a piece of me? Bring it." Natsu said as he placed his duel disk.

"You're a stubborn one." Cobra said as he reached for his purple duel disk and placed it on him. The two activated their duel disks and got ready.

"Let's duel!" Both of them said. Meanwhile, Lucy and Wendy were about to see the duel happen.

"Lucy! Wendy!" Both of them saw Erza and Laxus arrived and it would appear that Gray and Gajeel arrived as well.

"What are all of you doing here?" Lucy asked.

"We met earlier and Laxus and Gajeel got a mysterious message to meet here." Gray said. "What's Natsu doing?"

"About to duel. That guy he's dueling is named Cobra and is part of this group called the Oracion Seis. Apparently, he has a mark on his arm too." Lucy said.

"He's got a mark too?!" Erza said.

"This should be interesting." Gajeel said.

"But what if that dragon appears again?" Wendy said. They'll find out soon enough. Natsu looked at the cards he drew and was glad.

'Nice. I've got Brilliant Flame and Burst Fist. If I use these with Iron Fist, I'll deal tons of damage.' Natsu thought.

"I'll start. I'll activate my Thought Listener spell." Cobra said. "This spell will allow me to see all the cards in your hand as long as it stays on the field." Images of Natsu's hand appeared over him. "Nice cards."

"No fair! Can he really do that?" Lucy said.

"Now he'll know what Natsu does before he even does it." Erza said.

"I'm also going to activate Poisonous Touch." Cobra said. "By paying 1000LP, I can select two random cards and send them to the graveyard, but since I can see your cards, it won't be random. I select those two spells."

"No." Natsu said and he had no choice, but to get rid of them as Cobra's points dropped to 3000.

"I'm not done. I summon Cubellios in defense mode." Cobra said as a purple snake with wings came on the field with 1600def points. "I place a face-down and end my turn."

"My turn!" Natsu said as he drew his next card, but Cobra could see that too.

"Fire Dragon Sword Horn." Cobra said. "I'm sure it'll go nice with your Iron Fist, Winger, and that Dragon Calling trap."

"This isn't fair. How's Natsu suppose to fight back if he knows what Natsu's going to do." Wendy said.

"I'm not letting that stop me." Natsu said. "I summon Fire Dragon Sword Horn!" Sword Horn came on the field with 1200atk points. "I've got to get rid of his Thought Listener. I use Sword Horn's ability to destroy one spell or trap on the field. Thought Listener is toasted." Sword Horn went to ram its head against the spell. He made contact and caused an explosion. "Yes!"

"What are you celebrating about?" Cobra said. The smoke cleared away and showed his spell was still there.

"How is it still there?" Natsu said.

"It's because I activated my Duplicate Decoy." Cobra said. "This trap saves a card from being destroyed as long as I have an exact copy in my hand."

"So that means….you have a second Thought Listener in your hand?" Natsu said.

"That's right. It's my ace in the hold." Cobra said. "You aren't the first to try and get rid of my card and you won't be the last. Anything else you like to try that I won't see coming."

"I'll just place a face-down, even though you know what it is." Natsu said.

"My move." Cobra said. "I summon Twin Headed Snake." A snake with two heads came up with 1400atk points. "I'll also switch Cubellios in attack mode." Cubellios stood up with 1200atk points. "Twin Headed Snake, attack his Sword Horn!" Both snakes stretched out and bit Sword Horn and took him out with Natsu's life points dropping to 3800. "Cubellios, your turn." Cubellios breathed out a cloud of poison that got to Natsu and his life points dropped to 2600. "That should end my turn."

"Here goes!" Natsu said as he drew Talon. "I activate my Dragon Calling trap. This trap allows me to take any two cards from my deck as long as they have Dragon in their name." He drew the two cards. One was Igneel and the other was a spell.

"I see what you're up to." Cobra said.

"Do you? I'm activating Birth of Dragons." Natsu said. "This spell allows me to summon a dragon as long as I discard monsters whose level equals or is greater than his. I'll send my Fire Dragon Iron Fist and Winger to the grave and bring out Fire Dragon Igneel!" Igneel flew out on the field with all 2500atk points. "Igneeel, attack that wing snake!" Igneel breathed out fire and destroyed Cubellios and Cobra's life points dropped to 1700. "I think that will end my turn. Cobra, make the right decision and come with us. We can find answers together. If these marks mean anything, I bet this means we're meant to be friends."

"Friends? Never!" Cobra said as he drew his next card. "Thanks to Twin Headed Serpent's ability, I can use it as two monsters as a sacrifice. So I release him and summon Cuberin the Poison Dragon!" A purple dragon with his wings attacked to his claws and large red eyes and has 2600atk points.

"So he has a dragon too." Natsu said.

"I activate Cuberin's ability. Once a turn, he can drain 500 of your monsters' attack points." Cobra said. Cuberin unleashed poison and Igneel's attack points dropped to 2000. "I'm also going to activate Lethal Poison. Thanks to this, a monster with Poison in its name has its attack points doubled." Cuberin's attack points rose up to 5200.

"Oh no!" Natsu said.

"Cuberin, attack and wipe him out with Poison Breath Decade!" Cobra said. Cuberin shot out volumes of poison and blasted Igneel. Natsu was blown back from the attack as he lost all of his life points.

"He lost!" All of them said.

"No way. I can't believe I lost." Natsu said. He looked up and saw Cobra leaving. "Wait."

"Natsu's your name right?" Cobra said. "I don't know what your deal is, but leave me out of it." Cobra left things at that. The others ran up to Natsu.

"Natsu, are you okay?" Lucy asked.

"Darn it. I thought this was a chance to gain answers and I blew it." Natsu said.

"Excuse me." All of them looked behind them and they were all saw Ultear.

"Who are you?" Gajeel asked.

"My name is Ultear Milkovich. I was the one who called all of you here. If you want answers as to what those marks are, you'll come with me."

To Be Continued…