Natsu might have survived in his duel against Hades, but Hades was still able to walk away. At the moment, all of them stood and faced the faces of evil.

"So these guys are the ones holding the dragons? This is a joke. If Pinky couldn't beat a couple old men, what chance do these guys have against us?" The one in yellow said.

"Say that again. Who are you exactly?" Natsu asked. He took off his hood to reveal to be a man with a crazed look on his face with long and messy blonde hair.

"My name is Zancrow." He reached for his sleeve and showed a bat marking on his arm. "I hold the mark of the bat."

"It is fitting that we introduce ourselves." The one in green said. He took off his hood to show he had brown hair that looked like confetti with a goatee. He showed a cat marking on his arm. "My name is Azuma and I hold the mark of the cat."

"Honestly I don't care who you guys are. We came here to duel." Laxus said.

"Always wanting to get straight to the point, Laxus. You always were loud like the beating war drum." The one in blue said. He took off his hair and they saw glasses with a silver pompadour. "Loud as thunder in the way you speak and your dueling from our last encounter."

"We dueled before?" Laxus questioned, but got a good look at him. "Hold on. I've seen you somewhere before."

"Yes. We dueled at the junior league championship."

"That's right! Back when I was fifteen." Laxus said as he was starting to remember. "In the finals. You were my opponent and I remembered I beat you."

"Yes and I've been reborn like the phoenix." He took his arm off and showed a bug marking. "My name is Rustyrose for those who don't know. I hold the mark of the moth."

"You should also meet our newest recruits." The one in pink stepped forward. She took off her hood and showed it was Kinana. That was a surprise to everyone.

"Kinana! What are you doing here?" Erik said.

"I'm there newest member Erik." Kinana said.

"Say what? This has to be some sort of joke." Erik said.

"It's not." Kinana said as she held out her arm. "It's fitting that I was given the mark of the snake since that's what you are."

"Enough with the introductions!" Natsu shouted since he still hold anger for what happened to Macao and Makarov. "We came here to duel! Let's do it now!"

"Patience, boy." Hades said. "The timing isn't right. The dueling starts tomorrow at dawn. We shall duel at the Five Gates." The six of them turned away, but Gajeel thought he caught a glimpse of the last one under the hood and she looked familiar.

"No! I said now!" Natsu said as he went after them and Gajeel went too. The two of them tried to follow them, but Natsu already lost them. "Get out here!"

"And people say I'm a hothead." Zancrow said. "You heard the old man, moron. You'll wait until tomorrow."

"What are you waiting for? Get out here and duel me!" Natsu shouted. The last enemy, in orange, kept moving through the shadows.

"Hey!" She turned around and saw Gajeel. "Yeah you. Why do you look familiar? Who are you?" She tried to run, but Gajeel was able to reach out enough to get the hood off. Who he saw under there was a complete shock to him. "Levy? Is that you?"

"Yes, Gajeel." Levy said as she turned to face him.

"What's going on? You can't really be one of them, can you?" Gajeel asked.

"If you want answers, you'll have to find me. Remember, look for the owl." Levy said and took off again.

"Levy!" Gajeel called out, but she already vanished into the shadows.

…..

Romeo's House

All of them headed back to the house. Romeo was practically broken about what happened to his Dad and he and Asuka blamed themselves for it happening.

"Natsu, I'm sorry. I wanted to help, but I just made things worse." Romeo said.

"It was dangerous of you two to go no matter what." Alzack said.

"At least the two of you are safe." Bisca said as she wasn't letting go of Asuka.

"So is Mr. Conbolt gone for good?" Asuka asked, but no one knew how to answer that.

"No, he's not." Natsu said. "We have to stay strong. We have to believe that if we defeat those six creeps, everything and everyone will go back to the way it was."

"You don't know that for sure." Erik said.

"No. Natsu has the right idea." Erza said. "We need to have faith that will happen. Keeping hope alive is what will help give us the strength to prevail." All of them agreed. They don't know what will happen once they win, but they just need to believe that they will bring everyone back.

"At least we have an idea on who we're up against." Gajeel said.

"Yes and I have much more." Ultear said as he placed out some papers. "Jellal was able to give us some additional information about what we're up against."

"How about we start with that Hades guy." Gray said. "Is what he told us true? Is he really the one responsible for all of this?"

"Actually yes." Meldy said. "Precht, aka Hades, was the head researcher of a team that studied the legend of the dragons. It soon lead them underground to Magnolia. They must have thought they would find the remains there. My guess is that they're using the underground laboratory as their base."

"However, there was an accident a little over ten years ago." Ultear said. "That accident is what caused the darkness to be free and formed a gateway to the underworld."

"There were precautions taken before the accident and it didn't affect the city." Meldy said. "Hades must have spent all the years to gather forces powerful enough for this moment."

"So how do we stop them?" Wendy asked.

"They said that they want to meet at the Five Gates. What are those exactly?" Lucy said.

"He must be referring to the five control towers throughout the city." Ultear said. "Hades' research team ran many energy experiments. The control towers were used to stabilize all the energy so they wouldn't affect the city."

"Hades must have reversed engineer them and they're having the reverse affect." Meldy said. "That must be what's helping the darkness spread through the city."

"According to Jellal, Hades even turned them into monuments for the Underworld Lords." Ultear said. "There's the bat, the moth, the owl, the snake, and the cat."

"Hang on. Hades' mark is the vulture. What about that one?" Gray said.

"The vulture is marked the center of it all and is considered the most powerful." Ultear said.

"The vulture is Hades and he is the one behind all this. That must mean he's the leader." Laxus said.

"And I'm willing to bet that if we want to get to him, we'll have to get through the others first." Gajeel said.

"That's right." Ultear said. "If we want the city to be free from the darkness, we have to head to the Five Gates and shut them down."

"How do we do that?" Natsu said.

"Your dragon cards are the key." Meldy said.

"Our dragons?" Natsu questioned.

"Yes. They should act as passkeys that will access a code that will shut the towers down." Ultear said. "At least that's what Jellal's info says."

"All this information is unreal. It's like he knew how all this would play out. How did Jellal obtain all this information?" Erza asked.

"I'm not sure." Ultear said. "All I know is that this information is useful and it will help us win this battle." Ultear took out a map that showed the locations of the five towers in the shape of a pentagon. "Here are the Five Gates. The Bat, Moth, Snake, Owl, and Cat."

"They're pretty spread out." Meldy said.

"So what's the plan? Hit them one by one?" Natsu asked.

"That will take way too long." Laxus said. "Besides, a duel is one-on-one. We'll have to split up. Five towers, five dragons."

"But we're a team. Shouldn't we stay together? That's what Jellal said." Wendy asked.

"We don't need to be together to be a team." Natsu said.

"So who's going where?" Lucy asked.

"Well, since the boss seems to be off limits, I'll go for that Zacu, or whatever his name is, since he's the bat." Natsu said. "I'm going to burn his arrogant mouth."

"Kinana is the snake. I've got to help her." Erik said.

"Rustyrose is the moth. I'll head there. I'm sure he like to settle the score." Laxus said.

"The owl must be…..her." Gajeel said as he remembered Levy's words and didn't want to reveal it was her. "I'll take that one."

"I guess that leaves me with….Azuma since he's the cat." Wendy said.

"If you guys are going long distances, you can borrow our rides." Alzack said.

"Natsu, how about I give you a lift over to that Zancrow." Gray offered.

"Lucy, I think you and I should go with Wendy." Erza said.

"Good idea." Lucy said.

"Erik, Ultear and I will go with you." Meldy said. Getting their fast is what they all need and they agreed.

"So tomorrow we save the world!" Natsu said.

"Yeah!" All of them cheered as they thrusted their fists against each other and are ready for a battle they can't lose.

…..

A Few Hours Later

With Erza and Ultear in the driver seats of the cars they were given, all of them were getting ready to start the end game. Laxus, Gajeel, and Gray were able to get their motorcycles and were revved to go.

"You all have the coordinates, right?" Erza said.

"Yeah. So if anyone has a peppy speech or something, get it over with." Gajeel said.

"I've got something." Natsu said. "I know we might be different duelists, but just remember that we have each other's backs. That's how Fairy Tail works. We're with each other in spirit."

"Just remember I'm not a member. Let's just get going." Erik said.

"Let's go!" Natsu said as all of them drove off to face their battles.

…..

Wendy

Wendy was being driven to her duel against Azuma by Lucy and Erza. From the house, the control tower of the cat was the closest. That meant it wouldn't be long until they reached there.

"Wendy?" Lucy said to get her attention.

"Yeah?" Wendy said.

"Are you alright? You're not scared or nervous are you?" Lucy said.

"Wendy, you don't have to go through this if you really don't want to." Erza said.

"I know, but I have to." Wendy said, but Erza still didn't seem so sure. 'I just hope I'm really ready for this? I'm still not sure if I'm the right person for the job. What if I lose? What if I mess up? The whole world will be lost in darkness because of it.' Wendy noticed her deck was glowing. She opened up and saw it was her Grandine card.

"Hey, what's with your card?" Lucy said.

"I don't know." Wendy said. "It's never done this before." The card glowed even brighter and shined a light that shot straight into the sky. That light didn't' go unnoticed by Gray and Natsu.

"Gray, look at that." Natsu said. Gray pulled over and saw it.

"That's coming from the direction the girls went." Gray said. The light caused Erza to lose control of the car and nearly caused them to crash until the light faded away.

"Is everyone okay?" Erza asked.

"Why did I tag along again?" Lucy complained. "Wendy, are you okay?" When she didn't get an answer, she saw Wendy wasn't there anymore. "Wendy?!"

"What's the matter?" Erza asked.

"It's Wendy! She just disappeared!" Lucy said.

"What?!" Erza said and saw no sign of her. "She has to be around here somewhere. Let's split up and look for her."

"Right." Lucy agreed as they all got out and started looking. "Wendy!"

"Wendy! Where are you?!" Erza called out. They looked around for her, but there wasn't a sign of her anywhere. "Wendy!" Erza stopped when she saw she was faced with a tower in a cleared area. She took a look and saw a cat on it. "This must be the control tower. Wendy might have fooled the others, but not me. She's too terrified to duel, but I'm not." She stepped towards the tower. "Azuma! Come out here!"

"I've been waiting for you." Azuma said as the purple flames rose out and surrounded Erza with it forming the cat sign that everyone noticed. It also marking the beginning of the end game. "Who are you?" Erza looked and was faced with Azuma. "You aren't one of the dragons. What are you doing here?"

"To duel you." Erza said. Lucy saw the flames and got to higher ground and saw the faceoff.

"I was expecting one of the dragons." Azuma said.

"Wendy was suppose to duel you, but I'm going to protect her. If you want her, you'll have to get through me." Erza said.

"Erza!" Lucy called out. That was just when Gray and Natsu showed up.

"Lucy!" Gray called out as the two of them went up to her. "What's going on?"

"Wendy just disappeared and it looks like Erza is taking that Azuma guy on." Lucy said.

"Hey, she's doesn't have one of the dragons. Take me on." Natsu said.

"I'm afraid that can't be done. Once the game starts, it can't be stopped." Azuma said.

"Erza, get out of there!" Gray called out.

"Erza? I've heard of you. You're Titania. You're suppose to be a skilled and powerful duelist." Azuma said. "Perhaps this won't be boring after all."

"Erza, don't do this!" Natsu said.

"I have to." Erza said. "Don't you get it? Wendy's too scared to duel, but if I beat him, she won't have to."

"You really think you can beat me? Let's see if that's true." Azuam said as he placed his duel disk on and Erza did the same as they both were ready to start.

"Let's duel!"

…

Wendy

Wendy was enveloped by the light. When she opened her eyes, she had no idea where she was. She was surrounded by clouds and the blue sky. She looked around and it looked like she was actually in the sky.

"Where am I?" Wendy asked. Where did she go? Will she make it back or will Erza be lost to the darkness.

To Be Continued…