Here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!
July 6, X791
In a cell in the castle dungeon, Lucy laid face-down on the bottom bunk and Yukino was sitting on the ground against the wall with her arms folded.
"Lucy?" A voice whispered from outside of their cell. "Lucy?"
Lucy looked up and raised herself up upon seeing Natsu, Wendy, Mirajane, the Exceeds, Lionel and Kyo outside of the cell.
"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed. "And Mira and Wendy, too!"
"We're here, too!" Happy waved.
"I'm here, too, by the way…" Lionel said while looking away.
"You guys…" Lucy said.
Yukino, looking a bit surprised, she eyed the group and spotted Kyo, who was trying to hide behind Lionel.
"Kyo, why are you here?" Yukino asked.
"Crap, she actually saw me…" Kyo muttered.
"Dude, you came to break her out, how could she not notice you?" Lionel questioned.
Kyo pulled Lionel by the collar. "Say another word and I'll break your face!"
"You came… for me?" Yukino asked Kyo as her eyes were tearing up. "But I thought… I… Thank you."
Kyo looked over at Yukino and his face kind of turned red. He then pushed Lionel so hard that he fell over.
"Well, it's not like I did it for you or anything…" Kyo played coy.
"Get waaay back." Natsu warned the imprisoned girls.
Natsu began melting the bars with his magic until he was able to rip them apart. As the girls got out, Mirajane came up to them with clothes in her arms.
"We brought you both a change of clothes." Mirajane said.
"Thanks so much, you guys!" Lucy said as she took some of the clothes.
"No, thank you." Yukino said. "I do not need them."
Mirajane and Yukino held up a tarp in front of Lucy so she could change behind them while everyone else waited.
"All that's left is to escape." Carla said.
"And it'd be best to get out unnoticed." Lily added.
"We can't leave yet!" Lucy said while still changing behind the tarp. "They took my keys! We've got to get them back!"
Suddenly, the floor beneath them opened up and they all began falling through it, completely catching them by surprise.
"I'm still changing, you know!" Lucy yelled.
They continued falling until they reached the floor of a cavern, with Natsu landing first, then Kyo on top of him, followed by Lionel, Wendy, Lucy, Yukino, Mirajane and the Exceeds.
"That hurt!" Lucy winced in pain.
"Where are we?" Natsu wondered.
"Welcome to the Palace of Hades." A voice echoed throughout the expansive cavern. "Thank you for falling directly into our trap."
"Trap?!" Carla gasped.
"Just look around you." The voice continued. "This is Hades, the city of death. The final taste of freedom for the guilty. No one has ever escaped."
Above their heads materialized a projection of a young woman with jade hair and royal garments.
"You have my leave to rot here as punishment!" The young woman said.
"Who's that?" Natsu asked.
"The Princess of the Palace." Yukino answered.
"Now you listen here, you uppity bitch!" Kyo shouted. "I'm not gonna-"
Mirajane put her hand over Kyo's face, muffling his words so they couldn't be heard. At that time, the projection dissipated.
"Dammit! Where's the exit?" Natsu looked around.
"I don't see a way out of here!" Volt whined.
"If we start to starve, I recommend we cook the cats, first." Kyo said and then pointed to Volt. "Especially that one. He looks real tasty."
"Like hell!" "Like heck!" Lionel and Volt yelled at Kyo, respectively.
"Well, you can starve. Nobody cares about you." Kyo said.
Lionel headbutt Kyo. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to pick a fight!"
Kyo headbutt him back. "Well, you don't know any better because I AM trying to pick a fight!"
"Knock it off, you two!" Lucy shouted.
"I'll take both of you on, right now!" Natsu joined in.
The three had a headbutting competition.
"Ugh, men…" Lucy sighed in exasperation.
After the guys tired themselves out, the Exceeds had come back from scouting the area.
"Natsu, every crack in the ceiling is blocked!" Happy said.
"Dammit!" Natsu muttered under his breath.
"I doubt there IS an exit." Carla guessed.
"But we came so far…" Lionel said.
"It's like the grave robbers literally walked into their own graves." Mirajane joked and smiled.
"That's pretty pathetic…" Wendy said.
"Now that it's come to this, we may need to draw a map on someone's body." Lily suggested.
Lionel held his nose while looking at the women. "Any volunteers?"
"Come to think of it, Natsu, what about the games?" Lucy asked.
"Juvia's filling in for me." Natsu answered.
"He said that he was going to rescue Lucy and wouldn't take no for an answer." Happy said.
"Aww, now you're making me blush." Lucy said.
"It isn't as if we forgot you either, Yukino." Natsu said.
"No… I never expected…" Yukino responded.
Yukino turned to Kyo and as soon as he saw her turn, he turned away somewhat bashfully. Lionel looked between the two of them.
"You can cut the sexual tension between them with a knife." Lionel whispered to Volt.
Mirajane popped up behind Yukino and turned her around to face Lucy.
"Doesn't this girl remind you of Lisanna?" Mirajane asked Lucy.
"Now that you mention it…" Lucy said.
"Who is this Lisanna?" Yukino asked.
"My little sister." Mirajane answered with a cute smile.
Yukino could feel tenderness coming from Mirajane, but then Carla flew up to the group.
"Everyone, there's a passage over this way!" Carla said.
They all followed Carla to a tight passageway that was difficult to squeeze through. When Wendy came out first, she noticed something lying on the ground.
"Somebody's there!" Wendy told them.
The rest of them made it through the crack and saw that the person was an injured Arcadios.
"Colonel Arcadios!" Yukino gasped.
"Hey! Are you okay?" Natsu ran to Arcadios and shook him. "Wake up! What are you doing here?"
"Was he dropped down here just like we were?" Lucy wondered.
Arcadios stirred and regained a bit of consciousness.
"… Just… run…" Arcadios struggled to speak.
Behind them all was a large man with a bottle between his teeth. He raised his fist and hurled it toward the group of wizards. They all managed to dodge the fist, with Natsu grabbing Arcadios out of the way. Some sort of liquid splashed when the giant man's fist hit the ground that seemed to melt it.
"What is this?" Lucy asked.
"Acid." Lily surmised.
"Tai tai… Tai!" A goofy-looking man stood in front of Wendy. "Tai?" He pulled out a flag and started waving it. "Huge catch! Taiiiiiii!"
Everyone was lifted off the ground for a bit from a burst of water that came out of nowhere.
"Who are these guys…" Natsu said.
Next to the two strange men, a flower sprouted from the ground and as it bloomed, it revealed a pink-haired woman. Then a gust of small papers blew by and stuck together to form a human shape, showing another woman with dark hair. Then a masked, armored man with twin scythes walked up to them.
"They are an independent squad that supports the nation from the shadows…" Arcadios stated. "The country's greatest executioners… The Hungry Wolf Knights! They're why no one has ever escaped the Palace of Hades."
"By the authority granted to the Hungry Wolf Knights, we will now execute any and all lawbreakers." The masked man announced.
There was a moment of tense air, but that ended as soon as Natsu burst into laughter.
"Natsu, this is no laughing matter!" Lucy scolded him.
"Look at 'em!" Natsu said. "None of them look like 'knights', especially him!" He pointed at the strange-looking fisherman.
"Don't be fooled by their looks…" Arcadios said. "They magic they use… is meant to kill."
"If they work with the guards, then that means they know an exit!" Natsu stated.
"That's right." Mirajane agreed. "If we beat them, they'll tell us how to get out!"
Lily transformed into his burlier combat form. "Happy, Carla, stay back."
"You really… intend to fight?" Arcadios questioned.
"You do not fear the Hungry Wolf Knights?" The masked man asked. "You ignorant scum! I will return you to Fiore's soil!"
"Time to go, Cosmos." The dark-haired woman pulled out a piece of red paper.
"Kamika's and my beautiful dance, right?" The pink-haired woman, Cosmos, said.
"Mind if I cut in?" Kyo spoke before appearing in Steelbody form next to Kamika and elbowing her in the chin upward.
Kamika was forced all the way to the wall and clutched her jaw.
"Aahhh…" Kamika winced and coughed. "Why…"
Kyo just stared in shock as he just brutalized the woman with such a merciless strike.
"Oh, my God, I am so sorry!" Kyo apologized. "I thought you were ready!"
A thick, thorny vine slithered up to Kyo and began to constrict him around his arms, lifting him off the ground and thrashed him about the area.
"Ow! Dammit! You vegan bitch!" Kyo shouted.
Kyo began emitting ethernano that spread between the cracks in his armor, weakening the vine until he broke free through pure strength and landed on the ground, stood up and found himself surrounded by Cosmos and Kamika. Kyo was willing to fight back, but also conflicted.
"This is confusing!" Kyo said as he looked back and forth between them. "Is it sexist to hit you? Is it more sexist to not hit you? I mean the line's real blurry!"
"Let's clear that up for you, then." Kamika said as she blew the red paper toward Kyo. "Paper Storm… Red Dance!"
The paper became thousands and flew toward Kyo, but Natsu got in front of the attack.
"I'll just burn those away!" Natsu shouted.
Natsu shot flames from his arms at the paper, but they didn't burn at all despite the fact that they were on fire.
"The red paper is the spirit of flame." Kamika sirked. "Now be scattered like ashes!"
Wendy puffed out her cheeks. "Sky Dragon… Roar!"
Wendy blew the flaming paper away with her breath attack.
"Pretty…" Cosmos mumbled.
A plant rose from underneath Wendy and trapped her inside its mouth.
"A pretty dancing doll…" Cosmos said. "This is a corpse flower that blooms blood."
Mirajane transformed to her Sitri form punched the plant and it exploded to pieces with Wendy unscathed. Another bud grew and shot out a vine that headed right for Lucy and Yukino, but Lily sliced it up with his large sword. The burly knight tried to attack Lily from behind and Lionel shot his Lightning Dragon Roar at him. It didn't do much against him, but Lily managed to get some distance from that attacker.
"Paper Storm: Purple Dance!" Kamika sent forth a gust of purple papers.
When the purple paper touched the wizards, they were paralyzed.
"What is this?!" Natsu exclaimed.
"My body won't move!" Mirajane said.
"Purple paper is the spirit of restriction." Kamika stated.
"This will be a pretty liaison." Kamika said before summoning a massive plant above them. "Grow Flow!"
"IT'S HUGE!" Lionel shouted.
"Summoning magic?!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Eat those petty criminals alive…" Cosmos ordered.
The massive flower began sucking them all into its maw, the wizards holding onto whatever they could to keep from being pulled in. However, Yukino was about to be sucked in when Kyo grabbed her hand.
"Don't worry, I got you!" Kyo said.
Yukino smiled. "Thank you…"
"Release me!" Wendy shouted as she began casting a spell. "Affliction Recovery Magic: Lese!"
Everyone was released from the paper's curse and looked at the giant plant.
"What do we do with that thing?" Lily asked.
"Break it!" Natsu replied.
Natsu, Kyo, Lionel, Mirajane and Lily all attacked the large flower simultaneously, resulting in an explosion that destroyed the plant and caused the cavern to collapse.
A/N: Sorry this took so long, but I needed to meet with my friend lordsoftheRoses to write parts of this chapter. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!