Here's the next chapter! Hope you all enjoy!

July 7, X791

After Natsu and Lucy tumbled through the city in a large bell, Lionel followed the carnage left behind from the buildings until he spotted a patch of pink and blonde hair in the distance.

*This is it!* Lionel thought with a perverted smile. *This is my best chance of seeing Lucy naked and taking in all the sights she has to offer!*

As he got closer, he saw Natsu's hands latching onto her breasts to which Lucy angrily socked him in the face. While Natsu was in the middle of sitting back up, Lionel punched him and sent him lying back down.

"Why did YOU hit me?!" Natsu questioned upsettingly.

"Don't have to tell you!" Lionel replied.

Happy finally caught up to the three and floated down with Lucy's spirit keys in his paws.

"You kids sure grow up fast these days!" Happy said.

"Lucy's turned into a perv and Lionel's a jerk!" Natsu shouted.

"I'm not naked on purpose!" Lucy argued as she covered herself with a nearby sheet. "A dragon did this to me!"

"So even you and Lionel together couldn't take on that Rogue, Natsu?" Happy asked as he flew to his Dragon Slayer buddy.

"We could've beaten him!" Lionel protested. "… If only that stupid dragon weren't in the way."

"Both of them are pretty tough, gotta admit." Natsu said.

"Are all dragons that ferocious?" Lucy asked as she wrapped the sheet around her like a towel. "I mean, that fire guy, that rock guy and even Zirconis… I was almost eaten by him back there…"

Natsu blankly stared at Lucy for a few seconds.

"… That's it!" Natsu exclaimed as he suddenly grabbed Lucy's arms. "I just had a great idea!"

Lucy's sheet fell and Lionel could see her exposed body, causing blood to burst from his nose and fall backwards from the force.

"I've got it!" Natsu said as he practically ignored Lucy's situation. "A way to beat him!"

In the ruins of one of the capital's districts, Foster had slain a wave of hatchlings with another already on its way.

"Foster!"

Foster turned to a voice calling to him and saw Meredy running towards him.

"Meredy!" Foster ran up and hugged her. "Thank God you're safe! Where are Ultear and Morticia?"

"They went to help out across the city." Meredy answered.

"Okay." Foster said. "Meredy, find a place to hide until this whole thing blows over!"

"No!" Meredy proudly protested. "There are people who need my help! I won't just stand around and do nothing!"

"Remember what Ultear said earlier? What if I DID get you pregnant already, but we just don't know it yet?" Foster gently clasped Meredy's hands into his. "If you died here… along with our child…" He looked down and his eyes were becoming glazed with tears.

Meredy bit her lip and slipped her smaller fingers between Foster's fingers. "Foster… If I am pregnant, then I'll be more focused on staying alive! Just… promise me you'll come back alive, too."

"Meredy…" Foster looked straight into her eyes. "I have absolutely NO intention of dying out there. I promise."

Foster and Meredy leaned their faces toward each other and engaged in a deep, emotion-filled kiss before going off in separate directions.

Aqua was running through the streets, making her way to Domus Flau to retrieve the still recovering Jayden. A horde of hatchlings appeared in front of her and forced her to stop in her tracks.

"Get out of my way!"

Water formed around Aqua's stubble and took the shape of a whip which she slung at the hatchlings, slicing them in half upon contact. Despite a large number of them being killed, there were dozens more that were out of the attack's range and surrounded Aqua like a pack of wolves.

"Damn it!"

Aqua created a sword made out of water in her left hand and another aquatic whip taking the place of her right arm.

In the castle's courtyard while Wendy and Mirajane were busy fighting Zirconis in the skies, Kyo and Yukino were left on the ground when the former sensed something coming from nearby.

"YUKINO, DOWN!"

Kyo tackled Yukino to the ground as a white laser shot right past and above them. They looked to where the blast came from and saw a pack of hatchlings approaching them.

"Yukino, stay back!" Kyo said as he coated himself with his Steelbody Magic.

"No!" Yukino got next to Kyo and pulled out one of her golden keys. "I can help, too! I won't let you face these things alone!"

Kyo just looked at Yukino for a couple of seconds before smiling.

Elsewhere, Lionel was jogging through the partially destroyed city streets and grumbling to himself.

"'You should help someone out with the dragons' she says." Lionel was referring to what Lucy told him to do before he went off on his own. "She's not the boss of me!"

Out of nowhere, something flew through one of the buildings and landed in the street, forming a large crater and lifting up a large amount of dust. A silhouette stood up from within the dust cloud and Lionel almost instantly recognized who it was just by its scent.

"Sakura?!" Lionel exclaimed in surprise.

When it cleared the figure that crashed was revealed to be Sakura.

"Lionel?" Sakura looked to him. "Where have you been all day? You vanished this morning without saying a word!"

"I should be asking why you just came through a building!" Lionel retorted.

Sakura pointed in the direction she came from and Lionel saw Talfos climbing over the building and crushing it under his immense size and weight.

"Impressive, young lady." Talfos spoke. "Most humans would have their bones broken after that."

"Lionel?" Sakura turned to her guild mate. "This guy's pretty tough. I don't know if I can beat him by myself."

"Wait… YOU want ME to help?" Lionel questioned Sakura's thinking. "Who are you and what've you done with Sakura?"

"If this were a simple fight, I wouldn't ask for it." Sakura explained. "These dragons want to kill every last one of us, and the more I think about it, I don't think they're doing it by choice."

"I know." Lionel said. "Lucy told me that the dragons were being controlled by Rogue."

"WAIT! ROGUE?!" Sakura screamed in shock. "THAT BLACK SABER GUY?!"

"Well, a future version of him." Lionel explained. "He came back with Eclipse and made the princess open it so the dragons could come out."

"… Uuuuhh…" Sakura tried to process the words Lionel just said. "… I don't get it…"

"Yeah, it's a really long story…" Lionel groaned in agreement before looking up at Talfos. "Not gonna attack us while we're chatting?"

"Unlike some other members of my kin, I am an honorable gentleman." Talfos answered.

Sakura and Lionel stood back to back against each other.

"So, will you help me out, Lionel?" Sakura asked.

"Don't really have another choice now, do I?" Lionel responded.

"That's hurtful!" Sakura pouted.

Both Dragon Slayers lunged toward Talfos, letting out guttural war cries as their arms became surrounded in their respective elements.

Phoenix Dawn was managing to fend off the hatchlings, but they were finally slowing down after fighting so many for so long.

"There's just no end to them!" Spiral grunted.

Spiral punched a hatchling in the head, amplifying the force to send it flying into its comrades and creating a hole in their forces.

"Hn-Yah!" Azusa swung her massive broadsword and took out half of a dozen hatchlings in a single sweep. "I know the feeling!"

"I just hope this is the last of them!" Hikari said as she took a few more down with twin swords of light.

One of the hatchlings snuck up on top of one of the buildings and was ready to fire a magic beam from its mouth. As Spiral stabbed another hatchling through its body with his sword, he heard a beam being fired and suddenly it was as if the world around him had stopped and gone silent to his senses. He turned his head, fearing what he was about to see, and witnessed Hikari falling to the ground with a clean hole where her throat was. After her body hit the ground, Azusa hurled herself toward the hatchlings and thrust her sword against them to clear the area around Hikari's body. Spiral ran over to her quickly and held her in his arms. Hikari tried to speak to him, but her wound made it impossible to breathe and talk. He just stared at her in fear, sadness and a whirlpool of other negative emotions.

"… Medic!" Spiral started shouting. "We need a medic over here!"

Azusa couldn't even bear to watch her brother's denial of reality. Spiral stopped shouting when Hikari lifted her hand up to his face, struggling to smile while in pain. Eventually, Hikari's body went limp and Spiral could no longer sense a heartbeat from her. His body began trembling as well as the earth around him. Spiral stood up, faced the remaining hatchlings and lifted his head to show eyes filled with so much hate and rage that Azusa fell back in terror.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Aqua had finally reached the stadium's infirmary and burst through one of the doors.

"Jayden, we need you!" Aqua shouted.

"Aqua?" Wilbur flew up to her.

"What's going on?" Jayden asked. "I could feel a lot of shaking out there!"

"Dragons are attacking the city!" Aqua informed him.

"Dragons?!" Jayden gasped.

"Frost is off fighting one right now, but she's going to need your help!" Aqua said. "Now hurry and eat my water!"

The glass from the nearby window shattered and a hatchling leaped on top of Jayden.

"JAYDEN!" Aqua screamed.

Foster had managed to defeat another wave of hatchlings and the constant fighting was starting to take its toll on him.

"It looks like they aren't any left around here." Foster said. "I better go help Meredy while I can."

Just as he took a step forward, he felt something pierce through his heart and stopped where he stood. He looked down to see a hole in his chest and turned his head behind him where a barely alive hatchling had just released a magic beam before finally dying out. Foster fell to his knees before the rest of his body made contact with the ground. He desperately tried to crawl toward where he saw Meredy run off.

"I… I can't…" Foster was struggling to speak. "I promised… I promised her… I would… wouldn't die…"

However, his body refused to listen to him anymore and couldn't move another inch.

*I'm really going to die…* Foster thought. *At least… I have no other regrets… I'm so glad I got to meet you all… Jellal… Meredy… Morticia… and Ultear… Even though you were hard on me… I knew it was because you cared about me… Goodbye… everyone…*

Kyo was still fighting off a wave of hatchlings in the castle courtyard with Yukino. He was especially holding out well thanks to his Steelbody's armor. Near the castle itself, Kyo had leapt into a cluster of hatchlings and crushed a few under the weight of his armored body. One of the hatchlings lunged at Kyo, but he dodged it and it crashed right into the bottom of one of the castle's towers. With little support on the bottom, the tower started leaning toward Kyo and the hatchlings. Once the tower's shadow came over them, Kyo looked up and the hatchlings all scurried away from the falling structure.

When Yukino felt the ground shake, she looked behind her and saw a broken tower lying where Kyo once was.

"KYO!" Yukino screamed.

A/N: That's the note I'm going to end on, folks! If you know the manga, you can guess how the next chapter's going to start. By the way, F*** YOU, MICROSOFT! You had to cancel yet ANOTHER exclusive and further diminish your variety of them! In lighter news, I really like the lineup for the Nintendo Switch! I'll definitely get one… this summer. Aside from Zelda, there's nothing interesting at launch and I'd rather wait for Splatoon 2 to come out before buying it. Hopefully I can get myself a system when the time comes. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!