For The Beer!

by DemonSword09

Cana's bar tab has finally hit the point where she is no longer allowed to purchase any alcohol until her 15,000,000 is paid off. No one is willing to go with her on missions besides some unsuspecting rookie. Destined to become the greatest team ever known, yet formed off one member's unsavory drinking habits.

4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Locomotive Breath

-X- Current Balance: -15,004,000

Many Hours Later

Lucy was the first to arrive at the Onibas Bar. The blonde slid into one of the booths of the wooden tavern with a sigh of relief.

Thank Magic for an unsuccessful recon mission.

A guild. An entire dark guild. Erza wanted the five of them to go up against a clan of wizards exiled from the council for taking assassination requests.

She found herself asking the same questions again and again? Was it too late to quit? Was she really cut out for the Fairy Tail Guild of all places?

And screw divide and conquer, the crazy redhead was far ahead of that, they had compared notes and developed a plan on the train ride over. The city had been cut into five sections to prowl for clues leading to the dark guild upon their arrival, Erza had insisted that time was of the essence.

Whoever vouched for her on this quest was getting knocked the fuck out, pardon her french. She was in way over her head to be rolling around on quests with S class mages.

Speak of the devil, and they shall appear, her brown eyes could never forget that fiery red hair for as long she'll live, and the blunt way the Fairy Tail's Titania seemed to go about life didn't help the re-equip mage's subtlety either. The blonde celestial mage met Erza's gaze with a wave, and a small shiver of trepidation which ran down her spine as the armored woman made her way to the table.

"Satisfactory." The redhead nodded as she took a seat at the other end of the table. "I cannot speak for your friend, but it is just like those two to be late."

Lucy laughed nervously, was that supposed to be a joke? "Yeah…"

The waiter passed by and placed the drink Lucy had ordered earlier on the table, without sparing a second glance at the other patron. The blonde celestial mage took a small sip, but said nothing more.

Ouch. Could she be more awkward?

"Report." Erza forged onwards, the stoic girl paying no mind to the pregnant silence that fell over the two. "What were your findings?"

Lucy choked on the ale, and almost spilt her drink at the speed she put the tankard down. "I searched the commercial districts around the north sector (window shopping) as well as the local congregation areas (ate at a restaurant), I found nothing." She had to resist tacking on Ma'am at the end.

"Hm. I've had a lack of results as well. This is concerning, with any luck one of the boys has found something."

The blonde nodded, donning her drink once more. She looked for any excuse to keep the conversation rolling. "So this was the bar you overheard the wizards talking in?"

"Mhm." Erza nodded her head, and then looked off in a specific direction. "They were sitting right at that table over there."

Lucy's brown eyes followed her gaze, at the aforementioned table sat a man without a shirt or shoes on, and the narrator would like to mention he went without service.

"Its Gray!" The blonde celestial mage said in disbelief.

"GRAY!" The titania screamed, not unlike the way a mother would holler out the back of the screen door when it was time for dinner. It didn't matter how far away you were, or how loud it was around you, you heard it and knew it was for you.

She watched the black head of spiky hair perk up, and shake violently about searching for the owner of the voice.

When he found them, the ice make user smiled and stood up, now without pants, and held the chair over his head as he made his way through the crowded bar.

"Hey guys." He said as he slid his chair into the head of the table and took a seat.

An armored fist met the back of his head. "Put some clothes on."

It took several painstaking minutes for Gray to regain his clothes, strewn all about the bar. When he did, the Fairy Tail's titana demanded a report, which he gave.

"The southeast sector is clear of all dark guilds, broke up an illegal trade group while I was out looking. Hey, is there going to be a commission on this quest, because if there is some of it is going to have to go to the city of Onibas."

"So it is up to Percy and Natsu now." Erza concluded, glaring over what Lucy thought was a serious problem. "If they have not found anything we are essentially back at square one."

"GET OUT OF HERE." Someone yelled from the kitchen in the back, a bead of sweat rolled down the blonde celestial mage's neck.

Must be one of ours.

Sure enough a blue cat rocketed through the diner window with an overgorged stomach and a fish bone stuck in its mouth. He sailed across the hall and landed his fat butt right in Erza's face.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Happy moaned weakly.

"Happy!" The re-equip mage peeled the exceed off of her face. "Why are you here? Where's Natsu?"

"Natsu?" The blue cat checked the imaginary watch on his wrist. "Oh about now, him and Percy are halfway to Oshibana Town if I had to guess."

Gray flew from his chair. "What! Did those bastards find a lead and go ahead without me?"

"No, they never made it off the train."

…

…

…

"You knocked out Natsu when he complained about his motion sickness." The subconscious stripper offered. "And no one woke him up or explained the plan."

"You did the same to Percy back at Fairy Tail." Lucy supplied. "Although you didn't really have a reason for that one."

"Happy." Erza growled with a rumble in her chest ready to split the sky. "Why didn't you tell us this sooner?"

"Well I tried to get those two off the train, but when I realized that wouldn't work, I tried to find you guys, but you all split up so I couldn't, so I had to wait here!" The blue cat ranted exasperatedly, his chest heaving up and down.

The re-equip mage massaged her brow with a cool steel gauntlet.

"New plan. Stop the train, rescue those two, then destroy the dark guild."

-X- Current Balance: -15,004,000

Kunugi Station wasn't even big enough to be called a town, really just a trading post nestled between two mountains, hiding on the edge of the Oshibana Plains. It served as the perfect, well protected go between for the towns of Onibas and Oshibana.

Despite its prime real estate however, only a handful of permanent structures stood to prove it. Houses dotted the valley without rhyme or reason, spread out randomly like someone had decided the layout by a game of jacks. There was no main or central road, just a crisscrossing mess of footpaths that connected all the buildings. The station was so miniscule it lacked a proper landing for those disembarking from the train, after that last metal step it was muddy ground. A general store marked by a hanging sign only held on by one chain and a very rusted water tower were the location's main attractions.

Nothing ever interesting ever happened in a dinky place like this.

"Ahhhhhhh!" Men screamed and women fainted as the conductor's lifeless body dropped to the floor, his torso had been torn up by a scythe, his uniform blues he took so much pride in maintaining were now ripped and red.

"This train is now property of Eisenwald." The killer spoke. An extremely tall man situated at the head of a shady group twirled his weapon of death casually. His shoulder length silver hair was an absolute mess, the back stood up straight, the front was flat and swooshed over one side of his face. Intricate tattoos all in a cobalt blue ink adorned his shoulders and arms in a spiral pattern, and trailed to an end on both his chest and back in four separate locations.

Weirdo didn't even have eyebrows, just a pair of dead, onyx eyes which he made sure to lock with each of the powerless fleas that stared in awe at his power from their assumed safety of their train cars.

"Everyone off." He projected his voice with an air of finality. "Resist and forfeit your lives."

Nobody moved, the occupants too frozen in fear at their spots. It was still like that for a second, completely quiet as the passenger and Eisenwald guild caught themselves in a standstill.

A vein began to pulse on the silver haired killer's forehead. Were they challenging him? Trying to call his bluff? Did they fail to realize how little their lives truly meant in the grand scheme of things, especially to achieve their goals?

A vicious sneer wormed its way onto his face, and he watched as the smart ones took that as their cue to begin moving, the dumb ones remained rooted. If they thought this was a test, one thing was for sure… they would be proven wrong on all accounts.

Numerous magic circles a deep royal purple began to collect around his body as he called upon his magic reserves. He was the Shinigami, the Death God, and that was a title the silver haired killer took pride in. His guild had been deprived of its legal status, his guild master locked away for permitting jobs others were too weak to take, and the rest of the world rolled on like this injustice never happened.

That's why he would show them, and make such a spectacle that the lucky few that survived would never forget, spreading the word as a constant reminder of the dark seeds the Magic Council had sewn with their ill-thought, rash decisions.

"STORM SHRED!" Erigor the Death God boomed as he swung his scythe in a downwards diagonal motion, setting off all of his magic circles at once as a rapid fury of crescent shaped wind blades ripped through the metal hull of the caboose like it was made of wet tissue paper.

Wind magic was beautiful, silent, and deadly just like him, and he never got tired of watching it work. It was the perfect tool for an assassin who struck from the shadows or above, it never left any evidence, which ironically enough the lack of was his calling card.

The silver haired killer continued his barrage on the back end of the train, adding in a couple more cars as collateral to really get his message across to those too slow, a lot of people didn't make it out in time

"STORM SHRED!" "STORM SHRED!" "STORM SHRED!"

Plus, it was fun.

"STORM SHRED!" "STORM SHRED!" "STORM SHRED!"

"Erigor-san!" A voice yelled from behind him, interrupting him from his killing spree, miffed as he was the silver haired killer paused his onslaught, knowing that the only ones to his back were the rest of his guild. Turning sharply his onyx as bored holes into the group behind him, trying to locate the speaker. One of his fellow mages stepped forward.

A young man of average height, he was a full head shorter than Erigor's slender frame. His black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and beady black eyes met his own without fear or challenge, a feat in its own right. Tucked into the belt wrapped around his waist was a wooden flute with a skull on it, one with three eye sockets, an unnerving sight for the weak, but a thing of beauty to the silver haired killer.

It was Kageyama of course, he was the only one with enough spine to do so, and the only one who could even hold a candle to the Death God in strength, so naturally it fell on him to speak for the rest of the sheep who followed him.

"We still need the train for transportation." His de facto right hand spoke out, and Erigor had to hold back a scoff.

Of course he knew that, why else did the idiot think he started with the back instead of dissecting the entire train at once?

Without a word the Death God turned back to the locomotive, apparently, the meat sacks still breathing had been intelligent enough to flee the scene in his momentary lapse of attention. The luggage had not been so lucky, as many designer and expensive looking carrying cases were strewn all over the dirt landing of the train station, they laid tossed down the stairs, propped in the open doorways, still falling from the overhead compartments.

"Why don't you worry more about removing the final seal on Lullaby before anything else." The silver haired killer said at last in a clipped tone, facing Kageyama once again, watching as the hand drifted absentmindedly to the mass curse item secured to his hip.

"I will," The right hand promised dutifully with a nod. "I just need some more time and space to work on it while we approach Clover Town, but I will get it done by then Erigor-san, I promise."

The Death God nodded curtly, not entirely happy with the response but accepting it nonetheless. "Take Rayule and Karacka and clear the rest of the train. I don't want to see you again until Lullaby is fully under our control." The silver haired killer then looked up the remaining members of their once great guild. "The rest of you, get to work detaching the destroyed train cars and then toss all of this crappy luggage outside. I'll be going to the front to rest up. I've used too much magic to pick a fight with the guild masters in my current state."

"Yes sir!" The group known as Eisenwald saluted at once.

"Good." The Death God nodded again, this time pleased with the response. "We'll leave within the hour then."

-X- Current Balance: -15,004,000

The next person to mess with Percy was getting knocked the fuck out. Because getting tossed around like salad in human skin was not nearly as fun as it sounded and the black haired demigod was starting to get pissed.

It was painful and disorienting trying to sort his way through the mental fog, but slowly the son of Poseidon began to regain consciousness, A byproduct of years of shitty situations and well trained instincts had drilled into him the value of waking without moving, so before he even opened his swirling sea green eyes Percy exercised his other senses in order to get a feel for his surroundings.

Sound. The first thing he noticed was the familiar, consistent rumbling of a train down a track, so he was on a train.

Touch. The black haired demigod ever so gently flexed his muscles, he couldn't feel the resistance of any restraints or anything like that which was good. However, one of his arms was pinned between his body and the corner of something or other. Certain the action would be unnoticed by anyone standing guard over him he wiggled his index finger to get a feel for the material. It was soft, velvet maybe?

Smell. He couldn't pick out any specific scents, but that wasn't much of a surprise, Lupa had often given him a lot of flak for the lack of a nose when she had trained him at the Wolf House. It wasn't that he couldn't smell, he was just lacking in the subtleties.

Taste. It may sound silly, and no Percy did not lick the air. Instead he had focused on the taste within his own mouth. His tongue wasn't met with the disgusting taste of bacteria that one would get after a long night's sleep, which meant he had been out for at least less than 8 hours.

So he was laying down on an expensive seat on a train without any restraints and he hadn't been there very long. Definitely not the worst situation he had been in.

Checklist done, the son of Poseidon made to open his eyes, but a strange voice stopped him in his tracks and he continued to feign sleep. Fortunately, years of playing handheld games late at night unlocked certain mastery in the hidden art. His body was limp and motionless, ready to strike within a second.

"Oh? Fairy Tail. So you guys are wizards in one of the legal guilds. Man am I jealous."

Crack!

Sching!

Riptide, three feet of glowing deadly bronze in the ancient leaf shaped design tickled the Adam's apple of the newcomer. The son of Poseidon studied his latest opponent, his vision was creating doubles but he could still hone in on the features. Beady black eyes, short black hair tied into a spiky ponytail, a white jacket, blue jeans, and a red undershirt. All in all he looked pretty normal, if not a little outdated, but his foot was in Natsu's face.

Oh hey Natsu, when did you get here?

"Well, well." If the bad guy looked at all bothered by the aggressive action Percy was taking, he did not show it. "I guess even a fly like you can learn how to sting."

"Heh." The black haired demigod gave his best wolf smile even as his vision continued to swim, he narrowed his eyes trying not to give anything away. "I can do a lot more than sting, I promise you that."

The black eyed enemy gave the son of Poseidon an inquisitive look, then returned the vicious smile. Percy felt something prick his neck and risked a glance downwards. A large black tendril had risen from the floor of the train car, where a blackish, purple magical seal had appeared. It was as sharp as a needle at the point and a small trail of blood began to crawl down the shadow spear.

"Put the sword away fly. You wouldn't want to get hurt now." Old beady eyes taunted.

"Why don't you try and make me."

"You sure you want to take this fight fly? I promise my magic can move faster than your arm, plus you don't exactly look like you're in fighting condition at the moment."

'Well, he's right of course' Percy thought, as the train lurched once and the black haired demigod had to fight off the wave of nausea rolled over him. It took him a while to give himself a self diagnosis, but his old friend Concussion had seemed to pay him a visit, and if the son of Poseidon had to hazard a guess, he probably arrived some time in between him sitting on a table back at Fairy Tail and right after his face had been repeatedly slammed into armor.

Yup, this was just what he needed today.

Percy steeled his nerves, getting ready for a fight as he tightened the grip on his sword.

"GET YOUR FOOT OUT OF MY FACE!" The pink haired dragon slayer roared as if finally coming to life, a crimson red magic circle flared to life around both his fists as he delivered a flaming two handed punch to the white cloaked torso of the bad guy. He went through one, two, three, at least a dozen seats before he hit the back wall of the train car. The black haired demigod figured he would stop by that point, but he went through that too and disappeared into the cart ahead of them.

The son of Poseidon steadied himself on the back of the chair as his sword arm drooped down, a little miffed. That wasn't exactly how he had drawn it up in his mind, but this was hardly the time to look a gift horse in the mouth. "Well that was easy. Thanks Natsu."

"Guhhhhhhhhhh. Perccccy get me off this train." Natsu groaned in pain.

"You mean you're boat sick and train sick?" Percy just stared blankly as the pink haired dragon slayer melted down the back of his seat, the exact same way he had done so on the slave liner outside of Hargeon Station.

"All dragon slayers have motion sickness." Was heard as a clammy hand rose up into frame.

The black haired demigod dipped down and picked the pink haired dragon slayer with his off hand up off the chair and threw one of Natsu's arms over his shoulder. The two then made their way to the door, walking through rows of fine velvet booths reduced to rubble in the wake of the shadow power guy who had gone flying. As the son of Poseidon picked his way through the debris the heel of his sneaker caught something and the mystery object rolled causing him to stumble. He didn't even bother looking down, he was too focused on not being nauseous due to his concussion brought vertigo, to be honest, he felt just as bad as Natsu.

Fresh air. Was the mutual consensus for the two as they rumbled towards the door, at this point they were both helping themselves more than one another.

The door handle was on Percy's side, that was its mistake as he had his sword in one hand and Natsu in the other. The cool thing about magic swords, Riptide had never needed upkeep, the black haired demigod had never polished, shined, or sharpened the blade once in his life, because it had never dulled nor lost its glow. That's why Percy felt no qualms in using it to make quick work of the lock, celestial bronze needed to be able to cut mythical monster hide, so a little metal was nothing.

His knee struck out and nudged the sliding door open. The roar of the train increased tenfold as they stepped out onto the platform between the two train carts. Natsu was deposited sitting against the undestroyed part of the outer wall of their car and the son of Poseidon stood up.

"You wait here, I'll run to the front and try to get the conductor to stop the train, and then we'll hop off and meet up." The black haired demigod tried to communicate to the pink haired dragon slayer.

"Guhhhhhhhhhh." Natsu's head lolled to the side.

Yeah, he probably got the message, or at the very least he wanted off this train as much as Percy, so hopefully he decided to disembark when they rolled to a stop.

The son of Poseidon hopped the gap provided for the coupling of the train cars, steadying himself against the railing on the other side Percy closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then pushed down the center timepiece of his watch. For all he knew the shadow guy could still be kicking, or worse, have some friends ready to wreak vengeance.

Riptide destroyed another door.

-X- Current Balance: -15,004,000

The clicks of Erza's iron heels on the linoleum floors of the long hallway were the only thing to be heard over the pleas for her to stop. Two men in (train workers clothes) had latched on two either of her legs about 30ft into the employee only zone in an attempt to at least slow her down, but to no avail as the clung uselessly like paper ankle weights. Not too far behind Lucy and Gray followed, walking swiftly in order to keep up with the Fairy Tail Titania's frenzied pace as she hurried along to the control room.

"Ma'am you have to stop!" One of the ankle weights begged. "Civilians are not allowed beyond those doors."

The redhead kept moving.

"Is she always like this?" The trailing blonde mage leaned over to her companion between labored breaths.

"Only since I've met her." The subconscious stripper whispered back with a wry smile.

Erza stopped, and Lucy felt a pang of sympathy run through her chest as the poor employees looked up hopefully, as if they had finally gotten through to her, but despite her short tenure in the guild the celestial mage could hazard a guess that this was not the case.

Such sudden compliance had half led them to expect an apologetic look and a turn around from whence she had come. Instead the re-equip mage turned her head to the left, the workers followed her gaze.

A large, gray metal door stared back. Stenciled in red paint read the words "Control Room."

Fairy Tail's Titania tried her best to hold back a victorious smirk. "Don't worry friends, I'll get you back." She muttered to herself.

Erza then kicked the two full grown men off of her like yesterday's trash then threw her shoulder into the door, blowing it straight off the hinges

The blonde mage's jaw dropped as she gasped for air dumbfounded like a fish out of water. Sure Natsu and Percy had decimated a decent portion of a town when they had met each other in Hargeon, and later she and Natsu had brought down an entire mansion on top of their own heads, but Lucy had been in just enough denial to convince herself it was the heat of the battle, but this, this was a whole new level entirely.

Ok maybe not a whole new level, but the celestial mage held out the slimmest hope that one of her top 10 personal idols wasn't this crazy.

"Shouldn't we stop her?!" Lucy's voice was loud and disbelieving as the two trailers rounded the corner.

"I don't think we can." Gray responded. Another uniformed man stood inside the control room, when he saw the intruders he made a defensive stance in front of the control board, his arms stretched out wide.

"Ma'am no one is allowed in here-"

"Move aside, I am on official guild business and need to stop the train going to Oshibana."

"You can't!" The employee persisted. "Now please, I must ask all of you to leave."

Lucy blinked, and it must have been an extra long on her behalf, because one second Fairy Tail's titania was standing between the two groups, with her armored back to them, and the next the train worker in uniform blues was collapsing to his knees in the same amount of shock and disbelief she was feeling right now.

How the hell did Erza end up behind the guy?

"What?"

"I said, I don't think we can." The ice make user repeated himself as if that was the problem, he sauntered past the fallen and joined the re-equip mage at the control board, taking in the buttons and levers.

"One of them has got to be the emergency break." Gray concluded.

"That's what I was thinking." The red head agreed.

The two began to hammer buttons with reckless abandon.

For the millionth time that afternoon Lucy wanted to run far, far away. If only they wouldn't catch her.

"Did we stop it?" Erza asked the worker.

"No." The poor man looked ready to cry. "Once it passed through Kunugi station it left this Control Room's jurisdiction, you're messing with all the wrong trains. Please! Enough! We have a schedule to keep."

…

…

…

"I'm sorry." Erza took a step forward and bowed in front of the downed man, "you may strike me in retribution if you wish." He didn't , but Lucy could hazard a guess that it was because he was too stunned and not that he didn't want to. Seeing no potential moves made against her, she then turned and looked at the two with burning determination in her brown eyes. "New plan. Follow me."

-X- Current Balance: -15,004,000

The next car was almost pitch black save the sunlight streaming through the two holes the members of Fairy Tail had made, Percy with his sword and Natsu with the shadow guy. The son of Poseidon that stepped through the rubble that once divided the inside and outside portions of the train. The soft glow of celestial bronze held in front of him helped illuminate the room.

"Must be storage." The black haired demigod mumbled to himself, taking in the wooden crates stacked two wide and ceiling high, lining both sides of the walls of the train forming a narrow hallway in the middle. Gaps were left in between the rows for ease of access. The entire layout reminded Percy of the laces of a football, and those sharp corners would be the perfect spot for an ambush in the low visibility.

That's an american football for my international homies.

The son of Poseidon tried to hone in on his senses once more, straining his ears. He couldn't make out any sounds though, no heavy breathing, no feet padding against the metal floor or wails of agony from two flaming fists to the gut.

If he had to hear anything, Percy was hoping for the last one personally.

Cautiously he took the first steps deeper into the darkness, he didn't worry too much about keeping his movements too quiet either considering he had a three foot glow stick in his hands. The sound of his tennis shoes slapping could be heard throughout the entirety of the room.

The black haired demigod hit the first lace, his head whipping back and forth as sea green eyes poured over both of the alcoves, finding both of them empty.

"Clear." Left his lips with loud authority and a soft whisper, like a TV cop canvassing a house.

The second lace of the proverbial football was a little more problematic. Following the same routine as before Percy went left first, but that was his mistake as the wall and boxes in front of him lit up a crimson. The son of Poseidon's eyes went wide, he had been around the block enough times to know a magical glow when he saw one.

He rolled forward into the intersection of the third lace, the hair on the back of singed from the fireball that sailed overhead, colliding with the opposite wall in a remarkable explosion. This time the left side of his face lit up green, and a man in the shadows with a sword emerged from his right, he tried to cleave the black haired demigod in half with an overhead swing, which Percy met with the blade of his own, the exchange echoing in the metal box.

The disarming technique Luke had taught him all those years ago was now a staple in his own arsenal, he disengaged the enemy and rose to his feet, locking weapons once more Percy slid Riptide down the enemies sword, almost to the hilt, with a twist he leveraged his own blade on top of the other one and pushed down hard, wrenching it from his opponent's grasp.

The rhythm of the fight seemed to skip a beat as the guy looked down at his fallen sword, and then proceeded to threw a wild haymaker, which Percy promptly blocked, and then returned with one of his own, the crossguard of the xiphos serving as one efficient albeit odd brass knuckle as he collapsed back into the hovel he came from with a broken nose and probably a concussion matching the son of Poseidon's own.

From behind him the first bad guy rounded the corner with two fists engulfed in flames, Percy tried to move and meet him halfway, if only to get out of the crossfire (more like right angle fire) he currently found himself in but found his feet rooted.

No literally, roots as thick as his forearm were wrapping around his legs and climbing fast, he spared a glance from the inbound man to the remaining member, just in time to see the green magic seal begin to fade.

"Wood Make: Wooden Enslavement."

In its place another magic seal formed, this one the same color but twice as bright. From the circle wooden cones sharpened to an absolute point began to emerge, dozens of them.

He tapped the centerpiece of his watch as his shield spiraled into place. The black haired demigod crouched once more, trying to make himself as small as possible in order to mitigate the damage from the oncoming attack, with a flick of the wrist Riptide destroyed the binds which kept him pinned.

"Wood Make: Drill Run!"

"Fire Magic: Twin Fists!"

Percy grunted under the power of the machine gun-like assault, each spearhead creating deeper and deeper dents into the celestial bronze shield, the magic metal nearing the point of failure.

The son of Poseidon waited until the fire man finally caught up to him from behind, and placed a donkey kick to his chest, sending him ass over kettle back down the hallway, he followed him, escaping the barrage.

He discarded the shield with a growl. Again? The same exact thing happened against the manticore, but now Tyson wasn't around to fix it. Percy stalked towards the fire mage, who had returned to his feet. He summoned another crimson seal, with the same intensity as wood guy's 'drill run'. Said enemy had emerged from his corner and was flanking the black haired demigod.

Percy was caught in another Christmas crossfire.

"Fire Magic: Flame Emperor!"

There was no fireball, the hallway was fire. The fast encroaching torrent of flames left no gaps for avoidance as it roared towards him, the son of Poseidon thought this might be a bad time to put his fire resistance to the test so instead he ducked into the corner that the fire guy had originated from.

The heat was intense, even for him, it felt like he had just stuck his head in a five hundred degree oven, the fire licked around the corner of the box and the black haired demigod sank deeper into the corner as they threatened to cremate him. When the flames subsided both Percy and the enemy found that while the son of Poseidon had the foresight to dodge out of the direct line of fire, the wood guy had not been so lucky, as a charred husk collapsed to the ground in an explosion of black ashes.

"Jimbo! Dammnit! Don't worry I'll get him!"

The black haired demigod listened to the footsteps that began to creep towards his position, their roles at the beginning of the exchange now reversed.

The footsteps stopped just before Percy expected him to breach the corner.

"I know you're there, I can see your sword glowing."

Okay maybe they weren't that reversed. The son of Poseidon cursed under his breath, and looked around for anything that could help him, simultaneously withdrawing the cheap plastic cap of Riptide and making to cover it.

"I have you cornered, surrender now and the boss will think about letting you go nicely."

A lightbulb appeared over Percy's head as he stopped himself from capping the bronze xiphos, instead planting it firmly into the ground and using it as a leg up, he only needed to stall for a little more time.

"I haven't even used my magic yet, take another step closer and I'll blow you away." The son of Poseidon threatened.

That seemed to give him a pause.

There was hardly any space between the top of the crates and the ceiling, but Percy packed himself in between the two anyways, as quiet as a mouse he began to slide on his stomach to the opposing alcove, on his way over he took a moment to poke his head out into the hallway, his long black locks hovering over the fire magic user, he noted how was in a defensive stance, but the black haired demigod could tell by the way he shifted his weight that Percy's words were starting to get to him. He let a small smile grace his face at the successful intimidation.

"Just because you turn the light off doesn't mean you're not there." He watched the fire guy say, his hand instinctively shot to his pocket, where Riptide now laid in pen form.

"Stupid magic." He once again cursed under his breath, before moving as fast as he could.

Shimmy, shimmy, shimmy.

Kent the Fire Mage stood there steeling his nerves, his enemy had knocked their right hand out cold, walked right into an ambush and defeated 2 out of 3 of them in a matter of seconds, and the more that he thought about it, he hadn't used his magic yet.

He wasn't sure what scared him more, the boss should he fail, or this guy should he take another step closer.

Better the enemy you don't know, he had always said, and with that said, his fist blared to life in a wash of crimson flames, he rounded the corner.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The space was empty.

Something tapped him on the shoulder.

"Huh?"

Lights out.

Percy capped Riptide as the body of the final ambusher collapsed to the floor, sea green eyes surveyed the damage of combat. The boxes of the storage car were a blackened mess of smoldering embers and a roaring fire, smoke was beginning to fill the cabin. On the bright side, the son of Poseidon could now see the room clearly, on the other hand, he was sent spiraling into a coughing fit.

He had to stop this train.

The flames seemed to be drawn to his clothes like a moth to itself as the black haired demigod forged onwards. More than once did a pant leg catch on fire, although he was no liar. With a weird shake dance each time he managed to suffocate the flames with the fast movement.

On his way through hell's baptism he caught sight of three of his dilapidated shields laying in the shimmering haze of the heat. Percy made to scoop it up, aiming for the middle one, and while he was true in his guess all he got was burning flesh for his trouble, as the celestial bronze had grown white hot.

"Son of a swan-fucker!" The son of Poseidon cursed as he clutched his non-dominant hand, blowing on it like it was hot soup and that his actions would actually mitigate the damage.

The black haired demigod crashed against the front wall of the car, gasping for air as he fought the inferno for the use of oxygen.

"There's gotta be more people on this train." Percy surmised, his chest heaving up and down, eventually he rolled himself off of the wall, he wasn't sure what compelled him, but this time he checked the landing through the window before barging in blindly.

While the space in front of him was clear, what caught his attention immediately was the pair of beady onyx eyes glaring daggers into from the second her revealed his face, the portrait stepped back and gave way to the upper torso of a man clad in strange swirling blue stars, a scythe was in his hand which he spun casually through his fingers. Behind him Percy could see the army of minions lined up, all ready for a fight.

The son of Poseidon fell out of view with his back against the wall.

"Nah, screw this, new plan."

-X- Current Balance: -15,004,000

It wasn't long after his new friend Percy disappeared that explosions and screaming was heard, and Natsu had to stifle a groan at the excitement he was missing out on. Not long after that did the water mage return, soot covered his face, his orange shirt had singed holes in it, and smoke was billowing out of the car he emerged from.

Tentatively, the fire dragon slayer sniffed the air, and almost immediately bile rose into his throat which he stuffed down with iron will. Without a shadow of a doubt he had never smelled such disgusting fire mage before.

"Percy!" The pink haired mage slurred. "Didja get im to stahp the train?"

"Yeah, sorta." The newbie laughed nervously before hopping the gap back towards Natsu's side. He then whirled around and in a flash of bronze the coupling to the trains was cut. The sudden drop in speed made his stomach lurch again.

"There we go." Percy smiled. "Any minute now."

Through half lidded eyes Natsu watched the train in front of him get smaller and smaller, before it disappeared around the bend, forever hidden by the mountains. Soon even the loud roar of the steam engine could only be heard through one last shrill whistle, the runaway carts they were on slowed to a stop.

The dragon slayer melted off the corrugated metal, and fell awkwardly on the tracks with a groan. "I need a nap."

The son of Poseidon walked over and nudged the pink haired mage off the track just to be safe, then made his way over to the cliffside, the last thing Natsu heard before he drifted off into unconsciousness was.

"Oh, there's a river down there."