Down at a university that was excellent in everything, a theater group was going on with two people on a stage and doing a little performance. Two people were up on the stage as they went over their lines. In the stands was none other than Zeref, Natsu's older brother
"What light douse this beauty radiate from?"
"Thank thee for kind words, but I am just a mere maiden."
"Very nicely done Dimaria and Neinhart." Zeref said. "You both are doing rather well. Keep it up and we'll have it down perfectly."
"Thank you, but was there really any doubt." Neinhart claimed.
"Don't get a big head over it, grape top." Dimaria said. "Can we try it with the props now?"
"Sure. They're in the closet, Dimaria. Could you be a dear and go get them." Zeref said. Dimaria went on backstage to get the props. She found the closet and went right inside to get the props she needed, but then she found something else. She found a ventriloquist dummy with a wooden head of black hair and wore a suit.
"Hey! Check out this ugly dummy I found." Dimaria said as she came back with it.
"That's odd. I know there's no ventriloquist here." Zeref said. They all wondered where it came from, but that was when something happened. The dummy actually slapped Dimaria in the face and jumped off with it moving on it's own. They were all freaked by that as they saw the dummy jump around and climbed it's way over the curtains and they lost sight of it.
"What the heck was that?!" Dimaria questioned.
"Did that dummy actually move on it's own?!" Neinhart questioned.
"It did." Zeref said. "Don't freak about it. I know just who to call about this."
...
The Gang
Zeref gave his brother and his friends a call. They soon arrived at the university's entrance and were driving right in.
"Starlight University... This is one of the best universities there is." Lucy said. "They offer courses in just about everything. Chemistry, finances, even things like athletics and theater; and is rather tough to get in. Natsu, your brother is so lucky he goes here."
"Maybe... Speaking of theater, he said something was going on at the one here." Natsu said.
"Well, it's another mystery that we're solved." Gray said as he parked the van. "Maybe even faster since we'll have a Dragneel that actually uses his brain."
"Hey! I might not be as smart as Zeref, but I can be just as good as him!" Natsu said.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You've clearly been doing rather well for yourself, Natsu." Zeref said as he arrived to greet all of them. "Natsu, it's great to see you, little brother." He said as he hugged his brother. "Thanks for coming, guys. What we saw was rather weird and I'm not really sure what to think of it. I didn't know who else to call about it."
"No problem, Zeref. What exactly is going on?" Erza said.
"Follow me to the theater. You'll see once we get there." Zeref said as he showed them the way.
...
The Theater
Zeref showed them the way to the theater. When they got there, Dimaria and Neinhart were there and were waiting for them.
"Dimaria! Neinhart! Here they are!" Zeref said. "This is my little brother and his friends. They're the ones that I told you about. Everyone, these two are my friends. Their names are Dimaria and Neinhart."
"These guys? Are you sure?" Dimaria said. "They don't look all that special to me. You are aware one of those friends is your pet cat, right?"
"Nonsense. They have the younger brother of Zeref. He must be as smart as Zeref." Neinhart claimed, but Natsu didn't really like hearing something like that. "Besides, who else are we going to turn to about a living ventriloquist dummy?"
"A what?!" Gray said.
"Are you talking about a puppet that is actually alive?" Erza questioned.
"I know it might sound weird, but it's true." Zeref said. "While we working on rehearsal for an upcoming performance, we found a ventriloquist dummy. We thought it was just a regular puppet, but then we saw it move. It was as if it was actually alive, and it's still roaming around somewhere in the building."
"A puppet?! You called us out here for a puppet?!" Natsu said as he thought this was hilarious. "That has got to the be the silliest monster we've been called about. I've got to see this." He said as he acted ignorant about it and went on inside to see this living dummy with the others following. Natsu went right into the main stage and looked around for this living dummy. What he did notice was a dummy sitting on a chair right in the center of the stage. "That thing?! Is that the puppet that's alive?!" Natsu burst out in laughing as he moved closer to it and got a closer look. "This thing is what you called us for?!"
"Laugh now, but that thing really was alive." Neinhart said.
"Oh no! I'm scared stiffed, stiffed as wood!" Natsu said as he couldn't stop laughing. "Get it?! It's because it's made of wood!" Natsu thought this was the most ridiculous thing there was, but he didn't see what was happening behind him as the dummy was actually moving.
"Natsu! Behind you!" Gray called. Natsu turned around and saw it moving now as it. The dummy jumped right at him and tackled Natsu down. Natsu held it up and away from him, but it was acting wild.
"Somebody get this nutcase off me!" Natsu called.
"Hold still!" Gray said as he took a trashcan and smashed it against the dummy to knock him off Natsu. All of them watched as the dummy took off backstage. Gray and the girls chased after it, but it was already gone.
"Where'd it go?!" Lucy said.
"It just disappeared." Erza said.
"We told you it was crazy." Dimaria said.
"Natsu, are you okay?!" Zeref asked as he and Happy tried to help him.
"I'm fine, but that was crazy. What the heck is with that thing?" Natsu questioned.
"What is going on here?!" They all looked to see two people walked in. One was a silver fox with glasses and wore a grey suit with the other guy having black hair that framed his face, but he was only a few feet tall. "Is everyone okay?"
"Dean Parlor and Mr. Marbles... We're sorry, but something was here."
"I know it's going to sound crazy, but we were just attacked by a crazy living puppet." Dimaria said.
"Who are these guys?" Natsu asked.
"The taller one is the dean of our school while the shorter one is the drama educator: Mr. Marbles." Zeref introduced.
"A living puppet? While I do support the drama department here, you need to be more careful with your theatrics." Dean Parlor said.
"Dean Parlor, it does seem like there's something going on." Mr. Marbles said.
"Something did! I was actually attacked by that thing!" Natsu claimed.
"And who might you be? I haven't seen you around this university before." Dean Parlor asked.
"Sir, this is my younger brother and his friends. I asked them to come and help us with this situation." Zeref said.
"Aw! You're Zeref's brother!" Dean Parlor said as he sounded glad to hear that. "Zeref has proven to be a grand student. He's one of the best there is here, the school that everyone wishes they could attend. You must be proud of him." Natsu sure didn't seem proud. "Anyway, I'm sure everything is fine because there's no way for a puppet to come to life. Now, please excuse me. I have my own work to get back to." He claimed and walked out of there.
"Sorry about him. I don't think he ever really got into the arts." Mr. Marbles said as came on the stage with eyes on him. "I know what you're thinking. I'm a pretty short guy. That's quite alright. I've heard a bunch of short jokes before, but I don't let it bother me. I've learned to live with it and I ended up getting up a job here."
"Did you have a passion for acting or something?" Lucy asked.
"I do. With acting, it doesn't matter who you are because you can be someone else." Mr. Marbles said. "Anyway, I do believe there's something going on in this theater and I don't want to risk any harm coming to my students."
"Don't worry, Mr. Marbles. We'll figure this out." Gray said.
"You can trust them. I've seen what my brother and his friends can do." Zeref said.
"I believe this is where someone calls "Action"." Natsu claimed. Everyone else cleared out and left the gang in the theater so they could work.
"Okay... So we're dealing with a living puppet this time. Any ideas as to what this thing could want?" Gray questioned.
"Zeref didn't say anything about that." Lucy said.
"Guys, it has to be Mr. Marbles, right?" Natsu said. "He's the only one short enough to be that thing."
"Maybe, but that would be too obvious." Erza said. "Besides, he seems to love this theater. Why would he do something like this?"
"Whatever is going on must have something to do with this theater." Gray said. "I say we try to learn more about it. The girls and I will head into the main campus and check out the offices. Maybe there's something in this theater's history that could tell us a bit about that dummy. Natsu, you and Happy have a look around here and see if you can find anything."
"Sure. Like to see Zeref do what we do." Natsu said as he got up and was going with Happy.
"Hold up." Lucy said as she stopped him for a moment. "Are you okay? You sound like there's something bothering you."
"I'm fine. I'll... I'll tell you about it later." Natsu said and kept going, but Lucy was a bit worried about him.
...
The Office
"I don't like this. We're actually sneaking into the dean's office?" Lucy questioned as she, Erza, and Gray started by going into his office.
"Calm down. We don't go to school here, and we might find some answers right in here. If there's anything about the theater, it should be in here." Gray said. The three of them got to work and tried looking around for the paperwork and anything about the theater.
"This is weird. Look what's in his desk." Erza said as she pulled up a case of vitamins. "What kind of vitamins are these? I'm not familiar with them."
"Why would he be keeping vitamins in his desk?" Gray questioned.
"Why are any of you in my desk in the first place?" All of them forgot to watch the door and saw Dean Parlor came back. "You all have about five seconds to tell me what you're doing in my office before I call security."
"We're really sorry, but we're just trying to solve a mystery." Lucy said.
"About this living dummy. That's complete nonsense." Parlor said.
"But we saw it with our own eyes. Dean Parlor, there must be something you can tell us that might be important." Erza said.
"Well... There is one thing." Dean Parlor said. "There was one ventriloquist that attended this school many years ago. He too took part in theater. However, there was an accident a long time ago. A mischievous student attempted to scare him by dropping a sandbag right on him, but he made a grave mistake in his calculations. The sandbag ended up dropping right on the ventriloquist's head."
"Oh my!" Lucy said as that sounded terrifying.
"If this dummy did come alive, the spirit of the ventriloquist must be the reason." Gray said. "Of course, it's only if that thing was real."
"By the way, what's the deal with these vitamins. They don't look right." Erza asked.
"Oh, I took those by mistake. They're actually for my helper monkey back home." Parlor said. "I'm so busy here that I got myself a cute monkey to help me at home."
"A helper monkey?! Those things are real?!" Lucy said.
"Oh yes! A lot more work to take care of, but cheaper than a maid." Parlor said.
"I hope Natsu and Happy aren't monkeying around and found something." Gray said.
...
Natsu and Happy
"Here, dummy. Here, dummy, dummy, dummy." Natsu said as he and Happy looked around the theater's backstage for that living dummy. "This has got be witty gold for a case like this." He said as he couldn't stop laughing at his own word play. Happy tried getting Natsu's attention about something and acted like he was playing with a puppet. "Are you mocking this thing or... Oh, wait! I get it now! You think that since this thing is a puppet, someone might be using strings to control it instead of a regular ventriloquist act. Maybe. Maybe there is somebody pulling strings!" He joked again. "Oh man! I'm on fire today!"
"I really think you need to cool down." Natsu and Happy looked to see that Zeref came back.
"Hey, bro. What are you doing back here?" Natsu asked.
"Is it wrong that I want to make sure my little brother is okay?" Zeref asked. "Besides, as you brother, I was getting the sneaky suspicion that there was something wrong."
"I can handle myself. You saw what my friends and I did to that The Fiend, remember?" Natsu said. "Since you're here, I do want to ask you about Mr. Marbles. He's the only one small enough to be that puppet. Do you think he has anything to do with this?"
"Mr. Marbles? I don't see how or why. He loves this place." Zeref said.
"Well, who else could it be?" Natsu questioned. That's when Happy looked up and spotted something. He freaked and pointed straight up. The brothers looked up and spotted the living dummy hanging above them until it came straight down. The dummy came right down, but Natsu caught it as the dummy tried reaching out, barely out of the dummy's reach. "Don't get slappy with me!" He called as tossed the dummy away into the shadows. However, they saw it come back with it actually climbing on the walls and other objects.
"Run!" Zeref said as they all tried to run from that little demon. The three of them ran as fast as they could with the dummy chasing after them as it moved along whatever was in its path. The three of them tried running straight for the exit, but the dummy was gaining on them.
"Zeref, move!" Natsu said as he pushed Zeref out of the way as the dummy jumped right at him, but it landed right on Natsu and had him.
"Natsu!" Zeref called.
"Just go! Get the others and save yourselves!" Natsu said. Happy didn't want to leave him, but Zeref had to or else they all be in trouble. That's why Zeref grabbed Happy and they both ran out of there, but that meant Natsu was going to be the dummy's new plaything.
...
The Gang
Zeref and Happy managed to make it out of the theater with their lives, but Natsu wasn't so lucky. Once they got out, they hurried to find the rest of the gang and told them what happened back at the theater. Just being away from Natsu has made Happy a little depressed. Happy just doesn't look happy anymore.
"Poor, Happy. It will be okay." Erza said. "How about a fishy treat to make you feel better?" She asked, but Happy didn't even want his favorite treat.
"What are we doing here?! Let's get back in that theater and find him!" Lucy said as she was determined to get her boyfriend back, but Gray stopped her from doing something crazy.
"Easy, Lucy. We need to think this over. How is that dummy appearing and disappearing?" Gray questioned. "Zeref, didn't you see anything?"
"I don't know. All I do know is that thing came for me, but Natsu pushed me out of the way." Zeref said as he was riddled with sadness that his brother was taken instead of him.
"It's okay. Natsu would have done the same for any of us." Erza said. "That thing couldn't have taken him far. Natsu has still got to be in there."
"Happy, do you think you can show us the last place you saw, Natsu? We'll start there." Lucy said. "Happy, I'm worried about Natsu too, but..." Happy didn't need convincing. He jumped right into action and headed straight for that theater without any convincing for a first.
...
The Theater
"This is where Happy last saw Natsu." Gray said as the gang got to looking again. "Look around. There must be some clues or something." All of them tried to find something that could tell them where the dummy or Natsu went. As they looked around, Lucy did spot something near the ground.
"Wait a second!" Lucy said as she reached down for a vent and it pulled right off. "I got it! This is how he's doing it, and look here." She said as she also found a piece of fabric. "This looks like it came from the suit that dummy wears."
"Of course! It's been using the air vents to get around!" Erza said. "They must run through the whole building."
"But those vents are too small for Natsu to fit through." Lucy said.
"Maybe, but now that we know how he's doing it, I have an idea to trap that dummy." Gray said as it was now time to put a trap into action. All they really did was keep themselves hidden and waited around for it to show up. They kept their eyes open for when it popped up. They waited for a little while...until Gray finally spot it in the stands. "There it is!"
"Get it!" Lucy called as they all came out and tried to grab it, but that living dummy moved fast with nimble movements and jumps. It jumped around and tried to avoid being captured. It made it's way over to a vent and opened it up for it to escape.
"Now!" Gray called. That's when Zeref joined in the trap as he flipped on the air conditioner at full blast. The air flowed through the whole vents. As the dummy was climbing up the vent, the air came and blasted it hard enough for it to lose its grip and make its way down. As it came down, the others held out a net against the exit and the dummy fell right into it.
"We got it!" Erza said. Zeref shut off the air conditioner with the dummy stuck in the net.
"What's going on in here?!" Mr. Marbles said as he and everyone else came in the building with security.
"Look! We got it!" Gray said as they had the dummy trapped.
"Now where is Natsu, little creep?!" Lucy said as she demanded for an answer. That was right when they heard a knocking coming from the stage.
"Hey! A piece of the stage is loose!" Zeref noticed. He hurried right over to it and was able to pry it off with Natsu emerging out of it. "Natsu! You're okay!" He said as he freed Natsu from the ropes that tied him down.
"Yeah! I blacked out, but I found myself in there!" Natsu said. "What did I miss?"
"We got the dummy. Now, let's see who it really is." Gray said as he unmasked the dummy. "It's really..." He pulled off the mask, but they were all surprised as to who it was.
"A monkey?!" All of them said as none of them expected it to be a monkey under there.
"Not just any monkey. A helper monkey!" Lucy said. "That means the culprit is...Dean Parlor! He's the only one on this whole campus that has a trained monkey!" She claimed as all eyes were on him. Dean Parlor tried making a run for it, but he didn't see Marbles and ended up tripping right over him.
"See? There are benefits to being short...even if that was an accident." Marbles said as security held down their own dean with the monkey going over to him.
"It all makes sense. I just realized now that the living dummy always climbed or used acrobatic-like movements." Lucy said.
"You're right! It never walked like a person or even talked, so a human couldn't be the one in there!" Gray said.
"And that adorable monkey was the right size to move through the ducts." Erza said. "Being a helper monkey, it's well trained and rather smart, so it knew what it was doing with Dean Parlor having easy control over it."
"But why? Why would our own dean do something like this?" Zeref questioned.
"Because this whole theater thing is pathetic. We're one of the best schools there is, but other great schools focus more academics." Parlor said.
"So you wanted to have this department shutdown and Starlight University become a university strictly on academics." Lucy said. "And you used your little monkey to help with it."
"Talk about monkey business." Natsu said, but everyone groaned from that. "Someone had to say it."
"I knew he wasn't a supporter of the arts, but I can't believe he go this far." Marbles said.
"But he didn't account that my brother and his friends would be so meddling." Zeref said as security took Parlor and his little monkey away. "I knew you and your friends could do it, but are you sure okay, Natsu?"
"I'm fine, but there is one thing." Natsu said as he moved Zeref away so they could talk in private. "Earlier, you asked if I was okay emotionally. Honestly, I was a little annoyed."
"What for?" Zeref asked.
"Because when people know how smart you are, they expect me to be that smart and I can't." Natsu said. "It's been like that for a long time. People expect me to be like you. I'm not saying I feel trapped in your shadow, but it does get annoying."
"Really? I had no idea." Zeref said as this was a surprise to him. "Still, you've clearly made something of yourself, Natsu. You have great friends, you get to travel, see lots of people and places, and have all kinds of fun. Since I'm so smart, I studied a lot and didn't really get to have that kind of fun. You're not me, but you are something great." Natsu really appreciated hearing that from his special brother.
"Guys! Take a look at Happy! He couldn't help himself!" Erza called. All of them looked and saw Happy take center stage in the dummy's suit and actually did a tap dance number.
"I've heard of monkey business and show business, but now we've got cats." Natsu said as everyone couldn't help but laugh at this. This college really does have everything.