Chapter 69
Spelunking
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
"Magic"
Flashback you
Location / Date / Time Skip
Laki stared out over the open desert and turned to Lucy. "Please tell me you miss read the book."
Romeo turned back to the group, his finger pointed at something. "There's something shinny down there."
"Well, let's get this over with." Lucy sighed before the group walked over the sand. They reached the 'something shinny' only to find it a strange object. "What is this?"
"It looks like floating puzzle." Laki said. "Maybe we can push it together." She tried to push some pieces together only to waste her breath.
"Look, its some kind of keyhole." Michelle said, pointing to the center. Lucy summoned Cancer and the spirit picked the lock, making the object glow before it began spinning before sand swallowed them all. They crashed to the bottom of a stone chamber and groaned in pain.
Michelle had landed upside down and the group pulled her out. A single circular door blocked their way out. "Don't worry, I know this kind of puzzle like the back of my hand. We just have to say the right phrase. Let's start with Open Sesame!" Nothing happened and Romeo asked nicely, making the door opened.
They walked forward until they reached a platform with the Zentopia emblem. The door behind them closed and Lucy spun the emblem, revealing a bunch of faces and pillars that began closing in on them. "Lucy! Summon Virgo!" Laki shouted in a panic.
"R-right." Lucy held out the key and summoned the spirit... albeit in something unexpected.
"Why are you in a bikini?" Laki asked, covering Romeo's eyes.
"I thought I'd change things up." The spirit replied, posing as she spoke.
"Just make a hole in the floor!" Lucy shouted before bending from a pillar.
"As you wish." The maid clapped her hands and the floor broke open, sending them falling again. They crashed to the bottom of a chamber filled with statues as the spirit left, leaving behind an improved whip for Lucy.
"So what now?" Laki asked, walking around the room. "Hey, this one looks like Gray." She pointed at a statue before the face fell off. A giant boulder began rolling after them as they ran for their lives until they reached a cliff.
"What now?!" Lucy asked.
"Happy, grab Lucy and Michelle." The Dragon Slayer said before turning to Romeo. "We're gonna have to jump. When we do, grab something with your magic."
"Are you crazy, Laki!?" Happy asked. "There's no way I can carry both of them! Lucy's too heavy!"
"Shut up, cat!" The blonde replied before grabbing his tail. The group jumped as the boulder dropped down behind them and Lucy unleashed her new whip. They grabbed on to some pillars and held on for dear life as they slowly started crawling down.
With Gray, Juvia, and Lyon
"Look, my love." Juvia said, pointing at the strange door formation before them.
"What, did you find a way in?" He asked before looking at the door.
One chunk of rocks began moving and glowed blue. "None shall filthy this scared spot." The rock golem shouted before raising its arm.
"Of course it wouldn't be easy." Lyon said as he and Gray channeled their magic into their hands. "We don't have time for this!" Both fired off an ice spell, only to find it faded away and they had to dodge a fist. "Why didn't it work?"
"You shall not pass my watchful eye!" The golem shouted, before punching at Juvia. She noticed the glowing eye and sent a whip of water at it, deactivating the golem and the door opened.
"Brilliant plan, Juvi!" Lyon cheered, making Gray sweat drop.
The three entered the cave and found remains of an old church along with strange floating cubes around them. "Do you think we should split and try to find something?" Lyon asked before the three split up.
"Wait, are those arrows?" Juvia said. Lyon tried moving some arrowed blocks around before they figured out the secret and opened the door. A bright light blinded them all before they lowered their arms, finding themselves in a strange maze thing. The three triggered their magic and made a path from the rocks and walked forward.
Green slime dropped down onto the path and blocked the path. "Sugarboy!?" Gray shouted.
The blonde smirked before the slime grabbed Juvia and Lyon. "Thanks for opening the door for me, idiots. That clock piece is as good as mine now." He triggered his slime and slid down the path.
"Gray, stop him!" Juvia shouted. "Don't worry about us." Reluctantly, Gray nodded and raced after the church member.
"Take this!" Sugarboy sent a block at him, unknowingly triggering the release of the clock piece. Gray tossed off his clothes, ready to fight as Sugarboy had his slime stretched out. The Ice Wizard froze it before both grabbed the clock piece. A bright light blinded Lyon and Juvia before both realized they were gone.
Lyon unleashed a large amount of magic and broke the goop as Juvia just blushed before catching herself. "Quick, to the light!" Sh shouted, pointing the wrong way.
Gray and Sugarboy pulled on the piece, trying to pry it from the others grip. The blonde summoned some orange slime and trapped Gray inside it. Gray triggered his magic as Lyon and Juvia did the same, freeing the other wizard. "Get it together!" Lyon said before they all fired their magic at the same time, knocking him out.
"This is ours now." He said, lifting the piece over his shoulder.
With Laki's Group
"Looks like we reached the bottom." Laki said as she looked around the massive chamber filled with candles and ruins.
"According to some Zentopian legends, people once spent their whole lives down here." Lucy said. "Can you imagine what that must have been like for them?"
"Yeah, now we just have to find a tiny clock piece in this giant cave." Happy said. "Way to go Lucy."
"Can't you just sniff it out, Laki?" Romeo asked.
"No can do." She replied. "Whatever this clock is made of, it's got no scent at all." Lucy gasped at a few skulls before Laki held up her arm. "We aren't alone here." The group looked up to see Coco and Dan standing over them.
"Looks like you read the same book we did." Dan said as he walked over. "But that clock piece is coming with us."
"And it looks like you haven't found it either." Coco added.
Dan instantly started flirting with Laki after seeing her, only for the Dragon Slayer to calmly push her glasses up before kicking him right through the uprights. "Like I said last time, I'm spoken for. Now get lost! Wood Dragon Uprooter!" She slammed her hands to the ground and giant logs shot up, blocking the two church members.
"Let's find this clock piece before Laki ends up killing that guy." Happy said.
"Quit icing your blue balls and help me find that clock piece!" Coco scolded her church fellow member.
Angered, Dan raced after the group and started spouting off some nonsense before a rouge spear thrust hit Lucy and shrank her. Laki grabbed the blonde and tossed her to Michelle before trying to take out Dan. "I'll deal with this idiot. You guys split up to find the clock piece!"
The others split up before Coco raced after them. "Will you at least unshrink me first!?" Lucy complained.
With Shadow Gear and Gajeel
The four humans climbed up a sheer rock wall as Lily and Rose flew up. "I know the map says this is the only way, but can't you two just fly us up there?" Levy asked.
"Yeah, but then you'd still be waiting for Droy." Rose replied. "I don't care how strong Lily is in his muscle form, it'll take an army to carry him up."
"That's mean, ya know." The large man replied.
"Besides, if we do that we might miss some important clues." Pantherlily replied. "We can't afford to take the easy way out."
"Quit whining or get left behind!" Gajeel shouted down.
Levy stared up in anger. "Once we're on top, I'm throwing him off."
The soon reached the top and Gajeel pulled out a piece of paper. "According to the info Lucy gave us, we should be on top of one of the clock pieces about now."
"Does anyone else find it weird that no one has tried to stop us?" Rose asked. "Or that we've seen it?"
Shadowgear finally pulled themselves up and panted in exhaustion. "I'd thought we'd never get up here." Levy panted.
"Get over it. We gotta move." Gajeel replied, standing up.
"Oops, I think we climbed the wrong mountain." Pantherlily said, making Shadowgear gasp in shock. "Looks like we've got more climbing to do." The three panicked and Jet and Droy hugged each other. "I'm just kidding, but those looks were priceless." The others crumbled in shock.
"I'm guessing the things buried under here." Gajeel mumbled before punching the ground.
With Erza, Cana, Wendy, and Carla
"Seems like we've taken a wrong turn somewhere." Erza said, staring at the map.
"It feels like we've been walking around in circles." Cana complained.
"Don't you have the map?" Wendy asked. "You should know how to get there."
"All the details on it are extremely vague." The redhead confessed. "All we can do is follow these signs for help."
"Except the sign is more like a joke than any thing else." Carla pointed out. "I'm pretty sure this is illegal to mess with signs."
"We don't have a choice." Erza replied. "For now we just have to follow the map and use the signs when we need to." The four went in the opposite direction of the sign, unaware of the shaking bushes.
The women soon reached a spiraling tower as the group stared up. "We're here."
"The library of sorcery holds countless tomes on every magic ever practice." Carla said. "If there's any place the clock piece would be, it would be here."
Erza opened the door and they stared at the sheer number of books inside. Wendy sniffed the air and covered her nose in disgust. "What's wrong, Wendy?" The red head asked.
"I smell burnt rubber." The Dragon Slayer replied.
A roaring engine caught everyone's attention before the book wall next to them exploded open. The girls jumped back as a motorcycle burst out before sliding to a stop, a cloaked figure riding it. His red eyes went wide at the sight of the guild marks on them. "Not this guild again!"
"You've meet us before?" Erza asked.
"Yeah, we both have." The guy smirked before pointing behind them. A bat cracked Erza in the head, sending her flying into a shelf.
"Jellal hired us to deal with your friends back at the tower." Knucklehead said, placing his weapon in his shoulder. "But after we lost to them, our guilds kicked us out. We've been wandering around this dump of a world for seven years, barely scraping by. Then we heard about this little job of yours..." He reached behind him and pulled out a chainsaw blade, gripping the end. "And figured it be the perfect chance for revenge!"
He crossed the two weapons in an 'x' before both glowed in a black aura. He swung them rapidly forcing Erza back before one hit the wall, cracking the tower wall. "Dance, tiny, dance!" The Guy shouted, firing his guns at Wendy's feet. "Haha! You know its a real shame you aren't more developed, because this would be a lot more fun."
The girl, now blushing red in anger and/or embarrassment, dodged the shots before racing forward. "Sky Dragon Talon!" She swung her foot at his head, only to have it caught.
"Nice try!" He slammed her over head into the ground. She rolled over and unleashed a breath attack, sending him into a shelf. "Okay. Now I'm mad!" He growled before turning into shadows and jumping at Wendy.
"Cana, Carla! Go find the clock piece!" Erza shouted, blocking the moving blade. "We'll deal with these two."
The two nodded before jumping off, Carla carrying the brunette down. "This is the second time we've had to fight someone on this mission. Either its just really bad luck, or someone spilled the beans."
"This could be the chaos the book was talking about." Carla pointed out.
"We can't worry about that now." Cana said as the two landed. "We just have to focus on finding the piece. 'Upon the lost knowledge doth the piece rest'. Looks like this is the spot. We should start looking here."
"Are you sure this is the spot?" Carla asked.
"This is the only place you can find books of magic this old." The brunette replied. "Printing didn't exist when most of these were written, meaning its a lot hand written stuff. This is our best bet."
"Well, guess we should start looking." Carla said, wincing at the sound of battle.
With Laki and Co.
Coco kicked Romeo back before turning to Michelle. In a panic, she tossed Lucy in the air and a stray spear thrust turned her back to normal size. "Awesome!" She then ducked another thrust before crawling back to the others. "We have to find that clock piece."
"How are we gonna do that?" Romeo asked as Lucy pulled out her book.
"Don't worry, this should help us." The blonde said.
Coco noticed the book and tried to grab it, only to dodge a fireball from Romeo. The others raced away as Lucy read from the book only to trigger a trap. Everyone, even the running Coco fell into a pit trap and held on for dear life. "Take my hand." Lucy offered, only for both of the lose their grip and fall down the hole.
"Lucy! Are you okay?" Michelle asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She replied. "Don't worry about me. Just find that clock piece! We'll meet up later, I'm sure."
She turned back to Coco and offered her hand, only to have it swatted away. "Get away from me!" The girl replied. "Do I need to remind you that this is all your fault."
"Watch your mouth before I smack it off!" The blonde shouted back. "Yeesh. I know Laki meet someone like you but she was a whole lot sweeter than you."
"Well, that clearly wasn't me so get over it." Coco replied before walking away.
Lucy huffed in anger before following after the girl. "So why is the Legion Platoon after the clock anyway? Why collect all the clock pieces? Do you really want to start a 'holy war' with all that 'chaos'?"
"How about I ask you a question?" Coco snapped back. "If you know what we're doing, then why try to stop us?"
"We're just trying to put everything together." Lucy replied. "All we want to do if finish my fathers last wish, that's all."
The two walked forward before Coco triggered another trap, making stone spike shot up. Coco tackled Lucy back and the two walked on. "Are you seriously this unfriendly all the time?" Lucy asked, only to get no answer. "Jeez, talk about cold hearted."
The two reached a dead end only for Coco to chuckle. "Don't you know anything? Places like this always have secret exits." She pressed a statues face, only to trigger a trap and get crushed by a large rock.
"Are you okay?" Lucy asked.
"Lucy!" The blonde looked to see the others above them. "Come here and we'll pull you up!" Lucy glanced down at the girl and quickly pulled her out before going to the others.
Laki jumped from a thrust from Dan only to stare as a statue grew to the top of the cave. "Maybe this will soften you up to my love!" Dan tipped the statue over and seemingly crushed her. The dust settled and Laki was standing underneath her wooden shield, glaring at him. "You really are my kind of woman."
"Back off!" Laki shouted, shooting her branch arm out. Dan dodged the pillar before Laki pulled herself in with it. "Wood Dragon Tail Crush!" She slammed her foot into his chest, sending him flying back. Landing on the ground, the knight started laughing, confusing the girl. "What's so funny now?"
"I finally figured it out." He chuckled. "You were stuck on an island for seven years. That's why your magic power is so weak. You'll never be able to beat me."
"Talk, talk, talk, that's all people like you do." Laki replied. "At the end of the day, its not power that wins the fight but skill."
"Good thing for me I had seven to practice my techniques then." Dan said back. "Someone like you doesn't stand a chance against me."
"Just keep talking. It'll make it that much more fun when smack that look off your face." Laki said. "Now get lost!"
Lucy and her group ran into a church with a massive Zentopian symbol inside it. "The book says that girl took shelter from the darkness in here." Lucy said.
"So where is it?" Romeo asked.
"I'll take a look from the sky." Happy said, flying up. Just as he took off, Laki crashed through the roof landing on Happy.
Like I said before there will be no feeking Butt Jiggle Gang in this story. Instead, I've brought back the guys from the ToH arc. Just imagine them with slightly torn clothing (the same outfits from their debut) and old weapons (covered in chips and scratches). Not much left to say for this chapter. See ya next time.
Beta read by JballinR12.