The Legend of Fairies.
Chapter Nine: Hunting Poe's (Part Two)
Previously in the last chapter.
"Exactly, but before we can explore the right side, we need to take care of a…problem." Natsu slowly turned his head to gaze at the empty painting hanging on the wall, imagining the Poe Sister in it. "A problem we should've deal with right after we got the dungeon item."
"Yeah," Happy agreed, also looking at the empty painting. "And I'm still feeling anger inside me from dealing with the Floormaster. Shall we get started engaging the Poe Sister?" A sadistic smirk appeared on Happy's face after he finished the last sentence.
"Indeed, we shall," Link seconded, also gaining a similar smirk on her face but much creepier. "Natsu, are you ready?"
A feral smirk appeared on Natsu's face as he drew his sword out in his right hand and lighted his hand on fire on his left. "Do you even need to ask, Link? Let's kill this little bitch."
It was now officially time to start killing some Poe's.
(In the Present; With the Group)
After two and a half painful hours of walking around the left side of the Forest Temple, the group was finally ready to explore the right side, which had not once been explored once, except the courtyard. They do not want to step foot onto the left side ever again. If they did, then they were going to lose their minds.
But first things first, the group still needed to deal with the Poe Sister they had found so long ago but chose not to deal with it since they had to go and get that boss key. They figured out how to bring her out of the painting and were currently preparing themselves for the fight. Well, Natsu and Link were preparing themselves since they're going to be doing the fighting, while Happy will watch in the sidelines and cheer them on.
As Natsu and Link were getting ready to fight the Poe Sister, Navi decided to use the time and explained how to defeat a Poe to the former since it was going to be the first time he fought one.
"Once you start a battle with a Poe or make direct eye contact, it will immediately turn invisible but won't fly away. However, you can't carry out any physical attacks, magic attacks or long-range attacks unless it reveals itself. The only way for the Poe to reveal itself is by blocking its charging attacks two times without getting hit. If you get hit when you block the first attack, then you will have to restart the blocking sequence."
"Okay, thanks for the information, Navi," Natsu said, processing the information for a moment before giving the little fairy a gratitude nod. "I'm leaving you to block the Poe's charging attacks, Link, so I hope you don't mind."
"That's fine, Natsu," Link said, waving a hand, indicating she didn't mind about being the defender against the Poe's charging attacks. "I was already going to do that in the first place since you don't have a shield. I'll leave the fighting to you because I'm pretty sure you still have that grudge against the Poe Sister for not telling you where your friend is."
"I do and I will make that bitch tell me where my friend is, even if I have to use brutal force on her."
Soon, Natsu and Link finished preparing themselves and they finally started the fight against Joelle after bringing her out of the paintings three times. The fight against the Poe Sister was probably the easiest and, in Natsu's opinion, boring fight in the world. All she does is go invisible, float in the air with her lit torch for a bit before she eventually does the charging attacks like Navi said, which Link would block with relative ease with her shield.
Yeah, the fight against Joelle didn't take very long to end, especially since she does the same attack pattern. But on the plus side, Natsu managed to make her weasel out the information of where his friend is being kept in the Forest Temple during the fight.
Apparently, Natsu's friend is with the second oldest Poe Sister, Amy, the yellow one and she's currently on the first floor on the right side of the temple. The only way to get there is by entering the right-side twisted-corridor room, have said corridor become twisted since it's straight, which is by shooting the silver eye switch that's located in a room at the end of the corridor, drop down into a hole and walked through a giant chess set without being crushed by a ceiling platform.
The group had become worried for a moment when Joelle mentioned the chess set, wondering if they have to play the game itself, which would be a major problem since none of them haven't ever played it before, but they became relief at the fact they don't have to play the game; they only just have to walk through the set.
With the information of where his friend is being kept in his mind, Natsu ended the fight with a powerful flame-infused attack on his sword, which was enough to kill Joelle and having her body burst into orange flames before disappearing. The flames then lit up a blackout torch nearby and a small chest appeared containing a small key, which Link grabbed.
"Well…" Happy said, not sure what to say after the fight against Joelle. It had been, like Natsu thought, easy and boring. "That was rather easy."
"Yeah, I was honestly expecting more of a fight," Natsu agreed, also not sure what to say after the fight. "But at least I created a new move with my sword." The flame-infused attack was a plus side, but it still didn't make the Dragon Slayer feel any better from facing a weak enemy.
"Sorry, Natsu, I forgot to mention Poes aren't really much dangerous," Navi said apologetically, the glow on her body dimming a bit. "They can be annoying when they turn invisible, but not dangerous."
"Well, next time when we meet a new enemy, Navi, please tell us every fact about them. I may like facing monsters in Fiore, but I don't want to face a unknown monster I have no knowledge of."
"Don't worry, I will."
With that piece said, the group made their way towards the right side of the Forest Temple after walking through the circular chamber that held the Fairy Bow. The right side looked exactly the same as the left side but mirrored. It didn't matter to the group if it was mirrored, the same as the left side or even filled with monsters because they finally have a chance to explore the right side.
The group didn't get far on exploring the right side, however, because they encountered the second Poe Sister, Beth, who is the second youngest and the blue one. They quickly engaged her after shooting her paintings three times and like Joelle, it didn't take very long to kill the second Poe Sister who died in the same way but with blue flames. The flames, like in the room where Joelle had previously been in, lit up a blackout torch nearby and instead of a small chest, a large chest appeared containing the compass.
"A compass?" Happy asked, staring at the blue compass in confusion. "What good will a compass do in a very old temple?"
"Don't underestimate the compass, Happy," Navi chided, flying around Happy's head as she began to explain the purpose of the compass. "It's actually helpful when combined with the dungeon map. It can reveal chests we haven't seen, including hidden ones. It can even reveal where the boss is, but we already know where the location is, thanks to the Poe Sisters. The one thing the compass cannot reveal, however, is other people in the temple."
"Damn," Natsu cursed, hoping to ask Navi if the compass can reveal his friends in the temples the group needed to go, but his hopes were dashed after hearing the reply. Despite this, he was happy to finally figure out where his friend is in the Forest Temple. "Well, at least we can see the remaining rooms and chests in the temple."
"That's true," Link nodded her head in agreement. "But we pretty much don't need to search the remaining chests since we already have the important items to complete the temple. If we do need to search the remaining chests for a small key, then we'll do that."
"Alright, unless anyone has anything else to say, let's resume our exploration."
The group made their way upstairs, used a small key to unlock a locked door and entered through it to come across the right-side twisted-corridor room. They immediately went inside the corridor itself after entering the room since they weren't in the mood to deal with any Wallmaster or Floormaster; the memories of encountering the latter came to their minds, making angry expressions to appear on their faces.
From inside the corridor, which is still straight like Joelle said, the group encountered a new enemy called Green Bubbles. They are the same as Blue Bubbles but had green flames and don't move to attack. All they do is just float around in circles and turn off their flames. Seeing as the Green Bubbles aren't attacking, the group cautiously made their way around them, used the remaining small key they had to unlock another locked door at the end of the corridor and entered through it.
The group were now standing in a large room with four spinning platforms in the middle, a lit torch also in the middle on a raised platform, a red sinister-looking mist underneath the platforms and a silver eye switch encased in ice hanging on the right-side wall.
"This room looks very simple to do," Natsu observed the room with narrowed eyes. "No monsters, no complicated puzzles." He turned his attention towards the red mist below, a grimace overtaking his features from smelling the mist. It's like death. "Though, we want to make sure we don't step or fall into that mist. Looking at it gives me cold chills."
"Yeah, you guys want to make sure you don't step or fall into the red mist," Navi agreed, flying around the group's heads. "The mist is a death mist that slowly drains your life force. The longer you're in it, the faster your life force gets drained to the point you can't move…and just die."
The group winced at hearing the last part, particularly Link, who had encountered a few death mists when she was a kid. It was thanks to Navi's intelligent knowledge that she's still alive to this day.
With the knowledge of making sure not to step or fall into the red mist below, the group set out to melt the ice in order to shoot the silver eye switch with an arrow. Natsu wanted to melt the ice with his magic, but Link stopped him, saying she wanted to do a trick shot with the Fairy Bow since she's getting tired shooting the Poe Sister's paintings. The trick shot was standing on one of the four spinning platforms and shoot an arrow through the lit torch in the middle towards the silver eye switch, which would not only melt the ice but make the straight corridor twisted.
Natsu didn't like the idea at first since there's a chance Link might fall into the death mist below, but after a couple encouragement words and a very adorable pleading expression that can rival Wendy's adorable expression from the blonde-hair woman, he let her do the trick shot…as long as she becomes careful when standing on one of the platforms. The response the pink-hair man got in return was a soft smile and a nod before Link went to do the trick shot.
It had been very easy for Link to do the trick shot with her Fairy Bow, which the arrow hit both the ice and silver eye switch after passing through the lit torch. Soon, the ice melted away and the eye switch closed its said eye to initiate the room shifting in a different position.
The group immediately head back towards the now twisted corridor and travel through it to reach the other side, dodging the Green Bubbles along the way. They could've killed them, but with the prospect of getting closer to Natsu's friend and the third Poe Sister, they decided to ignore the skull monsters.
After arriving on the other side of the twisted corridor, the group quickly spotted the hole they needed to drop into so that they can reached the giant chess set. They were getting much closer to the third Poe Sister and Natsu's friend. In no time at all, they walked over to the hole and drop down in it to finally enter the giant chess-set room.
The giant chess-set room was very large with black and white tile floors, a right-side pathway leading to the courtyard of the Forest Temple and a ceiling platform with a few holes for safe passage. The ceiling platform would occasionally fall to the ground in a few moments before rising back up. There were also a few Big Skulltulas hanging onto the actual ceiling – not the ceiling platform – a gold step-on switch and a lone door, locked by metal bars, located on the other side, which the group needed to head towards.
However, the group needed to get past through the giant chess set without being crushed by the ceiling platform first before they could reach the door, so they spent a few minutes trying to come up with a plan to get through the set.
The first plan was to walk through the chess set while standing in the direct spot where the holes are when the ceiling platform falls, but there's not enough room for the group to stand in. So, that plan was out, despite being an obvious one.
The second plan was having Happy carry Natsu and Link one at a time and use his Max Speed ability to fly through giant chess set in a very fast pace. This was an extremely good plan to operate, but the Big Skulltulas posed a big problem because if Happy gets hit during the flight, then he, along with the person he's carrying, will be dazed and get crushed by the ceiling platform. Like with the first plan, that plan was out.
The third plan was having Natsu use his Dragon Slayer magic to destroy the ceiling platform, making it very easy to walk through giant chess set with only the Big Skulltulas to worry about. Now, this was probably the best plan to operate because the group could easily walk through the giant chess set to reach the door on the other side without worrying about getting crushed by the ceiling platform. Not to mention, they would be saving their stamina and a bit resources for the third Poe Sister fight, even though it wouldn't be much of a fight to begin with.
Either way, the group decided to use the third plan to get past the giant chess set and reach the door on the other side.
But before Natsu could use his Dragon Slayer magic to destroy the ceiling platform, he had to swear he wouldn't go overboard to a panicking Link, who feared the Forest Temple collapsing since it's very old. While the swear did make her settle down a bit, she still didn't like the idea of him using destructive magic spells inside the temple.
So, it was extremely careful Natsu, who is now standing underneath the ceiling platform when it rose back up after falling, channeling a bit of magic onto his hand and using it as a clenched fist to destroy the ceiling platform.
Boom!
The ceiling platform got destroyed the moment Natsu's magic-channeled fist collided into it, making a large amount of dust to fill the air, while remaining debris fell downwards. After a few moments, the dust settled down and the group who had been coughing a bit harshly from said dust head towards the door on the other side where they entered through it, not before stepping on the golden step-on switch to raise the metal bars.
The group were now standing in the room with the third Poe Sister, Amy, and Natsu's friend. The room was large with a raised platform on the right side, along with a door and a blackout torch, a medium-sized painting that had Amy in it and five stone blocks floating in the air, each having a different color picture. But the group didn't notice any of these things in the room at all because their attention had been focused on the figure lying on the other side of the room after entering the room.
Lying unconscious and sideways on the ground was an beautiful young woman who looked to be near her twenties. She had long, scarlet hair with bangs framing her face, some covering her right eye, pale skin, diamond earrings on both ears and a slender voluptuous figure many women would die for.
Link noticed her own figure, while amazing and beautiful, was the slightest bit inferior to this woman's figure, something that wounded her pride as a woman.
The scarlet-hair woman's attire consisted of a metal breastplate with plated shoulder guards and a high armored collar, a short-sleeve black shirt underneath, a blue above-knee skirt and knee-high black boots. She also wore metal forearm gauntlets covering her fingers.
Link may not recognize the young woman who was unconscious, but Natsu and Happy did. They both shout out the name of the woman at the same time with wide eyes filled with horror.
"ERZA!"
And done! I'm going to end the chapter right there! The next chapter will be dealing with the remaining Poe Sisters and helping Erza recover from her injuries from Acnologia's roar attack.
Sorry for posting any chapters in this story, I've been busy working on my other stories. I'll try to get the next chapter up and running as fast as possible. I even have a few ideas how to start the next said chapter.
I'm sorry for the long wait and I hope this chapter makes up for it.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: Remaining Poe Sisters and Recovery.