The next day on the Galuna Island, at a campsite by the shorelines of the beach.
Natsu and the Gang are all awake from a good night's rest at their little camp. The group is currently packing up their belongings as they planned to explore the island and find the client of their job.
"Make sure to not leave a single thing behind, alright?" Erza called out as she had all her things packed up on her large cart. "we've got a whole day to search for the village."
"we got it." Gray said while pulling the tie on his sack bag. He then hoisted it up before bringing it to Erza's cart where he put his belongings on. "still, you really don't wanna search for our boat guy again?"
"as much as we want to, we can't actually waste any more time." Erza replied, the group had done a search for Bobo the previous night after setting camp. Their search resulted in no sign of their boatman. "I'm starting to think that he might've been a ghost or something."
"don't say such things~!" Lucy said as she came by while carrying her bag. The blonde looking a bit pale as she imagined a comically drawn image of the group riding their boat the previous night with Bobo who turned into a grim reaper. "just thinking that he might've been a ghost just made me imagine we were on the ferry boat to hell!"
"he's not a ghost." Gray said while waving a hand to the side. "the guy must've fallen into the sea when were near the sea. We just couldn't hear him falling, that's all."
"really? Is that your guess, Gray?" Natsu said as he came to the group while munching on a piece of grilled fish on a stick. "the guy fell into the sea when we weren't looking? I have sensitive ears, you know?"
"then what's your guess, flamebrain?" Gray asks while crossing his arms. "where did the guy go when we weren't looking?"
"easy, he must've grown wings and flew off." Natsu said as he pointed at a bubble image of Bobo having bat wings and flying off the boat. "it's hard to hear someone flying, you know?"
"That's his guess?" Lucy asks as she and Gray sweatdropped.
"let's all put our guesses for a later time." Erza said before she pulls out a pocket watch and checks the time then looks at the clear morning sky. "right now, let's focus on finding the village."
"still got to wait for Happy to come back and tell us where the village is though?" Gray told Erza as they had sent Happy away in the morning to search for the village in the sky.
"ah, there he is." Lucy made a noise as she pointed to the sky when she spotted Happy flying to them. "Happy! Did you find the village!?"
"Aye~!" Happy replied as he flew down and his wings disappeared before he landed on top of Natsu's head. "I found the village! It's big and it's due north from here!"
"good." Erza nodded while Natsu gives Happy his morning fish. "let's go to the village, get the details of the request, finish it, and then we should prioritize a search for Bobo afterwards. Sounds good?"
"good for me." "yeah" "Aye~!" "sure" the others replied while nodding.
"well then, let's be off." Erza said with a nod while Natsu picks out a magic card and threw it to the group's luggage pile which disappeared into it.
About a few hours later into the afternoon which is slowly going into the evening.
Natsu and the others are in the forest of the island as they are heading for the village, even though Lucy and Gray starting to look a bit sluggish and tired.
"hey~? Are we there yet?" Lucy asks while sounding very tired. "we've been walking all day~!"
"you said that like a hundred times already" Gray said while looking annoyed. He then looks at Happy. "Hey, Happy! I thought you said that the village is due north from where we were at?!"
"Aye, it is!" Happy said while riding on Natsu's shoulder. "it's just very far~!"
"you could've said that in the beginning~!" Lucy and Gray cried out.
"alright, that's enough." Erza called out to the group as she was leading in the front. The scarlet haired knight turned to look at the others. "as much as we are all tired, we are on a job and therefore we cannot complain about the situation. This is an S-class mission, remember?"
"Even though it's an S-class mission, I'm S-class tired~!" Lucy cried out. "my feet are hurting~!"
"Then don't wear heels in the forest, damnit." Gray retorted.
The group keeps on walking as they just passed trees, bushes, and etc. as they keep on walking for another hour, they soon arrived to a large wooden wall.
"we're here, but now what?" Gray asks as everyone looks at the large wooden wall and the sign with the words 'Keep Out' written on it.
Erza looks around before she knocks on the large wooden fence a few times before yelling out
"EXCUSE ME! OPEN THE GATE!" she hollered out as loud as possible to get anyone's attention.
After two seconds, two men appeared above the wooden fence and looks down at Erza and the others.
"who goes there?!" one of the two called out while holding a spear in hand.
"we are mages of the Guild Fairy Tail!" Erza exclaimed. "our guild had accepted your request. So we have come to help! I am sure that our guild has notified the client, right!?"
"yes! We were told that someone had accepted our request!" the other man replied besides his companion. "But we need confirmation that you are who you state that you are! All of you, show us your marks!"
Natsu and the others complied as everyone showed the Fairy Tail Marks on their body to confirm that they are Fairy Tail members. The two guards looks at the Fairy Tail marks before they nodded.
"They're finally here!" the two men said in happiness and excitement as they got down and the gates opened.
"it's like a monster's mouth is opening" Happy commented as Lucy sweatdropped to hear his words.
Natsu and the otehrs were led by the guards into a village as they see many of its villagers wearing cloaks and hoods on, covering them all with the exception of their eyes.
"Talk about weird fashion senses." Natsu said before getting shushed by Lucy.
"Greetings, Fairy Tail mages. I'm Moka, the chief of this village." the one in the front introduced himself as the Mayor, "To begin, we've got something to show you. Villagers!" at his command, all of the villagers slowly stripped of their robes. Lucy gulped when she saw that each of the villagers had various demonic body parts.
"They're just like!" Lucy gasps as she remembers Bobo's grotesque arm.
"The guy wasn't kidding when he said that the moon somehow cursed him and stuff." Gray commented.
"Everyone on this Island is affected by the curse, including dogs and birds, without exception." Moka explained while showing how his right arm is a demonic blueish purple claw. "as you can see, it makes us have this body parts.
"I see." Erza watched everyone in the village before cupping her chin and begins to think. "but it's weird. Not that I doubt what you're saying, but what makes you believe it's a curse? It may be an epidemic, right?"
"We've consulted many doctors, but none of them knows what it is. So, this mutation must be linked to the moon's magical power." Moka answered, making them blink in confusion at his words.
"The moon's magical power?" Lucy questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"Since ancient times this place has been subjected to its influence, and as a result, the Island was shining as beautiful as the moon itself. But, a few years ago, the moonlight suddenly turned violet." Moka informed the group. "and that's when this curse began."
"A violet moon?" Erza looks confused.
"do moons even turn violet?" Natsu asks. "when we were going here, the moon was white like normal."
"People from the mainland all say that…" The Mayor sighed. "But in reality… the moon did turn purple on this island. After the purple moon showed up, our bodies started to change."
As he finished, the moon started to reveal itself in the night sky.
"The moon is appearing!" Happy exclaimed as everyone turned their heads up to check out this purple moon.
"no way!" Lucy gasped from seeing the purple moon.
"It's true! The moon is really purple…" Gray cringed at the moon's creepiness.
"talk about weird to the max!" Natsu added in.
'I am sure that when I looked at the moon last night from the boat it was its normal colour. What's going on here?' Erza thought as she tried to understand why the moon turned purple. "What could make the moon turn this way?"
"This is the curse of the moon's 'Magical Power'." Moka said while looking dreaded before the whole village suddenly yelled in pain as their bodies started changing.
"Eh? W-What is going on?" Lucy cried out as she looks scared and confused at the scene.
"they're all just!" Gray exclaimed as he sees each and every villager slowly transforming into monstrous forms.
"just what is this?" Erza asks as she and Natsu backed away while Happy clings onto the Dragon Slayer's head.
"I apologize if we've frightened you all." Moka spoke after everything was over. Him and all the villagers were completely turned into demons. "but this is the result of the moon's magical power that turned us all into monsters.
"How awful." Lucy whispered as she looked at a few villagers and saw a few of them were in tears.
"this is what happens to our bodies when the moon comes out." Moka continued his explanation. "If this isn't a curse, then what is it? Once it becomes morning, everyone turns back to their original form. However, recently, there are those who don't change back and lose their soul."
"So where are they? I doubt you kept them with the rest of the villagers." Gray asks while looking around. "Do you keep them locked somewhere until you break the curse?"
"That was what we tried in the beginning, but every time we tried, they would break out. So, we created a rule for those people…" Moka began to tear up as he spoke. "We must kill them, whoever become a mindless monster."
"you….what?!" Lucy gasps.
"there could've still be a chance for them to return, right!?" Natsu exclaimed, hardly believing the solution to stop those who had become fully demon is by killing them. "why did you have to kill them!? They're your family and friends, right!?"
"even if we keep them in prison, they could break out of it!" Moka cried out "if we don't kill them, they will kill all of us!"
"but….how can you just?" Lucy looks horrified.
"I… I had to kill my own son. My own son who turned evil… I had no choice… I had to stop him from going berserk and killing everyone on this island… just like all those who turned into real demons." Moka cried out in tears while holding a photo that he lowered down and this allowed Natsu and the others to see that it is a photo of the sailor who brought them to Galuna Island.
"But, yesterday we-!" Lucy exclaimed but Gray stopped her.
"Shh! Don't say another word, Lucy!" Gray told her before he looks down with a sorrowful look on his face. "I guess now we know why he just vanished. I'm sure… he can't rest in peace like that."
"w-wait! You mean that the guy was…" Lucy asks as she looks pale. "A ghost?!"
"Save this Island, I beg you! If it continues like this, we'll all turn into demons." Moka begged with tears in his eyes.
"Don't worry, Sir. We will save your Island." Erza said, getting nods from her friends.
"you can count on us to solve this curse." Natsu added in while Happy cried out a pumped up "AYE~!".
"Thank you." Moka smiled as he wiped away his tears, before a serious look came to his face, "We've realized that there is only one way to lift the curse off our island." The Fairy Tail's mages looked at him waiting for him to finish as the mayor points at the moon with his staff. "And that is to destroy the moon."
"Eh?!" everyone gasps as the Mayor wanted them to destroy the very moon itself.
sometime later, Natsu and the others were in a hut provided by the villagers as they were staying in it for the night.
"it's so weird." Happy said, the blue cat checking the violet moon.
"Happy! get away from the window!" Lucy called out to the cat while arranging her belongings in her bag. "You heard what the chief said, the more exposed to the moonlight we are, the more of a chance we have of turning into demons."
"this is a real pickle of a mission." Gray said as he sat near Erza who sat on a crate. "a curse on an island and the solution is to destroy the moon? Talk about crazy."
"Agreed" Erza nodded before she glanced at the window and see the violet glow of the moon. "as much as we can do something about the curse, solving it by destroying the moon isn't possible."
"can we even destroy the moon?" Gray asked while taking off his shirt "I mean it's not even something a mage can even do."
"yeah, not even I can fly to the moon." Happy added in. "maybe if I get flung hard and fast enough?"
"maybe with Catastoras?" Natsu asks while holding up the card with his mechanical steed's image on it. "he can run in the air if I put enough fire in his magic core."
"look, flying to the moon or riding Catastoras to the moon isn't possible, you know?" Lucy sweatdropped to the two's ideas. "that's just crazy."
Erza sighs a bit loudly as she transforms into her night clothes and stood up from the crate.
"let's just think of that tomorrow" Erza suggested. "we need to find clues first before we are left with the last resort of destroying the moon."
"Where do we go to find clues?" Gray asks.
"how about the temple west of here?" Lucy suggested as she pointed out to the window and at the direction of a temple that is visible. "that place looks very sketchy and might hold a clue to the moon being violet and everything."
"hmm, good idea." Erza nodded. "once we are well rested, let's head there first thing in the morning."
"got it." Everyone replied while nodding before they all began to settle in for the night.
Meanwhile at the temple's top spot, there's somewhat of a ritual going on as this is all performed by black cloaked priests and is being watched by a man wearing a helmet, a cloak, and seemingly surrounded by cold air.
This masked man looks at the ritual before he turns his head to the side to see another masked man coming but this one looks rather skeptical due to him cackling.
"why have you come here, Zalty?" the first masked man spoke out.
"Reitei-sama, I have news." The second masked individual named Zalty replied to the first one. "it would seem that the villagers have hired mages to solve their peculiar situation."
"I see." The one named Reitei replied while looking back at the ritual at hand. "let them come, I won't let anyone stop the ritual for this is my life long ambition." He then looks back at Zalty. "inform Yuka and the others of possible intruders and have everyone be on high alert if any of those mages come near it. Got it?"
"yes, at once." Zalty replied before he cackles and then went off.
"I won't let anyone stop me." Reitei said as the ritual continues before a glowing violet light shines down and emanated a demonic glow. "this is my life long ambition and I will achieve my goal no matter what!"
That's a wrap!
Bye bye