I think that after this chapter I'm going to change the rating of this fic to M just because of the violent methods I envision dragons using to kill enemies. You'll see what I mean by the end. It also gives me a bit more freedom for other things. Anyway, give me your thoughts on the change in the reviews and as always, thanks for reading!
Chapter 25: Fierce Fairy Dragons
Natsu and the Blazing Dragon crashed into each other like iridescent red meteors.
They bellowed and roared their fury, slashing and biting and hammering at their enemy with fire, claws, teeth, horns, and tails. Natsu ducked under a tail whip and lunged forward to bite into the enemy drake's front right limb. The beast screeched and twisted his head to grip the base of Natsu's skull, but his fiery fangs couldn't pierce the Dragon Armor.
He snarled and released his enemy's leg, but bucked his head back to stab at the Blazing Dragon's face with his horns. It growled in pain and retreated, shaking its head irritably.
Lowering his head, Natsu rammed into his enemy's chest, knocking the wind out of the Blazing Dragon. It coughed and used its burning hands to grab at him, but the fires of its body couldn't hurt Natsu, who was completely immune to the heat and any negative effects it had.
"What sort of dragon are you?!" it screeched in frustration.
"I'm Natsu!" he roared back, "Your flames can't hurt the body of a Fire Dragon!"
The beast snarled angrily as Natsu spun and slammed his tail into its face, making it tumble in midair. It shook its head and glared at him with glowing red eyes, "I'm Totomaru! If you think my fires can't hurt you…think again!"
He sucked in a breath. Natsu faced him head on, glaring right back.
Totomaru unleashed a river of fire at his enemy, engulfing Natsu in the blaze.
"Didn't you hear me?"
Natsu devoured the flames with an almost annoyed look on his face, "Fire can't hurt my body."
Totomaru looked dumbfounded, but now Natsu sucked in his own deep breath and roared, releasing a huge fireball that crashed into the enemy drake.
"Gahh!" Totomaru shrieked, "What?! That's impossible! I am fire!"
It wasn't that Natsu's flames burned him, but the sheer mass of energy that exploded right into the other dragon hurt badly enough. More than enough to send Totomaru into a raging frenzy.
"Oraaahhh!" The Blazing Drake began spitting embers in his anger, then lunged at Natsu blindly. The sudden attack surprised Natsu enough to be caught off-guard, giving Totomaru the chance to slam into him and drag both dragons out of the sky.
They crashed into the city below, leveling several buildings, but thankfully, that particular part of the city had been evacuated.
Natsu shook Totomaru off and scrambled to his feet, growling at his enemy.
"Burn…burn!" the Blazing Drake hissed furiously.
"Tch, so noisy." Natsu sneered, "You're going down."
/
Gray faced Juvia in silence, calmly watching the Water Dragonelle circle him slowly like a shark. He narrowed his eyes, but didn't attempt to mirror her every movement. He remained in the center of her orbit, senses on full alert.
Once she made a full revolution, he decided to try talking, "Juvia, are you in there? Can you hear me?"
The only response he got was a long, loud hiss.
Gray sighed, "Well, damn. It's not usually my thing to fight girls, but…I'll stop you. Bring it, Juvia."
His challenge didn't go unnoticed. Juvia roared and rushed him, spitting a huge sphere of water his way.
Rather than avoid it, Gray charged straight into the sphere. He bit down as he made contact with the water and froze it instantly, then shattered the attack to pieces as his horns punched right through.
He continued his charge and flew at Juvia, who looked surprised by the retaliation. She was so surprised that Gray managed to ram her body, freezing a part of the dragonelle's flank. Juvia squealed in pain and slammed her tail into his face with the force of a tidal wave.
"Guah!" Gray was stunned by how powerful the attack was and went tumbling through the air, but he recovered quickly and stared as she circled around for another attack.
The Ice Drake grinned, "Wow, didn't expect that kind of power. You're actually really strong, Juvia."
"Siii!" she hissed, then flew above him and started flapping her wings rapidly. From the wild flapping came a rain of water bullets, firing at Gray with dangerously high speed.
"That won't work!" Gray shouted and breathed out a freezing mist, which turned the droplets into hail. The ice pelted at his scales, but it didn't faze him at all.
Juvia suddenly exploded through the fog and sank her fangs into his shoulder. Gray roared in surprise, but jerked his head sideways to crash his horns against her frozen flank.
The iced part of Juvia shattered and she shrieked, releasing Gray as she scrambled away from him.
Gray narrowed his eyes. I gotta be more careful with this. I don't know if I'm damaging any of her vital spots. Dammit, the water body is cool and all, but can't you just make do with blue scales?! It's really tricky to not kill you by accident!
/
Erza and Wendy confronted the Air Drake, who they learned was called Aria. He was fast- certainly faster than them, but Erza was a skilled fighter and analyzed his every movement with her steely brown eyes.
There's a weakness in his movements, but I must work it out to an extent before I tell Wendy. She's the only one who can make this plan work…!
Aria suddenly let loose a high-pressure burst of vacuumed air that cut at Erza's tough steel scales, but it did little more than knock the wind out of her for a few moments. She growled at the force though, and shifted to avoid the second blast of breath.
Wendy flew up above and behind the Air Dragon to fire a tornado right into the back of his head. Aria screeched and lunged upward, snapping his jaws at her, but the small dragonelle danced around his windy body quickly.
"Erza, this is going to take forever!" Wendy muttered as she retreated to her friend's side, "My attacks are hurting him, but they aren't doing much real damage."
"Don't worry, I'm thinking up a plan." the Blade Dragonelle replied, "I just need a bit more time to analyze his movements. Just a little longer, Wendy."
Aria lunged at them and forced the two dragonelles to pull away. He pursued Erza, decided to take out the bigger enemy first. She narrowed her eyes at him.
I'm one of Fairy Tail's strongest dragonelles. On my pride, I'll find a way to utterly crush you.
/
"MAN!"
Elfman rammed Sol head on, making the Earth Drake screech and recoil from the sheer force. The Beast Drake was much bigger and heavier than Sol, and he used that to his full advantage. No matter if his scale was relatively weak compared to most other dragons, Elfman didn't need much defense compared to the sheer bulk and power he possessed.
"Good, Elfman! Keep him busy!"
Mira lunged in from behind the enemy dragon and fired a beam of darkness from her jaws. The energy almost made direct contact, but Sol dug at the last second into the ground. Instead of damaging him, Mira's breath created a huge shockwave that blew apart several building.
She cursed, "Shoot! Where'd he go?!"
Elfman, still standing on the ground, reared up and glaring at the earth around him.
The attack came from directly below. Sol exploded from the ground to ram his earthen horns into Elfman's jaw, making him spit red as he bit his tongue from recoil. The Beast Drake staggered back and shook himself, snarling angrily at his enemy, "Damn, that hurts!"
"Elfman, stop messing around!" Mira shouted, "He's getting to you way to easily!"
"I know already, sis!" Elfman growled and slashed at the enemy dragon with his huge claws, but Sol dove back into the ground and dodged.
"Non non non!" Sol chanted, annoying the crap out of Elfman as the Earth Drake kept taunting the much larger dragon.
Mira's eyes narrowed, "This guy…what a pain."
She banked steeply and dove at the enemy dragon, eyes locked on her target. Sol noticed her and burrowed into the ground again.
You're just screwing yourself over.
Mira landed right over the hole where Sol had vanished and inhaled deeply. After charging every bit of dark energy she could, the Demon Dragonelle fired her breath attack straight into the Earth Drake's escape route.
The earth around them flashed with black cracks, then exploded with a mighty roar, blowing apart buildings from below.
Elfman was thrown into the air from the force, "O-oi! Watch it, sis!"
Sol got off much worse than Elfman, though.
The Earth Drake shrieked as Mira's dark breath pulverized his scales and sent him hurtling away through the ground. By the time he burst through the surface, he had already fainted, but the sheer force of the dragonelle's attack made him go flipping into the mountainside.
When his unconscious body came to a rest, Sol was lying upside down in a heap, trapped in the rock of the mountain.
Mira huffed proudly and turned her gaze skyward to shout, "Beat that, Erza!"
Elfman sweat dropped, "Why are you so nice most of the time, and so damn crazy when you fight?"
His sister smiled cheerfully, "Because I love beating Erza!"
/
Erza, meanwhile, heard Mirajane's challenge loud and clear.
"Grr…I'll definitely outdo you, Mira!" she roared.
Wendy gave her an awkward stare, "Eh? What?"
Aria charged them again, forcing Erza to fly up quickly to dodge his rush. She flipped in midair so she was facing the Air Drake's open back and shouted, "Wendy, use your breath on me!"
"You- huh?!"
"Just do it!"
Wendy didn't look like she thought it was a good idea at all, but she inhaled quickly and fired a tornado at Erza from behind. Her breath sent the Blade Dragonelle rocketing forward, locking onto Aria before he could stop and turn.
I've analyzed your movements. You're strong in a head on attack, but you can only charge straight in one direction and have to stop completely before turning!
Erza flapped her wings to bolster her speed even more. The moment Aria stopped completely to turn was the moment her bladed body tore right through him.
Aria screeched in agony.
Enhanced with the wind from Wendy's breath and her own sword-sharp scales, Erza's rush sliced through Aria's stormy body and broke up the twisters keeping him together. Unable to control his own winds and keep himself airborne, the Air Drake was sent spiraling down from the sky and crashed into the street below. His bright purple eyes became unseeing as he passed out, his body struggling to reshape itself.
Erza smirked in satisfaction and shouted back at her rival, "How was that, Mirajane?!"
"Not bad! It's a tie, for now!" was the reply.
Wendy sighed. Did they seriously just see this as a competition?
/
Gray spat a blast of freezing energy at Juvia, but she had learned by now and avoided it completely rather than try to counter the attack.
"Grr-rah!" Juvia growled and slammed her tail into Gray with a forward flip.
He grunted as her attack caught him in the side and made him stagger in midair. Gray turned and hissed, "You're good, Juvia. But water can't beat ice!"
The Ice Drake fired another freezing breath attack, but to his surprise, Juvia countered this time with her own breath. More surprising still was that her water didn't freeze. It was steaming.
Boiling water? She can even alter the temperature?
Even if she was under Jose's control, it looked like Juvia was still smart enough to find away around Gray's ice. Before he knew it, her whole liquid body started boiling.
The next time she slammed into him, Gray bellowed, "Damn, that's hot!"
"Shiii!" hissed the dragonelle.
It burned enough to make Gray just mad enough to take a risk, "Sorry about this!"
Gray twisted his head and sank his fangs into her neck. Even though her water scalded his mouth, he put every bit of cold energy he could into the bite and cooled that part of Juvia enough to get a grip on her.
Juvia screeched as the bite started to hurt her body. The Ice Drake dragged himself over her back and sunk his claws in, freezing that part too. Now with a firm grip on the dragonelle, Gray's weight started forcing her out of the sky.
Once her back was totally frozen over, Gray slowed their descent a little so he wouldn't shatter Juvia when they hit the ground. She wriggled furiously to get free, but with the Ice Drake's fangs and claws holding onto her, it was futile. Her boiling water was already cooling, and with it, her will to fight.
Gray set Juvia carefully on the street and backed off to look at her straight on. The Water Dragonelle was now totally frozen solid.
He sighed and sat down, not really sure what to do now. Juvia's scent was still there, so Gray knew she wasn't dead, but more than likely he had forced her into a sort of cryostasis.
The Ice Drake's ears pricked and he glanced to the other end of the city, where fireballs were being launched everywhere. He shrugged and lay down, deciding to take a nap for the time being.
I'll just make Natsu melt her out when he finishes off that other dragon.
/
"Grraaahhh!"
Natsu slashed another deep wound into Totomaru's wing, making the enemy dragon shriek and stagger backwards. He lowered his head and charged again, ramming his horns into the Blazing Dragon's chest and knocking him over.
Totomaru snarled and tried to stand up, but Natsu put a massive paw on his neck and glared at him, "Stay down if you know what's good for you."
"Never!"
The Fire Drake growled, "Your funeral."
He opened his jaws and sank his fangs into Totomaru's shoulder, then began devouring the other drake's fire.
Totomaru screeched and tried to get away. Natsu's other foot slammed down into the Blazing Drake's side and kept him still while he continued to eat his enemy's flaming body alive. After a minute or so, the struggle to escape from Natsu's grasp was too much of an effort for the weakening Blazing Dragon.
He groaned as his head flopped onto the ground.
Natsu released him and bared his fangs, "You can thank my father for teaching me that trick. He told me that's how he used to beat down Atlas Flame when he was the Flame Dragon King. Take a nap, Fire Dragon."
With Totomaru defeated, Natsu's gaze trailed skyward, finding Jose still upon Gajeel.
The only difference was that they were almost right on top of him.
Natsu's eyes widened and he leaped away as Gajeel's fangs snapped shut right where his neck had been just a moment earlier. The Iron Drake unleashed a breath attack of steel blades, cutting at the Fire Drake's crimson scales. Even with the Dragon Armor, Gajeel's breath found the unguarded parts of his body and sliced into him.
"Tch!" he snarled and jumped into the air. Gajeel pursued him, Jose smiling wickedly on his head.
Natsu glared at the dark sorcerer, "You bastard…"
"I'm taking you this time, Fire Dragon!" Jose cackled, then pointed his hand and fired beams of black energy.
"Like hell you are!" Natsu roared and weaved through the air around the dark rays, avoiding them as best he could.
(Natsu!)
He glanced down at the Thunder Hall and saw Lucy staring at him. (Get down here! I can't reinforce your mental defenses this far away!)
Natsu hesitated to go down and pick her up, but his pause gave Jose the chance to blast him in the side with a burst of dark magic. (I'm a little busy at the moment!)
"Guoo!" the Fire Drake snarled and retreated further away to avoid more of the sorcerer's magic.
"Kahahahahahaha!" Jose's sick laughter pissed Natsu off even more. The evil man grinned, "Let's tame you a bit before I put a collar on your neck!"
"Burn in hell, bastard!" Natsu roared and unleashed a massive torrent of fire.
Jose sneered, making Gajeel counter with an equally powerful breath attack of iron blades.
The two breaths collided and exploded violently, making the air shake. Many of the shades flying around shrieked and were immediately vaporized.
Natsu used the resulting smokescreen to dive straight at where his enemy had been. Gajeel had yet to move, and the Fire Drake bared his fangs in a snarl as he rammed into the Iron Drake.
Jose knelt to hold onto Gajeel's horns, looking mildly annoyed as his mount lost some of his aerial balance. Gajeel snarled and tried to slash at Natsu with his claws, but the other dragon flipped and dove under them, bolting for the Thunder Hall.
"Lucy, jump on!" Natsu roared, whipping around for a turn so he approached the Thunder Hall entrance broadside.
The blonde girl swallowed and watched as he came flying towards her, Gajeel and Jose in hot pursuit. When he was almost there, she said a quick prayer and leaped out into open air.
She landed on Natsu's back with great timing, but nearly impaled herself on one of the drake's black spines. Quickly shifting her position, Lucy sat in the joint between his shoulders and held on tight as Natsu spun midair to face the oncoming Gajeel and Jose.
For a moment, the world went totally silent.
The two drakes crashed into each other, biting and slashing and roaring their fury. Natsu's burning fangs bit into Gajeel's arm and ripped at the iron scales. Gajeel in turn stabbed his horns into Natsu's armored shoulder and almost sliced off Lucy's leg at the same time.
She quickly pulled her legs up a bit to avoid a similar attack, holding on to Natsu as he spun to slash at Gajeel's face with his claws and spit a huge fireball at the enemy dragon.
The Iron Drake was blown backwards from the force, snarling in anger. Jose smirked atop Gajeel, "Impressive power. Indeed a worthy specimen for my collection."
"Natsu isn't yours! And neither is Gajeel!" Lucy shouted.
"The Iron Dragon is completely under my influence." he sneered back, "And once I have you…kukuku. I do believe a promotion is about to come my way. How lucky that I'll be a part of the Balam Alliance so quickly!"
Natsu glared at him, "Balam Alliance?"
"Oh, did I say too much? No matter- you don't need to know." Jose snickered and thrust his hand out, "Now, come to me!"
Natsu tensed. (Here it comes, Lucy!)
(I know!) she answered, focusing all her magic power into reinforcing Natsu's mind.
Jose's black aura connected, making the Fire Drake stagger.
Even with his mental defenses as guarded as they were, the sheer force Jose exerted on them was ridiculously powerful. Natsu gritted his teeth in pain; it felt like the sorcerer was trying to rip his very being out of his body.
The evil man's eyes narrowed as he realized Natsu wasn't going to be such an easy catch. He barked, "Crush him!"
Gajeel roared and lunged, but Natsu flapped twice to get above him and snapped with huge fangs at Jose. He missed the man's head, but left a deep cut in his enemy's back. Jose howled and lost concentration, giving up the assault on Natsu's mind.
Lucy pumped her fist in the air, "Nice, Natsu!"
"You damn beast!" Jose spat angrily and fired a massive beam of darkness. The energy caught Natsu clean in his unarmored stomach and knocked the wind out of him, making the drake stagger in midair.
"Gaaahh!" Natsu screeched and recoiled, stunned from the force. (That human's damn strong!)
(I can't believe he can do that much damage to you.) Lucy sounded worried. (Dragon scale is almost impossible for normal magicians to pierce.)
Natsu dove under a rush made by Gajeel, then spun to spit a fireball after the Iron Drake. (It's not that it can pierce, the damn magic just hurts like a bitch!)
Lucy frowned. (Then why are you still smiling and exhilarated?)
His sharp fangs were indeed bared in a crazy grin, "It feel's like my blood's boiling…I ain't ever had a fight this good before!"
Jose snickered, "Obsessed with fighting, are we? Good. You'll be a merciless combat machine when you're under my command."
Gajeel started flying up into the sky. Natsu raced after him.
When the wind became too loud for her to speak, Lucy switched the telepathy back on. (Be careful! You can't let your guard down against this guy!)
(I know that!)
Gajeel finally stopped climbing and charged down at them, releasing another gale of iron blades from his jaws. Natsu retaliated with a blaze of fire that created another violent explosion.
This time, Jose used the smokescreen to his advantage.
Another beam of dark magic caught Natsu in the face, making him roar in pain and momentarily blinding the Fire Drake.
The Iron Dragon seized his chance.
Gajeel lunged down and clamped his jaws onto Natsu's neck, right at the base of his skull. His armor protected him from the sharp metal fangs, but the pressure was enough to make Natsu screech. Gajeel's claws grabbed at his wing and arm, making the two dragons fall out of the sky.
Lucy squeezed her eyes shut. (Natsu, pull up!)
(I can't!) he screeched back. (Gajeel's weight is too much!)
They were falling right for the Thunder Hall.
/
Erza and Wendy saw Gajeel grab Natsu and start tearing him and Lucy from the sky.
"We have to help them!" Wendy gasped.
"I'm not sure we have that luxury right now." Erza muttered, eyeing the dark portal in the air where shades were pouring out like an endless flood. The dragons who had been destroying them from the beginning were getting tired, but stubbornly refused to give even though every shade they killed was replaced by ten more.
That had to be stopped, or they would be overrun by sheer numbers.
"Natsu and Lucy will have to fend for themselves, for now. Let's deal with those things, then we'll try to assist them. Come on, Wendy!"
/
Gajeel was still dragging Natsu out of the air, falling ever closer towards the entrance to the Thunder Hall.
"Lemme go, you scrap metal bastard!" Natsu roared and breathed a river of fire at Gajeel point blank. The Iron Drake howled, but the blazing assault was halted as Jose's dark aura tried to gain control of Natsu's mind once again, forcing him to concentrate on mental defenses.
Lucy kept reinforcing his mind, but was getting scared. The Thunder Hall was just a few hundred meters away. (Natsu, we're going to crash!)
Natsu glanced down to see the huge mountain entrance rushing up and growled. (The moment I hit the ground, jump off of me and roll away as far as you can. If you don't I'll crush you or one of my spikes'll run you right through.)
(What about you?)
(Who knows!)
He winced as Jose tried to force himself once more into his mind, but Natsu's free arm came around and rammed into Gajeel's jaw, forcing the Iron Drake to release him. Jose's concentration was broken and the mental assault ceased, but now Gajeel pulled back a moment like a bull, then charged straight into Natsu's chest. The blow stunned the Fire Drake and forced them into the entrance to the Thunder Hall.
Natsu was crushed into the ground and skidded across the floor like a meteorite, screeching as the crash landing cracked scale and destroyed pieces of the armor along his tail and back.
Lucy dove off a moment before Natsu's whole back slammed into the ground. She landed and shrieked at the accelerated impact that bruised her all over and made her ankle twist painfully. It almost felt like a break and Lucy had to bite her lip to stop herself from crying at the pain.
She opened one eye to see Natsu pinned under Gajeel, dazed and struggling to regain his footing. The Iron Drake's talon-like foot came up and grabbed the fallen dragon's face before stomping it into the floor. Natsu grunted in pain, clawing at his enemy in an effort to get him off.
Jose leaped off of Gajeel and walked up to Natsu's face. He crouched and sneered, keeping himself out of Natsu's breath range, "Has this tamed you a little, Fire Dragon? Just submit-?!"
Natsu's clawed hand came around like a flash of red lightning and grabbed Jose. His fangs dripped burning saliva as he snarled, "You haven't tamed shit! Now let Gajeel go, or I'll snap you like a twig, you goddamn human!"
The dark sorcerer seemed a little stunned. He still has this much strength after being crushed like that?!
Natsu's huge fist squeezed and knocked the wind out of Jose, but the evil man's eyes bulged in rage, "You think it'll be that easy, you brat?! You're just another beast for my collection! Break him!"
Gajeel's foot on Natsu's skull moved to stomp his chest, then the Iron Drake's two clawed hands gripped the pinned Fire Drake's jaws and yanked them open, pulling them back until it hurt.
Natsu's tail flailed and he struggled to get free. Gajeel wasn't far off from totally breaking his jaws in half.
But instead of letting Jose go, Natsu squeezed until the man shrieked in pain.
The Fire Drake's eye pinned the sorcerer with a look of battle-lusted fury, "Let's see who bites the dust first! You or me!"
"Useless!" Jose howled, forcing just enough of his dark aura out to stop Natsu momentarily. When the pressure lifted slightly, Jose went into a full scale mental assault, making Natsu screech in pain and release the sorcerer from his iron grip.
The sorcerer cackled, "You're as good as mine, Fire Dragon!"
"Like hell he is!"
Jose shrieked as Lucy smashed the back of his head with a fist-sized rock, making him stagger and fall to his knees. Furious beyond belief, he lunged around and struck her in the face, knocking the girl over.
Dark energy charged in his hand as Jose screamed at her in his rage, "Enough of you shitty priestesses! Vanish into black and die!"
Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the magic to fire.
Crunch.
The sickening sound was followed by a moment of silence, then an ear-splitting scream. Lucy opened her eyes wide and gasped.
Natsu was on his feet again and had his fangs buried in Jose's body from the waist up. The sorcerer was shrieking and screaming in agony as the dragon's massive razor sharp teeth ripped into him.
The Fire Drake reared up on two legs and snarled as he began to shake his head rapidly from side to side like a terrier with a rat in its jaws. Lucy could hear the sickening screams and sounds of bones snapping from his mouth as Jose was ripped apart.
"Good job, blondie!"
Lucy's eyes flashed to the voice, which came from Gajeel. His eyes no longer had the blank look in them, and he bared his fangs in an enraged snarl Jose, "You gave that bastard a hard enough smack for me to break out of his damn spell! Salamander, kill 'em!"
"RRROOAAAAAAAHHH!"
With a furious bellow, Natsu brought his head back and threw Jose into the mountain wall. The impact left a crater and revealed that the sorcerer was practically bitten in half, but it wasn't enough for the two maddened dragons.
"GO TO HELL!"
Natsu and Gajeel both let loose a full payload of dragon breath, blowing a hole straight through the mountainside with an overwhelming explosion. The force of the blast made Lucy fall back onto the ground and roll away with a squeal.
"Kyaa!"
/
The other Fairy Tail dragons were still fighting the shades when the portal in the sky glowed and disappeared. The remaining shades screeched and vanished.
At the same time, a massive shockwave tore out of the Thunder Hall entrance.
Erza sighed in relief, "Natsu and Lucy did it…not a moment too soon."
/
Even though Jose was certainly dead by now, the two enraged drakes kept pouring out ever bit of bloodlust and battle-fury with their raging breath. The wall of the mountain was obliterated nonstop for several seconds. By the time Natsu and Gajeel's wrath was spent, a huge new cavern had been formed, the insides crimson and sizzling with molten iron and rock.
Lucy sat up and stared at the devastation, "I think you guys overdid it…"
Natsu spat a small fireball, "Pff."
"To hell with him." Gajeel snapped, "I need to get this human stink off my head."