Hello all! It's BSW coming at you with another chapter of Dragonearth. I received a lot of reviews from people who enjoyed the last chapter, and I must tell you, that makes me happy. To know that you all enjoy my work is amazing. I also received a few reviews from people asking me when the next chapter would be released. While I can't give you specific dates, I can tell you when. As I was transferring this story from to ao3, I did so on Fridays and that pattern won't change. So, without further ado, please enjoy the next chapter of Dragonearth and as always, please review
Chapter 34: First Fight of the Fairy King Festival: Flame vs Soul
It was right at dawn when the barrier surrounding the Thunder Hall finally came down, and with it, the dragons trapped inside burst out like a geyser. As soon as the dragons escaped from the mountain, they all split up, flying in all directions to begin the search for the traitors.
Leading the charge at the front of the torrent was Lisanna, flying as fast as she could south, repeating a desperate prayer in her head.
Please still be there! Please still be there! Please, please, please, Natsu, please still be there!
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
The sun was high in the sky when Natsu finally woke up. Raising his arms above his head and bending his back, he stretched his whole body up on the roof of the inn. Looking at his distinctly human hands, Natsu realized that this was the first time he had spent the entire night in his human form.
A sense of unease washed over him. It wasn't like sleeping in his human form was uncomfortable, necessarily, but it felt unnatural. The growl of his stomach snapped him out of the funk his uneasiness caused him, and he stood up.
Looking at the sun's placement, he could tell it was already past midday.
Huh, strange. I figured Kagura would have woken me up earlier so the princess could leave. Oh well, I'll just tell her I'm awake now, and I will be ready to go as soon as I grab some food.
Grabbing the roof ledge, Natsu swings his way back through the open window of his room and into the building. Exiting his room, he walks down the hall to the room he knows Kagura and the others are staying in and knocks.
"Oi, Kagura! It's me, Natsu!" He stands at the door for a moment, waiting for a reply that never came. He knocks again, a little harder this time. After not getting a reply a second time, the Fire Dragon doesn't knock a third time. Instead, he forcefully opens the door, not caring if the door is locked or not, and walks inside.
The room was big, with a large bed, a dresser, a couch, two chairs, and two large windows covered by fancy-looking curtains. However, the room was empty.
"Where are they?" He thinks, looking around the room, "it doesn't look like they left town. Their bags and gear are still here, so where did they go?"
Taking a deep breath, Natsu was able to detect the scents of the three humans quickly, but there was a fourth scent in the room, one that smelled like a dragon. Now on his guard, he followed the scents throughout the inn.
The further he went around the inn, the more certain he was that something was wrong. There were plenty of human scents from those who stayed and worked there, but he couldn't find a single person in the whole building. Walking outside, the town was eerily quiet, which was strange because of how late in the day it was.
"Where is everyone?"
Taking another deep breath, Natsu is able to detect a large number of people in the town plaza around the corner.
The plaza was huge, able to hold the town's populist with room left over and connected to the road leading to the town's entrance. Lining both sides were open-air stalls and a fountain in the middle.
Entering the plaza, he found the townspeople kneeling in row after row in front of the fountain. Walking closer, he noticed that not all of the people were kneeling. Some of them were in the middle of a semicircle created by the kneelers performing a weird dance while hopping around in a circle while carrying a bucket full of rotten apples, occasionally hitting each other with one.
Sitting in front of the fountain, laughing his head off enjoying the show was a strange man in even stranger clothes. He looked to be a tall man with a muscular build and a knight's sallet helmet covering the top part of his head. He wore large green armbands with sizable black shoulder pads each with skulls in the center. His waist is circled by a simple dark purple band, which holds up a massive waist guard made of cloth, which comes in four long, light blue-colored pieces, each adorned by a black "X", reaching down below his knees. Under the waistguard, the man dons a pair of extremely baggy, loose dark blue pants, with each leg adorned by a pair of lighter blue-colored belts crossing in an "X" formation. Such pants are tucked inside a pair of light purple, armored greaves.
The man was sitting on a reclining chair with his feet up and a pineapple with a straw and umbrella sticking out of it in his hand. Natsu frowned as he walked up behind the man because his feet were resting on Simon's back, with Princess Hisui to his right fanning him, and Kagura to his left holding a tray with another pineapple on it. Standing next to Kagura is the town's mayor holding a large umbrella above the man to block the sunlight. He noticed that something was wrong with the humans, they were all stock still, not moving an inch if they weren't supposed to.
"What the hell is going on here?" Natsu asks, his tone giving away his displeasure.
"What the…!" The man screams in fright, falling out of his chair and spilling his drink on himself. "Ah, shit! Gods dammit."
Regaining his composure, the man stands up and attempts to brush the spilled drink off his front. He gives Natsu a look that he can't decipher because of the helmet.
"Aww, man. Did I miss one when I did my sweep around town earlier?" The man asks himself, confusing Natsu. Shrugging his shoulders, the man continues saying, "eh, it doesn't really matter. I'll just get him now."
The man moves to lift the visor from his helmet but stops halfway.
"Hold on… I know you, don't I?" He asks, leaning toward Natsu, who is now even more confused. "Yeah. Yeah, I do know you. You're Natsu, aren't you? From the Fairy Tail Thunder?"
Natsu raises an eyebrow at the bizarre man. "That's right. Who are you? 'Cause you may know me, but I'm positive I don't know you."
The man physically deflates, hunching over with his head down and arms limp. "I'm Bickslow, one of your Thunder kin," the man, Bickslow, says, "though I don't suppose you would recognize me in this form. I was one of the dragons that captured you and your friends and brought you to Fairy Tail. You know, the dark blue one."
"Oh yeah… You…" Natsu says, still not remembering him.
"Anyway, how did you get here so freaking fast? I mean, I chose this place because it's on the very edge of our territory. I even flew two days straight, barely stopping for food or rest to get here quickly enough so I could relax. I was hoping to chill here and be served by these people for a few days at least before I had to fight."
Fight? What is he talking about? The pink-et thought as he watched Bickslow go through some simple warmup stretches.
"You're a lucky guy,you know that?" Bickslow says, smiling.
"What?"
"I said you're lucky. We didn't tell you all this back at the Thunder, but each of us only knows where one other member of the Thunder God Tribe is hiding. You hit the jackpot because I'm the one who knows where Laxus is." He then takes up a ready stance and waves his hand at Natsu, "now let's do this!"
Natsu stares at him for a solid minute in dumbfounded confusion before saying, "look, dude, I have no idea what you're talking about. Does this have something to do with the Thunder? Because I've been out hunting and haven't been back to the hall for over a week now."
"Wait, what," he says in surprise, leaving his stance. "If that's true, then you're not here to fight me?"
"That depends," the Fire Dragon replies, "are you the one controlling these people?"
"And if I am?" he replies back on his guard.
"Then I'm going to have to beat you down. That woman holding the tray for you is a friend of mine and the one fanning you is Princess Hisui."
"Oh crap!" Bickslow exclaims in shock. "Look, I'm sorry about your friend, but why would you care about the princess? "
"Honestly, I don't care about her in the slightest. But Kagura asked me to protect her and that's what I'm going to do." Natsu says, getting into a ready stance of his own.
"Whoa, whoa," the dragon in the helmet said with his hands up in surrender. "Since you weren't with the Thunder, then you don't have anything to do with the festival, so we don't have to fight. How about this, I'll release the princess, your friend, and the other guy, and in exchange, you all leave and not come back. Sounds good?"
"It does sound good," Natsu says, leaving his ready stance, "but what were you talking about earlier? About a festival and the Thunder?"
"It doesn't matter to you, since you're leaving the Thunder and going with the princess."
"You're wrong. I'm just escorting them out of the territory, there's another dragon waiting for them once they leave. Now, what's going on with the Thunder!"
"You're killing me here, dude," Bickslow says with a long sigh. "You want to know what's going on? Fine. Laxus is forcing his claim on the Thunder. Makarov is taking too long to step down as leader, and Laxus is tired of waiting. So he took Magnolia hostage by having Evergreen turn the entire city to stone, and starting what he calls the Fairy King Festival! The rules are simple: Makarov has ten days, or I guess eight days now, to step down and name Laxus as leader, otherwise, the people of Magnolia will remain as statues forever.
"The only other way to save the humans is for the dragons of Fairy Tail to hunt down Laxus and us of the Thunder God Tribe, beat us in a fight, and force us to comply. And don't think that Makarov or your friend Smaug will save the day, because they're trapped in the hall till the festival's over."
"Wait, hold up. Magnolia's been what!?" Natsu growled in shocked outrage.
(Lucy! Lucy, can you hear me?! Lucy, answer me!)
Despite his desperate pleas, all he received was silence. He shot the humanized dragon before him a withering glare.
"What did you do to Lucy?!"
"I just told you, didn't I? I wasn't lying." Bickslow said, walking closer and placing a hand on Natsu's shoulder, "but hey, if it makes you feel any better, it wasn't personal."
The moment his hand gripped his shoulder, Natsu felt a familiar feeling of an electric current coursing through his body, and images flashed before his eyes. Instantly knowing what he was doing, Natsu slapped Bickslow's hand off him and took a swing at his face.
Jumping away from Natsu and avoiding the punch, the masked dragon flashes him a cocky smirk.
"Ho ho, so that's the real reason you're out here. Gotta say, that's some really juicy info you gave me, and it explains why Lisanna was acting so strange."
"How the hell did you do that!?" The Fire Dragon demanded, now thoroughly angered.
"You didn't think those shrine priests were the only ones who could interact with souls, did you? I'm a Soul Dragon, I can read your soul as easily as I can breathe, and what a read it was. To think, you've known Lisanna a lot longer than the Thunder knows, not to mention the fact that you asked her to be your mate. Wild!"
Jumping forward, the Fire Dragon yells one last thing as a fight begins, "now I'm definitely going to kick your butt!"
Natsu punches and kicks at Bickslow, but he effortlessly dodges them all as he moves around the plaza. For some reason, he doesn't attempt to counterattack, only smiling as he taunts his opponent.
"What's wrong, oh mighty fire dragon? I thought you were supposed to be some insanely powerful dragon. Why are you coming at me as a human? Show me what you've really got."
"Shut up!" he yells, "I can't turn back into a dragon because the humans are too close to us! We'd crush them!"
"Since when did you start caring whether humans get hurt or not!? How many towns in our territory did you raze to the ground? How many humans have you killed? What's changed, huh!?"
That question caused Natsu to stop his attack and close his eyes with his head down. The sudden shift in behavior threw the Soul Dragon off guard.
"You saw my memories, so you should already know," he says after a moment, "meeting Lisanna and being taken to Fairy Tail is what's changed me."
Pulling another quick 180, Natsu restarts his attack with more fervor and lands a punch on Bickslow's face. Capitalizing on this opportunity, he throws a barrage of attacks at the other dragon.
"You're right. I've killed hundreds of humans because I was young, and hurt, and angry."
Bickslow was able to quickly recover from the punch, but Natsu's attacks had more speed and power than earlier, putting him on the defensive. Realizing he wasn't able to continue playing with the Fire Dragon, he began to counterattack in the hopes of weakening his foe.
"I was still grieving after that black devil killed my father, and then humans killed my mother for the sole reason that we were unlucky to arrive in Fiore approaching that town."
The more he talked, the stronger his blows became and the harder it became for Bickslow to withstand them.
"But since joining the Thunder, I've met a lot of humans. I've seen that some humans are cruel, and some are plain evil. But I've also seen that humans can be kind, welcoming, and loving. Meeting Gajeel, Wendy, Lisanna, Lucy, and everyone from the Thunder and Magnolia have helped me let go of the pain from my past. I've found a new family. And now, you and yours have hurt the ones I care about, so now I'm going to take you all down!"
Natsu slams a powerful punch into Bickslow's chest, launching him backward. Seeing his chance, Natsu jumps after him and tries to grab him, only for Kagura to block his attempt and flip him over her shoulder.
"What the…" The townspeople, who hadn't moved an inch since the fight began, dogpiled the downed dragon.
"Did you really think this was going to be a one-on-one fight!?" Bickslow cackled as he got up and dusted himself off. "I control every human here! Fighting me means fighting all my puppets too!"
"Bastard." Looking around, the drake tries to find a way out without hurting the humans on top of him. Not finding one, he resigns himself. "Sorry everyone."
Using his superior strength, Natsu is able to throw the humans off him, knocking them around the plaza. He glares at the humanized Soul drake in rage as he surrounds himself with more townspeople.
If I'm going to beat him, I need to get him away from the humans.
He rushed forward, weaving between the controlled people as they tried to grab and hit him. Finally reaching Bickslow, Natsu threw a punch, only for him to respond in kind with one of his own. The two punches clashed between them, knocking the drakes back before rushing back in. They attacked in a flurry, each holding nothing back. They traded having the upper hand in the fight with each using their strengths to get ahead, but each time it appeared that Natsu was gaining the upper hand, Bickslow would use a human as a meat shield, forcing him to quickly stop his attack, giving the other dragon an opening.
The climax came after Natsu had to once again stop an attack, Bickslow struck him, causing him to fall to the ground.
"You're through!" The Soul Dragon yells as he launches what he thought was the finishing punch at Natsu's stomach, only for the drake to lift his lower body up off the ground and avoid the punch, which slammed harmlessly into the ground. He then wrapped his legs around Bickslow's arm and neck, putting him into a triangle choke.
Using his new leverage on the older dragon, he plants his hands on the ground and flips Bickslow onto his head, rolling with the flip to get up. Grabbing the drake's leg, Natsu flung him high into the air above the town before jumping after him, reverting to his dragon form, and ramming his giant head into the man.
Bickslow, still in his human form, screamed in pain as he was sent even further into the stratosphere. It isn't until he reaches the apex of his ascent that he, too, reverts to his dragon form ready to begin aerial combat. Except Natsu beat him to it as the crimson dragon was already in his face.
Natsu rams him once more, his horns knocking the wind out of the navy dragon before grabbing his wing, spinning in a circle, and throwing him to the side. Natsu then takes a deep breath and releases his breath attack, enveloping Bickslow in a torrent of fire.
The Soul Dragon howls at the searing heat and quickly flaps his wings, escaping the flames from above. Natsu immediately ends his breath attack and moves to press his advantage. When he is close enough, Bickslow snaps his jaws at the Fire Drake, only for him to twist out of the way and slam his tail into the navy dragon's jaw, forcing his head back. Natsu moves behind his foe, grabbing onto his back and sinking his jaws into Bickslow's shoulder, causing him to growl in pain. The two begin to fall out of the sky with Natsu crushing Bickslow's wings and Natsu being unable to stay airborne carrying both of them.
"Let go of me, matchstick!" Bickslow demands, trying to shake off his rider as the two plummet through the air.
"Not a chance," Natsu replies, sinking his teeth in deeper, "I'm taking you down right now!"
The Soul Dragon tried his best to remove the Fire Dragon, but he was stuck on tight. When they were about 1,000 feet off the ground just outside the town limits, Bickslow let loose a desperate roar, and not a second later, Natsu felt a colossal amount of pain from multiple spots along his back. The pain was so immense that it caused him to let go of Bickslow, who quickly pulled up and let the red drake crash into the ground.
Groaning from the small crater he resided in, Natsu looked around disoriented while mumbling, "what just happened?"
Looking at his opponent, he found him hovering in the sky above him with a large grin.
"What did you do?"
"Come back up here and I'll tell you."
Flapping his wings hard, Natsu hurled himself back into the air, flying quickly at Bickslow, intending to ram him again. However, just before impact, several lasers made of green magic shot in front of his face, causing him to panic and attempt to dodge by doing a half somersault under them.
The navy drake looks over his shoulder at his wide eyed opponent, his grin never disappearing. Natsu looked in the direction the lasers came from and found the townspeople grouped together with their hands raised and green magic circles in front of them.
"You like that!? Don't think that just because you threw me in the air and separated me from my puppets, that you are safe from them!" Bickslow says, regaining Natsu's attention.
"How are you doing this? None of the humans down there should be able to use magic. At least not any magic strong enough to hurt a dragon."
"The answer's quite simple," he says, turning to face the crimson dragon fully. Suddenly, both the eyes on his face and on his wings begin to glow an eerie green. "It's because of these babies."
No way! He can channel his magic into another part of his body other than his breath like Smaug can?!
"Like them? I call 'em my Soul Corrupting Gaze. They allow me to implant a small piece of my soul into others when they meet my gaze, look at my wings, or the light they emit shines on them fully. Once my soul's taken root, I can control whoever I want, however I want. And since it's my soul in them, they are able to access and use a portion of my magic. Case and point!"
The humans lose a volley of lasers on Natsu, forcing him to act quickly and take evasive maneuvers. His first time seeing them had been too brief for Natsu to notice anything, but with so many flying around him, he could see that each laser was actually a miniature breath attack. They were too small and none of them packed enough force to seriously injure him, but they were enough to hurt.
Bickslow watches from above the chaos with a critical eye. He was quiet as he watched Natsu duck, bob, weave, and barrel roll, doing whatever he could to avoid getting hit. He watched for a while before having his puppets stop shooting.
"Hey, I just had a thought!" He calls out as the other drake catches his breath, "Natsu, why don't you join us and help Laxus take over the Thunder?"
Natsu looked at the Soul Dragon like he was crazy. "Why would I ever do that!?"
"Because," he replies with a smile and his arms wide, "once Laxus is the leader, he's going to abolish that rule saying only the leaders of the Thunder can take a mate. I've seen your memories, I know how much you care about Lisanna. Laxus can make it so you two can be together without giving anything up. With you on our side, we can squash any reservations or resistance the others might have. I can vouch to Laxus your strength, all you'd have to do is swear your undying loyalty to him. So, what do ya say? Sounds like a good deal to me."
Natsu was speechless throughout Bickslow's pitch. The more he listened, the more outrageous it became.
"You're crazy!" Natsu yelled back, wiping the smile off Bickslow's face. "You have to be crazy to think I won't have to give up anything to be with Lisanna. If I joined you, I'd be betraying Gajeel and Wendy, who have become like family to me. I'd lose the respect and relationships of everyone I've met at the Thunder. I'd be leaving Lucy and the other humans of Magnolia as statues forever."
Bickslow was not happy with what he was hearing. He had hoped that using Natsu's feelings for Lisanna would convince him to join them, but it appeared he underestimated the Fire Dragon.
"And, just for argument's sake, let's say none of that stuff mattered to me. I know Lisanna wouldn't want to be together after doing all of that to those she cares about."
"Have it your way." Bickslow responded solemnly. The humans below began firing their lasers again, but Natsu was ready this time. He had come up with a plan while the navy dragon was talking. It was a little risky, but he had to try something. If he couldn't find a way to stop the humans from helping, he'll never defeat Bickslow.
Barrel rolling out of the way of the lasers, Natsu flaps his wings, and ascends higher into the sky as fast as he could. Lasers chase after him as he climbs, but he continues to flap his wings and gain speed. Reaching the apex of his climb, he twists his body in a way so as not to lose speed. He plunges into a nosedive toward the town and into oncoming lasers, not stopping his flapping. Some of the attacks hit their mark, but they weren't enough to take him down.
Bickslow, seeing that the crimson dragon was up to something, attempted to stop him by taking a deep breath and shooting his breath attack at him. The breath attack appeared as a large condensed beam of green energy, but the Soul Dragon misjudged how fast Natsu was moving with the addition of gravity and missed, shooting behind him. Right as he was about to crash into the plaza and pulverize the humans, he pulled up sharply with another twist of his body, causing the airstream behind him to slam into the humans, forcing them to the ground and incapacitating them.
With one last flap of his wings, the Fire Dragon launches himself at the Soul Dragon, shooting through the air like an arrow.
"Stay away from me!" Bickslow cried, a twinge of fear and intimidation in his voice. He hurriedly flapped his wings to gain some altitude, his eyes and wings glowing brighter as he went.
Green light showed upon Natsu and he felt a weird tugging sensation in his hind, but he promptly put up his mental defenses, halting the attempt.
"Sucks to be you, but Lucy taught me how to protect my mind and my soul. So that move won't work on me!" Natsu drives his point home by striking the navy dragon with a lariat. He followed up by grabbing Bickslow's tail and circle-throwing him with an aerial flip, catapulting him into the ground far below and creating a crater.
"Hey Bickslow!" Natsu called down to the injured dragon, who opened an eye and looked at him. "I've thought about your offer, and I've made my decision."
Maybe it was because Bickslow looked through his memories earlier, but staring down at his foe, Natsu felt a desire to reminisce on his experiences so far in life. He thought about his life with his parents and losing them.
He thought about meeting and parting ways with Kagura, rescuing Gajeel and Wendy but losing the hatchling, and spending seven years with them. About meeting Lisanna, coming to the Thunder, meeting Lucy and Layla, and fighting Jose. About reuniting with Smaug, training with him, asking Lisanna to be his mate, and learning about heartbreak from Kagura.
All that he's experienced flashes in his mind and draws out a toothy smile from him.
"You can take your offer, and shove it!" He yells as he folds his wings and free falls towards the downed dragon.
Bickslow wasn't ready to concede defeat just yet, however. Drawing all of the power he had left, he takes one last deep breath and releases a roar even bigger than Natsu. Staring down the breath attack, something Smaug said before the two of them fought when they reunited played in his head.
Show me that you can match the title of Igneel's son.
That's when he felt it, the magical energy he draws upon to use his breath attack in his core. He's about to call forth that energy to counter the roar in front of him with one of his own, but realized that he didn't have enough time to take a deep enough breath. Suddenly, he has a flash of inspiration, something he can do to win the fight.
He's never attempted it, but he's already seen two dragons do it before. So, acting on pure instinct, Natsu redirects the magical energy he was going to use for his breath attack, and sends it to his front claw. He encloses his claw into a boulder-sized fist and cocks his arm back, his smile becoming more feral.
"And while you're at it…" he cries as he throws the punch, which spontaneously combusts in red hot flames. The two attacks collide, appearing evenly matched.
But finally, with a roar of determination, Natsu increased the intensity of his attack, forcing Bickslow's breath attack to split and litter the landscape. Breaking through the breath attack, Natsu lands atop a wide-eyed Bickslow and pulls his arm back once more.
"…you can chew on this fire dragon's iron fist!" He then drives his fire powered fist into Bickslow's chest. The blow forces him to cough up blood and cry out in pain before falling unconscious.
Natsu rolls off his defeated opponent and onto his back, panting. He felt happy. Both for winning a fight against a strong opponent, and for creating a new attack by channeling his magic to another body part.
"I did it."
/\/\/\/\/\
Natsu rested for a while before humanizing and returning to the town to check on the people. He found them all still on the ground unconscious. He released a sigh he didn't know he was holding when he found that none of the townspeople were too hurt, only a few bruises. Returning to where he left the navy dragon, he finds the dragon gone, and in his place is Bickslow in his human form, awake.
"So, you're awake." Natsu states standing over the masked man.
"Yep." Bickslow replies, unmoving.
"How you feeling?"
"I don't know why I thought becoming human would ease the pain. If anything, I feel even worse now. You're one tough S.O.B."
"Thanks," he says with a small smile. "Are you going to undo what you did to the town?"
"No need. As soon as you knocked me out, my spell was canceled, freeing all of them. Also, my control over them was strong, so they won't remember anything that happened. You could probably put them back in their beds and they would think they all just overslept."
"That's good to know." Natsu says, sitting down next to him.
"Yeah." An awkward silence hung between the two for a moment before Bickslow continued. "You know, none of us in the Thunder God Tribe, including Laxus, wants to hurt or kill anyone. What we did to Magnolia was just a means to an end. It takes 10 days for Evergreen's breath attack to turn living things into statues permanently, and we were planning to let them go on the last day before that happens. Regardless of whether Makarov caved or not. Laxus might be a lot of things, but he's not a heartless monster."
"And where is his royal gold-ness?"
Chuckling, Bickslow turns his head to look at the Fire Dragon. "He's hiding in a mountain range about three days west of the Thunder Hall. I'd say it's probably closer to a four or five day journey from here. It's his favorite hunting ground and he knows every inch of it. Even without home field advantage, Laxus isn't an easy guy to beat. I've never seen it happen."
Natsu doesn't say anything back as he stands up and starts walking away.
"Oi!" Bickslow calls as he sits up, "what are you going to do now?"
Natsu stops and turns his head back to stare the drake down with a suspicious glare.
"Don't worry," the masked drake says dismissively with a wave of his hand. "I'm too hurt to do anything else. I'm just going to stay in this town, without taking it over, until the festival is over. I swear on my pride as a dragon."
Natsu, seemingly accepting the other drake's word, turns back around and continues walking, calling over his shoulder as he does.
"Once they wake up, I'm going to finish showing Kagura and the princess out of the territory. After that, I'm gonna go kick Laxus' butt!"
