"I can hear it…" Cobra's eye remained closed while standing on the deck of Crime Soricere's specially made ship. They were closing in on the isle just after the others were attacked.
"What happened?" Jellal asked while standing next to Cobra. "What were those lights in the distance?"
"One question at a time…" Cobra huffed with the slightest of annoyance. "A lot of things happened all at once…but to make things simple: the other ships were attacked by unknown assailants and crashed on the island…"
"Seriously!?" Meredy's eyes widened at the news. She grabbed Cobra by the shoulders and began shaking him comically. "Are they okay!?"
"Release me…!" Cobra hissed, pushing Meredy off him while dusting off his jacket. "Anyway, there are too many noises to judge exactly what's going on. I suggest you hurry this ship along so we can meet with Erza like we're supposed to."
"I guess we've no choice. Let's hurry…" Jellal nodded.
"Just leave it to me!" Angel was at the helm of this ship, giving a salute towards the others while playfully sticking her tongue out. "Captain Sorano is on it!"
"Are we sure it's a good idea to leave her as the captain…?" Ultear questioned with a comical sweat drop appearing on her forehead. She glanced between Racer and Hoteye, both of them giving a shrug. Midnight was sleeping as though nothing was wrong…it looked like some things just never changed after all.
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Siegrain placed his hand on a lacrima, activating the timer for the Etherion Cannon. Right now, it was 7:00AM. The timer was set to go off at 7:00PM, meaning the other guilds had only 12 hours to rescue those left behind and save the dragons on the isle. "Quite the tall order they've imposed on themselves…" Siegrain spoke with a soft chuckle, shaking his head. "I don't believe they'll be able to do everything in time…"
"Siegrain, sir!" Correll hurried into the room, panting softly.
"Ah, Correll, how are you feeling?" Siegrain questioned. "The revival process is still affecting your body, I assume? We were lucky that your heart was able to start again..."
"Wha? Me? Oh please, I couldn't be better!" Correll grinned. But it was a bold face lie.
Layanna walked in after Correll, arms folded while glaring at the Captain. "He seems to be just fine, since he still mostly thinks with his pants instead of his head." Eyes rolled before handing Siegrain a few papers. "Here is the paperwork you requested, Siegrain-sama."
Chuckling, the Wizard Saint took the papers and nodded. "Thank you, Layanna."
"Has the countdown started?" Correll questioned while staring at the timer that was literally active.
"…It appears as though he's still a little slow on the uptake." Layanna remarked.
"They have approximately 12 hours to accomplish everything it is they need to do. I will give them no more time than that…if they can return before the cannon is fired, all the more to them. If not…they were warned."
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"Sir, you have a visitor…" Venoma bowed before Dhegensea. "And…the humans have indeed returned to the isle, Nasir has provoked them as requested…although some other humans have appeared to join the fray. It's a little sticky situation, having so many unwanted guests on the isle…" The purple haired female sighed while filing her nails.
"A visitor?" Dhegensea's brow quirked in interest. "Must be from the land of Fiore. Allow them in."
"Of course!" Venoma nodded and skipped towards the front doors, opening them up, thus allowing Master Draco to walk into the throne room. "Eh…? What are YOU doing here…? I wasn't informed it was you…"
"Nice to see you too, Venoma…" Draco gave a courteous nod before walking towards Dhegensea. "Dhegensea, it has been a long time."
"400 years to be precise…" Dhegensea remarked with a snide grin painted on his lips. "I'm glad to see you're well. How's that family of yours, Celestial Dragon? The wife? The two children?"
"They are well…" Draco nodded before a serious visage appeared on his expression. "Where are your children? I haven't seen them on this isle…and it is difficult to maneuver around mindless dragons…"
"Ah…Ena and Kurthnaga…" Dhegensea chuckled. "My two young dragonlings…they are being taken care of as we speak. They were quite confused by my motives so I've had to explain things to them very carefully. They were rather attached to the humans who came here…but enough about that. I doubt you've come to prattle on about our children. You wish to question me about my motives."
"Correct." Draco stopped just before Dhegensea, arms crossed. "Why? You used to abhor violence."
"Ah!" Dhegensea shook his head at Draco's statement. "I chose not to involve myself in a war between dragons and humans. I refused to choose a side back then. What happened as a result? Those dragons came for my people anyway. Now, those dragons are dead and gone. The humans who stood before dragons remain, as does that dreaded monster, Acnologia! And it is my fate to return the favor and bloodshed. You cannot go against fate. Everything happens for a reason in a set order, and I will rule over the humans."
"You're mad…" Draco grit his teeth before shaking his head. "Is there no way to talk you out of this nonsense? This isle was meant with the intention of peace, you built this isle. Can you not see the error of your ways? Please, before it is too late for the people here! Do not drag them into your revenge scheme! You say this is about fate, but is this truly not your anger for the past 400 years coming to the surface?"
"'Too late'?" Dhegensea's head tilted before a slow smirk began to stretch along his lips. "You mean before the Etherion Cannon launches to destroy this isle? Worry not, for my people will be off this island before the cannon fires…"
Draco's eyes widened as Dhegensea saw right through him. "How did you know about the…"
"Your time is up!" Venoma grabbed the Wizard Saint by his arm and used her massive strength to hurl him through the front doors. Draco quickly recovered and a yellow aura flared around his body, activating the Meteor Spell to hurry back towards the door. "And stay out!" Venoma threw her arms out, creating a large wall of highly dangerous toxins before the throne room.
Draco had to halt in place, just narrowly avoiding touching the dangerous walls. He backed away, dusting himself off with a slight "tch" escaping him. "This is bad…how do they know about the plan…and why did he seem so calm about it…?" The Wizard Saint shook his head. "I'll have to tell Siegrain about this…but I cannot endanger the lives of anyone else on here…" This was a sticky situation…
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"Ugh…" Hisui sat up, slowly rubbing her head while looking around the crash site. "O-Ow…is everyone all right…?"
"I think…?" Lucy responded while just lying on the ground. "Nothing's broken at least…where are we…?" Now lifting her head up, Lucy could only see nothing but trees. They crash landed in the jungle.
"Somehow we landed where we wanted to…" Spade said whilst dusting himself off. "How is everyone?"
Wendy was still holding Cynthia, who merely let out a small groan in her unconscious state. "I'm fine…but Cynthia's still out cold…at least she's not burning up anymore…we really have to do something about her infection before…before…"
"Juvia is on it." Juvia immediately replied with a firm nod before suddenly latching on to Gray's shoulder. "And Gray-sama can help, right!?"
Gray's brows furrowed as Juvia suddenly latched onto him. He tried to pull her off but her grip was so tight he could feel the circulation being cut off in his arm. "H-Hey…lemme go!"
"We shouldn't be so rash…" Tia said while sitting on some rubble, tending to her ripped dress. "We're on their turf, and we know nothing about this island…we could be walking into a trap with any movement we make…"
"We need to find Ena first…" Erza seemed to have this goal in mind. "She can tell us what's going on and maybe a way to sneak past the dragons in the castle and lead us to the Mystic Water."
"Working in small groups does seem like a good idea…but we need to keep some people here. Cynthia can't move and we shouldn't take her into battle. Who knows what she might do in her condition…" Lucy said while placing the back of her hand on Cynthia's forehead. "She's still hot…"
"I'm staying." Wendy responded to Lucy.
"Alright then…" Ace spoke up. "Me, Tia, Jack, Spark, Spade, Diamond, and Heartless will stay here with Wendy, Cynthia, and Carla. We'll be able to fend off against anything that tries to attack us. Moving Cynthia doesn't seem like a good idea anyway in her condition."
"So that's one group…" Erza nodded before turning to the others. "Juvia, Gray…you two should come with me. We're going to find Ena…and you too, Mii…"
"Mii too?!" There was that pun again, causing everyone to groan.
"What about Natsu?" Lisanna questioned. "He left with Happy to chase Nasir...and Mira-nee…I refuse to believe she's…she's…"
Hisui intervened. "L-Let's just take things one step at a time…I still need to discuss with Dhegensea…"
"We don't have that much time left, we can't just dilly dally…" Bickslow narrowed his eyes under his mask while tapping his foot. The Raijinshu were still concerned with Laxus' wellbeing.
"Let's map out our plan…" Levy began. "First…we have Ace's group staying here to watch over Cynthia with Wendy, Erza's group is going for Ena…and the rest…we should probably search for Laxus and Mira…"
"There's also that group of bastards that ambushed us…" Gajeel remarked while slamming his fist into his palm. "Oh I really wanna pay that guy back…"
"It's safer to travel in numbers," Mii remarked while placing her arms behind her head. "We're too small a group to do anything huge. We'll get stomped flat if we try anything huge. I can only wonder how Natsu is holding up after blindly following Nasir…he might be dead by now…same could be said for those others, even though I tried my hardest to make sure they could at least hide."
"Don't say that!" Lucy immediately got in Mii's face at her comment. "They're stronger than you think…!"
"We're toying with dangerous creatures here, Lucy-chan," Mii remarked. "Dragons are strong. If we aren't careful we could be the next snack…what's with you people and ignoring realism?"
"We're well aware of the risks…" Erza responded. "But that doesn't mean we're going to abandon our comrades. I'm sure White Eclipse feels the same way…" Before anyone else could make another comment, Sabertooth, Blue Pegasus Mermaid Heel, Qautro Cerberus, White Eclipse and Lamia Scale appeared.
Sting happily waved to the others. "Oi, you guys are okay! I'm glad to see we all ended up in the same location…that landing could've been much smoother, just who were those guys…"
"We don't have time to worry about that now," Kagura remarked. "We'll worry about them when they arrive. For now, we need to form teams..."
"And we need to find our own," Selene remarked, though there was a slight frown on her lips. She couldn't detect anyone's scent throughout the jungle.
"Okay, okay…here's what we have…" Erza began explaining to people what the plan was.
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Just on the beach shores of the isle…the Commandants of Pergrande's ship landed, and they all disembarked. Laura stretched while looking at the wreckage her comrades caused by attacking the others. "You guys are such assess. You couldn't let me join in on the fun? Geez."
"You call that fun?" Wes shook his head while placing his hands behind his head. "I call that reckless. I'm glad I wasn't asked to get involved, because I am totally not comfortable with that whatsoever."
"How are you a commandant again!?" Laura smacked Wes on the back of the head, causing him to cringe and recoil. "You're so lazy! I should take care of the test myself, god knows how capable you are of it…"
"You know that's not what the orders were," Brax said while leaning against the ship. "Wes will take care of our little hypothesis. It would be bad if you ended up taking another loss, hm?"
"Do NOT forget to give the results to me!" Xen ordered. "I need the data."
"You better get going, Wes," Lucius commented with a chuckle.
"Maaaaaaaan…" Wes sighed, head dropping low as he started to walk off. Stuck with the job that nobody wants. That was just his life. "Why do you people put me up to these tasks? You know I'm not the best one suited for it…"
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Next Time: Onward! The Dragons Await.