A New World, The Story Of A Lost Shinobi
Hmmm ... day... stab in the dark, seven. Wait, no, that doesn't work. Ummm... bah, who cares, if I say it's day seven, it's damn well day seven! Time bends to MY will! I ain't anyone's bitch! So yeah, training is starting to come along. Not hitting the ground so hard anymore, or flattening as much ground. Progress is the key! Uzumaki be on his winning streak!
Day seven, out.
XxXxXxX
Erza's vision began to blur as she gazed out at the train tracks through lidded eyes. The cart swerved around on the train tracks as she began to lose consciousness, her weight pulling the joy stick off to one side as she fell. This normally wouldn't matter too much, but when the tracks were supported several hundred feet above a massive canyon, it made things a little more dangerous.
"E-Erza? Are you ok?"
Casting a weary glance over her shoulder at Gray's concern, Erza struggled to speak up. "Y-yeah, I'm ok. We'll be... be there soon."
Gray leaned out the window, not at all convinced by the weak answer he received. "Are you sure? You've been driving this thing for a while now, not to mention you just came out of a pretty hectic fight."
Huffing, Erza propped herself up. "I said I'm fine didn't I? Just trust me!"
Pursing his lips, Gray conceded the fight. "Alright... well, just let me know if you want to swap over."
Erza let out a loud bark of laughter. "I'd prefer to actually make it there by sunset thank you very much."
Wishing to quickly finish the conversation there, Gray pulled himself back in the window, blushing slightly. He was greeted by Lucy's curious eyes and Levi snickering lightly.
Looking at her blue headed companion, Lucy blinked. "Why did Erza say that?"
"N-no reason."
Shaking her head, Levy cleared up Gray's hollow answer. "Gray drives like the old mages that have retired. I have never met someone so slow!"
Instantly seeing the funny side of things, Lucy slapped a hand to her mouth, rather unladylike snorts blowing from her nose. Blushing a little more, Gray turned and looked out the window, giving Natsu a good kick in the side to help with his discomfort. The boy just moaned while Lucy suddenly screamed something about someone losing clothes.
Just then, the cart started losing momentum fast. Holding on as it swerved, Gray jumped through the window as the girls screamed in panic, obviously thinking they were going to the bottom of the canyon. Swinging around, Gray apologetically kicked Erza from the driver's seat, grabbing the control and pulling the cart straight. Quickly losing what little momentum it had left, Gray sighed as it pulled to a stop. Looking over, he cringed when he saw Erza hanging by her arm, having been dragged through the dirt and rocks by the energy band still attached to her arm. Jumping down as Levy and Lucy looked through the window, they gasped as they saw Gray roll Erza over, the mage covered in scratches and small cuts.
"What happened to her?"
Thankful she was currently unconscious, Gray unclipped the band around Erza's arm and picked her up. "Erza decided that her ego was more important than her health and drove the SE till she had not a drop of magic left."
Opening the door, Gray dropped her in his spot and climbed into the driver's seat.
"What are you doing driving?"
Looking back at Lucy, Gray huffed. "Alright. Have you ever driven one of these things before?"
He saw her shake her head. He nodded his in response. "See? You have no idea what to do and Levy doesn't have enough stamina to drive something like this."
"B-but what about Natsu?"
Gray sent her a flat panned look. "You honestly think he could drive while vomiting up all of the last week's meals? And say he even could, what then?"
Seeing Lucy pause then shudder, Gray smiled. "So you see why I'm driving."
Settling himself down, he strapped the energy band around and checked everything to make sure it was ok. Being cautious, he quickly went over everything again. Pausing, he just did a third check. Better to be safe than sorry.
"Hey Captain Cautious, we leaving yet?"
Sending Levy a dark look, Gray finished up. "I'll have you know that I've had one of these things fail on me before because I didn't check it."
Rolling her eyes, the girl leant back in. Feeling a distinct lack of body beneath her feet, she looked down and noticed Natsu was missing. Quickly looking at the seat, she saw Happy was gone too. Then hearing a loud laugh, Lucy and her looked out the window.
"Wa-HAAA! Catch you losers in Clover sometime next week! Come on Happy, let's catch that flying freak!"
"AYE!"
Leaning out the window, Lucy screamed up at him while shaking a fist. "NATSU! WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE ME?"
Feeling a jolt though, Lucy sighed and pulled herself back inside. Atleast they were moving. After a few moments though, she checked out the window if they really were.
"Wow Levy, you weren't kidding, Gray really is a sloth!"
Sighing, Levy rested her chin in her hands and looked at Erza sleeping. "Yeah, it's just a waiting game now."
Moaning apathetically, Lucy slumped to the side. "Awww but what about the guild masters? We've got to warn them!"
Hearing a thump on the roof, they looked up. A blond head appeared in the window and looked around in confusion. Pulling his head up, they heard him call out to Gray. "Hey, why we move like snail? You low on magic too?"
Gray's exasperated sigh came back a moment later. "No, time is of the essence, but I must learn the handling of this thing first before I can drive faster."
Naruto snorted. "Sometime, you just gotta adjust on the fly!"
Gray's patient voice replied after carefully dodging a rock. "No, if I did that, we risk falling into the gorge. Then what use would we be?"
Lucy and Levy let out a giggle when they heard Naruto start to whine. "But Gray! What use are we if we never arrive? I walk faster than this dattebayo!"
"Nope, I must take it – wait, what are you – "
There was a thump and the wagon slowed to a halt. There was a scuffle and some muffled curses before Gray was thrown in through the window, landing on Lucy's crotch face down. Squealing, Lucy kicked him to the floor before sending him a dark glare.
"GAH! Naruto you retard, what did you tie me up for?"
A distracted voice answered him as Naruto looked around the driver's seat he now found himself in. "We never get there in time. I drive. It not too hard!"
"Y-you sure, Naruto?"
Turning, Naruto sent the girls a wide smile as they leant out the window. "Yeah! I have us there in no time! Just follow the tracks yes?"
Seeing them nod hesitantly, Naruto smiled and turned back.
'Alright. So this thing here turns the front wheels...'
Looking over, he saw the wheels twist from side to side as he moved the stick.
'Good. Um, the lever on it though... maybe to stop? We'll find out. This band thing though...'
Wrapping it around his arm, Naruto scrutinised it. 'The cart goes faster with the more magic they feed into it. I hope chakra works.'
Channelling some energy into his forearm, Naruto smiled as the cart gave a sickly lurch. "Woo!"
Ignoring the unsure comments from within the cabin, Naruto tried again. This time, the cart whined horribly, fell silent for a few moments, then unleashed a loud noise that sounded suspiciously like a fart. An awkward silence fell over the group as Naruto paused.
"Uh, that was the cart, not me."
The silence that followed didn't let Naruto know if they agreed or not. Shrugging, Naruto got back to it. He'd been through worse.
'Alright, keep a consistent flow into the power band and we'll get going!'
Channelling some more chakra, the cart lurched, stalled, lurched again and then exploded into a blaze of life as the unnatural fuel flooded the system. Naruto let out a peal of laughter that was overshadowed by the horrific screams of the mages inside the cabin as the cart shot forward and down the tracks.
XxXxXxX
Seeing a towering column of bright red flames, Naruto knew they were coming close to Natsu. They were making great time too, aside from those occasional instances where he had to create a few clones to catch the cart as he accidentally drove it off the edge of the track. Yeah, there had been plenty of screaming and stuff, but outside of that, no real complaints on his driving. He was feeling pretty good about it!
Levy and Lucy were also currently having a screaming contest in the back. Naruto would have joined in if he wasn't so focused on staying straight. They seemed to get louder every time he rounded a corner too. If there were any real words Naruto couldn't make them out, but if that's what they liked to do with their spare time that was cool with him. Finally seeing Natsu and Erigor come into view, Naruto squeezed the trigger and felt the whole cart lift up onto the two front wheels as the breaks grabbed.
'Huh, so that was the breaks after all.'
As the kinetic energy wore off, the cart slammed back down, bouncing a few times before coming to rest. Stepping off, Naruto pulled the armband off and stretched. Looking over, the flames had finally receded leaving a very burnt looking Erigor lying front of him, completely out of it. Hearing a loud slam, he looked over his shoulder as Levy, Lucy and Gray toppled out, all crying for some reason. Erza also followed, looking a lot better now than when Naruto first saw her.
Looking over, Erza's eyes thinned as she saw the blond. "Good to see you could catch up. I assume you were driving?"
Naruto shrugged, easily replying despite the dark vibes aimed at him. "Yeah, who else would be? And yeah, I catch up easy. Fast runner."
Not answering, Erza stepped over the still crying pile of bodies and walked over. Looking down at the fallen wind mage, she nodded upon seeing him completely inactive. Natsu bounded over soon after, happy crowing about his victory and his general awesomeness.
"Oh yeah, I didn't need any help! Why? Cause I'm just the best! No biggy or anything, just casually takin' out the head of Eisenwald while flexing my flames."
Rolling her eyes, Erza let a smile onto her face as she let Natsu bask in the ambience of his own splendor for the moment. Hearing a shaky couple of steps behind her, she turned and saw Levi and Lucy walk up, clutching each other for dear life. Gray also walked past, too manly to accept any help but looking just as shaky. Looking at them curiously, Erza wondered what happened. Naruto might have been a dark child, but he could drive pretty well.
When the two girls saw the unconscious wind user, they both sighed in relief. "Thank goodness this is all over! The drive, the fight, Lullaby, just everything!"
Slumping to the ground, they kept hugging each other. "Levy, what's say we call this a day and go home? I'm VERY ready for a bath."
"Mmmm-hmm."
Smiling, Erza allowed herself to relax a bit. It really did seem like things were going to be alright and a bath did sound very inviting right about now. Looking back at Erigor, her eyes hardened as she saw Naruto kneeling over him, patting him down.
"OI! What do you think you are doing to him?"
Looking over his shoulder, Naruto sighed. "I check to try find flute. Threat not gone till flute gone."
Falling silent, Erza still glared at the 'killer', agreeing with him this once. A sudden sickly roar behind the group though instantly had everyone looking back over their shoulders.
"Hahahaha! You took your eyes off the ball Fairy Flies! Lullaby will yet be played!"
Kageyama had apparently awoken during the trip and after everyone left the wagon, jumped in the driver's seat and floored it. Everyone dived to the side as he shot past, the flute captured in one shadowy fist. Yet another launched out and punched Naruto off the tracks, the boy screaming the whole way down as he fell.
'Get rid of the bastard that managed to break Lord Erigor's wind barrier. Having him around any longer would be dangerous.'
"Naruto!"
Levy and Lucy all ran to the edge, looking over it fearfully as Naruto disappeared into the black.
"Happy! Go get him!"
Struggling to produce wings, Happy managed to create a set before they disappeared in a sparkle, just as quickly as they appeared. "I'm all out of magic sorry..."
Erza, Gray and Natsu however, were just glaring after the disappearing cart. "Damnit, how could I have let my guard down like that? Natsu, Gray, after him!"
Natsu nodded and took off with a wild cry, while Gray paused. "What about Naruto?"
Erza shook her head. "Something like that wouldn't kill him. Just follow that vehicle!"
Seeing him nod and begin chasing after Kageyama, Erza turned to the girls. "You two come with me. We'll follow at a slower pace."
Glancing at one another, Levy swallowed before speaking up. "Uh, we'd really rather wait to see if Naruto's ok if that's alright."
Erza's gaze hardened. "No, you will come with me. Naruto can look after himself."
Flinching under her gaze, the girls tried again. "Well, can one of us maybe stay then? Just so he knows where to go?"
Erza's gaze turned positively stormy. "I'll ask again, PLEASE come with me."
Unable to withstand the harsh woman any longer, a terrified shiver ran down both their spines and they jumped to their feet. "O-o-ok Erza-san. Right away!"
"That's better."
Just as they started moving though, they heard a few rocks crumble away and Naruto popped over the edge, covered in dust but otherwise fine. Gasping, Lucy looked him over. "How did you get back up? Are you ok?"
Waving off the worry with a smile, Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I hit a big rock and stuck to it. Just climbed back up. So, shall we go?"
Both younger girls sent him wide smiles and nodded. Erza merely turned away and began to jog. Smiling back at his two friends, Naruto ran up beside them and fell into a casual pace. He knew he should probably run ahead but he didn't want to leave the girls here, especially while Erza was still that low on energy that she could pass out.
XxXxXxX
Natsu seemed low on energy too as Gray, Naruto and his group all caught up with him near the small town of Clover. A couple of jabs from Gray quickly solved that problem though, the fiery boy rising to the challenge.
Running through a large split in the mountains as the sun finally disappeared over the horizon, the group passed the now broken SE vehicle. Rolled onto its side, it looked like the engine beneath had been completely fried. Naruto sweat dropped as he looked at it for a little longer. Chakra seemed a bit too potent for the machine. This now though presented a new problem.
Looking around, Lucy frowned. "So where'd Kageyama go?"
It was Natsu's turn again to rise to the occasion, holding his head high as he sniffed around. Frowning, he looked over into the forest that edged the mountains and pointed. "That way!"
Following his trusty nose, the group ran over into the trees, batting away low lying branches and bushes as they pushed through. Popping through into a mini clearing, Naruto looked up in surprise.
The view from the small hill was absolutely spectacular. It gave a full one hundred and eighty degree view of the magnificent valley. Mountains rimmed the gorge, the very tips dusted with a light snow, the full moon creating a light show of sparkles from the frozen crystals. That turned to a light grey stone which then in turn became a beautiful, deep green as trees stretched as far as the eye could see. A little village sat in the middle of it all, blending in beautifully with the surrounding nature. From the closest edge of the town, Naruto could also see the train tracks disappear into it, apparently stopping there. All in all, the picture reminded him very much of his home.
"There he is!"
Looking over, the group saw Kageyama standing in front of Makarov of all people, flute pursed against his lips ready to play. Eyes widening, the power houses of the group made to jump into action when the most peculiar... person jumped in front of them. Everyone instantly jumped back, the only two people seemingly unfazed being Erza and Levy.
"Shh, the best part is yet to come! Just watch."
Struggling to understand what he was looking at, Naruto pointed a shaky finger at the human. "Wh - what are you?"
The person in question giggled, the now apparent males voice in a high falsetto, although it was clearly forced there. He was a rather overweight man with no sign of a neck or eyes, as his eyelids were mere slits. He had a dusting of blush on both cheeks along with bright red lipstick that clashed horribly with his balding head. A necklace made of large gold hoops adorned his neck, an unsightly pink singlet top stretching around his barrel of a chest. From behind him stuck a small pair of white wings, probably attached to the straps that held the top up. Pinstriped purple and pink shorts were worn beneath that, a pair of hairy legs sticking out from them, capped off with what looked like a pair of pink ballerina shoes.
"Oh, and you three are totally my type! So cute! Especially you! Those whisker marks are just adorable!"
Hurriedly backing up against a tree, Naruto shivered as the crossdressing man began blowing him kisses. Looking to Gray and Natsu for moral support, he found them suspiciously absent, having bailed the second the man's gaze was off them. Looking back, Naruto let out a small scream as he found the fat man now very close to him.
"Master Bob, could you please stop flirting with Naruto?"
"Hmm?"
Instantly taking advantage of the distraction, Naruto shot straight up into the tree above, clinging tightly to the upper most branch, desperate to escape the unwanted affections.
"Awww, and here I was just about to introduce myself."
He danced back down to stand in front of Erza, hands clasped in front of his belly. "Erza-chan! How you have grown! You look positively delicious!"
Cringing, Lucy backed away, just as weirded out by the man as the boys were. "This is the master of Blue Pegasus?"
Hearing Makarov say something, the group looked over and saw Kageyama take a breath.
"NO!"
Before anything could happen though, Natsu and Gray both found themselves trapped under Master Bobs arm in a solid headlock. Naruto however ended up with the short end of the stick, his body captured between the vile man's legs the second he touched the ground.
"How the hell did you move so fast? Let go!"
Hearing a voice, the group looked over at another man resting against a tree. Naruto continued to struggle to escape, but found the man too slippery to grab. Moisturiser or something covering his legs in a thick paste.
"Oi, we told you to just sit tight and wait. This is where the good part starts."
Long, dirty blond hair hung down over the man's face as a weird witch's hat sat upon his head, a spiky red dog collar wrapped around the base of it. A pair of dark shades adorned his nose, a couple of wrinkles visible from behind them. A matching dog collar was wrapped around his neck which led onto a normal gray, skin tight shirt. A pair of black trousers disappeared under the bottom of that and a simple set of sneakers stuck out from under the legs.
Looking over in surprise, Lucy gasped as she saw another guild master. "Master Goldmine!"
"Well?"
Hearing Makarov speak, Bob mercifully let go of the three boys and floated away. Jumping back, each rubbed their abused body part and listened to the master begin his lecture. "You want to play that thing? It won't change anything. Weak humans will forever be weak, no matter how much time passes. Weakness in itself though isn't always a bad thing. Humans are weak by nature. This is why we form guilds. We meet friends and family there. We thrive, we work together and we survive. Everyone has their flaws, even myself, but as long as we are able to keep walking, together we will be able to find the strength to face tomorrow. Do this, and you wouldn't have to resort to something like that flute."
Everything fell silent as Makarov's words sunk into the spiky haired man's head. A soft gust of wind blew through the area before the soft clatter of something wooden hitting the ground reached everyone's ears. Dropping to his knees, Kageyama bowed his head. "I... I surrender."
Running forward, the guild members surrounded their master in congratulations, Erza slamming the old man's head against her metal clad breast, a loud clang sounding out upon contact. Naruto stayed back and watched them though, content to let them have their moment as a guild. Perhaps now, finally, this mess would be resolved.
"So, are you looking to join a guild or something young man? We could use a nice set of strong arms and legs like your own."
"LIKE HELL!"
Quickly resuming his place at the top of a tree, Naruto glared down at Bob, the odd man just looking up at him with a hand on his cheek, giggling away.
"Nothing but a cowardly bunch of cockroaches, the lot of you!"
Instantly on alert, the mages looked around as a vile voice filled the clearing. It was easily identifiable as demonic, the broken voice holding two, three, maybe even four different voices, each on a different vocal range.
Staring skyward, everyone dropped their jaws as a gigantic purple magic circle appeared in the air, rapidly rotating above them as electrical arcs began firing from the center of it, striking whatever trees and houses were within range.
"Wh – what the hell is that?"
An oppressive weight began bearing down on everyone, the malicious intent making it hard to breath. Gritting her teeth, Erza looking up at Naruto, her mind running a mile a minute. 'This feels exactly like what Naruto was producing. Why would a boy like him have the aura of a demon?'
"I can't stand it any longer! I'll devour you all myself!"
In a final explosion, a pair of enormous wooden legs struck down, clawed feet landing on each side of the city. Mounted to those legs was a gigantic body, gaping holes all through its middle, converging into a massively wide wooden chest. Two disproportionately long arms stuck out from its shoulders, each ending in razor sharp claws. Topping off the monster, a twisted head stuck to the neck of the beast, three dark eyes glaring down at everyone, a long tongue licking its lips. Its long, pointed ears stuck out horizontally from its head, hiding just beneath a pair of mammoth horns, jutting up into the sky, its body easily towering above the mountains around.
Swallowing, Naruto looked up at the creature in shock. 'Holy crap, that thing is even bigger than the Kyuubi!'
"What the hell is that thing?"
Looking down, he saw Lucy pointing up at in shock, trying to comprehend what she could see. Master Gold Mine seemed to have the answer as he replied. "That must be a demon from the book of Zeref."
Hearing panicked cries, Naruto looked down at the town as the people fled for safety. 'Good, atleast this way no one will get hurt.'
"Wait, I thought that Lullaby was the flute?"
Hearing Lucy's voice again, Naruto tuned into the explanation. "Nope, that monster is Lullaby. In other words, it's a living magic. That is Zeref's magic."
Gasping, the girl turned her gaze skyward. "No way, Zeref's magic? He's been dead for hundreds of years though! Why would his magic turn up here?"
Leaning a gigantic face in, Lullaby scrutinised its new prey. "So, which of you want to be eaten first? If you know you have a tasty soul, please, jump forward first!"
Raising a fist, Natsu cried back angrily. "How about none of us! You wanna eat so badly? Try fighting us for them!"
Hearing yet another group of voices, Naruto turned from his lookout point and saw a large gathering of people, all dressed in matching medieval knight outfits, flags upheld by a few of them with strange designs fluttering proudly above their heads.
"This guy isn't anything we can't handle! Men, onward with the attack!"
Letting out a loud cry, the men began charging. This managed to draw the attention of the titanic wooden beast. Raising a brow, the beast snorted. "Not even worth my time. Disappear!"
Inhaling a ridiculous amount of air, Lullaby exhaled and fired out a monstrous yellow beam of pure energy. It covered the distance from itself to the knights in a fraction of a second, hitting a mountain behind them and instantly making it explode violently, massive chunks of earth thrown everywhere. The ground rocked with the power of the blast, hundreds losing their footing and toppling over. Even a good fifty or so kilometers from the blast, Naruto still felt his tree shake around, the cries of Lucy and Levy sounding out as they toppled over.
Frowning, Naruto sized the beast up. 'He certainly has a great deal of power behind that mouth of his. I wonder what else he can do.'
Hearing a cry of retreat, Naruto sweat dropped as the formally brave knights turned tail and fled. He couldn't blame them though. If there was ever a thing Ero-Sennin taught him, it was that a tactical retreat can save your life for another day to plan a new attack. Hearing a deep chuckle, he looked back up at Lullaby.
"You know what? I haven't had a good feed in a couple hundred years. I think I'll just eat you all at once!"
"Sounds like fun! Come try it if you think you can!"
"Natsu, shut up! We're not here to provoke it!"
"What's wrong Lucy? You scared?"
"Of course! Who the hell wouldn't be?"
Rolling his eyes, Naruto sighed. Those two were made for each other. Quickly scanning the area, Naruto nodded as he saw that crazy man Bob was missing. Letting go, he dropped from his branch, vaulting off several more before landing lightly beside the group.
"Good luck my prince~!"
Shivering, Naruto ignored the well wishes from the fat man. Moving up behind the group, Naruto looked to Erza. "So what's the plan?"
Not taking her eyes off the beast, Erza called out to the other guild members. "Natsu, Gray! With me. Naruto, you act as back up and support us as needed. Levy, begin writing some runes to trip it up. Lucy, cover Levy. Understood?"
"Yes!"
"Well then, let's go!"
Just as everyone took off, Lullaby reared its head back and let out a deafening roar, the very air shaking with the power of the vibrations. Undeterred, Erza charged in, requipping out for the power of her Heaven's Wheel Armour. Firing out her swords, she let out a satisfied hum as she heard the swords cut deeply into the surface of the beast.
Gray came in next, placing a fist on top of an open palm as he charged his ability. Thrusting his palms face out, he braced himself as hundreds of long frozen spears exploded out, shooting up and into Lullaby's torso. "Ice Make: Lance!"
Rounding out the trio came Natsu, arms ablaze as he barrelled into the face of the thing with a mighty punch. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Struggling under the rapid succession of attacks, Lullaby tried to step back but instead found itself tripping and toppling over. Looking down with a frown, Erza tried to find the source of this. 'That couldn't be Levy, runes take longer than that to write. So who... Naruto?'
Scattered around each giant foot of the leviathan stood about twenty Naruto's, all supporting each other as they held its legs fast. They let out a collective cry as it fell, diving out of the road as it hit the ground, many getting crushed under the massive legs and exploding into puffs of smoke.
'So that's how his ability works in battle is it? Not too bad I suppose.'
Turning her attention back to Lullaby, Erza flapped her polished wings as the monster lashed out with a massive arm, just barely missing her and turning the ground behind her into nothing but rubble. Natsu and Gray also dived out of harm's way as the arm swept around, trying to grab a hold of anyone.
"You pests are really starting to piss me off, ya know that?"
Not replying, the group simply began attacking again, any visible part of the massive wooden body targeted and slashed, stabbed, frozen or set on fire.
Down with Naruto, the ninja dashed around the legs of the demon, strategically tripping it up and cutting it down wherever possible. Large rocks also found them thrown into its legs, chunks of wood being ripped from the main trunk as the sharp edges cut deep. Naruto was also keeping a close eye on the town, desperately trying to guide the beast's footsteps away from the houses. Growling in frustration, Naruto watched as Lullaby lifted a massive leg clear over his head, its shadow hiding Naruto for a split second before passing on. It seemed to be turning around and was moving away from the town, back towards where Kageyama and Makarov had first spoken.
Hearing dual screams of fear though, Naruto frowned and dashed forward. Tree branches broke off as Naruto kicked from them, rapidly catching and passing the now descending limb overhead. Seeing Lucy and Levy, Naruto flickered into existence beside them, grabbing them around the waists before vanishing with them just before the foot stomped down on their previous position. Landing a safe distance away, Naruto placed them down gently and looked at each of them in the eyes.
"You ok?"
Seeing them nod, Naruto stood up. "Keep doing whatever you do then. We need all help we can to bring the thing down."
Turning, Naruto bent at the knees and then vanished in a flicker, a little whirl of leaves stirred up by his rapid departure. Holding a hand out to him, Levy lowered it as she saw him vanish into the distance. Turning to Lucy, she saw the girl equally shocked. Shaking it off, Levy stood. Now wasn't the time to worry about how close they were to death, Naruto and Erza needed their help! Shaking Lucy's shoulder, Levy managed to get her to stand.
"Come on, we need to finish these trap runes. Just a few more and they'll be complete."
"Y-yeah..."
Smiling, Levy then knelt down and continued her writing onto the ground, bright scribes lighting up as her pen dashed across the earth.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
Unleashing a pair of powerful flames into the side of Lullaby, Natsu grinned as he saw large scar marks appear in the flesh of the beast.
"Ha! You're pretty pathetic, you can't even catch a Fairy!"
"Oooh, when I get my hands on you I'll squeeze you so hard your head'll pop like a grape!"
Dancing nimbly out of harm's way, Natsu cackled gleefully and spun around, pulling his pants down and mooning the monster. "Oh yeah, how you like that? Two full moons' tonight and one is especially prepared for you!"
"RAHHH!"
Crying out in anger, Lullaby swept its hands through the trees, flattening massive parts of the forest as it desperately tried to squash the maddening child. Dodging, Natsu landed on the giant's arm and began charging up it, rapidly drawing near to its furious face.
"Fire Dragon's Claw!"
Unleashing a devastating fire fuelled kick into Lullaby's face, Natsu laughed out loud as it fell backwards, once again having its feet snared by Naruto.
"Damn you!"
"Ice Make: Geyser!"
Suddenly, a towering pillar of ice shot up from the ground behind Lullaby, catching it in the back of the chest and piercing it right through, the top of it poking out the left hand side of its torso. Howling out in pain, Lullaby's massive weight forced it down onto the spike, impaling itself on to the ground. Looking up in total fury, the beast reached a shaky hand up to grab the icicle.
"Y-you filthy little maggot! How am I meant to play my beautiful tune now?"
Crying out in rage, it snapped off the top half of the ice spike and screamed as it pulled itself from its anchor, its wooden body shrieking as it rubbed against the ice. Rising to its feet, it leaned back its head and took a breath.
"I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY A HANDFUL OF WRETCHED HUMANS! DIE!"
Screaming, it unleashed a raging torrent of fire into the forest around, aiming mostly at the innocent people trying to escape.
"Ice Make: Shield!"
Flashing in front of the fleeing crowd, Gray smashed his hand together to produce an astounding wall of ice, completely protecting everyone from the vicious flames. Letting out a slightly delirious laugh, Lullaby turned and kicked over a mountain, all three eyes flicking around as it looked for its next prey. What it didn't expect though was for all its flames to suddenly start spiralling away over towards Natsu as the boy inhaled.
Down below, Naruto also watched on in shock, his eyes wide open as the boy actually ate the flames. 'Oi, oi, oi, what the hell is going on here? He eats flames too?'
After managing to swallow the entire raging inferno, Natsu looked up at Lullaby, wiping his mouth. "Thanks for the meal, those flames were delicious! Ha-ha, now I'm really fired up!"
"Y – you're a monster!"
Seemingly taking offence, Natsu raised a fist and shouted back. "How the hell can I be a monster with you standing right there? Perspective much?"
He then had to dodge as Lullaby launched a massive fist into the hill he was standing on, destroying it completely. Landing on its arm, Natsu began running up it again, ready for another attack.
"Oh no you don't!"
Swinging in with its other arm, Lullaby slapped its hand against its arm in a desperate attempt to crush the teen. The move backfired though as Natsu just swapped limbs, now dashing up his other arm.
"Requip! Armour of the Black Wings!"
Flying in for support, Erza swapped her Heaven's Wheel outfit for a much sleeker one. A pair of leathery black wings now protruded from her shoulder blades, accompanied by dual sets of long, black shoulder armour sticking out from her shoulders by atleast a foot. Her chest was covered by a dark metal bra, shape hugging strips of spiked metal sliding down her sides to connect with the large, matching hip protectors. A simple, black bikini bottom covered her modesty while thigh high, black boots protected her legs. A single, long sword was clasped in her right hand, both though covered in elbow length black gauntlets.
Shooting past Natsu, Erza cut deep into Lullaby's side with a single swing, the demon opening its mouth in a loud roar of pain. Turning back, she saw Natsu nearing the head and cried out at him.
"Natsu, now!"
"Got it Erza! Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
Igniting both hands, Natsu brought them together, generating a massive fire ball above his head, easily one and a half times bigger than his own body. Swinging forward with a scream of effort, he launched it at Lullaby, the beast shrieking as it felt the superheated ball slam into its chest, exploding on impact. Rocking backwards, Lullaby didn't even try fight the pull of gravity as it collapsed into the earth, destroying acres of trees in the process.
Laying still for a few moments, the demon finally let out a very agitated growl. "Oh, you worms have done it now. I'm not even going to eat you anymore, I'll simply wipe you from existence!"
Eyes wide, Natsu took a step back. "What does it take to put this guy away?"
Reaching out an enormous arm, Lullaby made to grab Natsu, when a tiny voice cried out and suddenly hundreds of glowing green words wrapped around its massive body, coiling also around the outstretched arm and slamming it back against its side.
"Wh – what is this?"
Watching all this, Naruto turned and saw Levy and Lucy where he had left them, cheering and hugging each other happily. Smiling, Naruto let his arms drop. Levy must have finished off her runes or whatever it was they were. Turning to look at the demon again, Naruto raised an eyebrow in respect. They may have just been glowing scribbles, but they sure were effective. Another idea began to worm its way into Naruto's head as he looked at the struggling leviathan. If that was possible with those weird words, did that mean it might be possible with seals? He had seen them dance around during a major sealing while with Ero-Sennin, so what's not to say that they couldn't wrap something like this up, then pull it into a scroll?
Pulling out a sheet of paper, Naruto bit his thumb and quickly wrote down his idea, not having a pen handy. Folding it away, Naruto tucked it back into his shirt, finger already done healing by that time.
Jumping up onto the beast, Naruto looked around and saw Erza alight opposite him, Natsu and Gray climbing up its side quickly.
"Get the hell off me you vermin!"
Ignoring the protests, Naruto looked at the gathering mages. "Well, that was good. How you eat fire Natsu?"
Raising his eyebrows, Natsu blinked. "You didn't know? I was taught this old magic by my father, Igneel. I'm a Dragon Slayer."
Nodding his head, Naruto sucked in his bottom lip. "That cool. I wanna eat fire too!"
Laughing, Natsu propped up both fists on his hips. "Ha! I'm the only one awesome enough to do that! Find your own food!"
That made Naruto remember his stomach and frowned as it let out a gurgle. He hadn't eaten anything today, save for breakfast and a few snack bars. Food was now high on his priority list. Feeling the ground beneath them move as Lullaby squirmed, Erza frowned.
"Alright, we must send this creature back into its flute form. One last combined attack should work."
Nodding, they lined up. Gray closed his eyes as he focused, Erza's sword began glowing black as energy charged through it, Natsu brought his arms back behind himself and Naruto created a clone, beginning to generate a massive blue sphere between the two of them. On an unspoken word, they all dashed forward and unleashed the power one last time into the howling demon.
"Ice Make: Saucer!"
"HrrrrAHHHH!"
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!"
"Odama Rasengan (Big Ball Spiralling Sphere)!"
As the attacks connected, the beast went up in a horrific scream, its voice shattering as its body dematerialised, exploding into a million brilliantly glinting pieces, the air filling with their soft beauty.
Discretely creating a clone, Naruto made sure that no one noticed as a small rat ran away. It sniffed around, running from tree remains, to chunky unearthed rock as it searched. After a few minutes, it came upon a simple, skull shaped flute with three eyes. Looking around, it made sure no one was watching and taking it in its powerful jaws, bit clean through the wood. A soft sigh drifted into the air as the deed was done. Watching it for a few moments longer, the rat nodded satisfactorily and in a pop, disappeared.