Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Worth Woodsea.
November, x784.
Shortly after Natsu rushed away from the rest of the allied wizards, he found himself entering the Worth Woodsea. While running between the trees, he continued to follow Happy's scent. Before he could get too far, however, he was stopped by what he assumed to be an entire dark guild.
"I don't know who you are, but you'd better get out of my way!" Natsu shouted, not slowing down in the slightest.
"Hmph!" The dark wizard with the highest level of magic power snorted in disdain. "Do you really think you can do anything to all of---"
"[Fire Dragon's Roar]!" Natsu chanted loudly as he took a deep breath.
A moment later, every member of the Dark Guild in front of Natsu was both engulfed in flames and blown away from Natsu's path.
"Oops…" Natsu muttered after looking at his handy work. "I forgot to ask if any of them know where Happy is."
"*Sigh* You never think, do you, Natsu?" Ur, who followed after Natsu shortly after he left with Ultear, said from behind him. "And if I leave you alone, the Worth Woodsea will cease to exist."
With that, Natsu turned towards the source of Ur's voice. At the same time, a gust of cold air blew over all the burning trees in the surroundings, putting out the fires quickly.
"Ur, Ultear, you followed me?" Natsu asked, having not been paying attention to anything other than his sense of smell.
"Of course, we did." Ultear said, rolling her eyes. "No matter how filled with the desire for revenge I am, I know it would be bad if you were allowed to burn down the forest."
"Yeah, Tear is right." Ur added. "So, she's gonna be going with you while you search for Happy."
"What about you, Mom?" Ultear asked curiously.
"There are a lot of presences spread around the forest." Ur replied. "I'm gonna go and thin their numbers a bit."
To anyone who could see her, even though Ur was smiling when she made that last statement, it was obvious that she was out for blood. And that smile was enough to cause someone like Natsu to take a step back subconsciously.
"Fine, let's go, Ultear." Natsu said, turning back towards the source of Happy's scent. "I can smell both Happy and Wendy in that direction."
Then, without waiting for a reply, Natsu dashed forward.
Shrugging her shoulders, Ultear was quick to follow. Meanwhile, Ur watched the two of them leave until she could no longer see them. Then, she closed her eyes with a bloodthirsty smile on her face.
"Brain, oh, Brain.' Ur said, her killing intent and leaking magic power making the air around her shake. "After I work off some of this excess anger, I'm coming for you. I can't have myself losing control while I make you pay for what you did."
A moment later, Ur opened her eyes and started moving towards the nearest group of cannon fodder dark wizards she could sense with her [Magic Power Detection].
At the same time, Ultear and Natsu continued running towards Happy and Wendy in a straight line. And as they drew nearer to their destination, the number of Dark Guild's that popped up in their path increased proportionally.
Eventually, after running through the Woodsea for a little over an hour and dispatching any dark wizards they came across, Ultear and Natsu found a heavily guarded cave that led into mountain wall.
"I think we've arrived." Ultear said, letting her eyes scan the dark wizards protecting the cave.
"Then, what are we waiting for?" Natsu asked curiously. "Let's get in there and save Happy."
"Don't worry, we will." Ultear said with a smile. "But I think I just saw an old acquaintance."
Hearing that, Natsu looked at Ultear skeptically. But after noticing that she was staring at someone, he followed her line of sight.
"Hey, isn't that Aragon the Sleeper?" Natsu asked after trying to remember where he had seen the man with spiky, silver hair Ultear was staring at.
With that, all the dark wizards under the silver-haired man's command fell silent with their eyes open wide. Recently, after being broken out of prison, their leader, Erigor the Reaper had made progress and was now undoubtedly an S-Class wizard.
"Ha! If it isn't a pair of Fairy flies." Erigor said from among the crowd of dark wizards. "This is perfect, I can finally get the revenge I've been waiting for. I'll make you pay for ruining my plans."
"[Ice Age]." Ultear chanted, already tired of the third-rate villain monologue coming out of Erigor's mouth.
"Freeze!*
As soon as Erigor finished speaking, the area around the cave was frozen over in an instant. Naturally, all the dark wizards, including Erigor were included.
"*Sigh* You were a small fry then and you're a small fry now." Ultear muttered. Then, with a slight blush, she continued. "Besides, I still never got to make you pay for interrupting Alfonzo and I at that time."
"Hey, Ultear, after the quest is over let's have a fight." Natsu said, excited to see how strong Ultear had become after the last time they sparred.
"I'll think about it." Ultear replied nonchalantly. "But if you can't even beat Gray, wouldn't fighting me be a waste of time?"
"What do you mean I can't beat Gray?" Natsu asked indignantly. "Hmph! I'll show you that the frozen pervert is no match for me, just you wait. After that, then you can have a fight with me."
"Sure, when you can beat Gray." Ultear replied with a smile.
'Good, now he should be focused on Gray. For a little while, at least.' Ultear thought to herself. 'Maybe I should even find a way to rope Lyon into this. Dealing with all of Natsu's challenges can get tiring, even if fighting him is fun in small doses.'
With those thoughts swirling in her head, Ultear followed Natsu into the cave and made their way through the tunnel system.
"If I had to guess, this is probably the Oración Seis's hideout." Ultear said, noticing that most of the tunnels and chambers they came across were man made, most-likely through the use of magic.
"Yeah, but now that we're in here, it's hard to pin-point where Happy is by his scent." Natsu said. "There are just too many directions where the scent is coming from."
"Well, considering how all these tunnels seem to be connected, it makes sense." Ultear replied with a nod. "Hold on, just give me a minute. Hopefully we're close enough that [Magic Power Detection] will work through all this rock."
Then, Ultear closed her eyes and spread out her magic power as thinly as she could. And just as she expected, all the rock was making it much more difficult to spread her magic power. Still, with the vast amount of magic power Ultear possessed, an amount that had surpassed Laxus, she was able to brute force it to the point that she was able to find Happy's magic power signature.
After locating Happy's magic power signature, Ultear opened her eyes with a smile on her face. Then, she pointed her finger directly at where she felt Happy to be.
"He's that way in a straight line." Ultear said, pointing Natsu in the right direction.
"Then, that makes this easy." Natsu said with a grin before taking a deep breath and channeling as much magic power as he could into his next spell. "[Fire Dragon's Roar]!"
With his chant, a column of flames was spewed from Natsu's mouth that melted the wall it came in contact with near instantly. However, it did not stop there, melting through the next wall just as easily.
Like that, Natsu continued to spew his magic power forward as he walked in a straight line in the direction Ultear pointed out only a moment ago. Meanwhile, Ultear followed Natsu, cooling off all the molten rock as she did.
After a few minutes, Ultear stopped Natsu. Then, she once again spread her [Magic Power Detection] to make sure that they were still going in the right direction. After feeling Happy's position, Ultear inspected the other signatures in the room, as well.
Ultear then nodded in satisfaction after feeling Wendy's signature.
'Good, I'll have Natsu take Wendy and Happy back to where Sorano is so that Wendy can look at her wounds.' Ultear thought to herself.
Then, Ultear noticed a familiar signature that she did not think should be here.
'Why is Jellal here?' Ultear questioned internally. 'How did he even get away from us after the Tower of Heaven incident? Oh well, I guess we can capture him, too. Then, we can get all the answers we need.'
Lastly, Ultear let her [Magic Power Detection] scan the last signature in the room. And when she felt it, Ultear smiled savagely before opening her eyes.
"Natsu, Happy's in the chamber behind this wall." Ultear said in a solemn tone, though the savage smile never left her face. "Wendy's there, too. So, I don't think we should melt through the wall. Instead, I want you to burst through the wall to create an opening for us to save them."
'And an opening for me to attack that damn Brain.' Ultear thought simultaneously.
"After breaking through the wall, take Wendy and Happy back to where the others are." Ultear continued. "She can heal Sorano's injuries."
"Got it." Natsu said excitedly as he smashed his fists together. Then, he sprinted toward the wall with his fist reeled back as he chanted his next spell. "[Fire Dragon's Iron Fist]."
*Boom!*
In the next instant, Natsu's fist, covered in flames, slammed into the wall in front of him as it exploded, a new entrance forming on impact.
"Happy! We're here!" Natsu shouted through the dust cloud.
All though Natsu could not see into the chamber through the dust, with the new hole in the wall, he could smell Happy very clearly. So, without hesitation, he rushed into the chamber through the new hole in the wall.
"Brain is here, too." Ultear said cheerfully as she started amassing magic power to cast a spell. "I need to repay you for how well you took care of me after my mother left me in your care at the Bureau of Magical Development all those years ago."
A moment later, Natsu burs through the dust cloud his punch created, making a B-line for Happy.
Instead of trying to stop Natsu, however, brain turned his attention to Jellal.
"That man is a member of the guild who caused your carefully laid plans to fail." Brain said, pointing his staff at Natsu. Go and kill him. The revenge should be sweet."
Jellal, on the other hand, looked at Brain with confusion swirling in his eyes. A moment later, he ignored Brain and continued scanning the area.
Meanwhile, Brain, after being ignored was livid.
"Did you not understand my words?" Brain asked in an irritated tone. "Go take your revenge."
"[Ice-Make: Gatling Gun]." Ultear chanted from the other side of the wall.
Frowning at the tone Brain was using to speak to him, Jellal flared his magic power. Then, he cast an [Earth Magic] spell as to rid himself of the annoyance. At the same time, the sound of barrels whirling could be heard from the hole in the wall.
A moment later, a hole opened up in the floor right under Brain, dropping him to one of the lower levels of the Oración Seis's hideout. At the same time, dozens of small ice projectiles soared through the spot where Brain stood just a moment before.
"Damn it!" Ultear shouted angrily as she stomped the floor. "[Ice Make: Floor]."
A moment later, a path of ice was created leading from Ultear's current position to the hole in the floor that Brain fell through. Then, Ultear propelled herself forward before jumping into the hole with her [Gatling Gun] pointed downward.
"Don't think you can get away from me, Brain!" Ultear shouted as she fell.
A moment later, the sound of the whirling barrels restarted. The sound of magical combat following shortly.
Meanwhile, Natsu had just untied Happy.
"Hey, how ya doin', Little Buddy." Natsu asked while hugging Happy tightly. "They didn't hurt you, did they?"
"A little, but I'm fine." Happy replied, hugging Natsu back. "But more importantly, that's Jellal Fernandes. We need to capture him, too. That Brain guy said he wants him to lead the Oración Seis to whatever it is they were looking for."
"Well, we can't have that now, can we?" Natsu asked, letting happy go. Then, he turned towards Jellal. "Sorry buddy, but you're coming with us!"
With that, Natsu sprinted towards Jellal with his fist reeled back and covered in flames. Before he could get in striking distance, however, Jellal was covered in a cloak of [Star Light Magic] before he sent a blast of magic power that sent Natsu flying on impact.
*Bang!*
A moment later, Natsu crashed into one of the intact walls, leaving spider-web cracks on impact. Jellal, on the other hand, did not even give Natsu a second glance before he started walking towards the cave's exit.
"Ow! That hurt!" Natsu said as he picked himself up from the floor.
Ready to rush back into combat against Jellal, Natsu was stopped when Ultear's shout, that was louder than the battle on the lower floor, could be heard.
"Natsu, Jellal is not a priority right now!" Ultear shouted. "Take Happy and Wendy back to the others. We need her to heal Sorano!"
"Oh yeah…" Natsu said with a sheepish smile on his face. "I almost forgot."
With that, Natsu quickly ran to grab Happy and Wendy before he ran through the path he crated to get to this chamber with Ultear. Then, once he was out of the hideout, he ran back the way he came with Happy and Wendy in his arms.