𝙏𝙃𝙐𝙉𝘿𝙀𝙍 // 𝙧𝙤𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙭 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧

𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧

"Erza!" Natsu exclaimed as the four of you fell through the air.

"A number of ships have landed! We should go and meet their attack on the ground!" Wendy exclaimed.

"Gpod thinkin'! I'm not sure how much longer these wings are gonna hold out for!" you agreed.

"Guess we gotta leave that to Erza!" Gajeel added, before muttering, "he's on a ship, after all..."

"She should be able to handle it," Panther Lily reassured.

"Erza protected us again..." Wendy nodded. From then on, the four of you Dragon Slayers ran on to meet the grounded ships in ferocious battle. Natsu let out a battlecry as he initiated the fight, striking down many soldiers at once.

"Sound Dragon's Claw!" you whirled around and sent a forceful swipe, covering Natsu's blind spots. A row of men were sent flying, aside from one.

He was a tall, dark-skinned, muscular man with dark messy hair and distinctive scarring on his right cheek and markings surrounding his mouth. He wore a striped scarf around his face, hiding his eyes and ears from view.

He let out an almost hearty cackle, whereas Natsu just glared.

You covered his back as he fought the muscular man, taking on any opponent who dared come near.

'At least this is a good way to let out my energy,' you thought, 'I'd hate for everything to come out in a pit of rage.'

Natsu suddenly sent the man screeching backwards.

"He pushed Commander Bakel back with a punch?!"
"But I thought physical force was all that Commander Bakel was good for!"
"That is all he's good for! What is he gonna do?!"

"I gotta say..." the muscular man, now dubbed Commander Bakel, grinned maliciously, "nice scarf!"

"He's alright! That didn't affect him at all!"

"C'mon, Natsu! Give it your all!" you exclaimed, fighting off another Alvarez soldier who came running, "if you gave it all you got, you could take down this chum in no time!"

"Yeah, I know!" he called back, "but we don't know how many I gotta fight after this. I can't go all-out right from the start!"

"I can't believe it! For the first time ever..." Happy gasped, "Natsu planned ahead! My boy is growing up!"

"Out of my way!" he was suddenly elbowed by Carla, who was engaged beside Wendy.

You could hear everybody fighting around you.
"Yahh!"
"Sky Dragon's Roar!"
"Iron Dragon's Lance!"

It only took a few more minutes to wipe the floor with the attacking party.

"That was more of a workout for you guys than I expected," Happy commented.
"What do you want?" Natsu irked.
"Yeah, it's not like we could use all our magic power," you agreed.

"I only fought at one hundredth of my power!" Gajeel grunted.
"Yeah? Then I was at one tenth of mine!" Natsu quarrelled.
"So you used more, then?!" the Iron Dragon Slayer hissed.

"More ships are coming down," Panther Lily observed.
"There's no end to them," Carla exclaimed.

"These troops are way above anything we've fought before," Wendy said.
"In numbers, and in power," you frowned.

"Ya got that right!" Commander Bakel suddenly popped up behind Natsu, smashing his fist down, "you punks are no match for the Ajeel Division, let alone the whole empire!"

"Natsu!" you cried.

"Ya think so?" the pink-haired man said darkly, before flinging his elbow into Commander Bakel's diaphragm. He let out a hack before Natsu sent a flaming punch into him, sending him literally soaring.

Before you could make a lighthearted joke about him, a gale picked up and sand started swirling in the air.

"What the-?! Where'd this sandstorm come from?!" Natsu shouted.
"Probably that sand wizard up there, right?!" Wendy cried.

You clasped your hands over your ears to shield them from the deafening noise of the sandy windstorm.

"I can't see anything!" you shouted.

"This is bad! The enemy is still coming!" Panther Lily called.

"You cats stay back!" Gajeel yelled against the sandstorm, "we'll use our Dragon noses to hunt down the enemy and crush them!"

"Good thinkin', Gajeel!" you shouted.

Before any of you could act on his word, however, a bright flash beamed through the sand, and suddenly, everything stopped. Hesitantly, you removed your hands from you ears in fear that you'd been deafened, but realised that everything was alright once you heard Gajeel speak.

"The sandstorm is gone!" he said.

Natsu didn't acknowledge him and instead shot forwards. You jumped into a defensive stance in fear more troops were coming to attack, but relaxed once you saw Erza falling through the air. Natsu caught her and skidded to a halt.

"Natsu!" Wendy exclaimed.
"You better go, too," Gajeel said, "she's gotta be real banged up."
"I will!" Wendy confirmed.

"We'll find a way to clean things up here!" you pumped your fist.

"You go and help, too," Carla commanded Happy.
"Aye!" the blue Exceed said.

// Short Time Skip //

Natsu had begun shouting about how you four had just cleared out all the western troops. You weren't entirely sure what was going on inside the town itself, but you figured they were holding up.

Another flash of light rang out not soon after, and then a familiar, horrifying voice rang out in your head - Ichiya.

"Fiore's entire communication network - activate! Ohh! Can you all hear me?!" his voice shouted, "this battle involves all of us!"

You turned to your company and saw a little, hopeful smile creep onto Natsu's face. It tugged on your heartstrings a little bit.

You could do this. Together.