September 18, X792
Fairy Tail Guildhall

Morning had finally dawned on the horizon when my friends and I returned to the guildhall. We had just finished off Ajeel's forces in the West when Mavis called all wizards back to the guild to plan our next move.

"Those who have obtained substantial injuries, report to the infirmary. If you have minor injuries, take a seat and wait for someone to come assist you," Porlyusica called out. There were only a couple dozen wizards with small injuries, but the Thunder Legion was hit pretty hard.

Wendy ushered Erza up to the infirmary and continued to heal the Titania's wounds. The rest of us sat at one of the designated tables. Our injuries were minor, but Porlyusica insisted that we should still be checked out.

Natsu and Gajeel were more than annoyed by the mandatory injury check.

"I'm fine, I'm fine!" Natsu argued. "Geez can't a guy take a leak?" He pushed one of the doctors off of him and made his way to the bathroom.

While we were fighting in the West, Brandish and another member of the 12 had broken through the barrier with an army of their own. Gray, Juvia, and the Strauss siblings managed to fend off the army while the Thunder Legion took down the Spriggan 12 member, Wall. They sacrificed themselves to save Ichiya from a deadly blast by Wall's self-destruction. Ichiya returned the favor by protecting the guild hall from a blast far larger than anything the Jupiter cannon could produce.

In the meantime, Lucy and Cana were able to capture Brandish, making her our prisoner in the guild's dungeon. And Erza was able to take down Ajeel while the rest of us disposed of his army.

I knew that this was only the first wave, but at this rate I liked our chances in the war.

"Can you tell me your name?" The nurse asked.

"Bonzu Pipinpadaloxicoplis the third," I answered. She raised her eyebrow at me, clearly not amused by my attempt at a joke.

"Your name," She insisted.

"Nashi Dragneel," I muttered. The nurse went through the rest of the questions and determined that I was concussion free.

"Is there any particular area where you're experiencing pain?" She asked, inspecting my joints.

"No," I answered. She furrowed her eyebrows and directed my attention to my right shoulder. As I looked at my arm I saw a gash in my upper right bicep.

"That doesn't hurt?" She questioned. I shook my head, I didn't realize I was injured in any way other than a few bruises. "It's not deep enough for stitches, so It'll heal on it's own. I'll put some bandages on it to keep it clean,"

As she walked away, I saw that my teammates were also undergoing their own physical assessment. Gale had the back of her shirt pulled up, revealing a few large bruises on her lower back. 

One of them was purple, red, and oddly shaped, but it was smaller and perfectly lined in the middle of her neck. The hit that had to come from must have hurt, what with it being on her neck and all. Then again, it looked a little out of place among the rest of the bruises.

"Nashi!" Lucy called out. She quickly approached and gave me a hug. "I'm glad you're alright, I got worried when I heard you were heading to the frontlines."

"Have a little faith in me Mom," I grinned.

"Sorry I doubted you," She giggled.

When the nurse finally came back, she patched up my wound and cleared me to join the other wizards awaiting orders. I followed Lucy to our comrades who had gathered around Makarov and Mavis. They directed our attention to the map of Fiore.

"The fact remains that we are facing enemy forces coming at us from every direction," Makarov announced.

"That's true, but now we have support from every other guild in Fiore," Jet pointed out.

"Hold on," Mavis interrupted. "This is a matter for Fairy Tail to resolve. I had hoped to keep our fellow guilds out of this confrontation."

"That kind of attitude is only gonna get us killed, ya know?" Laxus intervened. He was dead serious and his potential for future guild master was showing. "Ishgar's getting turned into a warzone, so every guild on its soil has to fight."

"I believe Laxus makes a valid point, First Master," Makarov agreed. "We should accept help from the other guilds with gratefulness and devise a new strategy accordingly. Warren, give me a situation update,"

"The army advancing from the East has taken control of Bosco, but they've stopped their advance for now. Luckily the army from the North is about to be met by the forces of Saber Tooth and Blue Pegasus. And although the invaders from the south have taken the port of Hargeon, Mermaid Heel and Lamia Scale are on their way to drive 'em out. There's another army advancing on foot from the West, while their numbers are larger they're also moving slower than the others."

"That's likely where Zeref is," Mavis determined. Her attention turned towards me and my teammates, who had joined us in the crowd. "Nashi, you and the future team will go west. Your mission is to intercept and dispose of any scouts heading our way and use your magic to alter the terrain of the land. See if you can slow them down. Zeref's army is still hundreds of miles away, but remember to stay far away from them."

I nodded in confirmation and I saw Lucy give me a concerned look. Mavis dismissed us, but Lucy followed me. She turned me around and rested her hands on my shoulders.

"Promise me you'll be careful," She said. "Stay as far away from that army as you can,"

"I'll be careful," I promised. Lucy pulled me into a tight hug that I embraced happily. "I'll see you soon,"

When Lucy let me go, I saw that my friends were all saying their goodbyes to their parents. It was a small job that we were assigned, but you never know what could go wrong. Plus, our parents would likely be assigned their own missions by the time we got back.

"Bye Nashi! Have fun!" Natsu called out from the bathroom.

"Bye Dad!" I called back. 

Lucy gave an annoyed expression and marched to the men's room. When she emerged from the bathroom, she was dragging a squirming Natsu by the scarf and ushered him forward.

"Bye Nashi," He repeated with an exaggerated tone, rolling his eyes at Lucy. She glared at him disapprovingly, making him grin playfully. "She'll be alright," Natsu said. "Nashi, you got this. I've got faith in you." He ruffled his hand through my bangs and smiled.

"Thanks," I smiled back.

- - - - - -

A few hours had passed since we left the guildhall and my team and I had made great progress. Gale was using her magic to change the shape of the landscape in ways that would slow down the army for sure. Honestly her work was awe-inspiring. She had created narrow canyons, cliffs, pits, and she even set up a bunch of traps along the way.

"As soon as the first soldier trips over this wire, it'll pull out that support log and the rocks will fall onto the army," She explained.

"Works for me," I grinned. 

Just then I heard a scuffle several yards away. I grinned at Reiki and Storm, holding my fist on my open palm. Storm and Reiki made the same gesture and at the same time we bounced our hands three times before making our move. Reiki and Storm both threw paper and I beat them with scissors. I cheered victoriously, making Reiki and Storm groan as I rushed to Kali's side.

I grinned happily at Kali, who was already in her Giant Cheetah form. The massive creature was big enough to hold all of us without a problem, but she still managed to occasionally lose control in this new form. Because of this, we had to saddle her to keep her from going rogue.

I motioned for her to lay down and the beast did as she was told. I mounted the saddle on her spotted back and kicked her sides. The creature stood and took off in the direction I steered her towards.

After a minute of riding, I pulled back on the reins and the beast came to a halt. Surveying the surroundings, I dismounted. The rocky abandoned terrain was empty, but I could hear breathing coming from behind a jagged rock.

I rushed toward the rock, punching it with a sun dragon iron fist and shattering it to pieces. The scout hiding behind it quivered in fear as Kali snarled at him. I grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to his feet.

"You're with the empire," I growled.

"Please don't hurt me!" He begged. I pulled back my arm and punched him, instantly knocking him unconscious.

"Ugh, these scouts are weak," I sighed, picking up the soldier and flinging him onto Kali's back. "I want a real challenge," I begged, staring at the sky as I mounted the saddle.

I flicked the reins and Kali took off in the direction we came from. When we arrived back at our temporary base, my teammates were already waiting for us. Reiki pulled the unconscious scout off of Kali's back and carried him to the temporary prison we called "the pit."

"Did this one at least give you a decent fight?" Gale asked.

"No," I groaned. "He didn't fight at all. Just begged me not to hurt him,"

I watched as Reiki tossed the man into our makeshift prison, which was just a really deep hole in the ground. 

This mission was getting so boring. Gale was having a good time making her traps, but the rest of us were miserable with boredom. The most entertainment we got was from capturing Alvarez's scouts and questioning them. Unfortunately, none of them knew anything we didn't already know.

I slid off Kali's saddle and wrapped the reins around the makeshift post Gale had made. I walked over to the pit and joined Reiki staring inside. Seven men sat in the bottom, boredom and frustration written clear across their helmets. One of them looked up as I stood over the edge and proceeded to give me the social finger.

"Don't give me attitude Jeffrey," I stuck my tongue out at him.

"My name is Dan," He shot back.

"Quit pestering the prisoners," Reiki scolded, pulling me away from the pit. 

"Hey can we at least get some water down here?" 

Storm grumbled and tossed a huge chunk of ice into the pit, hitting one of the soldiers in the helmet. In this heat it would probably melt into water in less than an hour. We didn't treat our prisoners as guests, but we weren't about to let them die of heat stroke. 

"Alright," Gale dusted the dirt off of her hands. "I think this one is all set, let's move on,"

"You already set another trap here?" I asked.

"Yep, the pit of soldiers is the bait. I hollowed out a section underground. The second the army gets close to the pit, the ground will cave in on itself and trap the soldiers in an even bigger pit,"

"Gale you're a genius," I praised, slinging my arm over her shoulder.

Just then something flew across the sky as fast as a rocket. As it passed, we felt the whoosh in the air that breezed past our faces.

"What is that?" Storm questioned.

"It's heading toward the army," Reiki pointed out.

I quickly untied Kali's reins and mounted the beast. I kicked my heels into Kali's sides, urging her forward. The beast roared and leaped into a run heading West.

"Nashi, where are you going?" Gale called out.

"That was Natsu," I answered. "He's going after Zeref,"