Natsu's POV

"N... Natsu... she just... all those people..." Happy's horrified voice stuttered behind me as we both looked down at the smoldering square that the lava monster had just created. The ground seemed to be flowing with the melted stone from the homes. As I watched it slowly harden it seemed to erase the fact that there had been countless families living inside those homes that she had destroyed so carelessly.

Disgust and anger were building inside me as I glared at the thing that used to be human. The monster smiled, opening its mouth a crack, and I could see bright orange lava slowing inside instead of a tongue or teeth.

"Aren't you supposed to be a guardian?" I asked as I felt flames begin to lick up from my clenched fists. "You just killed the people you are supposed to protect!" I roared, titling forward to prompt Happy to start flying towards the monster.

Even though I knew he was scared, Happy didn't hesitate and we began streaking towards the monster. It raised its thick arms up and I quickly barrel rolled to the left as two streams of crazily hot lava shot up towards us.

"I protect Hizeah! Anything who getz in my way will be melted!" the monster said in a strange gurgling voice.

"They were innocent people!" I roared, diving once again straight for the beast.

As we streaked towards the lava monster I pulled my left arm back and concentrated my fire to the tip of my elbow. A huge column of flames jetted out, causing Happy to cry out in shock, but as we came within striking distance of the monster the flames rocketed my fist forward, adding strength to my punch as I slammed it into the black, rock-like skin on the monster's face. Or that's what I had planned anyway. At the last second, the monster raised her hand and caught my punch as easily as if I had thrown a ball at her during a game of catch.

Everything froze for a moment as Happy's and my movement was halted completely and I looked past the giant's fist to see glowing red eyes looking at me with evil delight. A strange, liquid heat began enveloping my fist trapped in the monster's hand and a burning sensation I had never experienced caused me to yell unexpectedly from the pain. I swung my other hand engulfed in flames but the monster caught it too and I was ripped away so suddenly that I felt Happy lose his grip on my clothes.

Before I knew what was happening, I was slammed into the ground and pain exploded through my body as a huge, ridiculously hot foot slammed onto my stomach and pounded me into the still-hot ground. I was no stranger to heat, but this was something I had never experienced before and as I looked up into the glowing eyes of the monster the princess had turned into for the first time I didn't know if my fire was going to be enough to defeat this person.

"You shouldn't have come here, little Ishgarian," the gurgling voice said as the monster held out her cupped hand and I could see lava beginning to materialize in it. A few drops splashed to the ground next to my cheek, melting the freshly hardened ground and sending up a small whisp of steam as it melted a hole into the black stone.

"NATSU!" My head jerked to the side, frantically looking for the source of the voice that was more important to me than any others.

"LUCY!" I yelled, lighting my entire body on fire in response to the fear I could hear in her voice. But then another female voice came and I had a brief feeling of impending doom.

"This is for torching my boyfriend you freaks!"

Suddenly both the lava monster and I were swooped into a huge whirlpool. My flames were immediately doused and I floundered in the powerful current helplessly, doing my best to fight my way to the surface every few seconds so I could snatch a quick breath.

"Natsu!"

Something grabbed my wrist and I looked up and could hardly believe my eyes. Lucy, wearing a bikini top and a mini skirt, looked to be somehow surfing through the raging whirlpool as easily as if it was a little creek. I wrapped my hand around her wrist and as she surfed past I felt my body get pulled out of the crazy current. Lucy shifted on her surfboard that looked to be made out of water (which made no sense to me) so that I could stand behind her and I immediately placed my hands on her hips, feeling like I was going to fall off at any second.

"Hold on!" Lucy yelled, turning her weird surfboard sharply towards the edge of the whirlpool. I looked down at the girl in front of me, zipping through the whirlpool using her magic as confidently as anything I had ever seen, and I could hardly believe that this was my Lucy. Coming to rescue me.

"Here we go!" Lucy yelled, bending her knees and leaning forward. I shakily copied her, wrapping on arm around her waist as we hit the edge of the whirlpool. As soon as it met the whirlpool's edge, Lucy's water surfboard melted and we were both tossed into the air.

Lucy let out a squeak of fright as we tumbled through the air and, almost instinctively, I pulled her into a cradling position in my arms. As the ground came closer to us I flipped us both and landed firmly on my feet, holding Lucy against me tightly. The impact sent a shockwave of pain up my legs, but I ignored it as I turned around to see Aquarius strengthening the intensity of her whirlpool with the lava monster being tossed around helplessly in the center.

"Lucy, you okay?" I asked, turning to look at her. To my surprise, her entire face was red and she was blinking mutely up at me. "Oy, Lucy, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" I asked, pulling her body even tighter against my chest and her face turned another shade redder.

"P-put me down! I'm fine!" she squeaked, pushing her hands weakly against my chest. I let out a sigh of relief and I gently put her down.

"That was a cool rescue, Luce! Where'd you learn to..." I stopped speaking immediately as Lucy's face changed from red to deathly pale. Her knees buckled and I snagged a hand around her waist, keeping her from falling.

"Oy, Lucy! What's wrong?" She shook her head, placing one of her hands against her temple as her brow knit together like she was in pain.

"I've just... used up a lot of my magic," Lucy said and for the first time, I noticed the bruises that were peppering her barely clothed body. Whoever she had fought before she came to help me had hurt her and I could feel my anger kick up to an entirely new level.

"Happy!" I called out, keeping my arm wrapped firmly around Lucy's waist.

"Aye, sir!" Happy called out, flying from where he had been cheering Aquarius on over to us.

"Get Lucy to safety," I said firmly. Happy didn't argue, immediately going around behind Lucy and looking for something to hold onto.

"No! I need to help you," Lucy argued looking up at me sadly, even as her body trembled from exhaustion against me. I looked at her determination and couldn't help but let a large grin spread across my lips.

"You already did," I said, wrapping my other arm around her waist and lifting her up off the ground.

I spun us around, startling a laugh out of her and a weird fluttering sensation in my heart kicked up when Lucy wrapped her arms around my neck and relaxed against me as I spun her. After a second I set her back down and stepped back, sliding my hands to rest on her hips gently as I looked into her eyes.

"You saved me before that thing could melt my face off. So now leave the rest to me. I won't let her beat me again," I said fiercely.

Without a word, Lucy raised up on her tiptoes and I blinked in surprise as she placed a gentle kiss on my cheek. My nostrils flared slightly as her familiar scent filled my senses and a weird desire to crush her against me entered me for a second, but she pulled away and gave me a supportive smile which pulled me out of my weird thoughts.

"You've got this," Lucy said firmly. I blinked and then grinned, holding up a clenched fist in agreement. I flinched when Lucy's risque outfit suddenly switched back to her normal clothes and Happy grabbed onto the back of her shirt and lifted her into the air.

"I know you can beat her!" Lucy called down tiredly to me as Happy began flying her over towards Aquarius. I ran after them, staying in Lucy's shadow. Aquarius let go of her whirlpool, depositing the lava monster, who looked to have completely hardened into a lump of rock after her swim in the whirlpool, and I heard Lucy thank her before returning her to the spirit world.

I watched for a second as Happy turned and began flying Lucy towards the ring of houses surrounding the battlefield the lava princess had created. Soon I turned around though and began walking purposefully towards the hardened monster. As I got closer I could see lines of steam beginning to crack the hardened rock and I let my fist become engulfed in my red hot flames.

Reaching out, I grabbed the hardened shoulder of the lava monster and pulled it up. I could feel the heat gathering underneath the stone surface and I could feel a similar heat inside my own body responding to it. Staring into the frozen face of the monster that was a good two feet taller than me, I pulled back and roared.

"Fire Dragon's Grip Strike!" Punching forward with all my force I crashed my fist into the face, causing a large cracking sound, and a column of intense flames poured out of my fist. The flames were so intense that I lost my grip on the thing's shoulder and it was flung backward. As it crashed to the ground I heard a gurgling growl and the hard stone began to shift again, revealing the river of lava flowing underneath it.

I ran towards the monster, but I was pleased to see that the thing, even though it seemed to be back to its lava self, was having a hard time getting back to its feet. As I continued towards the shaky monster I threw my hands forward. Just as the lava monster looked up to meet my eyes with the sunken red pits it called eyes I reached out and grabbed its shoulders, ignoring the heat that was scorching my palms.

"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" I yelled.

My hands exploded into flames and, with a heave, I tossed the monster up and over my shoulder. Its entire body was engulfed in flames as it soared through the air again. To my surprise, as the monster crashed to the ground, its body began to shrink. I watched as it slowly reverted back to the beautiful body of a princess. Her entire body was shaking but even from yards away I could see the intense hatred etched across her face as she pushed herself up onto her legs encased in thigh-high leather boots.

"You. Think too highly of yourzelf," the princess whispered. I frowned, taking a step forward and planning my finishing move, but then she suddenly began running straight towards me. I took a deep breath to start a roar attack, but a thin stream of lava shot forward, knocking one of my feet back and making me lose my balance.

As I tried to catch myself a firm knee jammed into my abs and I fell onto my back hard. The woman placed one knee against my stomach, keeping me from retrieving the breath that she had just stolen as her hands wrapped tightly around my neck. I grabbed onto the woman's wrists, trying to burn her to make her let go but she was grinning crazily down at me, seeming to be unconcerned of the flames going up her arms.

"You should've juzt died, little Ishgarian," she said, her voice sounding as crazed as her eyes looked. "Now when you do, I'm going to go find that little girl, melt her down, and show her she choze the wrong perzon to interrupt."

Even though my lungs were screaming in pain when I heard her threaten Lucy my focus narrowed until the only thing I could see was the crazy woman on top of me. Using all of my strength I pulled one of my fists from her death grip on my neck and whammed it into her chin. She flew back from the force of my punch, crashing onto the ground a few feet away from me.

I jerked into a sitting position gasping for breath before scrambling to my feet and walking over to her. She was spitting out a glob of blood and as she glared up at me with hatred in her eyes. I knew that her expression was a shadow of my own as flames sprouted up around my entire body.

"No one hurts Lucy," I growled, holding my hands out on either side of me. In one hand flames began to gather but in the other, the yellow lightning that Laxus had shared with e so long ago began to crackle excitedly. Using Laxus's lightning was always a little tiring, but this woman deserved the ultimate punishment.

"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!" I spun my arms and a tornado of fire and lightning erupted around me and slammed into the princess just as she had leaped up to attack me. The two 'blades; crashed into her, shooting her up into the air as the flame and lightning slashed across her body again and again. Finally, the spell ended and I watched with a cold satisfaction as the woman's unconscious body fell through the air and slammed to the ground. She didn't twitch and I turned away from her. I could see Happy's large white wings racing towards me over the tops of the houses and I began running towards him.

It was time to rescue Phaedra and get back home.

A/N I hope this battle made sense. Part of me thinks that Natsu defeated her too easily, and another part thinks that this is the way it should be... Well, either way, that's how it turned out, so hopefully you liked it :P