The Royal City

Most of the group looked with astonishment as they saw Edolas Natsu cowering as they looked at him. He even had tears hanging outside his eyelids.
"HUH?!"
Natsu closed in on his Edolas counterpart. 
"A-Are you really the same me from a minute ago?" He asked.
"Y-Yes!" Edo-Natsu fearfully yelled.
Chun was scratching the back of his head. "I-I didn't mean to scare him, I just wanted to fire him up is all... That kind of talk would have worked on our Natsu."
"Our Natsu's personality changes when he is inside a car." Edo-Lisanna said. "Outside of one, he's like this..."
Happy put his paws to his head in shock. 
"This is Edolas Natsu!?" He yelled.
Edo-Natsu fearfully covered his ears. 
"Please don't shout! It scares me!" He cried.
"I... I don't even know what to say." Aang said.
"I do... he's pathetic. He looks like he's about to wet himself!" Azula commented.
Natsu just looked at his other-self in disbelief and Lucy only smugly looked to him. "Feel like doing a mirror impression?" she said saying exactly what Natsu said when she met her Edolas counterpart
Aang then sat in front of Edo-Natsu. 
"Okay, take it easy. No one is going to hurt you." He calmly said.
"I might." Azula jokingly said.
"Ignore her, she's crazy." Aang said. "So is this why you won't come with us?"
He nodded quickly. "I'm sorry! I only came this far because Lucy asked me to!"
"Well... knowing her she might have scared him into doing it," Chun said.
"Lucy does go a bit far," Edo-Lisanna said.
"It's okay." Wendy calmly said. "You don't need to push yourself."
Edo-Natsu looked up to her with a hopeful smile.
"But it doesn't look like he'll be of much help anyway," Carla said.
"We already have one useless Natsu on our team. The last thing we need is a spineless one." Azula said.
While Edo-Natsu looked down in shame, for a second, he looked at Wendy. "So are you the other Wendy? Wow! You're so little and cute!" he commented before turning to his counterpart. "And you must be the other world's me."
"I'm Happy!" Happy said introducing himself. "This is Carla!" of course Carla snootily turned away from Happy.
Chun bowed apologetically in front of Edo-Natsu. "S-sorry for scaring you earlier, I'm Chun, nice to meet you."
Lucy smiled and raised her hand as she introduced herself. "I guess I don't need to introduce myself!"
But Edo-Natsu shifted and hid behind his car in fear. "GAH! I'm sorry! I'll do anything you want!" He shivered behind the car and Lucy felt awkward.
"Hey. Be nicer to me." Natsu said in his serious tone.
Edo-Natsu peeked his head out from behind his car. "I-I'm sorry! Our Lucy told me to bring you this far. T-The city is not too far from here."
Aang then walked to Edo-Natsu and lowered his hand. "Well, thanks for taking us this far. If we stuck around when Zong found us, there's no telling what would have happened." Edo-Natsu smiled as he accepted his hand. "You can call me, Aang."
"T-thanks Aang," Edo-Natsu said. He also saw Edo-Lisanna with them. "Oh, Lucy also told me you'd be leading them there, Lisanna."
"Yes, since Lucy had to go back. They need someone to guide them," she replied. "Thank you for your help, Natsu." He happily nodded. "Everyone, we can make it on foot, the Royal City isn't far from here," she said.
Natsu excitedly got up. "Haha, all right let's go!" he turned back to his counterpart. "Later, other me!"
"Have a safe trip back," Chun said.
"Go and tell Lucy that you did your part. We'll take it from here." Aang said.
"Say hi to me!" Lucy said.
As they turned to leave, Edo-Natsu stopped them. "W-wait. Are you really... going to fight the kingdom?"
"Dunno," Natsu said. "All we want is to save our friends, but if these guys don't wanna give 'em back," Natsu smirked. "...then we'll have to fight!"
Edo-Natsu stood there, admired by his bravery. But he remembered how strong the kingdom is. "Y-You don't stand a chance against the royal army. "P-Plus... Zong... he killed hundreds of us in one day."
Natsu smiled and closed his eyes. "Don't worry, my best buddy, Aang can beat that monster!"
"ME!?" Aang yelled in comic shock. He scratched his head. "But I agree with Natsu, if the Royal army gets in our way, then we'll have no choice."
They turned around to leave, and when they did Edo-Natsu sighed. "What are they thinking?" he muttered to himself. But before he could get to his car, he felt a tap on his shoulder. "Huh?"
He saw Azula behind in a monstrous form behind him, her eyes looked to be shining blue and she had flames burning out from her hands. "I didn't introduce myself earlier! I am Azula. Fire Lord Azula, and if you make me mad, you'll be in for a world of trouble." she said in a menacing tone. "Now bow before me, you cowardly peasant!"
Edo-Natsu was sweating profusely and he suddenly fainted from fear. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and a tiny ghost Natsu flew out of his mouth.
"Ahahaha!" Azula laughed, meanwhile the others glared at her. "What?" she asked shrugging her shoulders. "Like I was going to resist an opportunity like that."
----As Edo-Lisanna said. The walk to the capital wasn't far at all. They all looked down at the Royal City and they were astonished as to how big it was. "Whoa..." Chun breathed.
"The Royal City?!" Happy questioned.
"It's so big!" Wendy said.
Natsu walked forward. "This is great! I didn't think we'd get here so quick!"
"All the others are somewhere there, in lacrima form..." Lucy said. "How will we find them?"
"We just have to find the giant lacrima," Edo-Lisanna said. "Don't worry, I'm still going to stick around to help."
"Heh, you're pretty brave aren't you?" Azula commented. "More than anyone in Edolas Fairy Tail, even 'Better-Lucy'."
"Stop adding 'better' in front of her name!" Lucy yelled.
Edo-Lisanna giggled, but Azula had another question. "Hey, I had something on my mind. What is it with Natsu's motion sickness? He was able to fly around just fine in our battle, so why does it affect him now?"
Wendy giggled. "Natsu only gets sick when he goes in vehicles."
"That's why he's scared of transportation." Happy said, which forced a glare from Natsu.
"HEY!" Natsu exclaimed.
Azula let the gears run in her head. "You're telling me every-time Natsu gets in a... he gets... PFFT!" she stifled a laugh before she collapsed to the ground and was laughing her head off. She laughed so much that it sounded like she was being tickled. "HAHAHAHA... so if Natsu got on a ship, he would... Hahahahaha!"
Natsu blushed from embarrassment while most of the group gave Azula shocked looks. "Uh, Aang..." Chun said. "I've never seen Azula laugh like this before... I'm not sure I like it," she said with a fearful tone. "Huh? Aang?"
But Aang didn't respond as his mind was still thinking about the battle with Zong, particularly with what he revealed. "Look, no tools. No weapons... What does that tell you?" After he said that, there was no doubt in his mind that he was a bender, but there were still more questions than answers.
"Guys... I think Zong... is a bender." Aang said. Everyone gasped in pure shock, and this was even enough to bring Azula out of her laughing fit.
"A-are you sure?" Lucy asked.
"He practically told me when he hinted it to me." he then looked to Azula and Chun. "He was able to figure out that you two are Fire Benders. And looking back to our battle, his movements... he wouldn't be able to control the elements like that with magical tools we can't see. Plus... I doubt he's planting magic mines everywhere he goes."
"Do you realize how crazy that is?!" Carla asked. "How could that even be possible? You don't even know about him, so he can't be from your world can he?"
"I don't know...?"
"Wait..." Wendy said. "He was able to use more than one element... do you think he's... an Avatar?"
"I don't know! I've never met another Avatar physically. But even so, that can't be, there can only be one Avatar in every cycle. I'd try to ask the other Avatars about this, but I'm also cut off from them."
Natsu put his hand on Aang's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll ask him when we kick his ass."
"Y-yeah..."
Carla was the first to start walking. "Let's get going!"
"Wait, Carla!" Wendy called out to her.
…
After they entered the Royal City, there was a stark difference between it and the other cities that they visited in Edolas. Most of the citizens were dressed neatly, there were colorful banners of the names of shops and districts that were floating in between the buildings. There appeared to be a joyful atmosphere around the whole city. The bright lights of the shops and other buildings were illuminated despite it being daytime.
"What is this?" Lucy asked while looking around.
"It's certainly surprising," Wendy added. "Everyone said it was under a dictatorship, so..."
"It is," Edo-Lisanna explained. "But this is the capital, so the kingdom will want to keep the people here unaware. They steal magic power and use it to fuel the Royal City. They turned it into a festive city to make sure the citizens remain happy. This is so the kingdom can gain more popularity with its citizens."
"What a repulsive king," Lucy said while folding her arms.
Wendy thought about something. "Eh, is it like this in the Fire Nation?"
"Yes... almost exactly like it," Aang said. To which both he and Chun glanced towards Azula. She looked away from the two with a scowl.
When Wendy noticed, she looked over at Azula trying to put on a smile. "U-um... but I'm sure it wasn't your fault, Azula."
"C-could we just drop it?!" she requested while rubbing her arm.
"But it looks like we got in with no trouble at all," Natsu said as he was riding a wooden toy horse that he saw some little kids riding earlier.
As they continued, their trek through the Royal City, Wendy noticed a crowd of people standing before stone pillars. "Hey, there's some sort of commotion over there!"
Natsu rode over to Wendy's side and he had gotten sick from riding the toy horse, and his cheeks were puffed and sounded like he wanted to hurl.
Azula comically kicked Natsu off the horse. "Damn, idiot..." she muttered.
Lucy and Chun noticed as well. "You're right, Wendy. I wonder what it's about?" Chun asked.
Natsu suddenly got up and with Happy at his side, they both ran to the crowd of people. "Let's find out Happy!"
"Aye, sir!"
"We're not here for fun and games, you two!" Carla yelled.
The people within the crowd were cheering, confetti was even being dropped onto the ground.
"What's going on here?" Aang asked.
"I wanna find out!" Natsu excitedly said.
"Do you want us to get caught you bumbling fool!?" Azula exclaimed.
"But still, look at all these people." Happy said.
Chun had her arms folded. "What do they have to be happy about?" she glanced at Edo-Lisanna who shrugged her shoulders.
"Not sure."
Natsu suddenly stopped walking, which caused both Lucy and Azula to walk into the back of him. "Don't stop so suddenly!" Lucy cried.
Lucy was met with the sight of what looked like a giant shard of blue crystal that was being tied with rope. Everyone gasped as they knew they were looking at the giant lacrima. In front of it were Edolas soldiers, with their spears pointed up.
Aang gazed up at it. "A giant...lacrima... You guys don't think."
Lucy glared at the crystalline object. "Everyone... in there?"
"All the people of Magnolia..." Happy said.
"Not only that," Carla started. "There are signs that a chunk has been removed."
"What! It's already so big, and it isn't all of it!?" Chun asked.
Azula looked around. "And all of these people celebrate? Tch! What sheep!"
Near the lacrima, there was a podium that raised, very high off the ground. There was a figure atop the podium. He raised his arms and the people roared with excitement. They were all looking at Faust – The Edolas King himself.
Standing by one of the stone pillars, was Toph and Gajeel. Still hidden by their cloaks, Toph only gave a single nod when she sensed Gajeel looking down at her.
Aang was looking around and he noticed that the cheering had died down. He saw an old lady wiping away a tear, to another man who looked like he was praying. And based on the stance the king took, he knew he didn't like what he was going to say.
"Children of Edolas. Our sacred kingdom, with the use of Anima, has produced ten years' worth of magic power!" the king announced.
"'Produced' my butt!" Happy angrily said.
"More like stole!" Chun added while glaring at the king.
"Calm yourself, both of you." Carla sternly whispered.
The king raised his royal staff. "Together, let us sing! Let us laugh! Let us partake in this joy!" The crowd was overcome with joyous celebration at his words. Lucy and Wendy had looks of concern as they eyed the people. Azula had her arms folded and she had a nervous expression.
Gajeel had growled at his words while Toph had angrily dug her fingers into the pillar as her grip tightened on it.
"The people of Edolas deserve to share this magic power, for they are the sacred race that will last into the future!" the king clenched his fist and held it to his chest. "No one shall take magic power from our kingdom!" he threw his open hand forward and another celebratory roar was heard from the crowd. Additionally, I pledge that we will obtain even greater magic power." He carelessly swung the ornament on top of his staff into the lacrima which made small cracks in it. "More magical power that will make this look like rubbish!"
The pieces of the lacrima had fallen to the ground, and once they shattered, Natsu's eyes grew and he bared his fangs in rage. Aang gave a furious glare to the king who held his arms up so he could let his people bask in his glory. The people in the crowd continued to chant "Edolas!" over and over again. The rest of the group could only stand there and watch as their friend's very existence was being threatened while the people around them cheered.
"What a bunch of crap!" Gajeel angrily said. "A few flimsy words like those can seriously get this many people excited?"
"Grr... if I could, I'd run through all of these idiots..." Toph said. She released her death grip on the pillar. "We found the lacrima, and the others are here. So... what do we do next?"
Aang was glaring at the king while the people continued to chant. As he looked at him, he saw an almost mirrored image of Fire Lord Ozai standing next to him. "That... bastard!"
Natsu who was still seething with rage started to walk forward. Sensing his intentions, both Lucy and Edo-Lisanna held him back. "Don't Natsu..." Edo-Lisanna said with tears in her eyes. "Just endure it."
"I CAN'T!" he yelled. "That lacrima... everyone is!"
"We know!" Lucy cried. "We all feel the same way..."
Happy glared while tears threatened to leave his eyes. Carla only looked down, her expression hidden.
Even Azula had what appeared to be a sad expression, while Wendy had her hands over her mouth in horror, but she saw a purple flame in Chun's hand as well as a furious expression on her face. "Chun, don't!" she grabbed Chun's hand which prevented her from doing what she was thinking of doing. The firebender then engulfed Wendy in a hug while crying to herself.
Edo-Lisanna and Lucy continued to hold Natsu tightly so he wouldn't cause a scene. "Please... Natsu." Edo-Lisanna said as they all watched the Edolas King laugh crazily.
----The sun was setting over the horizon and everyone was distraught about what they had witnessed earlier in the day. After getting into another hotel room. Natsu was glaring at the castle the king housed himself in, Lucy had her head in her hands, Wendy sat next to her with a sad expression. Edo-Lisanna stood by a corner and she had no idea what to think or even do.
Chun was sitting on the floor trying to calm herself. Happy depressingly leaned against the wall, feeling hopeless. Carla looked like she was writing something with an ink and quill with a worried face.
Aang was meditating and Azula was lying on her back on the floor. "This is ridiculous!" Azula said getting up. "Are we going to sit here all night feeling sorry for ourselves, or are we going to do something about it!"
Natsu still glared outside the window. "I can't stand for this after all!" he got up and walked to the door. "I'm gonna storm the castle!"
"So will I!" they all saw Chun standing close to the door as well. "This needs to end here and now!"
Natsu looked at Aang. "Hey, Aang!" he opened his eyes and looked to Natsu. "Go into the Avatar State! With that power, we can bring that whole castle down!"
"N-Natsu?" Lucy exclaimed.
"Even though I'm furious at the king, I'm not about to level the entire capital just to beat him." Aang stood up. "Besides, I can't access the Avatar State here."
"You're being reckless!" Carla said as she eyed Natsu and Chun. "We need to devise an actual plan if we're going to change everyone back." they both glared at Carla, as they couldn't wait any longer.
"They were all turned into that crystal..." Wendy muttered. "How do we change them back?" she asked.
"We'll just have to ask the king himself," Carla said.
"Great plan." Azula sarcastically said. "And how do you plan on getting that bastard to tell us?"
"Then we'll just beat him up!" Natsu and Chun said in unison.
Lucy suddenly stood up. "Hey? Does the king know how to turn everyone back?"
"Most likely," Wendy replied.
"Then we have a chance!" Lucy confidently said. "If we can just get close to the king!"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Aang asked.
"Gemini!" Lucy answered.
"Gemini?" Azula questioned.
"Gemini can transform into people they touch!" Lucy said. "And they can even tell what that person is thinking while transformed!"
Chun tried to put the pieces together. "So what you're saying is...?"
"In other words, if they can transform into the king, they might find a way to save everyone!"
"Oh!" both Natsu and Chun gasped.
"Maybe that can work..." Aang said. "It's worth a try."
"But there is a catch," Lucy said. "They can only transform for five minutes. And they can only transform into two people at a time. If they transform after that, they lose the ability to change into previous people. So the question now is... how to get close to the king...?" she pondered.
"It'll never work." they heard Azula say.
"Huh!? What was that!?" Lucy asked while she glared at Azula.
She folded her arms in response. "I'm not concerned about whether Gemini can pull it off. I'm more worried that you will mess up!"
"Me, mess up?"
Azula explained her reasoning. "You remember when you tried to fight off Zong? You summoned the wrong spirit. To me, it seems those spirits have more control than you do. Gemini could choose not to follow the plan because they don't feel like it! Or you summon that sheep girl instead. Then what do we do?"
"But..."
"That makes you unreliable!"
"You're wrong!" Lucy yelled. She moved to pull out Gemini's key just to prove her wrong, but she found that her keys went missing. "Huh, where are my keys!?"
"Looking for these?" Azula jangled Lucy's keys in front of her. Everyone was shocked as to how Azula managed to swipe them from her. "I swiped these from you right after we saw that Lacrima."
Lucy quickly took them back from her. "What's wrong with you?! Are you on our side, or not!?"
"Once again, you're missing the point." Azula started. "The only way you can summon your spirits is with your keys, and if they can be so easily taken. Your power isn't that reliable!" Azula said glaring at Lucy. "Like it or not, that is the truth. You are unreliable with those keys, and are completely useless without them!"
"Why you...!"
"Stop it, Azula!" Aang calmly said. "You've made your point." he turned to Lucy. "Lucy, in a way, she's right." Lucy gasped in shock. "I don't like how she phrased it, but what if for some reason, Gemini is unable to be summoned?"
Lucy consciously looked down. "But..."
"I'm not saying your plan is bad, but that I understand where Azula is coming from." He still noticed that Lucy was looking down as if she was doubting her plan. "I'm not saying the Gemini-plan won't work. Frankly, it beats storming the castle." Natsu and Chun took offense to that as they both had blue lines over their heads. "But it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a backup plan just in case."
"Y-yeah, I see," Lucy replied, looking back to Aang.
"But what could our backup plan be?" Wendy asked.
"Can't we just torture him?" Azula casually asked. Everyone else in the room turned white after hearing Azula's callous suggestion. "What? You're gonna tell me he doesn't have it coming to him?"
Edo-Lisanna whispered to Aang. "Where in the world did you find this girl?" she asked.
Aang had a sweatdrop fall to the side of his face while letting out an annoyed sigh. "It's a long story."
"But what about his guards?" Wendy asked.
"And what if we run into Zong, or that Evil Erza you told us about?" Chun questioned. "We barely escaped last time we ran into Zong. If we find both of them... I'm not sure we stand a chance."
Carla then stopped writing and she showed what she drew to the others. "I have a plan, there is a way we can get close to the king, without drawing any attention from the guards or anyone else," she revealed a map that showed them a path to get to the castle. Everyone turned to Carla as she had their attention. "Although it was originally an escape route leading out of the castle, there should be a mine outside of the city that connects to the castle basement."
"Wow, that's amazing!" Wendy cheered. "How did you know that?"
Azula however gave her a suspicious glare. "Yes... how did you know that? Especially since you apparently don't know anything about Edolas."
Carla pointed to her head. "Information has been coming to me in fragments." Happy looked up at Carla as she stood on the table. "Ever since we came to Edolas, I've started gaining geographic information little by little."
Happy sadly looked away. "Nothing's coming to me, though."
"And you chose not to tell us before, because?" Azula said.
"Because the information I was getting at the time wasn't useful to us," she replied.
"Tch! Sure that's the reason why. And how convenient you happen to find out the layout of the castle, just as we would have needed it. This smells like a damn trap if you ask me."
"No!" Wendy said, defending Carla. "Carla would never do that!"
"I don't know how well you think you know your pet?" Azula said looking at Wendy. "But this doesn't seem right..."
Chun folded her arms. "Lets put it to a vote. Who do we all trust more, Azula or Carla? Raise your hand if you trust Carla." Everyone except for Azula and Carla raised their arms. "There we have it," Chun said.
"You all disgust me," Azula grumbled.
"In any case," Lucy said. "We might have a shot if we can sneak into the castle through there!"
"All right!" Natsu said with heavy determination. "Let's go save our friends!"
"Right!" Chun and Wendy agreed.
"Aye, sir!"
"Wait," Carla said, annoying Natsu.
"What now!?" he impatiently asked, his eyes popping out slightly.
She looked out the window. "We'll leave at night when the streets are empty. Let's get what rest we can for now."
----Much later in the night, everything in the Royal City was mostly quiet. There was little if any activity in the streets. And with the streets being empty, this made it easier for the group to run through towards the castle without drawing attention to themselves.
They managed to get to the outskirts of the city, Carla was leading them with the map she drew in hand. Once they entered the rocky terrain outside the city. Carla let them know they were getting close. "The entrance to the mine is just ahead."
After passing through some forest, they managed to find the large entrance to the mines.
"Here?" Lucy asked.
"Yes. I'm sure of it." Carla said.
"And you're sure this is the fastest way to the king?" Aang asked.
"I'm positive. Otherwise, I don't see any other options for getting close." Carla said.
Natsu started to march in. "Let's go!" Chun followed right after.
"Wait!" Carla firmly said, making Natsu screech to a halt, making Chun run into the back of him, making her fall to the ground.
"Again!?" he impatiently yelled.
"I understand why you're in such a hurry, but calm down. First, we need light to continue ahead."
Natsu grinned and held up his hand. "That's nothin'!" he tightened his right fist. "Leave it to me!" he threw his fist forward but of course no fire ignited.
Azula punched Natsu in the head. "Do you even have a brain?! Or did you forget already that you can't use magic." Azula got in Natsu's face. "You know, if it weren't for our truce, I would have struck you down the second we got here!"
"I'd like to see you try, princess!"
They both angrily butt heads and growl at each other. "Enough!" Carla said, again keeping her voice firm. "I too am annoyed by his antics, but it is not worth fighting him over it."
They both nervously sweated before angrily turning away from each other.
Lucy was chuckling behind them. "Uh, Lucy. What is it?!" Wendy asked.
"Heh heh heh. I found torches!" She cheered as she held them up. She pointed them to the house where she got them from. "I took them from that house and dipped them in oil."
"Um, Lucy...?" Aang started, Lucy's grew wide when she saw Aang, Chun, and Azula had flames over their hands which would light their way through the tunnel.
"You guys are hurting my self-esteem!" she cried.
"We plan to rely on her magic! Ugh... I should have stayed behind." Azula said.
Natsu quickly had a thought. "Quick! One of you feed me your fire!" he exclaimed.
"Eh!?" the three fire benders confusedly gasped.
"Oh!" Happy quickly realized what Natsu wanted to do. "Maybe if Natsu eats fire, then he will use his magic again!"
"That's right, so do it!" Blue flames suddenly engulfed the whole of Natsu's body. He was singed and Edo-Lisanna and Lucy comically screamed and Azula sighed after seeing that Natsu survived.
"There, satisfied?" she asked.
Natsu was shivering after eating the fire. "Why is your fire so cold!?"
"You asked for it?"
"Do you feel anything?" Chun asked.
Natsu pointed to his stomach. "Yeah, I feel something in my stomach!"
Lucy then excitedly pointed to him. "Then let out that Fire, Natsu!"
He smirked and tightened his fist. "Yes!" he threw it forward, expecting flames to come out of it, but they didn't and he was disappointed with the result.
"That is what I call, a 'useless struggle'," Carla said, walking into the cave with the map in her paws.
…
After traversing the tunnel they all noticed the many cracks in the rock walls and the wooden structures. "It looks like it hasn't been used for a long time." Lucy noticed.
They even saw abandoned, and broken mining tools such as shovels and chisels, and even a couple of broken bottles, and many broken wooden crates.
"I'm scared..." Chun said. "What if this place caves in on us?" she asked.
"D-don't jinx us!" Lucy fearfully said.
"Well, I can still Earth Bend us out of here," Aang assured.
"Assuming we're not crushed to death," Azula noted. "But we probably shouldn't be touching anything, right, Natsu!" she said with a growl as Natsu had put on a yellow miner's helmet.
"What? I didn't do anything," he complained.
"Yet!" Azula muttered.
Carla looked forward. "Light up the area ahead," she said.
Aang shone his light forward and they all saw a dead end. There were both wooden beams and rocks that blocked their path forward. "A dead end?" Aang asked.
"This is it." Carla walked forward next to the wall with Lucy and Aang following.
Lucy knocked on the wood. "It's pretty thick. It's been coated with magic, too."
"Can your bending still work on it?" Edo-Lisanna asked.
Aang then put his hand on the rock. "Yep, it might be coated with magic, but at the end of the day, they are still rocks, which I can move."
He threw slow punches at the wall and the rocks had shattered to pieces once he threw the third punch.
"Aang got through." Lucy cheered. "I wish I could have summoned Taurus to smash through it though..." she muttered.
"And look there's a hidden passageway," Wendy noted.
"Carla's info wasn't wrong!" Happy said.
"Let's just hope it actually connects to the castle's basement," Carla said with concern in her tone.
"Your information's been right so far. I'm sure it'll be right again." Wendy said.
Happy was sadly looking down. "What's wrong Happy?" Natsu asked.
The blue cat looked up to his partner. "Say, why do you suppose I'm not getting any info?" he asked. Everyone turned to him. "I'm an Edolas cat too, and I got sent to Earth Land for the same mission too, right?"
"We agreed to not talk about that, remember?" Carla said.
"Actually, I insist we talk about it," Azula said. "After all, it is your fault we're in this mess. Your words, not mine."
"Not again, Azula," Aang said with a sigh.
"There's been something I've been wanting to get off my chest. First, you don't know anything about, Edolas. Then memories start flying into your head in which you chose not to tell us, until now. And yet the blue cat remembers nothing. Call me crazy, but that's too much of a coincidence."
"You're crazy." Natsu flatly said, in which a rage tick appeared on Azula's head.
"She could have just been getting visions, Azula," Aang said. "Nothing suspicious about that."
"It's not the visions themselves I'm questioning, it's the timing." she turned back to Carla. "You never received these so-called visions before, only until we're near the capital itself."
"But still, Carla would never do anything to betray us," Wendy said.
"I'm not saying she's going to betray us... yet. Only that she knows more information than she's letting on. I'm very suspicious about this 'mission' you and this blue fur ball claim to be on. But... this mission you're on... the dwindling magic in this kingdom; I think they're more connected than you lead on. If I had to guess, I'd say it somehow involves Dragon Slayers."
Carla was surprised by this. "It involves Dragon Slayers?" Wendy asked.
"Back in Earth Land, most of that Fairy Tail was absorbed save for the two Dragon Slayers, the Avatar, and myself. You say the reason for that is because they used Dragon Slayer magic, or in my case – absorbed bits of it due to my fight with Natsu, but that's beside the point; and you have not said anything else in regards to that since then." Carla looked away from her and her eyes darted to the ground.
"But because of her, we have a way to get to the king," Lucy said. "We would be stuck without a plan otherwise."
"I'm not finished yet. Through our little 'adventure' here. We've had a few occurrences where these Edolas natives were terrified at you because they said you were 'Exceeds'. You know that it is, you know what they are talking about, don't you?"
"How am I supposed to know, those parts of my memories haven't come back yet," Carla replied, glaring at Azula.
"How do we know you're not still on this mission, and you're just trying to lure us into a trap."
"That's a little far fetched don't you think?" Aang said.
"Look at where we are, Avatar. Right under the castle, and none of us know the layout of these tunnels... except her." she glared at Carla. "I'd say it's the perfect place to spring an ambush. So the question remains: what are you hiding?"
"Why should we listen to you?!" Lucy yelled. "After all the things you've done. Even challenging Chun to a duel to the death."
"No one died, did they?" Azula countered.
"That's not the point!" Natsu said. "Why should we have to trust you? Especially after all the crap you've done!"
Happy looked at Azula and stuck up for Carla. "Carla hasn't done anything horrible to us. So I trust her!"
Azula turned away from all of them. "Trust huh? What have I done here? Hmm. I've helped all you ingrates this far, haven't I? Sure I've made a few threats here and there, but I have not done a single thing that could be considered untrustworthy since we got to Edolas."
"Guys!" Edo-Lisanna called out to them. "We shouldn't stand here fighting, we need to do this while we still have time."
Lucy looked forward. "Lisanna is right, we need to keep moving."
Natsu glared at Azula. "We're still watching you."
"Oh don't worry, Natsu. I'll be good..." she mockingly said. "But I'm not the one you should be keeping an eye on."
With that, they all continued through the straight path as they went deeper into the mine.
----They walked in silence as Carla led them while Aang and Chun stood behind her, lighting the way. Azula decided to hang near the back after her effort to confront Carla had failed.
"How long ago do you think this mine was used?" Aang asked.
"I'm not sure," Carla said. "Could be a couple of years."
"But it does seem old," Wendy said.
"You think there are any ghosts and stuff?" Happy asked.
Natsu suddenly stopped. "Huh?!"
"What is it Natsu?" Chun asked.
He started to shiver. "None of you move a muscle."
Lucy started to panic as she looked around. "W-what is it!? Where is it!? Are we going to be attacked?"
"This is my turf!" Natsu excitedly yelled as he leaned over a rock and made a shadow puppet of a dinosaur. "Haha, this is fun!"
Everyone had turned white and stood there in stunned silence while Natsu was giggling to himself.
He was suddenly being strangled by a very annoyed Lucy. "STOP GOOFING AROUND!" she yelled while Aang and Chun chuckled awkwardly.
…
It wasn't long before they reached a part where the tunnel split off. "So which way?" Aang asked.
"We should take a left here," she replied. They all turned left and they could see luminescent light up ahead. "Once we go straight through here we... hmm." she tried to plot the next map location in her head.
"Whoa, guys! Check it out!" Chun yelled as they area they were in had a more natural cave setting and they were glowing green crystals littered about, lighting the area.
"We're in some wide-open area," Lucy said.
"I never thought we'd find this under the castle," Aang said.
"This should lead us to the castle basement," Carla stated.
"I don't know how you're doing it." Lucy started. "But we're glad you're with us, Carla."
"Tch!" Azula mouthed as she stood behind them.
"Eh... almost all of us."
"I don't know how, either," Carla said. "All this information just keeps coming to me."
"Thanks, Carla." Happy said while smiling.
"Save your thanks until after we've saved everyone."
Chun noticed that there were skeletons of dead ancient soldiers and she comically shivered. "B-bones?" she muttered to herself.
"Now comes the hard part," Carla told everyone. "reaching the kings' bedchamber unnoticed and then escaping unnoticed! In our current state, we're as good as done for if any soldiers spot us."
Lucy took Carla's warning lightly. "We can always use my magic if we get into a pinch!"
"I doubt it'd be much help, though." Natsu flatly said.
"Don't be stupid!" she furiously yelled to Natsu. "This plan was made for my Gemini, you know!"
"Gemini..." they heard Azula muttered. "Which one of these keys is Gemini, anyway?" Lucy comically screamed as Azula had swiped Lucy's keys again.
"Give 'em back!" she yelled as she snatched them again from her grip. "This is why we don't trust you!"
"If I really wanted to sabotage us, I would have tossed your keys far into the other path of that mine, by now. But you're holding them and all your keys are there."
Lucy folded her arms in frustration. "Why did you guys bring her?"
Aang suddenly sensed something as the ground shook. "GUYS WATCH-" Suddenly large hands made of clumps of rock had tightly grabbed onto Natsu, Lucy, Chun, Wendy, Azula, and Edo-Lisanna. Aang, Happy, and Carla were the only ones who were free.
"W-what is this!?" Natsu growled.
"I can't move!" Wendy cried.
It wasn't long before they were all surrounded by tens of Edolas soldiers that pointed their spears at them.
"Soldiers!" Happy exclaimed.
"Ugh, I told you this was an ambush!" Azula yelled.
"But... there are much more than last time," Edo-Lisanna stated.
"How did they find us?" Happy fearfully asked while Carla was frozen with fear.
"So... these are the Earth Land wizards?" they heard a very familiar female voice ask. The whole group looked in shock as they saw the Edolas counterpart of Erza: Erza Knightwalker walk up and glare at them with her left eye since her bangs covered the other one.
"ERZA!" Lucy exclaimed. While everyone's mouth was agape.
"Did you guys forget about me?" they saw Zong wearing his mask as he walked next to her.
Edo-Erza glanced at Zong. "So, are they not, Lucy Ashley and Natsu Dragion?"
"Nope," Zong said putting his hands behind his head. "They are definitely the Earth Land versions from what I can tell."
She looked at Aang who stood in front of Happy and Carla. "And him?"
Zong chuckled. "Heh, just a straggler, but very powerful. He's the one who thwarted my efforts to stop Fairy Tail the last time."
"I see. Take them away!" Edo-Erza sternly commanded.
However, gusts of wind suddenly filled the cave as Aang made a hemisphere made of air surround himself and the others. "Stay away from them!" he yelled.
"You want to fight?" Edo-Erza asked.
"There's no need," Zong said to her. "I don't doubt your strength, Aang." suddenly ice crystals had appeared and they were mere centimeters away from the necks of the ones who were trapped. "But what about your friends? I can easily kill them right here and now."
Aang had looked around and seen they were all outnumbered, as well as the worried look on most of his allies. He quickly realized he couldn't fight without putting the others in danger. He let the air subside and had his eyes closed.
"There, that wasn't so hard." suddenly Zong had thrown hard metal cuffs that tightly clasped around Aang's wrists. Aang tried to jump up but as he did, his ankles were restrained by the same cuffs. He fell hard to the ground. "Now you stay down there, while we deal with another issue." he looked to both Happy and Carla before both he and Edo-Erza walked up to them.
"Erza! Hear us out!" Lucy yelled.
"No! Don't you dare hurt them!" Natsu angrily growled. Happy fearfully stepped back while Carla was very still.
Both looked down at Happy and Carla. "Exceeds..." Edo-Erza began.
Surprisingly all the Edolas soldiers were bowing down on one knee while putting one hand on their chest and it looked like they were worshipping both Happy and Carla. Even Knightwalker and Zong had bowed to them.
"Welcome home, ya furballs," Zong said with a chuckle.
Everyone else looked with shock, all except Azula.
"What the heck is going on?" Lucy asked.
"Happy... Carla..." Wendy muttered in shock. "Just who are you?!"
"So... this whole time... they were Exceeds?" Edo-Lisanna asked.
Azula was glaring at them. "I don't want to say 'I told you so'... who the hell am I kidding? I TOLD YOU SO! If we get out of this, as per our agreement Carla, you're as good as dead!" she threatened.
"Thank you for bringing the intruders to us." Edo-Erza said.
"Couldn't have done it without you." Zong said.
Happy turned to Carla who appeared to be in shock, she was even more shocked than Happy was, it just dawned on her that her directions had gotten the others captured. She could do nothing but stare at the ground, trying not to face anyone. Including Happy who only eyed her with his mouth open agape. He didn't want to believe it either, but Carla had just led them right into the hands of the Kingdom, which put them several steps back from rescuing their friends.