SKYWING

Immortal Island


Opening - Sugar Song and Bitter Step by Unison Square Garden


Shizun eyed the magic quest flyer given to him by the red exceed and yawned. The details of the quest seemed interesting enough, but it didn't seem very action-oriented; he would hope that Skion didn't mind, though. After all, the main reason they were taking their second quest in one week was because he wanted to fight. He looked over at his partner of two years, studying his carefree gaze. Skion was witty and fun to be around, he noted, but lately he had been absorbed in getting stronger. Laxus had disappeared from the guild for a bit, so he guessed it made sense - whenever Laxus was gone, Skion would train as hard as he could to challenge him when he came back.

Shizun often found himself being dragged along for the ride.

Skion whistled a soft tune, realizing he hadn't said anything just yet. "Yo, Rayn, did you have a dragon too?" he asked curiously, only to make a noise of surprise as the orange-haired dragon slayer whirled around and looked at him in surprise.

"A dragon?" she asked, bewildered. "No way. All the dragons are long gone." Rayn quoted hastily, but upon seeing the look of confusion on Skion's face, she quickly pieced it together. "You weren't trained by a dragon, were you?"

"Of course I was. That's how dragon slayers learn their art, after all. If it weren't for big man Zephyrus teaching me for so long, I would've never been able to do the things I do now!" as if to prove himself, Skion let the winds sharpened and spin around an open hand. Rayn studied him curiously, as if to see if he was lying or not, before sighing.

"Well, if you were trained by a dragon, that's not how I obtained my power. Anubis stole and expanded upon a very raw dragon slayer lacrima, and implanted it in me when I was young. Ever since then, I've been training my power against various different dark mages and occasionally with Anubis himself. I think the term he used to refer to me was...a Second Generation dragon slayer."

"They're capable of recreating a dragon's power?!" Dom poked in with his curiosity piqued. If the stories of what Skion told him about his dragon were true, then that means the magic scientists of the world had done a very good feat.

"An artificial dragon slayer?" Skion muttered to himself quietly, continuing his strides.

"How many of the dragon slayer lacrima are there?" Shizun pulled the flyer down, folding it and slipped it through a strap on his waist.

"Eight of them are being used by a Wizard Saint Anubis never bothered to tell me the name of. Two went to some random recipients, and I've never truly focused on finding my dragon slayer brethren," Rayn shrugged, purple eyes glistening against the light.

"That's pretty awesome. That's even more slayers for Skion to fight!" Shizun grinned excitedly.

"Hey, how much longer until we get to the docks?" Skion cut in, his voice uneven. Shizun frowned, and looked to Dom.

"Actually, I think we're pretty much there," the flying cat noted. And it was true, they had been walking on a dusty road that had transformed into a cobblestone path, and not a few steps ahead of them a had been a bustling docks with sailors every. "We're supposed to look for the Merry Go, right?" he wondered curiously, cotton eyes bouncing around almost feverishly at the sight of boarding a ship.

Rayn grabbed her stomach and Skion tried not to hurl. "Boats," they muttered in unison, although to themselves.

"Hey, we sho—" Shizun was cut off by a loud, exuberant voice ripping through the air. The group looked up to see a happy male flying through the air with a rampant circus of men behind him.

"—yahoo!" the man landed, his bun bobbing at the momentum. He wore a dark purple armour plate that he left most of his torso exposed, and dark baggy pants with flame motif designs in a slightly lighter colour on them. Skion recognized the man almost immediately as Bacchus Groh of the Quatro Ceberus guild, and the three men behind him must've been apart of his team. Bacchus didn't immediately recognize them, but once he met eyes with Skion, he waved brightly. "Yo, Fairy Tail wizards!" he grinned, marching forward.

"Yo, Bacchus," Skion greeted, moving forward and bumping fists with the S-Class mage. Shizun waved from behind him.

"Ah, I've seen you with Erza a few times!" Bacchus laughed, "and in that Sorcerer magazine or whatever. You're the dragon slayer, right? What do they call you..." Bacchus furrowed his brows in thought. "Ahah, that's right! Fujin, the Fairy of the Wind. Perhaps better known as Skion Skywing, yeah?" a lazy grin was sprawled across his lips and Skion nodded, and couldn't help but smile at the thought of being acknowledged by an S-Class mage.

"That's me. What brings you all the way out here?" the beige-eyed male crossed his arms.

"Gotta do this quest, bring in the gold, you know? Got West, Eagle, and Mars to join with me as well!" Bacchus showed them the flyer and lazily jutted a finger against the trio of guys behind him.

"Ahah, that's the same quest we're doing! Why don't you join up with us, we'll fight this quest together?" Skion suggested after examining the flyer for a bit.

"Haha, crazy! For sure, Skion! Woohoo!" the two grinned and started talking among themselves, heading off in the direction of whatever the Merry Go looked like.

"Sorry, sorry, Bacchus can be a bit wild. I'm West," a slightly taller man apologized, rushing a hand through wavy red hair.

"No problem, name's Shizun. I'm Skion's teammate, along with Dom," he pointed at the red exceed who flew after Skion and Bacchus and seemed to join in with them, "and new recruit Rayn." the girl made a noise of acknowledgement, but other from that, didn't really introduce herself.

West seemed to raise a questioning brow. "Don't mean to pry, but where's Cana? Heard a fair bit about Skywing and his crew, and I know she was a good part of his success." he tightened his coat, hands resting on the leather fabric.

Shizun frowned at the mention of the Card Mage and shrugged. "She got into a fight with Skion over something and I think he thought it was better for him to exclude her on this mission. I don't agree with it, but there's not much else to say," he rolled his shoulders and flipped his frown.

"That sucks. You guys had great chemistry, hope she can be reintegrated into the team," West mentioned in sympathy.

Finally, tired of the small talk going on, Rayn burst into the scene. "Come on, let's get going and catch up to those three!" her commanding voice sent shivers down Shizun and West's voice, and they all nervously agreed before heading off for the blithering Skion, Dom, and Bacchus.

"Yes ma'am!"


Fairy Tail Guild - Magnolia, X784

Cana stormed into the guild, downing a barrel alcohol with furious ease. She stomped through tavern and headed straight for the bar, an angry yet gloomy aura seeping from out her. Mirajane, the bartender, seemed to notice almost immediately that something was wrong. "What's up, Cana?"

"They went on a mission without me! They did it, they really did it!" Cana whined, drinking more alcohol as if that was the key to her problems. Mirajane frowned but then looked up, and noticed that Fairy Tail's rowdiest bunch seemed to all conveniently be gone. Natsu, Happy, Skion, Shizun, Dom, Gray, and Erza all seemed to be out of the guild on jobs. The most surprising thing about this, though, was that Cana was usually gone whenever Skion, Shizun, and Dom left.

"Why would they do something like that?" Mira asked, knitting her brows together in thought. "This isn't good for you Cana, you're gonna drink all the alcohol!" at this notion, Cana seemed to drink even more.

"Well, I got into a fight over Skion...but for them to leave without me!" her sadness quickly change into fury pretty abruptly and she stopped drinking. "I should go teach that fool a lesson!"

"Damn right you should!" Mirajane agreed, letting some of Cana's rowdiness affect her. While she wasn't normally like this, something about her friend being left behind really seemed to aggravate her.

"If he thinks he can escape my wrath, he's dead wrong! Later, Mira!" Cana jumped out of her chair, pulling a card from her fabulously thick deck. "Find Skion Card!" and just like that, Cana was back on the road.

"Good luck Cana!" Mirajane called!


Wisteria Island, X784

Arriving on the famed immortal island was overwhelming, to say the least. The people were engaged in a large festival that Bacchus and Skion quickly joined in on, and West had roped Rayn and the others into festing with them. Shizun, on the other hand, was left to find the issuer of the quest. Luckily enough, the sand mage was quick on his toes and easily surmised that the one who issued it had to be at the top of the peak in the centre of the island.

Shizun examined his surroundings, shoving one hand into the pocket as he reached the top of the peak. Just as he suspected, a tall old man stood by his lonesome at the cliff of the mountain. "Are you...August?" Shizun's voice gained the attention of the old man, who turned around and nodded. From that alone, however, Shizun was able to instantly sense the sheer magical power being radiated from him. A drop of sweat trickled down his forehead and his legs began to quiver before the old man seemed to call back the weight of his magical power.

"Indeed I am, are you one of the mages here to take my quest?" the old man was straight to the point, sparing few words. Shizun, still in shock from the otherworldly power, only nodded. "I see. Hmm...it seems you are the most powerful bunch to roll through here. You might be able to destroy the accursed Evening of Falling Stars."

"The Evening of Falling Stars? What's that?" Shizun asked the old man.

August's eyes trailed upwards and peeked at the midday sky; a mix of blue and orange. A few minutes until they came, he guessed. "You see, the job description in that quest flyer that piqued your curiosity is a bit inaccurate. I have already quelled the immortality of the residents on this island, but there a group of immortal individuals who inscribed runic markings on their own souls to prevent me from doing much to them. They were a problem, and none of my comrades were interested enough in the happenings of Fiore to come help me with this anomaly...so I looked to their guilds. I've hired various mage teams, but they've all come up short against the Evening. Each year, they work towards trying to unravel my hard work and recreate the Immortal Grande Festival of myth, a great battle royale between immortals where the last one standing will have spilled enough immortal blood to have become a deity. Nothing more than a bit of tomfoolery if you ask me, though," his black eyes fell form the sky and landed on Shizun's form.

"Just how powerful are the Evening, anyhow?" if he could somehow find a way to gauge their power, he'd have a better time warning Skion and the others of their impending combatants.

August raised a weary brow. "Last year, they absolutely annihilated the last group of mages that fought them. I due tip you to win against them, what with two dragon slayers at your disposals You bunch are very unique, and you," and for the first time in their meeting, Shizun and August locked eyes completely. There was a spike of magical power before August blinked. "You have potential. Your current skillset is good enough to keep up with the others and that's fine, but you should aim for higher power."

Before Shizun could say anything back, the orange sky was illuminated with several specks of blue and purple magical meteors. "They are here. It is time for you to prove your strength." August himself began to be wrapped in bright gold magic, before completely disappearing from sight.

"Hell," Shizun cursed to himself, looking up at the bright falling meteors. Those are the stars.

Without a second though, the sand mage spun on his heel and went racing back down the mountain.

XX

Meanwhile, a circle had formed around Skion and Bacchus that consisted of Vagabond Dream members and Quatro Cerberus members. Festival goers seemed to still be partying, but it did die down noticeably. Skion threw Bacchus an excited grin. "Getting to spar someone who's as strong as Erza is going to be the highlight of my week, Bacchus, you know that?" he laughed.

His opponent, who didn't yet seem intoxicated, only nodded and grinned. "Any fight with a Fairy Tail mage is bound to be wild!" the palm mage licked his lips and grinned. "Man, I'm so excited I can't even get rid of the shakes!" Bacchus laughed. The tension between the two began to thicken as they circled each other, each one tightening into a fighting stance.

"Come on Skion, I know you can take this one!" Dom cheered, pulling down his silver bandanna.

"Bacchus, wooh, take another one for the team!" a drunken Eagle called from the crowd.

Right before the two were about to clash, various different parts of the sky began to illuminate. "Are those falling stars?" Skion wondered, looking up and pausing from the battle.

"Seems...wild," Bacchus stopped his movements, examining the sky in awe.

"They're back!" one of the islanders called, running away and boarding himself in his house. The rest of the partygoers followed suit, running away until the mages were the only people in the deserted streets.

"What's happening?" Rayn inquired suspiciously, looking around.

"Yeah, where's everyone going?" West wondered.

"Hey, guys, don't those stars seem to be getting a little too close for comfort?" Dom pointed, just as one of them slammed into the forest nearby with a large explosion. Dom covered his eyes from the bright lights, before nodding. "The stars are landing on the island!"

"Luckily for us, it doesn't seem like they're going to cause anymore than medium destruction to the area surrounding them. Bacchus, I guess this means we'll have to wait to resolve our fight after we're done dealing with this. I think our mission's just began!" Skion didn't lose an inch of excitement; while he was definitely excited at the prospect of fighting Bacchus, he could also showcase his skill to the Quatro Cerberus mages.

"Alright, alright, alright!" Bacchus drawled gleefully, "boys, its our time to shine. Let's go see what those star-things are, yeah?!"

"Hey, look out!" West just barely managed to push Bacchus out of the way of a red blur landed with a large boom, creating a crater in the ground. Instinctively, Skion and the others jumped away.

"There's no need to worry about coming to us, because we'll come to you!" a maniacal voice laughed, and short young man left the crater. He had dark eyes of no discernible colours and upright black hair, dressed in dark red garments from head-to-toe and his skin was marked with incessant and intricate tattoos and markings.

"Sheesh, this guy seems like a small fry. I'll handle him," West's arms became coated in bright hot flames, and he pounced towards the alien newcomer. "Fire Devil's Haze!" the fire swirled off his arms in a volley of fiery blasts, colliding with the newcomer.

Or so, West thought.

The newcomer had disappeared and reappeared just behind West as if it were one of the simplest things in the world."Well then, no introduction first? Where are the manners! My name is Alta!" Alta wound up his arm, slamming his fist into West's back and sending him flying.

Rayn was the next to act, kicking up a wall of bronze stone to prevent Alta from making a next action. Skion jumped up and went over the wall to support West, who seemed to be incapacitated from West's powerful fist attack and Dom followed suit. "Alta, I sure wish you had been smarter. Trying to fight us in a group like this was just insane stupid," she readied herself.

"I got this." Bacchus held up a hand, stopping Rayn from making her next action and even stopping Eagle and Mars who had wanted to avenge their friend. A small smiled splintered his face, and he held out a gourd of alcohol.

Alta eyed him with interest, pressing his pale lips together. "I hope you're not as weak as the other guy, a simple dodge and counterattack was enough to beat him!" he began to laugh, his chest moving without rhythm. Strangely enough, Bacchus ignored him and continued to down his alcohol until half of it was done. He then set it down into the ground beside him and set into a fighting style, his cheeks becoming dusted with a soft blush.

"...That should be enough, hehehe," there was a moment where Bacchus was there, and then a moment where he wasn't. He had accelerated with such pace that the aftershock had created a wind strong enough to blow Rayn's cloak off. Bacchus' palm rested against Alta's forearm, and then the two began to engage in high speed combat. Alta kicked him upwards, taking the fight into the sky; however, the drunken mage's unpredictable movements allowed him to field several hits with fantastic spins and twirls in the air.

"Is he drunk? Why did he get drunk before fighting?!" Rayn looked at Eagle and Mars with an alarmed look and Mars chuckled.

"The drunker Bacchus is, the more impressive he gets. Just look," Mars pointed at the sky. Surely enough, Bacchus was holding up against Alta despite his drunkenness. He sent a volley of palms towards his torso, ducking to dodge an excited fist and then launching a counterattack. With Bacchus' speed, he was able to latch onto Alta and send him hurtling back down towards the ground. Moments after, he dropped and waited for Alta to return to his feet with a silly smile on his face.

"What are we, boys?" Bacchus grinned, eyeing Alta as the shorter man raised to his feet.

"Wild!" the Quatro Cerberus mages cheered!

Rayn couldn't help but look in astonishment. People like Bacchus were an astonishment; she wasn't even sure she or Skion could hold a candle to the guy in all of drunken power. She couldn't help but be envious of someone who had managed to gain this much power with such a simple magic.

"You are more then impressive," Alta coughed, raising a hand to his mouth. "I think I'll stop playing games. Alter Burst!" and just like that, Alta's muscles pulsed and suddenly he was faster and stronger - he punched Bacchus in the jaw and sent his knee ripping into his abdomen, following up with a flurry of elbows to various parts of his upper chests and face. In a single moment's switch, Bacchus had countered and sent his own attacks toward Alta with a flurry and differently placed palm strikes dressing Alta's entire torso in pain.

Alta sidestepped a palm strike from Bacchus and flipped on his hands, delivering several kicks to Bacchus who blocked with armoured forearms. "You're more than impressive, Bacchus! You're amazing, much better than those mages from the last years!" Bacchus didn't say anything much, as he was too focused on not being overwhelmed by the series of kicks. "If your friends were more like this, then we'd all have a little fun!" Alta pushed himself upright with his hands and held his arms out, stopping the flow of battle. "But, I wonder if you can keep up with me in my heightened form...Take-over: S—"

"—I'm gonna get my revenge!" West, Skion, and Dom had returned to the battlefield! West held flames deep in his lungs, moving backwards and then lunging towards Alta who seemed to be annoyed at his interruption.

"Get out of my wa—" once again, Alta had been cut off.

"Fire Devil's Rage!" West howled at the top of his lungs, a sea of flames escaping his mouth and bathing Alta in red-hot flames. There was a short shriek of flames but it had been quickly deafened over the sound of the flames crashing into a house and annihilating it. When the flames had dissipated, the entire area had been scorched and Alta stood, burned and damaged.

Bacchus capitalized on his unresponsive nature, grabbing his arm and delivering a quick palm to his chest to pop him up, and then several more to add to his hit counter. "You were fun, but no where near as difficult as some of my top opponents!" Bacchus grinned, before his last palm sent Alta hurtling into the horizon. His arms fell limp at his sides, and he took a deep breath.

Quickly, the Quatro Cerberus mages went to congratulate Bacchus and West on defeating Alta.

Skion looked at Rayn and Dom. "If they're all that powerful, then we're going to have more than just a tiny problem on our hands," Skion whispered, and the other two nodded. No kidding. It took a lot of effort from Bacchus to take him out, and that was with added help from West's fiery efforts.

Shizun finally burst back onto the scene. "Come on, we've no time to waste! Follow me!" and just like that, the male was back running again. Bacchus looked back and shrugged, and soon the whole group followed Shizun to his destination.


Lavendia Peak - Wisteria Island, X784

The group laid in the safety of a cavern with a fire laying around them. Eagle, using his healing powers, took to restoring the health of Bacchus while Shizun relaid to them what August had told him.

"If the Evening is that strong, I'm glad we banded up with Quatro Cerberus," Skion nodded at Bacchus and the others, who grinned. "The fact that they're immortal means Alta might not really be defeated after all, despite Bacchus' and West's efforts. We'll have to prepare to fight him again, won't we? The thing that sucks most is that we have no idea how strong the others are, or what type of magic they use!"

"...speaking of magic," Eagle popped in, "that guy looked like he was about to cast a spell before West ambushed him. Anyone fully pick up on that?"

"I did, I did!" Dom flew up, his white wings sprouting from his back. "He said Take-Over, like the magic Elfman and Mirajane use. He didn't get to use it, but I think we should prepare for a chance that this guy could get even stronger," the mood surrounding the group dampened a bit at that, but Bacchus only laughed.

"Mirajane is one daaandy lady!" he said to himself.

"Well, yeah, sure. I think we should figure out a plan and what we all do before we go back out into the open. I'll start; my name is Rayn, I'm the Earth Dragon Slayer." she cut in briskly, not saying much more. Shizun glanced at her, as if saying she should probably describe herself more. "Okay, okay...more than that, I can find myself excelling in mid-range or close-quarters combat due to the versatility of my magic."

"I'll go next!" Dom grinned. "I'm more of a support guy, guess I was never built for the fighting stuff. I use Illusion Magic, although not anything too grandiose yet, I can provide distractions during fights. I can only affect people's sights and hearing right now, though." Dom high-fived Skion, and then Eagle opted to go next.

"I can heal, but that's my subsidiary magic. My main magic comes in the form of Heavenly Body Magic, although I'm not insanely talented and proficient with it. I can use it just enough to get enough hits in in the blink of an eye to end the fight, or shoot a couple of celestial blasts at an opponent. I don't really need to be that much attacking when everyone else in my group is good at that!"

Mars waved a hand, entering the conversation. "I use Requip: The Gunner. Its pretty self-explanatory, it allows me to summon and use various different magical guns to aid me in battle, such as rifles and pistols. I pride myself on my aim, and I'll never truly miss a shot unless I'm disorganized from." he laughed.

"Well, I think everyone here knows what I'm capable of, being the Gale Dragon Slayer and all. I actually have a second ability, a form of Eye Magic called Easy Love. Weird name, but it allows me to see through illusions," Skion jutted a finger to his beige eyes, "and it helps when I need to figure out what Dom transforms into. I guess it's all up to you now, Shizun," the rest of the group looked at him, who shrugged.

"I have an affinity for sand. My main magic is Sand Magic, but alternatively, I can employ the usage of Sand-Make when there isn't enough sand around for me to do anything truly worthwhile. I'm more of a close-ranged combatant if I do say so myself, although my Sand Magic allows me prowess from any type of distance. Granted i use it right, of course." Shizun moved over to take a seat by Skion.

"Well," Skion said, "now that we all know what we can do, we should take a break and rest. Tomorrow's probably gonna be a day of hard fighting if the Evening can live up to the standards of Alta. I'll keep watch, so you guys get some sleep! Dom, wanna join me?" Skion jumped up, and Dom joined him on his shoulder and the two promenaded to the top of the cavern.

"Goodnight." Rayn said shortly, moving to some other place and built herself a room with her bronze rock. Not shortly after that, did Shizun and the Quatro Cerberus members manage to fall asleep by sharing ghost stories to pass the time.

Tomorrow was going to be a very hard day, but Skion had no doubts they could take it.


Ending - Black Memory by the Oral Cigarettes


This chapter actually ended up eclipsing the first chapter with 4.5k words! I'm actually astonished, I didn't think it would. I'm glad Warmarchine and a few others managed to enjoy my story, and I hope many more will.

I feel like this chapter was a very solid one to introduce the beginning of the Immortal island Arc and also introduce us to some new relationships and flesh out Bacchus and Quatro Cerberus. I'm proud of Alta's debut fight, and I hope you guys think its pretty good too. Next chapter, we'll likely see Cana entering the fray and more characters being introduced as well.

August might actually show up again too, who knows. Leave a review to tell me your thoughts and enjoy!

~Daige~