XxMirror ImagesxX
Traveling through the Anima was a strange experience, to say the least. It was truly just like moving through the clouds. It wasn't a short process, either. Just wind, breaking across your face as you moved further and further towards Edolas. When the group eventually arrived, it was a bit of a forceful stop. All that movement just halted on a dime. It was almost a little painful.
Once everybody got a look at their destination, it was quite the site to behold. There were floating islands, and plants and animals they had never seen. The land was a bit barren, and grass was scarce. It was a strange place all around.
"This is Edolas…" Wendy spoke.
"My roots…" Happy said to himself.
Naruto hummed. "Well if this isn't the craziest place I've ever seen."
"WOW!" Natsu exclaimed.
"This really is a different world…" Gazille muttered.
Charle scoffed. "Of course it is. Did you think I was lying?"
Naruto interrupted any argument that may have started. "Well, what do we do now? I guess the first step is finding everybody."
"Jellal said that they were going to be broken down by order of the king. So, we should just find the capital where the king lives!" Wendy suggested.
"That's sound about right, but where the hell is it?" Natsu asked.
"Oi, guys!" Gazille's voice sounded out. "Come check this out!"
Everybody turned towards Gazille, who was a good distance away looking through some alien foliage. Once everybody joined him, they saw what he saw, and were beyond surprised.
"It's Fairy Tail!" Natsu and Happy exclaimed at the same time.
Lo and behold, there was a tree-like building with the Fairy Tail insignia on it. Running towards it, they all promptly looked through the window, and the just a promptly shit a brick.
"Juvia! Let's go on a date!" Gray's voice sounded out. He was completely covered in multiple winter coats, and even wore two scarfs.
Juvia was wearing a very revealing outfit, with a short skirt, stockings, and a blouse tied up to show her midriff. She also had the curled hairstyle she used during the Phantom Lord incident.
"Not a chance. Try again when you're wearing less clothing." She responded rudely.
The man in question blushed heavily. "It's not my fault! I have poor blood circulation!"
Natsu's eyes widened to extreme proportions.
"How are you going to protect anybody that way, loser?" Jet's voice said.
"Yeah, how pathetic." Droy joined in.
They looked drastically different compared to their Earthland counterparts. They had extremely built figures, and tried their best to look cool. Sunglasses, trenchcoats, and exposed torsos. They were currently picking on a docile looking Elfman, who had a much calmer demeanor. His hair was bowl cut, and he looked like a prep school kid.
He was much less manly, to say the least.
At that point, things just descended into chaos, with everything from a foul mouthed Levy to a skinny Reedus.
"WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Natsu and Happy screamed at the same time.
"This is freakin' me the fuck out…" Gazille said to himself.
"Everybody's like an opposite!" Wendy pointed out.
Charle wasn't convinced, though. "Not opposite, just… different. Look at Mira."
They all did, and she was exactly the same as her Earthland counterpart, tending to the bar with a smile on her face.
"So it's like that Mystogan guy said, right? The Edolas versions of you guys?" Naruto inquired.
Charle nodded. "That seems to be the most likely answer. These aren't the people we're looking for."
It was at that moment that they were discovered. Wearing a black jumpsuit with the center opened all the way to show her underwear was Lucy, giving the spies quite the glare.
After naught but a cursory glance, Lucy immediately grabbed Natsu. "Natsu?!"
(AN: THEY'RE NOT WEARING CLOAKS)
"Um… yeah?" The pink haired Dragon Slayer responded nervously.
"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" The risqué girl screamed while pulling Natsu into some sort of painful grappling move, causing him to grunt in pain.
"I'm not Natsu!" He yelled. "Well, yeah I am, but not this worlds—gah stop that!" He tried explaining as Lucy started drilling her knuckles into his temples.
The rest of the Earthland group just sweatdropped at the somewhat comedic scene.
XxBreakxX
The King of Edolas, Faust, looked out the window of his throne room, taking in the view of HIS city. There was a new mountain in the distance, an addition that pleased him very much.
"It's still not enough… I need more!"
He was brought out of his thoughts by the quick pattering of footsteps. In just a few moments, a young girl zipped into his office and stopped in front of him at attention. She had brown hair and wore a strange cap with bunny ears. She wore a polka-dotted shirt and skin tight blue pants. She was barefoot as well, and seemed to have a permanent tint to her cheeks.
"Coco, I've been waiting. What's the situation?" He asked.
The now identified Coco saluted Faust. "Sir, the Lacrima we brought forth through the Anima is far bigger than expected. We won't be ready to extract for at least a week, and the process itself will progress throughout the month. In exchange for the inconvenience, though, this new development will provide magic for our kingdom until our dying breath. Only future generations would have to worry about shortages." She explained, quick and thoroughly.
"Which is exactly why it's still not enough." The king responded. "I cannot, and will not, rest until we have an eternity of magic, something to last this world forever!"
Coco gave him a tense look, not sure what to say.
"What is the situation with the main rebel forces?" Faust asked after a small silence.
"Sir, Madam Knightwalker is leading a raid with Sugarboy as we speak to deal with Fairy Tail. We have identified their most recent hiding place, and hope to end the chase there."
"And what of the Akatsuki?"
Coco seemed to hesitate at that. "Well, that's…"
"OUT WITH IT GIRL!"
"THE UNIT WE SENT CAME BACK EARLIER THIS MORNING!" She yelled back, caught up in the moment.
"And what did they have to report?"
"Nothing, sir. Only their heads came back…" She revealed grimly.
A large vain bulged on the old man's forehead. "If Erza fails her mission today, forego the usual process. I want her and Lily on the next legion to the Akatsuki's base. They may bring their regiments if they wish. You're dismissed." He ordered, turning to look out the window again, effectively snuffing Coco.
Walking out of the throne room, Coco came into contact with one of last persons she wanted to see.
"Gaara-san…" She spoke lowly, obviously not pleased to see the man.
(AN: HE'S WEARING HIS KAGE SUMMIT CLOTHES)
Gaara gave her a cold look. "What?" He asked rudely.
The young girl shivered at his gaze. "Nothing, nothing at all." She said quickly while excusing herself. Gaara just kept going and proceeded to enter the throne room.
Faust was a bit surprised at have another visitor so soon. "Gaara? What do you need?"
"I heard you sent Knightwalker and that abomination Sugarboy to hunt down Fairy Tail. Why? They've both proven quite ineffective at actually capturing ANYBODY lately. Why do you refuse to deploy the Shadow Squad?" The red haired teen asked calmly.
The king just scoffed. "Because I would have to update our maps afterwards. You and I both know that Ei and Tsunade would turn the site into one big crater, and you would be terrible at actually getting any of them alive. Onoki's older than me. I have no idea why he refused to retire from the military. But you do bring up a good point, perhaps I will send Mei as backup for Erza."
"She'll melt them. You're worried about ME killing them all, but you turn around and send the woman with the lava sword." The stoic boy mocked.
Faust gave him a glare in return. "You know very well that she has the self-control to limit herself. The minute you see a drop of blood you go off the handle. THAT'S why she's being chosen over you." He explained.
Gaara just huffed and turned to leave. The meeting hadn't gone as well as he'd wanted it to. He was suddenly stopped by Faust's parting words.
"I'm organizing a strike force led by Pantherlily to go after the Akatsuki. You should join him."
Gaara started walking again, this time having a maniacal grin on his face.
XxBreakxX
"So you guys are from some other world called Earthland, where there are doubles of all of us, and they were just kidnapped by the kingdom?" Edo-Lucy recapped.
Everybody sans Naruto nodded.
"That's… hard to believe." Edo-Juvia said.
Edo-Gray spoke up. "But it's true that this isn't our Natsu…"
At that point, Edo-Wendy walked up to her Earthland counterpart. The Edolas version of the young Dragon Slayer was anything but. She was tall, mature, and had quite the bust. "So this is… me?"
Meanwhile, Edo-Elfman was conversing with Happy and Charle. "So you guys are certain that you're not part of the kingdom?" He asked timidly.
The white cat huffed. "I already said the male cat and I are from Earthland. We have nothing to do with the Exceed here in Edolas." She explained.
(AN: THEY'RE NOT DISGUISED)
The blue cat, meanwhile, had a contemplative look on his face. "So that's what we're called? Exceed?" He asked her, to which he simply got a nod.
"I take it Lisanna die in your world?" Edo-Mirajane asked.
Natsu scratched the back of his head nervously. "Yeah, she died two years ago. I'm sorry for scaring her like that."
"She still hasn't come back from the storage room…" Wendy pointed out.
"Just give her a few minutes, she'll be fine." Edo-Mira comforted.
This whole time, Gazille and Naruto didn't know what to do. There wasn't and Edo-Gazille in the guild, and Naruto didn't know any of them in the first place. They just sat and waited.
"We don't have time for that. We need to get going. Can any of you tell us how to find the king?" The pink haired boy asked.
Everybody looked at him in sorrow. "Are you really going against the kingdom?" Edo-Lucy asked.
"Of course." Natsu responded without hesitation. "I need to save my friends."
"But the kingdom's too powerful!" Edo-Max argued. "We've already lost half our members, even the Master got killed!" He yelled, tears in his eyes.
This confused the Earthland residents greatly. "Why would the kingdom come after you and kill your members? What did you—"
BOOM!
The whole guild started shaking, and people began to panic. "They found us already?! Levy, get us out of here, NOW!" Edo-Lucy yelled.
Immediately, Edo-Levy ran to some sort of module towards the corner of the room and began to sit and press a series of buttons. "Shut the hell up! I'm on it already!" The woman responded rudely. Gazille couldn't help but notice HOW different the girl was from the Levy he knew.
"What the hell's going on?!" Naruto yelled, finally making his presence known.
"You mean you guys don't know?" Edo-Juvia asked.
Wendy looked at her strangely. "Know what?"
"Look, little me, you don't seem to get how things work around here." Edo-Wendy told her. "Magic is limited, so the king ordered all mage guilds to disband a while ago."
The Earthland groups eyes widened.
"Put simply, we're a dark guild." She finished.
"And now these assholes from the royal army are at our doorstep!" Edo-Levy yelled, still working her contraption.
The Konoha shinobi stepped forward. "So, there are guys outside attacking the building, right?"
The Edolas mages nodded, not quite sure what he was getting at.
"So, I'll just go out there and beat them up!" He announced, beyond shocking the guild.
"Are you insane?!" Edo-Lucy yelled.
Natsu, on the other hand, agreed. "Well, what else are we gonna do? Just up and let them take down the building?"
"Of course not, dumbass!" Edo-Levy scolded. "The guild hall can move, and I'm getting ready to move it!"
The Earthland group was indeed surprised, but Naruto didn't think it mattered.
"And you're going at a snail's pace. I'll go slow down whoevers outside and get a feel for how mages fight here at the same time. I should be fine." The whiskered blonde announced.
"Tch." Edo-Levy spat. "It's your funeral, blondie. I sure as hell ain't waitin' for you once we're ready to go."
Naruto nodded and leapt through a window to the outside.
"Is that guy crazy?!" Gazille yelled in disbelief. "Did he forget that we can't use magic here?!"
"If that guy really CAN buy us sometime, try and get us to a secure location. If you rush it, we'll just end up jumping somewhere random." Edo-Gray asked the resident mechanic.
Edo-Levy just grunted in affirmation. "And if a single person walks through that door we jump immediately, no matter where we might end up."
XxBreakxX
Naruto stood in front of the small regiment of lance wielding soldiers. A few in back were using the traditional catapult method to batter the guild hall.
"Are you here to surrender?" The man in front of the unit asked.
The blonde shinobi laughed. "Afraid not. Name's Naruto, and I'm here to kick your ass."
"You heard him, attack!"
Naruto just grinned as the troops charged. He was going to have some fun.
XxBreakxX
High above the sky, two purple wyverns flew at quick speeds. Atop each one was a single figure.
"Mm… Do you think they're done already?" A man on one wyvern asked.
(AN: Good lord don't make me describe Sugarboy)
"I doubt it. They're all pathetic." A woman on the second beast responded.
(You know what; I'll seriously assume you've read Fairy Tail before. I'll only describe character's who's outfits have been changed.).
"Then why did you send them ahead of us? You know we have better results if we're part of the preliminary attack." Sugarboy pointed out.
Knightwalker just chuckled. "I'm aware. I grow tired of my current regiment. Perhaps they'll be discharged so I can get some new men."
"So cruel, Madam." The eccentric man said sarcastically.
"Huh? What's that?!" Knightwalker all of a sudden exclaimed.
As they grew closer towards the guild, what they saw astounded them. All of their men were spread across the clearing. Trees had been downed, and every catapult was in pieces. At the center of all the carnage stood one boy. He looked up and gave them a smirk.
"Reinforcements, eh? Bring it!" Naruto yelled before leaping high into the air.
Forming a standard Rasengan, he prepared to drive it straight into Knightwalker's legion, but stopped right in his tracks.
"Erza-chan?" He questioned, before being batted back to the ground by Knightwalker's spear.
He flew fast and hard, breaking through a few trees and dragging up a good amount of dirt below him.
"Ah, damn!" He cursed, surprised at how hard he was hit.
Meanwhile, the assailant and her partner were equally surprised, but for a different reason.
"That was a close one, Madam. If he hadn't hesitated you'd be nosediving right now." Sugarboy pointed out.
"Peh." She spat, clearly not amused. "Like that would have beaten me. Still, I'm curious as to how he took down my men like that. I could understand if Fairy Tail came out of their hole and took them down, but one child?" The redhead wondered.
"He also seemed to know me… What was with that endearing suffix?"
Her partner in crime hummed. "I don't recognize him, either. Quite vexing indeed."
"It matters not. I"ll be taking care of him here. Just give me a—"
"That won't be necessary." A female voice announced.
Both Knightwalker and Sugarboy froze at the voice, almost reluctant to turn and face the woman.
The armored man cleared his throat. He was always somewhat intimidated whenever he saw the brown haired woman's broadsword. "To what do we owe the pleasure, Mei-sama?"
Mei gave him a flat look. "Spare me the pleasantries, Sugar. You've both been recalled. The king is quite disappointed with your work as of late, Erza."
"So he called in the Shadow Squad?!" Knightwalker growled.
"No, just me." The assassin responded. "And I'm here to merely capture whom I can. Destruction not necessary."
Knightwalker looked ready to attack the woman, barely restraining her fury. It was only when Sugarboy grabbed he legion's reign and pulled that she snapped out of her rage.
"Let her be, Madam. You wanted your squad gone anyways, correct?" The man said sternly.
"Fine." She spat. "Let's get out of here.
Once they were out of sight, Mei grinned. "I suppose I'll give our mystery man a visit." She said before jumping off her legion, regardless of the height.
XxBreakxX
Currently, many Edo-Fairy Tail members were staring out the window in awe. They were currently taking in the sight off the fallen soldiers, but Naruto himself was nowhere to be seen.
"He really took them all out?!" Edo-Gray exclaimed.
"And I didn't even see much magic, just martial arts!" Lucy joined, equally surprised.
Gazille whistled. "I guess he wasn't kidding when he said not to worry about a lack of magic."
Natsu and Happy, meanwhile, had stars in their eyes. "I wanna fight him!" The Fire Dragon Slayer exclaimed.
"Ano… Didn't he beat Gildarts-san?" Wendy questioned nervously.
The battle junky just nodded. "Yeah! So if I beat him, it's like I beat Gildarts too!"
"Well, idiots aside…" Edo-Wendy started. "Levy! The blonde kid did it. We don't need to move."
"Are you shitting me?!" Edo-Levy screamed. "I was ready to start the countdown! What a waste of time and work…"
"DEFINITELY different…" Gazille thought with a sweatdrop.
"Well, where is the buffoon?" Charle asked, obviously getting impatient. "He should be back by now, right?"
Natsu nodded. "Yeah, he sure LOOKED done."
"Fine, I'll go fetch him." Edo-Wendy offered.
Natsu was about to argue, but Happy stopped him. "We can't use magic, remember? Just let her go in case of a fight."
Regardless of what he thought, Edo-Wendy was already out the door, leaving everybody else to just wait.
XxBreakxX
Naruto had finally exited his crater in the ground and began to dust himself off. "I could've sworn that was Erza-chan. That woman sure hit like her." He said, moving on to stretching out the kinks in his joints.
"Edolas is a parallel world to this one. They act as two sides to the same coin. Because of this, even the existence of people is mirrored."
Mystogan's word rang out inside the shinobi's head.
"So that was the Edolas version of Erza-chan, then? The hair WAS different…"
"So you're from Earthland, then?" Mei voice spoke out of nowhere. "Very curious. I'd assumed you'd be Lacrima with the rest of them."
Naruto was a bit startled by her sudden appearance—as well as her figure—but regained composure quickly enough. "And who are you?"
"Ah, how rude of me. You may call me Mei. Terumi Mei."
The blonde kept a critical eye on her, not ready to let down his guard just yet. "Are you with the kingdom, then?"
"Indeed." She revealed, hefting the broadsword off her back. It had dozens of small holes covering it, and the handle wrapped around her entire hand, almost like a shell. Slowly, magma began to ooze out of the holes, dripping to the ground. It didn't take long for the whole sword to look like one big mass of concentrated lava.
"It always disappointed me when I have to melt the cute ones…" She said before licking her lips sadistically. The whole thing had prompted Naruto to draw a kunai and enter a stance.
Mei charged.
XxChapter EndxX
SO, I HAD SAID THAT I WOULD AVERAGE ABOUT 10,000 WORDS A CHAPTER. MY PLAN WAS TO WRITE 1,000 WORDS A DAY AND RELEASE ON THE TENTH DAY.
INSTEAD, I'LL WRITE 1,000 WORDS A DAY, AND RELEASE WHENEVER I FEEL THE CHAPTER SHOULD END. IT'S THE SAME AMOUNT OF CONTENT IN THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME, JUST A BIT MORE SPLIT UP.
IT'S NOT REALLY THAT DIFFERENT, AND IT'S EASIER ON ME AS A AUTHOR
XxThe "Gazille" FactorxX
People are continually contacting me or leaving reviews relating to the way I address Gazille. I felt it was about time for me to explain a few things.
Early on, when the Phantom Lord arc was just starting, translators gave every character a preliminary name. Juvia was Lluvia, Jellal was Gerard, and Gajeel was Gazille.
For a while, things didn't change, but eventually the translators agreed on a general way to write their names. I jumped on the Juvia bandwagon almost instantly, but "Jellal" and "Gajeel" didn't appeal to me. For the longest time, I wouldn't address them any other way. After being exposed to the entomology of Jellal's name (Arabic for "He Who Conquers), I acquiesced, as Fernandes was a reference to the man who traveled the world. The two names went together, and Jellal became the obviously correct translation. It took me a while, but I decided to go with it.
But to this day, I absolutely hate the way "Gajeel" sounds. I can't even say it. The "J" is just so awkward!
Old habits die hard, and this one isn't changing anytime soon. Sorry. i
