*Disclaimer: neither duodragoon nor I own/have any affiliation with Fairy Tail; all rights go to Hiro Mashima. Seriously, we just do this for fun*
The New Fairy Tail
Guild Alliance Arc
Chapter 26: Enemies on Every Front
*The lighting in the kitchen has switched from the standard incandescence to a greenish color, giving the whole kitchen a green tint as Akiko, Aria, Lokore, and Marco sneak up the stairs from the dungeon basement. As they reach the middle of the room, a loudspeaker cuts in*
"Ahem. My darlings, it seems that we have some escapees. Now I know it has been some time, but I trust you all remember what to do. I leave them to you. Oh and no witnesses, you remember the mess last time, so just wipe the board. Toodles!" The voice of the manager cuts off and the group is frozen for a second before Marco asks, "What does she mean by wipe the boa-." Before he can finish, a platoon of maids swarm in and surround the group. They all go back to back looking around as the room quickly fills. Lokore scoffs, "So what's their deal? Should we be worried?" Shuffling resonates through the crowd for a few seconds, then the girl with the headset pops out of the crowd, "Man, I was just getting comfy at this location, oh well. Ladies: hair clips off."
In one synchronized motion, every girl reaches up and takes off their hair clips. Within a matter of moments, every girl's skin turns a pale ashy grey and their eyes become sunken leaving only dim green lights in the center. Their nails and hair grow to extreme lengths. Their teeth become sharper and their perfect posture turns into a lazy slouch. Akiko is two seconds from losing her shit when she feels a strong grip on her arm; she glances over and sees Aria holding her. Somehow, this calms Akiko down and allows her to refocus, "Alright guys, they may be creepy, but if we work together, we can-" she turns to see Lokore and Marco face first in a pile of food in the corner of the room. The anger rises through Akiko before she just shakes her head, "Useless! Alright Aria, it's just you and me then!" They leap forward into the horde of maids.
*A sandstorm rages around a glowing pyramid, the sound of fighting resonating from within. The face of a sand demon pops up and is quickly shattered by a big fist. Sand falls from Jarvan's fist as he pulls it back*
"There that should be the last of them." Tia pushes passed him and mumbles, "On this floor at least." Jania, who usually keeps some composure even when angry, looks as if she just went ten rounds with a tornado and lost. Trying to catch her breath, she asks, "H-how…how much- how much further?" Jasper walks next to her, not looking much better, and answers, "N-not…not much longer, we're almost to the top." He then collapses. Jarvan sees this and picks both up, "Come on you two, we've made it this far. You guys can make it." He then proceeds to carry them down the hallway.
At the end of the hallway lies a huge square room. The walls are full of glowing hieroglyphs, in the middle of the room is an alter that is glowing the same color as the glyphs on the wall. The group is weary, because they can sense a large amount of magic energy. Jasper is the first one to speak, "All right guys, let's be extra careful not to-." He's cut off as a noise comes from the hallway. The group turns and a blur zooms past them. At their feet, the general slides to a stop. The group looks at him confused, just when Jasper is about to ask the question on everyone's mind, an intense light starts glowing behind them. They turn just in time to see Professor Roofles glowing the same color and beginning to transform. His body grows to about 10 feet tall, wings sprout out of his back, and his tail grows extremely long and gets a snake head at the end. His head grows to match his body and becomes more feral looking.
The group looks at the beast in shock as the General pops up. "Alright what did I miss," he asks before looking over at the beast, "What the hell is that thing?!" Jasper answers, "That thing used to be your dog." The General looks at Jasper extremely confused, "What the bloody hell are you talking about? There is no way my adorable little ball of joy could…" The General takes another look at the beast and stares. Almost as if in a trance he starts to walk closer, "Is…is that you boy?" He slowly walks towards the huge beast and ends up face to face. The general extends his palm and the beast sniffs it. The general turns to the group, "I guess it really is him. This will be hard to explain, but the research will b-!" The beast's paw swipes across and knocks the general through the wall. For a second the group is shocked, then the beast roars snapping them out of it. In their fighting stances, Tia grumbles, "Told you he was gonna be a problem."
*We enter on a close-up on the closed eyes of a young man. They snap open and begin to look around. We slowly zoom out, revealing it to be Brazz, who is tied to a pillar right next to Dimaria. They are in a large, glowing blue room (the exact same design as the pyramid we saw Jarvan's group in earlier). A figure is seated at the bed of the altar; they appear to be sleeping from Brazz's point of view (or meditating, he can never tell the difference).
Brazz begins trying to make some ice, but nothing forms. "You're wasting your time…" Brazz turns as the figure rises from the altar. As the figure approaches, Brazz realizes who it is and he starts to get angry, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!?" The figure kneels, revealing a grinning Luke, "Why it's the great awakening, of course!" Luke turns away and begins walking around, "This temple is more than just a nice landmark. It's a key…a key to a cell that holds back an army grand enough to take over your world!" Brazz begins to wiggle in an attempt to break free, which makes Luke chuckle, "Try as much as you wish, that pillar you're tied to is stealing your strength…there's no hope for you."
Brazz angrily shouts, "I don't care what your plans are, you're gonna lose just like everyone else that crosses me, you freak!" Luke snaps around, her eyes now glowing, "FREAK?! REALLY!? YOU'RE ONE TO TALK! HAVE YOU LOOKED IN THE MIRROR?!" Brazz still angry but now confused asks, "What do you mean?" Luke walks over and stands in front of him, "The power of a demon, an impure beast built to battle deities of unimaginable power. All they know is chaos and destruction. Tell me, what does that make you, the boy born with that power?"
Brazz stops struggling and gets this blank look on his face, as if his soul has been ripped out. The pillar changes colors from black to blue and Luke snickers, "Well, looks like the key has enough power now. Guess I won't be needing you anymore." Luke raises her hand and it becomes a werewolf claw. She slices her claw down to strike Brazz, "Ka-Chink!" Luke looks down in disgust, seeing Duo block her claw with his metal scaled arm. Luke jumps back in surprised anger. Duo is trying to look stoic, but exhaustion is written on his face and his posture shows his fatigue. Noticing this, Luke snickers, "Looks like a hellhound got you; don't know how or when, they're supposed to be in Magnolia, but it makes my job easier." Luke flexes her other hand and it transforms, "I'm gonna enjoy ripping the chosen one to shreds!" She then lunges at Duo, who wearily gets into his stance.
*Zooming in on the mouth of a cave, a loud roar emanates from within, shaking everything as if an earthquake is happening. Inside the cave, we see two dots jumping around a huge three headed dog. The dots stop, revealing Gin and Kaizer whose clothes are torn up and have burns covering their bodies*
They land next to each other, panting in exhaustion. Kaizer mumbles, "Dude, you really gotta start thinking before you act. I'm getting tired of cleaning up your messes." Gin chuckles, "Come on, how boring would our lives be if we always played it safe?" Kaizer responds, "It would be way better than it is now." The beast turns its closest head towards them and opens wide, blue flames spewing out. The duo jump, barely dodging the attack. In mid-air, Gin turns and aims towards the head spewing fire. Kaizer boosts into him, knocking him off course just as one of the other heads snaps its jaws in the place where Gin would have been. They tumble and land on the floor.
Rubbing his head Gin mumbles, "I totally had that under control." Kaizer sits up next to him, "Says the guy who was almost puppy chow." They stand up and look up at the beast. Kaizer says, "I don't understand how or why, but it's gotten bigger since we started fighting." Gin looks over, "So he must have an outside source where he's drawing energy from, and I bet that's where the other two went." Kaizer nods, "So now we gotta play the waiting game. Hopefully sooner rather than later." The hellhound roars and the two get in fighting stance.
*Meanwhile*
Lucio and Roxina are back to back, surrounded by wolves. Roxina's hands are glowing while Lucio is only using one sword. Lucio yells to Roxina, "I don't know about you, but I'm really starting to lose my patience." Roxina answers back, "It doesn't seem like their numbers are dwindling either." "What should we do if fear-, "Lucio turns to look at Roxina and is shocked, she basically looks dead. Her skin is extremely pale, she's breathing heavily, and her hair is turning grey. She turns and swings her fist right towards Lucio. He freezes as the fist goes right passed his shoulder and hits a wolf about to bite him. Roxina yells, "Watch your back, you do not wanna get bit." Just as she finishes, two wolves jump above her. In a blinding flash, both dogs burst into blue flames and quickly burn out.
Lucio is now standing behind her and replies, "Same goes for you. So, any plans on how to get rid of these guys?" They battle a few more before Roxina responds, "Well… I assume they're…. getting power… from the people… so we should…" Her dimly lit fists blink for a second, then burn out. She looks down panicking and shaking her hands, "Oh, for the love of-! Not now, not now!" She shakes her hands, trying to get something going but nothing appears. She is so focused on her lack of energy she doesn't notice the two wolves lunge at her. Lucio's fighting off two wolves, his back away from Roxina, when a loud shriek rips through the air. Lucio pushes a wolf off and turns to see Roxina laying on the ground. "No!" He screams as he rushes towards her.
*The outside of the council building looks worn and battered, as the number of shadow gargoyles have tripled since we last saw them. A guard rushes into Council Woman Erza's office*
"Madam Council Woman! Madam Council Woman!" The group of Erza, Angel, and Levy turn towards the guard. Once in front of them, he stands at attention, "Madam Council Woman! Everything is set; the troops are waiting for your command." Erza nods and turns towards the group, "I must lead my defenses since I let my lead General out. I trust you ladies can handle it from here." Levy and Angel nod as Erza walks off, closing the door behind her. Angel and Levy turn back to Hikari who is blasting through the book at extreme speed, "Find anything yet?" Angel asks. Hikari shakes her head, "Maybe we missed something. I'll go check for some other text." Levy turns, saying, "This is the book; it has all the pieces, but it's missing stuff." Angel quirks an eyebrow, "Like someone took away some of the text?" Hikari replies, "If it was taken away, there would be some trace and I'd be able to decipher it, but it's like I'm being pushed out and I can't find the cause."
Levy and Angel look at each other confused but understanding, then turn back to Hikari. Levy asks, "Is it a spell? Can you crack it?" Hikari shakes her head, "Whatever this is, it's nothing I've seen." Hikari looks so exhausted, Levy's motherly instincts kick in, "Let me take over; you need some rest." Levy starts to reach for the book, but Hikari slaps her hand away, "I'm fine, I don't need rest, I need answers and I know this book has them! Just because I'm not on the front line doesn't mean I'm worthless!"
*Cut to Akiko and Aria fighting in the kitchen. Now Lokore and Marco have joined in (hunger satiated) and the group is surrounded with things looking grim*
The girls look up and see the girl they saved earlier in an open air-vent, her hand reaching for them. Marco yells, "You two go, me and Lokore got these girls handled." Akiko seems like she's about to argue when Aria grabs her by the shoulder and pulls her up. Once inside, the girl closes the vent and we hear a loud thump as several of the demon girls collide with the closed vent. The girl motions down the vent and begins crawling. Akiko and Aria look at each other and shrug, then follow her.
*In the pyramid in the dessert, we see the beast rampaging around the room*
Jarvan has a grip around his neck, but it is having very little effect on the beast's movements. Jania is summoning golems to try and slow it down, but they shatter under the pressure of the beast before they can move in. Meanwhile, Jasper and Tia are jumping around just trying to survive. Tia looks at Jasper and yells, "We need to think of something quick, otherwise we'll be puppy chow!"
*In the jungle pyramid, crazy laughter that sounds almost like a dog barking echoes throughout. Inside, a scarred and bloody Duo falls to his knees; standing over him is Luke, crazy blood lust in her eyes*
"This is the one they said to watch out for!? HA! Not so tough with that poison in your veins." She laughs maniacally then glances over at Brazz who is frozen in fear, "I think he finally realized his fate. I'm gonna drain you dry." Luke licks some blood off her cheek then turns back to Duo, "But first I'll finish you off!" She swings her arm down for the killing blow.
*Meanwhile in a dark cave, Lucio cradles the limp body of Roxina as a large pack of wolves are closing*
Lucio holds Roxina in one arm and a sword in the other, "Roxi! C-come on, now is not the time to pass out," he says in a panic. Roxina coughs, "You know that…I've always hated that nickname." Lucio fake chuckles, "You can scold me later, right now we gotta fight." Roxina coughs again, "As..tempting as that sounds, I don't think I'ma get that chance." Lucio looks at her with concern, the life fading from her eyes. Lucio's eyes widen as he shakes her, "Come on…you can't give up on us now, you…can't give up on me!" Roxina puts her hand on his cheek, "Do me a favor, please? Take care of Duo for me." As she finishes her sentence, her hand falls. Lucio frantically shakes her, and the screen goes dark as the wolves pounce.
We hear Hikari's voice, "I can't give up, because I know they won't!"
A blinding green light starts to fill the cave, resonating from a large magic circle (that also looks like a clock) beneath Lucio. Soon the room is filled with the light. One by one the orbs begin to pop, and humans pop out as the wolves disintegrate under the light. Once all the people are free, the light begins to fade. Lucio looks down at Roxina who has regained her complexion. He shakes her a bit, "Five more minutes mommy," she mumbles, curling into his arms. Lucio breathes a sigh of relief, then looks at the room of confused people. He stands up and shouts "Everyone, follow me!" Lucio turns to lead them towards the exit, Roxina contently sleeping in his arms.
*Meanwhile in the Cerberus den*
Kaizer and Gin look as the Cerberus greatly decreases in size. They share a smirk, confident now that the beast is a more manageable size. Gin yells, "Alright, let's put this dog on ice!" Kaizer chuckles, "God, you're insufferable!"
*In a throne room with a bizarre aura is a throne on an elevated plateau. The owner of the chateau is sitting on the throne, humming a tune. An air vent falls in the middle of the room and for a second there is silence. After that second, Akiko and Aria fall with Aria landing on Akiko in a sitting position. The woman looks up shocked*
"Oh goody, my guests of the hour have arrived! I do hope you guys enjoyed my hospitality." Aria hops up and lands next to Akiko, then Akiko points, "We're here to put an end to your operation!" The woman chuckles, "Oho?" The woman stands up and into the light. She transforms into a larger version of the girls from earlier, "I'd like to see you try!"
*The giant walks back to his throne but stops halfway. He turns to see the giant boulder moving*
As it rises with Roagan holding the boulder up, the bandages around him begin falling off. An "X" appears on the surface of the boulder right before it shatters into little pieces; in its wake are Raiu and Namika standing on opposite sides of Junshi and Roagan, revealing himself to be a very muscular tan man with long silver hair, glowing yellow eyes, and scars all over his body. The giant roars as the group readies themselves.
*Back in the desert temple, Jasper jumps and lands on the far end of the room then takes a deep breath*
"Everyone, on me!" Immediately, the group stands around him as he puts on his goggles. 'I've never been the strongest. In fact, compared to my siblings, I'm actually the weakest, but what I lack in strength: I make up for with intelligence,' Jasper thinks as he closes his eyes. He opens them and they glow orange. Jarvan, Jania, and Tia gain a glowing aura the same color as his eyes. Jarvan flexes, "Man, I forgot how good it feels to be powered up by big bro." Jania snickers, "Ah I see, so this is your purpose: a back line that boosts the real fighters." Tia snaps at her, "So what does that make you? The back line that can't help at all?" Jania turns with an angry look, but Jasper intervenes, "Now is not the time to argue. I can only help you for so long!" The three nod and leap into action.
*Back in the jungle pyramid*
As Luke's claw is about to connect, Duo grabs her by the wrist. Rising up to his feet, Duo lifts his head to reveal his glowing red eyes. Luke breaks free from his grasp before Duo let's out a huge wave of energy. Once the dust settles, Duo's fully scaled form is revealed and looking more demonic than usual. "That's much better. Now, let's do this," Duo says as he cracks his knuckles.
N/N: First update of the year…nice. Happy almost new year.
Until next time FanFiction, this is
…
duodragoon & SkyFlameDragon
…
Signing off