A/N:
Disclaimer – I own nothing
Chapter 13 –
Natsu and Lord Byro took their stances as they readied themselves for their showdown, with the other Fairies and Coco watching from the sidelines. "Let's rumble!" Natsu proclaimed. Just then, the clock piece in Lucy's grasp began to glow, as did the giant one.
"The clock pieces," Byro muttered.
"They're resonating," Michelle noted.
In Zentopia, the Archbishop was kneeling on the floor, grasping his face in despair. "It's finally happening! Time is ticking forward!" he cried out. "The chaos… the everlasting midnight… it's coming!"
Elsewhere, Erza, Cana, Wendy, and Carla were on their way to where Natsu's group was when they noticed the giant clock piece Ezra was dragging with her luggage had started glowing. "Guys, look! The clock piece is glowing!" the Sky Dragon Slayer exclaimed as she pointed to the clock piece.
"What do you think that means?" Cana inquired.
"I don't know, but we should proceed to our destination," Erza suggested.
The girls all nodded and continued walking, when Carla abruptly noticed something coming toward them from the sky. "What's that?!" she shouted, getting everyone's attention. The Fairy girls looked up and saw the familiar red robot hovering above them before it descended to the ground.
"What the heck is that?" Cana questioned.
"I don't know," Erza answered as she Requipped a sword in case of a fight. "Who are you and what do you want?" she questioned it, but the robot didn't reply as it raised its hand and fired a green energy blast. Cana and Erza jumped to avoid it while Carla grabbed Wendy and flew upward. "Is everyone alright?!" Erza asked her guildmates after the blast hit the ground.
"We're fine," Cana replied.
"Look!" Wendy called out. The war machine started walking toward Erza's luggage; it grabbed the giant clock piece and lifted it up. "It wants the clock piece!"
"We can't let it take it!" Carla cried.
Taking action, Erza changed into her Black Wing Armor before charging at the machine. She swung her sword at it, but it simply grabbed the blade and shattered it and then backhanded Titania to the side. "I don't know what you are, but I will not let you take that clock piece!" she declared as she stood up and entered her Purgatory Armor. She swung her enormous mace at the machine's head, hitting it at the side, but it showed no sign of feeling any damage as it grabbed the mace and tossed Erza to the side.
"No way! This thing's toying with Erza like she's nothing!" Cana noted with shock.
"We have to help her!" Wendy cried.
"Use your head, child!" Carla reprimanded her. "If you step in now, you'll get in Erza's way!"
The red robot slowly walked toward the Fairy Queen, who was getting back to her feet. "I'm impressed, not many can take a hit from my Purgatory armor and shrug it off like it's nothing," Erza said. "However, I'm not backing down just yet! Now you'll taste all of my blades!" She then changed into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. "Now! Dance, my swords!" She summoned numerous blades and launched them all at the oppressor, yet the robot countered by thrusting his fists forward very rapidly, deflecting and shattering all of them. Erza stared in shock as the machine began to move closer to her; she crossed the two swords in her hands to defend herself. Before it made to her, it was struck in the back by many explosive objects. It turned around to see the brunette holding up a few cards in her hands while smiling. She threw more explosive cards at the war machine which combusted on contact, but the machine didn't seem fazed at all.
"Well, that didn't do much," Cana said despondently.
"Let me try," Wendy offered. "Sky Dragon Roar!" She let out her breath attack on the robot, but it simply held out its hand and the wind blast collided with it. When it ended, the robot clenched its hand and started walking toward them. "Erza, now!"
"Right!" Erza said as she Requipped her Lightning Empress Armor. She unleashed an electrical current from her spear at the robot, vaporizing it with over a thousand volts of lightning. The war machine threw its head back as it was electrocuted. When she finished attacking, the machine was smoking. "Did that do it?" she wondered. It remained unmoving for a moment before it lowered its head and cracked its neck. "This can't be! Nothing we've thrown at it has done any sort of damage!" Erza gasped. The robot then channeled Ki into its right fist and slammed it into the ground, creating a shockwave. Carla grabbed Wendy and flew her upward, evading the attack, but Erza and Cana were blown away by it. The two female mages lay on the ground in defeat.
"Oh no! Cana! Erza!" Wendy cried before she noticed the robot right in front of her; it swiped it hand, knocking both Dragon Slayer and Exceed out of the sky. They hit the ground and Carla fell unconscious. Wendy watched as the machine moved toward the clock piece once again. "No, the clock piece," she muttered weakly.
"Objective complete, 4th clock piece acquired!" the machine said before picking up the clock piece and flying away just as the Sky Maiden weakly stood and moved to attempt to heal the redhead.
Back at the tomb, the Dragon Slayer and the Legion leader were in a heated battle. "Fire Dragon Roar!" Natsu called as he started off with his trademark breath attack, but before it could touch Byro, he waved his staff and the flames disappeared in an instant.
"He neutralized it," Lucy gasped.
"Magic is useless against him," Michelle noted.
The Dragon Slayer wasn't ready to back down, though. "That was just an ember, try stopping an inferno!" Natsu exclaimed. "Fire Dragon Wing Attack!" Natsu swung his arms, unleashing a massive fiery wave at the Zentopian warrior. But just as before, Byro dissolved the flames. Natsu continued his assault by throwing a punch at Byro, yet the older mage simply blocked his fist before kicking him in the gut. Natsu gasped in pain and Byro kicked him to the wall.
"Get away from him!" Lucy ordered as she brought out one of her gate keys. "Open: Gate of the Sea Goat – Capricorn!"
"It won't work!" Byro proclaimed as he used his staff to neutralize her magic. "My power nullifies all other forms of magic; you might as well surrender now!"
"Quit playing dirty, Octo-freak!" Romeo yelled.
"This Byro's way worse than the one we met in Edolas!" Happy remarked.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves!" Natsu screamed as he rushed at Byro with his fist on fire. The Octo geezer nullified his magic again and kicked him away. The Dragon Slayer landed on his feet and charged at his opponent once more; Byro countered by punching Natsu in the face twice and proceeded to pummel the pinkette continuously. Natsu's friends watched in horror as he was slammed into the ground by Byro. Gohan was twitching as his anger began to rise from watching his friend being beaten to a pulp.
Coco also had a look of disdain as she watched her leader brutally beat the fire mage. "This is barbaric," she muttered.
"Sorry sir, I overslept again!" Dan shouted as he suddenly awoke. "Oh, it was just a dream. A shame, because Titania and I were gonna try some one-on-one sparring," he said coyly while rubbing his head; he then turned his attention to the fight.
"Happy!" Natsu called for his partner.
"Aye, sir!" Happy complied as he grabbed him and flew off with him. Lord Byro effortlessly used his staff to nullify Happy's Aera Magic, causing the Dragon Slayer and the Exceed to crash into the ground. "My Aera Magic's gone."
"I figured it wouldn't work," Natsu admitted.
"You could've told me," the cat muttered.
"I already told you that I can nullify all types of magic," Byro repeated. "Pay attention if you wish to live! That boy who challenged me earlier is the only one who poses a threat to me!"
"Without magic, we're completely helpless," Michelle commented.
"There has to be something we can do!" Lucy said. "Gohan, you've got to help Natsu!"
"No! I can handle this myself, just watch me!" Natsu assured them.
"So what's your plan, Natsu?" Happy inquired.
"If I can't use magic, then I'll use force!" Natsu answered, confusing the Exceed. "Gildarts used magic when he fought him, but taking that approach got him nothing but a draw! I'll stop the Legion's plan and show up Gildarts at the same time! Yeah, I'm all fired up now!"
"At least he's got a positive attitude," Happy remarked.
"I sense their energies, and Byro seems a lot stronger than when I fought him," Gohan thought. "Natsu can't use magic against him, so it makes sense to fight him in hand-to-hand combat, but I'm not sure if he stands a chance without his magic. It seems like nothing Natsu tries will work. This kinda reminds me of the hopeless situations my friends and I were in against our enemies."
"The fate of the entire world hangs in the balance, yet you only care about personal affairs," Byro deduced.
"You got a problem with that?!" Natsu questioned.
"Such shortsightedness, you couldn't possibly understand the weight of the burden we carry," Byro said. "We're prepared to sacrifice our lives for this mission."
"You gonna fight or talk me to death?" Natsu growled impatiently.
"Don't avert your eyes, Coco," Dan spoke from where he and his comrade were watching. "He may be our enemy, but he's also got serious guts! The real battle is just beginning!"
As Natsu cracked his knuckles, a strange being peeked out from behind a dark corner; it watched the whole scene play out as no one noticed it. "So things are finally starting to heat up, huh?" it said with delight. "Good work, Salamander and friends! I hope you manage to get a little thrill out of this whole ultra hot battle before Lord Byro takes you down!" It laughed hysterically as it continued to watch.
Byro continued to beat up the Fire Dragon Slayer, though all who were watching remained oblivious to the glowing clock pieces once again. Natsu slammed his fist on the ground as he struggled to get back up. "So you and your buddies are prepared to sacrifice your lives for your mission, huh?" he asked Byro. "What a load of crap! Life ain't something you just toss aside like garbage, you should protect it! We fight for the lives of the people we call our friends!" The Salamander rose to his feet as he continued to preach to Byro. "The bonds we share are what drive us and push us to be better! Don't you know that friends aren't slaves or tools?! YOU CAN'T JUST USE THEM HOWEVER YOU PLEASE, THEY'RE MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT!" Natsu ignited his fists and charged at his opponent again; Byro nullified his fire, but Natsu kept on swinging. Byro blocked his punch and kicked him in the chin before knocking him away.
"It looks like he's already broken several bones," Dan murmured to Coco. "But you can't tell from looking at his face. That ain't the look of defeat he's wearing right now."
Romeo looked upset as he anxiously took a step toward the fight, but was stopped by the Demi Saiyan, who was also shaking with anticipation but refrained himself from intervening for Natsu's sake. "Listen, I want you guys to stay out of this," Natsu groaned as he stood up again. "I'm taking him down on my own! That's a promise from a wizard from the Fairy Tail guild! I'm gonna rearrange your face, Octo…" The Fire mage collapsed before he could attack.
"Come on, get up!" Romeo yelled.
"Poor Natsu can barely stand up," Happy commented. "But he'll find a way! Nothing's gonna keep him down!"
"Come on, Natsu, don't give up!" Gohan encouraged. "Keep fighting!"
"Get up," Lucy pleaded. "I know you can do it!"
"He's a worthy adversary, respect!" Dan praised Natsu as he was waving a fan.
"But Dan, I don't understand," Coco said. "How can someone as brave as he is be an enemy of Zentopia?" she asked her comrade as she watched Natsu's persistence.
"I'm not sure, but he's acting like one," the knight answered.
The Fire Dragon Slayer then jumped at Lord Byro, and the Zentopian warrior suddenly saw an image of a Fire Dragon appearing right behind the Son of Igneel. His hesitation allowed Salamander to punch him right in the face.
"Bull's-eye!" Happy cheered.
"That won't be enough," Dan stated.
Byro quickly recovered from the blow and stomped on the Dragon Slayer. "That strange sensation, looking upon you fills me with emotions I have long forgotten," Byro said as he crushed Natsu's skull under his foot. "Anger is at the front. You yammer on about the sanctity of life, about the nobility behind your own vendetta, but you are nothing more than guild rats chasing after coins! And you would compare your avails to our holy mission! This not only belittles us, but the Archbishop and his ideals he represents!"
"That's not true!" Lucy argued. "We're not in this for the money!"
"Yeah, cause we've got plenty!" Happy added defiantly.
"Enough to pay rent?" Byro asked knowingly, making Lucy gasp. "Or buy food?" This, of course, stunned Happy.
"What are you waiting for? Say something!" Michelle urged.
"Well, uh… I got nothing," Lucy confessed.
"I really didn't expect him to throw that out there," Happy stated.
"That's big talk coming from a thief!" Natsu groaned. "You guys are the ones who tried to steal Lucy's clock piece!" Byro then kicked him again, and he was sent tumbling into a wall.
"This world is already saturated with chaos; the addition of the Infinity Clock may not even be noticed. However, Zentopia's doctrine is to minimize the chaos, and instead, show the people of this world the righteous course of action. The privilege of putting those ideals into practice falls on the Legion Platoon!"
"Blah, blah, blah, add thou shall shut up to your ideals!" Natsu retorted as he swiftly stood back up.
"Natsu isn't hurt anymore," Michelle noted.
"How'd he do that?" Happy wondered.
"Look, that's how!" Romeo realized as he pointed to the Dragon Slayer, who was sucking the flames from multiple candles.
"The tomb's candles!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Yeah, and there's tons of them!" Happy cried gleefully.
"You dare to desecrate these flames?!" Byro questioned furiously. "Does your blasphemy know no bounds?!"
"What, you're gonna start lecturing me about my diet now?" Natsu asked mockingly. "Don't bother; I already forgot most of the crap you were yammering on about!" Natsu smirked as he continued to goad the Legion leader and crack his knuckles. "I heard some of it, though, like friends, and lies! Then you insulted Fairy Tail, so now my fists are gonna lecture your face!"
"He's provoking him," Michelle said.
"As if the guy wasn't mad enough already," Lucy moaned.
"That's Natsu for ya!" Happy exclaimed.
"Awesome!" Romeo praised.
"So Natsu can also consume fire to replenish his power, and thanks to that, he's able to continue fighting Byro for a while longer," Gohan observed. "However, his power is still nowhere near Byro's and now he's making him angry. Byro may just decide to stop toying with him and go for the kill. His best chance would be to stall long enough for the others to get here or to wear Byro down, but I'm not if Natsu can hold him off until then."
Natsu then went back to fighting Byro, but even with his magic power restored, he was still no match for the warrior of Zentopia. "This is a holy war!" Byro declared as he knocked Natsu back to the ground. "The retrieval of the Infinity Clock, that sacred mission is the sole purpose of the Legion Platoon! The misguided principals of a feeble guild can't even compare! If consuming fire is also part of your magic, then I will neutralize it as well!"
"Oh, yeah? Just try it!" Natsu declared weakly.
"That's just cheating!" Romeo shouted.
"Why don't you fight him fair and square, old man!" Happy yelled.
"Or just give up!" Lucy suggested.
"I can't believe Lord Byro hasn't used a single offensive spell yet," Coco stated in disbelief.
"Don't act so surprised," Dan told her. "The man's strength is legendary! Only five others in all of Fiore can even challenge him, including that spiky-haired boy you like, but he's following the warrior code by allowing his friend to fight Byro until he's defeated."
"A weak and helpless fool like you isn't fit to lead this world out of darkness," Byro commented as he gestured for Natsu to come at him.
"What did you say?!" asked an enraged Natsu.
"A weak and helpless fool," Michelle muttered.
Byro then grabbed the pinkette by his scarf. "A coin-chasing rat couldn't possibly understand what we fight for!" He then slammed Natsu on the ground. "In this miserable world, people cling to anything that provides hope, and if that happens to be Zentopia, then cling to it they shall!" The Salamander got up again and continued his assault on Byro. "As do we, so if the Archbishop orders us to find the clock, then that's what we'll do!" As he spoke, Byro blocked all of Natsu's blows and countered with his own, beating him to the ground once again. "If that order requires us to sacrifice ourselves or others, then so be it! It's our duty; the greater good must be served!"
"That doesn't make any sense!" Romeo said.
"I didn't understand what you said, but I know you're dead wrong!" Happy shouted.
"No kidding!" Lucy agreed. "Don't you care that people are suffering because of your mission?! Are you that heartless?!"
"You claim to be doing this for the greater good, but where's the good in causing pain and suffering just to follow a simpler order?!" Gohan questioned.
"It is foolish to act on emotion! It leads to nothing!" Byro said while his back was turned to the Dragon Slayer. "To reveal the course of righteousness and to walk its path." Natsu stood up again, but was quickly struck down by an elbow bash from Byro. "Thanks to these difficult decisions, we are forced to make sacrifices!" Byro went on as he brutally beat up Natsu again. "The world is filled to the brim with contradictions; I believe we are all painfully aware of that fact! Therefore, it is only logical that the path I've chosen will end in sacrifice!"
"Making difficult choices… that must be rather easy for you," Michelle commented to Byro, making everyone stare at Lucy's sister as she continued speaking. "You said you follow your cause to make choices instead listening to your emotions, but that's just a strategy to avoid feeling guilty. Harden your heart to suffering and you can justify any decision."
"Michelle," Lucy muttered in awe.
"You dare dispute the principals of righteousness to me?!" Byro demanded as he kicked Natsu over to his friends. Gohan reacted quickly by catching the Dragon Slayer.
"Stop it now! This is righteous?!" Happy questioned Byro as he held up his paw. "If you ask me, you're all just a bunch of bullies! This is just like what we saw in Edolas, those in power making everyone suffer and give up their freedom in the name of some fake righteousness! Any path that hurts the innocent will never lead to the greater good; in fact, it's nothing but a dead end! If you're willing to follow that path, then what does it say about you?!"
Coco eyes grew wider as she listened to the Exceed chastise Byro.
"Even fish are free to swim along any current that they choose, and the same goes for guild rats like us!" Happy spoke on. "We decided to use our magic to help people who need it! Yes, it's our job and we get paid for it, but in return, those we help get happiness! That's how we got to where we are; that's how a guild works! Fairy Tail will never lose to someone like you, because fake righteousness helps no one!"
"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" Byro said as he twitched in anger. "You dare to ridicule the followers … no, all of Zentopia to that extend?!" he asked the cat.
"You bet I do!" Happy replied bravely. "'Cause you should be ashamed!"
"I didn't realize Happy was so wise," the half Saiyan thought, impressed.
"Wow! Way to tell 'em, Happy!" Natsu complimented.
"That's right! Fairy Tail members listen to what's in our heart!" Lucy agreed.
"Our guild is about helping anybody who needs it!" Romeo stated.
Now beyond furious, Lord Byro raised his staff as he shouted, "Enough of this nonsense! It's time for your divine punishment!" His staff began to glow with immense light and a massive of magic power.
"That's what you think!" Romeo declared as he and Happy charged at the Zentopian warrior.
"Let's take him down!" Happy yelled.
"Oh no, I'm sensing malice from Byro's energy!" Gohan thought. "He's going too far; he plans to kill them now!"
"Get back here!" Natsu ordered his friends. He and Lucy soon ran after them.
"Lord Byro, are you mad?!" Dan shouted to his leader. "You can't use Divine Arrow on people, you'll kill them!"
"I shall turn you to dust!" Byro proclaimed. "Now burn and be purified by the fire… of your own sins!" The light from his staff shifted into a large arrow and he aimed it at the Fairies. Gohan quickly phased in front of his friends and prepared to deflect the attack. Dan stared at Michelle in surprise as she remained unfazed at what was to be her friends' fate. "Divine Arrow!" Byro shouted as he thrust his staff forward, sending the attack at the Fairies, but it sailed right past them and crashed into the ruins.
"What the?!" Natsu shouted.
"He missed?!" Lucy gasped.
When the light faded, Coco's foot could be seen planted firmly against Byro's staff; a result of her kicking it enough to misdirect his attack. "Coco, what are you doing?!" Byro questioned the girl.
"Zero points, Lord Byro! Please, you have to stop!" she pleaded, surprising her leader. "All the suffering, all the chaos we've caused on our mission, that isn't what the Legion Platoon or Zentopia stands for! We should be protecting the weak; instead of breaking them down, we should be building them up and showing them the way! What's righteous about slaughtering our flock? Don't you see? It is hypocrisy, and I simply can't abide it any longer!"
"Blasphemy, how dare you turn our back on our doctrines?!" Byro yelled at her.
"I'm fully aware of the penalty for betraying the Legion Platoon, but I can no longer see the righteousness at the end of this path, sir!" Coco answered.
"Righteousness is like an arrow," Byro argued. "It pierces through all in an unwavering line to arrive at its target: truth! Are you telling me that teaching has been lost on you?!"
"If the arrow must pierce through the hearts of lost lambs in order to find what is right, then it's wrong, and it should be snapped in pieces!" Coco stated sadly, once again surprising her leader. "Lord Byro, I still believe we can do good, but I realize there's more to me than just doctrine. After seeing the way these people act, how they see the world, I can't help but be filled with warmth and happiness. And I'm sure if you opened your heart to them, you might feel the same way that I do." Coco smiled with joy to her leader, but he only trembled in more anger.
"Coco… You've been corrupted! You wretched traitor!" Byro shouted as his staff shined brightly again.
"No, Coco," Dan mumbled before he looked away, feeling conflicted.
"YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED A TRIBUNAL! THE ONLY THING THAT AWAITS YOU IS DEATH!" Byro roared as he raised his staff and prepared to kill the athlete.
"Coco!" Lucy cried as she ran to save the girl.
Coco looked back and smiled at the celestial mage. "Goodbye, Princess Lucy, I really wish we could've been friends," she said softly to the blonde teen before looking at the Demi Saiyan with tears in her eyes. "Thank you. Gohan, for showing me what it means to have a true friend, maybe we've could've been more…" The light consumed the athlete and exploded, and for a moment there was no sound at all. When the light faded, Coco was still on her knees, completely unharmed from Byro's attack. She looked up to see the Son of Goku standing in front of her with his hand out, which he used to deflect the blast.
"Somehow, you always seem to get in my way, boy!" Byro growled at the Saiyan.
"So is this how far your righteous arrow is prepared to go?!" Gohan demanded. "Are you so ready to pierce your allies as well as the innocent?! You believe what you're doing is righteousness, but in truth, you're just as wrong as you claim us to be! You said you don't listen to your emotions, yet it's your anger that's been deciding your actions! Me deflecting your attack was your arrow never making it to the end of it path!"
"I refuse to stand here and let another child ridicule my beliefs any longer!" Byro proclaimed while taking his stance.
Gohan took his own fighting position and glared at the Legion leader; he then sensed many life forces and smirked as he recognized them. "Looks like the gang's all here!" he thought.
Byro raised an eyebrow at the look on the Z fighter's face. "What do you have to smile about, child?!" he asked sternly.
Before Gohan could answer, someone appeared right in front of him. "The chance to cross swords didn't present itself before, but at last we meet! Prepare for battle!" the redheaded mage declared.
"Titania!" Byro growled as he recognized the Queen of the Fairies.
"Do not speak my name!" Erza ordered "It disgusts me to hear it said by someone who would easily turn on their ally. You're despicable!"
"Erza!" Natsu and Lucy cheered.
"We're not in the habit of putting up with bullies like you, old man!" Gray called to Byro.
"Gray and Juvia!" Happy said as he spotted more of his friends before he became perplexed. "Wait, why's Lyon here?"
"Come on, is this old timer really giving you that much trouble, charcoal breath?!" Gray teased Natsu. "Talk about lame!"
"Hey, I'm playing around with him till I kick his butt, so keep yours out of it, frosty!" Natsu yelled back.
"Everyone's here!" Lucy exclaimed when she saw the Strauss siblings and Team Shadow Gear.
"Even Gajeel!" Natsu pointed out.
"Carla's group is here, too!" Happy noted. "They must've completed their missions!"
"That means after this last one, we'll be done!" Romeo said as he pointed to the one in the tomb.
"I'm afraid none of us were able to complete our missions," Erza corrected, surprising her guildmates. "But we can still make things right! Now stand aside, Byro! I'll only ask once!"
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, I've come too far to turn back now, Titania!" Byro refused. "The Infinity Clock was originally Zentopian property; destiny demands that the Legion Platoon watches over it!"
"What?" Coco inquired.
"Is that true?" Lucy asked Dan.
"Well, to be honest, I'm not sure," the knight confessed.
"That explains why the clock piece was hidden in a place associated with Zentopia," Gohan thought.
"You guild rats have become too involved in this; you've entered into a darkness the world should never know!" Byro declared. "Because of that, I cannot allow any of you to leave this tomb alive!"
"Enough! Prepare yourself!" Erza shouted as she Requipped to her Heaven's Wheel armor and launched an attack at the Zentopian warrior, while the ice mages shot their own ice attacks at Byro, as did the Rain Woman with her water magic. Pretty soon, Cana, Mira, Gajeel, Levy, and Wendy fired their own magical attacks at the Legion commander.
"Wait! Your attacks won't work!" Lucy tried to warn her friends, just before Natsu attacked with his magic. "What the heck are you doing?!"
The magic attacks from Fairy Tail surrounded Lord Byro, but he stood completely unwavering. "Such fools," he muttered as he waved his staff, and every attack that was thrown at him immediately faded from existence.
"What just happened?! Did he block all of them?!" Gray questioned.
"Even with our numbers!" a stunned Erza gasped.
"Magic attacks don't work on him!" Natsu told his friends as they stepped in front of him.
"This will be interesting," Erza remarked as she changed back into her regular armor.
"I think you mean annoying," Gray corrected.
"I know, right, now I'm just a lame old average talking cat!" Happy complained.
"One spell or one thousand, it makes no difference!" Byro stated. "In my presence, wizards cease to be wizards entirely!"
"There's still one option left," Erza suggested.
"If we can't use magic, we'll use our fists!" Gray said.
"How arrogant! I've been trained to fight bare-handed against fifty opponents at once; you won't even warm me up!"
"Sounds like Octo-geezer's fired up, too!" Natsu commented as he flexed his right arm.
"Stay focused, he's a very proficient fighter!" Erza warned.
"Sounds like a challenge!" Gray said eagerly.
Gohan then appeared in front of them and held out his hand to keep his guildmates back. "Stay back, guys, I'll take him!"
"Aw, come on, Gohan, we can handle this guy!" Natsu argued.
"You had your chance, Natsu, and you spent majority of the time getting beaten up while only landing one blow, and every time you got up you were knocked back down!" Gohan reminded him. "Your fight with him proves that someone at your level can't even compete with half his skill, and if what he claims is true, then I'm the only one who can take him!"
"Maybe he's right, this is our last chance to stop the gathering of the clock pieces!" Lucy agreed.
"Which reminds me, I figured there was someone else gathering the clock pieces, and the fact that none of you completed your missions confirms it," Gohan said before asking, "So, who was it?"
"Didn't catch his name, but it looked like some giant red man," Gray answered. "It was really big and had navy blue gems all over its body!"
"We were attacked by the same person!" Cana stated.
"So were we!" Lisanna gasped.
"Us too!" Jet and Droy exclaimed together.
"This thing that attacked us was incredibly strong!" Wendy said.
"Yeah, it shrugged off our attacks like nothing!" Elfman remembered.
"And get this, I don't think it can use magic! In fact, its attacks reminded me of your ability to use Ki, Gohan!" Levy revealed.
The Saiyan hybrid's eyes widened from the information he just heard. "A red giant with blue gems on its body, and it can use Ki like me?!" he thought. "No… it can't be… he's supposed to be dead!" His body started shaking as he was considering the possibility. Before anyone could say anything, the clock hand in Lucy's possession began to glow extremely bright.
The celestial mage then found herself inside some mindscape where she saw an image of her late father. The image then faded from her sight. "No, time has ticked! Now chaos has begun!" a voice spoke to Lucy. Behind her was a small girl with worn out clothing, her eyes full of dread and sorrow. Lucy turned and was face-to-face with the sad girl before she faded away as well and Lucy was staring at her father's clock hand. "No, is this the beginning of the end?" Lucy wondered in despair. The clock hand suddenly escaped Lucy's grasp as it unwrapped itself, and everyone watched as it levitated into the air along with the large clock piece in the tomb and the four other clock pieces that Fairy Tail lost that had mysteriously appeared.
"Big sis! Look, the clock!" Michelle exclaimed.
"I see it, but what's happening?" Lucy asked.
The six clock pieces came together and were consumed in a flash of light; everyone watched in awe as the clock pieces merged together within the light while releasing an extremely loud tocking noise, finally becoming the Infinity Clock.
On their way to the Magic Council, Hugo stopped walking and looked back. Chief Tyson, Lahar, and Jillian noticed this and turned to him. "Hugo, what's the matter?" the healer asked her comrade.
"Something feels… wrong," Hugo responded.
"What in tarnation are you talking about, boy?!" the Chief questioned.
"I'm just sensing something off," he said. "Let's keep moving." The three continued moving, but Hugo couldn't get rid of this feeling he had. "What's this ominous magic power, and why do I feel like Dan is involved?"
The Demi Saiyan covered his ears in pain from the ringing. The Infinity Clock's sound shook the whole tomb, and rocks were crumbling from the vibration. "My ears are pounding!" Gohan cried.
"Well, mine are bleeding!" Natsu screamed.
"That's some alarm clock!" Happy commented.
"The tomb is collapsing!" Erza shouted.
"It can't be, why now?!" Lucy asked.
"This ain't the time to space out! Let's scram!" Gray suggested.
Natsu looked up and took a few whiffs with his nose. "That smell… but how?" he muttered before his face turned serious. "Keep your guard up, we're in real hot water now!" he warned his guildmates.
"That energy! There's no mistaking it… he's here!" Gohan thought as he looked up as well. Everyone looked up and saw seven figures step forward right under the Infinity clock. Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Happy, and Carla stared in shock as they immediately recognized four of the seven intruders. Although the other six were a mystery to Gohan, he recognized the seventh being. His fists shook in anger as he gazed upon an old enemy, the red giant with navy blue gems on its body. "Hatchiyak!" Gohan growled.
A/N: Done! Now it's time for the real fun to begin! Can't wait to write the next chapter, so I'm doing it right away. Guess I'll have a lot to make up for making you guys wait so long, huh? Sorry, but I was just excited! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and will read the next one! Until then, TTFN AntiHero out!