WHAT IS THIS?! AN UPDATE BEFORE 3 WEEKS HAS EVEN PASSED?!
That's right! I was really on it this time around and got it around ALOT sooner than what I've been doing the past few months...to a year probably. Writing this all out came naturally this time around so here it is! Not how it is like I've done in the past where I was updating every week when I was first starting this entire story out 3 years ago but I think it's best I do take the time to type it all down at a good pace. But without further ado, let's get to the reviews!
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MAJORMATT1234: It's not something i really have planned to be honest, not any time soon at least. But I should do that later down the road.
KaijuDracoMage: Yup, 3 years, and hopefully I still go strong. I do plan on finishing this! Next CaC submission I have planned probably wont be for a long long while though.
roeequaza: Similar to the answer above, it's not something I have planned anytime soon but rather a lot later.
TheJSmooth: Thank you!
To the Blake reviewers: Thanks!
SSGSS Sitaris: I'm aware of MasakoX, I'm sure 99% of people who are fans of Dragonball fans that would watch DBZA are as well lol. I've never really seen a lot of his vids though. I saw the multiverse timeline theory vid a long time ago and any other videos I watched were his english covers of DBS endings. He has a nice voice lol. But any other videos that has up I've never really watched. They're always in my recommended so if I ever feel like it I'll check it out. I was always curious to his discussions.
Guest Reviewer "fairy saiyan": Yusuke probably won't ever lol.
Elvisfonz23: Thanks! Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!
zack32: I've thought about Marissa having her Potential Unleashed, but I do go by as much lore and logic as I possibly can in the story. Unless Marissa is able to meet with Elder Kai somehow, she's going to have to stick with the Kaioken for a little while longer.
Guest (1): You're right, fillers are now over. Here's the start of the next arc!
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Yes, fillers are finally over, and now is the start of the very small arc I have planned that'll just be a few chapters long. Well, most of this chapter is still kinda filler, but the actual start of it doesn't start until the very very end of this chapter. But without further ado...
Onward!
With their clothes mostly torn and their bodies heavily scratched, bruised, and bloodied… Ann and Yusuke collapsed on their knees, their Super Saiyan states wilting away from them, and their faces hitting the wet sand below them.
Not far away from them, Fairy Tail watched in dismay and disbelief. Marissa's body shook with gritted teeth and tears at the corner of her eyes.
"Ann… Yusuke… get up, you have to…!" Marissa pleaded, her eyes shutting as a single tear dropped on both sides of her face.
"New Guy! C'mon! That can't be all you got in you!" Natsu shouted very loudly, veins formed on his forehead.
"Both of you…only the both of you can do this…!" Gray tightly clenched his fists, shaking as he saw the downed body of the Saiyan's.
"Ann, Yusuke, please! Don't give up!" Wendy begged, her hands clasped together in a praying fashion.
"Keep fighting, the both of you, please!" Lucy pleaded, feeling tears fall from her eyes, and forced herself to wipe them off vigorously with gritted teeth.
'...is this it? For all of us?' Makarov darkly thought, observing the scene ahead of him and the rest of the guild members. Both Saiyan's, collapsed on the ground with the figure in front of them, staring down at them.
"It can't end like this… Yusuke, keep fighting!" Erza yelled.
"Yusuke please…! We're all counting on the both of you!" Mirajane shouted.
Right in front of both the downed Saiyan Time Patrollers, a completely unscathed person looked down at them.
"A pity, it seems that the both of you couldn't keep your end of the deal." He said, and extended a hand outward, with a bright magenta colored aura coming to life around him and his Ki forming in his hand, he narrowed his eyes. "What a waste of time…"
A few hours earlier…
The bright sun shined over Magnolia as Lucy casually walked to the Fairy Hill's dormitory. Plue was in her arms as she gently hummed, and arriving at the dorm, she went ahead and walked inside.
"Let's see… Levy's room should be… here." Lucy said to herself, arriving in front of a door with Plue responding in its usual way of agreement. She knocked a couple of times, and heard some shuffling inside.
"Oh no!" Levy's voice was heard, and Lucy also heard some things falling on the other side, assuming that some of the books she's kept has fallen.
The door to Levy's room opened, revealing the blue-haired girl panting slightly with a bit of sweat on her.
"Hey Lu!" Levy greeted, and seeing Plue in her arms, she allowed herself to pat the Celestial Spirit on the head.
"Hey Levy… are, you alright?" Lucy greeted back, and sweatdropped seeing a pile of books on the floor past her.
"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Ehehehe…" Levy responded, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. "That aside, come on, let's head over to Laki's room."
"Right! I can't wait to get it done." The blonde responded with a smile.
With Plue going back to the spirit world, Levy guided Lucy away from her room and headed towards the second floor. They arrived in the middle of the hallway, and the Solid Script Mage knocked on the door in front of them, and revealed Laki Olietta opening up her room.
"Oh, Levy, Lucy. Hi there, this is kind of a surprise." Laki greeted with a small smile.
"Hi Laki! We were wondering if you could do us a small favor." Levy asked.
"A favor? What is it?"
"Could you make us a really sturdy guitar body?" Lucy asked.
"A guitar? Yeah, that's simple enough." Laki agreed to it, and stepped outside of her room. Similar to Gray in his molding magic, she formed her right hand into a fist and slammed it on the palm of her left hand as a glow began to appear between them. "So you guys want to try learning to play a guitar?"
"It's not for us, it's more for Ann, actually." Levy answered.
"Ann? Really? I never would have thought she played guitar." Laki said, and began spreading her hands away from each and in just mere seconds, a wooden body of a guitar was formed in the air, and she caught it to hand over to Levy and Lucy. "Here you go!"
"Thank you so much Laki!" Lucy beamed, taking the guitar body.
"It's no problem, you'll have to think of some other way to get the strings and the other parts for it though. I can only make wood after all." Laki explained, laughing sheepishly.
"You did more than enough, Laki. Thanks again, we'll see you later in the guild!" Levy bidded, and both her and Lucy began walking away.
"Bye, you two! Make it look nice!" Was Laki's final say before she headed back into her dark, S&M room.
"I think I've seen a music shop somewhere in the city before. Maybe we can have them make the rest of it for us." Lucy suggested
"Great idea Lu!" Levy chirped, and the both of them exited out of Fairy Hills.
Ever since spending time with Marissa and Ann the week before, more of the former than the latter, they had wanted to do something for Ann since then, and that was to give her a guitar.
They really did enjoy the melody and tunes Ann played during the video that Marissa shared with them on her mobile device. But with Ann, she really degraded herself that she wasn't good at all, which baffled both girls. So in order to ease her in more, they decided to make a guitar from scratch as much as possible with effort put in from the both of them. Lucy and Levy did catch the passionate look Ann had when they spoke about her playing guitar, and they wanted to see more.
A streak of rainbow light zipped past through space.
"It seems we're almost there, My Lord."
"This must be it." Levy said, looking at the shop in front of her with a display windows showing off several instruments.
"Looks like they're open right now too, good. Hopefully we can have this done soon." Lucy said, and began walking towards the door of the store, and opened it. She left it open so that Levy could walk inside with ease, and closed the door afterwards.
A waft of new wood smell touched their noses immediately upon entering. Looking around, aside from the instruments they saw displayed on the front window, a lot more various ones were seen within.
There were wind instruments such as the flute, clarinet, the piccolo, bagpipes and several more. Then there were also the brass instruments such as the trumpet, the tuba, french horns and even trombones. Finally, string instruments that mainly consisted of guitars of different designs were showed as well.
"We should bring Ann in here for a treat as well, I bet she'd enjoy it." Levy suggested.
"Especially with all those different guitars, all of them look so cool." Lucy admired, eyeing each of them and comparing them to each other.
"Hello there ladies. Welcome to my shop, Instruments Galore. What can I help you with?" A man that looked to be in his late fifties with a short, sharp haircut that seemed to be gelled. He wore a simple flannel with simple khakis, and walked up towards the two Fairy Tail wizards.
"Hi there! We were wondering if you had the service to help us build a guitar?" Levy greeted and asked next.
"Well of course, this isn't an instrument store without at least knowing how to build all of these." The owner said, looking at his merchandise with pride. He then looked over at Levy holding the body of a guitar. "It looks like you already started."
"We had our friend give us a head start with her wood-make magic. But told us that we'd had to go elsewhere for the other materials to complete."
"May I?" The owner held out a hand, and Levy nodded as she gave him the guitar body. He began to observe the head, the neck an the large bottom part of the unfinished instrument. "This is some very fine craftsmanship, magic can really do wonders, can't it?"
"Is it possible to continue where it left off?" Lucy asked.
"Of course it is! Some steel strings and some aluminum as well on the head and bottom and we should be good to go."
"Sounds great! Uh, how long will it take?" Levy asked.
"Some of my workers should be coming in soon, so I should be able to get this done in about a couple of hours." He said.
"I wonder how much it's going to cost…" Lucy wondered.
"Since the both of you brought me the body to start with, the materials I already have in hand as well as the labor I can total it all up to twenty-thousand jewels. On top of that, I'll carve some designs on it and give it a nice sheen for you ladies. Sound good?"
"Twenty-thousand? That sounds good, actually!" Levy said.
"Levy… uh, if you could, ehehe…" Lucy rubbed her head sheepishly.
"I got it Lu… but you owe me." Levy laughed.
"You got it!"
"Here you go." With the purse that Levy brought ahead of time, she brought out twenty-thousand jewels in her hand and gave it to the owner of the shop.
"Thank you, I'll see you then!" The owner said, waving goodbye to both Fairy Tail girls as they left his shop.
Panting, both Erza and Mirajane fell on the grassy ground, out of breath. Their work out clothes stuck on their skin with their sweat as glue, and felt that they couldn't lift their arms and legs at the moment with the weighted furry bands they still wore to this day.
Marissa walked and went to sat down next to them, cross-legged. A light sheen of sweat was shown on her, and she was seen panting just very slightly.
"I think that's enough for the day. Good progress you two." Marissa complimented.
"Are we…?" Erza asked through her breaths.
"Maybe she's just telling us that... to make us feel better…" Mirajane said tiredly.
"Of course not you guys, not sure when the last time you guys went to fight something else, but I reckon you'd be able to go in and out unharmed." The Earthling reassured,
"Would that include them?" Mirajane asked, looking ahead at both Saiyan's as they casually sparred with one another, practicing their fighting forms, both offensively and defensively. Yusuke and Ann were clearly slow enough for both Mirajane and Erza to observe.
"Pfft, you wish. Maybe one day through actual intense training." Marissa laughed, and leaned back in the grass.
"... actual intense training?" Erza inquired.
"Yeah, have the effort to train all day, everyday. Move under a few hundred times gravity, have a couple ton of weights on you… oh yeah, image training too."
"That… does sound intense…" The redhead sweatdropped, imagining how Yusuke was able to go through all of that, if he really did experience it. However, the last part of what Marissa said intrigued her more. "Image training…?"
"Yeah, you pretty much do what the name suggest, train within your mind." Marissa began to explain, and shifted her body so that she faced the both of them. "Close your eyes and clear your head of everything else and focus on one person in your thoughts. Basically meditation, we'll do that next time."
"Why not right now? If it's just thinking in your head it shouldn't be too bad than the physical training." Mirajane suggested eagerly.
"I don't know about that… it could be just as tiring, but if you wanna give it a shot right now, I don't mind." The Earthling shifted her body to face the white-haired woman. "Since you seem up for it, let's have you try it out first."
"Me? Alright." Mirajane faced Marissa while she crossed her legs.
"Now, like I said, just close your eyes and empty your mind, relax your body."
Mirajane did as she was instructed by first closing her eyes and relaxing her body. Slowly, the sounds of birds chirping, the tree's and its leaves being blown by the wind, and the grunting of both Saiyans not too far away became nothing but distant to her.
'Alright…' Marissa looked at Erza briefly before she winked and put a finger over her mouth, signalling the redhead not to be a disturbance. Receiving a silence nod from the knight, the Earthling looked at Mirajane once more before she closed her eyes as well, and relaxed, easily being able to feel out the barmaid's Ki.
"Huh…?" Mirajane fluttered her eyes open to see the open ground forest around her again. Everything looked the same in her eyes. The trees, the clouds in the sky, the wind blowing the grass beneath her. However, one distinct difference was that she was completely alone. She was not between Marissa and Erza anymore, and both Yusuke and Ann were gone when she looked at the direction where she last saw them.
She looked around her once more before eyeing her hands, closing and opening them a few times before lowering them and looked ahead into the open field of green. It all looked the same, but she knew it was different from where she was at currently, even feeling a different kind of atmosphere around her.
"It feels so surreal… wow…" Mirajane mumurmed to herself.
"It is, isn't it?"
The mage whipped around in surprise when she heard the voice, and widened her eyes as she saw Marissa standing behind her with her arms crossed and a grin on her face.
"Marissa… how…" Mirajane stammered.
"C'mon Mira, you gotta give me more credit. I've done this several times already with a few people back in the Time Patrol. Linking my mind with yours isn't all that hard." Marissa said, taking a few steps towards her. "Right now outside, we're just sitting on the grass. In here, well, since you were so interested, we'll be continuing our training in here."
Marissa clenched her fists and wind was instantly blown away from her. Stunned, Mirajane took a step back and partially covered her face.
"Let's see how strong your mind is, Mirajane!"
A gust of wind was felt by Erza as she looked over where Marissa and Mirajane sat on the ground. It hasn't been long since they've sat down, and when Erza looked closer at them, she could see Mirajane's face trembling and sweating more than before while Marissa's was the complete opposite, a calm but hard face that looked controlled. She felt both of their energies rise from where they sat until suddenly-
"...!" Mirajane gasped loudly and collapsed forward, but was caught by Marissa in her arms while panting heavily.
"Mira!" Erza exclaimed, learning down to check on her.
"Huh…?" Yusuke looked away from Ann towards the women away from them to see Mirajane in distress. "What's-gah!"
Ann took the opportunity to punch Yusuke straight in his face, causing to fly back in the air and crash to the ground. Grunting in pain, he held his cheek as he looked at her.
"What the hell?!" The male exclaimed.
"What? You were open." Ann shrugged, crossing her arms. She saw him scoff and stood up to immediately run over to where the others were near the trees.
When Yusuke arrived where the three were at, he saw Mirajane panting heavily while Marissa was holding her in her arms.
"What's going on?" The male Saiyan asked.
"I-uh… I, might have gotten a little too carried away when we were image battling." Marissa nervously said.
"I'm fine… I was just so surprised by everything in our minds…" Mirajane assured with her eyes closed, holding her head.
"What did you do…?" Yusuke slightly demanded to the Earthling.
"I just went and pushed her a little more than usual… I, shouldn't have done that…" Marissa said, downcasted. "I'm sorry Mira…"
"It's okay Marissa, it was just so unexpected, that's all." Mirajane replied with a small smile.
"Well, as long as you're alright, it's fine I guess…" Yusuke said, crouching down to inspect the white-haired women closer. She looked at him with a smile that erased any worries in his mind, so he didn't budge any further.
"Still, it was an experience that I wouldn't mind doing again." The barmaid commented, and looked over at Erza who was next to her on the other side. "You should try it."
"... me? If it's to help the mind grow stronger then I am willing to try it." Erza answered after a moment.
"I think it's best if I continue taking a breather." Marissa said, looking towards Yusuke with a knowing look.
"Alright…" Yusuke sighed and stood up, pointing his thumb to an open area at Erza. "Let's go over there."
Erza nodded and stood up from her spot, following the male Saiyan just to the side. They both sat down on the grass, cross-legged and faced each other.
"You can start off, I'll join you soon." The male said.
"Right." Erza nodded, and lowered her head and closed her eyes. 'Clear your mind… and relax.'
Yusuke saw Erza let out an exhale and her body seemed to release any tension. Feeling that her energy was stagnant, he went ahead and closed his eyes while feeling her out.
When opening his eyes, Yusuke saw the same forest and field he was previously in. Standing up, he looked around to see no one else, until turning around and saw red in his vision. Erza was standing in front of the seemingless boundless field without the distant mountains in sight. Her hair blew from the wind, and he felt it too. Which was weird, they were inside of their mental state, weren't they? He was thinking that, but nevertheless, it was a warm sight for him.
"What do you think?" Yusuke called out, walking towards her as he saw her turn around to him, surprised.
"It… almost feels real. I've never really had this type of meditation before when I've only involved myself in magic." Erza said, looking at her hands and blinked.
"... it's been a bit since we've sparred against each other." The Saiyan said, walking closer to her, and a white aura came to life around him. "So let me see how strong your mind and willpower is, Erza."
Erza turned around fully to face him, and was about to try and use her Requip but-
"Don't use your magic." Yusuke abruptly said, catching her slightly off-guard. "This is a mental battle Erza. I'm trying to see how strong your mind and willpower is."
'I see… he's right. I resolved myself back at the Tower of Heaven to break out of that shell. This is a good chance to strengthen that resolve.' Erza thought with a smile of confidence, and white aura raged around her as she looked directly at the Saiyan. "Very well, here I come, Yusuke!"
Ki was constantly surging from both Erza and Yusuke as Marissa, Ann, and Mirajane all watched two from the side.
"It must be intense…" Mirajane mumurmed.
"If you're gonna be learning the Kaio-ken, this'll be part of it. Having a strong, sturdy mind helps a lot." Marissa commented.
"It's about to be over though." Ann commented, feeling Erza's Ki wilt by just a slight margin.
Marissa and Mirajane looked at the two sitting again just in time to see their Ki disperse, and Erza opened her eyes while she kept her hands on her knees, panting with some slight sweat on her. A few seconds later Yusuke came to consciousness and leaned back with his hands on the grass, letting out a breath to relax.
"Not easy, is it?" Yusuke asked with a grin.
"No, it isn't… but it wouldn't be training, would it?" Erza answered with a relaxed smile.
"You're right about that." He laughed, and looked to the side to see Marissa and Mirajane walking over to them.
"Looks like it went fine between you guys." Marissa commented.
"I've trained with them longer, I know how to do it right." The male Saiyan said with a deadpan tone.
"At least I tried. Whatever…" The Earthling pouted, crossing her arms and looked to the side.
"I could sure eat something right now though." Yusuke said, laying down on the grass now.
"I think we've been here long enough for today. How about we go back to the guild, and I'll make some stew for you?" Mirajane offered with a small chuckle, looking down at him while on her knees.
"Heh, haven't had that in awhile." He said with a grin, and lifted up his upper from the ground. "Alright, let's go to the guild."
"That does sound good, doesn't it?" Marissa asked, laying a hand on Ann's shoulder. "Spice it up a bit and you'd be downing that in an instant."
Ann perked up just the slightest, only small enough for Marissa to notice as she was directly talking to her while the other three were just a few feet away.
"Now that got your attention, didn't it?" Marissa quietly chuckled with a wide grin.
"It does sound good…" Ann muttered to the side, turning her head away from the Earthling as she crossed her arms.
"C'mon! Let's hurry! I'm famished as well! A good stroll back to the guild will make it taste even better!" The Earthling exclaimed, and began pushing Ann back into the forest, and back towards Magnolia.
"Mari…! I can walk by myself!" The female Saiyan lightly scolded, looking back at Marissa.
"This is more fun though!"
"Ugh…"
"And off we go as well!" Mirajane chirped, taking Yusuke's hand and helped in lifting him up from the ground.
"I may just have a souffle for myself today…" Erza pondered, having a hand on her chin in thought as she stood up, and began following the others back to the guild hall.
As a rainbow streak zipping through space came to a loud halt in the middle of a cosmos, the blue humanoid began to search through the orb of their staff.
"Oh my, it seems that we have a ways to go still."
"What?! You said we were almost there!"
"Apologies, My Lord. The rifts and energy coursing through reality and time makes this a bit more difficult. You'll have to bear with it a little longer."
"Grr…!"
The blue humanoid tapped his staff down, seemingly tapping it on solid ground despite the both of them floating out in the middle of space as it made a resonating chiming noise before rainbow enveloped the both of them once more and they set off to their destination.
"Wow! This looks amazing!" Lucy gushed, looking at the finished guitar in her hands as she held it out.
"He really did an amazing job at it, I hope Ann likes it!" Levy said, taking a closer look at the instrument in Lucy's hands, and deeply admired it.
A couple of hours had passed since Lucy and Levy had dropped off the base of the guitar to the shop owner. They had gone to the guild and then back to the shop after the time had passed, and found the guitar to be finished just in time.
The guitar itself didn't have a wood-like feel to it anymore, but an epoxy-like surface was added on top of it for a smooth feel and shiny look. But beneath that layer was the wooden part of the guitar with carved out designs on it. It wasn't too grand to the point it took the attention of the guitar itself away, but the abstract designs on it were made out to be a flower if one looked at the guitar on the right side of it far enough away. It wasn't just on the front of the guitar, but it continued on to just at the side of it and didn't go as far as the bottom, back, the top, or the other side of the guitar body. Six steel strings were now all attached on the front of that made its way from the black pickguard, across the soundhole, to the fretboard and then to the head of the instrument where the tuning keys were placed.
It was a simple, but an elegant design in the end that Lucy and Levy thought it would fit Ann perfectly. With the guitar in Lucy's possession, they both continued to make their way back the guild hall.
"I wonder if they're back yet." Levy asked, looking up at the bright but cloudy sky.
"Let's hope so, I really want to see the look on her face. She'll be really excited!"
"I'm hoping that happens too… and not reject it. We saw how she reacted of that video with her in it." The Solid Script mage said with doubt.
"Levy, it'll be fine! You saw how she enjoyed playing the guitar in that video, and so did I. I'm sure she'll love this." Lucy reassured with a confident grin.
"Yeah… you're right Lu. She'll enjoy it!" Levy responded with a smile of her own, some of her worries being put to rest.
As part of the everyday life of Fairy Tail, it was rowdy as always within the guild hall with the members talking amongst themselves while indulging in food and drinks. Several of them were currently heading out to do their own errands or on jobs that have chosen in the time being. Others were coming back to the guild after finishing jobs they had been on that varied from a day or longer. Including those with finishing up errands, such as Lucy and Levy as both girls were arriving at the entrance of the Fairy Tail guild hall.
"Now let's see if she's here…" Lucy said, scouting out the female Saiyan among all the other members that are currently crowding inside the guild hall. "Hmm…"
"Lu! Watch out!" Levy warned, pointing ahead of them.
"Huh?" Lucy looked at the direction Levy was pointing towards, and saw familiar pink hair being thrown towards her. "Ahh!"
The Celestial Mages eyes almost bulged out before she was able to maneuver herself and the guitar by stepping to the side, allowing Natsu to crash on the outside ground behind her.
"W-Where did he come from?"
"Gah! Gajeel, you jerk!" Natsu shouted in ire, and stood up to stomp his way back towards the guild before he spotted the blonde to his right. "Huh? Hey Lucy!"
"Watch where you're going, Natsu!" Lucy scolded.
"I couldn't help it when that asshole wants to pick a fight!" Natsu shouted once more towards the direction where he last saw Gajeel, only to find out that the Iron Dragonslayer was much closer than he expected.
"Hah…?! I'm ready for that rematch whenever, Salamander!" Gajeel challenged, bumping his forehead against Natsu's. "I'll kick your ass this time!"
"Go ahead and try you iron prick! It'll just be the same as last time!" Natsu retorted, pushing his forehead back against Gajeel's as they both gritted their teeth.
"Grr!... huh?" Gajeel looked to his left towards Lucy, and stood upright again, causing Natsu to fall forward on the wooden floor. "Hey blondie, what do you have there?"
"Huh? Oh this, it's just a guitar for-Hey!" Lucy was answering, but as she was looking at the guitar while doing so, Gajeel came out and took it out of her hands.
"Hmm, this looks pretty nice. I wonder how it sounds." Gajeel held the guitar to play, and was about to flick his wrist on the strings until two small hands gripped it to prevent him from playing it.
"Stop it Gajeel!" Levy said, raising her voice with gritted teeth as she held onto his arm. "There's only one person who gets to play this brand new guitar first and it's not going to be you!"
"Hah? What's the big idea, shrimp? It's just one note."
"No! Not right now!"
"Alright, fine, geez. If it's that important I won't play it." Gajeel relented and held the guitar by its neck to give back to Levy, who was about to take it back from him until-
"Gajeel…!" Natsu growled from the floor, and ignited his right fist on fire.
"Natsu, no!" Lucy screeched out.
FIRE DRAGON'S FI-
"Gahh-hahh!" Natsu was about to uppercut from the floor, until an armored boot kicked him away as he crashed on the ground outside again.
"What is with all of the commotion over here?" Erza came up to them with hands on her hips after she kicked Natsu away before any further damage was done.
"Erza!" Lucy called out in relief, and made a small sound of thought. 'Wait, if she's here, then…'
"Oh thank goodness…" Levy sighed, the anxiety going away from her stomach.
"That idiot, probably didn't even notice I still had this in my hand." Gajeel muttered, and brought down the guitar that he had raised in the air to try and prevent it from getting damaged.
"I'll just take that back-" Lucy reached out to finally take the guitar back but-
"What is this?" Erza was faster than her friend and took the instrument out of Gajeel's hand to inspect it.
'Oh no…' Lucy thought in fright.
"Ah, it's a guitar. I've never really played one before." Erza said, and was about to swing her hand on the strings until-
"No! Erza, don't!" Lucy went and practically hugged the redheads arm to prevent it from moving any further.
"L-Lucy? What's wrong…?" Erza stammered, and a bit stunned as she looked at the blonde with some sweat dropping.
"This guitar is for someone else, and it's brand new too that's been made from scratch! So it hasn't been played yet, and we want it to be that someone else to try it out first!"
"Who is it for exactly?" Erza asked.
"It's for Ann!" Lucy harshly whispered.
"Hah?!"
"Wha-?!"
Surprised, both Gajeel and Erza looked towards the bar where the female Saiyan was currently sitting at. With Lucy and Levy following their direction by looking at the bar, all four was witnessing Ann grabbing Yusuke by the collar of his jacket. With the guild being noisy as always, they couldn't hear exactly what she was shouting, but a visible laugh from the male Saiyan caused Ann to huff and throw him back in his seat.
"You sure? She doesn't seem to be the type to play it." Gajeel skeptically asked.
"I have to agree with Gajeel. Ann seems too… w-well…" Erza trailed off with guilt.
"Yeah, we get it, she doesn't look like it but she does enjoy playing it." Lucy defended.
"If we weren't sure at all we wouldn't be doing this for her. Now give it back to us so we can give it to her!" Levy snapped at Erza, which surprised the redhead completely by her outburst. When the blue-haired petite realized it, she gasped and gave a worried look. "I-I'm sorry…!"
"No... I should be the one apologizing to you both. I was too selfish, thinking I could do whatever I want. It seems really precious that the both of you went through the effort for her." Erza reassured, and fondly looked at the guitar before giving an irritated look at the Iron Dragonslayer. "And I assume you were doing the same foolish thing I was about to do. Apologize, Gajeel!"
"Urk…! My bad…" Gajeel said, flinching and rubbed the back of his neck while looking away.
"Here you go, Lucy." Erza said, relaxing when the blonde let go of her and gave her the guitar.
"Phew, thanks Erza." Lucy sighed in relief.
"GAH! Erza!" Natsu's voice heard by them and they looked see him charging.
"Eek! Natsu, stop!" Lucy pleaded.
"Honestly…" Erza sighed, and formed a small Ki orb in her hand and casually threw it at the Fire Dragonslayer.
"Huh? A-Ahh!" Natsu only got halfway before he was thrown back again.
"Go ahead you two, I'm sure she'll like it from the both of you." Erza said towards Levy and Lucy with a smile.
"Yeah, let's go, Levy!" Lucy said, and began heading towards the bar.
"Right behind you!" Levy did just as she said, and promptly joined behind her to head towards the bar.
'I just hope nothing else happens between us… huh?' Just as Lucy looked to her right, Macao and Wakaba suddenly collapsed on the ground "E-Eh?!"
The Celestial wizard yelped and jumped a bit in the air just in time while hugging the guitar. She looked down at both men to see their faces flushed with swirly eyes, no doubt that they've been drinking too much already this part of the day.
"Dad, you're already too drunk…" Romeo, Macao's son, whined with worry, looking from his seat.
"Hehe, they're fine Romeo. No need to worry about them." Cana said with a large grin, downing a mug of beer from the other side of the table.
'That was close…' Lucy thought almost frantically, some sweat dripping down her face.
"Lu! What are you waiting for?" Levi asked, coming up behind her.
"Uh, nothing. C'mon!" The blonde said, and continued heading for the bar while looking back at the table with Cana and Romeo sitting there.. 'It must be my imagination…'
"Ah! Lucy, watch out!" Levy called out, pointing ahead of her.
"Huh?" Lucy looked ahead again as soon as Levy said something, and looked to see Kinana crossing her path. "Ah!"
"Oh!" Kinana, who was holding a tray of drinks and dishes of food in her hand, raised her arms just in time, dodging Lucy by having the tray just above her head. From the swift movement, the glasses and mugs swerved a bit on the tray and the dishes tilted side to side. A few drops of liquid from their containers and the sauces from the food on the dishes dripped down.
With Lucy still hugging the instrument to protect it with closed eyes, she felt some things fall on her head, and slowly opened her eyes to see Kinana holding the trays above her.
"Lucy, I'm so sorry! Are you alright?!" Kinana asked her in fright.
"Y-Yeah… I think so…" Lucy replied, and quickly looked at the guitar in her hands to see it in one piece. When finding out that the instrument was fine, she made a sigh of relief. 'Good, it's still safe…'
"Sorry for being so clumsy, I should be more cautious of my surroundings…" Kinana said, downcasted.
"N-No! I was the one who wasn't looking forward. I'll have to pay attention more myself next time." The blonde responded with a nervous chuckle. "Continue working hard Kinana, you're doing great!"
"O-Oh! Thanks!" Kinana said with an upbeat expression back in her, and saw Lucy walk past her with Levy not far behind.
"Are you sure you're alright Lucy? Talk about bad luck…" Levy asked with worry.
"It's all fine… as long as the guitar is safe, ehehe…" Lucy said with a nervous laugh. Then, she went and touched her hair with a bit of a saddened look, and smelled a mixture of alcohol and the sauce from the food. 'Oh man… it's all dirty now…'
However, that sorrowness was washed away when the guild bar was finally close in her sights. Lucy made a gasp of relief when she saw both Saiyan's practically in front of her. She could feel tears at the corner of her eyes, and went to wipe her eyes with her free hand, that was also still dirty from touching her now-disheveled hair.
'Finally…' Lucy thought in bliss and relief. "Ann!'
"Huh?" The female Saiyan turned the stool to looked behind her, and widened her eyes when she saw a dirty haired, panting Lucy. "L-Lucy...?"
"Whoa… you look like you went through hell Lucy. What happened?" Yusuke asked with a small laugh.
"Shut it, you!" Lucy scolded at the male Saiyan while pointing at him, surprising both Ann and Yusuke.
"Lu! You made it!" Levy said with relief.
"Levy? What is going on you two?" Ann asked, and saw the blonde walk up to her looking like she was out of breath. When Lucy was finally in front of her, the female Saiyan saw her forming a smile that surprised her again, and she held out the object that was in her hands.
"Here." Lucy held out the instrument in her hands, to Ann's further surprise when she saw a beautifully carved, wooden, acoustic guitar.
'... the details on that is incredible… w-wait, is this-?!' Ann slowly came back from her stupor and looked at the blonde directly. "Lucy… what-"
"It's for you, Ann!" Levy interrupted, appearing behind the Celestial wizard with a large smile.
"For me?" The female Saiyan said, stunned.
"I didn't know you played guitar." Yusuke commented.
"We didn't either until Marissa showed us." Levy said, and she saw Ann narrow her eyes dangerously. Realizing what she had said, Levy took a small step back with a nervous smile. "Oh, oops..."
"Mari, huh?" Ann stood up with shadowed eyes, and the three saw her walking towards the kitchen behind the bar.
A few moments passed as Yusuke, Lucy, and Levy looked at the double wooden doors until the male Saiyan felt a spike in power for a split moment from Ann before hearing a loud yelp from the Earthling.
"Ow! What was that for?! You almost made me spill the eggs!" Marissa whined loudly from the kitchen, causing Lucy and Levy to wince. The doors moved again to reveal the female Saiyan with an annoyed look on her face as she walked back to her stool.
"Lucy… Levy, I don't know what to say." Ann arrived in front of both of them while looking at the guitar that was still in Lucy's hands.
"You don't have to say anything! You were so good at playing, we thought it'd be nice to make one for you." Lucy said.
"Make?" Ann questioned with curiosity.
"Yeah! We asked Laki with her Wood Make Magic to get us started, then we went to the local music shop to finish it up. This is the end result!" Levy explained.
"Sounds like they went through a bit of effort, I'm interested in hearing you play." Yusuke said, supporting Lucy and Levy.
Ann did see the effort both women put in. She definitely couldn't deny that the work and design on the guitar was amazing in her mind. But she was still hesitant. For her, playing the guitar was really enjoyable, and loved playing it after picking up on it after joining the Time Patrol for a few months. She has never shared that fact though, and the only other person who knew during that time was Marissa, who she had deeply connected with. The Earthling tried to support her saying that she'd do great if she opened up more, but unfortunately Ann was too stubborn to even do it.
But here, in an entirely new world she has come across while interacting with the people living here, it might be different. It might be… more relaxing.
'Maybe it won't be so bad…' Ann deeply thought as she continued eyeing the guitar. With a small smile creeping up on her, she reached out to the instrument and carefully grabbed under it. Lucy allowed her to take it, and could see the smallest of smiles on the female Saiyan's features.
As Ann took the guitar and looked at it closer, there was something that Yusuke saw that he had never seen in her before. Simply put, it was a really joyful look on her. Her eyes didn't have that hard gaze she mostly had, but instead it was as if she was a little girl who was excited about getting a brand new toy for her birthday. It was a new side of the female Saiyan that took him by surprise, and he wondered if there were any other sides of her he hadn't seen yet. He saw her step back to sit on the stool again, and propped her feet on the support that held the legs in place.
Positioning the guitar on her lap so that the carved side of it was towards the direction of her head, Ann went ahead and went ahead and played the instrument with her right hand while her left was on the neck. Her fingers tugged on the strings before she went and tuned the keys to her liking on the head of the guitar. Testing out the instrument again she tugged on the six strings that were all harmonic together as she moved her fingers. She hadn't realized it herself, but she kept on playing…
And playing…
And playing…
And playing more to the point where she could only hear the instrument and nothing else.
The guild's upbeat and rowdiness came to halt as the sounds slowly died down when members began to hear an acoustic guitar playing at the bar. One by one they all looked to see Ann playing the instrument away in a rather upbeat manner, and as they listened several of them began tapping their foot on the wooden floor from the rhythm that was played. A crowd began to form around the bar area, still leaving space for the female Saiyan and settled around where Lucy and Levy stood, both of their faces lighting up at Ann playing.
From the kitchen, both Mirajane and Marissa came out to inspect what was going on, wondering about sounds of a guitar being played and the guild being quiet for a long moment. While the barmaid herself was looking clean, the same couldn't be said for the Earthling as egg and cake batter was all over her. When they both finally looked to see the source, the former was rather surprised by seeing Ann playing an acoustic guitar so effectively and so cheery while the latter formed a large grin, happy to see her friend showing off her skills to everyone else.
As everyone watched with a smile, Ann herself had her eyes closed while her left leg that was free from supporting the guitar moved up and down by the beat. It was perfect, with the way she kept playing the instrument it's almost as if she had been playing that specific one all of her life, and she loved it. It was an escape that she had missed feeling when she arrived on Earthland unexpectedly.
No, even before Earthland she hadn't quite felt this free in awhile… as she could recall, it was before she had learned that the Hero of TokiToki city had supposedly died.
Ann played her last note as it went on longer by strumming it. A long moment passed as the sound died down was when she finally opened her eyes, and gasped to see a large crowd had formed in front of her.
All of a sudden, loud clapping erupted throughout the guildhall, surprising the female Saiyan as she slowly looked side to side to see all the cheers directed towards her. Leaving her speechless, she felt her face heating up from all of the attention she was receiving, and was practically hugging the guitar out of embarrassment.
'Now that's something you don't see everyday as well…' Yusuke thought with a small smile, looking at Ann's expression, still sitting on the stool and was hiding behind the instrument.
'Who knew she could make that kind of face, it's rather adorable.' Erza amusedly thought, looking at the red face on the female Saiyan.
'She actually did it! Yes! Just hear all of those cheers!' Marissa thought, clapping along with everyone else, despite her hands being sticky and dirty from food.
"I knew she was good! That was amazing Ann!" Lucy complimented.
"I'm glad we did this, she really looked like she enjoyed herself!" Levy said, and held up a hand in front of the blonde, and they both high-fived each other with a big smile on their face.
Ann listened on to the continued cheers and compliments from almost everyone in front of her. She peeked ahead at the clapping crowd from the instrument and without her realizing it, she was smiling for everyone to see.
"Here you go!" Mirajane presented two large bowls of beef stew, one looking like it'll warm the heart and rejuvenate someone and the other looking more redder than the other that could give someone a good kick in their palette. She presented the one that was more redder in color in front of Ann while the other in front of Yusuke.
"Alright, this looks delicious!" Yusuke said in delight, and picked up the spoon near him to test out the broth. "Thanks for the meal!'
"Thank you, Mirajane." Ann said, picking up a spoon as well and went to try the spicy broth.
"It's no problem! You were wonderful just now Ann, I never would have thought you played the guitar." Mirajane complimented with a giggle. "Perhaps we should perform with each other sometime."
"You play one as well?" The female Saiyan asked, putting the spoon in her mouth and fully tasting the stew for the first time. She shuddered in delight from the kick of heat and went back for more.
"Every now and then. It's really only when there's something to celebrate and to lighten the mood in the guild up a bit."
"She sings as well, it's really relaxing when she does." Lucy chimed in, sitting next to Ann.
"Combining that while she plays the guitar and it soothes everyone in the guild to just listen to her." Levy added in, sitting next to Lucy as she leaned on the counter to get a view of everyone else.
"Perhaps one day then, Mirajane. I'll take you up on that." Ann said, smiling towards the barmaid.
"Sounds great!" Mirajane responded with a large smile, and looked closer at the female Saiyan while she looked back with wonder. "You should smile more often Ann, it suits you."
"E-Eh?" Taken aback, Ann spilled some of the broth and vegetables from her spoon back into the bowl and looked at Mirajane in surprise, while the white-haired women simply responded with a small laugh and went to take care of Cana who wanted another refill from her mug at the side of the bar.
Yusuke made a small chuckle to himself as he ate some beef and carrots that were pooled in broth in his spoon as he eyed the interaction between the two. As he chewed, he looked to the other side to see Erza sitting there with her chin propped on her hand, with no food in front of her whatsoever besides a glass of half empty water.
"The kid still isn't done yet?" Yusuke asked, swallowing the food.
"Unfortunately not." Erza laughed in response and looked at him. "But I do not mind waiting a few more minutes. Making a souffle is not an easy task overall. It takes patience and caution."
"Want some of Mira's stew in the meantime?" Yusuke offered, and slid the bowl near the redhead for her to smell.
"Well, if it's from you I suppose I don't mind." Erza accepted with a smile, and took the spoon from her boyfriends hand and allowed herself to indulge in Mirajane's stew. It was amazingly delicious just as she suspected, no less from the barmaid herself. Erza uncrossed her legs only to cross them again the opposite way as she continued sharing the bowl of beef stew with the male Saiyan in comfort.
It was a normal day of life in the Fairy Tail guild hall for everyone to enjoy and relax in the cool weather. Nothing too eventful was going on for anyone to worry about, and today is a rare day where the more notorious Fairy Tail members weren't taking a job currently and was simply hanging back for the day.
Gray was talking to Wendy, Carla, and Happy with the blue Exceed nibbling on the raw fish that he had. Just next to them, Natsu and Gajeel continued facing off against each other with an arm wrestle between both of them with Pantherlily overseeing who was cheating or not and who was going to win.
Juvia did her usual stalking on the Ice-Maker mage from behind a pillar, that is until Lisanna came up to converse with her. Elfman was off to the side with Max and Warren, talking about what it takes to be a man among mans. The Thunder God Tribe of Bickslow, Evergreen, and Freed were nearby talking as well, with the woman in the team yelling at Elfman to pipe it down.
No one fully knew how it happened, and they definitely did not expect it. Not even the Time Patrollers themselves with their supernatural abilities. Was it their carelessness of having their guards dropped? Or was it the feeling that such a lively place around them caused too much comfort for them to notice?
Whatever the case, every single person was about to witness the unfathomable events very, very soon as two beings currently stood in front of the bar, but behind the people sitting there. Two of them, looking at two other people. More specifically, both Time Patrollers.
"That looks rather delicious, mind sharing some as well?"
"Yeah, it's delicious alright. How about I ask Mira to make you some?" Yusuke said with a grin, looking back at both figures before hollering at the barmaid. "Hey Mira! Could you make some more stew for Whis and Lord Beerus here? ... ...huh?"
And as soon those words were said from Yusuke's mouth, Ann choked on the stew she was enjoying and violently began coughing, dropping her spoon and covering her mouth. Lucy and Levy cried out in worry for her before they saw Ann whip around from her seat to see the aforementioned people in shock.
Yusuke stood up from his stool, knocking it over in fright as it suddenly surprised Erza. With wide, shaking eyes, he and Ann, as well as several other members in the guild that would soon have everyone's attention, saw the God of Destruction and his attendant standing before them.
"I finally found you Time Patrollers."
I took the fact that Ann knows to play guitar a lot further than a couple chapters ago. Now, I do want to apologize first for any guitar players out there, I don't play the instrument myself and did a little bit of research from the handy internet myself to make it sound like I... kind of know what I'm typing up...? Either way, an apology to those who might have cringed from the descriptions I gave out, it's kind of hard portraying what type of music I had Ann played, but try to imagine it the acoustic part of the song "If It Means A Lot To You" by 'A Day To Remember' before the bass, drums and electric part comes in about 3 minutes into the song.
I've never really touched on Image Training and the same could probably be said in the DBverse. They did so rarely in the show that there isn't too depth of an experience to describe it alot. Now, feeling the environment might be a bit illogical when it comes to an Image Battle from what I typed but I thought it was a nice touch.
it's been awhile since I put some humor in the story and it was actually fun writing out the "quest" that Lucy and Levy had to go through when giving Ann her guitar.
And then, lo and behold, Yes! Beerus and Whis Finally comes into the story, it's official!
A lot of background is going to be uncovered by them that will put the Time Patrollers in a tough situation. Obviously, I'm not gonna reveal anything until the next chapter.
That's all I have to it for this chapter. The next will be up soon, no promises if it'll take the same time or sooner or later, but it WILL be posted, I promise.
It's been pretty quick that I updated actually, so not too sure what I'd wish... oh yeah! The final season of Fairy Tail has finally arrived! Maybe if I could, I'd bring the entire season, already animated and voiced and edited and all of that and share it with everyone so that we don't have to wait every week! Despite knowing the ending of Fairy Tail, it's still fun to watch it.
Until then!
Timestamp: October 11, 2018.
