Reading Key:

Speaking - "I shall defeat you with the power of friendship! And this gun I found!"

Thinking - 'I am the Mega Man version of a power ranger!'

Voice of the world - [Query: Are you a boy, or are you a girl?]

Transformed and/or shouting voice - "I'm a boy! And why did you just reference Pokemon!?"

Disclaimer: I do not own; Fairy tail, Mega Man or any other works of fiction mentioned in this fanfic. If I did I wouldn't be writing bad fanfics in the first place.

Scene Change: Forest Southeast of Magnolia, Training ground, Year x 760

POV: Rep

I will say this once and only once.

I hate the butterfly effect. And I am quite sure that I always will.

I realized a little bit earlier, but this timing is all wrong. Macao and Wakaba should be kids at this point, not teenagers already. They were in their early twenties when Natsu joined the guild so that means that the years are all off. Me being in this world is already affecting it in ways I can't imagine, even if I never left the forest that I found myself in.

What else is different because of this? And what else will change? I honestly have no clue, and while I'm sure some things are set in stone like Zeref and Mavis since they already happened a long time ago. I still can't predict what will happen from this point on, that means that me growing stronger is even more important since I need to be prepared for what the world will throw my way.

I wasn't even able to predict just how strong Macao and Wakaba were. Seriously, I have to give it my all just to pull out a draw against the both of them. I couldn't ever win against them, and considering that they're the strongest members in canon before the A-class mages that are sent to Tenryou, I guess it's not entirely unexpected.

Still it's incredibly disheartening. I am constantly losing to them as I am now, when later from now Natsu shows up and beats them as a child. I mean, he is that strong and can beat both of them all the while Erza and Mira have that same Natsu completely terrified with their mere presence. The gap is just way too wide, I might not ever be able to catch up if this is my pace of improvement with every fragment, even if I weren't caught in the seven years and were allowed to train I would wind up being another Max in the end. That is if the bubble ever happens in the first place

I mean seriously, this is just pathetic.

I can say with certainty that I'll be able to master Model X by the end of this year thanks to Macao and Wakaba if I keep this pace, but still. I can't beat both of them, let alone at the same time and my rate of improvement, despite being 'boosted' as the system from before said, I am still not growing stronger fast enough.

Oh, that reminds me.

I was able to beat both Macao and Wakaba once each, but only in one on one. And even then they were holding back, or at least that's what they said and since their attacks don't really match their reserves, at least according to HUD. I'm inclined to believe them. Due to beating the both of them I was able to copy their magics using the 'Variant Weapons System' and be able to fire attacks that are just like their magics from my buster.

But I was only able to fire them from my buster, and unable to shoot the attacks from anywhere else. I couldn't use my hand, and when I tried to shoot it from my mouth like a dragon roar I only ended up burning my throat. Luckily I can heal myself with any sunlight I have in store. That day was just full of sunbathing to get rid of all the burns I was putting on myself.

Speaking of burns, where the heck are they? Usually they're here by now.

"Hey what're you doing out here?" Asked an unfamiliar voice.

Turning around to take a look at the new voice, I see a blonde kid dressed in an animal print shirt and blue shorts. He looked a little familiar but I can't quite put my finger on it.

"Training," I answered his question. "You shouldn't be in here, it's dangerous."

As I say that and walk to the kid, he starts to look angry and lights up like a christmas tree. Lightning zipping off of him, as he approached.

"I'm not weak, are you the guy who trained Macao and Wakaba?" asked the kid angry at the insinuation he's weak. Prideful and uses lightning magic, is this who I think it is?

"I don't know anything about training them, but they do come here to train from time to time. and since you're a mage I guess you can stick around." I say realizing who this kid is and that he could probably protect himself. "Just stick close by, the vulcan travel in groups sometimes and you'll end up getting overwhelmed if you wander too close to a group, even if you are a Dreyar."

As I said that the kid looked surprised at the fact that I could recognize him, his magic dissipating due to it.

"How do you know my name?" asked the now identified kid Laxus. "Nobody ever recognizes me, only my dad and grandpa."

"Your hair, it's a dead giveaway." I say half-lying. "Your family is pretty famous ya know."

As I finish saying that, I get back to practicing my movements. Fighting an imaginary opponent and ingraining the attacks into my instincts just that little bit more.

"I heard Macao and Wakaba train here to get stronger," He explained. "I want to get stronger too."

That explains it a bit, though why would he want to use Macao and Wakaba's methods? He should be stronger than them as is. Why come here?

"They do come here a lot to train, but not to get stronger." I say, before moving to elaborate while still going through the motions, having HUD analyze the surrounding area in case any vulcan gets too close.

"It's to help me get stronger, they don't really need to come here to train. They just help me out since I saved Macao that one time."

"Then you're strong?" He asked, confusion clear in his voice. Does he not have his sensory abilities yet? He should be able to sense that there isn't much etherion in me.

"Kinda, but I need to get stronger, it's the whole reason why I'm still in this forest and not part of a guild."

"Can I get stronger if I train with you?" He asked, with an unreadable tone to his voice.

"Maybe," I said as I measured the recoil of my Charge Buster at different levels, silmutaneously firing in directions that HUD says vulcan were. With them being close enough for my blast to hit them and ward them off.

"I can't help you with your magic though."

"But you train with Macao and Wakaba, their magic gets stronger when they train here." He stated, as if that was the whole reason they got stronger.

"I help them practice their fighting." I explain, moving to practice my Charge Shots in the air. "Their magic doesn't get stronger, they get stronger themselves. I don't help them with their magic."

"But, I'll still get stronger if I train with you." He says, "Can you train me?"

"Sure, I can train with you." I said stopping my motions while emphasizing the word. "I don't think I can teach you anything besides how to fight better."

"When can we start?" He asked

"Anytime," I said, shrugging "I don't really do much besides what you've seen me do since you got here."

"Can we start now?"

"Sure."

Scene Change: Road leading Southeast of Magnolia, Same Time.

POV: Macao

"We're late." I say, while walking down the road that I've been taking for the past year now. "Wakaba, I know you're enjoying having a girlfriend now, but still that doesn't mean we can just leave that kid alone without checking in."

"Sorry Macao." Apologized Wakaba. "My girl really didn't want me to go out today, something about her 'not trusting me to stay faithful'."

"She doesn't know about Rep?" I ask, confused about why he hasn't told her about the kid. "I told my wife about him, and she's ok with me watching the kid from time to time. Maybe your girlfriend would be the same?"

"Yeah, no." Wakaba said, shaking his head in exasperation. "Whenever she talks about kids, its always in a bad way. She hates kids, it's the reason why I'm never gonna have any. Unlike you."

That's right, my wife is pregnant. I still can't believe it, I'm going to be a dad at eighteen. We are definitely not ready for this. Not to mention her constitution wouldn't really be able to handle it, I can only hope that the medi-mages are able to keep her alive through the pregnancy.

"Still, I'm pretty sure that we're the only ones that Rep has that worries about him." I say, speeding up a bit. "Remember? He's been in that forest for years now, and yet we haven't met anyone that takes care of the kid."

"Yeah, I know" Replied Wakaba, "But still he can take care of himself, you of all people should know that."

"Just because he's strong, doesn't mean he should be alone Wakaba." I say, remembering my life before Fairy Tail. "Nobody can handle being alone forever."

Scene Change: Forest Southeast of Magnolia, Training Ground, 20 minutes later.

POV: Macao

I heard the sounds of training from the grounds that me and Wakaba have been going to almost everyday for the past year, we were still a little ways away though so I can't see anything in the field yet. Makes sense that there would be noise like that though, Rep would usually be training there by the time me and Wakaba get there.

"Hah!"

Wait, that sounded like the master's grandson. What was his name? Laxus?

"You're still off balance, what have I said about positioning?" Oh, that was Rep. Wait, is he training Master's grandson?

"Right, please again."

"No," Wow, never heard Rep sound so stern before. "For now you need to rest, you'll only hurt yourself if you keep going."

I hear the kid whining as me and Wakaba walk into the clearing, with the sight of Rep standing over Master's grandson with his arms closed being the first thing we see.

"Hey Rep!" Shouted Wakaba as we walked to him. "Sorry we're late, had a few things to deal with before coming."

"Don't worry, it's not a problem." Said Rep turning to us with a hip cocked to the side, he still hasn't changed a bit even though it's been a year since we met, heck if anything he probably looks even younger. "Though, you could've told me you told Laxus about me. It would've been nice to have a bit of time to prepare."

Huh?

"What do you mean Rep?" I ask, a little confused. "We haven't really told anyone, at least not that we were training with you."

"Then how do you explain this?" He said while pointing at Laxus who was glaring at the sky while lying on his back. "He said something about the two of you coming here and getting stronger because of it."

"Oh, yeah" Said Wakaba, remembering something I don't. "Master was asking about where we go every day after a job, had to explain that we went here and that we were training."

"I don't remember that," I say, before continuing. "When did that happen?"

"You were already out, to take care of your wife. Master was only asking me since I was available."

"Huh, guess he overheard you talk about that then."

"Still doesn't explain why he thinks I can help him get stronger." Rep says, "Just what did you say to master Makarov Wakaba?"

"Other than that we trained here?" Said Wakaba, still relaxed as always. "Well I told him how, you training with us helped us get so much stronger. We really do owe this to ya."

"I didn't really do much though?" asked Rep tilting his head in confusion, I don't think he realizes he picked up my habit. "All I do is give you guys a sparring partner."

"Yeah," I interrupt. "But to be fair, nobody in the guild is able to keep up with us, let alone together like you can."

"It's still nothing too special, my goal is to beat both of you without needing to go all out like I do now just to have a draw."

At the statement both me and Wakaba blanche a little, since we're the strongest members of the guild outside of GIldarts. Even Laxus is surprised at the statement, though honestly the kid is still a little angry so he looks more like he's constipated than surprised.

"Aiming high aren't ya?" Said Wakaba, obviously surprised like I am. "Just how strong are you aiming to become?"

"Yes."

"That's not an answer." I say confused.

"Yes it is, you asked how strong I want to be." Said Rep with a raised hand before he closed it into a fist. "My answer is 'yes', the pursuit of power is neverending. There is always someone stronger, and I never want to end up meeting them unprepared."

"Huh, that's deep." Agreed, though why is a kid of all people so focused on growing stronger? Did something happen to him?

"There is always someone stronger?" Oh, forgot Laxus was here. "What do you mean 'there is always someone stronger'?"

"There will always be someone stronger than you, it's just a fact of life." Said Rep, looking at Laxus with a strange expression. "No matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger. That's what makes growing have purpose, why you should always train, always."

"There is always someone stronger." Repeated Laxus, "Got it."

Huh, look at that. Laxus is actually listening to Rep, he never listens to anyone besides Master and Laxus' father. And since this is Rep we're talking about, Laxus finally has a good role model. Nothing against master but he's not exactly a good role model with all of his drinking and the less said about him the better. Rep has a really good work ethic, otherwise he wouldn't be in this forest training. Especially since he's been at it for years now.

"Since you're here now and Laxus is resting, the usual?" Asked Rep after turning to us, oh boy. I know that look, and it seems that training Laxus didn't tire him out at all. "All out, and I have a few ideas I need to test out. Maybe they'll give me the chance to beat you guys this time."

Taking a look at Wakaba, I can tell he's thinking the same thing. This is going to suck.

POV Change: Rep.

Laxus was pretty fun to train with for a bit. But in all honesty, it was a little disappointing. I thought he could last for at least a couple minutes, even if he's a kid right now.

Turns out, he doesn't really exhibit his extreme levels of power that he had shown in canon. At least not right now, I'm guessing he needs to mature some in order to be able to use it? Or am I forgetting something?

Anyways, training with Laxus gave me some ideas for my dash jets. And Macao and Wakaba couldn't have been more convenient in their timing, this is the perfect chance to try them out.

"Ready?" Asked Wakaba, having a new cigarette out and smoking already.

"Go!" I shouted, while dashing towards Macao. With him jumping to the side, thinking that I was going to open with a dash punch like I usually do.

I jump up as Wakaba uses the opening to throw a Smoke Crush at me from behind. While trying to use the idea I got from training Laxus, and imagining the same stopper I use on my buster except this time in my dash jets.

As I do this, Macao throws a Purple Rain at me, and Wakaba using another Smoke Crush to cut off my ways of escape, knowing how I use my buster to change my direction while mid-air. Usually I would do just that, but I'm charging my boots so I can't use the jets to supplement the change in momentum. Instead I focus a shot and using the laser form of the shot I, for lack of a better word, cut the smoke while letting the Purple Rain hit me in the back, knowing my armor can withstand the blow.

Still it knocks out some of my energy reserves, and I have less to work with after that. Note to self: avoid tanking attacks like that.

Using the recoil from the blast knocking me forward, I use an uncharged buster shot to stabilize the motion and land on my feet. As soon as I do, I notice that there's another Smoke Crush heading my way. Thinking that the charge might finally be done, I let loose and dash to the side to dodge.

Except I overshot my destination and instead end up right in front of Macao.

Oops.

Quickly adapting to the surprising amount of force from what I have deemed the charge dash, I throw a fist into Macao's gut using him to stop some of the momentum before morphing my arm into Buster mode and firing, negating the rest while simultaneously getting another attack off on Macao, launching him back with the full force hitting him from point blank.

"Woah," Laxus was already up? Talk about tenacious, I worked him into the ground. "How did you do that?"

Before I could answer, I was hit in the back yet again, this time from Wakaba's Smoke Crush. Lowering my reserves that much more, and causing me to almost fall over if it weren't for me using a small dash to act as a stablizer. I'm getting careless, I let them hit me twice just because I wanted to test something. Time to take this a little bit more seriously.

I switch to Purple Flare mode while pointing my buster at Macao keeping the change in color of my Buster hidden to Wakaba. I use a dash to move backwards risking another hit to my back, knowing that Wakaba needs more time to gather the smoke needed for another Crush volley. As I do so I charge up my Buster while ordering HUD to warn me when I get within range of Wakaba for a sticky round Purple Flare shot and ready myself for an improvised attack. This will either make or break my win.

As I get the notification from HUD I notice Macao getting up, finally managing to shake off the shock from the sudden impact, before I use a few small bursts from my dash jets to turn around mid-air and fire a shot from my Buster's version of Macao's Purple Flare at Wakaba landing the hit since he couldn't see it, and latching a rope of my own purple fire on him. After using another dash to increase my momentum I move past Wakaba, and swing him around using the rope, launching him right at Macao.

I'll admit it was a little funny to watch it happen, seeing Wakaba flying through the air screaming like a little girl as he smashes into a Macao who just got up.

Activating my Buster's Smoke Crush mode, I launch a volley of fists made of smoke from my Buster, using the smoke that Wakaba left behind to compensate for a lack of ammo since I need the same amount of time to charge. Due to them still reeling from the impact the attack lands, and knocks them into each other as they are in the process of getting back to their feet.

Keeping my Buster trained on them until the smoke clears I see that they went down again. But this time they didn't get back up. I won.

I won.

I beat them using their own magics at that.

As the thought finally sets in, I fall on my butt releasing a breath I didn't realize I was holding, completely exhausted, HUD beaming more info into my head as I fall. Even though the bout was a short one it was still tiring, not to mention my reserves were knocked down to less than half due to all the hits I was taking and the quick changes between Buster modes. Note to self, train in base even if only a little bit, according to HUD that should increase my energy reserves while transformed.

Not to mention I'm probably defenceless while I'm in base, and I don't want to risk not being able to fight if I don't have access to the biometals for any reason.

"How did you do that?" asked Laxus, his voice being a bit off though I guess that's probably since he just saw me one v two a pair of A-rank mages.

"Practice, and lots of it." I said, not lying. "A lot of luck too, that attack I used on Macao was untested and the fact that it worked at all was a miracle by itself."

"Kid, you used an untested spell on me?" Asked Macao, still lying on the floor, his voice displaying how incredulous he is. "How the heck did you come up with that in the first place?"

"I saw Laxus' lightning magic and remembered a little technique I saw a long time ago." I explained half-lying. "It's called shunpo or flash step, the punch right at the end of it was in all honesty an accident. I was just trying to stop my momentum."

"'Stop his momentum' he says," said Wakaba now sitting up, unlike Macao who is still lying on his back. It still confuses me how these guys can recover so quickly. "More like launching a freakin' super punch and hitting Macao like a runaway train. Not to mention you used our own magic against us. That was embarrassing."

"Hey, I almost fell on my face doing that." I retorted, feeling a little defensive though I honestly don't know why. "It's not like I can just point and shoot and win, I have to have options."

"Options?" Asked Laxus

"You can't just fight in a single way, that's just asking for someone to beat you using your own fighting style against you." I explain to the kid, still staring at the sky while sitting. "It's how I was able to predict what Macao and Wakaba were going to do, we've been sparring for so long that they became predictable."

"And you stayed completely unpredictable," Said Macao, finally sitting up. "Seriously even after a year sparring with you I still can't get a read on what you're gonna do even when not fighting."

"Nah, you guys are starting to predict my moves already, remember? " I denied, remembering how they had fought me in the previous bout. "You keep on cutting my escape options off, it's just your magic's limitations that allow me to dodge or deflect them most of the time."

"Yeah, but it still feels like we can't."

"True you just move in such a weird way, as if you treat even the air like its normal ground."

"That's an idea." I say, after hearing Macao's strange phrase.

"Oh no." I hear both of them say, why would they say that?

"You mind helping me test this out?"

"This is your fault, Macao!"

"Sorry."

A/N:

So, I feel like I should explain a few things such as Rep being so good at fighting and things like Macao, Wakaba and Laxus being older or born sooner than in canon.

In truth, them being older was an accident, I didn't mean for that to happen but it does open a few things that I can play with and bring some new stuff into the story instead of just having it follow canon, instead some things will change and now have a reason and precedent. So, happy accident I guess.

As for Rep being so good at combat that would be due to a combination of things most of which have to do with him being from our world and the biometals. Essentially, Rep learned about theoreticals on combat on Earth, combined with all the creative ways to fight he would see in fiction stories and anime, especially JoJo. This would end up combining with the fact that, the biometals, while not containing their consciousness, still contains their "combat data" meaning the literal centuries of combat experience that X has is seeping through into him so he is able to fight the way he does with confidence thanks to that.

This would only be compounded later when he accesses Zero too since Zero would have just as much if not more experience in combat due to him being operational for an extra war than X. And as for abilities that aren't really there in the actual Mega Man games or things along those lines, like the Charge Dash, that I introduced this chapter, I wanted to have Rep be able to experiment with the powers the biometals give him.

As always, thanks for reading and sorry for the long A/N. I don't like making these be so long since it artificially lengthens the word count, I just felt I should have this here for an explanation in case anyone is confused about why Rep is so good at fighting and able to come up with these crazy maneuvers on the fly.