A/N: And here we are with another chapter! Ah, just in case you missed it, I did post two chapters on the 23rd, so if it seems like you missed something when reading this chapter, you might just have.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 9: Punk Cubed

May 8th, X784

Fog rolled into Salvia Village, obscuring the sun in an eerie haze as three strangers entered the town, two of them quickly disappearing into the fog while one remained, walking down the center of the main road through the village, his large, muscular figure striking a rather intimidating silhouette in the fog. As the figure walked through the village, he noticed most of the other silhouettes in the fogs, appearing to be shrouded in robes, fled his approach, retreating back into the fog where they had come from, though soon he noticed a small group of robed figures approaching him through the fog.

"Who enters Salvia Village, domain of our master, Lord Caesar?" one of the robed figures asked.

"Rocco, of Phantom Lord," Rocco answered, cracking his knuckles before beginning to loosen up his arms.

"Phantom Lord!" another robed figure repeated.

"Someone called a mage guild!"

"Punishment must be given!"

"Now, now!" another figure called out stepping forward, removing his robe as he did so, revealing a large man, standing a head taller than even Rocco, "We will worry about finding the culprits once the village is secure."

"Indeed," the first figure to speak added as they stepped forward, disrobing as well and revealing the owner of the voice to be a woman, "Since we know this man is a mage, you lot will be useless, go and round up the villagers and ensure Lord Caesar is well-protected."

"Yes ma'am," the rest of the cultists responded before scattering into the fog.

"I take it you two are mages then," said Rocco, as he stared down the man and woman who were now moving to either side of him.

"You'd be right!" the woman shouted as she stomped her foot down on the ground, causing a large rock to shoot up into the air before she struck it with her palm, sending it flying towards Rocco, who quickly dropped to the ground to dodge before looking to the large man, who was holding his arms out, catching the rock with what he could only guess to be telekinesis as he spun around and threw the rock back at Rocco who scrambled forward as the rock struck the ground where he was, disintegrating into rubble.

'Damn it… the Water Mage isn't here,' Rocco thought as he stared down the duo, "Well, nothing to do but kick the shit out of both of you now that you're here, Take-Over Magic, Ancient Sea Soul: Karkinos!" Rocco shouted as his body began to transform, starting with his clothing as he was left only in baggy, red cargo shorts and red combat boots, while pieces of hard, red shell armor covered his arms, legs and back, jutting off his shoulders in dramatic points while his hands transformed into large, red crab claws.

"Take-Over Magic, this one's gonna be troublesome, sis," the large man, growled before the woman sent another rock at Rocco, only for him to quickly dodge with a sideways movement, as the man caught the rock with his telekinesis, pulling the rock back towards Rocco at an even faster speed. Though Rocco would quickly spin around, catching the rock with his claw and crushing it before charging at the man, again with a sideways movement before swinging his claws at him, bashing him in the stomach and sending him rolling across the ground.

"Damien!" the woman shouted before stomping her foot repetitively, calling up several rocks before sending them flying at Rocco who would bash each and every one as they came with his claws until the woman smashed her fists down on the ground, calling up a large boulder before hurling it at Rocco with her magic, the man standing his ground before smashing his claws into the boulder again and again just as it entered into range, smashing it into tiny pieces.

"Now you die!" he heard the large man shout from behind him as Rocco noticed the shrapnel from the boulder floating all around him.

"Hippocampus!" Rocco shouted as his crab armor disappeared, being replaced with water armor that quickly grew outwards catching the shrapnel inside it as it closed in on him, causing the small rocks to float harmlessly down through the armor until they fell out the bottom and landed on the ground.

As the dust settled, they realized that Rocco had indeed changed again, now wearing blue jammer shorts while his entire body was coated in armor made of water, his helmet having a long horse mane made of water while the armor around his legs resembled the legs of a horse.

Rocco quickly took advantage of the shock his second transformation made and charged at the woman as a battle hammer of water formed in his hands as he swung it into her side, sending her flying into a building as a sickening snap sounded out throughout the area as her bones broke beneath the force of his blow.

"Delilah!" the large man called out, anger and rage building up on his face as he realized she wasn't moving, "You'll die for that!" he roared as he held his arms out, Rocco suddenly feeling an immense force pushing down on him, the ground beneath his feet caving as he sunk into the earth.

Rocco grit his teeth as he struggled to free his legs, especially as the ground began to cave in all around him due to the missing chunks of earth that had been ripped out of the ground earlier, "This won't stop me!" Rocco shouted as his water armor rippled and moved all around him before moving down his body and leaving it exposed until it looked like he had no armor left at all.

"Hah! Run out of steam!?" the man boasted as he intensified the pressure, Rocco's glare growing sharper before a smug smirk appeared on his face.

"As if," Rocco chuckled before a pressurized lance of water burst out of the ground and pierced the large man through the heart, blood spraying out of the man's mouth as his magic dissipated and he collapsed to the ground, Rocco's Take-Over disappearing as he pulled himself out of the crumbling ground and walking over to where the other mage was, bending down and checking her pulse, "Looks like she's dead too," Rocco sighed before the sounds of combat in the distance caught his attention, "Guess I better go and make sure they aren't getting into too much trouble without me," Rocco chuckled as he set off to find his teammates.

. : + : .

Vincent moved quickly and quietly through the fog covering Salvia Village, winding through tight alleyways and clambering onto rooftops, anything to avoid going onto the main road where he could be seen. He kept moving until he saw a large congregation of robed figures through the fog, surrounded by at least fifteen armed figures.

'These must be the villagers. Looks like Rocco's got them spooked enough to round everyone up, just like we planned. Now I don't have to guess and choose which is or isn't a cultist,' Vincent thought to himself as he peered around a chimney he was hiding behind. He watched them for a while longer as they corralled the villagers into what looked like a large warehouse, locking them inside with a large chain and padlock on the handles of the building's large doors while the cultists took up positions around the building, "Showtime," Vincent whispered to himself as he turned into a cloud of sand, reappearing on top of the warehouse, balling up one of his fists and placing it onto his open palm, "Sand-Make: Cloud," he whispered as a cloud of sand began to form around a lone guard beneath him before it suddenly shot up and wrapped around his mouth before covering his body and flying up into the air quietly placing him on the roof next to Vincent, he moved quickly and did this twice more before a loud crack was heard beneath him as his foot suddenly fell through a rotten plank of wood.

"What was that!?" he heard a cultist shout.

"It came from the roof!" another called out.

"Shit," Vincent cursed as he pulled his leg free, "Guess the jig is up," he sighed as he leapt off the roof, hands in position for a spell as he twisted through the air, turning to face the building and a pair of guards as he fell, "Sand-Make: Throwing Knives!" he shouted before swinging his closed fist sideways as two knives of sand quickly shot forth from his fist, impaling themselves in the two guards' throats. Vincent quickly darted around the building finding five of the remaining guards heading towards him from that direction. Vincent smirked as he spun around, placing his fist back onto his hand, "Sand-Make: Cleaver!" he announced as he spun around, a large sand blade forming and swinging as he spun, cleaving the men in front of him in two before the blade impacted against the wall of the warehouse before dissipating.

"There's the intruder!" he heard someone shout from behind, Vincent turning around just in time to see a man charging at him with a sword, impaling him.

"I got him!" the man shouted before looking up at Vincent's face to see him smirking and then down to the wound where sand was pouring out of it before floating into the air, forming into several small knives before flying towards the four guards behind him, riddling them with holes and sending them crashing to the ground.

"Sorry, friend, weapons like this don't work on me," Vincent bragged as he watched fear grow on the man's face before the sword in Vincent's stomach disappeared, allowing the hold to seal up as sand swarmed back into it, "Ah, you were that Requip Mage I heard about, to bad for you to have to fight me," Vincent stated as a club made of sand appeared in his hand before he bashed upside the mage's skull, sending him crashing down to the ground before Vincent casually walked to the front side of the warehouse investigating the large padlock before getting down on one knee and grabbing onto the lock with one hand, while his finger was enveloped in sand before he pressed it into the key hole and turning it, opening the lock, pulling it and the chains off of the door before sliding the doors open, revealing the frightened crowd inside.

"Well ain't you all great at welcoming your savior," Vincent said with a roll of his eyes after he noticed them flinch at his approach, "Guards are all taken out, y'all can run for the hills? Scram? Make like a tree? And leave?"

Slowly but surely, the villagers began to slowly stand up and cautiously move around Vincent, once they saw that he wasn't going to harm them, more and more started to get up and leave.

"Hey! He's not lying guys! He really did take care of all the guards!" one of the villagers shouted after poking their head back inside.

"Thank you," Vincent said before pointing towards the door, "Now hurry up and scram already!" he ordered as the rest of the villagers hurried to get up and leave, Vincent taking a moment longer to linger around the warehouse, "While I'm here… Might as well take a look around. I do think I may have earned a… 'bonus'," Vincent chuckled as he started to investigate the warehouse.

. : + : .

Iva let out a shout as she charged through a group of cultists, wood splintering as it impacted against them before she twisted around, holding out her right arm, "Plant Dragon's Lance!" she roared as her arm transformed into a sharpened pillar of wood that extended outwards until it impaled one of the cultists in the stomach before she swung her arm, dragging the man across the ground and smashing him against his downed compatriots.

"You're all dead!" Iva roared as she bared her fangs, her arm returning to normal before she charged a fleeing group of cultists, "Plant Dragon's Wing Attack!" she announced as both her arms transformed into a mass of vines that she swung towards the cultists, wrapping them in a tangled mess of vines before swinging them over her head and slamming them into the ground, her arms quickly returning to normal as she took off running again, "I haven't gotten to let loose like this in days!" Iva laughed as she charged towards the townhall, "And I'm still pissed about what happened with the Metalhead," she growled as a snarl appeared on her face as she reached her arm out, shooting an extending vine out to wrap around a distant pole before pulling herself towards it through the air and leaping off of it, Iva's sights landing on another group of cultists as she flew through the air, Iva letting a smirk appear on her face before she shot another vine out, wrapping around a cultists neck and pulling her down towards him before she landed on him, a snap ringing out as the force of the blow snapped the man's neck as Iva stood up over his body, looking at the cultists now surrounding her.

"The hell did she come from!?" a panicked cultists screamed.

"Relax! We've got her surrounded!" another shouted as they all drew various weapons, some of them even pulling out firearms.

"Hey! This is the townhall, right? Your boss is inside, isn't he?" Iva demanded to know as she looked around, scowling at them.

"We'll never let you harm Lord Caesar!" one of them yelled back.

"Yeah! And even if you get past us, Lord Pompeii is protecting him!" another one added as Iva's scowl turned into sneer.

"I'm looking forward to it!" Iva declared before lifting her leg into the air and stomping it back down, "Plant Dragon's Snare!" she shouted as roots shot out of the earth, wrapping around or even impaling some of the more unlucky cultists around her before pulling them all into the earth, "Trash," Iva scoffed before walking towards the entrance of townhall, kicking the door off of its hinges before stepping inside to reveal two men, one standing on the ground floor in front of her, the other, who was a short, hunched over, old man dressed in elegant, black ceremonial robes while wearing a shamanistic mask over his face, was standing up on a balcony overlooking the ground floor.

"Well, well, well. You must be this Kaiser dude I'm here to kill," Iva said in a mocking tone as she stepped into the building, laughing as she noticed anger cross the other man's face.

"That's Lord Caesar to heretics like you," the man on the ground floor refuted, causing Iva to simply laugh more.

"Pompeii," Caesar called out as the man turned around to look up at the old man, "Keep your wits about you and kill this foolish intruder."

"Yes, my Lord," Pompeii responded before turning around to face Iva again as he lifted his hands, orbs of water appearing in the air around him as a scowl suddenly crossed Iva's face.

"Damn Water Mages," she hissed as images of Rocco and Juvia flashed through her mind, "Well, this'll be good practice for when I kick their asses."

"You shouldn't think about others right now, when your focus should be on me!" Pompeii shouted as he thrusted an arm forward, sending an orb of water flying towards Iva, who jumped out of the way just before the orb impacted on the ground where she was standing, completely shattering the floorboards where she had been.

"Plant Dragon's Scales," Iva growled as tree bark-like dragon scales spread over her body before she darted across the floor, narrowly dodging another two orbs before slashing at Pompeii, her fingers having been changed into sharp, wooden claws.

"Damn you!" Pompeii cursed as he felt Iva's claws scratch his chest before he sent her flying back with a small explosion of water, the woman in front of him appearing to be unharmed from the blow, "So, those scales are stronger than normal wood."

"Of course they are! They're dragon scales!" Iva roared before darting forward, slamming her hands on the ground as they transformed into pillars of wood that shot her up and into the air above Pompeii as she took a deep breath, her cheeks puffing up, 'Plant Dragon's Roar!', she thought as she unleashed a torrent of wooden splinters flying down at Pompeii, tearing the floor apart and riddling the man full of wooden splinters, though, a look of shock would cross Iva's face when she saw the man was still standing and sending an orb of water her way that crashed against her with incredible force sending her flying into the wall before a second one sent her right through it and back out onto the streets.

"Yes! Good! Kill her, Pompeii!" Caesar laughed as he slowly began to walk down the stairs to join him on the ground floor.

"Stay back, Lord Caesar, this foe is dangerous," Pompeii warned as he pulled away his torn shirt, revealing his muscled chest beneath while his long, blue hair fell out of the neat bun he normally kept it in.

"With your strength, even this so-called Plant Dragon Slayer is nothing to fear, my friend," Caesar laughed before a look of panic crossed his face as Iva burst through the wall again, the anger clear on her face as she threw a hard, flying kick at Pompeii, who blocked it with his arm, pushing Iva back before she landed on the ground. She moved to charge again, but soon found herself falling forward as a vine wrapped around her legs and moved to tie up entire body.

"Now finish her, Pompeii!" Caesar ordered, but as Pompeii moved to comply, a vine wrapped over Iva's shoulder and she quickly moved to bite into it, ripping a chunk out of it and quickly swallowing.

"Master! No!" Pompeii shouted as Iva quickly broke free of her restraints with her newly renewed strength, her pupils turning to thing, vertical slits as her fangs became more pronounced.

"Shouldn't of done that," Iva chuckled before dashing forward, her left arm transforming into a sharp, wooden stake that she thrusted forward and into Caesar's stomach before extending the stake and crashing the old man into the back wall.

"Lord Caesar!" Pompeii called out as the dust settled, revealing the man to have been impaled by the stake, "Damn you!" Pompeii cursed before two orbs of water appeared on his fists and he slammed them into Iva, sending her crashing into the wall again before he darted past her running off as Iva pulled herself out of the wreckage again.

"Get back here, coward! I'm not done with you!" Iva roared as she watched Pompeii flee the battle, the man summoning a stream of water that he hopped onto before flying away.

"Let one get away did you?" she heard Rocco call out from behind her, a visible tick appearing on Iva's head as soon as she heard his voice.

"Tch… At least I killed the leader before that ass ran away," Iva scoffed as she turned back around to face the teal-haired man, "Killed the rest of the cultists I came across too," Iva admitted while Rocco looked around the building.

"You really didn't care about property damage, did you?" Rocco said as he let out a whistle as he assessed the damage, Iva feeling more anger welling up in her at being called out.

"As if that Pompeii ass cared about not damaging the building either! He did just as much as I did!" Iva snapped as she crossed her arms, turning her back to Rocco.

"Pouting? Really?" Rocco chuckled before walking away from Iva before she could smack him again.

"I'm sure you smashed up your fair share of the town, I could hear all that you know?" Iva huffed as she walked back into the building through the hold she had been first thrown through.

"Right… Sharp dragon senses," Rocco sighed as he followed Iva into the building, the two of them walking over to and standing over Caesar's corpse.

"C'mon! C'mon! In you go!" they heard Vincent order from behind them, the two of them turning towards the actual entrance of the building to see Vincent pushing a still tied up Kevin into the building.

"I can walk just fine, sir," Kevin complained after being shoved, his jaw dropping when he saw the corpse of Caesar, "Oh! You actually did it then!" Keven exclaimed.

"Of course we did," Iva scoffed before she snapped her fingers, the vines still wrapped around Kevin going limp and falling to the ground.

"One dead cult leader and several dead cult members, just like you ordered," Vincent said happily.

"Oh! This is great news then!" Kevin said happily, "What about the rest of the villagers? Are they safe?"

"Broke them out of the warehouse myself," Vincent answered.

"Shame about the townhall and the other bits of damage, but it's not like you leveled half the town like some other guilds would have," Keven sighed as he assessed the damage.

"Phantom Lord tries not to be so reckless, unlike those Fairy Rats," Rocco huffed, scowling at the mention of the rival guild.

"If this had been a more important town, we'd be getting chewed off for this much damage," Iva sighed.

"I see, well then, you've earned your reward in full then," Kevin declared, "I'll get it rounded up and sent to your guild within a couple of days.

"Appreciate it," Rocco stated before looking to Iva and Vincent, "Let's go then," he said before the trio set off.

. : + : .

"No!" Iva shouted as Rocco and Vincent struggled to hold onto her, the woman's wooden dragon claws sinking into the door frame of the train carriage as they struggled to pull her inside, "I won't get on! You…! Can't…! Make…! Me…!"

"God dammit woman!" Rocco cursed as he and Vincent continued to struggle, "You've gone from a killing machine to a spoiled child!"

"No!" Iva refuted, "I won't do it! I'd rather walk back!"

"Normally, we'd let you, but Nika would kill us if we left you behind," Vincent grunted as Iva's foot found a home kicking against his face, the man growling in agitation with each kick, "That's it," he growled as he let go, holding his hand out as some sand floated off and found it's way into Iva's nose.

"Achoo!" she sneezed as herself and Rocco went flying back into the carriage, the girl instantly becoming nauseous as soon as she was in the train while Vincent laughed, though his laughter stopped when he noticed a small dusting of a blush on Rocco's face.

'That sneeze was fucking cute,' Rocco thought to himself as he laid there with a sick Iva on top of him.

"Oho?" Vincent chuckled with a knowing look as he stood over Rocco.

"Shut the hell up," Rocco demanded before standing up dragging Iva behind him as they made their way to their cabin.

Credits:

Michael Caesar – alucard deathsinger

Pompeii Caracalla – Dreadburner94

A/N: And chapter 9 is done! Gonna try and write more over this weekend through Monday. See if I can't finish this introductory arc so we can finally move on. Thanks to alucard deathsinger for making me a throwaway villain I could use.

Anyways, I'd like to thank Grimnack, Benthino, Paperman0, Elements08, wjolix98 and MyDearWatson for the reviews, they are all appreciated.

That's all for now!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.