Despite his best attempts, Mystogan limped down the dirt road. "No. Nononono. That Crimson Night undid every attempt in sealing Anima. It's opening up faster than before." Of course, he should have seen it sooner. Just when he thought he was finally making progress, a fallen god had to reappear out of nowhere and unwittingly destroy all his hard work.
It was beyond frustrating; he failed everyone.
As he felt power surging in the air, he looked over the hill he had to climb.
Mystogan bit his lip. So many innocent lives ruined because he couldn't succeed in his mission.
"Ivan, forgive me."
It was raining very hard that day in Fairy Tail, Kain was now working with new paperwork.
You see, the famed Gildarts had returned to Fairy Tail. After being surprised by a lot of things...
(Yesterday)
"Damn, Kid!" Gildarts slapped Laxus' back. "Looks like you finally grew up to not be a complete asshole if Makarov finally let you be guild master!"
"I was fired, and the council elected him." Makarov began to drink more beer.
Gildarts then looked over to Laxus with a look of pity that ticked off the fourth master. "Damn, so you still have another Lacrima stuck up your ass?"
(Present time)
Kain didn't notice the veins on Laxus's head as Gildarts kept talking. Usually, he would be observant. However, the lawyer was a bit distracted when he saw Magnolia Town on fire. This was because that Gildarts System Pierre sabotaged? It was made to prevent Gildarts from being too careless with accidentally destroying people's stuff.
So now, besides still dealing with the paperwork for their previous stint, read as technical coup/revolution/acts of terrorism, Kain now had to deal with complaints on both the town and the workers fixing the Gildarts shift system.
Needless to say, super speed was both a blessing and a curse when it came to paperwork.
"UUUGGGHHH!" The few people that remained in the guild saw Kain face-desk into the table he was using.
"Whooo!" Makarov threw a mug up in the air while his face was flushed. "Another stack of paper and formalities defeated! Let's give a cheer for our lawyer in shining armor!"
"WHOOO!" Like the other Fairy Tail members needed a reason to drink booze.
A shadow cast over Kain and the armored rider looked up to see Eclair. She looked more relaxed now despite the fact her hair was now pure silver. "Mira and Mrs. Dreyar taught me how to make your favorite grape smoothie." She said as she placed the drink down near the fallen knight.
Kain took the drink after he powered down his armor. He looked up to both Eclair and Momon and asked, "Did Mira and Elfman leave already?"
"They did. They also took Gogo with them because it was raining really hard!" Momon pointed out.
Kain heard thunder outside the guild. "Wow, it is raining hard. If I recall, the last time it was this bad was the day we met you guys. The rain was so bad before it started flying upward." Kain laughed as he recalled the journey. Technically speaking, the abduction spell jump-started their misadventure in Veronica. "Then, we were teleported to that isle and almost died!"
Momon looked out a window and tilted his head. "Kain, you said the rain fell upward before the entire city got teleported?"
Kain lifted his drink. "Yeah?"
"Isn't the rain doing that now?"
Kain froze the moment before his lips could touch his favorite drink. He looked to Momon. "What are you talking abo—"
Faster than Kain could realize, his armor suddenly activated by itself, and a blinding light surprised them all.
Kain's instincts made him get up. Around him was nothing but ash and bubbles for miles.
"Ah! Kain! There you are!" As he gathered his senses, Kain looked towards the right to see Laxus, Natsu, Wendy, Pla, and the two cats walking over to him.
"Right," Laxus noted out loud. "Kain has an anti-magical armor. And Gajeel would have been here if he wasn't out of the city on a job."
Kain shook his head. "What are you guys talking about?"
"That white cat over there was about to explain everything." Laxus folded his arms and turned to Carla.
The Cat sighed before she began speaking about the existence of Edolas, a different world. Laxus and Natsu eyed Kain every other sentence of Carla's explanation of Anima. This was because Edolas was another world; even Natsu could tell this might be connected to how Kain came to Earthland. The outsider had spent almost his entire time in Earthland looking for any possible hint of home, and here it was staring back right at him.
And it stole his second home and friends.
After hearing everything, even the fact Happy also came from Edolas, Natsu decided to charge up there and save everyone else.
"Not to mention, these Edolas guys," Natsu gripped his fist. "These guys are probably the reason Kain got sent here!"
"Maybe," The Lawyer spoke up, "Or at the very least, I'm an accident they caused. Either way, these guys have world-crossing magic. This might be the first big clue to getting home I've ever had."
"I do admit; you are likely an unfortunate casualty in Anima messing with the boundaries of space," Carla noted. But she got back to explaining what little she knew of Edolas. Eventually, it led to her admitting she would help them, and if there was a sign that she might betray them, she asked to be killed on the spot.
Of course, Natsu and Wendy were against that notion. That is why Carla directed that towards the Guild master and the lawyer. The other two had responded with an eerie silence.
"No one's killing our friends, right guys?!" Natsu shouted a little heatedly.
"Right," Kain agreed, but not every part of him could commit to agreeing with his friend. "Still, let's focus on how we're getting to Edolas."
Carla motioned to her wings. "These wings we have are designed to get us back to Edolas through the Anima tears. Your armor could probably pull off similar speeds. However, that only leaves you behind. I'm not sure about the Machine." The flying cat spoke of Kain first before looking to Laxus then the Last Exemplar.
It was at that point, they all heard a soft roar. Out of the dust, Ignis stood up and shook off the dust around him as if he was a wet dog.
"Ignis!" Kain cried out before looking at Carla. "Ignis might not be fast, but I get the feeling he can tough out and get through that last part of Anima."
Carla nodded. "Very well, we must all make our way."
Happy, on the other hand, hesitated. However, a few encouraging words from Natsu inspired the cat to activate his wings once more.
Laxus got on top of Ignis as Kain activated his armor. The three dragons slayers, two flying cats, a single wyvern, and one lawyer were ready to travel to a new world.
As they went sky-bound, no one noticed Mystogan watching them in the distance. He watched them all breakthrough Anima's barrier. Mystogan wasn't religious, but he prayed for their success.
However, he wasn't watching for the survivors of Fairy Tail. He was waiting for something else to drop into Earthland.
(Now this was a magical land.) That was Kain's first thought as they saw the land of Edolas. Sky isles as far as the eye could see, rivers that floated in the sky, animals that looked more alien than both Earth and Earthland, and forests of purple colors. It was a far cry from Earthland that occasionally had a few places that looked magical when most of the time, it looked like a cross between medieval and industrial times.
For one second, Kain spotted a tree in the distance. What was curious about this tree was that it made all skyscrapers in his world look minuscule in comparison. He didn't even see its base despite being so far away from it. But, and Kain couldn't understand for his own life, why did it look so familiar?
However, the lawyer heard screams. He looked down to see Wendy, Natsu, Carla, and Happy falling fast. "Ignis, get Natsu and Happy!" The wyvern rider cried as he sped after Wendy and Carla while Ignis and Laxus grabbed on to Natsu and Happy.
The group landed in a safer area before Kain looked towards the two cats. "Are you two alright? Did you suddenly run out of magic?"
"I can't use magic!" Happy threw a paw up in a panic. It seemed like Carla had a similar problem.
It was at that moment before they could figure out what was going on, Ignis started to snarl towards the lake they landed nearby. A second later, a frog-like creature the size of a mansion exploded out like a crocodile about to snap on its prey. Without giving Fairy Tail time to think, it opened its mouth, and four tongues blasted out to catch its breakfast. Kain moved first and got Wendy out of the way while Pla punched an incoming tongue that would have harmed the little girl. Natsu and Laxus avoided the tongues aiming for them, but Natsu was first to counterattack.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu shouted as he screamed... but no flames came out!? This allowed one of the tongues to retract and shoot back towards the stunned Fire Dragon Slayer. Kain sped back in with his armor and punched the tongue away.
"Beat it!" Laxus gathered electricity in his hand and fired a single beam at the water instead of the giant beast. Laxus ended up giving the predator the shock of its life, both figurative and literally. The frog-beast slumped and crashed on the other side of the lake.
"What!? I couldn't use my magic!?" Natsu looked to his hands and tried to summon his fire. However, no matter how much he tried, it didn't work.
"I can't use my magic either," Wendy, after trying herself, looked over to Laxus. "But Master Laxus could use his."
However, as she said this, Laxus suddenly fell to his knees and gasped for breath.
"Laxus!" Natsu and Kain cried out as they ran for the 4th guild master.
"I'm fine!" Laxus stood back up, but he still looked out of breath. "For some reason, even using a small spell drained me." He looked at his hand. "But it's not recharging!"
"Hey, you have magic!" Natsu cried out. "What does money have to do with this!?"
Kain sighed. "Natsu, I'm starting to think that Laxus is affected like everyone here. He can use his magic, but it's limited, and he can't rest to recover as he usually does. If he's not careful, he'll be unable to use magic like you guys. That means me, Pla, and Ignis will have to do the fighting and flying until we figure out what's going on." Kain looked around to everyone before continuing, "While looking for everyone, we need more information about Edolas as a whole. But how are we going to find this info?"
Laxus and Natsu looked towards the area beyond the collapsed frog.
Laxus rubbed his chin. "Alright, everyone, hide for a few seconds. We might have a way to get our brainiac here the info he needs."
Kain raised his brow underneath his armor but trusted the 4th master on this. Laxus led everyone, even Ignis, behind a giant boulder. When he did, Kain heard the distinct sound of humming. He, Laxus, and Natsu peeked behind the rock. Kain was surprised to see what looked like hover cars.
There were around half a dozen of these flying cars. They all landed, and people holding what looked to be weapons and specialized nets quickly got out. "There it is! The Groganour! And what luck, something must have stunned it! Its organs will sell for a fortune!"
Kain looked to Laxus. "Did you kill it?"
"No, I didn't use a lot of magic. It should have stunned it."
"Those guys are poachers, aren't they?" Natsu leered towards the group as they closed in on the large creature that attacked Fairy Tail not even ten minutes ago.
"Wait, is that what you meant?" Kain's eyes widened. "We can take those guys out, steal their gear, and figure out where to go from there?"
Laxus nodded, then asked, "Want me to help, brat? There's a lot of them." Laxus asked.
Kain shook his head. "No, I'm not just going to go charging in. I have a plan." The Wyvern Rider reached for his waist.
As the poachers came closer to the fallen beast, they all noticed something land near their feet. They looked like colorful spheres—
The party flashers exploded, momentarily blinding the poachers. Kain didn't hesitate to knock out and tie up every poacher with their own nets while getting rid of their weapons.
"Ignis," Kain finished tightening the net with a tug before calling out his wyvern. "Put these guys in a safer place, but also one where they can be found by whatever local authority here."
Ignis flew ahead, picking up the net of poachers. This left Fairy Tail with the equipment left behind. Everyone but Kain stared in confusion at the strange devices. As for the lawyer, he rushed to the nearest vehicle.
"No way! Is this a steering wheel!? Is that an automatic handle!? Is this really is a hovercar!?" The lawyer exclaimed.
"Oh, no!" Happy yelled. "Edolas robbed everyone of their magic, and turned Kain even crazier!"
If Kain heard Happy's exclamation, he decided to ignore it. Instead, he de-powered his armor. He looked at everyone else and screamed, "I think I can drive this!"
That got everyone's eyes to widen.
"Wait, you can drive that... thing? We don't know what it even is!" Laxus exclaimed as Kain got into the almost dome-shaped vehicle.
"It does look like the vehicles used by the magic council..." Wendy noted.
Kain looked at the controls. It felt like he was in a car all over again. However, it seemed a lot more futuristic. Kain noticed a screen where the radio in a car should have been. He touched it, and a hologram of what looked like a map appeared.
"Guys, I found a map!" Kain exclaimed as everyone crowded near him. The lawyer went to work, paying attention to the typography of the map compared to his surroundings. His eyes widened when he zoomed out with the map as if it was a smartphone.
"Okay, guys! Just north of here is a city! We can land nearby and get more information about where everyone is!" Kain pointed to the hologram map.
"North, huh!? Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Natsu sat in the front seat beside Kain.
Laxus raised his brow, "How'd you know how to zoom out on the map?"
Kain fiddled with more of the controls of the hovercar, eventually figuring out how to activate it. "Long story short, the technology in Edolas is familiar to the technology in my world." They all could hear the excitement in the usually calm boy's tone. Laxus and Natsu could tell; the more signs of his old home, the more it made Kain restless. "Maybe this place does have a way to get me home at last!"
"Brat, you need to calm down. We're going to need your brain on this one." Laxus spoke up. Quietly, everyone else was starting to wonder, if Kain really found a way back home, would that mean this was the last time they would have an adventure with him?
Those thoughts were put aside as Kain quickly responded. "Right, right." Kain did a few exhales as Ignis flew back. "Hmm, Ignis should probably stay outside the city limits. And we should probably keep a few of those poacher weapons with us."
"I'll pick them up," Laxus said as he left to bring items.
"I'll scavenge whatever clothes or food the poachers had. After that, we're going to make contact with Edolas' civilization. Who knows what's waiting for us?"
Soon, Kain activated the hovercar—
And Natsu got sick.
"For the love of," Kain mentally slapped himself when he forgot about Natsu's motion sickness. "Get on Ignis. I'll lead us towards the city."
Now, Fairy Tail made its way to the Edolas City known as Louen.
Eventually, Fairy Tail reached Louen. On the outskirts, they left Ignis and the vehicle in a safe zone. The poachers had cloaks, so everyone wore one as they made their way to the city. It took some tinkering and ripping, but they were able to cover up Pla in many stitched up cloaks. Although he looked like a walking bed-sheet, thankfully, everyone seemed too busy with their own business to ask what a giant bedsheet was doing.
When they were close enough, Kain froze where he stood. Louen was like a metropolitan city straight from Back-To-The-Future. There were flying billboards, flying cars, floating robots, and everything he always expected from supposed future cities. In fact, there were so many robots, Kain imagined they didn't need to hide Pla, but just to be safe they kept the cloak on. However, Kain realized that he wasn't the only one stunned to silence. All of Fairy Tail, even Laxus, was in awe of the tall buildings and the futuristic architect. Seeing everyone stunned, Kain coughed loudly to his hand.
"Okay, Carla, I'll ask again: what else do you know about Edolas?"
The cat, who also wore a cloak, shook her head and said, "I've said everything I know. The only other thing I know is the location of the Capital. It's in the same direction of that giant tree we spotted even as we entered."
"I got a weird feeling from that tree," Natsu spoke up. "It felt...familiar?"
Kain blinked. "You too? I got that same feeling too!"
"I got," Wendy shivered. "I don't think we should go there."
"There was something off about that tree." That was all Laxus said about the tree. However, the way he said it made the lightning dragon slayer tense and keep his guard up when the tree was mentioned.
Kain raised his brow as he never had that feeling. "For now, we'll avoid going to the Capital if even the Guild Master is getting bad vibes from that place. I still stand on gathering information on Edolas as a whole." Kain smiled. "And if both Earth and Earthland have it, I'm sure Edolas has it as well."
The rest of Fairy Tail looked to the Lawyer. "What are you talking about?" Laxus asked.
"I'm talking about a library. Come on, I don't have a map, but it shouldn't be too hard to find out what we need." After a longer-than-necessary journey that consisted of Fairy Tail being startled by giant holograms trying to sell products, of Natsu trying to ride a hover-seg-way and still getting motion sick, and of Laxus being catcalled by what looked like robotic animatronics, Kain finally spotted the Louen public library.
(Thank you, movie cliches! Who knew this stuff could actually help save lives!?) Kain thought to himself as they entered through the building. Kain removed his hood and walked up the librarian, a nice old lady that wore clothes one would find in a futuristic setting.
"Hello, Miss," Kain spoke with a polite voice. "I need some help. You see, I'm a new student-teacher for an Edolas History class. I want to make my lessons fun and easy, so do you have any easy history books I can reference and prepare for the next school year?"
"My! That sounds lovely, dear!" The old woman raised a hand near her mouth. "How about I set you up with a Library card so you can start borrowing the books?"
Instantly, Kain had a bad feeling about being logged in officially. "Before I do that, can I check out the books first?"
"Oh, it won't take long, dear!" The old woman put something that looked like a thumbprint scanner. "Put your thumb, and I'll give you your card, and you can borrow whatever book you need in Aisle H, Section E."
Kain looked at the device and was briefly hesitant. He did put his thumb on the device, and then he heard a ding. The old lady typed a few things and gave Kain a card. "Enjoy your stay, young sir!"
"Thanks, Miss. My friends and I appreciate it." Kain pocketed the library card and started walking.
Laxus narrowed his eyes and whispered, "Why did you chat her up like that? Couldn't you just ask for the history books?"
"I could, but four hooded strangers are suspicious enough, isn't it? Now at best, I just made us look like weirdoes." Kain returned. "Still, I'm a bit worried about my card."
"Why? You did sound a little scared of a card." Natsu looked towards his friend. "I thought you love books!"
Kain shushed Natsu. "I'm not scared of a card. I'm worried about how I got the card." If Edolas' technology was similar to Earth's in how it worked. He was afraid that his information would cause confusion and conflict if someone sharp spotted whatever anomalies it had. Unfortunately, he had no time to explain the complexities of information combing to Fairy Tail. "But that's too long to explain. I need to find that book."
Beep! Beep!
"...?"
Someone looked towards a screen. Usually, this person would ignore the screen in front of him. All it did was catalog purchases that went on in the city. There was a stream of mundane and uninteresting data that went on in a very peaceful city. Still, they had to remain vigilant due to...
The person shook his head. He noticed something interesting. He quickly stood up and walked out of his office. He passed by a rather quiet place that was filled with people board out of their skull. He knocked and then opened the door to his superior's office.
"Chief!" The bulky man saluted. "I have news!" He shouted that a bit too loud. The rest of the police force turned all their attention towards their chief's office.
"Karacka," The owner of this voice was calm, but it held power and respect without trying to be the latter two. "I thought I told you to remain calm even if you believe it to be urgent."
"Hey, Karacka! Chill, man!" Someone shouted. "It better not be another wild goose chase like last time!"
"Officer Rayule, let Officer Karacka speak," The Police Chief stood up and folded his arms behind his back. "What do you have to report, Karacka?"
"It's something really weird! Does anyone know that Lacrima-Net star, Kero Pierce?"
Some policemen groaned. One of them shouted, "That stuck up and really stupid kid that thinks he's hot shit?"
The chief quieted everyone again by simply stretching a palm outward. When it was quiet again, he retracted his hand and motioned Kracka to continue.
"Here's the thing! His Lacrima Videos show that he's visiting the capital right now! So why did our database just register his DNA in our public Library!?"
"Is it a hacker?" Someone asked.
"After we personally delivered the new state-of-the-art technology for the Library to better protect from terrorist hacking!?" Karacka turned to the other speaker as if he was a daft idiot.
"There might be some merit into checking this," The chief started walking over to his coat. "Rayule and Karacka, you two are with me. We'll take an unmarked cruiser. I want the rest of you to subtly patrol near the library. If it's not a false alarm, I want you to set up a blockade around the building within less than a minute."
"Chief! Are you serious!?"
"Very, Rayule. Seeing as Kageyama is on his Honeymoon, you'll have to pick up his slack." After that light joke, the police chief turned to his men. "Do not forget. We are ranked number one among all Edolas Police Forces. Let's show these people why we earned it."
At that, everyone stood up and saluted. "Yes, Chief!"
"Okay, that was interesting." Kain put down the history book. "The easiest way I can explain the cramming is like this: despite all the advances in their technology, Edolas is making more magic-based items than there is magic available. It's like an energy crisis. The info I scanned suggests that Anima is the 'Ultimate Salvation' to the energy crisis, but I don't think the public knows that it's stealing people from other worlds and converting them into energy." Kain had to admit, hearing about an Energy Crisis did make him think of his home.
Natsu slammed his fist on the table after hearing that. "Then we gotta tell them!" Everyone shushed the fire-dragon slayer after his outburst and looked around. When there was no sign of anyone, Natsu continued. "If we tell everyone what's going on, they're sure to stop supporting Anima!"
Kain narrowed his eyes. "Your heart is in the right place, but that's going to take a lot of proof that we don't have to convince people to stop using Anima. Let me continue: there has been recent news about Anima producing the largest Lacrima Crystal ever seen." Kain took out a cylindrical device similar to the GPS they stole from the poachers. As he waved his hand over it, the device showed a hologram of a 3D model that depicted a mountain-sized crystal. "This was this morning's news. The timing can't be a coincidence, and I'm certain there's no way an energy-starved world could create a source like that out of nowhere so fast. I'm sure that mountain is Magnolia."
"Where is this?" Laxus leaned down and focused his sight on the hologram.
"The Capital Of Edolas, Fiore City. Yes, I am aware of naming." Kain sighed.
"If that's everyone, how are we going to turn them back?" Wendy asked with worry.
"Don't lose hope, Wendy," Kain put a hand on his chin. "If they were converted to crystals by Anima, there has to be a way to change them back. Maybe If I saw how the machine/spell did this, I might be able to figure a way to undo it. The annoying thing is that while the public knows about Anima, no one has seen it or knows how it works specifically. They're only focusing on the results."
"So let's go to Fiore, get Kain to look at Anima, turn our friends back to normal, and get out of here!" Natsu punched his hands together.
"And once more, I'm the one handling the details." Kain stood up. "Give me a second to get some maps and pictures of the Capitol Castle." As the lawyer left, Fairy Tail watched their brainiac freeze when he looked out the window.
"Kain?" Happy called out their friend before everyone looked through the window where Kain was looking.
The brunette was looking at a blimp. It had a message like everything else in the consumer-like world of Edolas. However, this message wasn't trying to sell something. Instead, it was a warning.
"Wanted: Fairy Tail Members. If anyone with this symbol is seen, avoid them and immediately contact authority figures. These Terrorists are armed and dangerous."
Wendy gasped. "D-Did they find us out already?" She cupped her hands over her mouth.
"No, that can't be! U-Unless they do have some kind of detection magic..."
Kain trailed off before he looked down and saw his reflection. As he did, he remembered something he wished to forget. "Wait, it couldn't be..."
Luckily and unluckily, Natsu started sniffing the air. "I smell something familiar." At that same time, Pla started to move towards Wendy.
Everyone looked back at Natsu. Kain raised his brow before his eyes narrowed.
"Familiar?" A new voice made everyone turn to see a tall man, sharply dressed, standing in from that showed years of military training, and white hair swept back. "Well, it's an honor to be known by Fairy Tail's Fireball."
Everyone tensed to a fighting stance. Something was wrong though; he recognized them as Fairy Tail, but Natsu was never called a Fireball.
"Who the heck are you!?" Natsu exclaimed while his nose kept telling him his scent was familiar.
Everyone watched the shoes of the man light up. The dragon slayers felt magic pulsate from the shoes, but a much more oppressive aura revealed itself when the tall man narrowed his eyes at them.
Kain suddenly remembered what Natsu forgot. The lawyer didn't recognize him because he wasn't as edgy as before, and he didn't have all that ridiculous mascara on him.
"I am Erigor Stark, Chief of the Eisenwald Police Squad." There was a commanding edge in his voice that Mascara Erigor could never hope to match in his wildest dreams. "Surrender, we have you surrounded."
Kain looked out the window and spotted black and white hover cars setting up a perimeter around the area. He even saw the librarian lady being evacuated with all the others. A small part of him was glad civilians were out of the way.
"Wait, since when was Eisenwald a Police Squad!? They're a dark guild!?" Natsu shouted.
"Dark guild? That's a laugh considering Fairy Tail is the biggest Dark Guild in the country!" Erigor raised his brow.
Before the dragon slayer could call Erigor a liar and ask him how he escaped, Kain pulled on Natsu's cloak. "Kero Pierre," He whispered to the dragon slayers. Laxus and Natsu looked at him while Wendy raised her brow. "It's the Kero Pierre rule. People with the same faces but different lives in different worlds. This is the Erigor of Edolas. We need to escape and get to Ignis. We can't get caught here!"
"You there," Erigor narrowed his eyes at Kain. Edolas Erigor was threatening without much effort, a complete opposite of his whiny and demanding Earthland version. "What are you mumbling? Even though you're wearing a hood, you have the spitting image of that LacrimaNet star. ... Hmm... your eyes are very different from his though. They look like they belong to someone more mature than your age."
And he was also sharp. This situation grew worse by the second.
"Hey, Captain!" Fairy Tail turned behind them to see the man Gray once fought against in Eisenwald, Rayule. He styled himself as a Roman gladiator that wielded two whips rather than that Egyptian-like motif he had in Earthland. "Fairy Tail's abducted a kid! I bet they're trying to indoctrinate her!"
"You fiends!" Kain recognized that one even if his body build was completely different. Karacka was cowardly and round. Edolas Karacka was built bigger than Laxus. "Have you no shame!? Come with us, little lady, you will not be harmed by these evildoers!"
Wendy stepped away from them while Natsu and Kain moved in to protect her.
"Hold on," Erigor stared at Happy and Carla, who both tried to hide themselves under their cloak. "No... how do you have Exceeds!?"
If things were bad before, the mention of Carla and Happy's true existence was like the straw that broke the camel's back. The time for talking had passed. To the Eisenwald Police force, there were too many dangerous facts adding together. Erigor closed the distance faster than expected and slid into a sidekick at Laxus' face. The 4th guild master's instincts screamed at him, and he barely dodged the blow by tilting his head.
(The hell!? The reports said that Nastu could one-shot this asshole even powered up! I only sense magic in his shoes! Is he that skilled here!?) Laxus was forced to counterattack with a lightning punch. Yet he was surprised that his opponent avoided the attack by back-flipping away.
Kain sidestepped towards the right to avoid being hit by a whip. However, the whip unleashed a powerful force wave at the tip and pushed Kain into the wall.
"You know, you share the face with the most obnoxious and thick-headed LacrimaNet star I've ever heard. Excuse me if I end up beating you up more than you deserve, criminal. And you do deserve it!" He launched both whips, and in that instant, Kain activated his armor, sped past the whips, and body checked Rayule into a bookshelf.
Natsu rushed for Karacka, but the giant of a man slipped on two gloves that started to glow purple. The dragon slayer, without magic, tried to punch the giant man's torso. That punch, without magic, would have downed several normal men.
Karacka didn't even blink on contact. Yet, Natsu flinched and felt like his fist was close to breaking!
"My turn!" Karacka decked Natsu with his gloves that sent the flame dragon slayer through the wall and into the road.
Kain turned around. "We can't win like this! We need to leave, now!" He quickly used his speed to pick up Wendy, and the two cats and robot flew out the hole Natsu made. Laxus followed after him. A small part hated that he was spending his limited magic energy on fleeing. But he agreed with the brat: this situation was an unwinnable fight.
Laxus turned to electricity and jumped out to pick up Natsu before following Kain as he flew towards the top of the blimp.
Erigor raced to the hole. "Everyone, Cat-Mouse protocol!" He shouted before the Eisenwald Police Force started to mobilize.
Laxus landed on the blimp and tossed Natsu into the air-ballon. "Why didn't we go straight to Ignis!?"
"And have them chase us all the way to our only escape!? We need to lose them first!" Kain countered while looking around the area. "I'm trying to find a place we can use to distract them so we can escape!"
They all heard the sounds of sirens. A legion of magic-equipped police was on their way to Fairy Tail in less than a few seconds.
Kain couldn't think of something under those conditions. Luckily, Laxus did.
"Brat, get ready to move and get the others on my signal!" The Lightning Dragon Slayer ignited his fist. Kain, at first, wondered what the signal even was. He got the hint when he saw Laxus aiming downward.
From below, the Blimp's engines exploded and started to fall.
"Everyone, divert your energy nets to catch and slow down the falling blimp!" Erigor commanded. However, a second later, he looked up and noticed a distinct lack of something. "Did anyone see where Fairy Tail ran off too!?"
When he heard many answering no, he shouted, "Then search the area! Have the city on lockdown! I want them found within the hour!"
Meanwhile, in an alleyway, Laxus was panting for air.
"You alright, Boss? That last attack seemed complex if you aimed just for the engines."
"Damn it. I'm not used to being drained so easily." Laxus stood back up. "Let's hurry up and get to Ignis."
"Yeah... about that?" Everyone looked to Kain as he pointed up to the sky. The Dragon Slayers saw no change. However, Carla and Happy gasped.
"There's a huge dome in the sky!" Happy cried out in panic.
"Hunh!?" Natsu looked up. "I don't see anything!"
"It's some kind of forcefield that's invisible to humans. I can only see it thanks to my armor." Kain motioned to himself. "If I was a competent person, which Edolas Erigor obviously is, I would put the city on lockdown to ensure we get captured. He's making sure that we don't escape via a city-wide force field. Of course." he sighed and shook his head.
"There's gotta be a way out of here!" Natsu gripped his fists.
"Funny you should say that." For a second time, Fairy Tail was interrupted by a new voice. As they turned, they didn't expect someone to open a sewer lid. At the same time, everyone heard the sound of sirens closing into their area.
"There's no time!" The mysterious figure shouted in a female voice. "Come with me if you want to live!"
"Looks like we don't have much of a choice!" Kain started to move but noticed Natsu seemed dazed.
"That... voice?" Unfortunately for Natsu, the sirens were getting louder, and the blue and red lights were getting brighter. Kain grabbed his hand and jumped in with Natsu.
The lid was closed, and Eisenwald passed the empty alleyway without a second thought.
Down below, the new figure broke a glow stick. It lit up the area; not that it made their situation any better. Sewers smelled horrible simply by being near one. How much worse could it be for those with heightened smells inside on? While the dragonslayers were fighting their own senses, Kain turned to the stranger.
"Who are you? Why did you help us?"
The figure seemed to ignore him and went up to Natsu. She grabbed his face and stared at it for a second. Natsu, unable to see under her hood for some reason, reached out and removed it.
Natsu saw the ghost of his first best friend near to the point of crying.
"Li-Lisanna?!" Natsu blurted out in an exaggerated shock. His long-dead friend
"Natsu, it is you!" The girl half screamed before grabbing him into a hug. "I missed you all so much!"
"W-Wha!? Wait, Lisanna!? As in our Lisanna!?" Happy looked up to the girl.
"Happy! I'm so glad to see you again too!" The white-haired girl looked down on the cat before turning to Laxus. "I never thought I'd meet Laxus here of all places too! I've almost forgotten what you look like since there's no Edolas Version of you!" After seeing all the familiar faces, she turned to Carla, Wendy, and Kain. "I've never seen you guys before! Are you new to Fairy Tail?"
"Strauss," Laxus stepped forward. "Everyone here has questions. But we still need to get out of here."
Lisanna paused for a second before she nodded. "Right! We need to bring you to Edolas Fairy Tail HQ! You gotta meet the commander!"
"The commander?" Kain repeated before doing a mental computation with the data they already knew. Seeing as how Eisenwald still had the same members, it was safe to assume Fairy Tail had the same members as well. Lisanna just blurted out that there's no version of Laxus here. And if that was the case, the commander would be...
"Is it the Edolas version of Master Makarov?"
Laxus didn't think much of the question. He would very much regret that decision in mere seconds.
"No, in Edolas, Fairy Tail's Guildmaster is Ivan Redray! I think he's the Edolas Version of Laxus' dad!"
Laxus Dreyar, one of the strongest mages of Fairy Tail, grandson of a Wizard Saint, was brought to his emotionally and mentally weakest by a few simple words. Who would have guessed that he would be forced to face his past in a brand new world?
{Author Notes}
HAHA! It feels good to write fast for this story again! I'm going to repeat this once again, but I am excited about everything I've planned for The Edolas Arc.
First, change? I upped the technology of Edolas. They're basically more of a Dystopian Government from Sci-fi shows. I thought it was interesting to see Edolas being more item heavy, but it was kinda lackluster to me that the Edolas lands were emptier than that of Earthland. I mean, it's supposed to be another world of another world. It's either worse off or better off, maybe some combination of the two in other cases. But Canon Edolas felt bland to me.
Another change was that I made Edolas Fairy Tail more of a Rebellion than a guild. That will be explained more later.
And now, introducing some of the new players: The Eisenwald Police Force. Basically, what would happen to the dark guilds if the normal guilds were dark guilds? The answer: they become police forces. I thought about putting Edolas Kageyama, but then I started to think of his character reversed would require some development and a potential character arc like his Earthland version. With how much stuff is going on in this arc, I decided to not write about him. Instead, I found a fun loophole in sending him off on a honeymoon with his wife. (Internet points goes to who can guess who I paired him with! Probably not that hard, still, easy dopamine for anyone willing to try.)
There are still many more things I can't wait to show you all. Edolas is a huge turning point in The Muggle Among Mages. It's one of my most ambitious arcs I planned yet! I hope you're excited as me in seeing this through!
Thanks for reading.
Edit: The utter downside for not working on this story for months is the plot holes that come and go. I forgot to include Pla from the very beginning. Uggjhhhh. At least the edits here patch up that inconsistency somewhat.