The corridors of Phantom were long and confusing, and I didn't have the faintest idea in the world of where to go. I felt like I was just running aimlessly in circles, but I never really knew if I was getting any closer to Jose.

If that wasn't enough, as I ran further into the guild, I started coming across members of Phantom, who were much tougher than before, when I had fought Phantom in their guildhall. It felt as if this stronger bunch had been maybe heard the news about what I did and were vindictively waiting for me, ready to slay me. During this trial I discovered that I wasn't as good as I wanted to be in hand-to-hand combat and ended up getting scratched and bruised, but there were moments when my life was almost taken as well.

I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes each time they came close to killing me, a little more each time. But it was the last group of mates that really came close. They blocked both my exits, slowly closing in. I had to form a strategy quick, so when the group came closer, I dashed towards one side and jumped while using Flame Kick on one guy standing in the middle, using him as a launchpad to shoot me into the other group.

"Flame Claw: Flat Style!" I had given a name to the regular Flame Claw attack, naming it accordingly due to my hand staying flat. The physical hit itself was enough to knock them back, then the arched wave of fire that expanded out from the curve I swung knocked them down again. The group behind me began to rush towards me, but while I was using that guy as a launchpad, I had quickly set down another attack that would soon take effect; Magma Core. First, a wall of burning magma formed in front of them, burning some of them and stopping most of them from getting to me. When they tried to go around the wall, the magma began to spread the other way, until they were all stuck and trapped inside the ball of lava.

Or, at least I thought they were all trapped.

Of course, no one can enter or escape Magma Core even with the best fireproof armor, because they themselves would disintegrate entirely, so I only had to assume that this guys that attacked me from behind when I turned around hadn't been trapped inside the Magma Core. This mage seemed to have Stone Magic and was really tough to deal with. With each step on the ground, great pillars of earth chased after me while I tried to find an opening to his attack, but the stone pillars on the sides had turned into stone walls, forcing me into the circle that he was standing in. I was able to break through the walls with Titanium Fist, but the stone was getting denser and denser as I kept punching; it seemed the more I punched, the more the wall became unbreakable. The stone walls around me got even closer in, to the point where I was getting cut and scratched by moving, until I couldn't move at all. This was about the moment I realized that I couldn't breathe, and I began to panic as I ran out of oxygen.

"Enjoy the last few moments of your life, fairy!" came the barely audible, muffled voice of the stone mage.

I couldn't use my Mega or Giga Evolution to break free of this rocky prison, and none of my attacks seemed to work… Shadow Switch wouldn't have done anything, because all that was surrounding me was darkness, Dimension Switch would teleport me back to my house and would take me too long to get back to the headquarters, not that I could move my arms or legs anyway. This also meant no summoning of my Pokémon... I felt that I had failed, and wished that I had one more chance to say goodbye to the people I loved… but it seemed like this was the end. I swear I saw my life flash before my eyes as I began to see the light…

xxxx

I heard crying coming from the upstairs. As my little legs scurried up the carpeted steps, I ran down the hall and put my ear to the guest room door.

"I hate him… I wish he'd just die! I wish he could be wiped out of existence… I hate that jerk! I hate him! ER HRRT HRRMM!" he screamed into a pillow, and from what I could hear, started beating his face with more pillows, then started throwing them across the room. Wanting to help calm him down, I opened the door and witnessed a flurry of pillows thrown against the opposite wall to him, his hair all messed up and tears and snot creating a thick membrane over his face, which I had to run into the bathroom and grab some toilet paper to wipe his face off with.

"He did something to you again, didn't he Jordon?" I asked my childhood friend.

"I hate him… he won't leave me alone! Look…" Jordon turned around and lifted up his shirt, exposing his bruised and blood covered back, and then he turned around to reveal whiplash marks running up and down his pale chest.

"I just wish… Vincent… when will it end…? I just want him to leave me alone… I can't take it anymore!"

When he said this, a sudden rage came over me. A maddening rage I had never felt before. This boy, my friend Jordon, well, he was more than a friend. He was like a brother to me, a brother I never had. And I couldn't just stand idly by while my "brother" was being beaten by his father relentlessly, every day of his miserable life. Now at the time, I didn't know what was meant when one said "child abuse". I didn't know what was going on with Lucifer. And I frankly didn't give a shit either. If only I knew cuss words back then. Unfortunately I would learn some in the few months that came, unwillingly, by Lucifer, but in the moment I cared too much for Jordon to let him get beat up like this. I couldn't, no, wouldn't stand for it.

But I was a kid, so what could I do about it?

In a time when my steel bones were still developing and becoming stronger, I was weak and vulnerable. I wanted so bad to get back at Lucifer for what he did to Jordon, for things he said to Mom. After all, Mom had taught me the "eye for an eye" rule, because in the world we lived in, things just weren't fair. "You should love your neighbors as you love yourself, yes, but to teach someone not to mess with you is showing them your power; sometimes they won't just leave you alone just because you tell them to. There are horrible people in the world and people who can even end all of existence as we know it. You show them that you're not one to be messed with," said Mom. I had nothing to go off of except for what she taught me, but that sometimes got me into trouble.

As if Lucifer abusing Jordon wasn't enough, there were these assholes from Sandgem who would go out of their way to be dicks to us whenever they got the chance. They were out every single day, and we could do nothing about it. Several months before Jordon took off, never to be seen again, we thought it would be a good idea to spend the day out on Route 201 playing in the tall grass. My powers were beginning to appear at the time, but I never really got the hang of it. My steel bones would grow naturally, but controlling my Fire Arts was difficult to do. As an stranger you'd never realize I had any powers at all. I was about 8 at the time when we came across the bullies, and they bullied us until both Jordon and I were 9. I don't remember the other twos' names, but the leader of the three douchebags was named Gilbert. He was 15, and the other two were definitely younger than him, but still around his age. Even from such a young age, I could tell that the two kids were only following Gilbert because they were nervous and insecure. The day when Jordon and I were playing on Route 201, I remember so well; we were crouched down in the grass, spying on a Pidgey that was taking a crap, both of us giggling like the immature kids we were, when suddenly the Pidgey was kicked out of the way and flew off in a panic, screeching like mad.

"H-hey!" cried Jordon.

"What the heck was that-" I started, but as I looked up at the towering figure of this kid who I could've sworn I'd seen before, my voice grew quieter and quieter until all and any sound from my vocal chords ceased.

"'What the heck was that?' he says," guffawed the tall kid. As he bent down to mock us still, I made out the details of him; I remember he always wore a gray hat backwards with some of his orange locks streaming out of the hole in his hat. His oily face closely resembled a mountain range, with the slightest bit of facial hair and yellow teeth that looked and smelled like he just lunched on an entire McDonalds dumpster, save for the sparkly new braces in his mouth that he was sure to muck up during his next meal. His small eyes reflected that of what little intelligence he had, which I'm sure even a Magikarp would have more braincells than this kid, with thick and bushy ginger sideburns and an almost unibrow and the most hair-stuffed nostrils that made me question how this kid could even breathe. He always wore this black ACDeoxC tank underneath this button down shirt and blue jeans held up by a thick, black leather belt with a great bronze buckle.

"Why did you-"

"Bladablehblehbluhbleh." The kid interrupted my sentence by spewing out brainless babble which confirmed the number brain cells he had in his head; a huge whopping zero cells.

"What the h-"

Again, he acted like a dumbass.

"Why-"

Speaking was futile at this point, but I decided to give it one more shot by trying to speak very quicky, with no luck, as the shitty son of a bitch spewed out even more bullshit. I was starting to wonder if he was born with two assholes.

I getting really frustrated at this point, so I stood up, and that's when I noticed a big height difference. I was pretty tall for my age, but this kid was like, 6'2". I was 4'9". Jordon was 4'2". Despite this, I still tried my best to stand up to this bully.

"Jerk." I uttered only one word, the only "curse" word I knew. That would change in less than a year's time.

"Oh! Oh no! He called me a jerk! I'm so insulted!" Of course I knew what sarcasm was, and it was greatly humiliating.

"Oh, I'm gonna die! He called me a jerk! OH! How terrible!" He continued his act, falling backwards with his arm comically draped over his large forehead, the other two kids catching him and laughing their asses off.

"What's your problem?" I yelled at him.

"What's your problem? You were the one who started it!"

"No I wasn't!" I stupidly protested.

"Oh, so now you wanna argue, you little prick? You're in my way," he lied.

"Why did you kick that Pidgey out of the way?"

"What're you, deaf? I said it was in my way! And so're you, you little prick!"

"Why do you have to be such a jerk? I wasn't doing anything to you!" As I spoke, he pushed me, making me lose my balance and fall to the ground.

"You don't even know who I am, do you? Huh?" He towered over me, and before I could react, he grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me up. However, with the metal slowly developing and replacing my regular bone, I was much heavier than any average kid, so all he ended up doing was suspending me off the ground for a short bit as he struggled and made a fool out of himself, trying to pick me up. I wanna say that I was easily over 190 pounds, already over average of a 15 year old boy. This wasn't strong, and I could tell, and he could tell that I could tell. He tried to lift me using both hands, but had to let me go as I dropped to the ground with an audible thud. He couldn't admit defeat, but rather spit on us instead and walked away extremely irritated.

"The name's Gilbert, losers. Don't you forget it," he called as he and his lackeys trudged away. I haven't been able to forget ever since.

The following weeks, we thought we could play outside in a different location, but Gilbert and his buddies went after us still. The other two held me captive while they forced me to watch Gilbert take a brass knuckle out of his pocket and proceed to pummel Jordon with it. I struggled to break free, but tried not to cry out, because Mom had taught me that if I showed signs of displeasure, then they would continue to do me harm. Speaking of, now that I think of it, we should've just let Mom handle matters instead of taking on those bullies ourselves. Every time I thought I could take them on, I couldn't do anything because I wasn't strong enough to break free of their grasps, and so the bullying continued.

Weeks and weeks passed by, and during that time, Jordon and I tried to come up with a way to get back at Gilbert and his gang. We resolved to not go outside after a while, and tried to be careful not to let Gilbert and the others know where we lived. For a while, we actually began to enjoy life, as Jordon stayed away from Lucifer's wrath most of the time, and the bullies left us alone. Or rather, we didn't give them a chance to bother us.

It was the day at the lake that would change things.

xxxx

There we were, two innocent- actually, innocent is not an appropriate word for it... two young children, two lads, skipping stones across the lake. On the other side was my father's grave, and we went to go check it out. I couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of sadness, even at that age, that stage of immaturity. As we stood at the grave, I felt this sudden pulse. It was barely noticeable, but I definitely recall feeling something. Like an aura radiating off of the grave itself. I began to warm up, and I felt... strong.

But if a peg is sticking up, it's only natural to wanna hammer it back down again, right?

From behind us, two clammy hands gripped our shoulders and applied the right amount of pressure to make us wince in pain.

"Well. Look what we got here. Two little pricks dicking around the lake," growled Gilbert's voice.

I didn't dare turn around, but still stood up to him nonetheless, because I felt powerful at that moment. "What do you want now? You obviously don't own the lake, so why are you bothering us?"

"Alright, that's it. I've just about had it with your bullshit. Both of you. It's time I taught you both some manners." He pulled out, not the usual brass knuckle, but rather a glove with metal playing on it, enough to knock out teeth. Then he grabbed Jordon, while the other two held me hostage, as usual. But as Jordon took his beating, I felt surge a great energy from within. A powerful force that made me brave, that wouldn't allow me to be held captive by these two idiots in their sweaty hands while my best friend just sat there, crying and pleading for mercy, but getting none.

At this point, I didn't care what Gilbert had going on in his life. I didn't give a shit what his past was like, what people cared for him, because I certainly did not.

Anger. As I had always felt. It coursed, flooded my being, and the angrier I got, the hotter my soul burned, the more rage began to engulf me entirely, and in their paws, my arms ignited in an instant, burning brightly, brilliantly, forcing my captives to release me as they desperately tried to put out the flames on their raw hands as if they had just touched hot lava. Even for a young age, I thought that to be an impressive temperature to reach. Now, only my arms were ignited, but that was enough for me. Free from the other two, I began to bravely march towards Gilbert with both my arms engulfed in hot, waving flames. He became distracted from beating up Jordon and instead turned his attention to me, but then stopped dead in his tracks once he saw the burning fires of my arms. With a good punch, I socked him in the gut while he was distracted and confused, then tackled him to the ground and began giving him a taste of the pain he brought to us, relentlessly beating on him, letting loose punch after flaming punch even after begging me, pleading me to stop.

"HOW DO YOU LIKE IT?! HUH? HOW DO YOU LIKE IT WHEN I SMASH YOUR FACE IN?! YOU WANT ME TO STOP? HOW ABOUT NO!" All at once, I unleashed all of my pent up anger, not just towards Gilbert, but at Lucifer as well. After his face was a bloodied, bruised purple spectacle, I dragged him over to the waterside and began dyeing the water pink with his blood, holding him under until he nearly drowned like some kind of torture chamber. As he gasped for air, I shoved his head back under until his movements began to slow, then dragged him to dry ground where I clasped my hands together and pounded them down onto his chest repeatedly, making him ferociously hack up water and blood.

I was proud of Jordon for teaching to other two a lesson by kicking the whole they were on the ground. I mean, he didn't nearly kill them, but caused enough damage, or as much as he was able to. On the other hand, my arms were still ignited, and I used this, holding my burning hand to his ugly face, giving him second degree burns in the end.

"How does it feel? Huh?! How does it feel for the bully to be beaten up? Pretty backwards, isn't it?" If I knew the words "oxymoron" and "ironic" back then, I would've used them to the fullest. "When you can stand, you're gonna walk home and get your friends to do this too; tell your mom and dads what you've done to us for the past months, but you're not gonna tell them what I did to get back at you. You're gonna tell them that you and your friends fought over who would kill us first. And if you don't," In mid sentence, I held up my still flaming arms and pointed towards Gilbert. "... then I'll kill you. That'll teach you not to bully anyone ever again. Get out of here!" With one final sock, I knocked him to the ground, and he scrambled to his feet and darted away, his cronies following behind him.

Jordon and I walked home, but didn't tell Mom about anything. We just blamed any and all of Jordon's bruises on Lucifer. Luckily, she never went over to confront him. As for the bullies, I assumed they moved out, because Jordon and I never saw them again. Then again, Jordon wasn't there for much longer, only like three more months or so.

xxxx

My eyes opened, or at least tried to. I couldn't breathe or move, but after playing back that victory against Gilbert again in my head, I became invigorated to take action.

I realized; if I could prove that I was stronger than those bullies, then I could break out of this stone prison!

Normally, I would've closed my eyes, but they were already closed, and I couldn't breathe to focus, not that I had an Air Magic spell to allow me to hold my breath, not that I could cast it, not that I could do much of anything. But I could feel something. Something waiting to burst out of my skin, waiting to break free and explode. In real time, the flashback I had was only a few seconds long, because I needed air and was about to die. But the brief flashback, it triggered something from within, connected to my Fire Arts. As I began to lose consciousness, the mass amount of energy stored from within expanded, and in the moment before I was about to die of oxygen deprivation, all of the stone around me crumbled and cracked, and an explosion of great proportions rocked the entire building. Flames surged through the halls of the enemy guild, the sheer force of the blast crushing the walls and incinerating anyone who stood in the way. The force of the fire, the pent up anger from abuse and bullying long past now fresh and alive once again crushed the enemy target and confined all in the blast to oblivion, blowing a huge chunk out of the building. From far away, it may have just looked like a small little explosion, but this was due to the comparison to the size of the immense guild and the confined space of the blast, preventing it from reaching its full potential.

I nearly blacked out, but after the blast subsided, I dropped to my knees and fell over, desperately taking in giant gulps of oxygen into my lungs. It wasn't until a few minutes later when I was able to regain a bit of strength.

"Huff... huh... that... huh... wow," was all I could utter. I suddenly realized that the explosion had incinerated my clothes, and I was completely in the nude. I quickly Summoned some clothes, then frantically Summoned everything to make sure my scarf was safe. It was. I had no jacket, which had burned up. I figured I would get a better jacket, but despite that which was unsolvable at the moment, I still felt like I was missing something. Doing a quick run-through of my possessions, I found what I was looking for: my fedora. Wearing a scarf with it would've looked weird, so I wore the hat alone. I felt bare without a jacket, but a T-shirt and some jeans would do.

I ran further into the guild, desperately trying to find the way to Jose, but with all the halls and corridors looking similar, I felt like I was going in circles. After running around for what seemed aimlessly for several minutes, I came to a door, to my relief. There was a long room/hallway, and at the end of the room was a window, broken and someone lying weak near the edge. That someone was Elfman.

"Elfman...? Elfman! Are you alright- gah!" Suddenly, the ground under my feet lifted me up, making my balance unstable.

"What the hell...? Who the hell...?" A figure rose up and took the shape of a slim figure with a monocole and green hair, and a twirly moustache.

"Allow me to introduce myself, mon amie. I am known as Sol of the Element 4. Oh, but no need for introduction from yourself, as I already know who you are. You are none other than the mighty Vincent of Fairy Tail. You use special, non-magic attacks called Fire/Steel Arts, and you use a forbidden Magic called Dimension Magic."

"What...? I'm not gonna ask how you knew all that because I'm not tryna engage with no stalker, but, what...? My Dimension Magic is... forbidden?"

"Oui, mon amie. Just like Dragon Slayer Magic, or Lost Magic, your magic is a special type of Magic that can only be passed down, just like your Fire/Steel Arts."

"...! Just how much do you actually know...?!"

"Ho ho ho! When you walked over me just now, I was able to read your entire history. I have to say, yours is much different from those other opponents I have defeated. Very interesting, you come from the Regions on the other side of this continent. I know pretty much everything about you now. Especially some of your deepest, darkest secrets, such as who you lov-" Once he said that, my fist made contact with his ugly face, but then he dropped down and became sand.

"Arrgh... come out, you coward!" I yelled. No response. I took this opportunity to go help Elfman, who seemed to be hurt.

"Elfman! Speak to me, man! Are you alright?" I kneeled down at his side and shouted frantically. He was covered in scratches and bruised and battered. Elfman stirred and opened his eyes.

"Ughh... I'm alright. You're a real man, helping out a fellow guild mate..." he muttered.

"Elfman, this isn't a time to rate my manliness! You're hurt, dude! I know you're doing your best to keep up, but you should get some medical attention now!"

Elfman sat up. "A real man doesn't need medical attention- ouh!" groaned Elfman. I bent down to help him, but he raised his hand. "No... don't. I'm fine. I-" Elfman was interrupted by a certain earthy punch that blasted him out of the window, and me to the floor, far back.

"E... Elfman!" I ran to the window, but was pulled back by Sol, but then I noticed that Sol had multiplied. I assumed he created many clones from the dust of the earth to look like him, and this disturbed me greatly. I took a mad dash towards the broken window, pulled back by his many clones. Luckily, I heard Elfman shout, "It's alright! I'm fine!" Reassuring enough, but then I heard him call back, "I hate to admit it, but I could use a bit of help over here!"

"Urrghhh...! I'm in a bit of a pickle myself, dude! If this guy'll get his... nasty paws offa me...!" Mid sentence, I let loose a Fire Shield and looked out the window. For a short second before I was dragged back, I saw Mirajane, half stuck in the hand of the giant robot, Elfman desperately trying to get her out. When she saw me appear, she screamed out to me, "Vincent! Help me!"

Before I could react, I immediately got dragged back, and started to be slammed around.

"Oh non monsieur! I cannot let you get angry on me! Cannot let you save your little friends either! After all, she is being punished by the master for making a fool of him! Now she will pay!" As he swung me around with a giant fist, I had no chance of moving my arms, which meant no casting of Magic, again, and I couldn't free myself with Steel Morph because it wasn't stable enough to use. And with my hands practically glued to my sides, no Pokémon could be Summoned. My last resort was to use Fire Arts and create a Fire Shield or Flare Blast, but a Flare Blast would be too risky, with Elfman and Mirajane just below. My anger wouldn't get me out of this one; Sol had seen ahead with his stupid power.

This was a tough opponent.

I was angry, angry enough to destroy the entire guild by myself. But trapped here, all my moves read, I would have to focus. Despite being swung and slammed around like a mace, I still could focus.

First step was ignoring the pain. Tough to do, but I closed my eyes and blocked out all outside feeling and fear of being killed. And I just breathed...

Second step was focusing on the energy from every single cell in my body, to produce enough fire energy to break free. I couldn't miss a single one, as every single one counted.

The second step was where I struggled the most. I felt myself beat up, but couldn't seem to get it. Trying my best not to lose my focus, I concentrated more...

... then I lost it, and realized what was happening. Yet again, I was on the verge of death, bloodied and bruised yet again, but far heavier this time. With all the blood loss, I was starting to lose consciousness, but then from out of nowhere, a monster, beast, whatever you'd like to call it, freed me from the grasp. It caught me as I fell to the floor, and laid me down.

"Huh...? What's..." It was difficult to speak, but the beast put its hand over my mouth.

"Don't speak. If anything, you need medical attention. You gotta push through it, like a man!"

"Elfman...?" I groaned.

"It's me. I've finally mastered it..."

"Mastered what...?"

"The Full Body Takeover... but that doesn't matter, because you need-"

I sprang up, suddenly full of vitality. "WAIT! Where's..." Glancing behind Elfman, I saw that Mira was safely sitting down. This alone put me at peace, and I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

Using my Giga Evolution to grow larger, I held Sol in my metal fist, threatening to burn him instantly if he slipped out, with Elfman standing underneath.

"Naturally, I want some answers outta you. Bet you didn't see this coming," I growled.

"But that is where you are wrong, mon amie. I can read all of- AUUUGH!" Igniting my fist, I shut him up before he could get another word out.

"Listen, fucker. I don't care what you can see or can't see with your all-seeing-omnipresent-Magic, alright? Just answer what I tell you." As I spoke, I began to head out into the corridor. "Tell me the way to Jose, otherwise I'll burn you to a crisp. That is, if I don't crush you first." Sol saw no other option, and sighed and told me the directions.

"While we're walking, why don't we have a little time to talk? But before we do..." I turned back to Elfman, but keeping my fist out in front of me so that I could see Sol the entire time. "Elfman, take Mira back to the guild!"

"I will. Go on ahead! That's a real man, taking initiative!" With that, he left the guild and I followed Sol's directions to Jose.

After telling him about my father, most of which he knew, I asked the one question I wanted the answer to. "So tell me. And you're gonna tell me everything you know, just like Totomaru did. What affiliation did Jose have with my father's death?"

"You expect me to just tell you that? Haha- AUGH-" Flames instantly cloaked my fist, but Sol didn't let up. Luckily, we were just about at Jose's room, so I slammed him to the floor and held his throat. Not wanting the pressure to build up too great, I de-Evolved back into Mega Evolution.

"Tell me. NOW!"

"And what good will it do you, knowing who killed you father, and/or had any affiliation with his death? You are asking the wrong person. I honestly know nothing. But if you must, then Jose is waiting for you beyond this door." With that, he began to sink into the floor.

"Wait! Get back here!"

"Adieu, monsieur! May we meet again!"

Rrghh... there's nothing that I can do about it now... I thought. I'll have to face Jose, though, I don't know how strong he'll be. But boldly, I stepped through the door, ready to face a guild master.